Recent content by Mrs Soup

The workshop was organised jointly between Cardiff Vale and Valleys Association and the Regional Bee Inspector. Frank has organised these rght across Wales, it maybe that other RBIs have done the same. Definitely a worhtwhile afternoon.

Hombre - Thanks for the advice, swapping location hadn't occured to us. Think we may give it a go. No photo becuase I wasn't sure what to take a photo of! how to take a photo to adequately illustrate that there were no bees was simply beyond me, sorry. Other questions raised by various posters...

Chris B had it spot on here when the OH had a closer look last week. Rightly or wrongly we decided to attempt to save the colony. There was so much varroa that we certainly couldn't unite. So, as there was only a small amount of brood, we sprayed with an oxalic acid solution, took off the...

Thank you everyone for the measured and considered advice. We have 3 colonies, so uniting is an option, we also have a nuc box, so that is also a choice. From the comments posted, my feeling is the decrease in numbers would be due to a laying gap during the varoa treatment and we may not have...

thanks RAB That sounds entirely plausible, we haven't checked the brood in a long time, not expecting swarms when there was a reasonable amount of space in the hive. Inexperience showing there maybe? we are 2nd year beekeepers. We have uncapped larvae in the hive so may have a queen in there...

checked the feeders on the hives this afternoon and it appears as though one of them has swarmed.... They are a May AS and before we did varoa treatment they were on about 6 frames. Last week we put the super back on and fed with a contact feeder direct onto the top of the frames. We didn't...

Are you after one now, or to order for collection next year?

Always grow self blanching myself, but have seen a method suggesting wrapping the stems in pieces of paper potato sack secured with string. Looks like a good simple method which shouldn't attract too many slugs.

Your local Association should be able to point you to their preferred supplier. http://www.wbka.com/associationsecretaries.html

Well, we had some sunshine yesterday and I finally melted some wax. Thank you all for your help on this.

Only just in the valleys, where the castle leans and the cheese is crumbly

Thank you all for your replies. I have moved to melter to a better position in the conservatory, so it now catches more sun and added some insulation under the tray. However, the glass is about 6mm apart, and I guess there's nothing much I can do there.

Interestingly, there are two websites. The one linked on the facebook page and the one Russ is talking about. What I can't work out is why GBKA is affiliated to BBKA and not the Welsh Association. Last time I looked Gwent was in Wales.....

I feel a bit silly, I was feeling flush so shelled out for a solar wax melter, but it doesn't work! Have tried it outside and in the conservatory but no luck. Does anyone else have any experience with these things?

Well Hombre, you're wrong in some of your conjecture, but right with your advice. The axial capacity of a bit of aluminium tube will vary depending on exactly how it's installed. The number would be meainingless and quite possibly wrong without the context. Yes, I am a structural engineer and...