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Thanks for your PM however I'll see if there are any a bit closer than Gloucester

Hi - I have lost both my hives this winter and want to re stock. So if anyone in the area has a nuc or even a colony I'm interested. Willing to travel into Somerset, Dorset and Hampshire as well as Wiltshire.

Thanks for your responces Thanks to you all for your advice and diagnosis of my problem - I have been away from the internet for a few days and was surprised to find 78 replies to the question. However I am saddened that it seems necessary for some of the forum members to degrade themselves by...

On 2nd Jan I treated both my hives with Oxalic Acid and gave both a good lump of Ambrosia as a new years present. Today I checked both hives for activity by tapping on the side of the hive - on one there was a healthy buzz on the other nothing - I opened up the hive and found .... the photos...

I've got into the habit of adding Thymol to sugar syrup for autumn feeding after I've taken the honey off (if there was any !!). My question is - is this sufficient as a Varroa control measure or would the more learned of you recommend more or an alternative treatment?

I have a colony that I believe may be Queenless. I have placed a test frame in the brood box containing larvae and eggs. My question is this - if the bees draw out Queen cells is it normal practice to let them produce a new queen from the test frame or should a queen be obtained from another...

Thank you everyone for your help, particularly Bob Bee - will be looking again this afternoon.

My apiary is approximately 75 yards from my garden at the end of a long narrow paddock. Last Saturday I conducted a standard weekly inspection on one of my hives. The bees have normally been quiet but on this occasion they had a real strop on and were boiling up between the frames. I finished...

I'm just into my 3rd year as a bee keeper and just about mastering the basics. However I have one major failing - the ability to find the Queen. I've spent hours and hours searching frames of bees but can never see her. My original Queen was marked so spotting her was comparatively easy but I...

I was walking past my two hives this afternoon and was rather alarmed to see a mass of bees circling a nearby hazel tree - I thought it must be a swarm given the number. However the bees did not seem to be interested in collecting together but to be collecting something from the leaves of the...

I collected a swarm in mid July and hived the swarm on standard deep frames that they drew immediately.These are the calmest bees that I have ever experienced in my short beekeeping career (2 years) so I'm really keen to help them survive I am hopeless at spotting queens and have tried every...

Your first picture looks like a chicken drinker to me - if so it does give me an idea. A 5 litre one is £3.78 from Mole Valley Farmers.

I wonder if someone could give a definition of aggressive bees. All the books talk of "bad tempered bees" or "tetchy bees" but do not state how that shows itself. My own bees for example bump my veil with some vigour and a few will follow me for 25 - 30 yards. This morning I was close (5...