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As Michael Bush says, it could well be dragon flies if you live in a humid area. We have a large pond, a river, and a huge lake nearby and lots of dragon and damsel flies. We also seem to lose...

I've been keeping bees on and off since the 1980s and I STILL swell up badly after a sting. I remember getting lots of stings on my lower legs and knees when picking up a swarm in open sandals and a...

I don't know about bees climbing UP your legs, but our bees this year seem to have acquired the knack of climbing DOWN our legs into wellington boots. If you wear the overall legs OVER the boots...

Sometimes you have got to do this! Last year I thought it was smart to release about ten fully formed virgins from their cells into the same hive. I thought they'd fight it out and leave one! ...

One of the key factors in overwintering stocks is the breed of bee. Italian types are renowned for turning all their stores into brood, but since I started keeping pure bred Carniolans, I've been...

I agree with Fish_Stix. The bees only care about what is in the same place as where the nuke used to be, and the hive odour from the queen and the frames. They will soon leave the box they used to...

If you are raising and mating our own queens, make sure you aren't in an area that has lots of dragon flies. We were surprised at how many of our young queens were going missing on their mating...

That is precisely why it is important to get a new queen laying before uniting her with the bees. The safest way of all when buying in an expensive new queen is to run her on to a comb or two of...

Full suits make you VERY hot in high temperatures, and I've found this year the biggest danger has been from 'crawlers'. In twenty years of beekeeping I've never been stung around my ankles (except...

I remember when we had a huge storm in the 1980s in the UK, around February. We went out to our hives the next morning and every single one had blown over and the bees and frames were everywhere. ...

There isn't any effective way except with the trap idea which I tend to agree works better in theory than in practice. Why not simply use a bee escape over the existing entrance and trap all the...

The theory is great but the bees don't read the same books as me (or being English in France, I guess they only read the French theory books!) That's why we lost a prime swarm a couple of days ago...

Are there any other beekeepers in your neighbourhood who can loan you some boxes for a few weeks? They don't need to be in wonderful condition if just to do some manipulations as above.
Ideally...

Are you allowed to import the true Carniolans from Slovenia? We are lucky that we can buy them here in France, though they are rather expensive. (Around 26 euros a queen). However, our beekeeping...

I've tried two queen systems in the past but with no success and I've always found that having a highly fertile vigorous single queen has all the advantages and none of the problems of trying to run...

Whatever size foundation you start your bees off with, every hive will want to build drone comb, especially in the swarming season. And drone brood is the place where varroa loves to hang out and...

The simplest way is to remove the queen excluder and then smoke the top box very heavily. In 99% of cases the queen will run down into the bottom box. Then after a few minutes, replace the...

Very pretty tree, I'm glad it attracts bees. We have a couple but they are still only about 3 feet high, from seed. I wonder how long before it will flower like yours!

The odds depend on how many swarms are happening that season, the carelessness or digilence of beekeepers in your area in allowing their hives to swarm frequently and the efficacy of your swarm trap....

Having been to a presentation on the Warre hive recently here in France, I was unimpressed as it seemed you end up with a skyscraper hive if you want to give the bees sufficient space. Bees anyway...

The granulation results from the bees gathering brassica honeys like from oil seed rape. (Colza) If you don't extract it very soon after the cells are sealed, then you never will extract it. We...

I would be VERY cautious about destroying any supersedure cells as there is no guarantee that a failing queen will be able to produce any more viable eggs and a stock which is already weak is likely...

If you leave the cells until they are sealed then you will have lost the prime swarm as the old queen leaves the day the first cell is sealed. But if you only have TWO queen cells (are you sure?)...

I'd certainly guess robbing and that was my first thought on reading the thread. A weak colony with some stores especially if there has been a halt in the nectar flow? The only times I've found...

I'm unconvinced that TBHs cost any less to build than a regular moveable frame hive. The hive body for a Langstroth or Dadant or any other type is just a square box; the only key factor is the bee...