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Last year my bees swarmed, so I collected them and increased the number of hives I have. One of them got brood in the super which I thought was my fault. But after inspecting the hive hardware and moving her back down a number of times I came to the conclusion that she can get through the gap...

I have two national 14 x 12 hives which are half full with frames. I was going to combine them but then thought I could keep both hives separate and add some frames and foundation for them to draw and fill with feed if it isn't too late. Can anybody please give me their opinion? Thanks, Tony

Not sure if this is the right place but hopefully somebody can move it if not! I didn't put it in the for sale section as I don't want any money for them. I have 5 hives at the moment and I only want 4. I want to get rid of one but keep the hive. I'm more than happy to lend the whole hive until...

I split my hive about three weeks ago and left a couple queen cells to succeed the queen I removed. When I looked today I could still find no queen but there were new queen cells in various states of build (and some queen cups) There is also brood at various stages of development. The questions...

Hi all, I have collected two swarms this year and they are both doing okay. One has built up to almost normal size and one is still quite young and drawing comb with no brood yet (been there about a week and a half and only 4 off 14x12 frames). Reading the books it says that the best time to...

I have some supers that have been almost full for some time now. When is the best time to take them off? Can I take the full frames and just replace them with foundation? What happens to the honey if I leave them until the end of August in the hope that the last 5% of the cells get filled, does...

I use 14 x 12 National hives, just because it seemed easier when I was looking to start beekeeping. I currently have one of my hives with a single super and a queen excluder on it. Do the bees ever out grow the 14 x 12 and need extra brood space (like I imagine they might in a standard National)...

A couple of years ago I got my bees in the poly nucleus shown in the picture attached (but a 14 x 12 variety). I am now using it as a temporary hive as I have just forked out on two more National hives and can't afford another one. Can somebody tell me what goes in the small slot on the side...

My one hive swarmed about a moth ago ( another problem in another thread) but I managed to collect them and put them in a new hive. They are doing really well, with loads of new eggs and brood, but this week I also found about 6 queen cells or cups. I have torn the down this time but want ed to...

About a month ago my bees swarmed. last week I inspected to see if there was a new queen doing her stuff yet, but found no queen brood or eggs. I added a frame of eggs & brood to see if they would start some queen cells and they have. There is a single queen cell so far which is about half...

I collected a swarm (a cast from my own hive?) and put them in a 14x12 nucleus with 4 x BS super and 2 x 14x12 frames, this happened about two weeks and two days ago. I did this because I had just used up all my 14x12s on the first swarm. I now have another standard National hive built and...

I collected a swarm a couple of weeks ago and finally got round to buying a new National hive for them. The issue I have is that I temporarily housed them in a 6 frame 14x12 nuc but only had 3 x super frames and 3 x 14x12 frames. From memory I think there are 3 and then 3 (not mixed up). Now, I...

I've just collected a second swarm but used up my spare frames on the first lot. I have temporarily housed them in a 14x12 nuc, filled with National super frames. I will order some frames today but they won't arrive until mid week. Alternatively, is there anything else I can do? I live in the...

I am in my second full year of beekeeping so I'm relatively new to beekeeping. Last night when I came home from work (about 18:00) I had a mass (maybe a thousand or so) of bees on the outside of the hive. This hive had already swarmed last week so I wasn't sure what was going on. Looking at...