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  1. Geoff

    Don't Ask Me How I Know...

    Wear elastic bands on cuffs if dealing with colonies that are even slightly feisty. - I had one colony that could get inside a bee suit in 5 seconds. How come they know exactly where to go? and dont tell me they follow the scent cause sometimes the suit had just been washed. Female intuition I...
  2. Geoff

    Protecting my crocus bulbs

    Gardeners World on friday - Toby Buckland was soaking crocus bulbs in tonic water to deter squirrels. it has to have quinine in though to work. If it works it is a darn sight easier than shooting or trapping. You can only shoot or trap one at a time and if there are loads??
  3. Geoff

    Bickerstaffes queen bees AMM x 2

    I have had some bad experiences with black bees, they were foul tempered. but they weren't AMM, they were obviously mongrels...I think bees crossed with Pit Bull, they could get inside a bee suit like a rat up a drainpipe and they wouldn't let go. Considering that queens mate with several...
  4. Geoff

    Could be a scam or made into one

    His mother will have been on a queen buying trip, they wont be importing huge numbers of bees and the inspector wont have 400 hives to inspect. It would be relatively easy to increase to the level he states. They would use certain hives just to provide the brood and nurse bees and these would be...
  5. Geoff

    stung again grrrrrr

    What do you mean stung in the eye? Getting stung in the eye is really really bad and can cause blindness. Or was it near the eye which is pretty painfull?
  6. Geoff

    leave them to it

    I think most people here are middle of the road to varying degrees and to say one type or another is more natural or greener is bullshit. I will nail my colours to the mast here. I am regarded as a bit of an environmentalist ( it made my day when a stupid, pig ignoramous of a workman used it...
  7. Geoff

    Swarmy Little Beggers

    Is there enough room in the hive for the queen to continue laying? The first year I got bees one of mine swarmed on September 26th - the new queen had been laying so prolifically she ran out of room. i had been feeding them to build up stores for winter. i have two new queens in two of my hives...
  8. Geoff

    I must have a friend but who?

    I would make sure you don't put your hives along a badger run - you can usually see the trails in the grass. Do you mean wire netting as in fence? Cause badgers will easily dig under. You would be better to stake them and have the hive parts very firmly secured together. You could use a wire...
  9. Geoff

    Magpies

    Well the pellet did fly over my mother in laws property, the jackdaw was in flight over her garden when it was shot and the police were told that. They told me that they had had a case where someone was shooting a shotgun over someone's house, such that falling pellets were hitting the roof and...
  10. Geoff

    Magpies

    So does that mean that someone who just shoots jackdaws off the roof for the fun of it is breaking the law? I ask because some idle drug addled prat decided to shoot jackdaws that flew up off the roof and one fell injured at my mother in law's feet (she is in her 80s), while she was walking down...
  11. Geoff

    Varroa-guard

    It is not authorised as a hive sanitiser by the VMD because they only deal with medicines, not sanitisers. The distributers have been told by VMD to remove the claim from their packaging and Beecraft have told them to alter their advert. They could improve their advert by informing people what...
  12. Geoff

    building -up a Nucleus

    Many would recommend feeding with syrup to make their life easier. If there is a good honey flow on I find some bees wont bother with it and prefer to go and get the real stuff. But feeding means that they can be gathering food even if the weather keeps them indoors. You can put a round feeder...
  13. Geoff

    bees have just killed my chickens?

    Roy S if someone is putting a load of aggressive bees on the other side of the fence then they need locking up. If they did it on the other side of the fence to me then environmental health would find out cause they would be preventing me from enjoying my garden. Just because some bees are like...
  14. Geoff

    Warning Rant!!

    Well make sure you stick to the honey regs as far as labelling goes. Local Trading Standards have sent me a copy cause I was not happy with the new instructions from Country Markets HQ - Boy, HQ must think I am a real pain in the a**** cause I kicked up a fuss about the instructions about...
  15. Geoff

    bees have just killed my chickens?

    Well I keep bees in the garden and my main source of information and guidance is someone who has probably more experience than anyone else I know - he was the beekeeper on Victorian Farm. He knows i keep bees in the garden and has never discouraged it, cause he knows I take sensible precautions...
  16. Geoff

    Problem with wasps

    With a jam jar they can easily fly out. What I do is get a plastic milk carton. Put in mixture as Vortex says. I then cut little flaps that I bend up in the sides of the carton towards the top of the carton. The wasps crawl in, take flight and cannot fly out again so usually bump into the sides...
  17. Geoff

    Warning Rant!!

    No she didn't sell more, she sold less. It quite pleased me because the condescending cow made a comment the previous week that was intended to belittle my spuds, saying that people wouldn't buy them. But mine were better with skins you could scrape off with your finger nail. Hers were hard...
  18. Geoff

    Bees just messed up my bathroom!

    Yesterday I took delivery of two new queens - the postman always seems alarmed if the envelope buzzes. So yesterday afternoon got them ready to introduce to the hive. First job is to remove the half dozen or so workers from the queen cage. I put the plugs in the bath and sink and sealed all the...
  19. Geoff

    caught the swarm....

    If you have the queen see if the bees are clustering in the box around her. The queen's smell will still be on that part of the tree where they settled so will attract bees for a few hours afterwards. They should eventually find the smell of the swarm if you have the queen or should return home...
  20. Geoff

    Warning Rant!!

    If it is that cheap there must be a reason. It is easy to sell c****p at any old price. You are selling a premium product and if people go for the cheapest stuff whatever then decent pure British honey is wasted on them - they are probably quite happy with a cheap supermarket imported blended...
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