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I had an empty hive, lost to a swarm last year, with drawn brood box and a half full super, that I'd been meaning to tidy away for ages now. Luckily, or perhaps not, a new swarm has moved in and made themselves at home. I'm guessing that there is no risk of them swarming away, so I plan to...

I had this a few days ago, from a hive that had previously swarmed. She was being mobbed, but they didn't seem to be harming her. There were drones landing at the time. I wondered if it was the new queen returning from a mating flight, although that was just a theory. Eventually, they all went...

Thanks for all the advice. I'll leave the comb change for now, and let them build themselves up. I'll replace any particularly awful frames individually.

Hi, thanks for replying. The existing comb is now just short of four years old. When I last looked at it, at the end of last season, a few frames had holes, there was propolis everywhere, and it just didn't look good, largely due to my neglect over the year. I plan to do a Bailey comb change...

I had a pretty poor last year; lost one of my two colonies, and let the other swarm. For various reasons, I did very little around the hives, my inspections were not frequent enough, and everything is in a bit of a mess. I hope to do better from now on, and want to start afresh. I plan to do a...

First time the weather has allowed me to get in to the hive. They've gone again. I guess, for whatever reason, they really, really wanted to be somewhere away from my apiary.

Just been reading back through the thread. A couple of points I can add... I am pretty sure the swarm came from my hive. The nearest other hive is about quarter of a mile away. I can see it across the valley from me. I believe a swarm gathers close to their original hive, so this would be too...

I went back to the hive about 3 hours after they went in. The air was full of bees, and the hive next door, which I think the swarm came from, was extremely busy around the entrance. I wonder if the swarm were robbing their original home. There was no fighting on the landing board though, so...

Well, I've walked them back in to the hive. Used a dustpan and brush to scoop them off the side of the hive on to a board. They seem happy. There were a lot of flying bees after I disturbed them, but they have pretty much all gone in now. I've put a small entrance in the opening so they've got...

Thanks for all the advice so far, everyone. I'd be really sad to lose this swarm, although it's largely my fault. This colony has been a delight to work with. I've had two stings in two years from them, one where I caught a bee between my hand and the hive tool, and one where a bee was still on...

New from Thorne last week.

Agreed. I got caught up in the supercedure thread that is going on, as what I saw mirrored what was being discussed. Consequently, I was more relaxed about doing something than I should have been. My fault I'm in this position.

Hmmm, well that didn't go as I'd hoped. I walked the bees in to the hive, and it was a beautiful thing to watch as they all traipsed up the ramp to the entrance. It was exactly how the videos show it should happen. I came in to have a celebratory cup of tea and to watch the films I'd taken of...

I found a swarm in my hedge while I was cutting my grass this afternoon. I reckon it's a swarm from my own hive as it was so close, and my inspection showed a sealed Q cell last week. If I'm lucky, I've got my own bees back. They're currently in a cardboard nuc box on the floor. The Q seems...

I wouldn't be surprised if mine were thinking about swarming, the hive is very full, and the bees are queuing up to get in at the moment. But supercedure surprises me; the queen is a good layer, loads of eggs and larvae on the comb, and she's only a 2017 queen. I think the hot Easter, followed...

I've just had exactly the same experience, except I didn't destroy the queen cell. It was my intention to split the hive today, but without finding the queen, I'm at a bit of a loss. I had to close it up in the end as I'd been searching for so long the bees were getting a bit too attentive. I...

I've been away for the weekend, and when I got home last night, there were lots of very large wasps eating my patio furniture. They were much larger than normal wasps, but not as large as hornets. Would these be queens? They are making the patio unusable with their presence.

Indeed. :cheers2:

Thank you everyone, that's very helpful.

If all goes well, it looks like my single colony has made it through the winter. I feel very exposed, having just the one colony, so I want to split this one, and go back to two (one didn't make it through winter last year). Obviously it depends on weather etc, but when should I start to think...