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Our old queen (born last year) swarmed 2 weeks ago, we caught the swarm and re-hived. The original hive she came from has produced a virgin queen. My question is: How long before the old marked queen starts laying again in her new hive, if at all. Up until swarming she was a good layer. We...

Advice please: At 6pm I noticed bees fanning at the entrance to my second hive. I then spotted a small cast swarm in the apple tree. Have caught the swarm, it is very small, and housed it near the original hive. Did a very quick inspection on the original hive, still pretty full of bees, 10...

Near our 2 hives, a farmers field has just come into bloom with yellow flowers, he sowed them in March. They look remarkably like oil seed rape. Yellow flowers with 4 petals and pods on the stalks. Is it likely to be rapeseed? The bees are bringing in lemon yellow pollen. The plants are low to...

I just found this on Thornes new website. Can anyone tell me if it is a worthwhile purchase? A revolutionary new product for improving bee health and vigour as well as crop pollination. SuperBoost is a pheromone device that is easily hung between brood frames. One device works for over 30...

To everyone who sponsored Guy for the Great Langdale Xmas Pud race - completed in a decent time today with a stunning snow filled backdrop. A fab £500 raised for the Howgill Family Centre in Whitehaven. :xmas-smiley-016::xmas-smiley-016:

This post might not fit in here, if so then I'm sure Admin will let me know and please do, but just in case.......... I am currently out of work and looking to find some. As you will know if you follow our blog I am a keen gardener, bee keeper and allotmenteer who paid for his degree in IT...

Just a general open question really. Why did you start or are looking to start keeping bees ? Difficult for us, becuase it was for many reasons and I guess others are the same,, but would be very interested to hear other peoples reasons to start and keep going. On the other side did you give...

OK at the risk of sounding stupid here, I thought that our bees should be all snug inside the hive during rain and gale force winds ? Went up today and the allotment is being blown to Scotland with winds coming off the West Coast, infact so strong are the winds I'm sure the Isle of Man looked...

We are preparing to over winter our bees as I guess everyone is. The question is, what are the thoughts on putting an empty super or empty BB under our brood box, so the bees have a space under it to stop wind blowing in ? If so do we need to make a ramp in this empty box so the bees can move...

It's time to replace the very old smoker that came with our original kit - it keeps going out! Anyone offer any advice on 'good buys' or 'best avoided'. I can see prices range from £20 - £60 The budget end of the market is more attractive but I don't want to waste my money on something...

Six weeks ago we went to our hive and found it had swarmed and the swarm was in a nearby tree. Prior to this we hadn't seen the normaly very visable Queen for three weeks, but had seen a coupe of Queen cells. So we caught the swarm and placed in a spare hive. Since then we have not seen a...

Can anyone suggest things that are safe to insulate my hives inside for the winter? I have 2 Nationals. I was hoping to fill the void between the dummy board and edge of hive and also for under the roof. Is polystyrene packaging ok? Cardboard? Loft Insulation!? Please let me know what you use...

Well I'm trying to get this out on as many places as I can, I hope its ok to post it here in off topic chat. I'm trying to raise some funds for a local charity here in Cumbria that is having a push to stop child povety in Cumbria. To do this I'm going to attempt to run the hardest marathon in...

Newbie confused about winter feeding. I have some Ambrosia feed paste but do I feed this running up to winter or do I feed it during the winter months? It didn't come with instructions!! Also - What is Apifonda? Is this the same or something completely different? I have a national hive with...

Does anyone have a decent smoker for sale? Or can you recommend an internet deal which doesn't charge the earth for postage. I have a smoker which came with my 'job lot' of used equipment but it isn't very good. Also - National hive wanted as a spare. Location West Cumbria but can collect from...

Advice please! We are newbies - 1st season and the frames we got with our nuc are pretty old and tatty, holes etc. What is the best way to replace them without upsetting the girls? Since May we have expanded from a 5 frame nuc to a healthy 9 frame brood box. So now have a mix of old and new...