Recent content by Markthebuilder

Pigeons, send wife in with torch at dusk instructed to shut door strait away and watch where pigeons come out. Could also get a life size model of a Sparrow hawk, available from countryside sports shops /ebay set it up anywhere obvious in the barn and move it around a bit every day. if it...

Rightly so I am afraid . The foot and mouth epidemic of 2001 actualy started just a mile or too from my home and probebly caused by farmer routinely feeding pigs kitchen wast . Some say it was a wagon driver throwing a part eaten ham sandwich out of his window when parked on the layby. The...

Aldi -- Choc spread hazelnuts and chocolate...who could resist

Your making my mouth water

My neighbours job was selling biosolids allegedly the main benefits to farmers was a cheep source of nitrogen and soil structure improvement. However the main concern is that the cop that requires land to be tested befor treatment is only to enshure the nasties dont exceed max levels ie they...

That's Hartleypool and monkeys

I converted early to 14 x 12 , which in some ways was a mistake for a beginner as it complected any hive manipulation. on the Pluss side I found that the bees used the space below any standard frames to to build Drone cells, which I judiciously removed to help with mite control. That too may...

Thankyou for the responses. So far they have continuously surprised me . I probebly over managed them the first year. But still.lost a swarm ended up with to 2 hives the second year . Then i was working away so they were more or less left to their own devices year 3 . And i went into last...

So after a period of being doubtful about my queen and the apparent failure of the hive to supperceed in August... hatched queen cells at beginning of August...