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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    We did a similar thing; my inspection partner was stung on the thigh ("I don't need to put my whole suit on, they'll be fine") and it swelled up pretty badly. My Buckfast colony still has drones going in and out.
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    What's flowering as forage in your area

    Rape and buttercups here in East Cambs. So much OSR around. The little honey I do get (most colonies died over the winter) will have to be taken off as soon as possible.
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    Colony extraction from stable wall

    The stable is going to be rebuilt into a play room so all I did was screw a patch over the entrance hole. I wasn't even required to replace the chipboard, it's all going to be ripped out in a couple of months.
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    Colony extraction from stable wall

    Thanks everyone, we did the job yesterday. We used our new shiny cordless angle grinder with the woodcutting blade, which filled my lungs with sawdust (didn't think that one through) but cut through the old chipboard like butter. Then we cleared the comb into a brood box, pre-screwed onto a hive...
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    Colony extraction from stable wall

    A cordless angle grinder is interesting; handy for other jobs too. There is no reason to repair, apparently the stable is being converted to a playroom.
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    Colony extraction from stable wall

    A friend has asked me to remove a colony from between the wooden walls of their stable. The colony appears to be restricted between the studs in the wall, an area of about three feet square. My initial plan is to cut away the chipboard indoors with a chainsaw (no electricity available) then put...
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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    I look(ed) after a hive at a friend’s house. Yesterday I went to check on the colony, and they had absconded. Today I learned the family has put the house on the market. Coincidence? I think not.
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    OSR

    No sunflower oil from Ukraine? Let’s plant more OSR. No fertiliser exports to Brazil, which means less soybean meal for animal feed? Let’s plant more winter beans. These things don’t happen by accident.
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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Same here, they seem to have survived the winter well. Have to make sure the hives are protected later on in the season.
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    Testing for insectiy

    I am suspicious that a colony has been intentionally killed. It was one of two in a garden; she loves having bees on her flowers, he doesn’t seem to care for them. We lost one colony in the summer because ‘someone’ closed it down and didn’t open it up again for a few days. We were due to move...
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    Overwintered Q- colony

    Unfortunately it's a neglected WBC hive full of propilis and ancient black wax, in an old lady's garden. The supers and brood box are all different sizes, and I have fixed a couple of them but there is still work to do on the wooden bits, let alone on the wax bits and the bees, God help them...
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    Overwintered Q- colony

    A colony I have taken over for a friend has no queen. Is there any hope that the winter bees could raise one from a frame of brood and eggs, or should I try something else? I know she won't want to pay for a bought-in queen.
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    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Bees going mad for ivy, and taking syrup. Did my bit to shut up the eco-loons and free up the motorways by insulating my part of Britain; at least, all my hives.
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    Bees hate my smoker

    The turps/silicone sealant trick worked perfectly. At least it did, until I reversed a Land Rover over the smoker this afternoon. In my defence I was distracted by a puppy stealing my keys, but even so.
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    Bees hate my smoker

    My bees hate my smoker. It's a standard issue Thorne's one, with grey leather bellows. Trouble is, the bees hate it. They've taken to stinging the living daylights out of the bellows, which of course creates a stink of sting smell. Has anyone else seen this? Any idea why it's happened?
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