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Hi all, I have a 1 acre grass paddock beside my house that I just top with a flail mower to keep tidy but am now wondering about putting in a crop that would provide nectar for honey production. Ideas in my head range from a dedicated crop like Borage or Sunflowers, to a complete wild flower...

I have almost a full super of ivy honey, so decided as an experiment to leave two frames outside about 100 yards from my apiary to see if the bees would clean them out. Well after about a week, there have been bees working the two frames every day but they seem to be making slow progress with...

My bees have a super roughly 1/4 full of ivy honey, uncapped, the brood box is presumably packed full of stores as I fed them heavily mid September before a very mild autumn. Would you leave the super in place or take it off so they have less space to heat in the winter??

Foooooook that! My idea of HELL :hairpull::hairpull::hairpull: http://www.itv.com/news/2013-10-04/42-people-killed-by-swarm-of-deadly-hornets-in-china/

I noticed today there was a carpet of dead bees on the open mesh floor in my hive and they were throwing out brood. When I opened up the hive there was no brood at all and the bees were pulling out the last of what was capped. I haven't treated them yet but have just brought them back from the...

When do wax moth generally become a problem? I have had a couple of drawn empty supers lying in my garage for a few weeks and I know we have a lot of moths outside at the moment so just a little concerned in case any eggs have been laid in my frames.

The ling here is still in full bloom, and on my last inspection 6 days ago they had started working a few frames in the super with just a little uncapped honey in the middle of the frames, the fortnight before that they had done absolutely nothing. The weather next week is to be awful and after...

A hive of mine lost its queen around 3rd week July, I introduced a mated queen at the end of July which was killed so I assumed there must be a virgin in the hive, no eggs all through August and up to last inspection, just done an inspection today and found a small patch of brood in the middle...

Just extracted my first honey, only got a couple of kg but delighted nonetheless. My frames are all Manleys on unwired foundation and they held up absolutely fine, no broken combs. Some questions for those in the know: 1. What's the best cleaning agent for s/s - is bleach suitable? 2. I have...

My bees (two separate hives) have made a bit of a mess of drawing out my Manley frames. Instead of drawing them out as normal, quite a few of the frames have been built onto with wild comb, either parallel with the face of the foundation or perpendicularly bridged between the frames. I have...

My hive swarmed almost 6 weeks ago however it does not seem to have raised a mated queen. There are no eggs or brood and I inserted a test frame of eggs 4 days ago, it is now larvae/capped brood but no queen cells have been started. Any ideas what to do next?

In search of a mated queen preferably a dark bee, any idea on where to get one at short notice?

Obviously with cut comb, all drawn foundation is lost and the bees have to start from scratch each time the comb is cut out. Just canvassing for opinions on whether many people still bother with cut comb based on this? The weather this year (and last) has been awful and the bees are already on...

Just woken up to find this, any tips on how best to shake them into a box? I have a poly bait hive set up about 70yards away and there's a couple of bees in and around the entrance, would it be a safe bet to just leave them to it or should I have a crack at catching them?

Rehived an overwintered Nuc last week into a full size 14x12, noticed there were a couple of play cups which I took down but had nothing in them. First inspection today (9 days later) and I found another couple of queen cups, this time one was charged but only with a small amount of royal jelly...

Is a poly nuc any use as a bait hive? I have one which has over wintered my bees and is nicely stained with pollen etc, but wasn't sure if the scout bees would find the tiny entrance hole and open floor along with the reduced brood size a problem? Bare in mind it is a 14x12 poly nuc so a fair...

Well today I inspected my poly nuc. 2 Weeks ago it had only a small amount of brood covering 1/4 of two frames and bees covering 3-4 frames, it seemed stable but still low numbers. Since then I have fed about 2.5L of weak syrup and today was really the first decent day to do another...

I have had my bees for about 1 year now and managed to see them through the winter so far, albeit in a poly nuc due to a late swarm lost last year. Just been making a few small observations and thought I would see what you lot think :) 1. My bees are bringing in plenty of pollen, the hive...

I have a wild colony in a tree nearby which are going to be exterminated due to proximity to the general public (they are actually from a swarm I lost last summer). I have read up extensively and it seems there is no way to remove them without butchering the tree, which is not an option. Would...

Has anyone rigged up a webcam to watch their bees remotely? Mine are not near to electricity, is there anything "cheap and cheerful" available that can run on sunlight or low consumption batteries?