Search results

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
  1. StephenT

    Fencing for allotment apiary

    Just got a plot on a new allotment close by for keeping a couple of hives on. What do people use and/or recommend for ’fencing’?
  2. StephenT

    Making more space for queen to lay

    One of our hives has a shed load of bees, a newish queen (from the Demaree they were on), no signs of swarming yet and has pretty much run out of laying space. It has 9 frames of brood in the top brood box (the other 2 are stores) but in the lower brood box there does not seem to be much space...
  3. StephenT

    Any fellow Audaxers out there?

    If any sort of cycling goes with beekeeping, it’s definitely Audax. Nothing my cycling buddies like better than being stuck with me for a few hundred km’s with nowhere to escape from my tales of beekeeping 😀
  4. StephenT

    Spring swarm avoidance plans

    Last spring was a bit fraught as we missed their swarm preps at the start of April as there was a week or so of colder wet weather when we didn't inspect. About middle of April, 2 hives swarmed within a few days of each other (caught them both) and managed to do swarm control on the 3rd before...
  5. StephenT

    Virgin Queen?

    I would guess this is a virgin queen but have never seen one before. Was just about to put a test frame in and my wife spotted her. She‘s not as fat as our other queens and has more of a pointy bum. She was running around a lot as well. Inspected the hive just now that was the result of a...
  6. StephenT

    Moulting Chickens

    Been keeping chickens now for over 5 years and we find that whenever they go through a moult they go off corn and consistently do watery poops. They always come though it ok though. I think we’ve googled this every year to see if it’s a common issue but found nothing. Anyone else found this...
  7. StephenT

    A bit confused........again

    This is Hive 1 that swarmed on 13/4 (swarm since re-housed), new Q emerged about 25/4 and her laying has been a bit poor in quantity, pattern and having drone brood mixed in with the worker brood. One QC found on 30/5 (sealed I think) and assume about ready to emerge when we checked again on...
  8. StephenT

    Problem uniting hives

    United 2 hives over paper last night. Stronger queenless on top of weaker queen right hive. Noticed a few bees looking for their home this morning which has now increased substantially. Put a box there for them to go into as per photo. I assume that quite a number of them have got through the...
  9. StephenT

    Poorly mated queen

    I briefly posted this in the “What did you do....” thread yesterday but am seeking a bit more more help on understanding how the situation arises. The Queen was due to emerge (after the hive swarmed) about 25/4 and there was eggs and larvae when we inspected on 9/5. Found the queen and marked...
  10. StephenT

    How did they do this?

    Inspected one of our hives yesterday that was the AS part of a Snelgrove 2 modified on 18/4. We didn’t move the Queen back to it but left one sealed QC on 25/4 that should have emerged about 2 weeks ago. No sign of any eggs or brood in the hive whatsoever yesterday but noticed the sealed QC in...
  11. StephenT

    Two year anniversary today!

    My wife and I got our first bees two years ago today, after doing a winter course and starting the practical course at a local BKA. The hive was given to us and was old and needed a thorough clean up. The bees were from a swarm that had settled in a hollow ornamental elephant that someone had in...
  12. StephenT

    Chicken possibly stung by bee

    Has anyone ever had one of their chickens stung on the foot by a bee? Noticed a couple of hours ago that one of our Buff Orps was mainly sitting and then limping when she got up. Checked her out and her right foot and lower leg is more pink, warm and swollen. Have brought her inside and given...
  13. StephenT

    Probable CBPV in my hives

    Noticed on the landing boards of all three hives that there has been a small number of bees that look and behave like they have CBPV. Video attached of one of them. There are some bees dead out the front of the hives, but not piles of them (yet). The dead bees look like a mixture of those...
  14. StephenT

    Advice on looking after my ‘insurance nuc’

    I made a nuc using a QC from my swarmed hive - frame with QC, brood frame, stores frame, 2 foundation + shook bees in. Didn’t have a nuc so dummied down a brood box with kingspan. Any tips? Do people generally stuff the entrance with grass to keep them in for a couple of days and should I...
  15. StephenT

    Swarm or Supersedure QC’s?

    After yesterday shenanigans, had to inspect Hive 2 to see what was going on there. Single brood and super and last inspected 30/3. Had BIAS inc. eggs although no more and probably less than the last inspection. Plenty of space - empty frames at one end of the hive and not much stores. Didn’t...
  16. StephenT

    What a day!!

    Took a break from the home office at about 10:30 and Hive No.1 (Buckfast) was in the process of swarming. Put them on double brood for more space 14 days ago and thought they would not do anything until at least the weather got warmer. I was very wrong!! Anyway, they settled a good way up the...
  17. StephenT

    How many/spacing Hoffman frames in a super

    Can’t practically fit 12 drawn frames in a super an so how do people space out 11 fairly evenly or would it better to use 10 evenly spaced? Do you space by eye, place the super on gently and wait for the bees to ‘glue’ them down a bit. Same for undrawn frames? Thanks.
  18. StephenT

    Plan to remove a nadired super tomorrow

    Weather forecast to be about 13 degrees tomorrow afternoon and so I thought it’s a good time to do it. Another new manoeuvre which should just be a simple case of lifting off brood box, taking off super, putting brood box back and shaking in any bees from super. What can go wrong? If there’s...
  19. StephenT

    Winter OA Trickling

    Looking for a broodless period or the nearest to it. If the bees are still quite active and bringing in pollen does that suggest that they are still raising brood? Is the best way to put in an inspection board and look out for a lack of brood cappings? Can’t rely on a prolonged cold spell...
  20. StephenT

    Couple of questions after today’s inspection

    One of the hives is a small swarm I hived in May and now on a single brood box. They had next to no stores and so I have fed them a few kg’s of syrup over the last couple of weeks. I clearly made the mistake of overfeeding as they’re storing it and there’s not enough room for brood now. I’m...
Back
Top