Search results

Sorry about poor picture from phone but these guys were not hanging around Very noticeably bright yellow abdomen Curly antennae Smaller than normal wasp, smaller than honey bee. Buzzing back and forth low across rough grass/soil below trees as if hunting. Notice light brown first segment of...

Expected new mated Queen today to do my first split. Everything ready and lined up in garage ready to take down to apiary. Sorted Weather out with 12 deg, no wind or rain. Afternoon cleared of all appointments - most moved to Friday. Postie arrived and... no Queen :( Mega...

I will soon want to make a split to increase to a second colony using the nuc method, and buying a mated queen. Everything I seem to read takes the Q out of the original colony for the nuc and introduces the bought Q to the original colony. Could I just leave the original Q where she is and...

I saw four Swallows today, so that's it official In Lazonby in Cumbria... maybe its just summer there as it didn't feel like it when I got home :( K ;)

Spotted on my aubresia... Huge eyes! K ;)

Well temperatures and breeze were spot on today here. Bees massing at entrance with loads of yellow pollen (daffodil?) And some taking in water, so I decided to bite the bullet... reconfigured hive by removing 5" eke below OMF (which I had filled with insulation earlier) placed OMF with...

Could someone outline the optimum use for each width of the plastic frame spacers please. I inherited lots of both and used the 35mm on my bb last year. Just wondering if the wider ones are for supers to get deeper comb/honey or if I'm missing a trick. K ;)

Picking up on the "don't fiddle vs curiosity" advice elsewhere on here... I put a full slab of fondant on top of a queen excluder direct on the top bars a while ago when advised to feed my colony urgently. I have been weighing since and can see the weight falling slowly. I know they don't need...

After reading the apiarist's blog about OA treatment I brought my planned OA treatment forward from my previously planned Christmas treatment. From below an OMF with a 5" eke, 2.3g used and all gone from the pan, there was a small puff near the end of three minutes of power-on. 24hrs later I...

Encouraged by Pargyle here in thread 'Crown board ventilation over winter' Crown board ventilation over winter see my alternative to hefting, which I am not experienced at. I wanted something simple that gave a consistent readout that I could track as the winter progressed. Something that Heath...

I noticed a half dozen or more nearly fully formed larvae in and around the entrance today. I watched a bee wrestle one out of the hive and drop it before flying back to the hive. What's going on? Are these unwanted drone larvae. Do I have a problem? K :(

Anyone watching the Charlie Bee Company on Earthx TV? It's typically eehah, y'all wooping an a hollering awesome high five'ish you would expect from our American cousins and I'm not sure that even as a beginner, I was learning very much but that aside I quite enjoyed it. K ;)...

To join or not to join, that is the question. For me, consider that: I'm deaf so unlikely to attend group visits or classes. I'm not a "club" type I dont need to know how to assemble frames etc I dont need to buy any equipment I wouldn't buy a nuc. I will not be selling honey. So, would I...

Today I took a quick look to see how they are doing and am a bit worried by what I saw... So, it looks like the entrance is too small at 50mm, should I open it up a lot more? With this level of activity (Ivy flow) should I add a super? Last time I looked on 29th Oct the BB was rammed with bees...

Visited Thornes in Rand. Lincs. this morning. I was like a kid in a sweet shop:D Bought some bits and pieces but could have gone daft, there's so much "stuff" I wanted. It was great to handle some things I have read about here or seen photos of, nothing like getting something in your hands to...

Two days ago I broke the tabs on my new queen cage in a nuc made up from my Q- hive. Theres fondant above the nuc as there was very little stores in the frames I moved over. I have an "Enrico" entrance and shut down to one beespace and moved to one side to create the tunnel wasps are supposedly...

Following my Ejected Queen thread my plan is now as follows. As Q ejected 15/7 eggs will have become Larvae and capped by 23/7. If I inspect on 26th I will find: Eggs - in which case I have a Q and panic over Or No Eggs - more likely and expected If there's no QC's I am hopelessly Queenless...

Inspected yesterday and again please with progress and growth but didn't spot Q this time. Last job was to reduce entrance as there's lots of wasps around, so reduced it to 3 inches. I decided to check how they were faring this morning and spotted the Q below the hive... she was alive but...

Amongst the equipment I gratefully inherited from my 90 year old neighbour were three Nucs. Two were beyond repair but one was still solid so I set about copying the good Nuc. The box and lid are pretty conventional but there were also a mesh frame with deep and shallow sides and a flat "crown"...

Newbie question... whats the best way to store frames that have foundation fitted? Probably not needed now until next year. K ;)