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  1. carbon

    Which suit and gloves?

    Agree it's very difficult knowing which to choose. I started out with a Bee Basics jacket with round veil, which seemed to do the job...for a while. As the fabric loosened up over time little gaps began to appear, which some of my less patient charges have scampered through. Seeing bees buzzing...
  2. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    It wasn't today, but this is the first chance I've had to post amid making insurance claims for broken windows, missing roof tiles and a written off car! Thursday's event was easily the worst hail storm I've ever experienced and when it did finally ease off enough to venture outside I wandered...
  3. carbon

    Found a swarm

    Sounds like they're ready for the off.
  4. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Where I grew up... happy days. It's blowing a gale and tipping it down here (Leics) :eek:
  5. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Fed the bees, as is becoming quite a normal, year-round thing to do. Then went inside to shelter from the rain. As is becoming quite a normal, year-round thing to do.
  6. carbon

    Queen Fainting during marking?

    A drama queen!!! :smilielol5: Bees don't have lungs, so squeezing them doesn't "suffocate" them. However, the somewhat traumatic experience of having one's colony ripped open, then being immobilized, picked up and painted is probably enough to trigger a last-ditch anti-predator response, such...
  7. carbon

    Peacocks and bees

    A pregnant peacock???:rolleyes:
  8. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    :hurray:Successfully collected my first swarm of the year (after four callouts this was the first one I'd made it to in time).:hurray: :hurray:United an angry queenless colony with a nice homegrown nuc with the newspaper method:hurray: :hurray:Didn't get stung once:hurray: All in all a good day.
  9. carbon

    Hatched queen cell in no fly weather

    I have a colony, a very angry colony, that I know has a queen cell in it. What happens if it hatches when the bees are unable to fly (i.e. likely this week)? There will be the existing queen and a newly emerged unmated one. Can anyone tell me what will happen? Will the old queen kill the new...
  10. carbon

    Is Wisteria poisonous to bees?

    Thanks pbh4 -- so do you think that because the bees are known to work Wisteria that it shouldn't cause them any ill effects? I read elsewhere that the blooms are toxic to some other animals.
  11. carbon

    Getting my first bees!

    Speaking as someone who had an incident :eek: whilst transporting bees in a car just make absolutely sure the box is bee tight!
  12. carbon

    Is Wisteria poisonous to bees?

    I have a beautiful white Wisteria in bloom and I noticed the bees have discovered it. A quick online search suggests, albeit inconclusively, that it might be poisonous to the bees. Does anyone know if this is the case? If it is, why are the bees foraging on it?
  13. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Topped up the feeders as usual. :(
  14. carbon

    Country file stat casually thrown out..

    I think it's OK to talk about something being locally extinct if the "local" can be identified as a discrete area, such as an island. Conservationists frequently talk of species being "extinct in the wild" meaning the only surviving individuals are held in captivity.
  15. carbon

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Wish I'd waited for today, but the forecast was bad so took my chances yesterday. It went OKish for the first three hives, laying queens but small colonies and precious little stores, but I got totally kamikaze'd on the fourth. Bees down my wellies, in my suit, nightmare. Fortunately only got...
  16. carbon

    hornet trap supplied by Fera

    can anyone get one or do you have to be one of Fera's chosen ones? :)
  17. carbon

    Bright red pollen

    I've been using the Bristol Beekeepers web site pollen guide and it's been pretty reliable so far, but I don't think it would have told me the bright red pollen was from a horse chestnut (unless my pc monitor is playing up!). Please could someone else have a look and maybe explain what's going on?
  18. carbon

    Hypoaspis for varroa control?

    The thinking behind biological control is that only the target species is hit. Myxomatosis in rabbits (not hares) is a good example, cane toads in just about everything is a very very bad one. So the hope would be that a mite-eating mite would not turn its attention to bee eggs, but my original...
  19. carbon

    Hypoaspis for varroa control?

    OK this is shaping into a more general discussion on biological control. Please google "cane toad" before putting in any more speculative comments. Very interesting about the fungal approach, but can we please restrict this thread to Hypoaspis? Thanks.
  20. carbon

    Hypoaspis for varroa control?

    I guess it depends if that's an optimum temperature or whether they just won't tolerate temps >30 degrees. From what I've found out so far they are specialist predators, feeding only on mites. On the petsnails web page (thanks BJ) it says this: "They are adept hunters, fast-moving over...
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