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I'm posting this in the beginners forum as I am still a beginner, and I urgently need your advice, so if I should post this in a different sub-forum, please do forward as appropriate. . I keep a colony of bees in at a local major tourist site which has formal gardens as well as mature trees. I...

Checked an active and apparently healthy colony twice now, two weeks apart, since the temp here in the Highlands reached 11degC. No brood on either occasion - should I be worried? If not, at what point should I be worried? The queen is marked. I didn't find her on either occasion, but I didn't...

... apart from the obvious, before you jump in on that...! As a relatively new beekeeper, I've experienced a few stings in different places, mostly wrists and arms. I've discovered that there are a few bad places to be stung, resulting in a reaction that lasts a few days, and I'm wondering if...

As the title suggests... do you know? Maybe it's as a proportion of the full colony. I'm sure someone sometime must have counted them... Background: I'm writing a blog about some differences between bumblebees and honeybees and I couldn't find an answer from a quick search. Grateful for info...

... Well, sort of. At the first day in nearly a week with temps over 14deg i needed to do an artificial swarm on my one (strong) colony. I'd like to share my experiences here in the hope that other beginners may benefit. This was my first AS and as the queen was not marked, I chose to do a...

I've been holding off on doing my first inspection of the year until the weather was warm enough so this afternoon was the right time. I saw lots of capped brood on 4-5 frames and a bit of drone brood, but no drones or Queen cells (or play cups). They are on brood+a half, plenty of empty cells...

I've searched in books and on the forum - maybe I've missed it, but why is washing soda recommended as a cleaning agent for beekeeping equipment? Is there harm in using washing up liquid? Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

Hi all, I started keeping bees this year in May with a prime swarm. The Queen was getting on a bit, and was superceded in July/August with the new Queen now back and been laying for just over three weeks now. The colony size is small but building now the new Queen is laying well. My question...

I came across this old film on you tube - I don't know if it's been shared before but it's worth sharing again [emoji93] Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

Just checked the hive and there were a small number of Queen cells, one with a grub in it. I destroyed them all as none were capped. The Queen has slowed down laying but there are still open brood (non much though) and closed brood (a fair bit). Little bit of drone brood too. Would they be...

Please bear with me... I'm thinking I will probably have to divide my single strong colony and I have a couple of questions : 1. How is a split different to an artificial swarm? 2. If they're different, when would I choose to employ either method? 3. What's your preferred AS method? Sent...

My bee friend collected a small swarm yesterday in a box, which I shook into a new brood box that evening. All seems good when I looked from a short distance today, and my plan is to check out the feeder this evening and top up as required, without going into the brood box just yet for a nosey...

Hello! I'm soon to be a novice beekeeper, although I've had the books and some equipment for a few years sitting in my shed. I live north of Inverness in a cottage in the woods. I also love walking my dogs, baking, crafting and occasionally find time to make some music too. I work for a...