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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?

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!)?

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...

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 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...

If you are reuniting a split colony where one half is definitely Q- do you still need to adopt the "usual" methods of uniting (newspaper etc.) or can you just shake the bees into the one box? My assumption being that all bees in both halves are both from the same queen and no different queen...

I have a single hive (but wish to expand) - it has been slow to build up after what seemed a good start - possibly due to the odd Spring weather we've been having (or that's what I assumed as there were no signs of other problems). Inspected a week ago and very low on stores so gave then some...

Having united a Q- with a Q+ colony I've got frames left over that have quite a bit of pollen in them. How best to store these over winter? On a similar vane some of the extracted super frames have quiet a bit of pollen. Is it OK just to store these along with the rest of the super(s) and let...

I've got a hive (which had previously swarmed) that can't seem to make up it's mind what it wants to do! As a timeline (from inspections): 11 June No eggs or brood 17 June Eggs and brood (this was 36 days after a "failed" AS so presumably a Q had come into lay) 22 June Brood (couldn't...

After a failed AS I think my best option for this year is to re-unite the Q+ and Q- colonies (the Q- hive currently has a test frame in it to make sure it is really Q-). I'll try again next time!! A search on this sight found a few references to this situation and one suggested way was as...

I am trying to decide what extra equipment would be useful and many posts make reference to using a nucleus for assisting on swarm control etc. What is the advantage of using a nucleus box versus a normal sized box if the space in the normal box is temporarily restricted? My thought process...

I did a Pagden AS 25 days ago and I'm not sure if I need to be concerned: On an inspection today the Q+ hive has some sealed brood (can't see queen - haven't seen her since the AS) but no larvae - also can't see any eggs but did see one small cluster a week ago; did see some bees emerging...

I did an AS 13 days ago and the Q+ (allegedly) hive seems very slow to draw out the foundation - having seen various comments to indicate that it can be quite quick. There were some larvae 2 days ago so something is laying (never been able to actually see eggs!) - and the bees do seem busy in...

I've just done my first AS - I couldn't find the queen to begin with so I used the method in the Haynes Manual for swarm control without finding queen (although I did subsequently spot her during the "dumping" process). I have two questions: 1) The manual suggest that when you remove the top...

I've noticed in the last couple of days bees clustering in small groups on the front of the hive - and today, even though whilst the weather is warm it is by no means sunny, the bees are really covering the front. I inspected last Wednesday and I saw no evidence of queen cells and I had one...

The bees have been happily munching through fondant (put on as an insurance policy) - and are very happy with lots of pollen being returned on days like today (which was very sunny). Is it time now to stop replenishing the fondant and revert to syrup - or if the hive weight seems OK not worry...

I gave some fondant in one of the plastic containers over one of the holes in the crownboard and they've eaten it all. I want to replace it but how do I get the bees out - do I wait till they go back down of their own accord and use the other hole or is there some "magic trick"? Thanks.

I've just been using a rhombus clearer board (courtesy of Dave Cushman's website) and so I have ended up with a load of bees in the space below. Having then removed the super how do get the bees out of this space so I can put the crown board back on immediately above the lower super? Thanks in...

More out of interest than anything (rather than actually doing it - as a newbie with a relatively new hive I'm assuming it may be a step too far this year) I've been looking to see what is involved in creating a nucleus for overwintering to increase colonies. I can't find a good description of...