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Hard to tell from the vid - were they moving out of the way easily and not holding on to the cage with their mandibles? If they were, I take it as broadly favourable, but I would say that I'm very new to queen rearing!

Afternoon I'm looking for a bit of info I've so far failed to find in my books or via Google so just wondered if anyone here can point me at a good source please? I'm looking to understand when the different development stages such as pink eye, purple eye etc happen between castes. E.g...

I'll say. Set a swarm trap last year with a couple of drops and must have got some on my hands when putting the lid back on the bottle. Wandered into my workshop to start putting some more boxes and frames together and before I knew it I was sharing the space with a fair few very interested...

I wouldn't sacrifice brood from a strong colony to save the weak one, but would pop the weak one into a nuc as advised above and see what happens. If it comes to life, it's a bonus and if not, you haven't lost anything. I had a nuc that went into winter very weak - it was the workers left from...

All good here in South Yorkshire. My son's two colonies both came through well, one in cedar, one in poly - the poly one is going gangbusters. My cedar hive was unexpectedly strong when I checked it on Sunday, my double brood poly nuc was going well and moved into a cedar hive and much to my...

I'd recommend giving them plenty of space from early on. Maybe consider a split once there are drones about, if you've got the kit and aren't too worried about honey production - that should help with swarm control.

Welcome back! I don't post much but read occasionally and it's always good to see folk come back to a forum.

One thing that helped me get in my nasty hive; move the brood box about 6 feet away. Put a spare brood box in it's place with a crown board or roof on. Wait for half an hour or an hour. Most of the fliers will leave the moved box and return to the spare, leaving the original brood box with...

Have they got space in a super they can move it into if they want to? If it's capped, you could take a frame or two out and freeze them, then store for making up nucs or supplementing in winter and replace with a frame of foundation either side of the brood nest. Will be interested to see other...

A close relative of mine died from mesothelioma from suspected asbestos exposure decades before - it's a long, slow, unpleasant way to go. Years ago, before this relative developed the condition and I didn't really know much about it, I removed a cupboard from a house that in retrospect I...

I had a similar problem with a hive I inspected about 10 days ago - allotment rather than garden based. I took a number of stings while trying to close up and had guard bees after me for about 20 mins. Went down the next day to try and finish up what I needed to do (didn't involve going into...

Really interesting, thanks for posting that.

I've got a vine in my garden that produces pounds of grapes every year, but never seen a bee on it - or much else in the way of pollinators actually, so assume they're self pollinated I'm afraid.

Thanks - I won't be able to put them all back together until Tuesday, due to lack of time, but will go and look to correct all then, whatever the weather.

Thanks; I did wonder about jumping the gun - as I knew the weather was going to be cooler for a while and I wouldn't have a chance to get back in them for a bit, I guess I panicked and made the wrong choice. What would have been the best action - add a second brood box of foundation and leave...

Unfortunately, my only opportunity to check the bees this week, on Friday, coincided with a migraine that was then exacerbated by two hours in the sun and not enough hydration; result is I felt hideous and couldn't think clearly so suspect I've messed up my first swarm control, especially having...

I'm too new to give much advice, but I can tell you my experience; I had a 6 frame nuc in similar condition in mid Feb - seemed very busy, so in the warm spell in Feb (around 17th) I moved them up to a brood with two frames of foundation and a dummy board and insulation at the back (they also...

Ah, you'll stop fretting about the expense soon. Once you realise that the real issue is space for spare kit :icon_204-2: Seriously, every room in my house contains bee stuff, it's getting daft - random frames of comb in the kitchen, tubs of fondant in the fridge, hive parts in the...

I had a similar issue when I registered and ended up with two usernames - just ask Admin to delete whichever username you want to get rid of and they will. The dummy boards just reduce the space the bees have to manage when there's either too few bees or too much space, depending on your point...

Looked at the photos last night but I think I remember seeing a couple of bees with pollen loads - I guess that might look like pus. Chewed brood cappings made me wonder about varroa load - I'm very new but thought I saw a varroa in one cell and some evidence of varroa droppings in some cells...