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Hi all, I have previously painted a couple of my poly nucs with masonry paint, but did not use a primer. Equally, the pre-painted poly hives I have from Abelo don't seem to have been primed. In both cases, a couple of years down the line, there has been some limited degradation of the paint...

14x12 (Jumbo) BS National High-density Polystyrene Beehive (+ 2 supers complete with clean, drawn comb), containing a healthy honeybee colony, headed by a 2023 Queen. Collection only from Loughborough area. Due to downsizing, we have the above for sale - priced at £350. More details below...

Hi all, Was looking at my wife's hive with her this afternoon. This is a very advanced colony for this time of year. 14x12, with 8 frames of BIAS - much of it wall to wall. Great looking brood pattern, cappings, and larvae.The bees were great in number, and were calm and healthy-looking. There...

QQ - If you (UK) guys have the odd colony to sell to the great unwashed, could I please learn where you have success advertising? The specific reason I ask is that I have previously used both Gumtree and Pre-loved, but these have become a royal PITA, as the AI bots routinely reject ads with...

Hi all, thoughts on this are appreciated. Attached is a video taken at the entrance of my Warre hive today, before the storm. It being mild, the bees were out on (presumably cleansing) flights, and some corpses were being ejected. So all fairly positive, and, for now at least, it appears the...

Hi All - I thought this might be interesting. There are a couple of surprises here, and it just goes to show that what you generally understand/perceive to be the case, is not always true. I have today done some analysis on the hive monitoring data from my Warre hive, which is in my garden, and...

I am hoping someone can explain what has happened/what I have done wrong here. I have one little Apidea, which I have had for a few years, and have used - problem-free - for banking QCs, and getting these emerged/mated. Basically set (by adding a cupful of nurse bees from a couple of colonies...

So, a bit over 3 weeks ago, having seen charged cells, I executed a Wally Shaw variant of the 'modified' Snelgrove II. Having undertaken the second part of the manoeuvre, which involves the move of the Queen from its then cell-free unit (where the swarming instinct has abated) to the flying...

Hi all, a couple of years ago, I started to notice what looked like sawdust, beneath boxes of brood frames stored over winter. I initially thought it was the result of some mite/insect working on the frames; but it's evident that the woodwork is fine; indeed, apart from some ragged edges to the...

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone could direct me to any kind of succinct information about how to interpret changes in the acoustic output of a colony... An article, blog, section of a well known book etc... For example I think I know (from the Seeley and other sources) that piping (indicative...

Well... Not so much a dilemma; more me entering squeaky bum territory, and curious as to what others think/would do. I am entering season 3 with this colony (of lovely black bees from a swarm capture). They fly at insanely low temperatures, and have been by far the busiest of my 20ish colonies...

Take the hypothetical situation that a beekeeper had decided over the previous weekend (it being v. cold) to move some hives between locations to help configure apiaries for the spring. This being, say, a complete village idiot, he then tries to manhandle a well provisioned hive (>30kg) off a...

Hi all. So: all (20 or so) colonies I run went into winter with extremely generous stores, and having had an Autumn treatment (either MAQS or Apilife VAR). They are a mix of poly and cedar hives. On Jan 2nd, all were flying, and all were hefted. Though a couple were light-ish (to the extent that...

Having kept bees for a number of years now, I think I have seen most things; at least to the extent that, when things start to happen at a colony (or bee) level, I can generally work out WHY. This year not so, and it's becoming very dispiriting. The first thing to say in general is that...

... specifically their black queens ... Does anybody on the Forum have any expecience of these, and their permformance? I'd be very keen to hear any anecdotal feedback; most specifically as to their temperament/docility. I bought one a couple of months ago, and was wearing my "bad beekeeper"...

Hi - I know I should have planned this properly, but I thought it would come to me easily (but it is not). Situation: - I have some Queen cells - produced from grafting into Nicot cups - due to emerge on Thursday (more next week) - to avoid the risk of an early emergence playing havoc, roller...

Please... As I have no idea how to read this. A couple of my colonies, with perfectly good 2020 Queens, laying extremely well (pattern, vigour) etc... are throwing up properly formed Queen cells ... One or two... So, possible supersedure intentions, but none of said cells have brood food/royal...

Snelgrove II dilemma - thoughts on a postcard, please. So, I have a 'green queen' (into her 3rd season), who has been continuing to lay well, with the colony becoming very strong. All things being equal, I might either expect supersedure later in the season, and, failing that would have planned...

Quick question on super castellations. On my own supers, I simply pin the castellations to the inside of the box. Given the pre-drilled holes, and the ease with which I can pull these off and e.g. replace with runners, I would think this is what most people do (?). Maybe I'm mistaken. Over the...

A couple of weeks ago (start of March) I went to heft (and inspect fondant levels on) colonies in my main out-apiary. At the time, I was being vigilant only as the bees were becoming more active, beginning brood rearing (evidenced by copious pollen gathering) and also as I only had a couple of...