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Phew. 3 slides for beekeeping... I would focus on honey bee biology and how humans (beekeepers) subvert it for their own ends. The role of the queen, the altruism and celibacy of the workers, the colony as a superorganism etc. This is the really fascinating stuff, and it's our understanding...

Welcome. I'm guessing you have some kind of affinity/connection with another kind of winged beastie..?

And annual audit of their swarm behaviour of course. Some reflective learning from my girls wouldn't come amiss...

RAB, yes I know all is not lost, I was just looking out the window earlier and thinking back to last year- my first full year doing this- when the rain dragged on through pretty much the whole summer & new queen failed to get mated after AS. Despite many hassles somehow managed to harvest 12 lb...

Wind and rain again. Just when new queen due to emerge and embark on mating flight. Seems like it's going to be a re-run of last year. Sigh.

Will add some pleasant colour variation to our countryside...

After a hard day's foraging, bees like a good rub down with rejuvenating, psychic awareness-enhancing, auric field-protecting, nervous exhaustion-relieving smelly overpriced aromatherapy oil. Just like the rest of us.

There are at least 3 different types discussed on here- 1. porter escapes 2. rhombus 3. vortex So cards on table time... for those who have used any or all of these (or any others for that matter). How many hours do each of these take, on average, to clear a super?

Well, I checked again last week to find the original 'supersedure' cup had been emptied of its egg- but there were a load more cups elsewhere, several of which had eggs inside. Left alone. Then checked again today to find all cups empty, but a single new charged queen cell poking off the bottom...

Commas shmommas. Who cares what's happening down there (I'm a selective grammar snob). It's the cheeky apostrophes buzzing around above our bees that need to be shot down before they do some serious damage.

My plea's for correct use of apostrophes' are clearly falling on deaf ear's.

It's BEES BEES BEES BEES. Almost never bee's. Unless you're talking about something that belongs to a single bee. BEES I tell you. BEES Ahhh, that feels better. [Yes, realise I'm a grammar snob which is why I'm venting here, where almost nobody will read it, rather than the main forum]

As always, the important distinction with reactions is local vs generalised. So a big swollen arm after a sting on the same arm may look dramatic and be very uncomfortable, but is ultimately less concerning than if there is mild itching over the whole body and/or rash well away from the sting...

Well, would be very reluctant to go much norht of £300... though looks like radial or stainless steel just starts to become possible at that sort of level. Not sure how important these factors are though.

For up to 4 hives (eventually) Any thoughts welcome.

More drone brood so far this year than the last 2 years, but seems to be laying well at the moment- plenty of worker brood too.

Active colony with 9 frames bias and a load of uncharged queen cups along the top and sides of the frames, and also a single queen cup with egg in the middle of a frame located on the edge of the brood area. Suspect the queen to be over 3 years old. I'm wandering if this might be supersedure-...

mystery thread?

Or indeed IoW's finest— The Bees

Walking back from work in previous years and the cherry trees have been humming with bees- bumble and honey. Same stage of blossom this year, and it's hard to see (or hear) even one or two.