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Yes but bees have only had humans interfering by putting them in a box for 150 years or so, a tiny fraction of their existence. what you describe isn't beekeeping (to the majority of people) - there is no need for any human involvement if one provides a container of any sort and lets them get...

It will yield some nectar at low temperatures, but needs over 15C to start a half decent flow - its not an off/on thing Plenty of pollen coming in, but limited nectar from mine next to OSR when I checked at the weekend. Supered hives had some in, but not a great deal Anything over 20C and...

Please enlighten us more

too cold to get a decent flow on at the moment

I don't keep bees at home, but usually have 2-3 swarms a year in bait hives I put on a platform 8ft high in an apples tree in the garden. all apiaries (5) have at least one bait hive and generally get a swarm or two each year. Some are my losses, but the evidence suggest most are not. Worth...

If a male only beekeeping group was formed, would that be accused of being sexist? bringing in gender to the equation just encourages extremists to get involved. Surely it would be better to aim for a gentle, supportive, non critical group for anyone and just exclude anyone who broke those...

8C with hail mixed in with the heavy rain. Again New 'pond' has appeared on the lawn. French drain must be blocked through overuse

further to the east, along the North downs

The beekeeper in question is running a series of articles for beginners in Bee craft. In a talk he gave last year, which I attended, he was introduced as a master beekeeper and when describing winter preparations was advocating match stick ventilation as an option. Hence my comment in #8. As...

Quick check in a couple of hives last weekend showed very limited drone brood, with some capped. With pupating time and a couple of weeks to reach maturity (think that's about right from memory?), it'll be 3 weeks minimum before any viable mating could be achieved here. Don't think I'll be...

The titles are there to confuse new beekeepers into thinking that the holders actually know what they are talking about as illustrated in the latest Bee Craft

neither from my experience

generally have some OSR about locally, in addition to other spring forage. Bees will travel for the nectar and I haven't migrated bee to it specifically prior to this year. Temperature dependent, but a few years ago I harvested about 800 pounds at end of OSR (Spring)*, roughly a third of that...

isn't that the advice being given to the OP here?

Watch Idiocracy and tell me that we are not already well progressed along the road to a towards a grim future As the 21st century began, human evolution was at a turning point. Natural selection, the process by which the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, reproduced in greater numbers than...

Agreed, where there is OSR starting to come out suggest that inspections will be needed fairly soon (in South). Where there is no OSR, not so bothered, especially as max weekend temperature forecast locally is 9-10C - for what that's worth

Moved some hives out a new OSR site in the rain on Sunday. Felt a bit light, so took advantage of warm lunchtime to do rapid inspection. One nuc needs hiving and one national will get a super at the weekend, others a bit behind, but flow on! just need temperatures to stay above 15C for the...

Whilst I entirely agree with the R&D aspect, my earlier point was that we take a holier than thou stance for the UK production, then substitute this for materials produced in an environment that we campaign against in the UK. Its hypocritical and if any government wants to introduce a permanent...

Ok. Whether you intend to or do not, your recent posts come across as if you don't appear to like anyone trying to make money out of bees, beekeeping or beekeepers. That's fine, but this forum contains people who carry out a wide range of beekeeping practices many of whom probably don't align...

swings and roundabouts. Poor UK sugar yield means T&L, another big Tory donor, will import more from far away places where the worker conditions and control of herbicides and pesticides are far less regulated. Of course we could always advocate a bit of GM to speed up the generation of virus...