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Thanks again all. A job for when it has stopped raining!

So accepting the fact that it is not going to be worth buying/raising a new queen - would it be acceptable to just unite with another hive (having first dispatched the queen) rather than shaking out?

Thanks both. Definitely a DLQ from the look of the brood. Is there a risk of the DLQ finding her way into another hive if not dispatched? Whilst fully accepting your recommendations I am intrigued as to why it is not worthwhile trying to raise a new queen.

i have a "reasonably sized" swarm (collected 24th May) with a queen that appears to be only laying drone. Is it worth trying to ditch the Q and raise a new one from eggs/brood from another hive; buy in a new queen or just shake out?

Great - thanks both very much.

I would like (if possible) to unite two hives that are approximately 100m apart. Is there a way to do this without slowly moving the one hive closer to the other (3ft at at time would take an age!)?

To pick up on the comment made by Curly Green Fingers; the £2 you pay for the first three hives and any extra you pay for extra hives all goes to BDI not the BBKA. Your association/branch treasurer will make two payments - one to the BBKA for the capitation fee and one to BDI for the disease...

The lids are fine - they are not drowning in the main part of the feeder but within the central cone. It does seem to vary between hives - one hive takes the syrup with no drowning at all, a couple with perhaps only a few but one seems to be very suicidal. I know a few bees in the context of a a...

Thanks for the replies. I did indicate it is not an issue with filling (as I can see the bees move out of the way) but subsequently. Yes it is 2:1 and no problems with build up over summer.

I am using the Thorne's English feeder (it has the roughened dome and cap) and the bees keep on drowning in the syrup. Sometimes they seem to take it without drowning but in the last couple of days after topping up the sugar they seem suicidal on three separate hives. I'm not referring to when...

Interesting comments - thanks. That thought did cross my mind. I did leave it till late before moving them and there were no obvious bees clustering on the branch - the odd one still flying. Not sure what else I should have done. I did think it was too good to be true having caught a swarm the...

I did cover the floor and I also had the disc in the QE mode - but perhaps I removed both too soon. One lives and learns - it wasn't the biggest swarm but it was better than nothing!

Thanks for the input. The little darlings (!) absconded the following day so it became somewhat academic.

So if I understand correctly, spray where the bait hive was to remove scent of old queen and then take the collected bees and "dump" them out in front of the relocated hive (or shake in)? Thanks

I had a swarm arrive in a poly nuc yesterday (up in tree); waited till 21:30 last night and moved apiary position about 100m away. Added frames of foundation this morning and all seems well. However at the sight where the bait hive came from there are quite "a lot" of bees; I was going to put...

Having united a Q- hive with a Q+ (which at the time was a bit slow in building up) it is now bursting at the seams with bees (or so it seems) with bees clustering in the underfloor entrance. There are 7 frames that are well covered with BIAS. I've added a super above a QE which the bees are...

I'd second the one from Simon the Beekeper.

Thanks for the comments so far. The hive was certainly Q+ going into winter - so if she has gone AWOL it has been since then. The weather here has been dire here what with snow and rain and rain and rain... We are also at 250m so often a couple of degrees lower than down in the valley. C'est...

I have two hives which I have just had a quick look at (sunshine at last!). Both are from nucs obtained last year from the local association - so last year's queen. One hive has always seemed "busier" on nice days. The "busier" hive has three frames of brood and plenty of stores although...

I meant to put this in the Beginners Section! Probably considered a dumb question for a non-beginner! So thanks for the reply.