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    Something we should know

    Possibly some opportunism, but not based entirely on self reporting. There was a post war drive to treat for acarine mite among Middx association members. The 1946 campaign included 3500 hives, that's in suburban London to the North and West, maybe a third of the area of what is now Greater London.
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    Something we should know

    No they haven't. That's a misleading claim from some campaigners. It's based on the number of hives registered on a national database which was established for tracking and dealing with outbreaks of foulbrood. But the database was only established a few years before and during the past few years...
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    Bananas for chalk brood?

    A chap was in an old fashioned train compartment with a massive bunch of bananas. Every few minutes he broke one off and threw it out the window. The elderly lady opposite asked why he was throwing bananas. "To keep the elephants away" he replied. "But there are no elephants in England" she...
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    BBC Country Side

    Also noticed that he has a "nutrition" panel. Is that his choice or a Tesco requirement? My reading of the Food Information Regulations (as in REGULATION (EU) No 1169/2011) is that Annex V excludes honey from nutrition labels as "1. Unprocessed products that comprise a single ingredient or...
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    NOD Apiary Products

    "Advertorial" is the usual term. Editorial copy from commercial organisations that is printed in return for payment. It would normally have to be clearly flagged as advertising, except the regulations could make that marginal in this case. It may not have been paid for and BBKA News might not be...
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    Bees stolen from an Anglesey farm, North Wales Police

    We know most news stories end up like the result of chinese whispers by the time they've passed through several hands. Cut to fit by someone barely aware of the subject, headlines added by someone else again and so on. Leaving aside any second guessing, can we know what actually happened from...
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    foundation swap ???

    You could try trading it in as the weight of wax with Th0rnes, Ma1semore or anyone else who makes foundation next time you're buying.
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    Aggression?

    Thundery weather round here. Impending rain and electrical storms have a reputation for disturbing even some of the calmest colonies.
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    Bee Inspector Visit

    Register. It's part of being a good neighbour. Inspectors don't routinely visit unless you report something suspicious or somebody nearby has a disease outbreak. In which case you should want to proceed with caution. As a general idea, previous reports by inspectors have taken around 20 or 25%...
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    Combining again

    No. I don't know the odds, but I'd expect a virgin queen to be better equipped to fight than an older one. She's lighter, faster and might expect to dispose of rival virgins in the normal course of events. If you want the laying queen, find and remove the virgin. A test frame might be useful...
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    Tree bumble bees

    One of the features with tree bumbles is the drones from elsewhere fly around outside an established nest waiting for virgin queens to emerge. Could it be the drones are still waiting where the box was? Maybe they learnt the location, there's still pheromone at the old location or there's...
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    Building a hive for filming

    Time lapse is difficult with variable light sources, so the flash you suggest is one way out. But with comb behind glass you'll have a lot of problems with reflections. Without glass, the camera probably gets covered in propolis. Only thing I can think of at the moment is to protect the camera...
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    how to avoid having too many hives???

    You do need some working space to cope with swarming. Much of it can be done on the same stands if that's all you have but you will need to be comfortable working and lifting at head height. Vertical AS methods like Snelgrove or simple division boards fit under the same roof and actually make an...
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    Some thoughts on a vertical AS

    Indeed, it's not as if you need to keep inspecting the bottom box of an AS immediately after it has been done. A late season split can even be overwintered as a vertically split colony and they're both warmer in the cold months. You are working at a greater height which might be a problem for...
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    What's the best way of improvising a floor?

    I have a few National "standard" crown boards with one section of spacing batten cut and pivoted as an extra opening. Pin something over the feed holes and you have an improvised solid floor, or a vertical AS division board (simplified Snelgrove). Or they are still normal crown boards if that's...
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