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  1. M

    What's flowering as forage in your area

    Thankyou for identifying the blue flower. I've an allotment and it thrives. Noting that it is clearly a useful forage plant don't strim or weed it out in some areas. My field beans [grown as green manure] are in full flower now. They will be for the chop in a fortnight, though as I have...
  2. M

    Is beekeeping getting harder?

    As a hobby beekeeper for just over a decade I've found that greater knowledge has been accompanied by greater challenges. Ignorance and very forgiving bees made room for me to make some real blunders and get away with them. Now, I feel more responsibility. Thankfully, satisfaction and enthusiasm...
  3. M

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Temperature in the higher teens, and my hives are in a sheltered spot, so inspection time. One hive has responded well to my having to take down a huge lot of wild comb which the Q had somehow got into. All bees shaken into the BB and a QE placed on top with a super that they have for their own...
  4. M

    'Renting' beehives. How much?

    A lot of good advice has already been given. One consideration is hive equipment, I don't think that this has been picked up. If good practice is to refresh Brood frames every 3 years, exchange floors and Brood Boxes annually, for example, who owns what? Add to this replacement of...
  5. M

    Wax and syrup

    With plenty of rainwater available, and quite a lot of old frames my method has been: 1. strip the foundation out and break it into pieces no bigger than three square inches straight into an old pillowcase 2. clothes pegs to close to opening of the pillowcase. Dunk it several times into a large...
  6. M

    Temporary eviction of Welsh bees

    When I read this, yesterday, [ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68604572 ] two issues in addition to those raised above struck me. 1. "When the house was placed in National Trust care in 1952, it came with an instruction not to disturb the bees." Would that be a legally enforceable...
  7. M

    What's flowering as forage in your area

    A nasty, introduced species are the greys. Like my pet hate - muntjac. The lack of suitable predators was not in the tiny minds of those who imported/bred them.
  8. M

    What's flowering as forage in your area

    Noted that Countryfile, yesterday, featured conservationists pollarding hazels. Just wondered if there had been any thought given to the catkins as a source of forage for bees. Maybe, it is correct to coppice before trees begin to spring into growth, but ...???
  9. M

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    Although it feels more than 15C , and both colonies clearly doing plenty of foraging [yellow, orange and whitish pollen] and other flights at 1000, I'm leaving well alone. Yes, the fliers may appreciate more than the current smaller entrance reducer aperture, today, but the forecast is colder...
  10. M

    Tennis Swarm

    Beware at the Queen's Club tournament in West Kensington in June 😄
  11. M

    No bee suit?

    Watched a video which included a young lady [French] wearing a bikini top, and not a lot else, inspecting a hive. A case of "my glamorous assistant" for the guy trying to sell his non-mainstream way of doing things? It made me question whether what he was proposing was any more sense than that...
  12. M

    What's flowering as forage in your area

    Yes, ribes is in flower in my neck of the woods, but when the weather app says the easterly wind makes the 7 degrees C feel like -2 even a cursory lifting of the crown board seems like a poor idea. Bees are bringing ribes in, but we've also got snowdrops, hellibore and willow.
  13. M

    Stock-karte.de Inspection cards

    Totally agree - I won't be adopting it. A significant element in records is weather which gives the context [colony temperament especially]. The cumulative picture given by a spreadsheet, including comparison with previous years needs to be easy to analyse.
  14. M

    7 Beehives Stolen Llandudno

    My hives are well tucked away. Mid to dark brown with postcode burned into the outside of each part . Hopefully, as there are only two hives, and landlord limits me to a maximum of four it will not be worthwhile for the dishonest. How disgusting to have criminals who misuse their knowledge of...
  15. M

    Tell me not to . . .

    I agree. What puts me off is that it is very "wordy". 27 pages; however, I recognise that some beekeepers hold some practices very dear and others reject those same practices. A classic was during a practical exam when I reinstated the QE exactly as it was on an Association hive when I had...
  16. M

    Tell me not to . . .

    Thankyou for suggesting a way forward on a bit of a conundrum for me. I ended last year with a double BB which I was reluctant to reduce to a single. An unmarked Q to boot. I had wondered about using a QE and when. Yes, learning from mistakes, which in this case was heeding advice from outside...
  17. M

    What did you do in the 'workshop' today

    With all day rain I stripped the last of the wax out of old frames. Wax bits into an old pillowcase that goes into a bucket of rainwater for a good wash. Drip dry on the washing line starts tomorrow. Frames to be scorched and refurbished where needed. Foundation bought in a sale sitting in the...
  18. M

    Hopeful Beginner!!

    I'm a member of West Norfolk & King's Lynn Beekeepers. They are a friendly lot. I recommend the Improvers Course if you can get on it, but it is possibly full already. I'm also in N Norfolk and I know of a lovely chap who is reducing the number of hives that he has and if you are interested in...
  19. M

    What did you do in the Apiary today?

    For a couple of years the twitchers have gone into a frenzy because a group of bee eaters nested in North Norfolk. Their site is about four miles from my apiary. My hope is that these "rarities" will decide that the Med is a better place.
  20. M

    Bbka magazine

    I agree. I found the "News in brief" a star feature. The EU proposals on honey labelling seem to be something that Westminster might [if MPs are in sensible mood] consider to support UK beekeeping - is honey importing to be discouraged? [I believe the less we import the better.] Also the...
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