Recent content by Chris Ibbo

Masonry bees I bet! They can look a lot like honey bees. Look them up on google images. I get loads round the front of my house and when they visit my garden they do make me look up for a sec till I see their hairy rounded bum lol

http://wildaboutbritain.co.uk/gallery/showimage.php?i=10903&catid=member&imageuser=475 Is that the beauty?

Hey Finman, did you actually read tge whole thing and watch tge youtube translation of tge seminar the guy did? The site mentions that the honey producers using their method produce on average just over 40 kg per hive over tge last few years and name the bee keepers. Also this small bee...

Beejoyful, you are an absolute star! I think these guys are on to something that we need to take notice of. I may complete my first year on the foundation I already have and next year regress bees in one apiary to the 4.9 mm foundation and see what happens without varroa treatment (Except for...

Hi MasterBK, I think you hit the nail on the head with that last sentence. These are my thoughts exactly on why the smaller bee method is successful. I just need more people to reinforce what this guy is saying and produce more evidence closer to home. Which is why I asked if anyone on here...

Hi Finman, you are defo right different bees make different sized comb, ferral, wild and every different strain of bee. There are also different levels of hygienic behaviour within those different bees. Like i said ealier though to get the hygienic behaviour that we need in our bees with out...

Does anyone on here have 4.9mm foundation? Do you have anything to add to this on how your bees are doing with varroa?

Hi Icanhopit, it think from reading their info the problem with bees today in the uk and the rest of europe is that we have had 100 years of rearing "big" bees that don't necessarily look after them selves as best they could. The varroa mite originally live on smaller bees with quicker brood...

I think the people on this site are trying to say its not just the bees being small that helps! Keeping them chemical free and selective breeding is a must in varroa control. I would like to know if we really have increased the size of our bees by giving them larger cells on foundation?

I have just spent half of my evening where I should've been a sleep reading from this site; http://resistantbees.com/. Are small bees something we should be going back too? Thanks for your responses.

I definatly agree with you on the "leave it the people with the time, resources and inclination". Who in thier right mind is going to want bees that swarm lots, don't produce stores, are really aggressive but can kick varroas ass!? It is a multiple pronged effort that is needed to sort this...

It's great to see our friends across the pond doing something for the bees. I think however our interest should be on people like Ron Hoskins as Russell said and Rodger Dewhurst. Does anyone else think that the most likely way forward for kept bees to develope this resistance is for a...

Thanks everyone, these late night comments have given me a giggle. I am bord of waiting but I'm completely hooked on the whole bee keeping thing. I'm enjoying every bit of reaserch, every chat with local beeks and every hands on experience. I loved making my own hives and hope the bees will...

Another beek has just appeared in the welcome section called rodrigoalido i think. He's from spain. Here is his profile link http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/member.php?u=9735