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Two days ago I had been doing something in the shed and left the door open for a few hours. When I went back there was several hundred bees in the windows. The only think that could attract them was a box of old frames that I cleaned up a few years ago and totally forgot about so there's no...

I performed an AS on one of my hives two weeks or so ago. Queen and her frame plus one of food and one empty, drawn comb in a bb of foundation with original bb placed 3' to one side. The queen has laid up all the available space and there is some eggs in the little comb they have drawn. The...

I performed an AS on one of my hives last week but they still swarmed a few days later. They settled towards the top of a large oak tree near the apiary so, with more than a little effort, I managed to catch them by climbing to the top of a ladder and used a bucket on a 12' pole to shake the...

I've found myself in the position of needing yet more hive parts and have very sensibly missed out on the winter sales:hairpull:. I remember going to a one day event in MM apiaries last year and am hoping this will be on again this year, does anyone know if and when this is due please? Cheers Huw

I treated all my empty super and brood boxes with sulphur strips this winter. I aired them out well before putting them back on the hives but the bees don't seem to be putting anything in them. My hives have all been Demaree'd and the bees are merrily filling the top box but completely ignoring...

A few weeks after performing demarees on my hives the queens are dying. They are last years queens and lay extremely well up until they disappear. The demarees have been successful and the bees have definitely not swarmed. They draw out a few frames of foundation which is totally laid up then...

I went to look into one of the nucs I made up a few weeks ago from a colony that was being AS'd. This one is 5 frames with a total of 2 QCs in a full size hive, the rest being made up of new foundation. The hive was almost empty, just a few dozen bees left and only the one empty QC. Then I...

One of my double brood hives was making swarm preparations a week or so back so I performed a Demarree as usual. Last Friday I split one of the brood boxes into 3 separate nucs, each with its own sealed queen cell. I've been asked to put some bees on my allotment plot and I think a few nucs...

Lately I've been getting lots of lizards (common I think) around my hives. They are tiny and don't cause any problems but they do get in the hives and the bees make short work of them. I've found 3 dried out little bodies so far :( They are obviously being attracted to the heat but is there...

I'm having troubles with pop ups and adverts on my computer since downloading a free photo-editing program (deleted already). Alos, certain words are highlighted on web pages as links to other sites. I'm a bit of a techno dunce and absolutely no idea how to sort this. I've downloaded...

Two of my hives have become quite aggressive and non-productive. They expanded fairly quickly earlier in the year then slowed to an almost standstill. Plenty of bees, just not doing a lot. I have a 2 year old queen in a nuc from Swarm control a few weeks back but only on 2 frames atm. The...

I carried out a demaree last week on one of my hives. All the bees are still there, QCs removed but when I took a look today the bees in the bottom box are tightly clustered around the one frame of brood I put in there. They don't seem to have drawn any of the foundation yet although I didn't...

Over the past few weeks one of my hives has turned pretty unpleasant (no neighbours to worry about, just a sod to inspect:rolleyes:) but is very productive. The queen is laying really well and this week they have found a new nectar source. IF I can find the queen would it be better to pop her...

The main flow is over in my area now (and the weather has turned pants again:rolleyes:) and now I find my hives with supers which aren't full or capped. Would it be possible to encourage the bees to consolidate the honey and cap it? I'm thinking to put one part filled box above the crown board...

As per the title really:rolleyes: I saw some VERY dark honey at the Royal Welsh Show and just wondering what the bees work to produce it. I read some old posts that suggest it's from honeydew, would this be the only source? Cheers Huw

I'm looking to buy a new suit for my wife but not sure what size to get or where's best to order from. She is getting quite interested in bee keeping BUT really doesn't like getting stung, especially having experienced a full on anaphylactic shock following a medical procedure (not bee...

I checked my hives today and one, a large nuc(?) in a brood box which was made up 2 weeks ago after my pig knocked a hive which was being demarree'd over, has a large colony of ants in it. They have set up home behind the frame runners and there was thousands of eggs in there:eek: I scraped...

My run of appaling luck seems set to continue:( I checked my hives this weekend to find one of the pigs has decided to use them as a scratching post (escaped from his pen) and knocked a full colony and a nuc over. The other nuc has a drone laying queen:) So, I now find myself looking for at...

Been cutting some grass around parts of the field earlier and got absolutely pasted by the Horse Flies. I'm just glad I don't react too badly to their bites, I copped about 15 on the hands:eek: along with who knows how many on my head and neck. In the end I resorted to strimming wearing my bees...

Mrs Aberreef got me stumped the other day:rolleyes: Her question; how long does a bee spend on a single forraging flight?bee-smillie Now I know alot depends on weather, forrage availability etc but I really have no idea:blush5: Can anyone shed any light on this for me;) Cheers Huw