Deafening silence

Slight interruption to the normal lack of service on the blog by the arrival of Child Number Three (20 May, 3.7kg, Lalita). She demands more attention than bees, blogs and beer. Just.

Beelore

Waaaaay the most interesting and informative beeblog I have come across so far: http://beelore.com/

A World Without Bees

Sadly, one of the colonies has died, which temporarily leaves me bee-less (the other colony is in more competent hands than mine). A world without bees...

Montana Wildlife Gardener

A real rant, and quite a good one: 

http://montanawildlifegardener.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/my-garden-rant-guest-rant-honey-bees.html

Bad Things for Bees

From The Independent 30 March 2012. For the more technically minded, the diagram shows that Things Are Very Bad, and (top right) Some Things Are Really Awful. The yellow hexagon means "Beware Pirates." For a less scientific interpretation, see  http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/new-pesticides-linked-to-bee-population-collapse-7601198.html 

Not a lot of people know that

Sir Edmund Hillary

With his brother Rex, Hillary became a beekeeper,[1][6] a summer occupation that allowed him to pursue climbing in the winter.[7] His interest in beekeeping later led Hillary to commission Michael Ayrton to cast a golden sculpture in the shape of honeycomb in imitation of Daedalus's lost-wax process. This was placed in his New Zealand garden, where his bees took it over as a hive and "filled it with honey and their young"

Not a lot of people know that.


Text info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Hillary Pic from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067128/. Sir Edmund looks an awful lot like Michael Caine. Shome mishtake, surely?

Iran does something good

Take a look: http://www.mellifera.ir  There is a button to show the site in British English (yes, British English) for those whose Farsi is a little rusty.

Apocephalus borealis

The author, Sandy Simpson, Polmont Horticultural Society, of an article referring to yet another threat to bees: apocephalus borealis. Seen in The Falkirk Herald 

Cornsheds and beekeeping

Although unified in their musical tastes, as songwriters and interpreters The Cornshed Sisters display a healthy disregard for unity of subject matter (reminiscent perhaps of Randy Newman, Joni Mitchell or Richard and Linda Thompson). In these songs the ladies tackle water babies, beekeeping, marriage, soothsayers, men in sequined suits, making pies out of people and the axis of love and bombs. And, there’s some unusual stuff too.  http://hangout.altsounds.com/news/144229-cornshed-sisters-announce-april-uk-dates.html  

PS I did not crop this photo, honest. 

Travels in Blood and Honey

Knowing just how bally hard it is to make money from writing, here's another plug for Travels in Blood and Honey - bearing in mind that I have not actually read it. 

The author even left a comment: "The Times (http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/arts/books/non-fiction/article3060779.ece) says ‘a sheer delight; a beguiling, bittersweet story of a lively love affair with a traditional world, as ancient as apiculture, in transition to new nationhood’. Beecraft magazine calls it 'insightful'. I think it's brilliant ;-)" 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Travels-Blood-Honey-Becoming-Beekeeper/dp/1904955908

Extracting the Michael

Apitherapy News (http://www.apitherapy.blogspot.com/). What a load of old tosh. Take a look at the mind-boggling list of possible cures in the blog archive.

Maybe I should start a new blog: "Serpentitherapy," or possibly "Taking The Urea And Other Dissolved Ions, Inorganic And Organic Compounds."

Dance of the one veil

In certain circs, a hole in the veil may be a good thing. Not in beekeeping.

Unseasonably warm: 25 February 2012

Busy bees: I could not spot any pollen being brought back to the hive.

Make of this what you will...

Take a look at  http://www.beefertile.com/products.html.  Worse than the pseudoscience is the creation of false hope.

 

Ooooh! Matron!

Now here's a bally good idea: a nurse's watch on the outside of the beesuit... (As seen on http://www.surreybeekeepers.org.uk/)

Beekeeping Madness

I'm only a year late spotting this: Suggs is a beekeeper...   Read the full story at http://www.premisesstudios.com/blog/suggs-and-the-premises-launch-urban-beekeeping-campaign/

We Save Bees

We Save Bees left a curious comment: "A tragic scenario that happened here in California is we were hit with an unnaturally warm winter that beekeepers didn't adjust their diets for and caused hive collapses across the entire southern side of the state, sadly enough" 

Great web site: http://www.wesavebees.com/ 

Old bees, cold bees, no bees

The temperature has dropped, from a balmy and unusual winter 10-15 C range to around zero.

Have a look at this: http://scientificbeekeeping.com/old-bees-cold-bees-no-bees-part-1/

I admire anyone wearing an open-necked shirt inspecting a frame of bees. I am too frit. 

Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen

Elementary beekeeping. For reasons beyond me, this book is listed on Amazon at £470.36.

Balkanların gözbebeği Kosova'da arıcılık

How about this for some serious beekeeping: http://fatihmazrek.blogspot.com/

Christmas Comment

Kelly Jacobs commented on this blog: "I recieved 9 Bee books for Christmas 2011. I plan on being a Bee Keeper in 2012. The Complete Idiot's Guide for Beekeepers is my favorite of the pile. I also enjoyed a video where Dean spoke for an hour...with constant interuptions. I like the no chemical direction of the book and educational materials. It's better for planet earth."

Remember, you only have to read 50 books on any subject to become an expert.