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Using Commercials, the frames have much shorter lugs than nationals and these always seem to be covered in bees. So I was constantly smoking the frame ends to remove the bees, before picking them up. This year for the first time, I've learnt to simply plunge my nitriled fingers into the mass of...

Just went through a hive which was a swarm I collected 9 days ago. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, I thought I saw 2 virgin queens on adjacent frames. There were signs of the first few eggs being laid. Tosh or not?

After over a month, the hive with the slow to start virgin has eggs, and larvae. In fact, I have 6 out of 6 new queens just starting to lay up. However, there is definitely a difference between scrub queens and the larger ones from swarm cells, or is this due to how much they are being fed and...

She doesn't look like a fat "ready for action" kinda girl and she's been in the nuc for nearly a month now with no sign of lift off. How much longer do I wait? I've been feeding for a week now in an effort to get things going...

I have 2 apiaries. The honey from one has a slight smell of boiled cabbage. Is it OSR honey? If not, what?

What is the best way to clean wax off a queen excluder? After scraping off most of the wax, I set about the remaining wax with a blow torch. Is this a bad idea? It left a coating of wax on the rods which might have narrowed the gaps, resulting in the bees not being able to squeeze through...

I've just take delivery of enough borage seed for 100m2. I'm going to try a small experiment. 1. Provided I have good germination, will that be enough to make the slightest difference to my honey crop with 5 hives? 2. How near/far should I plant it from the hives?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-30295762 So, even the BBC have noticed this honey marketing nonsense, or should I say "Honey flavoured" nonsense....

I have been offered an out apiary in a large area of well managed forest, mixed conifer/deciduous. It is quite a way (7 miles) from where I live so will need to be worth while. Is this likely to be good for forage? The deciduous trees are mainly oak and beech with some sweet chestnut, and there...

I have been weighing my hives at the back, every 3 or 4 days, just for interest more than anything. I stopped feeding last Tuesday when the heaviest hive was nearly 27kg. Today that same hive is 14kg. I weighed it 3 times because I didn't believe it. I quickly went through the brood box and...

This is part of a pdf that was forwarded to our local Association "On September 11 2014, the Italian National Reference Centre for beekeeping confirmed the first detection of the presence of Small hive beetle (SHB) in South West Italy, in the port city of Gioia Tauro. The samples were taken...

I have a June swarm in a commercial BB. 3 weeks ago it had a half full super over a QE. I decided not to take the honey off so I removed the QE and put the super over the crownboard so they could start to draw the honey down into the BB. Seemed like a good idea, but now, 3 weeks later I have...

Is there any reason why I might have ended up with brown sludge after I melted down some old frames? I normally melt them in a large pan with a couple of inches of water, sift out the cocoons and sift into a bucket so it can cool down. The wax normally sets in a cake, floating over the water...

Why is this word now appearing on this forum all the time? It was hardly ever used on here until recently and now it's in every other post. Showing off I recon. Nadir def. "The lowest or most unsuccessful point in a situation"

OK, so here is a top tip when you're doing a stall selling your honey... Bring a cloth and some water to mop up the spills. A couple of drips and spills from the trial jars can go a LONG WAY :( Any other tips from experienced stall holders?

Just met the farmer who's field my bees are in. He planted clover in the hay field earlier in the summer and this is just about to come into flower. He says the field will be completely white soon. Pity I just started Apiguard, otherwise I might have had a late clover flow....

I just came back from holiday in Chilly France and anxiously looked at 2 of my hives which had developing queen cells and no brood when I left 2 weeks ago. One hive has as a few bees but no vital signs whatsoever so will be a gonna :( The other one has a fresh fat queen running around but no...

I shook out a hive with laying workers yesterday at an out apiary. I brought the empty hive back and stored it in a bee-leaky plastic wood store next to the house. Today the local bees have found it and I now have 1000's of bees everywhere. I'm assuming most will go home tonight so I can sort...

One of my colonies has produced a brand new startlingly yellow queen. Up 'til now, all my queens have mostly been black. And boy is she good... loads of brood and very calm bees. Is she likely to be the progeny of a southern European import from someone locally, and if so, is she less likely...