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  1. S

    BBKA membership

    Does anyone know what individual membership of BBKA costs with 5 hives?
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    What's the source of bright yellow on the worker bees backsm

    All our hives had worker bees with bright yellow on their backs, mainly the thorax. Looks like someone gone mad with a queen marking pen. Any ideas what plant the pollen could be from? We're in Sussex between the sea and the downs, not near any streams or rivers.
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    Please help me identify this bee

    About 100 of this type of bee have recently been found on the balcony and just inside a second floor flat in Sussex. Can anyone help me identify it?
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    Recombining a hive

    I took 2 frames of brood and bees into a nuc yesterday to introduce a new queen. For various reasons that didn't happen, what would be the best way to recombine them to the original hive. It's a strong colony with 3 supers on.
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    Pollen collecting by honey bees

    Please would someone tell me if honey bees collect pollen from non nectar sources such as grass pollens.
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    Post CBPV clean up

    One of my hives has been badly affected by CBPV and I've tried a couple of ways to reduce the viral load but they're still dying. I think I will have to kill off the colony, it has one National brood box and 2 supers. One of the supers is almost full of capped honey. There are 6 other hives at...
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    Glass or perspex for solar wax extractor?

    Title says it all really. I broke the glass top to my homemade solar wax extractor so do I replace it with glass again or would Perspex do the job as well or is it less efficient?
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    To exchange or leave them as they are?

    I had been asked to check on a colony of bees in a national hive, the owner is a complete novice and there's quite a back story. The hive and colony were set up in June and are doing ok, a bit short on stores but otherwise fine. The problem is the brood box and supers have been made up...
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    Merging a Q+ nuc with a Q- colony

    I have a newly emerged queen in a 6 frame poly nuc, she's mated successfully and has 2 frames of brood. I have a Q- large colony 6 feet away on brood and a half. What's the best way to merge the two?
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    Ivy Bees

    I'm swarm co-ordinator for my area and so my number is easily available. Over the last couple of weeks I've had at least 2 calls a day and as many as five regarding bees in lawns. People were adamant they weren't bumble bees and more like wasps but coming out of their lawns not from nests. I've...
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    Supercedure, what do I do?

    When I checked my hives today, all well, queen laying really well and honey coming along nicely, well behaved bees. I got to the last frame of brood and there was a lovely single queen cell, right in the centre of the frame. Looks like a half grown larva inside, lots of royal jelly. The present...
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    How to keep a frame of brood warm?

    I want to transfer a frame of sealed brood from an out apiary 15 minutes drive away to give a very small colony a boost. What is the best way to keep it from getting chilled?
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    Bait box success

    Hi all, I'm so pleased with a small success I've had yesterday. I was called out to a swarm on Thursday but it was 20ft up a spindly tree, behind a large pond so no chance of getting it. I had a poly nuc with me with a couple of really old brood frames in it. I added a drop of lemongrass oil to...
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    Is anyone using the M*** L*** hybrid nationals

    Has anyone been using these with the wax coated foundation? Are they any good are is it a pain having kit of a different size or can they be used in ordinary nationals? The prices are good or is that because no one wants them
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    Can anyone help with the wording of a contract.

    I have recently moved my hives to land at the back of a council owned cemetery and I've been sent a contract to sign. Most of it I'm happy with but this section makes me wonder what exactly my 'duty of care' would entail to the intruders. The wording is: You as beekeeper have a Duty of Care...
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    Brood box swap, am I asking for trouble?

    Someone is giving me their colony of bees. The drawback is that he wants his hive and so the colony needs to be transferred to one of my hives. For reasons not needed here we have to move them anyway in the next week or so, hence the urgency to get it done. Is this too risky at this time of...
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    What rent is fair?

    I have to move my 2 hives from their present location. The council has agreed I may site them at the back of the cemetery. There are council allotments nearby and they want to charge me £21 a year, the land use agreement to be reviewed annually. This is the same as an allotment rent. It seems...
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    Bees on Virginia Creeper

    Has anyone else noticed bees going mad for the flowers on Virginia Creeper?Today they were all over it and making such a buzzing I had to check a swarm hadn't landed out there. It was the same last year but I hadn't ever noticed before that. The flowers are very small and mainly hidden by the...
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    Why have they swarmed?

    One of my hives at an out apiary was going really well, queen had emerged on 10th May this year. She seemed to be laying fine, nice even brood from side to side over 5 and a bit frames, comb drawn on 10 frames altogether, 1 foundation only. I checked them last Saturday and all was well, one...
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    Combining colonies

    I want to combine two colonies and have not done it before. The hives are 6 feet apart. The colony in the position I want the combined colony to be is queenless, it has a runty single queen cell just capped. The other colony has a good 2013 queen on 4 frames of brood, both hives have a single...
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