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222 Posts
Web developer and beekeeper. Relentlessly incorrect opinions on an impressively wide range of topics. #bees #beekeeping
Webhttp://richwild.com
@lukeharby I am the only other person you have met that does.
A TERRIBLE thing has happened. My 9-yr old daughter has decided she likes Marmite. (retches behind a bin)
@Taz Sunday 6th Feb 2051 13:42
@Squish oh dear not nice. Comparable to the Covid vacc? That always knocks me sideways for a day.
Next morning update: my arm really hurts at the injection site. Like Mike Tyson gave me a dead arm.
@phillipcairns I think sadly the catkins go unforaged (not that the hazel minds as the catkins are wind-pollinated). The weather has been too cold and/or rainy for any bees to venture out of the tight huddle. I keep checking all the hazels but yet to see a single bee on a catkin.

Hello ... congratulations on finding me. This is the new Mastodon account for The Apiarist, a weekly blog on bees and beekeeping, with an emphasis on the science of sustainable beekeeping.

How not to lose your bees in the first place (swarm control, disease control etc.) and how to get more bees (queen rearing and good colony management).

New posts appear on Fridays and will be 'advertised' here.

Happy beekeeping 🐝

Bee venom immunotherapy update: today was the last of the 8 weekly sessions of up-dosing at Addenbrookes’ specialist immunotherapy clinic. I’m now having an amount of bee venom equivalent to 2 stings’ worth injected. A 4-week break now and then additional doses of this amount every 10 weeks for the next 3 years! They also took a blood test today to compare my reaction to today’s venom with the blood test taken at the start of the course. #honeybees #allergy #venom #immunotherapy
A quick temporary fix comes in the form of some leftover damp proof membrane (DPM) from a building project. Wrapped around the hive, it prevents the woodpecker from gaining purchase on the sides, so it no longer attacks them.
We visited our woodland apiary this week to check on fondant levels etc and discovered a couple of hives had been attacked by a woodpecker! Some serious weaponry on those guys! Green woodpeckers normally eat ants but when the ground is frozen will attempt to find bee nests in trees (or man-made ones!), quickly knock holes in them and eat the bees and honey inside. Without a fix, surviving bees can easily freeze to death as the colony can no longer regulate hive temperature. #bees #woodpecker