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I was bopped repeatedly yesterday while mowing my neighbour's lawn. I eventually got a small sting on the arm. I'm sure they were my bees. It will only get worse as they increase the area they think is theirs. I need to either requeen the hive I think it is (Its now got 4 supers) or move the...

I wonder what you guys think about this article ! Do beekeepers cause CC'D and encourage the spread of varroa ? https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/how-beekeepers-help-deadly-parasites-thrive

MM At one point last year this colony had an empty super underneath. the bees would drop with a thump to the floor. Thump thump thump ! I sometimes wondered if they were getting hurt. Are you suggesting that I do this again but with two empty supers ? Roger

Yes JBM When I had found and marked the queen this was AFTER moving the Queen cells, and reassembling all the hives. It started to rain. I had her, now marked, in a queen cage. As the rain turned squally, I had to decide whether to leave the hive queenless overnight. I decided to reintroduce...

Checkerboarding has worked very well with this colony. It was produced from an AS last year. I did it at As tho so prob not relevant. I managed to do the first inspection in 8 days yesterday (18 C), The brood nest now extends over halfway into the broodsuper. Found 8 Q cells 4 sealed in the...

I guess that is one advantage of your Langstroth system. Ours is not as interchangeable. Yes I would like the bees to remove the capped honey completely and start again, but it's not likely when they are bringing in so much. Maybe I should keep these for the early summer food shortage period, if...

Thanks Oliver, Finman and Bosleeu The brood shallow contains stores. The top super contained honey produced by this colony last year. The second super contains empty comb, cut out for comb from this colony last year. They have started to draw this out and fill it. I will add another super asap...

Thanks Erica Excellent points. what I did with this colony last year was remove brood for other colonies and replace with foundation in a chequerboard (alternate) pattern. They seemed to appreciate this, and grew like topsy ! The super is there because the colony was too big in autumn to fit...

Thanks Dexter That's good advice. Give them more supers to work on, and enable them to get in and out quickly. What I am worried about is making sure I don't lose the queen and release a big swarm, and also I don't really want the queen laying in a super. Are there any other things I should be...

I am a relatively new beek. One of my colonies is on a 14x12 and a super above followed by a QE and then 2 supers. The bees are overflowing out of the brood box. I have not yet seen any queen cells. This colony is very well-behaved and produced more honey last year than all my other 4 put...

Thanks Dusty, a very tempting and simple approach.

Thank you everyone, especially Finman for your suggestions. Separating the bees from the brood sounds like the way to go before treatment. The choice is between the Apiguard I was going to use or buy in some MAQS. If I take this route, do I just sacrifice existing brood and the wax on the brood...

I have just noticed that my largest, most prolific colony now has a drop of hundreds in two days. I guess I'd better start the Apiguard treatment asap. This colony had a drop of virtually zero in the spring.

I would like to purchase one of your colonies. Are they still available ?

It is irrelevant to say that bleach is acid or alkaline. Colloquially bleach is any compound that easily releases chlorine, or another 'bleaching' agent. Ruary is absolutely correct that hypochlorous acid is produced when chlorine-based bleaches are used. Do not mix different products used for...

'Deffo' a hornet, not sure about the species. It did jump onto bees, but I saw some get away.

I saw a hornet flying around one of my hives, landing on it and creeping up to the entrance. Although I chased it away, it kept returning and landing around the hive. What do you experts do to deter them ? :sport-smiley-002:

Great pictures !!!