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There are many ways to skin a cat. Lots of people like cultural methods such as drone brood culling, queen trapping etc, to avoid the use of chemicals but to me, these are more intrusive and harmful to the colony than the chemicals they replace. ITLD who should know a thing or two (and does)...

:iagree:

No, not nicotine patches. A while ago there was a discussion about smoke alternatives, I thought it was about time for a review. If you have used liquid smoke, water with clove oil, or anything else- do you still, or have you gone back to smoke- or gone to using nothing? All experiences...

If you think they may be preparing to swarm, then as soon as you've got everything ready for an AS or similar; ideally now. .

No. Read the tin, some products are insecticidal.

If I remember correctly, they are some sort of pollen mite that just hitches a ride to get from nest to nest. Hard to believe when you see a load like that.

Nice when you get an easy one! Yes, its even started over here, in cold, grey blighty... .

Temperament at any given moment is down to a mix of things- genes, the weather, food supply, levels of queen hormone in the hive, environmental factors etc. therefore don't jump to conclusions too quickly. One of my gentlest hives was bad-tempered the other day, which I believe was down to...

My paines poly hives have a oversize space between floor and frames, and they always do it in there but not my other hives.

Performed my first AS of the year at the weekend, QC's well advanced. .

Difficult to keep it looking new, but when I got 2 new cedar hives I treated one with 50:50 boiled linseed oil and beeswax, and l;eft the other. 2 years later the untreated one is grey, the treated one a nice rich brown. .

A complete cock-up by FERA. The idea of them sending out a mass email to a group in such a way that one person in that group, by hitting the wrong button, can launch a torrent of spam, makes me despair. They have an IT department- most private individuals don't. .

This is a good argument for not over-feeding, ie keeping the bees 'topped up' with fondant over winter. You need them to finish their winter stores, even if it means taking some away at the end of winter. This is a subject particularly close to my heart, as I feed thymolised syrup in autumn. .

With help from the forum I managed to get back in touch with ITLD, with the result that he came all the way to Bournemouth to speak to our association. He gave us a very interesting talk, and it was great to get answers to some of the questions I've wanted to pester him with but didn't like...

I suspect the OP has done a cross between a bailey change and a shook swarm. .

A lot is down to the individual Q- a good 3- or 4-year queen can be better than a badly-mated or scrub 1-year queen. For this reason I like to keep my old queens in a nuc until I'm confident the new one has been accepted and is a good'un. .

Don't try to keep bees by the calendar. A lot of people say not to inspect before April- 2 years ago most peoples bees were swarming by then! I carried out my 3rd inspection and a combine at the weekend. All colonies are strong, a couple with brood on 5 and one with brood on 8, and might be...

Not the best thing to do, I presume you had your reasons. All you can really do now is return the bees from the new hive at dusk, then stop the entrance with grass. It should take them a few hours the next day to get out, which should help locate them to the new position- possibly shade the...

Thanks guys, following up all options.

I believe that, apart from concerns about residues, there were concerns that it supressed rather than cured nosema, and could therefore leave it present and contagious, but masked. .