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It's a common sight in the USA ... open feeding with a great big open bucket in the middle of the apiary seems to be pretty standard practice ... Youtube beekeeping has a lot to answer for. I'm sure Peter thought he was doing the right thing ...he's a very nice man and I hope this drubbing has not put him off posting ...

It probably hasn't done a lot of harm though it's something I wouldn't do ... Any bee managing to survive in Swinton is probably immune to just about anything (I can say that because it's where I come from ... just beware when us Yorkshire tikes gang up !).
 
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A few days ago I took honey from 3 hive unit. Then I put extracted combs into the hives. It was not long time when bees started to rob open honey from extracted combs in the carry. Hunreds of bees become dirty when they walked on honey and they cannot fly. And hundreds of bees were killed in fighting.

Quite a riot and mere nonsense to clean frames outdoors.
 
pargyle said:
It's a common sight in the USA ... open feeding with a great big open bucket in the middle of the apiary seems to be pretty standard practice ... Youtube beekeeping has a lot to answer for. I'm sure Peter thought he was doing the right thing ...he's a very nice man and I hope this drubbing has not put him off posting ...

It probably hasn't done a lot of harm though it's something I wouldn't do ... Any bee managing to survive in Swinton is probably immune to just about anything (I can say that because it's where I come from ... just beware when us Yorkshire tikes gang up !).
Click to expand...

Yip. Seen it on the Fatbeeman page, one of the most viewed beekeepers on youtube.
 
pargyle said:
It's a common sight in the USA ... open feeding with a great big open bucket in the middle of the apiary seems to be pretty standard practice ... Youtube beekeeping has a lot to answer for. I'm sure Peter thought he was doing the right thing ...he's a very nice man and I hope this drubbing has not put him off posting ...

It probably hasn't done a lot of harm though it's something I wouldn't do ... Any bee managing to survive in Swinton is probably immune to just about anything (I can say that because it's where I come from ... just beware when us Yorkshire tikes gang up !).
Click to expand...

Agree with you that the tube has a lot to answer for. Some of the videos from the USA are ok as long as you apply our weather, circumstances and common sense to what they are conveying.(and some are just real dumb wanton 'movie stars').
Bare in mind that if the USA was as right as they like to think they are, then wouldn't CCD not exist over there. Just because they do it doesn't mean we have to follow blindly!
PS Learning from this forum can be a 'painful' experience sometimes, but worth it in the light of day.
Regards
 
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Tremyfro said:
Poor Peterxix.....I bet it seems like such a good idea at the time.....watching the bees busily cleaning up. You set it up beautifully...and a lovely photo for the archives......Oh Well.....I think most of the bullets have been fired....you can come out now.....
Click to expand...

:iagree:

Nobody else is going to shoot you.
 
ratcatcher said:
I'm presuming you did this to save returning to an out apiary some miles away, still not what I would have done, easier to seal them in those boxes and return to your hives on the next trip there
Click to expand...

Ratcatcher, you are right tried to save a trip to the out Apiary boxes now sealed with lids and returnd to the hives, And all comments took on board. Yes a very stupid thing to do.
 
I think he has learnt his lesson now and won't be doing that again so hopefully no harm done, so what's the daftest thing other beekeepers have done, come on we have all done something we regretted,

A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.
 
REDWOOD said:
I think he has learnt his lesson now and won't be doing that again so hopefully no harm done, so what's the daftest thing other beekeepers have done, come on we have all done something we regretted,

A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake altogether.
Click to expand...

Left the honey gate open on a bucket. You can guess what happened. Had one with a slow drip overnight too

Picked a poly super up, didn't realise another was stuck underneath. It came away just like a saucer sometimes falls from a cup. The poly super snapped into 3 pieces - bees and honey frames everywhere.

I've had to return to the shed 3 times in one inspection to get equipment I'd forgot

Didn't block them in properly while travelling.

Put supers above a clearer board but left a small gap because I didn't put them on square. Caused a fair amount of robbing- and many more mistakes
 
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Not made any big mistakes YET ;) but one time my mentor told me to block down the entrance on my own, for the first time I'd been to the bees on my own, and they were sort of bearding, and had to leave it as I was too nervous lol. Someone from the forum had to come and hold my hand the next day, but of course they were perfectly well behaved.
 
Ely said:
I've had to return to the shed 3 times in one inspection to get equipment I'd forgot
Click to expand...

That's normal......I do that all the time.
The worst thing I did was make up an underfloor entrance with not enough drop from the entrance to the landing board,so to speak. Last winter I lost a kilogram of bees, dead on the floor having tried to get out through a blocked entrance. I heard the noise just in time to save the rest. I'll never forget the sight.....just awful. Colony survived their idiot keeper, thank heavens.
 
I'm guilty for a van full of bees, didn't block the entrance properly. Wasted good money on a queen when I introduced her to a colony with a virgin queen. B
ottled 60 jars of honey and found out the supplier sent me the wrong lids, thank god for cling film and elastic bands until the right ones arrived.

Anyone else, could do with a good laugh
 
See the thread a conservatory tale! Also spent good money on a queen(lovely too) split an already small colony to introduce her and was too cautious putting paper under the super instead of suspending the cage in between the brood frames. Combination of heat drying out the fondant, not enough bees to release her and sheer inexperience lost me my money and a good queen. We live and learn.
 
Hivemaker. said:
I agree Finman... and lifting double brood colonies up on top of four or five supers to be cleaned is a lot of work, plus they could not be further from their entrance to protect the hive from robbers, even with reducers in.
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting putting 5 supers at a time under the brood … :cool:
 
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