Recent content by pstafford

Managed to leave work early to get a good look at my bees yesterday. Hive one is my older queen and no QCs but plenty of stores. Hive two I found was not far off swarming as it had two very large capped Queen Cells and was also down on stores compared to the other hive. Very happy I had the...

I was expecting drone celle there and there is no foundation, they make their own mess there. To cull the drone you just cut out the wax and dispose - easy. The only thing I thought odd was how far these three cells were capped away from the comb itself. It may not be clear in the pics, but...

Quite right, it is a drone frame. As you can see they have build drone comb in the area I was going to cull, however after seeing these large cells I have left them as is. P

I saw these three large cells: Would you say these were just very large odd Drone Cells ? Paul

Thank you ! P

I removed 2 supers on Sunday and set them inside the house awaiting a borrowed honey extractor. At 4pm I was getting a little concerned as no extractor had arrived as promised and later found out that it had been damaged that morning and was awaiting a spare part due to arrive this week. My...

It was a blob of yellow paint. If she has lost it, that explains why I had not seen her until the weekend as I was looking for a big yellow splodge before.

So, I am a newbie beek for 2010. As you can imagine I am doing it all by the book and taking my time making sure I have checked for eggs each time I open the hive. For over a month I have not seen the marked queen, but have always seen eggs. This weekend I open the hive, note more eggs and...

I have a hive in the garden and am fortunate to have very docile bees apart from two. If you get close to the hive they buzz right around your head non-stop. If you walk away they follow. To prove a point, I walked up to the hive and then walked off with these two dive bombing my veil and...

This may also be a good article: http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/News/Media-office/Press-releases/2009/WTX054476.htm

BBSRC Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/ DEFRA Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs http://ww2.defra.gov.uk/ NERC Natural Environment Research Council http://www.nerc.ac.uk/ Scottish Government http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Home...

I saw it on the BBC news webpage this morning too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/10362883.stm

I still like the idea of them nipping out for a quick smoke in the afternoon before returning to work. I will tell friends that is what they do if asked ;-)

Everyday around 4pm, I get a small cluster of bees come outside for a look-see ! They are addictive to sit and watch :)

I like that idea ! Personally that will be my new home for a while whilst I ask the daft questions ;-)