Recent content by Nijal

It always amuses/confuses me to see advocates of 'natural' beekeeping recommending substances that are completely unnatural to the hive. Pure Lavender oil does not occur naturally in the hive and I have found no evidence to suggest that it might be harvested and brought in by bees - unwittingly...

1 - if there is food there will be rats, so ensure they can't get any. 2 - poison is the professional's choice, but not the environmentalists. 3 - integrated pest management - use several pest control methods at once. 4 - all traps - peanut butter is the bait of choice. Check traps regularly. 5...

There are relatively few occasions when you would construct a 1-1 relationship within a database. It is much more common to have a 1-many. For example, one beekeeper may have several apiaries or each apiary could have several hives, or each hive could have many time/date related records such as...

Agree with YorkshireBees - wasps are beneficial and if they are going to be a pest to your colonies, it will be later in the year. I'm not convinced however that this is a wasp - it looks more like a hornet to me (with darker wings and longer orange legs rather than the wasp's yellow legs):

Dishmop - could you tell us a little more about this octagonal hive in the picture?

My bees seem to love it - but as you observe, there are many variables (largely unknown to us) as to why they may not forage on it at a particular time or day. My guess would be that there are specific conditions which enable the nectar to flow more readily and be more accessible for their...

Good site TBH so that I can make an informed decision? Top Bar Hive Beekeeping: http://http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm biobees dot com

A little more information needed Norm. Perhaps this site would be of help to you... Botanical Society of the British Isles Plant identification site http://www.botanicalkeys.co.uk/flora/

Look, Listen, Learn - At the hive-side by Ron Brown 'Crackle crackle, like a crisp new fiver being crumpled up, in summer it means that bees are happily drawing out wax foundation. On a cold spring day it may mean acarine in the hive, causing irritation and fidgeting among the bees.'