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  1. C

    Bumble bee mating images

    I saw these two in the garden today. I thought you might be interested in the pics. Cliff
  2. C

    A uniting bees question.

    2 days ago I united 2 nationals, one strong but queenless colony to a weak queen right colony using the newspaper method. Is it ok to go and clean away the paper today or do I need to leave them longer? Advice appreciated on timings to clear paper please.
  3. C

    Bees are stubborn at times!

    I was sat in my garden when one of my hives erupted and a swarm filled the air. They clustered on a branch in the garden, great I thought, an easy catch. They were boxed, and left on the ground for the fliers to find the way in. In the evening, I thought I would try the ramp method and made a...
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    Bees have found my water feature!

    Not seen this before in the garden, but bees are going mad for water. Cliff
  5. C

    Giordan extractor not working. Any suggestions please

    It is only a year old and worked well last year. It has been stored in a warm dry place. When I turn the handle, it does not spin! It sort of makes a knocking noise. If I push the frames to get it turning, the handle sometimes clicks into place and connects to what ever it is meant to. In...
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    Some guidance needed about uniting a swarm to hive please

    Hi I have a national hive and can only see sealed brood. There are a couple of opened queen cells and one sealed queen cell. I think I caught the swarm in a bait hive but have not looked in, I dont want to disturb them too soon. I would like to reunite the bait hive back to the national...
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    Are the bees telling me they are queenless?

    3 days ago I caught a swarm and hived it in a national brood box. I added a frame of brood and plenty of drawn frames. Today I went to feed them a 1 to 1 syrup. What I am not sure about is there were about 20 to 30 bees fanning madly with the bottoms up at the entrance. I thought they would...
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    Bait box odd behaviour

    There were about a dozen bees just sat at the entrance. By the time I got the camera some had gone. Non are attempting to go inside, they are just feeling each other. Some bees come then go but do not go inside. Is this scout bees? The photo shows one bee inside but it was just inside...
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    Bees in chimney

    Got called for a swarm. The information I received 'Please help, bees are clustering on my net curtain'. When I got to the house, there were a around 100 bees buzzing on the window trying to get out of the house. They had come out of the fireplace. So any suggestions in this situation. The...
  10. C

    Used my steam wax thingy today!

    Well, I made a steam wax extractor and tried it out for the first time today. It worked a treat. I used an old varroa floor and a brood box. Steam supplied by the wall paper stripper steam. Great success!
  11. C

    New hives

    Cleared some ground and established 2 new hives. Also I'm quite pleased so far so good! Non of my hives are showing signs of wanting to swarm. This time last year was a disaster for me, remember that hot weather last year, April / May? I'm about to feed the bees some syrup as stores...
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    What are these bees up to?

    They keep dashing in and out of the entrance in a frantic manner. Some bees are dashing / walking rapidly around the outside of the hive. Definitely not preparing to swarm, I checked them a few days ago and there were no queen cells to be seen. My guess it is young bees exploring...
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    Wax extractor using hot air gun?

    On this drizzly day, I have decided to melt down all my old frames. The plan is to make a wax extractor. I have found several ways to use a wall paper steam machine to heat the container. Wifey suggested using a heat gun as a source of heat. I have tried a search on the subject but not found...
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    Look what I have just found in my shed!

    Alive now but not for much longer! :eek:
  15. C

    Bees collecting bright orange pollen

    A couple of weeks ago they were busy collecting muddy brown pollen. This week they are after bright orange. I have seen in the local woods that snow drops are out. There are a few primroses out and plenty of gorse. Does this mean there is brood in the boxes? Cliff
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    Is 2 frames of bees bad this time of year?

    Just done the oxalic treatment. Its a lovely dry day here. Most of the hives had 4 or 5 frames of bees, but 1 hive had only 2 frames. At the end of the season they were strong and I left them on double brood. They are down below at the moment. The upper brood box is full of honey so I am...
  17. C

    7 degrees and bees are busy collecting pollen

    Odd though, only 2 hives are busy, the rest are staying indoors. Pollen is a muddy light brown colour. I live near woodland so may be catkins? There is plenty of gorse about a mile away. Cliff
  18. C

    old brood frames

    I'm thinking of cleaning up about 20 mouldy frames and try to collect wax. I have searched the forum and many comments say dont bother, the wax you get isn't worth the bother. Have I got this right? Should I just throw the mouldy wax away and recycle the frame only. Cliff
  19. C

    Any nectar given in peas and green bean flowers?

    A local farmer, about 6 miles away, has asked if I'm interested in moving some hives to his fields when the peas and beans are about to flower. It is a huge plantation. I cant find any information about nectar but I know honey bees are a good pollinator for the crop. Would it be worth moving...
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