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This seems quite applicable here. Certainly the great confidence is there, combined with an understanding of basic principle but not any real specifics. Combine this with a belief that we seemingly just don't understand "Darwinism" rather than disagree (because how could we, it's so obvious!)...

The phrase 'Darwinism' is itself an odd one - I've genuinely not heard it in anything but a historical or politico-ideological context. The general population is more likely to use the term 'evolution', while STEM tends towards the more specific 'natural selection' when discussing this sort of...

The only thing smacking children teaches is that physical pain is a legitimate tool for enforcing your will on others - nothing more. Unless it's because it teaches them not do it again, which a) I doubt and b) advocates you manage behaviour through fear. Which I'm sure is extremely healthy for...

You're trying to explain basic animal husbandry and say you're doing the same to your bees, but the two are not even remotely analagous. What trait are you selecting for? Are you controlling your breeding lines? How often are you able to evaluate their performance? How are you controlling the...

It comes down two factors: first is that bees have a difficult time defending against robbing with a full-width entrance. The usual 20cm tall entrance lets bees in simultaenously along the upper edge and the lower edge (and mice in winter), and then they're straight into the hive. Part of the...

Why must you hurt me?

I picked up a flow hive super (national), mainly out of curiosity. If you had to get the whole thing you wouldn't convince me to, primarily on the basis I'd be using langstroth in the brood chamber and at that point cooperating with other beekeepers in the local area (which mainly uses larger...

It drives me absolutely batty, these people. "My bees do this every year. Sigh, better scrape it off and give it a scorch." Maybe they're doing it for a reason? You know they're the same people who turn up their noses with a "bees don't read books" whenever it's suggested that maybe ventilating...

It's a frustrating theme that if you provide an opinion based on data (or basic physics) you can generally rely on someone coming out of the woodwork to insult you and disagree - which isn't a problem, because if you're willing to discuss why you think that in good faith you can either come to...

Leaving aside that you started with an insult, and so this is merely a rebuttal rather than an attempt to change your opinion, if your hive is well-insulated the bees don't cluster at all until the weather is truly and viciously cold (I read -20C in the literature). It's a survival mechanism...

75% of heat is lost vertically in the hive and in a tree trunk insulation is effectively infinite, which then constrains (natural) heat losses to wall thickness. If all your heat is being lost through the walls then great, because all the condensation is going to happen on the walls at a nice...

I ended up having a solid floor under the mesh (about 7cm down so the varroa can't climb back up easily) to preserve the internal humidity/environment of the hive, but I'll be keeping track of how the girls handle varroa this year. I'd be interested in seeing how much if at all them being able...

I know that as of a month or two ago there was a substantial outbreak in Bristol. Of course once they mention it they don't keep you updated. Too busy spending your membership money on buying the BBKA newsletter so you can read about the benefits of matchsticks and the perils of condensation.

I mean, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Plenty of people use plastic foundation and frames and don't seem to mind.

I wonder how much of that is new beekeepers putting all that plastic on then making no effort to make it attractive to the bees by coating or even rubbing wax onto them. I've met people who swear by flow hive supers (the ones who use the national version, anyway, and don't go Langstroth in the...

My main hive had a bad queen in there that refused to lay, and when the initial check this spring revealed no eggs but the start of queen cups on the face to supercede I shrugged and popped a frame of eggs and brood in. Opened it up a week later and the hive had clearly decided that the queen...

Bees can build thriving hives with an entrance the length of your finger, let alone the width of the entire box. My (purely theoretical) advice is give them an entrance the size that Seeley demonstrated the swarms preferred and is easier to defend: 15cm squared or less. For an 8mm high...

She laid happily enough through all of last year and the early weeks of spring, so it's a bit baffling why she decided to stop now. My guess is either she didn't mate properly and ran out of sperm (but then why no drones?) or is just too old. It's possible her rather uninspiring laying last year...

Opened up the hive and found that while they aren't queenless they might as well be - Her Majesty isn't laying at all. Her attendants clearly want her to, but she isn't having any of it. What's worse is that the colony clearly realised that she wasn't up to standard too late, because they had no...

It's a good rule of thumb that you should have 3-4x more insulation in the roof than in the walls - that's the point of equilibrium where you start losing as much heat out the walls as you do out the roof. So if you have 20mm of wood in the walls (see wooden hives from Thornes) you want to have...