By now we are all familiar with the mesh floor aka Varroa floor as part of our Integrated Pest Management. There are obvious benefits to these but there are also a few snags and an unexpected flaw: Continue reading Varroa Floor Flaw
Bee Stings
The sting of bees and other Hymenopteran insects is thought to be a modified ovipositor. An ovipositor is a pointed tube used to pierce a hole to lay an egg into. Honey bees have evolved beyond the need for an ovipositor – instead they have adapted it as a weapon and despite the fact that using their sting is accompanied by disembowelment – they are not afraid to use it. Continue reading Bee Stings
Fighting Queen Bees
Here’s something to write home about: five virgin queens – all on the same frame! Below – click it for a close up Continue reading Fighting Queen Bees
Bee Flowers – June
Here are some flowers for the bees in June.
Irish Natives are in green.
Click the table for a close up then let me know if I’ve missed any: Continue reading Bee Flowers – June
White Eyed Drone
Excuse the manky gloves – I wear them so you can’t see my manky hands – but look at this white eyed drone!
Apparently white eyed drones are victims of a genetic defect and are blind if both eyes are white. At least this chap can see with one eye.
White eyed worker bees shouldn’t happen but they do. Click here for more about white eyed worker bees
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Ancistrocerus nigrocornis?
Look at this glamorous, bespangled wasp and tell me – is this Ancistrocerus nigrocornis?
Click here for more about Irish wasps
Copyright © Beespoke.info, 2016. All Rights Reserved.
Useful Arnia Hive Scale Data
At this time of the year (spring) remote hive monitoring really comes into its own. I have an Arnia Hive Scale at one of my apiaries and it gives me a good idea what is happening not only in the monitored hive but also a rough idea of what is happening over there.
Since I installed it 2 months ago, apart from a sudden vertical jump when I put a super on to accommodate the growing population, it had been recording a steady decrease in weight but for the last 3 days it began to register an increase!
Here, have a look at this… Continue reading Useful Arnia Hive Scale Data
Bee Flowers – May
Here are some flowers for the bees in May.
Irish natives are in green.
Click the table for a close up then let me know if I’ve missed any: Continue reading Bee Flowers – May
Remote hive monitoring in action
Installing a remote hive monitoring system should give the armchair beekeeper some measure of comfort – especially in a cold spring when opening hives is out of the question. However, it ain’t necessarily so! Continue reading Remote hive monitoring in action
Bee flowers – Berberis
Berberis darwinii is a great shrub for honey bees – yeilding a nice supply of early nectar and ample greenish pollen in the spring. Continue reading Bee flowers – Berberis