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Can I do anything to recycle laying worker brood comb. I have removed it following a shake out. Do I throw it away or can I rework it. It has capped and uncapped drone brood in it.

I am looking to combine a couple of Nucs to one or two of my hive. I want to try and do this to maximise the potential for honey. At the same time, I am not comfortable squishing a perfectly good queen! Can I transfer frames of capped brood from the nucs and just slot them into the hives. If so...

A simple question from a simple person, which probably has a simple answer. Do drone cells from brood cycle 1, contain drones on brood cycle 2? I.e if you have a DLQ, do you need to scrap the comb?

Hi all, I am after a method of uniting a Nuc with a queenless hive. There is a floor in the Nuc so I can't place it on top. Do I need to transfer the Nuc into a brood first and combine the two brood boxes. There is room in the hive to fit the frames of the Nuc. Is there any way of uniting side...

I have a hive that has been suspected queenless for about 4 weeks. No sign of any eggs or new brood. 9 days ago, I introduced a new buck fast queen. The cage clip was removed 8 days ago. I have looked today and the new queen is fine and well. However there is considerable capped and uncapped...

Hi, is anyone else getting a build up of tar like substance in their smoker? I use mostly cardboard as fuel but I am getting a large build up which is causing the lid to stick. Any tips for cleaning it off?

Can I move a frame containing a capped QC from one hive into another that is suspected queenless? For that matter, could you also move an uncapped QC?

Does anyone know of any good deals on wired queen excluders. Or preferably just the wire out of the excluder (ie not the wooden frame). I have looked on Thornes and C W Jones, but the postage is killing it. Thanks

I carried out an AS on 16th April. I reduced down to two QC's on 21st. I collected a swarm from near by on 2nd may. I have had a quick look today. No sign of HM or eggs, although the cells were polished. The hive was very low on stores, although there was quite a bit of pollen. My question is...

I collected a swarm on Tuesday from my own hives. I placed it in a new brood box, placed a QE underneath and a crown board (with two holes) on top followed by an empty super and a feeder. I wanted to remove the QE today, conscious that the queen may have to go on a mating flight. As I lifted the...

This may be counting my chickens before they have hatched, but I have been looking at honey jar prices? Has anyone found any good deals for 8 and 12 oz jars? I prefer hexagon but they don't have to be. Thanks.

Is there are bee type that has a lower swarming tendencies, and if so, can you requeen with this type of queen, regardless of the type of bees you have. I don't know what type of bees mine are. I got them off a commercial beekeeper in May 2013 as a nuc. Within weeks they has created queen cells...

I caught a small swarm of bees yesterday. I popped them in a nuc box with a frame of stores and a frame of brood. Some of the brood frame was open, and some was sealed. If the swarm abscond, how long have I got before the brood frame dies? Should it be placed back into the parent hive for...

Following on from my thread "what on earth do I do now" I have had a disaster. The swarm that was left open in the pair of supers has completely gone. But what I have found more alarming was the other swarm that I collected and closed in. I opened the entrance and no bees came out, so I had a...

Found this by my hive. I can reach it off a chair.

Hi, I have someone who can supply used plastic buckets in 5 and 10 litre sizes. They are used, and used to have yoghurt and mayonnaise in them. If cleaned out can they be used as honey storage buckets? Is there any restrictions on using used food buckets?

I was half way through a bailey comb change when I had to carry out an AS. The outcome of this means that I have a the old queen, who seems to be laying very well, in a new brood box with new foundation that is being drawn fast. There is also two supers on top. My question is :- are they likely...

I have just made up a nuc by taking a spare frame with a capped queen cell after my AS. I added two more frames of brood with bees, a frame of capped stores from storage, and a frame of foundation. I have placed them all in a NYC box and placed the lid on. I then stuffed the hole with grass...

I asked this question in a separate thread but it got buried. A day after an AS I sat and watched the bees coming and going. Surprisingly the majority of the bee traffic(say 80%) were going to the new location where the queen cells and brood were. I would have thought the majority of the flyers...

Ok so I am struggling now and need some help. I started a Bailey comb change last week. I checked on it today with the intention of adding a queen excluder and new entrance above the bottom brood. I moved the top brood box to one side and went through each frame. Not all had been drawn but there...