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I tore down 6 QC from one of my hives yesterday - 3 capped. Feels a little early for swarming but it is a strong hive and was a little cramped (2 supers now on - one added yesterday). I didn't see the queen during the inspection but saw her last week and there were no QC (that I saw) last...

I want to merge a Nuc and a hive. The Nuc has a queen and I will replace the queen in the Hive. I have merged hives before but not a nuc. Normally I would do so over newspaper but I don't have a spare brood box to put the frames in for the merge so what is the best approach? Amended title to...

I have a swarm in a skep having picked up this afternoon. It's on a sheet at the house in the village and should be ready to pick up. Problem is I have no hive until tomorrow. Should I leave in situ or wrap up and leave wrapped in my garage overnight until the hive is ready?

Just been down to inspect for the first time in a few weeks, partly due to weather and partly business. I have 3 hives. Hive 1: Was formerly super busy, extracted 30lbs of honey a few weeks ago, did artificial swarm after seeing a QC and have left for 3 weeks to ensure new queen born. Current...

I was called out to a local school on Tuesday with a query about bees in an adjacent building. There seemed to be some activity high up on the outside of a wood clad building - entering through a few knot holes but in two separate places. I went into the building and was surprised to see that...

I was called about a swarm this morning and went out to have a look. A nice size swarm that I was going to go and pick up later but just called to say that it has flown away! Anyway, the chap reckoned it had swarmed from his next door neighbours old shed. I asked to see it and it is a big old...

So this has just happened to me. I have a very weak colony in my garden that I rescued lat last year. I wasn't sure that I had managed to get the queen in the rescue (from a compost bin) but after the winter they were still going, spotted the queen and there was a small amount of brood. I've...

I keep one of my hives on a friends piece of land (about an acre) - he keeps it as a nature garden and loves having them down there. I had to move one of the hives last year as it became very aggressive and he kept getting stung. I performed my first proper inspection last weekend having not...

Just reading another thread about swarming in the first season. Last year was my first season and I performed an artificial swarm into a new hive. I now have 2 plus a colony I rescued, although I think they may not survive having looked in the other day... This year how do I avoid going to 4...

Last year I had a really poor honey crop which was disappointing as it was my second years beekeping. I got no clear honey at all in August - when I extracted I left the honey to settle for 24 hours in the extractor and it hardened. After the extraction there was still lots of crystallised...

So a few questions. Firstly the colony I 'rescued' from the compost bin last year is now in a Poly in my garden. There is a fair bit of activity so there are still some bees alive several months later - are these likely to be the same bees (winter) and not a sign of a healthy colony or does...

I got a call from a lady in the village yesterday who had found a colony in a compost bin in her garden. It looks like a swarm from this year that has settled in. Most of the frame had been built hanging from the roof and has collapsed when she opened it. There are lots of bees in there but I...

Yesterday whilst harvesting one of my frames collapsed in the extractor. I cut out what was usable and stripped the wire from the frame. My Bee Buddy puts frames back in empty when he has cut out the foundation (in his case the honey had crystallised in the frames) and I wondered if this was...

Hi I was at my sister-in-laws for lunch yesterday and they mentioned having lots of bees outside their loft conversion. I had a look and at any time there were a dozen to 2 dozen bees but I couldn't see them landing anywhere. They were just congregating around the top of their single story...

Hi there I started beekeeping last year with one hive and was pleased with myself for successfully performing an artificial swarm a few weeks ago. The old queen is now in an established colony in a new hive (lots of drawn out brood frame with capped brood in, lots of freshly capped honey on...

Hi all I am a recently new beekeeper and this is my first year. I have a bit of a quandry and my 'bee mentor' is unavailable due to illness. Towards the end of the summer I harvested from one of my 2 supers and left the other on. I then replaced the first super after harvest for the bees to...

Hi All My first post here so be gentle! I recently acquired a new hive complete with bees. The beekeeper who gave them to me had placed a super frame in the brood box which the bees had obviously built out to fit the space and which, upon receipt, was filled with drone larvae in the built out...