Recent content by jon

I find that putting a few floating bits of twig in the feeder can help, inside the inverted cup if it is that type.

Thank God for that! I had a vision of the Mariana Trench running through your apiary.

There is a vast amount of info on beekeeping on the web. Check out Dave Cushman's site for example. I shouldn't really mention the forum of the jodhpur wearing, moustachioed and monocled gentlemen of leisure headquartered at Stoneleigh for fear of drawing a bad house down on myself again but...

If the queens hatched on 17 July I would not give up on one getting mated until 17 August. If you think there is no queen, put in a test frame which contains eggs or young larvae. Workers with white backs have been visiting Himalayan Balsam and got the white pollen on their thorax. You don't...

They look like they may be ventilating the hive. Was it hot at the time? You also see bees fanning out pheromone from their nasonov gland when new bees are orientating to help them find their way back to the hive.

If he can fill them with his f'ing Slovenian bees and charge for it I am sure he will be first in the queue!

No offence taken and I don't see any harm in poking a little gentle fun at the Chattering classes Beehaus.

Not every aspect of beekeeping is as simple and straightforward as we might like it to be. It's good to keep things simple of course. The BBKA forum is hardly moderated at all now and it seems to be working well. The pesticide debate is a complete red herring. You can post what you like about...

And equally strangely I have to agree with Jim re. the Beehaus and beekeepers. It really doesn't matter what equipment you use with regard to your beekeeping skills. I cannot for the life of me imagine why there is such animosity towards top bar beekeeping and the beehaus. I know people who...

I agree with you that the Bayer sponsorship is a fiasco but the BBKA forum currently has a good bunch of posters and is an enjoyable place to hang out, same as this one.

I agree. Beekeeping does not have to be a really expensive hobby. I am sure the Beehaus is fit for purpose but it's way beyond my budget, especially if you want to keep 8 colonies.

Well Brosville, as you keep repeating the same old guff in spite of it having been debunked on numerous occasions, I feel I have to point out again that you were banned from the BBKA site not for an anti pesticide stance but for race related abuse of another poster (The colonial, remember), and...

Genetic diversity within a particular type of bee is good. ie, if you keep AMM it would be good for a virgin queen to encounter a neighbour's AMM drones. The same for Carnica or any other race of bee If you get crosses between AMM, Carnica, and Buckfast, the results will be at best unpredictible.

HP I take your point re. the bull which is written about beekeeping but I am not convinced that mine mate so close to the apiary. All my bees are dark yet I get the odd queen which has offspring which look like Buckfast so I reckon she must have travelled some way to find different coloured...

Any update on this case? Just curious.