Hi. Weekly Saturday Inspections, also checked on Tuesday, (for some Reason- unsure ) but today Saturday Have found what looks like just one supercedure cell on the side a frame in the main Brood area. Looked for queen countless times today nowt, no eggs visible either. Can’t understand why a capped cell has arisen, after two inspections this week ? It’s been capped and made So fast ? unless i missed it twice ? Perhaps the queen has been killed or tried to fly off, but I cannot find... Read more ..read more

Two weeks ago I found charged queen cells in my hive. I followed the nucleus method and moved the queen and a couple of frames if brood. A week later I knocked all but one queen cells down in the hive. Today I inspected the nuc and there are two frames of brood in all stages and eggs, the marked queen is present but there is a single sealed queen cell. What is the best thing to do ..read more

Whilst I was disrobing after visiting an apiary today I was approached and asked if I had any honey for sale. Not in the car when I'm doing inspections, as it happens. But it made me think that perhaps I should keep a few jars in the vehicle, not just when I'm out doing inspections, but all the time, so my wife can sell some when she's out and about too. Obviously however there are a couple of days in the year when the inside of the car gets a touch warmer than one might like for the... Read more ..read more

I plan next week to take the top boxes off my demarees (over a month old) removing the upper entrance and extract the full honey frames and then revert to normal hive. If any have laying Q’s in the top BB could I just remove the older bottom Q & replace immediately ..read more

I mentioned in another thread that I had my strongest colony produce queen cells on 1st May. Queen was nuc’d and one cell left in original hive. Queen emerged around 11th and eggs/small larvae were seen on 26th May. Took two half full supers off the hive to extract on 29th May and both empty supers were given back to them by lunch time. Inspected this morning (1st June) and found loads of charged queen cells. Found the queen, marked her and nuc’d her. Left one charged cell in the... Read more ..read more

In London for a show yesterday, I saw this display at the entrance to Waterstones. I've heard that the title of Tom Seeley's latest book was created to draw in a wider readership. It seems to be working. Or it could simply be that books ostensibly about bees sell. Just a few paces away was this: This one I bought. A bookseller descended on us and in a voice audible to everyone on that floor gave his personal rave review. £9.99 seemed cheap at the price, plus I... Read more ..read more

hello everyone just wondering what peoples opinions are on the Carniolan queens and Italian Ligustica I already have a f1 mated Buckfast from Black mountain honey and need to order another queen so i was wondering if i should order the Carniolan queen or Italian ligustica instead of another Buckfast so i have different to compare or shall i just stick with the Buckfast f1? what's the difference between Buckfast and Carniolan and Italian ligustica ..read more

I have just split a double brood colony that has 2 supers on, one in the process of being capped. The Queen has gone into a nuc with brood, food foundation 4 shakes of bees and 1:1 syrup to get them going. I have a new Queen coming in 8 days. I have put a clearer frame on the original hive with a view to taking the supers off so I can feed when I introduce the new queen. I’m now wondering if this is the right move, or should I leave the supers on and let them carry on without any... Read more ..read more

I have a hive that produced a single queen cell on the 1st May, which I removed. Another single QC on the 8th persuaded me they were trying to supersede so I left them to it. Went in today expecting to check for eggs and a new queen. Instead I found a bunch of sealed queen cells, and after a brief search the old red marked queen (much slimmed down). I nuced the queen and cut back to a single QC as per normal. This evening it has occurred to me that there could be a second queen in the hive... Read more ..read more

If bees in the bottom BB of a demaree are short of stores would they venture to the very top BB to take down, when the middle 2 supers have little stores as either extracted or consumed, whilst the top BB remains heavy with honey ..read more