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Well gee, I am a beekeeper and I understand that perfectly - but his location has NOTHING to do with the post at the top of this thread, which NOBODY has come close to engaging with.

And the point you so widely missed was - what have his location or interests to do with the subject of the post?

This from someone who signs themselves hpm08161947....

I haven't been here for a while, but once upon a time there was a decent level of debate. Now - here, at least - it seems to have degenerated into unwarranted, personal attacks with no serious...

Here is my latest YouTube video showing my experimental 'deep floor', which is designed to encourage an ecosystem to develop inside the hive, while maintaining and stabilizing the internal...

Thank you! I would love to do more, but they are quite time-consuming to produce. I am now aiming for one per month and have noticed how June is running out... I will see what I can do. The July...

Here's an experiment for you all to try:

1. Take your cellphone, check that it has a signal, and wrap it in tinfoil.
2. Connect it to an earth wire, if you like.
3. Call your phone from another...

Be sure to wear a WW2 steel helmet to protect yourself as well... oh yeah, and tinfoil underpants. :rolleyes:

That is certainly a tough choice.

Of course they get kicked out at the end of the season, but that doesn't mena they are not important while they are there. After all, they live longer than workers!

R.O.B. Manley, a British commercial beekeeper of the first half of the 20th century, wrote about his observation that his best honey-producing hives were the ones with the most drones... funny how...

Yeah, it's tricky alright. I am more and more inclined towards the 'do as little as possible' end of the spectrum, and I think that removing drones wholesale unbalances the colony. The long-term...

It started that way, but then seemed to stray into drone culling -

>>I wonder if just scratching the drone comb - causing the bees to remove them and clean out the cells - is still an effective...

I meant drones, of course...

I have more questions than answers - about this and almost everything else. But I do think they have a role in maintaining brood temperature and possibly colony...

Think about it: 7,500 queens in a natural colony. How many of them are likely ever to mate with a queen? What do you suppose the others are doing, meanwhile?

They probably failed to find your feeder because sugar syrup has no smell. Bad idea to feed outside anyway, unless you want to feed wasps as well - any anyone else's bees that happen to be passing! ...

I'm amazed that anyone wants to be this invasive! What makes you think you know better than bees do how many drones are needed in a hive, or where they should be?

You are used to/have been conditioned by the owners of conventional hives to expect only a few hundred drones in your hives. Natural colonies have about 15% of their population as drones during the...

Interesting, and I would like to see a comparison with Langs in the same locations, started at the same time. I must say that my top bar colonies have come through winter in much better shape than...

Same way as you would oxalic - trickle between the combs in mid-December.

FWIW I will throw my two penn'orth into this thread.

Nobody should be suggesting that TBHs of any design prevent mite problems - that is just wishful thinking IMO. However, I think natural comb...

I have found the Miller method (http://bushfarms.com/beesmillermethod.htm in MB's list) to be reliable and simple to use in a TBH. I don't like grafting, as it is too invasive for my liking and...

Anyone interested may like to know that I have just finished a revision of the FREE ebook - How To Build A Toip Bar Hive - which is now available from here:
...

By definition, if you are using frames then you are not running a top bar hive - I don't care what they are made from.

A top bar hive uses top bars. A frame hive uses frames. You don't run a...

Since the whole idea of a Warre hive is that the bees work their way DOWN the stack, I fail to see why you are even considering making them work UP into a Warre box.

If you just put an empty box...