Recent content by boywonder

I would do it. A couple of years ago, an old-boy (ex beekeeper) called on me to help sort out a mess in his garden and woodland clearing. His kit (unmanaged and shambolically strewn) was occupied by a couple of thriving "free-living" colonies. One (dilapidated stack) was bang in the middle of...

14x12 (Jumbo) BS National High-density Polystyrene Beehive (+ 2 supers complete with clean, drawn comb), containing a healthy honeybee colony, headed by a 2023 Queen. Collection only from Loughborough area. Due to downsizing, we have the above for sale - priced at £350. More details below...

Appreciate the thinking here fian - left field as it is (vs. the consensus in relation to varroa). My wife, who is a fetal medicine midwife, and whose bread and butter is congenital abnormalities is certainly interested in this stuff. Genetics are not my strong point, but I understand what...

Lol. What I saw as a mite is clearly a drop of nectar, on second inspection. It did look reddish brown, and mite-like, but now that I can see it for what it is, I can't unsee the globule, nor get past the realisation that either my eyes or my brain are starting to fail me 😟

Yep I see that too. The wife laid the first frame she pulled across the top bars, and it was full of recently stored nectar, an amount of which dribbled out onto the frames beneath. I've been zooming in looking for the white varroa poo which Drex has seen. Also, on the photo with the pulled...

That's excellent advice - thanks Eric. Good resources, too. Thanks. I had considered the possibility of varroa being the root cause, but I generally haven't equated varroa in cells with pupal death in this way. Every day a school day.

Hi all, Was looking at my wife's hive with her this afternoon. This is a very advanced colony for this time of year. 14x12, with 8 frames of BIAS - much of it wall to wall. Great looking brood pattern, cappings, and larvae.The bees were great in number, and were calm and healthy-looking. There...

QQ - If you (UK) guys have the odd colony to sell to the great unwashed, could I please learn where you have success advertising? The specific reason I ask is that I have previously used both Gumtree and Pre-loved, but these have become a royal PITA, as the AI bots routinely reject ads with...

Just speaking from personal experience, I have had Virgin Queens mate very well in mid-March before (and late September, for that matter). There always seem to be residual pools of drones. Furthermore it has occurred to me more than once whether the proportion of drone laying colonies exiting...

I borrowed a Thomas extractor like this from my Association a while ago (same thing, older model), and really liked it. I thought the quality was very good indeed, and I really liked the straining directly into the settling tank. It prepared the honey for a subsequent filter, without having to...

All good - in relation to sizing indications, I guess - but you are still going to have a cohort of fatigued, stressed and disorienteated OTHER insects who don't escape, and who exipre. Anyone who has ever set a wasp trap (of whatever design) must be able to relate to that. If people with a...

Great feedback, Eric, from someone who is in an area which is potentially (though hopefully/likely(?) not) impacted in 2024. The whole importations risk is never going to go away, sadly. I forget whether it was Hull last year (vs. the year before), but I do seem to recall also a nest found in...

I was going to post on a new thread, but seeing that the AH springtime strategy banter has kicked off here in earnest, in what is an exhaustive (if not exhausting) exchange ... The stalls at the Beekeeping Show on Saturday were (worryingly) awash with traps and gadgets to deal with the Asian...

Other than the snowdrops and the crocus, nothing of note cracking off in my corner of Leicestershire yet ... though (to continue the previous chat on Blackthorn) the prunus spinosa is about ready to burst. Also spotted some nice pink flowers on the other side of the hedge, near my hives...

Most of it in my garden 😀 It really is extremely prevalent in Leicestershire. In my experience, it generally flowers much earlier than, say, my wild cherry (prunus avium), though there are no signs of blossom here yet; though it won't be long.