Recent content by DaveJNeal

thanks all, hopefully I'll have another chance this year and I'll use the QE trick. many thanks D

PM sent thanks Dave

on a similar thread - I caught a swarm yesterday, put the queen in a match box, put the match box in an overturned box then later that evening shook them onto a board, put the queen right up at the top and watched them all walk in. This evening, they've gone - which is a bugger coz I lost a...

Re - light for checking the frames. Fishing cap maybe ? the ones with the lights in the brim. Aldi had them recently for 3 quid, I picked up a couple. cheers Dave

aye, OMF - do I need to prop the top open a little maybe ? to be honest, if I do need to do that, not sure how. thanks D

strange one over night checked the colony yesterday, all seemed okay, am running a 14x12 brood with just one super on at the moment. then out at around 22:00 last night to shut the hens in, low droning from the colony and the hive entrance was packed with bees - not bearding all over the front...

it's easier to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission. I'd go with the self inspection route and deal with any fallout that might occur after that. They're living organisms, no different from a pen of hens, etc best of luck. D

"and I would also add that the "Search and Rescue" and "Mechanical crop polination" justifications do seem to be a bit far off into the future. " fab - competition for the bees for pollen - thats just what we need, it's worked so well in other areas ( the trains, nhs, etc, etc ) ;-) D

does that mean wasps 'warm up' quicker than bees then ? would kinda make sense, as the predator it would want to be up and about whilst the prey are asleep. the bugger flying straight in the front door this morning certainly seemed perkier than the bees on duty at least. thanks D

mmmm, having seen a fair number of wasps lately in the garden, I was keeping a sharp eye on things lately - reduced entrance blocks, killing those single wasps I saw, etc. I've just seen a wasp fly completely unopposed into one of my hives - doesn't appear to be that much activity going on but...

Just curious, does anyone take antihist preventatively ( ie, suit on, tablest swallowed, gloves on, etc ) ? I'm fairly sure I saw it somewhere but cant find it now of course. cheers DaveN

easy tiger - not the face ! at the local beek assoc beginners meetings, the impression was given that a frame or two a year was the plan, I'll get clarification on that tonight. my 'problem' ( as you can probably see from my profile I'm a beginner - no colonies, low post number, hardly a...

re : getting your first bees. Personally, I'd go against getting a swarm as your first lot - you've got no idea of what you're getting, what they might be carrying illness wise, etc. it's a hell of a lot more expensive, but I'd buy a nucleus from one of you local beekeepers ( that way you've...

wowsers, change all brood box frames every two or three years ? that seems kinda a rapid turnover isn't it ? cheers D

For the transfer, my local nuc supplier is going with 3/4 national brood frames and supplying a slab of fondant, and we're gonna stick the nuc in the middle of the deep frams in there - which sounds like the way for me. Any thoughts ? Lesley - did you find that they build to bridge comb under...