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The old beekeepers' maxim of "take your winter losses in the autumn" is relevant here - he might not have lost so many if he'd combined the colonies that were weak. We've all had weak colonies that we've fed to get them through winter only to have then circum in late winter. One thing he could...

If members want to contact Derek, pm me and I will send the email address that is current. CVB

If any forum members would want a Zoom talk for their local group from DerekM of this parish, I can say from experience a week ago that he mesmerized most of our local group members talking about his research into insulation and ventilation. Thoroughly recommended. Send him a pm if interested. CVB

I took the photo two days ago - when the sun shone briefly - you can just make out the pale pollen in her pollen baskets. She's sharing the Alexanders flowers with some flies. CVB

Err, no. It's a student project. CVB

Monitoring boards have a bit of a questionable reputation in certain quarters because the results may not be statistically significant but for many of us, it's all we have to assess what's happening inside the hive. If you think, after viewing the board, that something is not right, you can...

Alexanders has just started flowering here and if it ever stops raining, my bees will be on it for the next two months. CVB

Dave That link seems to be a file on the C drive of your computer Where did you get it from? CVB

Have you found anywhere that's interested in doing DNA testing, yet? CVB

A bee improvement group that I belong to is keen to have some DNA testing done. The limited testing done some years ago as part of academic research at Plymouth University suggests that some of the breeding lines have over 80% Amm and the need is for some up-to-date DNA testing of the breeding...

Cornwall's economy had been grounded largely in tin mining and fishing. The tin mining companies collapsed towards the end of last century due to competition from under-developed countries which could mine tin for a lot cheaper price. The fishing too is much reduced for a variety of reason...

I've attached some notes I prepared for the bee group I belong to in which I proposed a system of queen recording and numbering. This was written just at the start of the pandemic and has not been acted on or even discussed due to the coronavirus restrictions. I don't know if this will work...

We've both perceived the same problems and have come up with different solutions. Mine is scaffold netting around the hive stand, to reduce turbulence under the hive, with a telescopic roof made of 40mm PIR (50mm in the top) topped off with a folded aluminium covering to shed rain. This roof...

The take-away from the Doull KM. “The effects of different humidities on the hatching of the eggs of honeybees” research, for me, was “The optimum range of humidity for complete hatching of the egg of the honeybee lies between 90 % and 95 % R.H.” Providing too much ventilation, and I know...

I have just started reading January’s BeeCraft. They have a new writer doing Beginners in the Apiary - Lorraine Ragosa-Rout who has kept bees for 10 years and has apiaries in Surrey and Hampshire. Under the heading ‘Ventilate’, she writes “More ventilation is required in winter because, as...

So can you think of an explanation as to why there should be a 4°C lower temperature limit for vaporising? CVB

On another forum, I was told that LASI has said that OA vaporisation should not be carried out on bees at temperatures below 4°C or rather that it should only be done between 4°C and 16°C. It was said that the source of this temperature range is LASI's instruction sheet, 'how to apply OA via...

The biggest issue I've had with the GasVap is OA condensing and partially blocking the delivery tube so for the first hive, before fitting the blowtorch, I use it to heat up the delivery tube. I keep a bamboo bbq skewer handy to clear the tube if necessary. After a couple of hives, the tube...

As Forrest Gump famously said "Stupid is as stupid does" CVB

Perhaps I did not make myself as clear as I might have done. The paper was suggesting that OA was spread around the hive by bees walking around. I was pointing out that I thought mites don't walk on the comb - they walk on bees so to get the OA onto the soft footpads or mouthparts of the mites...