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Thanks for this tip Heebeegeebee - it worked perfectly. There was a little groups of bees in the corner of the QE and there she was. Quickly despatched, supers extracted then combined the next day with the old queen's granddaughter. Another trick to remember.

Ok thanks all. It's weird everything I have taken off previous to this year has been runny about the same colour and stayed the same so I feel like a novice. I think my plan will be to cream the spring OSR honey using my simple method. I have an aga which is off now but I think it's coolest...

There is plenty of ivy around me and the autumns have been good weather for the last few years so I find they still have plenty of time to collect their winter stores into September and even October.

I do this and find the honey is perfectly fine. I only keep it for our use obviously but don't waste it.

I've been beekeeping for 4 years but only this year have I had enough to sell. I've always had OSR near to me but have never found spring honey to crystallise - no idea why. Anyway of course this year it has. I've been selling to friends and friends of friends via facebook and no one minds -...

I'll think I'll wait until Tuesday which is my usual bee day. I'm taking two full supers off them today and leaving one behind which will be much better a size for them. I'll look for new brood on Tuesday and perhaps sieve them as you suggest after that. I have a new split that I can combine...

Ok it seems such a long time, but it would be great if they had requeened. They are chilled and great honey producers.

I've done a few snelgrove splits and usually move them at the time when you do the last door change at day 14. However as I tend to leave the board on for a couple of days with the lid upturned on top so that the bees that return can get back in. This is effectively like doing the last door...

My favourite colony with a 17 queen tried to supersede earlier this season. I found just two sealed QCs on 21st May so left them to it. I next looked at them on 18th June and saw a queen plus heard some piping. I next looked at them on 9th July and added a test frame which they did nothing...

Ok that sounds like a plan. Thank you.

Thanks. Ok so QRight, paper, QLess then super? Do you put them into one super to just concentrate the bees near to the paper? Also what happens to the bees that are out at the time of the split anyway? As it happens these colonies are next to each other so hopefully they will find their way in.

I have a large colony with 3 supers which I think is queenless. They were trying to supersede but I think it's failed - I have a test frame in at the moment. I also have a split which I looked at the first time today and it has quite a few frames of BIAS. If I discover that the large colony...

Oh blimey I've thought about doing this but thought there must be a reason why no one else does it.

Ok thanks. That is probably it. I just assumed it needed runners then hadn't given it a second thought until I pulled it out of the back of the shed.

What have I done wrong here? I bought this brood box as a kit about 4 years ago when I started beekeeping. The bees I eventually got came in a poly hive and I soon decided to use those so I'd never actually used this brood box until this year when I needed all the equipment I had. I realised...

Yes that explains the second cast swarm the week after the first. However why the one 6 weeks later decided on the same garden is a bit of a mystery.

Hi, a friend of a friend in my village has had 3 swarms in her garden this summer. Two were in April, the second clearly a cast a week after the first in exactly the same place. But she text me yesterday and she has another one about 3.5 metres up in the next tree. I've left it for now but...

Yes no I won't breed from them if they are that swarmy (I know that looks like what I said). It was a very interesting experience.

Yes strong colonies is the most important thing. I spent a couple of year with around 1 or 2 colonies and a general sense of unease so I sympathise. You'll get there, just keep learning and don't panic I think would be my most important pieces of advice.