Allotments 4 All

Thanks for advice triffid, I had a look at the site - really interesting though not as lively boards as here.  I hadn't realised you can take exams in bee keeping - must be even more complicated than I had thought though it looks fascinating - maybe best left till retirement but I just love the idea of all that honey.

Have just read about your swarming adventures, Robert. You have three hives, do you have a spare unit? I had three WBC's but only ran two normally; the third was invariably, because of limited storage, left out near the others, empty of frames etc and after the first time that a swarm entered that hive on leaving one of the others I always, when the weather warmed, up left the spare open. Several times it saved me the bother of collecting a swarm. I  usually tride reuniting the stocks and always did if there were queen cells in the old hive.  On balance though Ive lost more swarms than saved, as I suppose you have despite always trying hard to avoid swarming in the first place;  swarming I decided long ago is an inexact science. Your 60lb was good. I often had one good, one bad yield and could rarely pin it down to a certain cause. In latter years the good yields were nearly all down to rape which did not please me much as the honey had that heavy scent which I did not like. Still sold well though.

I've got one spare set up, and I could cobble another together fairly easily. I did once have a swarm move in; it was an impressive sight.