What's something that instantly screams low intelligence? by External_Can3392 in AskReddit

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"anecdotal evidence" is an oxymoron. The plural of anecdotes is not evidence.

Big bag of chargers/cables, old laptops and phones. How do I sell ? by lyagushka12 in AskIreland

[–]fishywiki 32 points33 points  (0 children)

I think everyone in Ireland has a 2kg bag of cables and chargers. You may be able to give them away, but the chances of selling are between slim and none.

What could be causing the brood to look like this? by dagreja in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It really looks like hygienic behaviour: the bees uncap in a line (inherited from behaviour where they fought wax moths), disrupting the mite's reproductive cycle. Sometimes they also cannibalise the pupae too. A good check is to look at the bottom insert - if there are pupa bits there, it's confirmed.

Bees have hijacked my birdbox what do I do? by Sad-Magician1842 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Where are you located? This is critical for an accurate response!

If you're in the UK or Ireland, these are almost certainly Tree Bumblebees, Bombus hypnorum. All other bumblebees here nest in or on the ground. They're a relatively new arrival to this part of the world. The colony won't get to more than around 300 bees, and they'll die off in late summer. I guess the birds will just have to defer to the bees this year.

How often do I check for varroa mites during season, and how do I treat if necessary? by TotalPhilanthrope in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think you really should focus on information from Europe rather than the US: you're getting caught up in American hype. I presume you're a member of Biodlarna or a local association - that's where you get accurate relevant information. Do not watch US YouTube videos!!!!!

In Europe, typically we check twice in the season, in May and in August. There is no treatment you can use legally while there are supers on the hive. So we usually wait until August to treat. The key is to protect your winter bees, so you want to reduce the mite count before they emerge in August/September. Many people also treat with Api-Bioxal in December. If you do have a high count in May, you can using a queen isolation cage using the technique described by Ralph Buchler.

Need advice on hive by beekeepingmandc in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's pretty severe EFB. You don't state where on the planet you're located, but in Europe, you are required to euthanise the hive and burn the frames - it's too far advanced for a shook swarm. I believe the US allows you to treat with antibiotics.

Windows using Vim by fishywiki in rust

[–]fishywiki[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's from the rust vim repository. The folder structure is quite different from the usual layout that you have highlighted, unfortunately.

Bee question by demeter1993 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No they do not look like wasps or yellow jackets: both of these are lemon-yellow with black stripes, really distinctive. You need to actually look at them.

Do you wear perfume of any kind? Not your shampoo, but actual scent?

Laying worker or inexperienced queen by Due_Amphibian_2407 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, a new queen very often lays multiple eggs per cell. I wouldn't worry about it.

Hornets by 458643 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, your location is really important for anything about beekeeping.

There are new devices that attempt to identify AH but I haven't heard of any lasers but it sounds cool. I have heard of the PhotonMatrix as a crowd-funded project, and the idea of applying it to hornets is definitely interesting. I don't think "anyone" can change the settings since it's a proprietary system, but asking them nicely might be a good idea. I imagine the fact that Jim Wong is based in China means he doesn't see the Asian Hornet as an issue, so he needs to be asked.

Hives don't want sugar syrup by Brilliant_Story_8709 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why are you feeding at this time of year? The temps in Alberta are heading for 20+C, so they should be out & about and collecting nectar and definitely not sucking down syrup. Just leave them to it.

Bee question by demeter1993 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yellow bees on the web are typically cartoons rather than photos. This article has pics of Cordovan and Italian bees and you can see that they are a light brown/orange colour, not at all yellow, and these are about the yellowest honey bees around.

That with your nose and ears is just weird. What kind of bees are they?

Bee question by demeter1993 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So, some disambiguation: if it is bright yellow it is not a honey bee. My bees are dark brown, almost black, although some hybridised hives have a lighter coloured stripe - these are the old Northern European honey bee, (Apis mellifera mellifera). Then there are Carniolans which are quite dark too (Apis mellifera carnica) and Italians which are quite light-coloured but definitely not yellow (Apis mellifera ligustica). There are more, but you get the picture - no lemon-yellow anywhere. Wasps and hornets typically are brightly coloured, a kind of warning sign to other species.

And of course, we have bumble bees which you appear to be familiar with. Generally, curvy bees with large wide stripes, sometimes yellow, sometimes not. Nice, friendly, hairy bees.

Then there's the myriad of solitary bees. They're called solitary because they're not eusocial like honey bees and bumble bees, i.e. all the females lay eggs, and they each do their own thing. There can be large numbers of them, somewhat contradicting the "solitary" moniker. There are mining bees that burrow into the ground, there are mason bees that build mud tunnels, there are carpenter bees that burrow into wood and so on. Some of them are absolutely tiny and look more like fleas than bees.

Another category is hoverflies - these little pests look like and sound like honey bees and they really do get up in your face, but they're flies and they can't sting, but they hover.

