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BTW bees did no stop play, they are still playing in the background...

An interesting day today; I volunteered myself and my two beekeeping sons (Luke 17 and Patrick 14) to display an observation hive at Mesnes Park (pronounced Mains) and yet again they make me so proud. They love the bees with Luke looking after the colonies at home and Patrick looking after the...

The monitoring board is just that; you put it in when, and only when you monitor which is for a few of days. All the rest of the time the board is left out. In winter it is even more important to leave the board out as it can reduce the ventilation and so cause damp and mould in the hive.

Keith it is an interesting statement to say you are going to mark them but is this a viable suggestion? There are many factors that could affect your experiment, for example what if you went through two weeks of bad weather and most of the bees stay at home. Or you could get a few weeks of...

Chris the bees will fly in any direction for forage. In spring mine fly mainly north where there is a wood. It swings east in early summer. Now they are flying east and west and in a few weeks when the HB is in full flow they will be going south. When they go north it is interesting seeing...

Bees will go to the best forage. The chance of the finding a honey jar would be remote so I am not sure you should be concerned about that. It is unlikely to appeal to them.

I made a skep a month ago and the course with about 12 people on it was arranged through my club. Martin Buckle came up for the day and taught us. He brought along lots of different hive and skep designs and gave a history lesson on them. He instructed us on how to make a skep and helped us...

Hi Richard It is not the moving canopy that causes the drips, but the large branches. The water runs down them. Tom, I have double brood national hive with 3 supers (at the moment) and I think even an eight degrees slope would make ne nervous to balance them on. I suppose though a simple low...

Humans have not had great experience with releasing things to get rid of other things. The Aussies are masters at it; the Cane Toad is a great example.

Chris, The flat roof on a National is handy because when you are inspecting it lies flat when you invert it and everything then goes on top. A gabled roof does not allow you to do this. Under trees it is more about the drips you get off a tree that fall in the same spot time after time. This...

The tree overhang does not too bad. I would watch that they were not too close to the edge so you can get around them, not critical as you could work from the back and side. The main thing to bear in mind is the beeline if they come out and go left. That may make the steps in a flight path so...

Is it normal for summer to be over in midJuly down south? Last year in Lancashire mine were still bringing in forage right through September and into early October (HB and ivy). I am hoping for the same again this year as I have some small colonies that need a bit more building up to get them...

And I am please with the results. Did an unplanned drone brood cull a few weeks ago (bees built wild comb and queen lay all drone eggs in it, so I removed it)

JimTheBee. I would not count on honey in the first year. You may get some, you may not. Last year I could have got half a super but I gave it back to the bees over winter (6 frames in a super at bottom of hive which they emptied.) Second year you should get some; third super now on the...

Up in Wigan where I live they have loads of Balsam through September and last year lots of ivy into October. No mass chopping of balsam around and I live near wooded area so I am hoping the same again. It will all depend on weather though.

I had to remove a nest at work from a pallet of material that had been left in the yard. I just sprayed the entrance with the Wasps nest powder (Nippon or Rentokil). £2.99 from Homebase. I did this on two days in the morning and the nest was removed the following morning. It is very...

Pouring an explosive liquid into a space and not being able to control where it ends up does not sound like a good plan. I would suggets you look at alternatives.

My eldest son is doing a project for his A level Biology. He initially was looking at varroa but it is proving to be too complicated for his level. He is now possibly looking at the comparison between the composition and microbiological efficacy of different sorts of honey including some of...

My colonies at my mother's house bringing balsam today and bees marked with the tell tale white strip. She is about 800metres from a river with Balsam banks. Bees at home (about 2 miles away) not bringing any in yet but thier source is a stream and old coal spoil land nearly a mile away.

Tomorrow why not try opening up and shake them in, then close up? As long as the queen is in there they may stay and the ones outside will join her inside. Not certain if they don't like it.