Thank you all for your well-thought out responses. I checked the hive today ( & gave them a serious dowsing in icing sugar as well as sprinkling eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil, clove oil & fir oil in). - It was not a pretty sight... I removed one frame that had some drone brood & found 5-10...
My national has survived the winter, but are heavily infested with varroa.
Any suggestions what I could do at this time of the year?
I'd like to dust with icing sugar - any suggestions for effective puffing?
Thank you.
Do you have plans? My partner built one for me... I think the only crucial measurement is the width of the top bars... I had to go to my local joinery works to get the bars planed to the exact width.
Hi Keith,
I went to your talk on 'Raising Nucs for sale' at Gormanstown. It was very useful and informative - a little bit over my head in places - but entertaining. You've got quite a system going there. A few of us went down from County Down for a day trip - it was a great day out for 16...
One of the members of my beekeepers' association has bees in her attic that have been there for at least 70 years. I would be interested in any research that has been carried out on the wild bee population... anyone know of any?
Wow! It made me think... about countries where bees build their nest outside... This is a huge exterior nest of africanised bees in Florida!
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c8gYh9L1__k/TY4PNXGr1gI/AAAAAAAAATY/sGG1m0xuWJY/KissimmeeGiantAHBcolony.jpg
Yes, beautiful hive Tom. Good luck with it. How do you feel the bees compare to being in the National? Mine seem 'happier' but old time beekeepers laugh at me when I say that.
'just reading this now (11th July) and wondering how you got on... I ran into a similar problem when my topbar went queenless... not knowing anyone who could lend me brood comb that would fit into it. The videos are pretty good. I hope it all works out. Good luck.
Hi Mike,
Some people from Norfolk/Suffolk were looking for fellow TopBar Beekeepers on the Natural Beekeeping Forum
I have been looking for people here in Ireland... it takes time, but eventually they'll come out of the woodwork to you.
Good luck
Christina
I thought it looked great... the kids were really interested in it. Well done. How is she after her day on display? Have you had the time to check on her yet?
That's interesting, and I'm sorry to hear it. Are you still committed to TBH? I notice that my bees are much easier to work with in the TBH.
And Oliver, I like Phil Chandler's approach. I wouldn't say 'carried away'. He's affirming many of my own thoughts against intensive beekeeping. He...