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An article in today's Guardian about thefts, assaults and vandalism experienced by New Zealand's Manuka honey producers. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/04/manuka-honey-wars-new-zealand-crime-booming-industry-poisoning-beatings

The same thought occurred to me, but perhaps it's more complicated than that. The paper mentions that one of the useful functions of drones in the hive is helping to maintain the correct temperature for brood development. So how much of the hive's available energy budget is consumed by drones...

It seems to me that's the implication. I found the original paper by Linhart, Bičík and Vagera tough going, since a fog descends whenever I encounter detailed discussions of genetics. If you view the survival and distribution of its genes as the primary function of any organism, then it makes...

In English beekeeper-speak, I think this means something like: "Hives managed in this way cannot be used for queen production and queen supersedure is common." This forum seems determined to censor the Talking With Bees website, but if you copy the link in the OP, paste it in your browser and...

Just clicked the link in OP and Norton blocked me, saying that the website is dangerous. Norton is sometimes over-cautious, but it appears that the site has been hacked. If I understand the warning correctly, it seems that the localhoneyman site can redirect visitors to another site that tries...

I assume you're thinking of using some sort of container of stagnant water rather than a natural water feature. Can't imagine how you'd possibly ensure that all of the mosquito larvae were removed from a pond, but it might be possible to remove at least most of them from a bucket or barrel if...

Previously, we've never had problems using 1:1 syrup treated with the Hivemaker thymol emulsion at the rate of 1 tsp per gallon (6 ml per 4.5 litres). However, we've had different experiences with two swarms we homed last month. The first took the syrup from an Ashforth feeder eagerly, but the...

Agree that there could be pollen and wax particles of wax in the honey. Neither is bad for you. There might indeed also be small crystals, but at least some of the cloudiness could be just miniscule air bubbles. We strain our honey though the standard double metal sieve and it's always a bit...

The strict vegans I've known seem to have signed up to an ideology. Just as it's extremely difficult to persuade a staunch socialist that capitalism has some good points or a resolute neoliberal that markets don't always get it right, so it's futile throwing facts at a vegan zealot. They just...

If I understand the purpose of the TurboSquid site correctly, what's being sold there is really only of use to virtual beekeepers. Still, given the success of Pokemon Go, perhaps there's potential for an augmented reality game using 3D models where people could use their smartphones to find and...

Perhaps you and Stan would find this two day course helpful: http://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/event-jonathan-workshop-germany-oct-16 The course costs €190 and for a mere €100 more you would come home with an appropriate log. :rolleyes:

We left a stack of six supers with extracted, fully drawn frames sitting in our cellar in Italy for more than two years. There was a little nibbling from a couple of larvae when we looked at them again, but nothing significant. They weren't treated with BT before storage or treated in any other...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mk1s

For what it's worth, when we were keeping bees in Italy we dusted with powdered sugar during our (usually) weekly inspections and used oxalic acid drip in winter. I'm well aware that opinions and bees differ, but this worked for us and our bees thrived.

We're about 4 miles SW of Pennar. The two swarms we've received in the last 3 weeks came from that general direction, but the straight-line route would involve crossing about ½ mile of estuary. Have to be pretty desperate bees who would - from their perspective - head out to sea in the hope of...

We had relatively good weather in SW Pembrokeshire last week and a swarm set up house in one of our bait hives last Thursday (14 July). Noticed a few bees investigating another bait hive this afternoon. Didn't look too serious, but that's what I also thought about the bees wandering in and out...

I'd suggest you find some way to strap the nuc down or at least put one of those bricks outside the door on top of it. One of the big adjustments we had to make when we moved to Italy was getting used to the fierce winds that come with little warning. If you leave the poly nuc just sitting in...

We kept bees in the foothills of the Apennines in Abruzzo's Teramo province and Robinia was a major nectar source. The trees are very invasive, spreading readily by seed and root suckers. They line most roads in the area and rapidly take over any area that isn't regularly mowed or cultivated...

We kept bees in Italy for several years and had olive trees as well. We occasionally saw bees visiting olive blossom, but it was never systematically worked. For all I know, what we saw were new foragers having a quick check and then deciding, "Nah, can't be bothered," and moving on. As Juanito...