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Hello all, I bought my first plastic foundation for my supers to try it out a couple of years ago - and I've rather fallen in love with them. I'm keen to try them in my brood frames - but no-one appears to make them for 14x12 frames - only National and Langstroth. I read (here, I think?) a...

Hello, I work in a school, and was called on Friday to investigate a "gathering of bees" in the corner of a building. I went and had a look, saw all of about 30 bees, and thought they looked like bumbles - but a bit odd they were flying around the guttering 2 floors up... Various thoughts went...

Apologies if this is REALLY obvious - I'm guessing just crystalisation in one jar, but the crusty top, I have no idea! This was extracted last year, and has been sitting on a shelf ever since - could you let me know what has happened to each jar, and what, if anything, I can do about it? I...

Hello all, I collected a couple of tiny swarms last year, which I did easily in a National correx nuc box I bought my first bees in. This works well, the lid hinges fully open, so I can bash bees into it, close it up, and there there is a little flap on the bottom that I can leave open to allow...

Now in year three, I am quite determined to do away with the several national brood frames I have in my 14x12 hives - they're making the inevitable mess with brave comb, as you can imagine. In the past, I've been too scared of upsetting the colony by removing brood and stores - but really want...

The Yalding and District Beekeepers’ Association proudly announces its first annual Honey Bee Fayre and Auction – due to be held on Sunday 13th May 2012, in Yalding, Kent. An auction has been held on the site in Yalding for beekeepers for many years, but this is the first year we are extending...

I had some slightly unfortunate luck with queen introduction last year - I have little doubt it's all my fault - but I am keen to improve on that this year! I've done some serious reading over the winter, and feel far better educated as a result. One of things one book suggested was that...

Hello all, Quick question - if I wanted to change my 14x12 national from cold way to warm way - can I just "do it" - or will my little bees be terribly confused? Anything I need to consider when doing it? Thanks!

I don't think I'll comment... I'll just post, and watch... ...

Hello all, I've been toying with the idea of purchasing a small observation hive, which I could take into a local nursery school (which my sister owns), in order to show all the little people the bees, without fear of them being stung, or being unduly scared of them! I have been looking...

Hello all, I've managed to take a few low quality images using a webcam through the lens of my microscope - would you mind taking a look, and seeing if you think they have nosema? I don't think they do... but don't really know what I'm looking at!!! Colony A: Colony B: Pay no...

Hello all, Before spending out on Fumidil-B for my 3 colonies, I thought I would have a go and looking to see if my bees actually HAVE nosema first... I collected bees from the entrance yesterday, froze for 24 hours, thawed this evening and got busy chopping them in half, and mashing up the...

Hello, I posted a little while ago, as I had an invasion of wax moth on a weak colony - it was suggested I unite it, as the season is rapidly drawing to a close - which I did. I removed the (by then) decimated frames, and united them with a stronger nuc - they are now doing very well...

Hello, I found wax moth larvae in one of my colonies today - I extracted all I could see, but have no doubt there is still some in there. They only appear to be on 1 frame at present, which is not really being used by the bees. The frame in question has quite a lot of pollen stored in it -...

Is there still reasonable time to raise a queen from egg, and get her mated in time for winter? I would hazard a guess at yes, assuming we get a bit of nice weather... :confused:

Just thought I would run this by you all... I collected an absolutely miniscule swarm from a trampoline back on 19th May - and have been determined to get it to be a productive colony this year - it had been going quite well - albeit rather slow. My queen started laying quite quickly, and the...

Was thinking about this today... Does a worker bee know the difference between a fertilised and unfertilised egg? Also - if one has a drone laying queen, and she is popping out unfertilised eggs all over the place, the workers seem quite happy to raise the drones in worker cells - how does...

Still rather new to this beekeeping lark, I had my 2nd ever phone call about a swarm yesterday (Saturday), it sounded superb, 2ft off the ground, in a bush, happy to hack the bush about - couldn't be better. I collected, and everything went amazingly well - into a nuc box, delivered to where my...

As many of you may remember - my trials and tribulations with my supposedly largest colony a couple of weeks ago, here: http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11248 It might be wishful thinking (although I don't think so...), but that colony with all the troubles might be showing...