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This colony "slipped through the net" of the 7 day inspection cycle.:hairpull: It is a swarm from my bait hive which had drawn 8 frames of a National and was growing nicely when inspected on 15 June. On the 7 July this is what I found!! Sorry first pic is out of focus. Neglect the 7 day cycle...

For the 5th year running my bait hive has attracted a swarm. I wasn't expecting this one as the day before it arrived was awful - thunder, torrential rain and hail 43mm in all , accompanied by squally wind. The day it arrived dawned fine with a light breeze and they had just moved in when the...

I have grubbed out a leylandi hedge and replaced it with hornbeam saplings of various sizes (2' to 4') which self seed all over the garden. I'm aiming for a hedge approx 4' high and 2' wide - not stock proof but as a privacy screen. Has anyone got any hints on when to prune, how to prune to...

Can anyone ID this weed? It grow to about 6 feet tall and my bees are all over it, mainly for nectar I think but some are sporting small amounts of pollen.

Given a forecast of 7 days of decent weather I have put the Jenter cage frame into the Queen mother hive to get their scent. This hive is bursting with bees and has 3 supers also full of bees, finding the queen is going to be a challenge she is marked though. Watch this space.

sorry

After a week of iffy weather today dawned clear and calm so inspection of hives at my out apiary was scheduled. Because of distance and time it has been neglected and 3 colonies and a nuc had swarmed. Half way through another of the Q+ colonies decided to swarm!! Fortunately they settled in a...

A swarm moved into my bait hive at 1.45pm today while I was cutting the grass, that is the 3rd year running that location/elevation has attracted a swarm. I don't think it is from my hives, I haven't checked the wood apiary 200m away but 10 days ago they only had 4 frames of brood maximum and...

First decent day for what seems like weeks- sunny and +12C. All colonies active Spring cleaning and toilet breaks. Lovely to see but a long way to go yet.

A frosty start then wall to wall sunshine all day. all my hives were active when in the sun - BUT so were the Asian hornets and wasps:hairpull: This has been the first decent day for a while, the bees were keen to get onto the ivy and the hornets were hungry. None got into the hives but bees...

I have had a Nucleus that has been a pain all season. It rejected an introduced queen - twice - It was given a frame of eggs and produced queen cells and eventually a queen who began laying. 14 days later all the sealed brood is DRONE and there is no sign of the queen:eek: and multiple eggs in...

I would like to praise two companies for service above and beyond etc. I stupidly burnt a hole in the veil of my Sherriff suit. A quick phone call confirmed yes can repair and provide a spare hood. The damaged hood was posted on 17 July. The repaired hood and the spare were received 27 July. 10...

Can anyone point me at a supplier of the plastic bits for an Apidea? I'm after some extra frames and have lost a couple of the queen excluder entrance covers. Ta ever so.

I was beginning to think it was third time unlucky but while inspecting my hives this lot overflew and moved into my bait hive.not worthy By the time I had finished they were all in (less than 15 minutes) looked like a big prime swarm. A silver spoon but only just;)

I was called to a swarm situated between a window and closed shutters yesterday. Opening the shutters revealed a basket bell sized cluster hanging from the stone lintel. A gentle probe found comb in the cluster - change of plan!! It turned out that there were 6 combs in all and they were cut...

For a few seconds this morning Sky news displayed a newspaper article titled: "British Bees Starving" I only managed to read the first couple of lines as it was only on for seconds: "British bees are starving because so many people have taken up beekeeping..." Did anyone else see this? and...

Situation - Routine inspection on 31 March of a commercial sized hive revealed 9 frames of brood in all stages 2 frames full of stores, 2011 queen was seen. Multiple queen cups 3 more advanced with larvae and royal jelly - swarm mode. 1st April Artificial swarm - Queen transferred to a box with...

I have loads of willow close to my home hives and the bees are harvesting pollen by the bucket load. Unfortunately they are stuffing it in every cell available even in the brood area as young bees emerge. I have not had this "problem" before and am wondering whether once the flow is over the...

:confused: I have 1 hive that is causing concern. It was treated on the 29th of December. Since then there has been a mite drop of just under 1350:eek: Even now at day 14 post OA the daily mite drop is 56!! I have never given more than one OA treatment but this colony looks as if it needs one...

I was clearing up the windfall apples today and all the ones that the birds had hollowed out were being worked by my bees. I have not seen this before, wasps hornets and flies yes but never bees. It is an eating apple so I suppose they are using the sugar content of the juice.