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Thanks everyone, it seems the jury's still out on whether this is actually a queen. It may not show up so well on the pic, but her wings definitely don't come all the way down the abdomen. That's what made me think it was a queen in the first place. I can't compare with our marked queen, because...

Hi everyone Should be 2 pictures attached showing a bee found outside the hive this morning, together with a worker. Am I right to think it a queen? (Forgive my ignorance). We don't think its our queen as she was marked. Any idea what's happened? We haven't done a full inspection since...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can never see the queen. My idea is that it's OK if we see open brood as she was there a few days ago, but my other half keeps saying 'we must see the queen!'. But when we look there's just so many flippin bees, they are usually 3 deep! Oh well..

OK, looks like my plan is pants. I thought that because they had been treated in early summer they would be OK. So.. would Apiguard or Apilife Var be best at this late stage? We have been feeding for weeks so pretty full of stores? Thanks!!! PS Where can you buy Hivemakers pads or is that a...

Can I ask what people would do in my situation. I got a nuc at the end of June which has built up well and is now occupying 2BB on OMF. It had been treated at the end of May with Apivar. I have been monitoring mite drop with a sticky board for 2 days each week and have seen numbers increase over...

This thread is really interesting, as our mentor advised us to overwinter on a brood and a half, or what we currently have, 2 BB. I can see the logic that this gives lots more room for stores...I can't understand where the bees fit all the winter stores on a single BB. But, it is tricky doing a...

Jade green pollen today! (Cumbria)

Hi everyone Making an attempt on the 'daft questions' title... We have bought a perspex crown board, which comes with only one bee escape hole, whereas the standard wooden crown board has 2. When using a contact feeder, which covers this hole, does that make a problem with ventilation? should we...

Can I just ask, I know how to spot pollen, how do you tell whether the bees are bringing in nectar?

Another idea to throw into the mix: before the current cool rainy spell in Cumbria, we had 6 months of exceptionally dry weather. I wonder whether this could have affected the plants' ability to produce nectar/pollen? Many thanks for all the comments, I've learned a lot.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last thread. Been reading some of the other threads and would like to ask: lots of people saying don't feed too early, you should be raising bees not making stores. How do you judge this? My bees had lots of room and lots of flowers but no stores at all...

Many thanks for all the replies. The queen is Carnolian (?) and yes I did get them from BDaddy! It's really comforting to know that this is not just happening to us. I don't know about lazy but they are certainly beautifully behaved bees - -ideal for a beginner! I will keep my eyes on this forum...

Hi everyone, would appreciate some advice. Started with a 5 frame nuc in mid-June, gave them some syrup and they've been doing really well. We added a second brood box in middle of July as the first was getting full. They now have 2 FULL frames of brood in the top box and have drawn out most of...

Hi, that would be great. I have a friend who is also looking, so can we reserve 2 nucs, both on BS. Whereabouts are you? Do you want me to send a cheque for the deposit, if so please let me have address and who to make it payable to. Thanks! Karen

Looking for a nuc which I can collect within a 2h radius of Carlisle