BBKA Forum

Sometimes doing the obvious take a little time to twig....or I'm getting old and senile.......
Took about 3 foot (1m) off a southern facing hedge in the garden that my bees sit behind. Now they get the winter sun light on them, rather then being in the shade of the hedge, in a "cold spot".
Also means I don't require a ladder to cut the hedge in future.

Labelling honey up for farmers market tomorrow

Which one is that Chris?
I have free weekend before we do a second Stokely in lieu of all out other venues closing for the lockdown.

NigelP wrote: ↑

14 Nov 2020, 17:55

Which one is that Chris?
I have free weekend before we do a second Stokely in lieu of all out other venues closing for the lockdown.

Wetherby, it was ok. It didnt help that on the organisers website they put it as closed when it wasnt. Its a quiet one but does nicely for me with my small harvest.

They organise several others but the only other one that is still on is Otley.

You'll know John Piercy then Chris?

Top 2 Tips of the day.

1. Cleaning out your smoker.....easy peasy use a pressure washer. Took a seasons worth of accumulated smoke crud from the lid in seconds back to clean metal....I used the attachment that goes round in circles. Couldn't believe how quick it was. Also if you use a smoker box to keep your smoker in and extinguish it after use then the same pressure washer does an excellent job of removing all the tar and accumulated junk.

2. I lost 2 nucs that had died out as the queens never got mated and they got robbed as their numbers dwindled. A few frames with dead bees head in cells. In the past I've usually just cut these out and disposed as right PITA to remove every bee with a pair of forceps. Tried my pressurised air line with a jet.....blew them all out in seconds. The real fun bit was cleaning up afterwards. Note to self, do this outside in future.

Thought those two little tips from todays bees work might be worth passing on.

As the saying goes we are never too old to learn new tricks..

Pressure washers are fascinating kit
I had a really expensive karcher(lasted until a week outside of warranty and customer service gave me the middle finger, buts that's another story)
It would carve holes in the rendering on the garage but it WOULD NOT remove a spider web on the wing mirror of the car.
Today's project was to construct (entirely out of scrap material and tightfistness)a bait hive ready for some retrospective swarm control next spring.

NigelP wrote: ↑

16 Nov 2020, 14:32

You'll know John Piercy then Chris?

I certainly do.

Warm and muggy...most non-Nov weather I can recall for a long time. All hives flying and bringing in yellow pollen. Presumably late flowering ivy, where we have a long spread out season.