Search results

I lost a hive a few weeks ago. Up to then, they seemed OK with occasional flying bees, weather permitting. When I noticed it was really quiet, I opened the hive to see them all dead. There were signs of dysentery on the frames so I was worried about nosema - yes, I know, dysentery's not a...

The recommendation for sampling for Vairimorpha testing says to use 30 bees. I've never been able to work out why that number was selected. Is there a mathematical reason for that, some kind of statistical/probability expression?

This is probably directed primarily to the Irish denizens of this site. I'm sure many here remember the rather fractious discussion about supplying hybrid bees to Ireland, and the huge level of opposition. Anyway, it's starting again. Black Mountain Honey are planning on drop-shipping Buckfast...

Hopefully someone here is familiar and successful with the Nicot system. It's easy enough to get the box laid up, releasing the queen in less than a day. And that's when the problems start: from 100 eggs in the cell cups, in a few days when one might expect to harvest larvae, the kit is...

Each year I slaughter literally dozens of wasp queens and still have to do all kinds of tricks to prevent the clouds of wasps from overwhelming even the strongest hive. While last year was surprisingly quiet, I want a more effective mechanism this year that doesn't require killing the queens. So...

FIBKA is running a series of webinars (all free) and this evening (Wednesday, 17th Feb) at 7:30 we have the CEO of ApisProtect and her chief scientist talking about their technology. This stuff is apparently really good - my inner geek is looking forward to it. Note that there is a maximum of...

I have a bunch of supers that were stored wet over winter. The honey has fermented in most of them, if not all. Is it safe to let the bees clean these up? I'm concerned on 2 counts: will the fermented honey harm the bees, and will the fermented honey contaminate the harvest? If I can't feed it...

I'm sure most have heard of the SHB outbreaks in Calabria in Italy. Now I see that Bee-Equipment are selling packages of bees from Puglia, only 100 miles from the outbreak. To me this sounds like the introduction of Varroa all over again. Am I alone in thinking this is extraordinarily risky...

Need help identifying these. I noticed them flying around the apex of the gable end and assumed they were bees. On closer inspection, using a long lens, I realised they're actually not bees but rather, I suspect, some kind of hover fly. However they've definitely moved into the roof, something I...

I don't know if this is the correct forum although I'm sure it'll be moved if not. I have collected plenty of wax, extracting it with my newly purchased second-hand steam wallpaper stripper. This works really well and is a great alternative to the solar extractor which isn't particularly useful...

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum - I couldn't see anything appropriate. Does anyone know anyone involved with the IBRA? The issue is that I've paid my membership dues yet my account is still marked as unpaid. Normally a situation like this could be resolved with a quick exchange of...

I grafted on 24th Jull and had 7 sealed QCs on 28th as expected. I put 2 of these into Apideas and left the other 5 in haircurler cages. 8 days later I expected them to emerge, but only 2 in the cages emerged on day 16, with the 2 in the Apideas emerging on day 17. I checked the other 3 this...

A swarm arrived in a bait box an hour ago. Normally I'd wait until this evening, lock them in and move them to the apiary 200m away. However, we have a yellow warning for rain, so I'm guessing it's going to be difficult to ensure I can achieve this. The rain should be gone by lunch time...

Ireland has no native woodpeckers but recently a few of the great spotted variety have been spotted (sorry!), including not too far from me. I read about green woodpeckers only needing a few minutes to break into a hive, but haven't seen anything about any great spotted attacks. Can someone...

I have a few supers full of ivy honey and I'm just wondering what to do with it. I tried heating a couple of frames to 40C but it was only partially successful - I had it in the cabinet for over a week to get about a pound of honey and I have no doubt that the HMF levels are out through the...

Found on Reddit r/insanepeopleonfacebook ...

I just received this, if anyone's interested in helping him. Hello I am a University student currently studying Environmental Sciences at the University of Brighton. As part of my final year I am carrying out an independent research project into beekeeping, aiming to explore the different...

I was just informed about this song all about the plight of bees - recorded in Kells, Co. Meath (Ireland) but more in the style of English folk music: https://youtu.be/aQ5P5vo4zyE

I put supers on most of my hives over the past 10 days for ivy, with the last one yesterday. All have been absolutely packed with bees, but yesterday's was just nuts. There was an eke from when I had been treating with Apiguard, and the eke itself had some comb (unsurprisingly) but otherwise...