Bees use polyurethane and polyethylene polymers as nest materials.

Article taken directly from Science Daily  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140211103340.htm I thought it was interesting.

A new study by a University of Guelph graduate and a University of Guelph scientist reveals that some bees use bits of plastic bags and plastic building materials to construct their nests. The research was published recently in the journal Ecosphere.

It's an important discovery because it shows bees' resourcefulness and flexibility in adapting to a human-dominated world, says lead author Scott MacIvor, a doctoral student at York University and a 2008 University of Guelph graduate.

Fruity Beef Meatballs with Curried Banana Sauce

This recipe works so brilliantly that I thought I'd share it. It is good as a meal on its' own, or can be served alongside a variety of other curries. It will work if you use only the pre-prepared curry powder, but the extra spices give a richer flavour.

serves 2 - 4 people

You will need:
Shallow ovenproof dish
frying pan
food processor (not essential, but it's the easiest way to prepare the date, apple and onion mixture)

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 2 medium onions
• 2 apples
• 8 pitted dates
• about 500g beef mince
• about 1 tbsp dried breadcrumbs
• salt
• ground mixed pepper

Back to Jumbos

Earlier in the year I decided to house a swarm in two shallow super boxes (MD shallows/Langstroth mediums) rather than the Jumbo Langstroths (same depth as Dadant, but only 10 frames) I usually use. I mentioned it in my post "A swarm in May".

I reasoned that plenty of people keep their bees in double brood and, although these boxes are shallow, two of them were about the same as Tom Seeley's recommended 40 litres for a swarm, so should have been fine. If it worked well with this one colony then I would be able to transfer all my colonies to these boxes, making everything cross-compatible - no more messing about with two sizes of box and two sizes of frame.

I was initially fairly enthusiastic, it all seemed to go very well. The bees were fine, the queen was laying well. They were warm and dry, and should have had enough space to do whatever they wanted. Or did they?

Caramelised pineapple dessert

A delicious, and very quick and easy, dessert recipe using fresh pineapple and honey which can be used as a topping for meringue baskets, a basis for tart tatin or in a tasty trifle.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pineapple, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 -> 3 tablespoons good honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon (small pinch) of either five spice powder or ground star anise

Combining colonies

On last inspection I realised that one of my colonies wasn't going anywhere useful. This is the one that had a drone laying queen, and had made both what appeared to be a queen cell and an elongated 'drone queen' cell. I couldn't see any eggs or larvae, so there was no active queen and, fortunately, no laying workers either. A test frame from another colony had shown they were eager to produce a new queen - but it's getting a bit late in the late in the year, and it would be mid-September before the colony had its' own foragers.

The brood box was also top-heavy with drones which were clambering over each other on all surfaces, so much so that I suspected that this hive was attracting all local drones that had been evicted from their home colonies. (I've read that this can happen, but have never before seen evidence for myself.)

There were three things I could do:

Blackcurrant and Honey Jam

I tasted some Blackcurrant and Honey Jam, having ambushed a Class winner after a recent Honey Show. It had the usual slightly tart flavour of blackcurrants with an added, but quite subtle, aftertaste of good quality, strong, honey. It was absolutely delicious.

As there was a decent crop of blackcurrants this year, more than needed to add flavour to basic apple pies, I decided to make some of this jam myself.

The recipe I used isn't quite the same as the one I was given, because when I checked online there were several versions, each with a different ration of fruit:sugar:water. I decided to keep to the ratios I've always used for blackcurrant jam.

Drone layers and queen cells

We all hope that a new queen will mate successfully, but it doesn't always work out that way. Bees do work to a timetable, once the colony has got going, but a new queen will sometimes bide her time before starting to lay. It might be nice to see if a new queen is laying, and to be able to see eggs, but a too early check can be disruptive for the colony - and there's always that risk of crushing the queen.

Two of my colonies should have had actively laying queens by, at the latest, 5th - 8th July. The latest time the first eggs would be capped would be 15th July, so there wasn't any real need to open up before then.When I inspected I was disappointed to find that both colonies had drone laying queens.

Nucleus headed by poorly mated queen
I wasn't really surprised that the little queen that was found in the bee shed hadn't mated well, but it was disappointing all the same.

This is what I saw:



The signs of a drone laying queen are clear -  there's a good laying pattern, but there are only sealed drone cells.