Omen for a good year.

Yesterday I spotted three Bumbles and a Honey Bee on some flowering heather. It has been some many years since We had Honey bees in the garden. A good sign me thinks. It is also good to see an Irish black. In the UK we had the Italian but efforts were being put into place to try and get the English black back. Many years ago the only genuine strain was found on the isle of Tasmania. Now I am glad to be informed that a large area of Devon have the black`s and efforts are being taken to protect them. My hives remain empty. Sad this is.

Try this Wayland:
Make some sort of stand to raise your hive up about four or five feet - the higher the better. If you have any frames or wax, put them inside. Close the entrance up to leave just two inches open. Then, get a bottle of essential oil of lemongrass and sprinkle it around the entrance and inside the hive. Probably best to wait a few weeks. If any swarm rises in your neighbourhood - even as far away as four or five miles, you'll have a good chance of attracting it. I have hives like this dotted around all over the place and they usually get a swarm (though not last year, admittedly, when bees just did not swarm due to the weather.) Also, there's a fellow offering bees for sale in Wexford at present on Donedeal.

Hi Sean. Thats an idea for May onwards. I do have some foundation somewhere. I will also have a butchers on Done Deal. Cheers

I lost my hive last year. it wasn't the strongest hive and then wasps attacked and wiped them out.
What can you do when they attack? I made the entrance to where only one bee could pass at a time.
I set wasp traps but there were to many of the buggers.

I lost two hives year before last.  Like you, I reduced the entrances, but the wasps still prevailed.  I had wasp traps all around the apiary and caught literally thousands of wasps, but they still kept coming!  Last year, I kept my eyes peeled in the early summer and found three nests - two in empty beehives and another in a tree.  I dispatched those and had no problems in the Autumn. Really strong hives will defend themselves all right, but any stock less than full-strength should have the entrance reduced to nothing bigger than an inch before the wasps start attacking. Once they find they can get in, nothing short of finding the nest and destroying it will deter them.

This is the time of year that I watchout for Queen Wasps prospecting. For a short while they may give their location away. I destroyed four nests last year. Like Sean said a strong colony can look after itself but many hives these day are less than ideal. I put out many traps in the orchard to protect my fruit crop. I use two wine bottles half filled with water and a wodge of jam smeared around the top and inside the neck. These are hung in pairs with string and hung over branches. The wind rattles them and the sound like windchimes.

Great idea!