Apideas

[Olivia9801]

Does anyone have any poly apideas they no longer need and would be willing to sell? I’ve had my first success in queen rearing with one recently and would like to use more.

 

[markjadams]

Check the Bee man on you tube as he recently mentioned that he has loads that he no longer wants

 

[sipa]

Check the Bee man on you tube as he recently mentioned that he has loads that he no longer wants

Yes, seems he has given up raising mated queens in the UK and now imports the majority of the stock he sells.

 

[GillianS]

If you seen Mike's youtube video on the subject, he states that this year he has had very poor results from open mating of his queens and will be prioritising instrumentally inseminated queens from now on. They will still be British bred queens.

I have also had 3 out of 4 virgin queens fail to get mated naturally, although the indifferent weather might have had a lot to do with these failures.

Mike did also mention that he thought the changes in climate recently has had a lot to do with the failure of getting Queens naturally inseminated.

 

[Millet]

Surely over the past 50 million years bees have had to deal with all kinds of climate..and they are still here..any wrong doing is on our heads me thinks.

 

[XYZ]

If you're happy with cheapo mini mating hives I have two on the go and they're £11ish new delivered from ebay.
Unless recycling is your priority?

 

[SDM]

If you're happy with cheapo mini mating hives I have two on the go and they're £11ish new delivered from ebay.
Unless recycling is your priority?

Bee equipment had them on sale recently at £6.50 each which is a bloody bargain!!
So far(3years) they are holding up well, better in fact than my apideas and kielers which the bees have chewed new paths through.
Waiting to hear about extensions for the cheap ones to make wintering possible , if I'm happy with those, I can see no reason to pay the apidea price premium

 

[SDM]

I have also had 3 out of 4 virgin queens fail to get mated naturally, although the indifferent weather might have had a lot to do with these failures.

Mike did also mention that he thought the changes in climate recently has had a lot to do with the failure of getting Queens naturally inseminated.

4-6 wks dodgy weather doesn't equal climate change.
It was a slow start to queen rearing but in July I'm 54 out of 56 mated so far. The last batch emerged on the 9th and were laying today( yesterday now) another batch emerged on the 15th should easily find weather to mate this coming week . With queens still filling drone comb I expect at least another month of opportunity.

 

[Murox]

I guess like most wild creature bees are opportunists, they will constantly surprise us.