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Thanks. Yes think I will and use a hive strap so secure

Thanks I’m trying polyhives in one apiary this year. I once bought a colony in a Paradise hive so have stuck with that one but suspect there are better out there now. I love my WBCs in my home and one other apiary, bees over winter well but just too much work to have in all out apiaries. Only...

Good start to the year down in South Yorkshire with plenty of drones flying & mature, not there yet in my part of west Yorks. Dandelion just starting to change the comb colour up here too, they really are covered in bright yellow pollen coming back to the hive this week. Was still goat willow...

Think my colony is in crisis and from what I’ve seen the queen has just stopped laying so they had no option but to supersede. I’m sure they would have preferred to have left it a bit longer. As you say not many mature drones about. Will see if they’ve chosen an older larva next inspection. Will...

You’ll probably be fine down in the Gower, much further south, up here talking to a few experienced beekeepers they’ve not known successful mating til May and don’t start queen rearing til then.

Had quite a shift yesterday afternoon. Went round remaining 7 colonies, re-marked & clipped queens. Swopped a few winter stores frames with empty drawn comb. Changed a couple of floors, teak oiled WBC lifts in the sunshine. Decided to unite 2 colonies, one is out-growing it's double Nuc with 6...

Thanks, Kirsty came to our association and gave a talk & we followed up with a visit to the NBU at York. She showed up combs of EFB / EFB, Asian hornets. V interesting. Really bright, lovely person.

Agree, far better to keep monitoring and act before becomes an issue

Only use one pair of long cuff nitriles now. Started off with leather in first year, then marigolds, then 2 pairs of nitriles, now one pair of nitriles. Find it easier to pick up queens and can feel vibration of workers so I know if they are about to sting and can gently move them. A tip is I...

With supers on? If take off could it trigger swarm impulse as more congested? Guess could add spare supers with foundation...What do you do?

Think people either love them or hate castellations. I’ve just put them into all my super boxes, having previously used comb spacers on lugs which the spacing isnt optimum and can rattle around in transportation I’ve found. I have WBCs mainly so I fitted 10s for drawing comb and 9s for drawn...

Can see the logic of a shook swarm for EFB (leave that to the bee inspector) and also for very high levels of varroa when there is no other option ie mid summer, v hot and formic acid would potentially do harm to the queen / colony. Haven’t done one on my my colonies, though when I took my...

Inspected both colonies at home. 12 frames of brood in my only double brood colony, at home. Blimey, never known them to be so far advanced up here (1000 ft up in south Pennines). Bringing in lots of willow pollen and nectar. Neighbour reported he’d seen a swarm on a willow tree, transpired it...

Isn’t it interesting how temper can change...have often wondered if it’s environment as much as genetics. Had a similar colony re temper last year and when opened up this year, sooo gentle in comparison & coming on the best in that apiary. Early days but hoping they stay that way

Nice looking queen!

Our songthrush has just had chicks on her nest in a birch tree close to our house. Our little cat is now grounded much to her disgust 😻🐣

Maybe someone could ask Dave Goulson why the Bumblee conservation trust are so anti-honeybees, when we should be working together to solve the plight of our pollinators? He's speaking next Wednesday ev with Cambridge beekeepers and founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. I would ask myself...

Thanks for your comments, agree. Will carry on pricking out more wildflower seedlings for a new meadow area I'm planting. Prepped it last autumn, spent days digging off old turf, gathering yellow rattle from my other meadow and sowing some locally collected seed. Pricked out 600 seedlings into...

What are your views on the latest grauniad article? Plight of pollinators out competed by the honeybee, on the back of M&S supporting 1000 new hives as part of their support for farmers and pollination. In grand scheme of things represents just 0.4% increase in the number of hives & the...

Great, please about that! Even now, I get paranoid when i see 'poo' outside the hive. Goes back to my first season, when I was sold a couple of nucs riddled with nosema. What a state they were in (one dead and one just alive) after the winter :(