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Hi Veg - will post pictures when I get home and work out to get them from my phone onto the forum.

Quick update - I visited today and persuaded them to leave them until spring next year when I will go and collect them. Was quite a big colony - they have been there for about 5 years so hopefully should survive another winter. Thanks for offers of help. Rachel:nature-smiley-013:

Thanks for the kind offer Sir Quej - but I'm staying at my daughters in Essex for the weekend and the bees are at her friends house. I'm still feel very much a beginner and may very well take you up on your offer if I need and help when I'm back home in Wakefield if that's OK? Rachel

Thank you for all the replies. I have explained to the owner of the outhouse that it would be better to leave them until next year - but they are wanting to convert the building to living accommodation and are planning on starting the work next month so the only other option is to destroy them...

Hello All On Sunday I am going to have a look at a wild colony in a friend of a friends outhouse. They are wanting to use the building and need to remove a wild colony of honey bees. They have been there for at least a year. Apparently they have made a lot of comb and it is hanging from the...

Thanks everyone for your replies. It was quite late when I inspected - about 8.30, so maybe they were wanting an early night!

I'm a novice too - so don't rely on my answer, but I would think if there is brood in the supers and capped brood in the brood box but no uncapped larvae then the queen must be the wrong side of the excluder. I would check this with someone more experienced than me though before taking any...

Thank you Oliver90. As the previous posters have said a clear concise answer. I feel reassured! But I dare say by the end of the week I'll be panicking about something else :rolleyes: Rachel

Hello again Well yesterday I thought I was beginning to get it! Today I'm back to square one feeling like I don't know anything! I have two colonies - one is a swarm that I caught and hived in May. They are in my garden at the moment and seem to be doing well with good stores and are...

Ha Ha - yes OK if you come with them and teach me!!!!not worthy

I would love more hives - and have plenty of space, but am being a bit cautious - don't want to get too ambitious whilst still learning. Rachel

I think I might pass on clipping for the time being - maybe I'll try practicing on drones first as suggested. As for stores - can anyone tell me what enough is? They have almost two frames of capped honey and one frame half capped and one and a half sides of nectar. I gave them some syrup...

Thanks for the quick replies - feel reassured. I now realise about the Queen excluder and have removed it. I haven't clipped her mainly because I'm a bit scared of damaging her - I haven't clipped a queen before. Do you think I should? Rachel

Hello all. Today I planned to find and mark the queen in the swarm I hived last month. It's my second year of bee keeping so am still near the bottom of the learning curve so am not always sure if what I am seeing is OK. Anyway, the swarm when I caught was only fairly small and I think it was...

Is this fantastic opportunity going to be repeated? If so I would love to take advantage of it. :) Rachel

Is it OK to use last years drawn foundation? Rachel

Update Thank you for the replies, very reassuring bee-smillie. I have just had another look at them this morning and there is now sealed brood on both sides of 4 frames and eggs and larvae in different stages of development on 4 more. I gave them a dose of Dany's BienenWohl® last week (a...

It is my second year of beekeeping and until now have no experience of swarm collection. Last week (23rd May) I was sitting in my conservatory when a swarm appeared in my garden!!! Nearly chocking on my cup of tea I dashed to the garage to get my beekkeepping gear, by which time they had flown...

Thanks everyone. Based on all your advice and on reading round the subject, I think I will take it slowly - not easy for me I always tend to jump into things head first! Will have to curb my natural tendencies! But if the opportunity comes to acquire a swarm I will be prepared. I do like...

Hello everyone. I currently have one colony which I acquired last June as a 6 frame nuc. I over wintered them in a national brood box. I had my first look at them today - they seem to be looking good. I found the Queen, there was brood on 4 frames and eggs and lavae. They were bringing in...