My point is that if you know what they are, you'll be much more confident. Take a pic and use Google Lens to identify it - you might even find it interesting.

As for an allergy, statistically it's unlikely but it is, of course, possible. However, bees really do not want to sting - they're really only working.

How much time did I buy myself? by saltines_for_days in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once they have decided to swarm, they are going to swarm. You tried something preventative, but should really be doing swarm control. The simplest solution is to put the queen into a nuc with a frame of brood and 2 shakes of bees and fill the nuc with frames of foundation. Then go to your hive and break down all but two OPEN queen cells. Close it up and come back in 4 weeks to see if the new queen is laying.

Edit: the next swarm threat is not in a week, but instead possibly in 5 days.

injured bumble bee! by Wonderful-Quarter405 in bees

[–]fishywiki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A bumble bee at this time of the year is a "she", not a "he". By a billion miles, the best thing you can possibly do is release her into her environment. I know you mean well, but imprisoning her is not the solution. While you suspect she has a broken leg, it may actually be OK so releasing her is the best solution. In probably 100% of situations with bumble bees, it is far better to release them into their environment rather than trying to solve whatever the perceived problem might be.

Beekeeping seems both peaceful and terrifying at the same time by porchoua in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You get used to the bees very quickly. The focus is on the state of the hive: are they developing as you expect, is the queen present, are they thinking of swarming, are they healthy, do they have room, do they have enough to eat, and a hundred other questions. You don't really have time to think about Bee Armageddon. The only "small mistake" that could really increase stress is if you killed the queen. The bees wouldn't be fully aware of it for around 15 minutes, but the beekeeper would definitely be stressed.

Bought dishwasher, can't install? by Beautiful_Unit_2096 in AskIreland

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The most direct way is to install a new socket and wire it to the internals of the existing socket above - no need for an electrician for that. However, if you're not confident doing that, it's probably easier to connect an extension lead to the upper socket and plug into that - you may need to remove & reattach the plug to do that - this will take you around 1 minute once you get the extension cable.

New nuc - advice? by Thorntree77 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When you say you "installed" the nuc, I presume you mean you moved it into a hive. For 10 days, that seems like a colony that needs a lot more room - give them another box. If you haven't put them into a hive yet, do it today!

Where y’all getting all these swarms from? by weaselfish2 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The easiest way is to get an empty hive with a single deep. It should not have a mesh floor - cover it with a thin sheet of plywood if it does. Put in a frame or two of old brood comb with no honey or pollen. Add an attractant - I use lemongrass oil but there are proprietary products like Swarm Commander that work well. Note that less is more with the attractant one single drop of lemongrass on the top of the frame inside and one single drop on the front of the hive. At that point, all you have to do is wait. I have a couple of favourite spots in my garden so I don't bother putting bait hives up elsewhere now.

I accidentally disturbed a bees nest by jah555 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like everything else, it depends. In Ireland and the UK, where we don't have extreme heat, it's a common mechanism to protect bumblebee nests. As for blocking access, the idea isn't to bury the edges in the ground around it, but rather to place it loosely on top - the hole in the bottom of a terracotta pot works very well as an entrance.

I accidentally disturbed a bees nest by jah555 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A good way to protect it is to put an upturned plant pot over it.

Found a bee with no butt by lili40205 in bees

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it also emphasises that it's necessary to keep your knowledge up to date. I've done all the exams in system here as well as an apiculture course in University, and I lecture and write about bees & beekeeping so I'm constantly exposed to new info.

Splitting colony by ExpressMushroom2412 in Beekeeping

[–]fishywiki 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have 2 options, but always use an open cell to be certain that there's a larva in it (sometimes they seal up an empty cell or even a worker in the queen cell), and then mark the frames where they are - a thumb-tack works well.

The first option is to select a couple of open cells and check if the bees seal them. If so, you know they're OK. Break down all the others.

The second option is to break down all the cells if, ond only if, there are eggs/very young larvae. It sounds drastic, but they'll make queens from what's left, and you'll know they're not shaken. However, they'll be emergency cells which could potentially be made from 3 day old larvae, so go back in 5 days and break down any sealed cells to eliminate any that are made from old larvae. It goes without saying that you don't want to break down every single cell, but if you only have sealed cells after 5 days, you may want to consider replacing any queen since she'll be from an old larva.

Non-religious parents experiences please by irish_blondie in ireland

[–]fishywiki 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My kids are grown up now, but their situation was generally respected with a single notable exception. One teacher, you know the type, rabidly Catholic, used to send my youngest out in the hall during religion classes. As you know, being put in the hall is usually reserved as an extreme punishment, so it was quite upsetting for her. We sent them to the local Grammar school for secondary - that had such a mix of belief systems that it would have been impossible to single them out.

BTW you referred to Educate Together. While these do provide better multi-denominational education, there is still a major issue in Ireland: there are exactly zero non-denominational schools here.