⚠️ Disease & Deadouts
Needs help
Deadout found - what should I clean before reusing kit?
Demo question: a deadout report was logged and I want to make sure the equipment is dealt with properly before reuse.
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Community advice is helpful, but it is not an official diagnosis. For suspected notifiable disease, serious bee health concerns, treatment decisions, pesticide incidents or Asian hornets, follow official guidance and contact the relevant authority where needed.
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Browse by Beekeeping Topic
General Beekeeping
General practical beekeeping questions, seasonal checks, feeding and equipment.
3 questions · Community advice
Queen Problems
Queenless concerns, queen cells, requeening, supersedure and mating checks.
1 questions · Community advice
Hive Inspections
Ask about inspection findings, brood, stores, temperament and follow-up actions.
0 questions · Community advice
Swarming
Swarm signs, control, artificial swarms and prevention.
1 questions · Community advice
Varroa & Treatments
Mite checks, treatment timing, follow-up counts and risk levels.
1 questions · Safety warning
Disease & Deadouts
Disease concerns, deadouts, symptoms, cleaning and lessons learned.
1 questions · Safety warning
Nucs, Splits & Merges
Nuc creation, splits, queen lineage, merges and follow-up checks.
1 questions · Community advice
Honey & Harvesting
Supers, extraction, batch records, jars and storage.
0 questions · Community advice
Equipment
Hive parts, tools, NFC tags, feeders, stands and kit.
0 questions · Community advice
Pollination
Pollination jobs, crop windows, movement planning and contracts.
1 questions · Community advice
Beginner Questions
Safe place for new beekeepers to ask anything.
1 questions · Community advice
Weather & Apiary Conditions
Weather windows, bee flight, local apiary conditions and site access.
1 questions · Community advice
BeehiveTracker Help
Using the app, NFC, weather, tasks, billing and account help.
0 questions · Community advice
Feeding & Stores
Feeding, fondant, syrup, stores, starvation checks and nectar gaps.
0 questions · Community advice
Winter Preparation
Winter stores, insulation, ventilation, mouse guards, damp and colony survival.
0 questions · Community advice
Spring Build-Up
Spring inspections, colony growth, expanding space and early-season checks.
0 questions · Community advice
Queen Rearing & Requeening
Queen cells, requeening, queen introduction, splits and queen raising.
0 questions · Community advice
Bee Health
General colony health, weak colonies, brood pattern, behaviour and warning signs.
0 questions · Safety warning
Honey Processing & Jarring
Extracting, filtering, settling, jarring, labelling and honey sales.
0 questions · Community advice
Asian Hornet Tracker
Asian hornet sightings, identification, reporting, nest concerns and local alerts.
0 questions · Safety warning
Buying, Selling & Marketplace
Buying, selling, equipment recommendations, nucs, queens and marketplace questions.
0 questions · Community advice
Regulations, Insurance & Food Safety
Honey rules, labelling, insurance, public apiaries, records and food safety.
0 questions · Safety warning
BeehiveTracker Feature Requests
Suggest new tools, improvements, reports, shortcuts and app features.
0 questions · Community advice
Needs an Answer
Urgent / Watch Soon
🌪️ Swarming
📌 Pinned Urgent
Swarm cells on two frames - split or give more space?
Demo question: colony is strong, queen seen last week, now has queen cells on two frames. I want to understand whether to split, nuc or inspect again first.
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
If they are charged queen cells in a strong colony, treat it as swarm preparation. I would not just add space and hope. Choose a swarm control method you are confident wi...
🌦️ Weather & Apiary Conditions
Watch soon
Weather window looks poor - would you inspect or wait?
Demo question: my weather panel says bee flight is poor and rain is likely later. Would you open the hive or just do an external check today?
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
If it is not urgent, I would wait for a better window. If there is a red flag, prepare first, keep it quick and only check what you need. External checks are often enough...
👑 Queen Problems
✅ Answered Watch soon
Queen not seen and no eggs - should I wait or requeen?
Demo question: during the last inspection the queen was not seen and there were no fresh eggs. There are a few queen cells. What would experienced keepers check next?
Latest answer
from BeehiveTrackerAdmin
First check whether there are polished cells, young larvae or sealed queen cells. If there are no eggs and no queen, I would plan a recheck in 5-7 days and consider a tes...
