Search results

Sorry I don’t understand this comment at all. So are you saying a manual labourer anywhere in the world, including the UK, is nearly slave?

Easy to say from a comfy UK existence. But, if it isn’t literally “slave labour”, then working on a sugar plantation must be better than whatever else, if anything, is on offer. Incidentally the five largest sugar producers are Brazil, India and China, Thailand and the USA. As far as I am aware...

My understanding is that sugar from non EU parts of the world i.e. cane sugar is much cheaper to produce than EU beet sugar but the EU heavily subsidise sugar beet to help EU farmers and disadvantage those from the third world. Global sugar price is strongly affected by its use to produce...

I can see that probably makes sense in the wilderness. But the benefit in beekeeping hotspots is that you are likely to be taken to a cosy hive. So paying attention to your scout bee’s may not be a good idea.

Yes, we will do the same next year . But it was a good learning experience and we set up two new hives and made another beekeeper happy as a result 😉

I would be interested to know whether anyone catches any swarms this way. When our bees swarm they fly all of 5 to 10 metres and then sit in a hedge waiting to be collected by a beekeeper. I guess there’s a fairly strong evolutionary pressure for bees to behave this way. i.e. find a new home for...

I

I would be a bit worried about what happens when it gets down to the bamboo skewer. The bamboo will start burning as a second wick. You might want a fire extinguisher close by 😉

Apart from my previous points about the relative environmental friendliness of sea transport, to get a full picture, you would need to consider production practices in the UK versus its native North America. For example is their any fertiliser applied are their economies of scale in North...

Sorry Eric, Your calc assumes a 40 tonne plus truck. From Wales to Lincolnshire it’s more likely to be a We know nothing about the production efficiency of Cedar in UK v Canada. I suspect the latter is far more efficient. We know nothing about the environmental transport cost of small scale UK...

To play “devils advocate”. I would answer your three questions yes and yes, oh and yes.

Ok try this: grams of Co2 per tonne per km. Planes (assuming fully loaded 747) 435. Lorries (assuming 40 tonnes or more per load, not likely to achieve this in the UK) 80. Ships between 3 and 8. Source: Carbon Emissions | World Shipping Council

Many factors to take account of including tree size, volumes being processed etc. So, I suspect it’s too complicated. Incidentally, having worked on ships that transport timber, the cedar will, almost certainly, be transported as bundled sawn planks not logs.

Interesting. So it’s probably best to stick to discussing quality and price. I suspect that’s what claudigannon really wants to know ;)

Have you done the maths? Ship transport is far less polluting than land transport. You may well find that British produced cedar has a larger environmental footprint than Canadian produced cedar. All we can be certain of is that planting non native trees, particularly as a monoculture, is bad...

Cedar is not native to the UK. By buying hives made from UK cedar you are encouraging the planting of a foreign species (possibly in place of native forest) with consequences for native wildlife. Probably best to source timber from where it’s native. In the case of Western Red Cedar that’s North...

I was pleased with my Caddon cedar hive bought last year as a starter set. It seems to be good quality and cheaper than Thornes or Maisemore. I used the Thornes YouTube video to help understand assembly though.

That’s a strange comment about queen marking to come from a “reputable” supplier.

Yes, Really. Try a bit of practical science before lecturing others 🙂