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Excellent, thanks, that is what I will do today

I honestly don't know, I should find out. I have never had a chance to compare with other sorts. Had an episode of attempted robbing last year by some nasty yellow things so I know there was a big difference. They are incredibly good tempered and quite dark (?Carniolan on a quick search, worries...

This is not reassuring then "Swarmed! 29th September!" I think I had better get out there again quick

What happened?!

As a newbie of only three years, I haven't had this problem before as I have had no worry about overwintering on a single brood box ... as I could always see space to spare. The books seem to say that a single brood box is sufficient to overwinter a colony. But now both of my colonies, now only...

Aren't they too old now to be of much practical use?

I suspected I hadn't got the queen when I caught the swarm. Rather odd, it saw it disappear from the skep and then 30 minutes later it seemed to come back. But clearly not, as six weeks later all they have managed to do is make lots of honey and pollen. They are all surprisingly good-tempered...

I really should be working but got distracted reading all this. Thanks, looks like I was not totally off line then. Certainly, for me, three years ago the idea of catching a swarm had the same likelihood of becoming an astronaut but now I almost feel like advertising my services. I like the idea...

She will be unmated, but surely the bees have other things to think about for the first three days? Or am I making her unnecessarily frustrated? Is it known, in normal circumstances, approximately how long after swarming does she mate?

So elegant, never thought of that. Thanks

Sorry, one last thing. Do I trap them in for a day or two?

Just a note on the original point, I never really meant "non-interventionalist", more "semi-interventionalist". Couldn't it be true that a lot depends on circumstances? As predicted, the bees have swarmed - three times. But I have a pretty enclosed garden with low hanging branches all around and...

Thanks! I will wait for a gap between showers

Yes, one of each, taken from the hive from which they had swarmed, with the rest of the frames just foundation. (I have an enclosed garden which really has really helped as they always swarm to a convenient low tree or bush nearby.) I had read somewhere that as long as it is not from a...

Sorry, possible misunderstanding. I put them there before hiving

I caught the swarm yesterday but made the mistake of leaving the empty super that I used as an eke on too long. Do I need to shake it down (and upset them?!) and take away the eke, or will the swarm eventually make its own way down and settle? There is food and brood waiting for it downstairs...

The year before last I had the prime and a cast swarm land in exactly the same place before I collected them - a convenient low tree / shrub two metres up and ten metres from the hive entrance in a small and well enclosed garden. The (??parent??) hive is thriving and did not swarm last year. I...

I am posting as a newbie (of three years) so please don't shoot me down - just tell me where I am going off piste in this. I have read and read, over and over again and without apparent argument variations of "not inspecting is a form of neglect" Clearly a crime for which I could get drummed...

And thanks from me too, also for the tag "For the beginner I feel there is considerable advantage in using a glass, or clear plastic, crown board to cover the bees." -- Ted Hooper, Guide to Bees and Honey" 'cos I do that and have been too embarrassed to say (as I had the impression it was...

Thanks for all this, it is really helpful. The hive is a National and currently a brood box only, with a super acting as an eke to give space for the feeder (with their own honey, but they seem only moderately interested). There are a LOT of bees over the tops of all of the frames but, to be...