tudor

yes digitalis poisoned one toddler here who had to be admitted - a flower was given to him by his strange brother ! We removed all foxgloves, and now they are returning after 15 years. Lovely in the garden again, but new crop of grand kids is starting ...

Lily of the Valley is very poisonous and causes cardiac problems,

Sounds more a concern than a risk thanks again

Thanks. It appears that they are very toxic ?

Hi, Can someone please identify this shrub found in CHC a couple of weeks ago ? Plantsnap called it Rowan wilsoniana, but that is a tree. Thanks, Tudor.

just stick with Hoffmans, Manleys defeat the principle of consistency across boxes and just cause annoyance later on

Back to basics. The first step is to prevent the hive entering the "We are going to swarm" mode Then an intervention such as an Artificial Swarm if they are in swarming mode. Or they will swarm. Look up how to do it my "Easy Bee Keeping for Hobbyists in NZ".

It really depends on the point of view. I have always been a hobby BK and used one size (3/4), don't use queen excluder, and freely use boxes anywhere which have had brood. Honey has lots of pollen in it, and is full of flavour, and lots of bits of wax especially if it contains kanuka - it needs "tickling" to get the honey out of the comb. And, obviously, no active brood in the cells when considered for extraction. It is strained and not filtered, and in high demand with people who like really tasty honey. But only a couple of hundred kg's per year, completely different view point!

good catch, @Otto they just wanted a home !

Harsh ? That's the Socratic teaching method I have used for many years to help produce effective doctors. "The oldest, and still the most powerful, teaching tactic for fostering critical thinking is Socratic teaching. In Socratic teaching we focus on giving students questions, not answers. We model an inquiring, probing mind by continually probing into the subject with questions. Fortunately, the abilities we gain by focusing on the elements of reasoning in a disciplined and self-assessing way, and the logical relationships that result from such disciplined thought, prepare us for Socratic questioning." And producing good, inquiring bee keepers as well.

come on, @Wildflower you can do your research about the life cycle of wax moth, and then ask questions here which arise from your basic knowledge. 😀

Ask Auntie Google 😀

Yes - honey does give a significant benefit, but there is no proof that manuka honey is any better than another honey. More work needed.

The acid is injected into the wall of the stomach, then it's soaked in saline and the abdomen closed up. The "agents" are then introduced down the throat by gavage which is "the administration of food or drugs by force, especially to an animal, typically through a tube leading down the throat to the stomach" (Wikipedia).

"Anyone making a purchase ... the product they think/believe they are buying" is what it is all about. Misinformation about the benefits has been very successfully used, and reminds me about the measles epidemic which is with us now, partly due to misinformation about the dangers of immunization with MMR. The link to autism has been shown to be fraudulent and the doctor involved struck off, but it is still seen as a risk and contributes to reduction of "herd immunity". So with the benefits of oral manuka honey, consumers have been told so often about how good it is for health - it is not, but it's ridiculously good for the folding notes of people along the chain from the manuka trees to the shelf. Journalistic beat ups sometimes reveal the truth.