Search results

Agree with above: vertical split is the way to go under current weather conditions. Ken Basterfield wrote an article somewhere a few years ago on how he (and Dan) does it with queen in bottom BC but with entrance pointing to the rear and with most of bees and brood in BC above the split board...

[ Do you still find that the bees make demaree supersedure cells up there? Yes and No! Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't ie just as with the standard demaree as described by JMB (which I have also done several times in the past if the colony has only got between 8 and 11 combs of brood...

Essentially it is as most of the brood (and so most of the brood pheromone) ends up in the top box separated initially by two supers from the queen (and from much of her pheromones) so achieves the same effect. I would call that a "modified Demaree"

quote : I wouldn't dream of doing a Demarree on double brood. I have been running double broods for most of my beekeeping years and I carry out a sort of Demaree on them when they get to about 13 to 16 frames of brood (often reached by end of April/beginning of May depending how the season is...

23 C here is south yorkshire so did 1st proper check of 30 colonies. Apart from 5 they were all looking really good with nice slabs of brood and plenty of pollen stores.Supered 12 colonies that had 7 or more frames of brood to give them some room. Most of the rest had 5 or 6 frames of brood with...

Worker larvae reaching their third day of development have their diet augmented by the crop contents of the nurse bees. There is a substance called p-coumaric acid found in honey, pollen and bee bread that plays a role in activating genes controlling aspects of detoxification and immunity. Work...

Probably willow pollen based on colour and which stained and examined under the microscope should look like this

I have tasted many flavours of honey over the years both from my own bees but also from honies judged at honeyshows all over the UK and in common with many other honey judges I can now recognise the distinct flavour of honey from several floral sources from their colour, taste and aroma. However...

Last year grew super sweet milion and produced far more tomatoes than I needed. I try to grow a new (to me) variety of tomato very year. Am growing Floridity (F1 baby plum variety) for this year. Has anyone grown it ? Any good?

Just over a week ago sorting through the contents of a cupboard draw I discovered an opened packet of tomato seed (gardeners delight) I bought and used in 2014. Out of curiosity I sowed the two dozen of these 7 yr old seeds and today noticed that just over 70% of them have geminated.

Garden hives bringing back loads of pollen today with many bees working the Hellebores (I have at least 60 plants) . Also saw a queen wasp sucking up nectar from an hellebore flower . By time I got my camera from the house the wasp had gone otherwise would have posted a pic. Maybe it will come...

Just got my copy of "What's on TV". The Midsomers murder on at 8 pm Sunday 21st March is called "the sting of death" . A body found covered in bees. Griff Rhys Jones plays a pompous beekeeper (plenty of those about some of you might reply!) The honey they sell is supposed to have extraordinary...

The beebread (pollen) pattern looks not quite right on the second photo. No obvious signs of disease. I think the real clues to what is going on will be on the shallow (super) combs

Common but not normal. If no eggs or brood at this time of year you may well have a problem eg queenless or more likely a superseded unmated queen that has not started laying. With either of these two scenarios you may well end up with just drone brood.Another scenario is the original queen is...

Theoretically the water content of capped honey could reduce a little in sealed cells. It is well known that many nectars contain sucrose especially that from Borage. Bees process the nectar adding the enzyme Invertase (sucrase) which inverts the sucrose splitting it into its constituent...

I think golden syrup manufacture still involves acid invertion in which case there will indeed be HMF present so not a good idea to feed to bees. Golden syrup (like honey) can be eaten well past its so called "best before date" so use it yourself on pancakes, in cake making etc

I would combine swarm prevention with colony production. Run the colony on a double brood until you get at least 12 combs of brood and then carry out a modified demaree putting a split board with rear entrance under the top brood box after three days. This will generate a few decent size queen...

Actually there is some evidence that if you swap red meat for squirrel meat you can get a brain disease - it’s been found in various isolated farmsteads in redneck areas who eat squirrels...! The meat wasn't the ;problem . The 11 people found with a form of CJD in Kentucky had been cooking and...

You do seem to have a chip on your shoulder about people with exam certs. I wonder what happened in the past to generate that level of contempt ? Actualy don't have single module to my name I'm afraid as I came through on the old system of four 3 hour exams, an all day senior practical and...

Is it wise for a mod to issue veiled threats ? Going back to squirrels. If we could persuade the UK pop of the nutritional value of grey squirrels (Elvis ate them if that is any recommendation) and also encourage eating rabbits more often then the problem could be potentialy be solved . On the...