Recent content by dilys

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    Dead bees

    It sounds like a lot to me. What colour are they?
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    Woodpeckers

    It's best if you remain in the dark about its meaning.
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    Opting out of BDI

    This is the problematical bit. How many associations have members not paying enough to cover all their hives? I would guess they all do and yet BDI, sensibly, still pays out. Dil
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    Opting out of BDI

    My understanding is that the way the BDI constitution was initially written every member of an association must be fully paid up for every one of their hives. If just one hive in an association is not covered then non are. Apparently though the rule is not normally enforced so in practice it's...
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    Honey Allergy?

    I know someone with a propolis allergy which meant that she could not risk honey.
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    Engaging with new BKA members

    Peterbees. I understand the Derbyshire BKA started making monthly videos to show beginners at each meeting what they should be doing in the month ahead. Their meetings shot up from about 20 people to 100. They then had to use 2 rooms and have a meeting for beginners with the video and...
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    BIBBA/SICAMM Conference, Llangollen, Wales 2014

    Wowee! It sounds brilliant. I'll be there - can't wait.
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    Are there too many bees in London???

    Stocking rate in Switzerland is about 4 hives per square kilometre and that includes mountain tops and lakes. Although I suspect their flowers are more plentiful than in the typical British countryside I doubt if the forage is better than the London suburbs.
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    Best bees for next year?

    Where I live anyone would be mad to have anything other than AMM or bees with more AMM in them than anything else because other races all turn nasty after a couple of queen changes. I would have thought though that London would have been a different kettle of fish. Priono, do you have AMMs in...
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    Better Queen mating

    I agree with both those points but the point I was trying to make was that you can have 2 genetically gentle strains that produce absolute killers when crossed together if they are from different races. Hence importing gentle bees is usually just a temporary fix because if they differ from the...
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    Better Queen mating

    In my experience bad behaviour is rarely due to genetics but hybridisation instead. Bringing new bees into the area will just make things worse unless they happen to be compatible with what's already there. The answer is for your local association or interested parties to work together at...
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    Queen selection

    I think a lot depends on the bees in your locality and the culture of the local beekeepers. If you live in an area where everyone has his own pet race of bee then many of the queens you produce will be hybrids or will lay hybrid eggs. When this is happening laying rate will mean nothing. You...
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    Apis mellifera mellifera

    There's a bit about it on Dave Cushman's site: http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/wingmeasurement.html http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/morphometry.html You will probably find a lot more stuff that is easier to follow than Tolfilski's report Dilys
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    Bee Improvement Day in Cornwall

    Were they ever prone to it?
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    Why is this method not used to prevent swarming

    Mark I don't think your take on the drone problem is a little adrift of the Mark (sorry - couldn't resist than one). If drones can't escape there is a strong likelyhood that they will kill themselves by getting jammed in the bottom queen excluder. It will be difficult for you to see just how...
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