Allotments 4 All

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7F5u7Uqt1U

Fascinating, though it's a pity part 2 breaks off so suddenly. They used to make hives out of fruit boxes, which explains the thin wood. I don't think I'd want to mess about with WBC hives and all the outer lifts, and I bet they chewed the cloth quilts away and made a right mess. I like the way the guy doesn't use a veil; they must have been fussier about temper back then. I don't tolerate stingy bees myself, but there are too many of them about.

I'm just reading an old copy of 'Beekeepers' Quarterly', and one article mentions the 'French Blacks' (bees not people) which were imported as packages before the war. I've seen these mentioned by several writers, and they've always commented on their notorious bad temper. that package was labelled in French and English, so I wonder whether those were a sample. Bad tempered they weren't, but maybe their behaviour would change once they developed a broodnest.

i was surprised by the apparent good temper of the bees, and also by the chap wearing plus-fours whilst bee-keeping!!
;D ;D

They must have been pretty hot on selection. I use an old-fashioned type veil and it isn't particularly beeproof. My rule is that if a bee gets inside and stings (mostly they just try to escape) then I requeen that hive. I do get nasty colonies occasionally, but never from my own strain!

I,ve just watched part one. Robert said it,s facinating and he wasn,t wrong!
It,s something I,ve thought about doing but with working away am not currently able to. The bees would have to be pretty hardy to live up here with the weather we,ve had recently.

All five parts are interesting. The link is being put in to our newsletter.
Did you notice that they used to use lots of quilts and the crown board was only ever used as a clearer board. When I started beekeeping a lot of the older beekeepers were using quilts. I started off with quilts and then switched. They must have had some good stocks on the heather if it took three people to lift the hives. I wish I could have obtained sections filled corner to corner.

Thanks for that link i've just spent and enjoyable half hour watching them all :)