Hi All
 
Peter Dalby gives good advice when he suggests working with an experienced
beekeeper. And thank you Peter, for the advice you gave me re combatting
ants in a hive. My thanks also to all BEE-L contributors for the advice and
assistance I have received since I joined the list.
 
I put myself on a 'course' working with experienced beekeepers this year.
(This is my second year with bees, and I felt a need of seeing how it is
done). It is an unbelievable experience working with somebody, who does
things in a way that appears to be different to what it says in the books. I
also saw how different beekeepers handled similar situations.
 
One of my teachers told me, that my trouble was, that the bees were not
reading the same books that I was reading!
 
But seriously, I learned more in three sessions with experienced beekeepers
than I would have learned by reading books for 10 times as long. I saw queen
marking carried out, I saw eggs for the first time, and I saw how these
experienced beekeepers handled swarm control.
 
In exchange for the teaching, I humped hives, supers etc. and took a few
stings as well. And of course we talked bees all day long. All in all, a
very fair trade, and I reckon that I profited handsomely from it.
 
 
Sincerely
 
Tom Barrett
49 South Park
Foxrock
Dublin 18
Ireland
 
e mail [log in to unmask]
Tel + 353 1 289 5269
Fax + 353 1 289 9940
 
Latitude  53 Degrees 16' North
Longitude  6 Degrees  9' West of Greenwich