Recent content by drex

Eggs are eggs for only 3 days. A queen cell takes 16 days for her to emerge. The queen usually goes when the cell is sealed on about day 8. The maths explains it

I took enough exams in Med school, so for me sitting the module exams is a definite no no. I have gone down the husbandry assessment route and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Currently hold the general husbandry certificate and am unlikely to take it further, but I do believe the syllabi ( hope...

I moved 3 hives l- Nationals in my car last year. Journey was 6 hours. Mesh top and bottom and they had a water misting every couple of hours. Think it through, prep well and no bother

I Demareed one strong hive. I now have 3 queen cells in nucs.

Mine is a £25 cheapo from China. Still OK after 10 years. Sorry have no other details

I don't bother with empty supers. My clearer boards have 2-3" ekes attached and always clear down fine.

My bees are currently superseding their 4 year old queen. She is still laying, but slow. Was doing well last season

Shake test in the field and refractometer at home. Still have to reject some who passed the shake test

Bees put stores above the brood. In order to avoid this at this time of the season, I make sure that brood is directly under the QX. They then automatically put the nectar into the supers. Depending on your situation you could always reverse brood boxes.

I trample it to bruise it and then spray with glyphosate with a drop of detergent in it. Still takes a couple of years and even then get the odd one appearing

One of mine is in same situation. I too am leaving them to it

I wouldn't worry. They had some thymol syrup and that is good against nosema. Nosema is only one cause of dysentery, which results in splats. Nosema can only be accurately diagnosed by microscopy. See what happens now the weather has improved.

Sorry, I don't buy it. If weather was good enough for them to build up to swarming strength, then there must have been opportunities to inspect. If necessary I do inspect in sub optimal weather, but each to their own

I use sulphur, but I believe it does not kill eggs, hence I repeat it 2 weeks later.

As already said, likely to be drone larvae. Check for eggs on next inspection. With regard to the split, are they strong enough. How many frames of brood?