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Has anyone ever seen a queen cell sticking straight out from the comb? A bit like a super sized drone cell? I've got a failing queen who is laying a bit too much drone and the bees have obviously decided to replace her, there is a nice fat queen cell on one side of a comb, on the other side is...

I really like the look of the hive and as something to add interest in a garden it would be a nive feature. But as from the many posts above you can see that there are a significant number of impracticalities with the design, both for beekeeping and water retention on the handles and roof. If...

How old is your Anthisan? I had some kicking around in the bottom of my beekeeping kit for years, didn't do much for the stings but soothed a little. When it eventually ran out I bought a new tube it worked wonders. Now I actually spend some money when it reaches its expiry date rather than...

Araldite is unlikely to bond well to plastic, it will stick to the slight surface roughness and eventually just peel/crack off allowing the syrup to pour out into the hive. You need an adhesive that will key or melt slightly into the surface of the plastic, such as a palstic cement, super glue...

This has worked for me in the past but not brilliantly when moving the bees about 100yds, there were a handful of lost bees at the old site at the end of the next day. I put a small cardboard box at the old site, the bees went in at night and I emptied them out into the hive later on. It took...

Rubber bands around it to hold it in place and give it back to the bees. They should re-attach it before they chew the rubber bands off (if they have read the right books). Ross

I had a swarm hive itself into a spare empty hive a few weeks ago, it stayed for just over a day and then disappeared. I should have put a QX under it, it was fairly big, shame really. Hived another swarm yesterday, QX underneath to they're not going. It was too small to be a prime swarm so...

These are quite a long way from you down at the end of Cornwall, but they have been breeding "Cornish Black" AMM for years. http://honeymountain.co.uk/nuclei.htm There are now a couple of hives of them at Paington Zoo, with more to go in at The Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan...

Caught a swarm in the apiary yesterday :) It wasn't one of mine :):) Just went into a hive all by itself :):):) Wasn't a bait hive :( It was tucked in the hedge under a load of branches and bushes :( :( It was a stack of spare bits waiting for use and I now have a "double 14x12 and a half"...

If you are worried get your GP to put you on a 24 hr BP monitor, it eliminates the effects of white coat hypertension. If you do have high blood pressure you can do something about it sooner rather than later. I was dianosed as having white coat hypertension when I joined the forces at 18...

Hi I really sympathise, I slipped a disc a few years ago over Christmas and could barely stand, and often ended up on the floor unable to move. I got some pain killers (tramadol and diazapam) and exercises from the out of hours GP service. These on the NHS website cover some of the exercises...

I was also at the BIPCO event it was a really interesting talk. Some of the very simple ways that Robert simplified his beekeeping and particularly his bee breeding to enable him to work a large numbers of colonies was really useful. Such as not bothering to find the queen in a large colony...

Very interesting thread, thanks for starting it and sharing your experiences. I have been intending to try foundationless beekeeping this season and this thread has only added to my enthusiasm for it. Initially I wanted to move away from foundation because of contamination of the wax, however...

I am planting a mixed native species hedge within my apiary at the moment, I have about 100m to do so I am part way through planting the best part of 500 bare root trees. I would recommed borrowing a copy of "Where have all the flowers gone" by Charles Flower (it is pretty expensive and mainly...

I use compressed woodshavings from my local farming suppliers, sold as horse bedding. It's cheap and easy to get and doesn't need searching around for or drying. It does tar up the smoker slightly, but who cares it's a smoker. They are difficult to light at first, but I always put out my...

We haven't treated for varroa, I normally just oxalic acid in the spring unless they need it. The queen wasn't laying when we took off the honey (ie no brood sealed or otherwise) we had just moved house so I hadn't inspected for about a month before that. We moved the bees after taking off the...

I have a hive that appeared to be queenless a little over a month ago, no brood, eggs etc. I have tried several test frames and they have produced nothing the bees just rear the brood and it hatches out. They aren't making QC's and there are no laying workers. They are quite placid when...

And it adds a bit of thickness to the back of your head if you are lacking the in hair department:hairpull: I would sew up the splits not glue, I have torn my veil on brambles previously when taking a swarm and tore a massive set of splits in the side. I used thick thread and then wove in and...

Double up under your suit and wear gloves, not just the thin latex or nitrile ones or even marigolds but thick rubber beekeepers gloves. I have had unbelievable bees in the past which left over 60 stings, just in the hood when inspecting, but nothing got through (very sweaty though). Once you...

Not very practical - the bees are at the top, you would need to do an inspection from a cherry picker. :)