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Thanks to everyone for your kind and knowledgeable replies, and special thanks for the offer of a frame of brood. General consensus seems to be nosema so I think I might take the 'do nothing' option and see if the colony collapses. If it does, I'll tidy up and 'disinfect' as appropriate and...

.....no eggs, no larvae and no capped brood. I did my first proper inspection yesterday and found the marked queen, not a huge amount of adult bees and plenty of stores (honey and pollen) but the queen has clearly stopped laying a few weeks ago. I assume that because of the lack of eggs and...

I've just opened my spare, empty hive to find a severe infestation of wax moth that has consumed all the empty comb. It's far too late to think of rescuing anything so I'm into clean-up and damage limitation mode. Two questions: 1. What, if any, is the most effective way of cleaning the hive...

I am in the middle of doing a Bailey comb change and am at the point where the queen is laying on the new upper box and I have put a queen excluder and new entrance between the old and new boxes. As suggested on some web sites, I have blocked the old lower entrance to encourage the bees to put...

Thanks all. Sounds sensible.

I've seen some handy advice on the National Bee Unit FAQ pages suggesting that you can restore old foundation by warming it to release the oils. Does anyone have any experience of this? How warm is warm? It'd be a shame to melt it by mistake.

Thanks to everyone. Very encouraging!

My question is in the title. Can I start the autumn feed whilst the queen is still laying? Will there be enough room on the frames for them to lay down the stores?

Does anybody have any experience in moving a wild bumble bee colony? I need to move one from a friend's hay barn and wondered whether the same rule applies as with honey bees - i.e. three feet or three miles. I intend to put what ever I find of the colony in to a wooden box and take them to a...

How can I possibly be expected to not look. I have a glass quilt on. Can I look through that?

I am new to this bee keeping adventure having got my first colony last night. I have one National hive in a field at the back of my house. I'm lucky enough to have access to a few experienced beekeepers and, if I have learnt one thing, it is that depending on who you ask, not only can advice...

Thanks God, those straps were giving me brain ache. I was almost there but just needed to get the last bit right. I can now go and collect my first colony of bees tonight safe in the knowledge that the hive won't fall apart in my car on the way home! The local news will just have to go...