Recent content by Jeff M

The bees were in a nuc. However, the nuc was getting more sun than the hives!

No, wouldn't have expected her to fly that far if she was.

I had a very unusual experience with my bees yesterday. Last Thursday I checked my bees in the morning and discovered a very large cluster of bees covering two sides of my national hive. I assumed they were getting ready to swarm so collected them in a box and later transferred them to a five...

What a mad year this has been. My bees were out foraging yesterday and again today, and bringing back pollen. Don't know what they've found, but I don't think it's ivy as the pollen is too yellow?

Quite possible that there was a virgin queen either not laying yet or who never returned from her mating flight. I now have a dilemma, about what to do with the swarm. I had intended to unite them back with the colony they left. Would it be a good idea to do that now and allow the old queen to...

I have 2 hives. I recently had 2 cast swarms from one hive, one of which I managed to catch and home in a nuc. After a couple of days I decided to unite that swarm with my other hive. The swarm turned out to be queenless for whatever reason. Two days later with the united box still on the hive...

Thanks I will do that today. I'm transferring the nuc to a brood box today, and if I can find the queen to remove her that colony will then be united with another hive overnight.

My second year and having to contends with swarms. After checking my garden apiary on the morning of the 12th when everything seemed normal, in the afternoon the sky was filled with a massive swarm from one hive that settled on a tree in my garden. I was able to collect them quite easily and...

I just wondered whether the bees can revert to foraging after they've formed a cluster? The reason I ask is because I check my bees daily and recently due to the temperature drop there's been no activity. I assumed that they had formed their clusters for the winter. However, due to the mild...

My first year and 30lb off one of my 2 hives. The other was a late starter of two united swarms.

Thanks very much!

Checked the hive activity this morning. Just to put my mind at rest does this look like robbing to anyone? https://youtu.be/wOJRSJKh2wk A lot more activity compared to the larger colony next door! Thanks, Jeff.

My first honey this year was mainly OSR and like you had heard about the taste. However, the honey from my hives tastes great, and as said is very good on toast.

The eggs were towards the centre of the frame. It's a large colony with lots of bees. The frames are pretty much bias at the moment. Probably half the frames in the brood box have patches of eggs amongst the brood.

Thanks, I can do that. It will be fairly obvious if its drone brood.