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I've had a really good harvest this year and have lots of honey from cappings that have been through a heated uncapping tray. I usually use it myself but have too much this year so wondered about giving several jars to a food bank. Does anyone know about the labelling rules for this please. If I...

I had a pacemaker fitted 3 weeks ago and since then my bees have been quite tetchy. Is there anybody else here who's noticed the same thing after having a pacemaker fitted? I wondered if the electrical signal could be affecting them or it may be sheer coincidence. I hope it's the latter.

I had a pacemaker fitted a couple of weeks ago and wondered if anybody else who's had one has noticed that it changed their bees temperament. A friend helped me today and my bees were definitely more unsettled than they have been before which is possibly a coincidence but it made me wonder.

I had an email yesterday from the National Bee Unit to say that a credible sighting of an Asian Hornet had been reported near Maidstone in Kent; they've sent a Bee Inspector to investigate further but it has not been confirmed as correct yet. Lets all hope it turns out to be a mistake and that...

I've just been into a hive that superceded in the autumn and now has 2 marked queens both laying on 2 separate frames. The hive is very weak with only 2 frames of brood so I added a frame of sealed brood from another hive to boost the numbers but today I noticed that in some cells there were 2...

I recently bought some calibration oil from Gain Express in Hong Kong but there were no instructions included with the bottle. Can anyone please tell me the correct figure to use to adjust my refractometer. Jaytee

I collected a good sized caste swarm on Monday which had been hanging in a tree in foul weather for 5 days; I wasn't informed until the Monday afternoon. I know where they came from (not mine) so am confident it's a caste with a virgin queen as I was involved in collecting the prime swarm from...

I have a newly mated queen of no more than 2 weeks; I marked her last week but noticed that she was much smaller than the queen in my other hive. Does the size of the Queen matter or is it normal for some to be smaller than others and it won't affect her performance. I was a bit worried as...

I did a false swarm on my very strong colony 7 days ago and all was going well until yesterday when I noticed lots of dead and fighting bees around the entrance and on the ground in front of the hive with the queen, flying bees and 2 supers on it. The colony that I am feeding with syrup until...

On inspection last Friday I found 6 queen cups spread throughout BB; I have brood on 9 frames, 1 full super almost completely capped and the 2nd super is half full but uncapped when I last looked. Inspection is due this weekend to prevent queen cells being drawn but the weather forecast for Kent...

I put a super under the BB this winter which seems to have worked well; have strong colony (treated 8 frames with o/a this winter). When is a good time to check and put it back above BB with Q/E or completely remove it if it's empty; is this week too soon with warm temperatures forecast. Bees...

I am over wintering on a BB and super. At the moment the queen excluder is still in place as the queen is still laying; when is the best time to remove it or is it best to go by the temperature? This is my first winter, the colony have about 40lbs of stores and are strong and healthy. Thanks for...