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If your bees swarmed with a clipped queen the swarm would have returned to the hive when they found the queen wasn't with them. They would then bide their time and swarm with a virgin when one emerges. You most likely have a virgin in your swarm.

I had a fully formed queen cell between the excluder and the top of a frame - it broke apart when I took the excluder off. It's the first time in 10 years that I have found one in that position so in my experience - no, not usual.

A couple of years ago I bought a 4 frame electric radial extractor from Park Beekeeping. The cost was preferable to wrecking my arm and shoulder, as I did the previous year, manually spinning out honey that was reluctant to leave the comb. Yes, it was expensive but my bees more than pay for...

Yes, that seemed to be the only reason for swarming I could think of. It was the only occasion I've had this method fail. A fellow beekeeper recently had his colony ball the queen when he reintroduced her. I thought one of mine had done that but she had just gone off lay for a couple of weeks.

You could get a jacket and trousers in different sizes - BBWear do them and give good sizing info on their website. They are very helpful if you ring too.

I have had this method fail when there has been poor weather immediately following the first manipulation. I concluded that a number of flying bees didn't get out to forage so didn't return to the original location and swarmed with the queen. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing and next...

Can honeybees forage on buddleia globosa, the one with balls of orange flowers? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that they can.

Every year is different and you will learn different things next year and the year after. After that you might feel as if you have some control :)

My neighbour, a beekeeper for 3 years has recently suffered a very severe and life threatening anaphylactic reaction to a single bee sting on her forehead. The anaphylaxis occurred 18 hours after she had been stung. She had 4 further anaphylactic reactions in hospital the final one 26 hours...

If you don't have the confidence to pick up a queen for clipping or don't want to for some other reason, a one handed queen catcher works well. The slots for marking are quite large (bigger than the squares on a crown of thorns) and you don't have to wait long for a wing to pop up through one...

A couple of years ago I had a nuc that repeatedly failed to make queen cells on test frames. I did eventually find the queen - she was not much more than half the size of a worker. I only spotted her because of the way the workers were behaving towards her.

Well, my queens hadn't read Ted Hooper. 3 clipped queens disappeared when queen cells were just capped or in one case uncapped.

???? Clipped or unclipped they go when the cell is sealed. I wish it was day 15. One of mine has disappeared with just one newly charged queen cell in the hive - so day 1 or 2 from egg hatching.

When I started I reacted like that but after the first couple of years it got less and less and now I don't react at all apart from the first sting of the season.

Standing over an open hive, with pictures in frames, in a crowded exhibition hall the person I was speaking to peered into the hive and said 'So what are the bees doing now, are they sleeping?' He was definitely serious.

If bollocks is what you think I'm talking, and not a polite reminder of the correct terminology for a drone's bits then check out G. Koeniger who wrote ....... the mating sign shows bright reflections in ultra violet wavelengths between 320 - 360 nm

When the first drone has mated his bits get left behind hanging out of the queen. The bits reflect ultra violet light making it easier for subsequent suitors to find her.

Thymol does not penetrate brood cappings hence the need for 2 x 2 week treatments to cover a brood cycle.

I clipped for the first time ever last year and probably coincidental, none of my colonies made any swarm preparations until the middle of July - just as the main flow started ! Every year previously they'd been popping out of the box from May onwards and more than once with unsealed queen cells.

I know a gentleman who has kept bees for 70 years and sometimes they still baffle him.