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That's a thought. I have been considering making some mead.

@Jamez - Thank you for that, I had forgotten the last line. It may be kind if you were to provide a translation for those who were not taught latin. My own favourite latin phrase is "Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes" which is slightly mistranslated as "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts". or as we say...

I press mine in a mesh bag in the same s/s fruit press that I use for cider making - different bag though, don't want appley honey.

We have a Mexican Orange Blossom (Choisya) hedge, which the bees love. It flowers twice a year but only needs cutting after the first flush. It is neat, dense and evergreen, and easy to keep to whatever size suits you. Ours is about 5 feet high, and the same wide. IMHO it is much better than...

Am I alone in lighting a piece of Thornes shredded cardboard filler with a blowtorch? 2 or 3 tightly compressed balls of the same shredded cardboard on top burn for hours. Often I top this off with the dried autumn cuttings from lavender. I have a romantic notion that the bees prefer it - and...

Today, I removed formic pro from hives, put on some wet supers for clearing and added wasp out entrances, though there are few wasps about. Oh and fed a couple of small colonies. The bees are all over the ivy at the moment.

I have been surprised at now late in the year beeks on this forum remove supers. Here we are in September and it is still happening. In my mind, 31 July is the end of the year, so I remove supers in early August, then treat for varroa then feed if necessary. Am I missing something? Is global...

Not sure. We don't have any balsam round here that I know of. My bride of 40 years bought me a microscope a year or two ago (shamefully unused!) so I'm going to see if I can identify any pollen.

Personally I would not merge 3 nucs together. Are you able to put 2 nucs side by side above the q+ brood box to newspaper combine them first?

I jarred 75 8oz jars of light yellow runny summer honey this evening. Looks like a summer day in a jar. The flavour has a floral start and a caramel finish.

Sorry beegroundedfarm. Didn't mean to "like" your post. I intended to indicate some shock at your story. Hope you have no ill effects.

The advice from the immunotherapy clinic at Addenbrookes was, once stung, to immediately take 2 cetirizine which are antihistamine tablets. Normally people take 1 per day for hay fever etc. Only if that fails, then to use the epipens and get to A&E. I still do take the tablets if I get stung...

I keep the COT pushed into a small square of polystyrene. Takes up less space in my bee toolbox.

Breastfeeding in a bee suit. Wow. That is multitasking.

Hi all I have kept bees for the last 10 years, and currently have 6 colonies. I developed a bee venom allergy about 6 years ago but completed a 3 year immunotherapy course at Addenbrookes (Cambridge) Hospital. I still have to be careful about being stung, one or two stings are fine but any more...

I find that blasting any sting on the gloves (latex over leather in my case) with smoke disguises the phoromone and minimises further attacks while inspecting, and of course replacing the latex gloves between hives helps too.

May I suggest that you have a look at the gloves sold by Old Castle Hives using 3D material on the backs. The same as their excellent suits. This mantra that you need to have bare hands or only nitrile gloves to be a proper beekeeper really needs to be challenged. I fell for this when I started...