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All the fields round me (and I'm surrounded by them) are sprayed by various contract teams who observe no "best practice". We get spraying at any time of day in any wind below a gale. None of the farmers seem to give a toss, indeed some of the fields are rented by farmers whose main farm is...

I put 2 litres on each hive this arvo. Temp 6 or 7 degrees, wind from North East again. Starting to wonder if we'll get any honey this year.

Getting accustomed to coming on here for my daily insult! Not sure why I got "Okay. Vain to debate with 2-hive owners high experience(s)" from Finman since the first thing I said in the second para of my post was "I probably haven't learned much in three years". I simply related what I did to...

I did this to one of my hives last year. Moved it 15 yards, kept the orientation the same (facing south-east) and put an old Christmas tree growing in a pot right in front of the hive to force the colony to reorientate. I reduced the entrance to one small hole, but I didn't block it right up...

I actually videoed my first swarm walking up the white slope into the hive - amazing sight, but how sad am I?

One day of glorious sunshine and we're back to torrential rain again this morning. Very busy yesterday p.m. with lots of foraging and orientation flights until the light went. But they're sulking again today - barely a bee out although it's warmer than of late. Checking feed later if the...

At last some sunshine not worthy At 6.30 in the morning it's already warmer than midday yesterday.

At 10.00am this morning it was 5° with about a force 4-5 north easterly wind and light rain here in Norfolk. I walked the dog wearing barbour jacket, hat and gloves (me, not the dog :blush5:) for the first time since February. My bees seem just dormant at the moment - barely even feeding on...

7° here, cold NE wind and rain all day. Fed both hives again and bees taking food like there's no tomorrow (but I hope there is for them). It's May on Tuesday, FCSake!

7° here in mid-Norfolk, and it's hissing down. No bee activity outside the hives, taking 1:1 syrup inside, and I've closed the entrances right down again. Poor old bees! And what's happening to all that OSR blossom in the lashing rain?

I did just this for a neighbour in our village last year. A paper and cardboard fire for about ten minutes drove most of them out but killed a few who tumbled down into the stove. I don't know where the rest went after that, but no-one else reported a problem. Harsh - but I don't know what...

No, not bowing out - I've had some real help and reassurance from this forum in last couple of years for which I'm very grateful. Just going to ignore such posts from now on . . . or maybe find an appropriate smiley! Perhaps:icon_bs:

I didn't "pass off a vicious swarm to a friend". I took a swarm from the hedge of a garden belonging to a friend who rang me and asked me to get rid of them. I then asked another friend who wanted a swarm if she would like it. She said yes and I put them in her hive. None of us had any idea...

It was the assumption that I didn't know what I was doing at all which caused me to take offence. I now have two colonies, one with a queen and one with a single (I hope) queen cell. I have made mistakes in the past and I hope I have learned from them. I'm a member of a number of forums...

Yet again I don't understand either the import . . . or the tone.

Did a quick survey of our local fields. In any direction there is at least one fifty acre field of OSR in flower within half a mile - though not full flower quite yet. My nearest field is about 100 yards away. For the last two years we've had virtually none of the smelly yellow stuff, so...

I was relieved to read this thread. I did an AS yesterday as the hive was bursting with bees looking like they might swarm, and I had an empty WBC. Temp was really too low - about 14° with light wind from the west. Clouds of bees, loads of pinging, and a bit of following afterwards, but this...

Following on from my syrup stats earlier, they took down the 4 kilos of 1:1 syrup (2k sugar, 2k water) in two days; I've given it a couple of days (temp reached 15° yesterday and loads of pollem going in and orientation flying) but now it's cold and wet again, so I've just bunged another 2k of...

Plenty of activity from my bees once the temperature hits 9° or 10°, but because of the rain "hosepiping down" since the ban, and generally low temperatures for the time of year, I gave my hive 4kgs of 1:1 syrup yesterday . . . . and 24 hours later it's all gone! So round here (Norfolkshire) at...

After I posted about the OSR this lunchtime I had a look at my bees - loads of pollen coming in, but very little in the way of stores, although plenty of empty comb including a lot of brace comb (curses). So now I've fed them 4 kilos of 1:1 syrup which they're going mad for while the fliers are...