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I know I should know this, but after inspecting one hive today, I saw a large well formed QC slap in the middle of a frame of brood. I have assumed that this is supercedure. I ask because on the last frame there appeared to be what looked like two QCs adjacent to each other (sorry , no...

Hi Thanks in advance for advice/ideas. Hive 1: 08.05.16 - found Q cells in hive. Carried out AS. At the time, cells small and for what I could see, just beyond egg stage. Left one Q cell. (Hive two now created.) 15.05.16 - removed new Qcells, bar the one left originally. Qcell not yet...

Found drone brood, sealed, in my supers today (I have two supers on, and the drone brood an be found in both). However, they are spread out, ie in patches of two or three (some on their own), approx 8-ish on each super, and on about 4 frames on each super. The supers they are in are those...

Hopefully, in the next year or so, I will be moving house. If I tried to run a few brood boxes on wire free frames, would they break when transporting them? Sorry if it is a silly question. Just trying to plan ahead. Sally Ps accidentally put a couple of wire free frames from supers in the...

Hi All Sorry if this has already been added / dealt with, I have done search but cannot find what I am after. Question: can anybody provide a foolproof way of dealing with wax. My issue is the mess and the loss of wax through cooling before I can filter it. This is the second time of...

I am thinking of making some bilberry jam with honey instead of sugar. I know I have read somewhere that because honey is sweeter, you need less honey than if you were using sugar. Liquid may also be a factor (sugar isn't liquid, honey is, therefore I may need to adjust for that too)...

Trying to work out EXACTLY what my bees are bringing into the hive is far from simple (for me, at least). I see a vast variety of colours of pollen following on from the OSR flow. Therefore, when extracting, is it possible to predict how likely honey is to crystallise soon? I would like to do...

A question about my bees. My three hives have new queens, and were laying eggs within approx two weeks of each other. Today all three hives were a bit chippy. More so than usual, ie I received about 3 stings and my boyfriend received 2. Therefore I am curious to know which of the following...

OK, sorry all if this had been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find anything. Here goes. I normally sterilise jars before using them (new or otherwise). However, how do I clean those plastic boxes for cut comb? I have bought some from Ts, but worry about whether I should be...

Hi All Thanks in advance for answers to this one. Scenario. Hive attempted to swarm. Thought I had removed all unrequited QCs bar one. However I nuc I leave out (just in case) was discovered a week later with a swarm in it. I assumed it was mine from the hive I had sorted. Therefore I...

Hi All I have recently read in a bee book that you can use super frames with starter strips of wax as a form of swarm prevention. So here are a few questions I have, and would appreciate input from any of you more knowledgeable people 1. How successful is using starter strips as a form of...

OK, just a quick question, and hopefully you can help. I am in the process of sorting out some supers to store for winter that I have taken off. There were a couple of drops of honey on the top of the frame tasted nutty (possibly dropped from the supers above, that I haven't yet dealt with)...

Sorry, no photos...but went to check on the bees yesterday and found, in a spare nuc complete with frames, what looked like a small bumblebees nest. There were grubs in the nest, i.e. approx 6 - 12 cells / grubs could be seen (didn't want to keep it open too long), the cells were no sealed...

Went to check my hives today. Was going to open up quickly and have a look to see how things are in both hives...but when I got there I found that somebody has been in the barn where I keep some of my kit and stolen my smoker. In the end, given the lack of a smoker and my cowardly nature...

Or more to the point, is it easy (-ish!) to distinguish between a mated queen and a DLQ...and does a non mated queen sit somewhere in the middle? Or am I missing the point (suspect quite likely). Thanks in advance to those 'in the know' Sally

Opened up one of my hives this afternoon. Only drone brood, and not much stores, and most of the stores they had had gone hard (very different to my other hive that has lots of stores). I assumed. A DLQ, and decided to try nd resolve the situation. But now at home, wondering whether his was...

Weather is 9.5C here. I am off on holiday tomorrow for a week, and am worried about my poly nuc. I am near OSR, so was expecting to put them into a full hive (10 frames) this weekend as a temporary measure until I found them a new home (what does everyone do with all the extra bees they...

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, but would like to get some mesh for making travel screens / super storing screens (if that makes sense). Couldn't find what I was after in the local DIY shop today. Where would be best to source some at a reasonable price (a rough idea of possible...

OK, I'll come clean. I really enjoy the photos that appear on this forum. They are uploaded for a variety of reasons, but I wondered if the forum runs competitions...mainly because I would love to see some of the entries, and it would feed my love of these. I have done a search and ca't...

I am sure I have read on here recently (tried to find it but can't), that fondant doesn't case the same 'stir' amongst the bees as syrup. Did I read this right? I am just trying to think ahead really, i.e. if I need to top up my hives / nucs with fondant in winter, I could do it even on a...