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I do believe the main source of honeydew in this country may be Lime, but the bees only go for it in a dearth.

That's supposed to be the compound that also tell the workers that the cell is ready for capping.

The 5P's. Queen Rearing in the Sustainable Apiary - Michael Palmer. Can't help you with the second assertion as I did not make it.

As you compared your colony's performance to others on the site you should have known that your colony was ailing. The last thing you should have done was to use it as a cell raiser! Surely, you have twigged that by now.

As you know, it takes a lot of effort by the bees to get a virgin out on her maiden flight. In a mating nuc you have young bees that may be a bit gentler and fewer so she does not get so roughed up. Maybe it was a cohort of less vigorous virgins being produced that year due to environmental...

No dodgy phone calls so far. This year sometimes I sold all of my next batch before I even got the sign back out!

Put my ear to my polynuc and I could hear them clearly! I guess they are working harder in the cold weather, so perhaps my hearing is better than I thought. May get some bees flying tomorrow, but if not definitely on Monday.

I know someone who was told that his colony would be destroyed as they did not want her drones around in their outapiary. Originally, the foragers would cross the road to sting people and neighbours could not be in their gardens.

Sounds like I did the right thing. How awful is that! She even looks mean.

I imagined malathion an organophosphate was used on agricultural crops? I used to buy Kenyan runner beans before I grew my own. However, it is a pesticide and was well over the limit in the honey?

If your neighbour's plants disappear don't put your honey out. You have worked too hard for someone to steal it. I put a sign out with local raw honey, price and my mobile phone no. and people either phone me at the gate or phone to make an appointment or catch me when I am out and about. I...

I do know that there will be contaminants in my wax too just by the foraging activities of the bees and I do treat my bees. However, I just try to minimise the level of contaminants in the hive by not buying someone else's contaminants too. I am on the lookout for cleaner air - not all air is...

The beekeeper may be doing all right - no doubt very little honey in it. It was soft set last time and someone on here said it was mainly sugar syrup according to trading standards. Not to forget it had the certification of the soil association on the label stating that it was organic! Is...

Thank you, very informative for me. Glad I don't buy foundation.

I have culled one queen in a nuc in eleven years of beekeeping. As soon as I opened the crown board they would well out! My thought was, if you are like this in a nuc I would not want to handle you in a full sized colony. My colonies sometimes have bad hair days, but I think that is because...

I think that odd too. Used to be 90°C then 100°C. I have burnt wax at my first attempt, but I now don't go above 90°C and it's beautiful. Not about to go higher to prove a point at this stage! Found another study based on contaminants in Ethiopian and Kenyan honey and it's the old chestnut...

I have come across references where companies state that they import beeswax from Africa because they practice treatment free beekeeping on that continent. Inference being that they are too poor to afford the treatments for their colonies which are housed in topbar hives on natural comb in a...

Nutrition and warmth amongst other things determines how many ovarioles develop within a queen and thus how fertile she is.

Laser printer too in batches of 10. Just call mine premium artisan honey, as I mainly sell from the gate and have my hives in the garden, with a nice little write-up. Many customers have referred to my label as very professional when they read the write-up.

I did mean where do you go to have pollen and poly beehives irradiated as some do. Perhaps someone knows. My radiation treatment finished 17 years ago, but it's all in the lap of the gods, but it is something I don't dwell on.