Bee Poo![Ack2 :ack2: :ack2:](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/ack2.gif)
I started beekeeping last year and have a bit of a problem with one hive from this year.
The two hives I started with made it through the winter ok which is great. I got a good deal of some bees and a hive yesterday and they are busy settling in today - 17 degrees in Aberdeenshire - at last![CoolgleamA :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA:](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/coolgleamA.gif)
Back to my problem hive which is a new colony I made up on Tuesday. I bought a queen from honeybeesuppliers.co.uk and took stores and some pollen from one hive (with no bees at all) and 2 frames of brood from the other. I shook off the older bees from the brood frames and kept the rest on the frames (as per Hoopers book).
I went to have a look at them to day - from the outside only - with binocs. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed the poo one of the bees did - pictures attached, it is the same length as the bee itself!!
I wondered if it might be caused by the stores on the frame being off - if possible (they looked fine to me when I put them in the hive). Or something else all together - there are only a few on the hive (which was totally new) and a few on the anti weed matting below which I have yet to cover with bark. The other hives are unaffected.
One final piece of information is there are quite a few bees on the ground around the hive that I took the brood and bees from. These girls don't look great I guess they are not sure where they live and the guard bees from the older colony are blocking them from coming in - I did partially block the entrance with grass on Tuesday (again as per Hoopers book)
Thanks![BEE-SMILLIE bee-smillie bee-smillie](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/BEE-SMILLIE.gif)
![Ack2 :ack2: :ack2:](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/ack2.gif)
I started beekeeping last year and have a bit of a problem with one hive from this year.
The two hives I started with made it through the winter ok which is great. I got a good deal of some bees and a hive yesterday and they are busy settling in today - 17 degrees in Aberdeenshire - at last
![CoolgleamA :coolgleamA: :coolgleamA:](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/coolgleamA.gif)
Back to my problem hive which is a new colony I made up on Tuesday. I bought a queen from honeybeesuppliers.co.uk and took stores and some pollen from one hive (with no bees at all) and 2 frames of brood from the other. I shook off the older bees from the brood frames and kept the rest on the frames (as per Hoopers book).
I went to have a look at them to day - from the outside only - with binocs. If I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed the poo one of the bees did - pictures attached, it is the same length as the bee itself!!
I wondered if it might be caused by the stores on the frame being off - if possible (they looked fine to me when I put them in the hive). Or something else all together - there are only a few on the hive (which was totally new) and a few on the anti weed matting below which I have yet to cover with bark. The other hives are unaffected.
One final piece of information is there are quite a few bees on the ground around the hive that I took the brood and bees from. These girls don't look great I guess they are not sure where they live and the guard bees from the older colony are blocking them from coming in - I did partially block the entrance with grass on Tuesday (again as per Hoopers book)
Thanks
![BEE-SMILLIE bee-smillie bee-smillie](https://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/images/smilies/BEE-SMILLIE.gif)