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I do have two hives, just haven't updated my profile. But isn't it too late to give them a frame of brood...there would be no way they could build up in sufficient numbers before the winter? And I could put them in a poly, but, again, there are so few of them that I don't see how they could...

Close to my home in London is a tennis-ball-sized swarm of bees hanging from a tree. They've been there for the last 2 weeks or so, and during the day, bees fly to and from it, as if to a hive. Any ideas why they are doing this?- why haven't they found a cavity to settle in by now? And is it...

Thanks for your replies. I never thought I could house her for the winter. That could be useful...but how would I go about doing this? (You can probably tell I'm pretty new to bee-keeping). I've tried googling it but haven't had much luck.

I've just re-united two small colonies, and I took the queen (with 5 workers) out of one of them before I did so. I haven't killed her (I don't have the heart to!)..is there anything more constructive I can do with her at this time of year? Or do I just have to face up to the fact that she'll...

My hive swarmed on Sunday (20 May), but I don't think it's swarmed further as it's still fairly full (6 brood frames are well covered in bees) and there is one capped queen cell and several uncapped. I've read conflicting advice about what to do next. Should I cull all but two of the strongest...

Thanks for your replies. I'm going to check the hive today again, but I'm feeling more confident that they're just bearding. Fingers crossed!

I'm a beginner so forgive my question if it's daft- but is it possible for bees to swarm now? Loads of mine (around 150+) are clustered outside the hive, crawling about on the outside of it, some doing an odd shaking dance. The colony was raised this year from a nuc which had a year-old queen in...

Thank you all for your very helpful replies. They're pretty unanimous- I'll start clearing the super tomorrow and start treatment asap! But don't worry dclewis- the comb was capped before I started feeding so it should be OK (and I don't intend to sell it anyway- it's my first ever harvest of...

It's my first year, I've got one full super I can extract, but can't do so till 8 October. I haven't treated with Api-guard yet. Should I: (a) Clear the super now, take it off and store the frames at home till extraction date, then I can begin treating the hive. If so, is that too long to store...