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My queens have been prolific up until 2 weeks ago and have reduced laying considerably now. If you’ve got a thriving colony next door perhaps you could give her a helping hand for the winter by donating a frame of brood. You’ll see in the spring if they decide to supersede her.

That’s really helpful. In the past I’ve had some very defensive (not aggressive) bees where I presume alarm pheromones were quickly elicited and triggering. I wonder if a little glade in the area rather than just smoke would be a safe way of dampening their detection of the alarm pheromone?? Has...

With bees still around?… so the spray doesn’t kill any ??

If you inspect just one colony on one occasion you’ll soon determine which has the issues

I find some colonies are consistently irritated by breath in general and have been told it’s carbon dioxide. Other colonies aren’t impacted. On those which are I try to breathe gently through my nose and it seems to help

I find this time of year if there are a few wasps sniffing around they can gradually get more defensive. I also try to distinguish between irritability due to ‘defensive’ behaviour compared to truly ‘aggressive’ behaviour. If they are pinging at your veil in large numbers and on multiple...

Thanks everyone! So glad I didn’t oil the whole lot in one go… 😊

Ok. Thanks for the advice. The odour is remitting but I’m wondering as it’s a bit better if I could use it for brood and half -ie not honey. Will it upset the bees or be toxic??

I guess I’m wondering if and when it’s ok to use the super for the honey flow now that I have mistakenly oiled it on the inside… I don’t want to upset the bees (can I harm them if I put it in soon?) and don’t want to taint the honey (it is still smelling 3 days later). So I want guidance about...

Thank you. That’s really helpful. What would you use to paint the inside of a pine super?

One is cedar the other is pine. Yes I did inside too. Is that a mistake?

Please advise me. I’ve just used Danish oil on a couple of supers. How long should I wait until I give them to the bees? I don’t want to taint the honey. Thanks

Sorry. Just got your message. All gone but more on the way if your still interested

3 nucs for sale in Oxford. 1 (marked white) from split this year. 2 (marked yellow) from spring swarm control. BIAS and Frame of honey. Ready to hive asap. All 3 calm, beautiful laying pattern. From highly productive stock- bumper crop already from original queen. Currently in polynucs which can...

I’ve taken up beekeeping again and have done two artificial swarms from two hives. The new queens have been seen today and have just started to lay. Can I mark them straight away or could they need to go on more mating flights? (The weather has been very variable) I assume they don’t start...

I discovered lots of queen cells in my hive. Not emergency or supercedure. The colony was only bought as a nuc in June and the queen was prolific so I had them on a brood and a half- and a super, but I think there was still overcrowding so that might be why they wanted to swarm. I've just done...

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If I clean up my old frames do I need to dismantle them to fit new wired foundation? Are there any tips on how best to do this? I have some supers with frames of comb which are in good nick but have some honey traces (crystallised). They smell a bit (?fermented) can I re use them this season or...