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One of my colonies was pretty aggressive last autumn and carried on trying to ding me for a while even after the hive was closed up. It was a swarm I collected on 20 May 2020 without any trouble and gave 28lb of honey in August. It overwintered with a super under the brood box and is still...

Day time temperatures moving into double figures most days so is it safe to start feeding with syrup as hives getting a bit light?

Hi all. I need to have approx 2 kg of runny summer honey delivered to an Ellesmere Port address early next week. Unpasteurised and water content no more than 18%. Cleaned out plastic 4 pint milk container would be good enough. Any offers gratefully received.

First time for me, but I guess not for other members. Extracted about 20 pounds of runny honey yesterday, but there's still another 7 or 8 pounds of crystallised honey left in the frames. I'm trying to melt it out but so far I've just produced a sludge of soft collapsed wax mixed up with melted...

Just noticed ivy round here coming into bud. Seems a bit early but I've never really checked in previous years when this starts. Is this normal, or does it mark the end of summer, an early autumn and long cold winter?

Just popped down to check on a largish swarm I hived three days ago. They had already drawn down the syrup I left with them and working on comb. However, there was a fair sized bee cluster on the front of the stand and stand leg, also round the side of the BB. I cant think they were there...

I have three hives together in one apiary. No 1 is with an over wintered queen. 4 supers of partly filled comb, and a brood box busting with bees with plenty of capped brood waiting to emerge, although not much growth over the past few weeks. No 2 is a swarm I picked up 6 weeks ago. The brood...

As I understand the daily timetable of workers, they spend approx. one third of their time doing their chores, one third socialising and one third resting. But these are not eight hour shifts and they jump from one thing to another quite often. Is there any evidence that they carry on with this...

Hi all. I'm thinking of trying out some super frames without foundation. Plan is a narrow strip of balsa at the top of each frame to get them going. Also alternating in the super with frames with foundation. Is this likely to work out ok?

3 swarms in two days, 5 in seven - same poor guy's garden! Is that a record?

Sorry to be a bit thick but I have read so much stuff about swarm control/colony increase every one with a different method (and with typos/mistakes that make the whole thing meaningless) that I would really appreciate some guidance on the best strategy to follow. Effectively I have one mega...

I have two hives side by side on the same stand, each with a super above the QE. One is drawing comb and building it up as the nectar comes in, just as you would expect. The other is drawing comb, but as brace comb, between the frames and proud of the foundation. In some cases the comb is almost...

One of my smaller colonies came through the winter ok and the queen started to lay, but has now stopped and only a few capped brood cells remain. So if she was past it why didn't the workers supersede while they had the chance? Are they suicidal or just plain dumb?

Looking through the stack of super boxes they seem to have been host to quite a lot of wildlife. A few slugs, one or two dead bees in cells, spiders' webs and what looks suspiciously like mouse droppings. How much of the clean up job can be left to the bees? Some of the wax is a bit grubby. Can...

Last year I ran my brood boxes with wall to wall frames but they get jammed in hard with propolis. So this year I want to reduce frames by one. I was going to add a dummy board, but on second thoughts a follower board might be better. So what do you use dummy boards for?

It seems like a lot of members are already opening up brood boxes for inspections. Is it too early? Round here daytime temperatures are only just starting to touch 14/15 deg, and I have been holding off anything more than a quick peek to feed etc. until next month. What is the risk of swarming...

If the bees are bringing in pollen, does that mean they are also bringing in nectar and/or the queen is starting to lay?

I like the design of the Paynes poly OMF. Any reason why not to use them with wood brood boxes? How do they compare with Maisemore's poly floors?

Vegan Honey from Bury St Edmunds at our local market. Priced at £5.00 for 190 gm. Bit high for lavender flavoured golden syrup though.