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IN for a penny and all that jazz. I was less than careful when I uncapped the honey and had a few frames that weren't suitable for uncapping that I thought I could add to the mix so I've had a go at making some mead:



Assuming I haven't totally buggered it up I reckon this should either be a fairly/very sweet mead or you'll be able to use it to strip paint. Perhaps both. About a month ago a ...

Today at my main apiary (also have one colony at home, and two in the hills) all five colonies were fairly excited and four of them were showing lots of bees with the clear white-grey stripe of Himalayan balsam. Wasps were fewer than before but still pestering some colonies. I replaced the traps again, just before heading off to see the two beekeeping displays at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival (the 'Dundee Flower Show').

Two bees on a couple of frames were dancing, telling me ...

Okay, I know I've already posted this in the forum but I think it's a really intersting piece of news.

Here's the link: [url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/aug/25/honeybees-virus-superbee-saviour-swindon

I expect that as the Amateur beekeeper came from Swindon that has evaded the reporters of The Scotsman who've recently reported on Fife BA locating hives on University of St.Andrews grounds.

This guy in Swindon has spent 18 years trying ...

On Sunday I was horrified to find one colony with about 200 wasps sitting around on the outside of the hive. Wasp traps went out that night and have gathered up many of them, and at lunchtime today (2 days on) there were only about 10 there.




I had been aware that this colony was under attack for a couple of weeks but was taken aback by the scale of it at the weekend. They had been finding their way in to help ...

Just back home after 18 days in Mexico.
I had been getting nervous about wasps with all the posts here and elsewhere about colonies getting wiped out.

I left behind 10 colonies, 20 nucs, and 3 virgin queens in Apideas as well as a friend's mini nuc with a virgin queen in it.

I checked most of the nucs yesterday and all were fine except one which had a virgin queen when I left which was now laying drone eggs.
A couple had supersedure cells which I removed ...