Recent content by edjex

What happens if you do have the lifts on before they're in? Do they set up shop in the space between the inner boxes and the lifts? Unrelated question... how do you move a colony in a WBC hive? I'm going to need to do that later in the year when I bring mine home from the association apiary. I...

In the Th*rne catalogue, they list both a 'polycarbonate quilt, plain' and a 'polycarbonate quilt with bee escape'. Collins Beekeeper's Bible shows a plain wooden panel for the crownboard in their photo of hive parts - no holes for feeders or bee escapes at all.

The problem with the name 'laurel' is that there are actually several completely unrelated plants which share the name. The mountain laurel referred to earlier is probably kalmia latifolia, which is poisonous I believe, though there is more than one plant referred to as mountain laurel. You've...

With regards to rhododendrons, I've read that honey produced from rhododendron nectar is toxic to humans. As the gardens where I live contain lots of mature rhododendrons - just come into flower and looking fantastic - it had me somewhat worried about my prospective honey. When I googled the...

There is a riding school nearby so I guess it could have been a horse fly, but on all the images that popped up when I googled horse flies last night they had wings that extended beyond the end of the abdomen whereas I think my visitor had shorter wings. My visitor looked more like...

I was sat in my study yesterday afternoon with the french doors open, both dogs basking in the sun on the small balcony outside while I got on with work when I heard a bit of buzzing and look round to see that something had settled on the wall. It was perhaps a bit less than 2cm in length with a...

That's the picture I had in mind, though I've also seen gable roofs on some other Nationals somewhere on t'internet. I plan to go with two hives and maybe eventually three. Just need to try and persuade my other half that getting a second hive when I haven't got bees in my first hive yet is a...

I'm a newbee too (doing a course at the moment - will be getting my first bees as part of it in June) and elected to buy a WBC instead of going for the 'default' option of a National. My rationale was entirely based on the fact that it's going to be in the garden and therefore I want it to look...