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Interesting news from America again... http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/ All the more reason for people to buy their honey from their local beekeeper and not from a supermarket :D

I've been there too!! :rolleyes: Where are the eggs???!! Where are the eggs??! :eek:

2011 has been another year on the learning curve for me. What lessons have other novices learned the hard way this year? There have been the odd school boy mistakes of course but added to my list of "Things to remember in 2012" are: 1) You can never have too many wasp traps 2) Check new...

Thank you for all the input. I have read the "Managing Varroa" booklet but, as any novice knows, books are never a perfect substitute for a very experienced pair of eyes looking in to the hive with you. I was a bit surprised by the body count post Apiguard. I do all the standard techniques for...

I have been using the autumn evenings to read up about varroa. What constitutes a "heavy" varroa load - i.e. a badly infested colony? I took out the boards from under the varroa mesh floor before and after treatment and counted the corpses... but I have no idea whether the figures are high or...

Indeed it has - but that can make the thread more interesting... sometimes ;) Yes I had been thinking about moving them, but not really sure where to. The colony that got attacked are pretty remote. The nearest village is just a few dozen houses and a short walk away. When the weather is poor...

I'm amazed at how my original post about being annoyed at the attempted vandalism of one of my hives has metamorphosised into a debate about guns and personal responsibility!!! It doesn't matter how responsibe a person is who keeps guns, if they are subsequently robbed by criminals (as...

I don't believe that at any point in my posts have deliberately laid bait, simply to strike up an argument for it's own sake. That would be a fruitless waste of time and energy. I abhor all mistreatment of bees - whether by professionals or amateurs. This strikes me as a startling...

:iagree: I think that we're both singing from the same hymn sheet here!! I didn't mean to infer that there is anything wrong with a hobby or small-scale keeper moving bees per se; it's more how they are treated during the process. One of my beek friends moves a few hives to the moors for the...

Yes, for sure. There will always be good and bad/lazy beekeepers as with anything in life and ask 100 beekeepers how to keep bees and you will get 100 answers as each modifies ideas and techniques to suit their own circumstances. Maybe it's just me, but every time I go to the hive, I am not...

Yes, I generally do treat all species with the same respect and I have the same concerns for the way that other animals such as sheep and pigs are transported/treated and the corners that farmers have to cut so that teh big supermarkets can shave another penny off of the cost of a burger.

I wasn't really referring to the crash itself, which of course was an accident. It was more a reference to the practice of moving vast amounts of bees over vast distances and the stress that they experience. The Adee brothers (whose bees were in this accident) featured in the BBC4 documentary...

Yeah it's the way they sounded surprised that the bees were p!ssed off!!! I remember once accidentally banging a brood full of bees on the side of the brood box and seriously regretting it... I can't imagine 20 million of them... I hope that at least some of them made it out alive but this...

As a small-scale hobby beekeeper, the mechanics of mass beekeeping just seems wrong. 20 million bees dead/lost.... Bee welfare seems far down the list of priorities... :( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15439754

Depending on how old you/she are I may have known her as she would have gone to the same schools as I did - though of course as an Englishman and a gentleman, I wouldn't have known her intimately ;)

With the colony that has been attacked I do put my suit on when I get there, but of course the hive is visible at any time once the hedge leaves die back. As for my local hives, I walk to them, and have usually got my hands full with smoker, hive tool, supers, feeder, syrup etc. so sometimes...

That's the kind of thing that I am thinking about. Perhaps should also think about my other hives. A lot of local people know that they are there - I am rather conspicuous as I walk along in my bee suit!!! Perhaps I need to think about security. Sad but true.

I live in Countesthorpe to the south but the bees live about 4 miles from here as the bee flies :)

Shooting at hives? that's a first for me. I will talk to the farmer where the bees are at the weekend and discuss. Thanks for all the ideas and support. I have access to lots of scrap timber so I may build a frame of some kind for next year. It won't stop anyone throwing stuff at the hive but...

Just got back from putting a mouse guard on and found the brood box half off the mesh floor, and big stones and clumps of earth lying in front of it. Words fail me. I must resort to emoticons :cuss: