Recent content by rickyd20

A few of mine have done this too during June.

I was wondering whether anyone had tried this? I am interested to know what would happen. I can imagine it going either, the virgin kills the original queen, or it works like a supercedure where they both kind of live together for a time. Would keeping them separated with a QE keep them apart...

Appreciate the replies. I was going to go for a 5mm, but sounds like this is not needed. The other thing for me would be that my fence would be quite close to the entrance of my hives, probably 50cm. You don't think having them so close to the fence would make it easier to fly through?

I am going to build a fence in front of the hives in my garden, to force the flight path higher. Does anyone know the maximum size of hole I should use so the bees are not able to fly through?

Why is the idea so crazy? Bees forage plants. Cannabis is a plant. Seems like a pretty obvious idea. If you don't get that, well... I was honestly surprised something like this wasn't publicized years ago, especially considering how big the cannabis edibles market is in the US. Fair play to the...

Does anyone know what the situation in Italy was this year? Last year there was loads of information everywhere, including maps showing areas of infestation. I haven't heard anything this year, so was hoping someone in the know would be able to share any information. Thanks.

That would be awesome, to have 2 laying queens next spring. Surely that hive would be a boomer. Hope it works out like that. Just out of curiosity, why do the 2 queens not try to hunt eachother? I thought the instinct of a virgin was to kill all her rivals.

Today I found 2 queens in one of my hives, and I am not sure whether I should remove one, or just let them get on with it. This was a queen I purchased and introduced to a queenless hive. I had assumed they had rejected her, as they started building QCs from her first brood, plus I couldn't...

I use cwj too. I believe it worked out to about 33p per jar, including lids (if you buy 1000 lids), which I would say is good value.

Thanks for that, very helpful. TBH I had just assumed that I probably wouldn't be able to find the virgin since it was quite a big hive with 3 supers. I think the method that Karsal mentioned in this thread is worth trying, since I have kept all my old queens. Hopefully I can get lucky and find...

I was actually hoping for someone who is unlikely to be wrong to answer. But thanks anyway :D

I believe this to be a very simple question. I will try rephrase it. Can you combine a Q+ nuc with a strong hive with a virgin queen inside and ensure the laying queen is kept.

Ok mabee I should explain better then. I did an AS on this when I spotted the open QCs. Then a few days after, I destroyed all but the biggest QC, or at least what I thought was the last one. Turned out there were 3 that I missed in the super, and that's how they ended up swarming, with a...

Yea it would. I don't believe I will be able to find her though since they can be quite small and runny.

One of my hives swarmed the other day, I must have left an extra QC in there that I never saw, as I thought I removed them all. I want to combine this hive with a strong Q+ nuc I have. Can this be done when there is likely a virgin queen running around the main hive, or do I have to find and...