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I put the frames in this morning, they had 1/4 drawn two already plus the old frame I put in there is fully repaired and full of honey. The swarm looks huge to me, about 1/2-2/3 of the box was completely full with clustered bees which seems a lot considering there wasn't even foundation to...

Two days ago I had been doing something in the shed and left the door open for a few hours. When I went back there was several hundred bees in the windows. The only think that could attract them was a box of old frames that I cleaned up a few years ago and totally forgot about so there's no...

Been disappointing so far, the weather has been terrible around my apiary which is high in the hills. Started ok but the constant cold wind has help the bees back a lot. I've had quite a few queen cells fail to hatch too which I'm presuming is due to the cold.:hairpull:

That's the same ones then, on seymore st. I'm glad someone got them and given them a good home :D

Lol, I think I saw this swarm. It had settled on a house for a few hours and the police called me (no idea how they got my number since I'm not in an association or listed anywhere???????). I was working that day and decided to drive past on the way back to station and the cluster had dispersed...

Another from Aberdare :D There's been loads of swarms in the town this year, no idea where from but I keep missing out due to work :( Either someone needs a brush up on swarm control or there's loads of wild colonies in the area!!!!

That's a good point, it is pretty old (bought either last year or the year before) I'll give that a try

The virgin side is doing very well, I switched it from one side of the q+ to the other about 5days after the AS. No problem with this hive which has been bringing in pollen and some nectar. I fed the q+ part after a week or so since they weren't drawing any of the foundation and very few bees...

Perfectly normal I'd say, depending on local forage. My bees, for example, are pretty high on a mountain and with the poor weather haven't produced any surplus yet (they rarely do early season due to no cultivated crops nearby). We are just entering the June gap so will likely need to feed very...

The queen is in her original location and I've switched the virgin hive twice to bleed off bees ;)

I performed an AS on one of my hives two weeks or so ago. Queen and her frame plus one of food and one empty, drawn comb in a bb of foundation with original bb placed 3' to one side. The queen has laid up all the available space and there is some eggs in the little comb they have drawn. The...

I reunited via the paper method and had some but not total success. The queen and vast majority of workers stayed but a few hundred went back to the place where the swarm hive was. The new box is fully drawn out and the queen has laid in most of the frames too so hopefully they will do me...

I'm trying to maximise honey yield without increasing my number of hives ;) That's what I'm afraid of, the bees returning to the original site. I've united hives early in the year and had no issue with bees returning to the old site but never tried it this late on.

Excellent, thank you. I've got a few nucs setup with QCs from my calmest colony and my plan is to re queen using one of these once she is laying

I performed an AS on one of my hives last week but they still swarmed a few days later. They settled towards the top of a large oak tree near the apiary so, with more than a little effort, I managed to catch them by climbing to the top of a ladder and used a bucket on a 12' pole to shake the...

If the first super is full then they will need a second ;). Whether to put it above or below the first will depend on who you ask. Personally, I like to put the empty below the full one but have also just put one on top. Doesn't make a huge amount of difference really! Good luck with the...

I've found myself in the position of needing yet more hive parts and have very sensibly missed out on the winter sales:hairpull:. I remember going to a one day event in MM apiaries last year and am hoping this will be on again this year, does anyone know if and when this is due please? Cheers Huw

Lost one out of eight colonies, one I was glad to lose tbh because they were quite hideous and non productive. Of those that are left, three are very small but the others are steaming ahead:winner1st:

It's going to be a few weeks up here in the hills before I even think of queen rearing. 4 of my colonies came through winter pretty strong but the other three are still small on the small side, making progress though and I'm confident they will catch up in a few weeks time. There's only a few...

Hi Nicola, is Aberdare any good for you? The flora should be the same as Blackwood I think, same sort of topography and elevation at least ;)