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Anti-robbing screens - nothing, but nothing works as well. LJ

Just like an eke - used for housing feeders/insulation. LJ

9" - strewth, that's a helluva depth ... Feeding ? Nothing to do with bee-type - more to do with living in an agri-industrial area, plus the number of colonies in one apiary of course. Ok for pollen, just very short of nectar from August onwards. "Needs must" etc. LJ

Now the experiment is over, the first of these Quad-Nuc Long Hives: ... has just been converted into a Quad-Nuc Long Hive having one entrance per side (each with a magnetically-attached anti-robbing screen), thusly: ... using this barbaric tool: Effortless clean holes through 40mm...

Apparently yoga and leggings go together: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39401960 ... so we will be looking forward to the photographs in due course. :) LJ

On second thoughts, I don't understand ... My telescopic covers are - what ? - 4 or 5 inches deep, something like that. If I were to fit 3" of insulation (which is what I use) into those covers, then there's only be 1 or 2" of 'telescope' left. I reckon such covers would then blow off in a...

Ah - I see, now I understand ... Not on mine - I have a 9" feeder shell sitting on top of each Crown Board, with the roof on top of that. The feeder shells stay in place permanently, so that saves storing them anywhere. And - no need to find a feeder shell when one's required. Such a shell...

I don't understand why anyone places insulation underneath 'the roof', as it's not actually part of the hive - it just sits on top to keep the weather off the boxes below. The top of the hive is actually the Crown Board - so it seems to me it would be a far more effective use of insulation if...

... and by mid-morning, windless, hot and sunny (in this locale) - all hives flying and bringing the pollen in. And people wonder why Brits are always talking about the weather. :) LJ

I bet you a quid mine are wearing thermal underwear this morning ... LJ

Wise words - I decided to change-over an existing apiary (which was a hassle), having discovered that Long Hives (50% of the hives I currently use here) really do need to be Top Bee Space, in order to have flat Crown Boards that efficient use of their partition boards require. Those videos are...

One other thing ... don't ever be influenced by a member's Post Count - a high Post Count does not indicate that a person is experienced, or knowledgeable, or wise, or thoughtful ... or anything similar which can be relied upon. Likewise - a low Post Count doesn't indicate the opposite. It...

What did I do in the apiary this morning ? Well, the first thing was to scrape ice off the car windscreen - which was hard and thick, so temps must have dropped very low last night. Looks like being "one of those years" ... LJ

Hi Ben - yes, any transition period when both types of box are in the apiary can be a tad awkward. In my own case I didn't have any particular problem with the girls gluing stuff together or drawing connecting comb in the short term - that can always be cut away. What I DID have a problem with...

Curious how much paranoia exists regarding paint - especially as some bees display a taste for it. Here's one character from last year showing an interest in a can of xylene-based paint: Yesterday found me painting the 8-frame National boxes I'll be running later this year: As you...

If you were to make the bottom of the divider bee-tight (i.e. run a batten underneath it, if you're running an OMF) and ensure that the divider top is also bee-tight, then you will have the perfect base for a 'Mike Palmer' nuc tower. Then complete it by placing a couple of pairs of 230mm-wide...

What else is there ? Perlite is an inert (chosen for that very reason) volcanic rock. Then there's rainwater - available from just about everywhere - so why choose this particular source of rainwater ? Within the bags are the residues left from growing plants using the nutrient film technique...

Rather than dimiss a perfectly reasonable observation simply on the strength of one person's Ph.D. conclusion (which could be so much cobblers of course) - it might be more educational to first do a search on this topic. A few minutes on the keyboard turned up: And yet somebody else...

You may have noticed that many companies have Complaints Departments - but I've yet to see a single one which had a Praise Department ! People communicate when they have bad experiences, when things go wrong - and not surprisingly, other people are interested to hear about those because such...

There's need and then there's want ... The previous occupant of my site used to grow flowers with the nutrient film technique, using bags of perlite as the growing medium. Those used bags are now stacked outdoors, and are usually heavy with rainwater - the bees much prefer drinking from those...