Search results

The zip jammed so felt like it was done up, but there was a little hole. I slipped with a frame and rolled some bees, they were not happy. My bees had been so chilled my smoker had gone out through lack of use, so thought I would put the hive back together quickly with no smoke. So many bees...

This is eactly why I am a full-armored keeper. Gloves boots, cap, sleeve protectors. I just try to reduce stings as far as possible, I know I wont stop them all. Only been stung once this season, 4 got under my not properly zipped up vial. I managed to squash 3 of them, the other had gone...

Wasps can be great pest controllers, they will eat all sorts, but they are just sugar junkies this time of year. As others say, just leave then for a bit if possible. But if you feel that's not an option, I would try blocking the entrance in the evening, then shoving a hose pipe in a soaking...

There are free apps you can get on your phone that let you take a picture of a plant and it will identify it for you. Just put "plant identifier app" into play store, you will find a whole gang of them to try. I had one installed on my old phone, cannot remember which one, it struggled now and...

I have 4 hives, one I am sure swarmed and I missed it. Of my 3 "good" hives, one has 4 supers, another 3, then the final hive, that made most my honey last year, only got its 1st super a few of week ago! Tbh, I dont think they will fill the super, but brood box was getting full, so I thought...

Regarding the finances. If it cost them $400,000 per unit to produce, then at $400 per month rent, that's return of 1% per month or 12% per year. Or double the return if it costs them $200k! So I do wonder how much it costs them to produce per unit after the development costs. I wonder who...

Because some guy round the corner has 4 robo-hives and another farmer has 6. So there is no forage left. The inevitable conclusion if these things relay work is that anyone with enough land can just slap these on the map and reap the honey with little effort. The AI will keep bees better than...

Good reading. It turns out that, although amitraz (the active ingredient in Apivar) is not wax soluble, it’s broken down (hydrolysed) to a formamide and a formamidine. formamidine is both wax soluble and an endocrine disruptor. I just want to make clear, I do not know if it affects human...

Not from eating contaminated honey. But it is a dangerous substance: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16496489/ https://adc.bmj.com/content/88/2/130 Just because no poisoning indecent has been directly attributed to contaminated honey does not mean its therefor completely safe. Pernicious...

I imagine it to look something more like Jonny 5 with extra arms.

I am sure it will eventually work if enough time and money is plugged into it. I totally get it, farmers with lots of land but little interest will lap it up as a way to produce more £. But with the $400 per month rent. Then who knows if it uses some kind of expensive frames, or whatever other...

Here is some info about the Toxcisity of the AI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitraz#Human_toxicity Please note the Adverse effects, just because you have not dropped down dead does not mean its not bad for you. And not all people will react the same. Do I need to link the man eating DDT...

Yes, you are right. Can depend on many other factors too. But completely agree, when I have seen farmers handling pesticides they have all been very professional. The accuracy of modern spray equipment is outstanding. And modern practices of targeted applications have reduced the amount of AI...

The AI/ha recommendation for application from the manufacture remains unchanged for farmers or gardeners, but the stuff for the public is more watered down so more must be applied to achieve the same AI/ha. So if a bee gets a direct blast, then the farmers application is worse, however if you...

I do agree that available to link studies on the internet are mostly flimsy at best. JBM, you know I will bow down to your superior knowledge of bees, and I would not normally dare disagree with you. But you should realize by now I know more about pesticide testing on non target organisms then...

There most certainly is.... https://e360.yale.edu/features/bee-alert-is-a-controversial-herbicide-harming-honeybees Its much like the neo-nic situation. The test methods used are crude, consisting of a topical and oral test on caged bees in a lab. Unfortunately these tests are very bad at...

I am just about as far south as you can get. Am only on 2nd year so dont have many past years to go on. But this spring was rubbish for me compared to last year. Summer has been slow but steady. I have 11 supers on 4 hives, but none are full and capped. Right now I think I have the...

I put mine in 400g jars as pictured on the left. So the glass gets quite weighty. And insane amounts of bubble wrap and other packaging are needed too. Luckily I get old boxes and packaging from work so have been building up a stash in the loft. Wife handles the shipping and costs so I am not...

Thanks guys. Most my paying customers get about 4-6 jars and I post it to them. For these customers I put a little letter in the box about where my hives are kept and the fact they are urban bees bla bla bla. I even say when the super that produced the honey in each batch went on and off the...

Interesting stuff, thanks for taking the time to explain.