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I totally agree that there's a risk involved in a LOT of apiary sites and it really can't be totally 100% avoided in most cases. Risk is a fact of life, after all! But I think there's a difference between bees being vaguely near a right of way, road or footpath and near someone elses' garden...

If you tell your bees your problems then they will try and make life easier for you. I guess similar to the village gossip one!

An aside re: NIMBY-ism. Round our way, most windfarm sites have a scheme whereby the local community receive a certain proportion of the (audited, gross) profit from the windfarm. This obviously takes a while to kick in, but is really significant amount of £££ (or according to local paper it...

Mine love neoprene wetsuits /boots, too. It's really irritating as I have to walk past the hives to/from a nice spot where I go kayaking - I do worry what EXACTLY is in my honey - blerghh.

I've never heard that bees do this! I can't come onto the forum without learnign something new.

I was told (on a beginners course last year) that inspecting your bees "out of intrest" is the same as digging up your newly-planted potoatoes to see if they're growing yet. I reckon that's a pretty good analogy /way to convince yourself to avoid unneccesary inspections.

Apparantly if they draw comb out when foraging primarily on ragwort then the comb is a custard-yellow colour.

Don't quit. My bees became queenless last summer (my first year with them too) and they were a nightmare - didn't help that the weather wasn't great either. It felt like a real endurance test to go into the hive, and not in any way a fun, enjoyable pastime! HOWEVER I know of few (actually, maybe...

I got stopped for speeding on my bike once..... it was downhill, and it was when I lived overseas, and I was fitter then....

Now, don't start telling me interesting stuff about wasps. I'm not going to get sucked in to finding them cool and interesting.... they have to go....

Kazmc, my OH used to be scared of bees, but now he gets roped into lifting supers off the hive for me etc. I've had one horrific stinging - entirely my own fault. Think I got around 15 (moral of the story: if you use a smock, tuck it in!).

Re: getting wedding ring off: try putting hand in bowl of iced water (as cold as you can stand it), & sticking a bit of butter in the freezer until it's COLD but not solid. Then use the butter to ease the ring off. It's not worth putting it back on afterward, just get it re-sized. I have had...

I read somewhere that Africanized honey bees had some varroa tolerance. I wonder if there's a connection between success for those not treating for varroa? Guess it depends on where in the US it is though!

They look ace fun, but... is it not pretty intimidating being so close to vehicle wheels? OK, maybe am just a big wuss.....

It's basically a type of grass, so wind pollinated and of no interest to bees. Does make a cool "skeleton fingers rattling" noise in the breezse though!

Am impressed with anyone who has a tandem and isn't divorced as a result! We hired one on holiday in Korea once (it was way too small for us, predictably enough!) I hate being at the back (so wobbly!) as does OH (it's too girly, sitting on the back!) so....:boxing_smiley: However I like poddling...

I've frequently read that there's no point in taking anything other than a big colony to the heather, but have never known why - I guessed that it wasn't considered worth the hassle of moving them. Thanks for the explanation PH!

I reckon it depends more on the size of your neighbours gardens: can you site them so that they are well away from areas your neighbours use? Also, I definitely agree with having a back-up location. If you can't keep them in yout garden, then you're likely to be able to find another site; I...

Congratulations on passing etc! I reckon more knowledge can only be a good thing for bees and beek, whether done beforehand as preparation or alongside the first-year-won-bees experience.

Y'know the expression "it's easy when you know how"? I reckon it's probably true that with beekeeping, as with everyhting else, it is much easIER when you know how. So joining a local assoc, going to meetings, beginners course, reading, etc before taking the plunge is definitely the way to go...