You guys have some weird names for things… I had google what the heck a marigold was too…lol
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Oooops…sorry…Brit speak…marigolds are washing up rubber gloves …used by many beekeepers in the UK. Nitriles…are thin gloves …like latex or surgical gloves. You can usually get them from DIY stores. Brolly…is an umbrella.
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I have thought of that…but when I looked through the clear cover board…All the girls were at home…sitting looking up at me…couldn’t bring myself to disturb them! I am hoping there will be some flying time today…I’ll get some feeders in then. I can put a feeder on one hive easily as there is a hole in the cover board but the other one will have to be opened.
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Beware of wasp traps, Valli
Those ones you see in garden centres let more wasps out than they trap. They then go and tell their mates where the food is. The best defence against wasps is a strong colony and you have just severely depleted yours.
Reduce the entrances down to two bee spaces. Have a look at a high efficiency trap such as the Waspbane. Placement is crucial, best located downwind of the hives. There is much good advice at http://www.waspbane.com. Just click on the beekeeping link there.
On another note, mentoring.
Never mind their standoffishness. Just ask. Admit you might be in trouble and are inexperienced and I’m sure somebody would step up.
Ooooops I see horsehillhoney beat me to it.
Do look at the website.
Understanding how wasp colonies behave lets you tackle the problem most efficiently
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I made a trap from Pop Bottle Vinegar and Cordial with water. They say to put them down wind of the hive - Bees don’t like the smell of vinegar apparently but wasps do.
All My hive entrances are small.
BTW there are now 2 capped Queen Cells!! I checked they had plenty of syrup to keep them OK and they are in and out like the other 2
The difference here is that the other 2 hives have laying queens but your nuc is very vulnerable as only has bees which are ageing each week. Absolutely, you must feed it and make the entrance down to 2 bee space…like half an inch. All mine are reduced…as the wasps are bad this year. You nuc bees will fly and collect nectar…if it is available…but there hopefully will be enough to protect the entrance. Just because they are flying is no guarantee that they are finding anything.
If you need more bees for the nuc…ask at your assn…someone might let you have a frame of brood…but don’t take them from your other hives. They need to recover. Fingers crossed all will be well.
You folks keep talking I am learning a lot. Learning I have a lot to learn 
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Trouble is the weather here is rubbish and is forecast to be so as far as the forecasters care to predict. i.e. well into August.
Valli should feed pollen if she can too. I know there is not that much pollen in the fondant pollen supplements you can buy but it’s better than nothing. I think nektapoll has more than the others (but it’s substitute) and that’s what I’d be using rather than syrup.
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There’s plenty of pollen about near me…my bees are bringing in loads. The nectar will probably be thin and watery. The main problem is that the weather is preventing flying time. I think we are having a few days…a bit better with some sunshine.
I will be looking in my new nuc soon to check whether I have brood…lots of pollen going in so I have my fingers crossed. This was an extra nuc as one of my hives keeps making a few queen cells. I think they want to superceed but it is a new queen this season…so she should be OK…she is laying really well. There is a hole in the brood comb and they keep making one there…very strange. If I find another today…I will take out the queen and put her in a nuc and let them go ahead with requeening. There is still time for them to make a new queen before winter bee time.
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@dangerous Strangly enough I have just bought a pollen trap and deciding the best way to attach it to Emerald’s Hive - my Elder is in flower and my Raspberries and Blackberries - loads of pollen coming in.
There is a Queen rearing course in 8th-9th August - thought I might try to get onto it.
St. Swithin’s better not be right otherwise we are in for rubbish for another 5 weeks!!
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They will need lots of pollen for brood rearing and soon for winter bees. Also they store it for brood rearing in the spring…when pollen may be scarce for early brooders. Sapphire comes from a line of early brooders. I think it is only recommended to use a pollen collector on a strong colony…which can spare the pollen and to also use it for only a few days. So next year your colonies would be strong enough for a pollen collector. I was thinking of getting one for my big hive by the pond…but can’t face dismantling it all twice. 
I was only thinking of Emerald - yes the dismantling thing is stopping me presently - I read you should only have the collector on for 1 week no longer.
Was thinking of buying pollen but how can you guarantee the source? It’s a hard call
I know…but as long as the pollen is gamma rayed it is ok to use. Bought from a reliable source.
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No don’t do that. I agree with horsehillhoney
You need winter bees and a good start next spring
You can’t get irradiated pollen anywhere in the uk.
Beware AFB, you’ll lose the lot.
Some people like to manage their bees with varying interference.
Some folk concentrate on honey production others not.
Valli has obviously decided that she would like to be an interventionist beekeeper
There is nothing wrong with that as long as that intervention causes “minimal harm” and is guided by the right reasons.
Chacun à son goût …and that’s not double dutch
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I guess if you can acquire swarms during the season…it gives you more wriggle room with your bees. I found last year that with only 2 colonies…the bees were very vulnerable as I had no reserves…spare comb, spare brood etc. so I decided to mainly do increase this year. I sacrificed one colony, it was a big colony on double brood with about 16 brood frames, by making nucs. I made 5 and kept the original queen with 3 frames. Later I made another couple of nucs. All of these are doing well but around where we live there has been little opportunity for the bees to be out foraging this summer, due to poor weather. I decided to feed a few pints to each of the nucs…to tide them over until the weather improves. The larger colonies have plenty of reserves.
Now everything is so much easier. I can be much more flexible.
I think when you start beekeeping…looking into a hive…there seems loads of bees…but a truly mature hive is so much more and many of the manipulations can only be done with mature colonies…not overgrown Nucs. It’s a learning curve.
If you do collect pollen…it has to be kept in the freezer or it goes mouldy. I would only be interested it doing it in the early summer. My grandchildren all suffer with hay fever. So a quarter teaspoon on cereal daily during the winter…really helps control it.
Yes they gobble that too! I have thought about it…but can’t face the dismantling of big colonies!