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Yes - one more mistake I hope never to repeat. Thanks all for your feedback, it's greatly appreciated.

Thank you Enrico - it was a horrible shock. Hoping to get better at beekeeping eventually... Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

Not sure about the swarm (in August?). Eggs were present (though I didn't see HM) on 29 July so I can't see the disappearance of the entire colony happening that quickly. But who knows? All seemed normal last time I looked.

I inserted the entrance block a month ago, and pulled off a couple of supers about a week later. A quick glance into the hive seemed OK at that point; with wasps about, I was more concerned with getting the supers out of the apiary before the wasps detected them than anything else. Today, I...

First inspection of my two hives this month today, aiming to assess storage space for winter food, and check for disease. The first hive was fine, plenty of space to lay and store food. The second was a disaster area. Although I could see bees orienting outside the entrance block, which had...

Went to sort out solid cover boards and clearer boards for taking the supers off. I disturbed one of my stored brood boxes. Out flew a bunch of wax moth. Inside was a disgusting, unsalvageable mess. The larvae had also made inroads into a number of other bits of kit, including a poly hive...

I have one these (just arrrived yesterday so I've not had a chance to try it out). The honey gate is low down on the barrel and the centre of the slightly conical bottom of the drum is raised, so honey will flow out to the edges and out the honey gate.

Burned half a dozen frames heavily infested with wax moth. Treated the rest of them with undiluted acetic acid fumes. That's going to be a fun job to clear out.... Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

Go on then - I seem to have an empty hive to fill... Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

... And the coda to this petite histoire is that I've passed the bees on to another, far more experienced beek. She collected them this morning, and I feel much better... Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

But the OP wants to go the other way... Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

You're not wrong. The other colonies haven't had nearly the attention they need and deserve.

Yes, thanks for your help, Bill.

So you're suggesting I should move the grumpy lot during the day and let the flyers come back to another hive in the same location, moving the grumpy hive somewhere in the meantime? Or move the whole lot, sealed up, overnight?

Er, no I left the QCs, reasoning that a new Q might be better than the old one, and will certainly be better than no Q! And if the new one's temperament is just as grumpy, I'll probably have to kill them. I'd hate to do it, it's not what I came into beekeeping for, obviously, but I want to...

Good luck Martin with the nasty hive. I feel your pain (going through something similar myself).

Thanks for the excellent advice but I'm probably not going to take that route. Apart from not having a spare queen right now, I've promised the site owner I'd not disturb them for a while, as each time I do, the bees attack passers-by. And while it's fairly rural, there are people within 50...

They're not leather - can't do anything with those. For this lot I use thick rubber gauntlets and glad of them. I rinse them off every few minutes to remove the attack pheromone. With other colonies, it's just long cuff nitriles. Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

Guess I should have thought of that. What in your experience happens now? Is the new Q likely to be as nasty? Sent from my Mi A2 Lite using Tapatalk

I promised feedback and here it is: I've just got back from a fruitless but you might say entertaining afternoon with the nasty hive. I removed the three supers, moved the BB about 5 metres away and put it on top of an eke with cover boards above and below the BB. The supers went back on the...