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  1. R

    Suits connundrum

    After years of faffing about with bee jackets, over trousers and wellies I've finally bought a BBwear lightweight retro beesuit £134 including pair of spats. Ii's an absolute delight to wear. .....Long zips at the ankles make it easier to put on than other makes and the retro hood keeps that...
  2. R

    Happy Birthday, Kaz!

    Happy birthday Kaz - glad I logged in to the forum in time....
  3. R

    Hornet in Balham, S London

    I saw this striking dark chestnut/yellow insect hovering wasp-like in front of the hive entrance this pm, the guard bees were out in force and it eventually flew off. It's the first time I've seen a hornet, it was huge - another horror to add to our beekeeping nightmares.
  4. R

    Interest from the Muslim community

    The NHS has always advised against feeding honey to babies under 12 months due to the risk of botulism.
  5. R

    This weeks weather

    I took all honey supers off about a month ago - as both hives were using it. Wet supers go on top of one hive and 2:1 syrup in a rapid feeder on the other. Worst year for honey ever!
  6. R

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Inspected the V floors (i.e.bits of estate agent board) on the 2 hives I'd put Apiguard on 1 Sep, negligible mite drop on one and <50 on the other. All previous years it's been hundreds so looks like my local V. are resistant to Apiguard - or have gone away.
  7. R

    Large colony - What to do?

    imo not a good idea to put an empty super on top.....they'll start filling it with wild comb thus using up pollen/honey stores. So put your super of wet frames over a crownboard (with feeder hole) on top of the apiguard eke. I always leave the queen excluder on top of the bb whenever there is...
  8. R

    Large colony - What to do?

    Mandeville Some Qs are incredibly prolific, looks like you've got one! For this year, the bees will compact into the BB and also naturally rapidly die off so keep a feeder of 2:1 syrup on top. Next year, splitting in early April will help but also consider adding a Super underneath which will...
  9. R

    IvyWatch UK and Ireland

    Thanks MM I'm surrounded by a 3 mile cordon of suburban gardens and heavily managed Council open spaces with "pollinator friendly" stratagems - so hopefully I'm safe for a while. Utube vids I've seen are frightening! rich
  10. R

    IvyWatch UK and Ireland

    Barely budding, probably 3/4 weeks away MM, Whereabouts are you with hornets? I've never seen one down in Balham. Richard
  11. R

    Large colony - What to do?

    - but this is the second time that this colony has been ginormous going into autumn, so maybe I'll have to try brood and a half next season. Mandeville So what went wrong the first time ? richard
  12. R

    Frame end spacers

    Good comment and food for thought. I also got fed up with fiddly spacers and totally converted to ten space castellations years ago. It may be that they start on new supers more readily with frames closer together in problematic years....like this one.
  13. R

    LimeWatch UK

    My local Limes have been and gone, relentless dry weather and low humidity, zero 'honey flow'....too late, we've just about 2 inches of rain
  14. R

    Marking Queens

    good old fashioned tippex
  15. R

    observation hive

    move the other frames aside and put them back as a bunch with the Q on a frame in the middle....and then re-arrange a few days later.
  16. R

    How much should I charge for;

    5 drachma each or equiv? - just trying to be helpful bearing in mind I've no idea what a 2 oz skep candle is rich
  17. R

    LimeWatch UK

    Honey made from 'honeydew' is very dark, almost sooty black and smells / tastes like syrup of figs Luckily the bees store it separately. There is a market for it as "Black forest honey" and I used to get half a super full until I decided I wanted light honey inly and removed supers before the...
  18. R

    Will this work

    Yes, presumably the 2 colonies are within 3 ft of each other (more or less)? Put the Qless colony on top. Richard
  19. R

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Did my routine weekly inspection to check for Q cells. Both colonies packed with bees/brood but sod all honey.
  20. R

    Heatwave

    Sweltering here, it was 35c (shade) when I inspected this afternoon, just to check for Q cells. The bees were quite benign - maybe because air temperature is brood temp. But it's a right ------- wearing glasses as they slip off with the sweat....
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