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Great fun though

Back from my motorbike trip to the French Alps. Inspected yesterday and the main hive is now got an active Queen, plenty of brood present, could actually find her though. Swarm hive is doing very well and the 'weak' hive has a good number of bee, brood and stores (very angry bees though, one...

I checked my hives again on Saturday. The main hive still has a lot of bees, no new larvae or eggs so I’ll assume no queen. The large queen cell we identified is still present but not yet hatched. I found another queen cell and removed it and then sealed it all up. The swarm hive is working...

Thanks, Yes I had also considered that as an option if the small hive doesn't pick up.

When I get back from holiday I will see how my main hive is doing as the new queen should have mated. If she seems productive then I will leave her alone, but if she failed to mate or return to the hive then I would have a queen less hive. I have a pretty unproductive hive (which was a swarm I...

Despite not finding the queen with Mint bee on Saturday on Monday afternoon it appears the bees swarmed. The roofer next door got quite a shock apparently. Sadly my neighbour didn’t say anything until yesterday so it was too late to track them down. They were last seen heading for the common...

I think the other hive just has a not very productive queen. I will probably look at replacing her when I get back from holidays the colony hasn’t grown. It was a swarm I was given by a friend last year.

Huge thanks to @Mint Bee for popping in this morning and helping me. We inspected the hive as others suggested there was no sign of the queen. There were still plenty of bees so still not positive she had swarmed, unless it was with a small number of bees. There were very young leaves but no...

Thanks for the advice, I struggle slightly with the two brood boxes when inspecting the hive or looking for the queen but I’ll give this a go. Should you reduce to a single brood box in the winter? I’m never sure when to do this.

Thanks, I did wonder that. The weather has been pretty cold for the last week or so, if they have swarmed then she couldn't have taken that many bees as it still feels fairly full. From memory at most maybe a quarter less from the last inspection and there are still loads of stores. I'm going...

Hi there, I was a member of Reigate Bee Keepers initially but didn't really take advantage of the apiary evenings as I was never able to make it to them.

I have a hive of very productive bees, they wintered well and I have a Brood box and a half on the hive which was on all Winter, plus a super which is pretty full of honey (and nectar). The bees have been active as soon as the weather warmed up and the boxes were full with brood. I inspected on...

I started Bee keeping 3 years ago, did practical and Theory lessons with East Surrey Bees. I had an opportunity to buy a late season Nuc, but the next year the Queen stopped laying (Queen present but worker laying brood). I removed her and bought a new Queen but the new Queen didn't take. I'd...