Search results

It's the colour of the roses innit? Mind you I like the ones with nutty bits in them. 🖖

I try to educate newbies to be GENTLE when handling frames. Rarely do I find problem bees although I had one training hive a few years ago as an exception. It took two of us to find that small queen, (inconspicuous little thing) and she was despatched pronto. As the words of the Mikado "she...

I keep sowing phacelia and it keeps failing to grow. I see it growing from spilt seed on field edges and roadsides but it just won't grow for me

I understand the W signifies wettable. When I use it a adjust the sprayer nozzle to a loose jet so it directs the liquid into the hole and catches the edges. No need to splatter it all over.

I keep a sachet of ficam W for absolute necessities. I've had it three years which demonstrates how often emergencies actually happen. Mix a half sachet with half recommended measure of water and spray heavily into the entrance with a garden sprayer fold over sachet and seal. No drama, no guilt.

Judging by recent drive by of building sites The most common insulating material complying with UK building regulations seems to be 100mm thick foil faced plastic foam - Celotex or one of its equivalents with huge sheets being saw to fit between joists of suspended floors and no doubt elsewhere...

It didn't bode well here until pretty recently. Cycles of wet/cold/dry/hot/wet seemed to baffle the bees and the forage plants. It wasn't worth extracting in June. This month however things suddenly changed gear and nectar is coming in. I was mafting this afternoon so I took a wander down to...

Folks are watching their pennies more this year. My wife tells me every week about different items increasing in price. Consequently she shops around more and any shop she perceives is going to high loses out for a while until the competition catches up. Lidl in Goole were creeping up on certain...

Sorry but I think that's a bit harsh. It's a few years ago now but CBPV was relatively unknown. It was probably around but all too often spray poisoning was blamed for the symptoms and effects. One of the Barkston Ash members had a hive suffering from it and I spent some time trying to find the...

I worry about what some of my neighbours might be concealing behind their net curtains 😵

I've just been out to check and get some measurements. The drum diameter is approx 20" the distance from central shaft to extremity of the cage is 9" so in operation there's an inch of clearance. Yes it is a Lyson. 👍

Around me it's hard to find any open mated bees without some buckfast in the mixture. I've only had one swarm arrive which I established and sold on late next spring to a beekeeper who had lost his. I saw him a couple of months later and asked how they were doing. It was quite surprising when he...

Yes. I've just purchased a radial cage (@ 195.00) for my unit to replace the 6 super frame or 3 brood frame tri lobe tangential. I have the tri lobe as a spare but might be persuaded to make an arrangement if the price is right. Pity you didn't mention it earlier. 😎

Maybe one of these would help. Needs rechargeable batteries and TF card as well. I had initial problems setting date and recording pattern but it is now working as it should...

Standard practice in training apiaries maybe because of logistics and getting student attendance. In the real world round here August is generally early and treating later works just fine. It's a matter of reading your bees and adjusting accordingly. Out of interest how many were taught not to...

Looking out of the chicken shed into the apiary I spotted a crow dissecting something on the ground among the hives. Further inspection revealed this to be a dead grey squirrel. That's about the only time I've seen a crow near the apiary although squirrels do cause a few problems around the...

Guessing that's your good self holding the trophy? I'd previously formed a mental image somewhat more weather-beaten from seagoing.🤔

Also known as the bee bee tree ☺️

I've been wearing my XL Lyson bee jacket with round veil for about 6 years. I bought it for around 50,00 from Damien at Abelo during one of my visits so I could try it on. Last year I treated it to a pounds worth of new elastic threaded through the cloth "tunnel" around the wrists but everything...