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Sad fact of life! all mine are camo'd. Out apiary overlooked at about 500m by a foot path, but are fortunately south facing on the edge of a Wood, hence the Rambo tendencies!

Pulling them out of the hive (and had been for about a day before they arrived). I clean bait frames of brace comb and similar when I put them in but leave all the bits on the solid floor. Even when scouting the bees seem to have an uncontrollable urge to clean up!

Possibly RAB? but there was heavy scouting activity the day before, which was continuing this morning before I went for a blat, to the extent they actually started clearing out some of the old comb bits. I think the 'make-shift' landing board didn't help matters; that and the fact the scouts...

I work on the basis that the queen is not mated and that any OA intervention before mating increases the chance of colony failure. Although my bait hive has a really manky old solid floor to increase my chances I run on OMF's normally. If I see a load of pollen going in or a drop before the 2...

From whence they came I know not! but yes RAB, I always leave my bait hives wide open, and also always leave the bait hive only half stocked until a take and then fill in the gaps once I have a take (works for me), I frame out once they have settled down a bit, move to required location, fit an...

They arrived home at the same time as me (and yes I know I still have race boots not wellies on - but then I'd have missed the arrival!). Third bait hive take this year, sadly weather has made maiting for previous two queens at best difficult. I looks like she has just started laying. You Tube...

:iagree: They work on the other side of the Pennines as well and even better with my very tatty old solid floor. Tatty box, tatty floor, 3 x tatty (but disease free) brood combs = free colonies.

I routinely use a std 14x8.5 in my 14x12's. There has never been a problem with brace, they build down from the base of the frame. You can even inspect if you are careful without losing the base comb. Look to migrate the frames to the edge once the colony is established and then replace. (I...

Day one, Mmmm, 1. Leaving your newly aquired second hand hive set up in the drive may be misconstrude by bees as a vacant des-res (yep, swarm moved in with 2 hours!). 2. Purchasing a bee suit ahead of a hive would have been a good idea 3. Newly moved in bees are too busy laughing uncontrollably...

Just caught up with this thread. Since there is no indication of disease in the current comb I disagree with the bailey change option. I would demaree and maintain the critical mass of the colony and fully utilise current brood during the transition. R

Conducted a 3 way trial last summer. 3 baits, next to each other, all 14x12, all approx 350mm off ground, all with my favoured 4x drawn-ex-brood frame config with gaps. 1x 'plain'; 1x'th0rnes' swarm attractant; 1x lemon grass. Swarm attractant seemed to make no odds 1 take like the plain bait...

I use it as my main Fuel but agree with Cazza and others, remove any with plastic/tape on or indeed obviously heavily printed sections. No need to start with paper - just buy a jet lighter, success quickly, every time, irrespective of wind conditions. Has no adverse effect on the naturally...

If additional colonies is a short term swarm control then purchase additional supers (and double them up for additional crude national BB's) at least your purchase is then multi use. Buying/making a nuc is fine - until you want to cull old queens and recombine. Yes there is the issue of floors...

Mine definately can't by sight but I have imperial evidence that they recognise me by touch. Sadly they do this with their sting though. :rolleyes:

:iagree:

Would it not be easier to use a modified snelgrove with the inner crown removed rather than compromising the BB fabric?

What about a walk out - sorry, I mean swarm? :laughing-smiley-004

Cup half full ...... a swarm means you got them through winter in the first place and they have built to a critical mass, that's a result, I can think of worse problems to have ;)

Combination complete (4 in to 2), second BB's removed, now down to tgt 4 hives. Might have a stroppy hive on my hands, hopefully just aggressive through being made queenless for a couple of days!

Offer taken up, you both know who you are, supply order is 'HB' then 'MB', hopefully we'll catch twice, I'll be in touch!