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a daughter's thoughts on matters pollinatative.

Follow up on Billy No Mates - the herbs to put on dog food in order to prevent ticks. 100% effective. Highly recommended.

Thanks Eric, excellent advice.

I'd put a newly laying Q into a queen catcher on the roof of an adjacent hive while I got out my scissors and marking pen. A bee, presumably from the hive, the roof of which I'd used (double brood with four supers) got into the Q catcher and stung the queen. I opened the catcher to separate...

I have been trying Billy No Mates. Dogs seem to love it. It's herbs that you sprinkle on their food. Seems good although only recently started it. Smells delicious...

They had only used what i gave them. One sealed which, given only 5 days since i put the frame in, i knocked down, leaving a couple of open ones. Thanks again. Pic attached.

Jeff, I did remove the caged Q after 7 days. She's in a backup nuc for now. There was zero sign of any swarm impulse. I don't think they could have used anything other than the eggs in the frame I put in given the 7 day laying break. Unless they used a 4 day old larvae. Surely not...

A colony was unpleasantly defensive, I therefore made them hopelessly Q- by confining the Q to a cage for a week and then put in a frame of eggs from another colony. They'll of course build EQ cells. Leave'em to it or reduce to one or two QC's?

https://www.mattridley.co.uk/blog/bad-for-bees/

Breezy on the ***** willow. 12 degrees in west sussex

there's a really excellent film of it here... Volucella zonaria - Wikipedia

There's also now the Apple air tag. One off payment rather than subscription, about £30. Slight question over effectiveness in very rural or remote places. AirTag

Excellent job! I expect the suit needed a wash. I've heard that scrubbing with Jeyes fluid discourages returning swarms. Do you have a view on that?

if they were for issuing they'd have been called issues, not stores...

stores are for storing - brings back some memories

18mm structural ply £50 a sheet phew. Helped a bit though by some excellent lengths of timber (+cut offs of insulation) being chucked at a barn conversion building project nearby. I do get great pleasure from the making process too.

it certainly is. Wish I'd had this earlier. Great resource, thank you.

Thanks very much all. I've got going, rain clattering on my shed roof. One further question; I'm making them top bee space. How much space do you suggest underneath the bottom of the frame? In Roger Pattersons diagram (based on a national brood frame side bar below the lug measurement of...

Has anyone got some measurements for plywood/any wood nuc construction? Dave Cushman/Roger Patterson has some here.. Nuc Box Plans Designed by Roger Patterson although I'd be interested to see others. I've searched the site without finding anything but that doesn't mean it's not on here...