🧪 Varroa & Treatments
Watch soon
High mite count after sugar roll - what follow-up timing?
Demo question: mite count is higher than expected. I have logged it in Varroa Planner. What timing would you use for treatment removal and follow-up count?
Latest answer
from BeehiveTrackerAdmin
Follow the treatment label and local guidance. I normally add removal and follow-up count tasks straight away so the colony is not forgotten.
Recent Questions
🌪️ Swarming
📌 Pinned Urgent
Swarm cells on two frames - split or give more space?
Demo question: colony is strong, queen seen last week, now has queen cells on two frames. I want to understand whether to split, nuc or inspect again first.
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
If they are charged queen cells in a strong colony, treat it as swarm preparation. I would not just add space and hope. Choose a swarm control method you are confident wi...
🐝 General Beekeeping
Wood peckers
This will be my first winter for my bees in national wooden hives in an out Aipary, any advice on how to protect them from wood peckers? What works the best?
Latest answer
from TIDEANDHIVE
Cheers Mike, I have also seen this advice in Roger Patterson's bee keeping book, I believe there are wood peckers near my out Aipary.
🐝 General Beekeeping
Polly or Wooden
Out of curiosity what are people using Polly or Wooden hives, and why? For my self it's Polly.
Latest answer
from TIDEANDHIVE
I am using wooden national hives, that said I think I will change to Polly hives when I come to purchase more hives for next season.
🐝 General Beekeeping
Feeding advice
I have started feeding my hives in September wth 2 to 1 Syrup, how long should I keep feeding my bees with syrup? Does it depend on the temperature 🌡️
Latest answer
from Mike
Perfect... 👍 Have to added your varroa treatment? There's a good section under tools (manage treatments) for logging all this, it's worth a look. 👍
🌼 Pollination
Moving hives for apple pollination - when should I return them?
Demo question: I have a pollination job planned and need to move hives to an orchard. What checks would you do before moving and before returning them?
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
I use a simple move checklist: check weather, strap hives, close entrances late evening, record destination, then create a return task. After the move I leave them to set...
🌱 Beginner Questions
✅ Answered
First inspection - what should I write down?
Demo beginner question: I am not sure what notes matter most after opening a hive. What should I record every time?
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
Record queen/eggs, brood pattern, stores, temperament, disease signs, varroa/treatment notes, space, swarm signs and the next action. Short consistent notes are better th...
🌦️ Weather & Apiary Conditions
Watch soon
Weather window looks poor - would you inspect or wait?
Demo question: my weather panel says bee flight is poor and rain is likely later. Would you open the hive or just do an external check today?
Latest answer
from CommercialMentor
If it is not urgent, I would wait for a better window. If there is a red flag, prepare first, keep it quick and only check what you need. External checks are often enough...
👑 Queen Problems
✅ Answered Watch soon
Queen not seen and no eggs - should I wait or requeen?
Demo question: during the last inspection the queen was not seen and there were no fresh eggs. There are a few queen cells. What would experienced keepers check next?
Latest answer
from BeehiveTrackerAdmin
First check whether there are polished cells, young larvae or sealed queen cells. If there are no eggs and no queen, I would plan a recheck in 5-7 days and consider a tes...
🧪 Varroa & Treatments
Watch soon
High mite count after sugar roll - what follow-up timing?
Demo question: mite count is higher than expected. I have logged it in Varroa Planner. What timing would you use for treatment removal and follow-up count?
Latest answer
from BeehiveTrackerAdmin
Follow the treatment label and local guidance. I normally add removal and follow-up count tasks straight away so the colony is not forgotten.
➗ Nucs, Splits & Merges
Nuc created from strong hive - when should eggs show?
Demo question: this nuc was made from a strong parent hive. It is due an eggs check soon. What signs would you look for before deciding it failed?
Latest answer
from BeehiveTrackerAdmin
I would look for queen-right behaviour, space, polished cells and then eggs. Timing depends on whether it was queen cell, virgin, mated queen or walk-away split.
⚠️ Disease & Deadouts
Needs help
Deadout found - what should I clean before reusing kit?
Demo question: a deadout report was logged and I want to make sure the equipment is dealt with properly before reuse.