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Went to the out apiary to carry out winter checks - one deadout, the other 2 seemingly ok. Gave them fresh fondant blocks before this supposed cold spell arrives. Deadout looks like mites, and the colony simply dwindled until they were too small to keep warm. Not a huge amount to go on, but...

Limes just opening here, hopefully a good flow like last year...

Not necessarily, I've got a queen who consistently lays on the cell walls (though near the bottom). Pattern's good, brood develops fine, her abdomen doesn't look especially short... but it's like she can't reach the bottom of the cells.

I think bees must attract bees. I'd never had a swarm in the garden before I got my own bees, then last year a swarm turned up on my shed in August (not mine and they turned out to be vicious :confused: ).

Inspected the out apiary today and had a slight mishap. One colony is in the process of re-queening (failed unite, queen was killed, raising from an EQC), still no sign of laying and they were roaring as if queenless. I planned to give them a test frame of BIAS to see if they raise EQCs...

Brood frames I'd be a bit peeved but would still use them. In the supers I use castellations so it wouldn't matter a jot.

Inspected a hive where I released the virgins 13 days ago. No eggs yet. Found the new queen wandering around, still small and virgin-looking and with a chunk torn out of 1 wing (definitely damage rather than DWV). I'm hoping it's mating flight damage and she'll come into lay in the next few days...

You'll need more than that or the bees will get congested and they'll be more likely to swarm. You need to add new supers when the existing ones are full of bees - whether they've filled the existing frames or they're still foundation. If you've just got the 2 hives I'd suggest having 4 supers...

Have you asked them to apply the 10% BBKA discount to your account (assuming you're a BBKA member)? I got them from Freeman & Harding but I'll be ordering from TDOnline soon as they're cheaper, look to be the same, and I'm running low. I've put some feelers out with local beeks regarding a...

Perhaps it's worth offering other sizes - I thought 227g would be the most popular as it's the cheapest (though most expensive per gram/oz) but I've been blown away by the demand for the 1.5kg buckets. This is why I only jarred 10 each of 227/454g and left the rest in the settling tank...

I put my prices up this year, but it definitely seems I should have gone further! £5 -> £5.50 for 227g/8oz £9 -> £10 for 454g/1lb £25 -> £30 for 1.5kg mini bucket Did my first extraction of the year yesterday, ~17.5kg from 2 supers. Jarred 10x 227g, 10x 454g (labels are in sheets of 10!) and...

That's what the mead is for!

A second queen cell! :LOL:

I had some like that, though picked up in a load of second hand equipment so I don't know the original source. I just assumed it was old. It was annoyingly not quite wide enough either. I had 2-3 sheets that simply crumbled when trying to put them into frames and of the rest quite a lot went...

Busy day today. Removed the supers above the clearer board first thing and extracted them, 18kg settling and will probably jar tomorrow. Inspected the 3 home hives and put the supers back on. Rinsed the extractor and cappings using the same water, checked the gravity (1.107, ~14% abv potential)...

For the handy among you, if you fancy something similar but a little more cosy: Bee Bed | Sleep With Bees | Free Hive Plans Looks like a fancy coffin to me, but to each their own...

Raw honey? What's that then? ;):LOL:

Rhombus clearer in under 2 supers, will take them off tomorrow, extract them and get them back on the hive. 3rd super down isn't quite ready yet but not too far off - will make it the top super over the extracted ones so as they clean them up they'll hopefully move the honey up and finish...

4 for 3 on Amazon at the moment, couple with Subscribe and Save discount (if you have Prime, then cancel the subscription after delivery) = £4.80 for 4 bags. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002SPFIFW

I'm going to hazard a guess and say Thornes - the seconds boxes I've had from them have generally been rougher than the ones from Maisemore. That said the only piece in your photos that would concern me is the bar with the big knot in it, but even then I'd try and get some glue in/around the...