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Hi All, Finally, today caught the elusive Queen (now departed 😂) in the “Queenless” hive....united the orphans with a neighbor.

Thanks Oliver, more food for thought ....and action! Have to confess that i’ve never been looking for “polished cells” hard enough to find eggs in them , but I’ll look up how to identify them and when next I have a fellow beek over get them to show me. Other 2 hives way ahead 4-6 frames fully...

Hi John, Think I’ll always be relatively new to having bees, but yes I have had them since 2018. Presently three hives(profile updated) last year was first time got 3 supers honey of the two other hives. They are on single bb’s Yes, you might be right about the “nectar bound”...

Thanks Enrico, I need to get a better handle on keeping historical records of my hives which change via splits/ artificial swarms/ combinations or those who did their own thing! She was late Queened and an Autumn combination no real chance to check laying pattern. I...

Hi All, This was my first experience of possible Queenlessness so be gentle! When I looked in the hive for first time at the of March there was only a handful of capped brood no eggs, larvae or Queen seen. (She was last years Q had Queened themselves though Q not found) On next...

Thanks,everyone.

Hi Again, As an after thought, what is the best strategy to get the super comb drawn out from foundation now that I have a couple of supers worth of drawn comb? Do I keep the drawn comb together or do I mix foundation with drawn comb or do I keep foundation only in a...

Hi, Thanks, Eric,Pargyle and Drdrday.....yep it was surely confusion on my part that led to these results, however I’ll take on board all your points. I’ll clean them up now discarding the weirdest ,leaving bees to fine tune. I did use Manley frames...photo reduction (like bees ) caused a bit...

Thanks JBM.

Hi, Thanks Tasi man and Drex for your replies. Your both on the same page when you say I could shave off excess. Q, is the best time normally to do this after uncapping while frames wet and wax soft, or as now before putting them on when supering? Re your Q’s Drex...they all had foundation...

Hi All. Up until last year, when I finally got super combs drawn and filled (3 supers) my concern had only been how to get the bees to drawn out said comb. Now that I have it, I realise that there is more to it and would appreciate any tricks or tips to improve the quality of the used...

Update. Thanks for feedback, but I decided to play my hand out! When I went into the brood nuc this am , girls very quiet and calm, went through frames again but no sign of any Queen nor were they too disturbed. They were paying the caged Q little attention though some did appear to...

Hi All My goal was to introduce a new Q to a v defensive hive. I had recently found and marked 3 new Qs in nucs , so I believed I would be able to find the Q in defensive hive, dispatch and Re Q.....getting over confident it turns out! I had separated the flying bees from the Q...

HAT TRICK!!!!! Found two more, as Drex said once you get you eye in. Hope my eye holds out till I get to depose the Queen in the vdefensive hive. Good luck to all you other Queen hunters. Nordicul

Hi All, Today was a red letter day in my beekeeping journey, when I (finally) found and marked my first Queen :) When I did spy her, she was surprisingly large and agile....I had been looking for a smaller, slow graceful mover, no wonder she had eluded me . She and two others, yet to...

Hi This is a beginners section I think? I did post my plans on 21st May....not many swooped in then to offer their cautionary advice or suggest alternatives to my plans. Always easy to be wise after the event, but I’ll keep posting so ye have a chance to continue to knock em Nordicul

Hi All So , on the heel of the hunt it didn’t matter about my shake in question, as another disaster (aka learning experience) befell me. This am I went out to open the nuc, only to find that through the night, wind had taken the roof off the polynuc! Lesson 56, polynucs need a large...

MMh Wondering now If I should go back out , shake in more bees now, keep them locked in overnight, add the Queen cell tomorrow then move etc.....as you can see riven with doubts Nordicul

Hi All Following on from doing an AS on a hive some days ago...both Parent and Swarm hive doing well , I have two nice Queen cells left. One is marked for staying in the Parent hive. The other I want to use to Re Queen a v defensive colony. Today I divided the defensive colony into two...

Hi All This was my first foray into rendering, I had a years worth of assorted wax. As advised on the forum I got dedicated pots sives etc from a charity shop, no loss of Brownie points! However not sure I read anywhere about the clean up. I rendered in water, pouring result into a...