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Hello All. Just to let you know, i found another white eyed drone in the same hive i found one in last year and the year before. The Queen has been in this hive for three years and every year she gives me a present of only one white eyed drone. She has been a good Queen and i do not want to kill...

Has anyone out there ever noticed buckfast queens change colour. A couple of months ago, my three buckfast queens were a light brown, now they are a dark brown. They are of various ages, from three years to one year. The hives are in two different places. my black bees are in a different place...

Has anyone had problems introducing a queen of a different race into any hive. I am almost sure it makes no difference, as long as the bees need a queen. ianf.

Hi all. Would anyone know where i could find a supplier of wood planks to make national brood boxes. Softwood will be ok, ceder would be the best but may be too expensive. I looked online but could not find the correct size. I have made supers from softwood before and treated them with wood...

Has any beekeepers out there tried the Walker Desmond fruit or wine press. For extracting heather honey. I understand they are on the small side but could be useful. I only have one hive at the heather. I am on the Isle of Islay and am almost sure there is not one i could borrow. I don't want...

Hi All. The nice surprise i had yesterday was to watch the queen inspecting a cell and then laying an egg in the cell. I was in the middle of an inspection when this happened. Also there were two bees doing a waggle dance on the same frame. I have not seen this before, so it was a nice surprise...

Good Morning all. I have a very basic question, and i know there are some very clever people out there, which i am sure can give me an answer. I have a hive of bees which i inspected a couple of days ago. Doing very well with a lot of bees. But not one drone, would they swarm without any drones...

Has anyone out there come across a drone with white eyes. I did an inspection this morning. There he was in the brood box. Never seen one before. I am thinking it could be a genetic mutation and a one off, or could it be more serious. Of the two hives i have in the area there was only the one...

Has anyone had any trouble with hives near or close to silage pits. I have two hives near home with no silage pits within miles. No problem with these bees. I also have two hives on a farm about four miles away, which are quite close (about 25mtrs) to a silage pit. One of the colonies killed the...

This spring i bought a pollen colour guide from th**nes for £1.04. Very good used it quite a bit durring the year. A couple of weeks ago i got another one from ebay, for £5.00 (+£1.00 p&p). I assumed because of the price it would be an update, and was expecting a small book. No Way. It was the...

I have been helping a friend out with his two hives. one of the hives had a lot (ten to fifteen) of sealed queen cells, both bottom and mid frame. ten were opened and found to be empty. the others were left, hoping there was a new queen in there. could not find the resident queen. a lot of...

is there anybody out there who has looked after buckfast bees in Scotland. I have been thinking of a buckfast queen, to be introduced into a nuc with a couple of frames from my native scottish black bees. This would be in an out apirary, aprox four miles away, so there would be no crossing. If...

would anybody know, how long do queeless carniolans live for. I have a hive which has been queenles since Oct 2010. Went through the winter ok. Come spring, I had laying workers. I dont want to put a new queen in, I am sure the bees would kill her. The old workers are still going strong...