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Just been sent this photo by a honey customer. Tiny cluster of bees hanging off a single rose flower. Any thoughts, absconded mating nuc maybe? Simon

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas of the possible nectar source for a really thick honey. It wouldn’t flow out of the frames using a tangential extractor, unless I really dug into the cells with an uncapping fork and almost prised it out before spinning. A couple of frames which the jar is...

Hi Last years results have been posted. It would be interesting to see what the top pollen sources were and any oddities from anyone else who took part. For my June 21 sample, Wood forget-me-not 56%, Wild Garlic 11%, Sycamore 9% and Ilex perado 6% For my August 21, White Clover, 32, Wild...

Hi I've a newly raised queen, saw eggs first on 13 June. She's laying, not prolifically, but none of the eggs are hatching. She's laid up on two frames, about 1/4 of each side. Nearly all single eggs at the bottom of the cell, very occasionally 2 eggs I did spot a couple of larvae once, but...

First attempt at managed queen raising started today. I’m using the Cupkit system. I inspected the chosen queen mother’s hive yesterday, all was well, and placed kit in the hive to get them used to it. Went back today to put the chosen queen mother in the cage to discover lots of queen...

Great video from @Black Mountain Honey on how to modify a standard national floor into an underfloor entrance. Looks like even I can do it. How To Modify A National Floor To Make An Underfloor Entrance Thanks Laurence. Simon

Quick reminder Mike's talk for Cambridgeshire Beekeepers Association is on Wednesday. Register via Mike Palmer talks to us about 'Brood Factories' Simon

I'm no fan of reality TV but it seems beekeeping is about to be caught up in it. New show on the beeb, see link Show me the honey at the end of September. "five children and their families taking part in a series of weekly challenges to create the best hive and tastiest honey, with the winner...

Hi Looking for advice from anyone with electrical engineering knowledge. I dusted my extractor off today for an extraction, and the variable speed isn’t varying. Basically the motor is either on or off, changing the dial has no impact. My sense is it is at a speed between slowest and fastest...

Thoughts people please. Mourning bee, carpenter bee, bald bumble.....(edit) maybe Ashy mining bee Size about honeybee size. Thanks Simon

Background Carried out a Demaree a while back (beginning of May). Queen (2018) slowed down laying so decided to introduce newly raised Queen last week, proven layer. Old Queen to nucleus as insurance. Moved top BB which was already quite full of stores to above QE (immediately above the bottom...

See bee history not suggesting it’s the best article ever but interesting, no doubt some will be along to correct some of the ‘facts’ in due course. I like the prospect for a new product for selling, I imagine of great interest to those particularly keen on a return on their investment “Such...

Hi A couple of questions for those who used this a few times. I’m half way though my first, having split last week, separate sites not vertical, and about to move the queen back to the original site. Hive was on double brood and fairly strong two supers filling and about 16 frames of brood, so...

Hi So, just about warm enough for an inspection (first of year and quick), and looking worse here tomorrow so went for it. Three hives, all very low in bee numbers, 3 frames of bees in one (not full frames) and 4/5 in the other two. All wooden nationals with insulation on top. One has a good...

Hi Second year beekeepers, the cappings in part of one hive (not all) had to us a strange appearance, not seen before. Copy of photo attached. I opened a few cells and perfectly normal (to my eyes) larvae, either ready to emerge or well developed were present. Uncapped brood and eggs were...

Just wondering if anyone has any bright ideas about what the bees are doing? Basically lots of the bees are ‘foraging’ on part of the lawn. They’re widely spaced, landing, ‘collecting’ and flying off. There are no flowers, they’re landing on the grass. Now it could be water collecting, but...