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As I'm having to give up beekeeping (bad allergic reaction to a sting), I'm clearing out my equipment. I currently have 2 new flatpack 14 x 12 red cedar brood boxes (seconds) ex Th***es at £25 each for sale and also 57 new 14 x 12 brood frames (seconds) also ex Th***es at 0.70p each. PM me if...

* 2013 Marked Queen (Buckfast origin) * Gentle bees that are lovely to work with * Brood at all stages * 6 frame nuc Bees + Poly Nuc Box £120 PM me if interested

I have been feeding my bees since the end Aug with commercial syrup ex ****** and I have 2 hives that have taken 30L and 28L respectively already. Now I'm beginning to wonder whether I should stop feeding them or whether to carry on until they stop taking it down. Would appreciate your...

Apologies in advance if this has been asked before - but I was wondering what the alternatives are for queen marking. I currently use the std pens from Th**nes which are ok but seem to wear off in a couple of months. I'd rather only have to mark once and so I wondered if anyone had any...

I have a full colony for sale - frames and bees - on 14x12 National 2011 marked queen - approx 4-5 frames brood Good temperament £125 Please send Personal Message if interested

Hello! I bought a Maisemore jumbo feeder this year to reduce syrup 'top up' frequency. I've put it on top of the crown board .. the holes don't match up but I'm not sure if this is a problem or not. I tried running some syrup down the holes but the bees still haven't sussed out that there's...

Hello! I'm hoping that someone can help me make sense of the 100s dead bees on the floor outside one of my hives. I inspected the colony on Friday and all was well and everything still looked normal yesterday evening. However, this lot do have a tendancy to hang around the entrance in clusters...

Hello! I have 2 colonies that have 2011 queens having swarmed earlier in the season. They have just built up nicely - but now are producing queen cells. I have knocked them down for now - but wondered what your advice would be going forwards. Does it make sense to AS at this stage in the...

Hello! I've tried treating with Hiveclean for the past 3 weeks ... ok results but still a hefty mite drop. Saw an article on Apivar. I recognise its status is 'questionable' in UK but wondered if anyone knew a reliable source to purchase it from .. either UK / EU ??

Hello! Just wondering if anyone had tried this and if it was any good .. there has to be an alternative to swelling up like a balloon :(

I carried out a AS yesterday but the new colony (with old queen) tried to swarm today anyway. I have a QE underneath the brood box so the queen couldn't leave - they're currently all hanging around the front of the hive. Assuming they call it a day and roll back in .. what do I do now? Will...

Just wondering if anyone had tried this .. I have a colony that for several good reasons at the time didn't get treated last autumn. They're now in full production but I suspect that a varroa treatment wouldn't do any harm judging from the floor tray. I don't want to take the super off .. so I...

My hives are currently on a brood and a half (Nationals) and I am looking to move over to 14 x 12 to still have plenty of brood space and reduce inspection complexity. My plan was to AS using the 14 x 12 for the existing queen & flying bees. However, I was wondering how to overcome the problem...

Hello again! I've been having a nightmare this year with a dodgy nuc that I purchased back in May. To cut a long story short, it swarmed for the third time last week. I found 6 queen cells on Friday and went in today to remove them having established that requeening at this time of years...

I need a new queen and wondered if anyone knew of a reputable source in the Derbyshire area? .. or UK generally by post. If at all possible I would prefer I UK queen rather than an import.

I hope you can help me! I was advised to remove the QE from one of my hives and run it as a brood and a half .. but I don't know how to inspect this set up. Top box first or bottom? Any tips? .. soooo confusing! :willy_nilly: Thanks!

I have 2 colonies that are currently bursting at the seams with bees. I want to get them ready for Winter but I don't think they will happily all fit in the brood box at the moment. How do I proceed? Do I just take the supers off and start my varoa treatment (apilife var) or wait for the...

I've just found a queen bumble bee dying on the path. She had at least 10-15 beige mites on her upper thorax. I know this site is for honey bees but thought that this warranted a mention. I'm hoping that these don't go for honey bees too.