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Hi, I design, as well as use biological programmes, and use Hyoapsis along with many other biological control agents within my field of work on a weekly basis, ranging through bugs, nematodes and fungi. Hyoapsis, I'm pretty sure won't be that affective, as they really only attack soft bodied...

Over the past 4 years I've purchased 15 brood boxes + 3 supers for each, along with all the frames required, all seconds from Th***es. As others have found out a few knots in interesting places, but nothing some glue and a G clamp couldn't fix. Out of the frames, if I remember correctly, I’ve...

I have 50mm kingspan on top, and OMF open all year except for Apiguard treatments and varroa checks. All 11 of them were out and about two days ago when it was 8c and sunny. Rich

I see that Metarhizium anisopliase is now on sale in the UK for horticultural use, of course I'd never think of using in a bee hive now would I ... -;)

This was touched on a few months ago http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3813 I often talk with the guy in question at Fargro, as they supply all our biological agents, I'll have to ask where they are now with Metarhizium. Rich

Hi Tim, Welcome In my neck of the woods then, I'm near Fenstanton. All the best Rich

Hi Heather I quite agree, if you have the fiberglass well rapped up with no openings, and use thick quality polythene so that the bees can't get at the fibers or they can't inadvertently find their way into the hive, it should be fine. Rich

If I remember rightly some trial work was going on regarding mesh floors in 1987, so most likely a Mk1 ventilated floor would be sometime prior to that, it's a sort of "how longs that bit of string" ..... Rich

You don't especially if you’re on an OMF. Would you leave your house loft hatch open all winter? If you put a mesh over you crown board holes, the bees soon propolis it up, don't you think there trying to tell us something? Rich

I've never gone that route. Just think of the extra area the bees have to keep warm. As Finman would say all "vain space" Just pop the fondant on top of the crown board, making sure you have cut a large enough hole in the plastic covering the fondant to fit over the holes in the crown board...

Hi Cars. Its always been rightly said in the past, that a glass crown board will induce condensation in the winter, and this above the cluster is bad news, but if you are running a 50+mm insulation on top of the crown board with an OMF, (I mean open, not closed off) which a lot of people are...

Re-queen, I have this self same dilemma, being an old soft hearted thing,(but don't tell the kids that) I let her be, by May I was really bemoaning not going with my gut reaction to dispatch her. Ended up re-queening mid season and only by late Sept did I seeing any improvement in temper. Rich

Yes, our nice green friends. I’ve never had any problems with them in the fives years I’ve had them at home, until this weekend when I heard a rather loud "tapping" I though who the heck’s banging in nails on a frosty morning like this. Then the light went on. Lucky there was only the...

I take it you've done a forum search, if not here's one and theres quite a few more threads on the forum. http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3787&highlight=plastic+foundation Rich

You have your super under the brood box, this was one of the reasons I gave in a previous thread on the positioning of a super for winter. I had the same problem my first year, and now if I am stuck with a super on a hive for the winter it always goes under the brood box in early Oct until...

I noticed with interest today an article on biopestercides within the horticultural industry, that the Dutch already have Metarhizium at their disposal, and it should be available to us in the UK next year. Although it is a Horticultural trade mag, it has a very interesting sentence from Dr...

I always put them underneath without the excluder. My reasoning is that as I run OMF, this gives a "skirt" to protect any brood and cluster, by lifting them further away from the open floor. Also what I did find the only time I left them on top was that the bees hadn't moved up to the top of...

Subtle as usual ....... Brosville As Veg has said, no need treat if nosema isn't present. Applying Fumidil-B as a standard autumn treatment will only shorted the timeframe of its effective life. Nosema will in time, become resistant to Fumidil-B, so only use it if really necessary. Quite a...

Hi Bob She was a mated queen from one of my mating nuc's laying really well, hence to move to a full colony. I would expect a virgin to take three week to get going but a mated queen? And yes, it was the same queen; nice big white blob marking her was still there for all to see. Sure hope...

Burren I had a queen problem a little while back myself, I wanted to re-queen a colony, they were a little tetchy to put it mildly. I put in one of my first queens I had raised, she spent 3 days in a Butlers cadge before I took out the wood plug and replaced it with queen candy. Checked seven...