Search results

I have a split that I made in early July. The queen was slow to start laying and I've only seen a small number of brood. I've not actually seen the queen, but the small numbers of eggs and brood indicate she's there somewhere. Last week the bees were much more defensive and this week I have...

I made a split 28 days ago after finding swarm cells. The virgin queen hatched, but is now nowhere to be seen. There are no signs of eggs or brood. How long do I have to source and introduce a queen, or is it already too late? My other hive only has 5 frames being used for brood at the moment...

I got a new hive this year with a 2022 queen. I wasn't happy with the condition of the comb, so did a shook swarm onto fresh foundation. They've built up well this year and I put a super on at the start of June. To my surprise they decided to produce queen cells on 1st July. I did an artificial...

My main colony produced queen cells on 1st July. I took the best one and all the brood and put it into a nuc box with plenty of feed. They've taken down lots of feed (3L in 2 weeks) and there are plenty of bees in the box. The queen cell looks like it hatched, though a quick inspection didn't...

I'm just wondering what happens to the nectar flow during the long dry spell we're having in the UK at the moment. Presumably the flowers stop making as much nectar as things are dry. Obviously the weekly inspection should check for stores to take through to the next one, but would it be common...

My colony seems to be doing well, but I'm a little worried about the brood pattern. Once I shook the bees off, it looks really sparse compared to what I would have expected. Should I be concerned? And the worst frame on the outside edge...

My bees are using all 11 frames in the brood. I have one broken frame near the centre, so I've swapped out one of the 4 frames of stores for foundation so once they've pulled it out, I can gradually work the broken frame out as the new frame works its way in. I'm going to have a go at...

Is there a best way to replace an old brood frame? The nuc I got last year had pretty old frames, so this year I'd like to swap them to new ones. At the moment I have around 8 frames of brood and three of stores in the hive. As I'm starting out, I only have new foundation frames available. I'm...

I inspected my hive last weekend and it's overwintered very well with lots of stores and bees. With 11 frames in use, I put a super on. Today, when I inspected I didn't see the queen and although there are capped cell and larvae, I didn't see any young brood (though my eyesight isn't amazing)...

Four weeks ago I put 1kg of fondant in the hive. It's accessed via the crown board where they previously had a rapid feeder. While they would happily consume 1:1 by the litre, their consumption of fondant is very slow with most of it still there. I've not opened the hive, but on the mild days...

It's my first year and my bees have only pulled out some super frames. However, I have 4x brood frames full of honey (plus more partial frames, so lots of stores). I'd like to take one frame and extract it. I don't have a spinner and as a new keeper, I'd like to keep the comb (so don't want to...

I got stung for the first time today. I did wonder what it would be like, having only ever been stung by a wasp (vespula vulgaris) before. I had googled what the difference was between them before getting a hive, but I didn't really find much information. Posting here in case it's useful for...

My first year of beekeeping and I have a nuc in a national doing very well. I'm heading overseas for three weeks and the person who was going to inspect the hive weekly may not be able to do it. So I am keen to have a plan B. At the current rate of expansion, the bees will have drawn filled the...

I installed my first nuc (5 frames) into a hive (11 frames) and have fed them with 1:1 and candipolline gold to get them going (and also as the June gap is actually about now in Northern Ireland). The nuc was made up from a 2022 queen, so had only just capped the first new brood from this queen...

I've just installed a nuc into a national and discovered one of the frames had been repaired and as a result didn't fit. It's an outer frame, so has useful stores of uncapped nectar and pollen. I've jimmied it in for now, but it's going to fail in an inspection or two. Is there a way to get the...