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Hi, We have a varroa problem at the moment which I don't think can wait until August, so I want to treat asap. The thing is the bees have a Q that they're not happy with and at the moment there is a supercedure cell (capped) in the hive, which should hatch next weekend. Should I wait until the...

No honey here so far, but I only have 1 colony which has caused me a few issues with their determination to swarm over the past few weeks. Don't really mind though: I would happily trade no honey this summer for a non problematic hive as I'm heavily pregnant and would like a quiet month!

Thanks all for the advice. I will destroy these ones and see if they make any more and if so, will let them supercede as I guess they know best - will also clip the Q as suggested. I've been in hospital for the past few weeks so the bee inspections have fallen to my husband who isn't that...

Hi, I had a the bee inspector round (due to AFB in the area) and he found 3 Q (I sealed, 1 unsealed, 1 empty) cells in my colony that swarmed 3 weeks ago. This colony already has a laying new Q and there were lots of eggs present today. There is also loads of room and empty cells galore for...

I gave 3 drawn frames as when I caught them we had the wettest weather and they wouldn't be able to get out and collect nectar. The rest were undrawn & they were fed syrup. But they still didn't draw the remaining frames.

Unfortunately I don't have a test frame to use as I only have 2 hives; one on jumbo frames and this one on standard national. If you think there's a q I'll get him to take another look though to make sure. Thanks!

hi, I was hoping for some advice on recombining please. we had a swarm 2/3 weeks ago (our swarm) and hived them in our spare hive and fed with syrup as we only had 3 super frames and the rest undrawn brood frames, so wanted to encourage them to draw out the brood frames. they were taking syrup...

hmmm...well at 9.30am this morning they definitely swarmed! they went to a neighbour's garden and hung off their tree. this is our first attempt to collect a swarm and it hasn't gone well so far - we took the majority of bees off and shook them in a spare bb and put it back in our garden...10...

Ok i'll do that. Thanks tom

Hi, About midday today i looked out the window and saw my bees were about to swarm- there were loads covering the front of the hive and roof. We rushed outside and while my husband made up some new frames for our spare hive to collect them in, i kept an eye on them to see where they were going...

I'd be interested in acquiring a colony of the native black bees. Seems like I'll have to wait a few years though... http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/18/black-honeybees-rediscovered-in-britain

haha, that made me chuckle dr stitson!

Thanks everyone for the advice. I do swell up a fair bit from bee stings anyway (as found from the previous year) so I'll just act in an advisory capacity then and let my husband do the inspections :) Congratulations honeylover!

Hi, I'm pregnant and was just wondering if anyone here has had any adverse reactions to bee stings while pregnant? As it's getting near to the first inspection, just was wondering if I should take extra precautions (like let my husband do all the work ;) ). I was really lucky last year and...

I thought honeybees didn't like the juice from rotting apples, but in the garden this morning I noticed a lot of my bees feasting on them. I know there's a dearth of nectar at the moment, but I would have thought they'd prefer the neopoll I've left on for them (they are eating this also)? They...

It is a supercedure, so should I split or give more space if they're getting crowded? Hopefully they won't be as they're on 14x12 though...

Hi, I believe I have 2 queens currently in the hive, and was told that often the old & new queens will lay side by side during winter with no problems and then sort themselves out in spring. I just want to check that I don't have to do anything as I don't want one of them to disappear with half...

Ok, thanks for the advice Rooftops :)

I'm in a similar situation to Skyhook - I used oxalic a couple of days ago when there was a relatively cold day (for London) but the bees weren't clustered and I'm dubious about how effective it will be. If I need to treat in Spring (with apiguard?) then does this mean I can't treat in late...