Hi Paul, you have every right to be worried, I have never heard of SHB being killed by beetles apart from Jeff’s experience with them being propolised in the corners. I reckon if Jeff could isolate those genetics in his queens and breed from those, we might have something there.
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At the treatment-free beekeeping conference I went to not long ago several other people were talking about using coreflute as a place for the bees to herd the beetles where they would them propolize them in so it must be fairly common genetics
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Genocide? Fratricide? Cannibalism?? 
OK, maybe SHB being killed by bees? I think you can see them being chased on several videos that I have seen. I don’t think I have seen a bee vs beetle “snuff” video, so I think I see your point.
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Thanks Dawn. First time using the hive tool so wasn’t sure what I was doing. Am sure I will get more proficient at it. I have been observing them on and off today and have noticed a lot of different coloured pollen coming in. Pale yellow through to bright orange so they are obviously heading off in all directions.
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Some areas of the UK has had flooding this winter…horrific. As you probably noticed…we live on top of a hill. We have had so much cold rain…even our land has some standing water.
The winter has been mild in temperature so in some parts a lot of the spring flowers have already been out…but the bees haven’t always been able to get to them…cold winds and rain!
Some improvement recently…the bees are coming out of their hives…yesterday in my Bee Yard…you could hear them before you got there.
It was really kind of you to share your first inspection…I don’t think I would have been that brave.
We did chuckle at your wife’s comment of a bee up your shirt…we thought it would be a lot worse if you had got a bee up your knickers! Ha ha.
Schnucki…I think there are levels of envy!..when are you hoping to get bees?
What part of the U.K. are you in HHH. I have mate who has a farm in East Sussex.
I am in South Wales. The opposite side of the country…not far in miles but takes a long time to travel it.
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I’m in New South Wales, the opposite side of the country still patiently waiting for my complete system to arrive. Have out winter to get it orgainised and then come Sept, can’t wait to get some bees
Hi Paul, well done, I’m glad the spacers worked for the trip down. The addition of the nails tightened everything up.
I have a tip for you. If you take the outside frame out first & leave it out. You can easily remove the other frames with less risk of killing bees or the queen.
The bees can’t kill the SHB, they just coral them into hiding places, then propolize them in. The trick is to have a good worker population in relation to the frames you have in the hive that contain brood or pollen. That is: any frames with brood or pollen should have a really good covering of workers on them. Think of brood & pollen as a banquet laid out that needs to be protected by security guards. Think of the workers as security guards.
That’s a simple illustration based on an experience we had in the U.S. On a bus tour we were booked into a hotel. In the foyer/lobby was a banquet laid out for a function that was happening shortly after we arrived, the people hadn’t arrived at that stage. In our bus was a lot of Italian women who proceeded to fill their handbags & pockets with food. It was mainly finger food. We tried to stop them with no luck. What that banquet was short of was security guards to stop those ladies from stealing the food.
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So lots of time to learn about the basics of beekeeping. You can hook up with other beekeepers in your area and get hands on experience as well as reading books. Be cautious in regard to the Internet as some manipulations may not work in your area with your bees. Spend time with a commercial operation too if you can. They work their bees a little differently but the basics are the same. Be ready to become fascinated as you will find beekeeping will take over your life…you start with one colony and before you know it you have half a dozen! What sort of weather do you get in NSW? Hope it isn’t the same as old South Wales…ha ha.
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Hey Rocko, that’s a beautiful looking queen, if I do say so myself.
Yes mate well done. I thought you might like that.
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I got in to native bees last Dec and they are facinating and all but not much hands on and I wanted to sink my teeth in to it more so that’s how I ended up here and now just waiting out my time for next spring to come along. Attached is a photo of my modified native bee hive.
I know what you mean about the bee addiction thing, no need to take illicit drugs, I’m always on a ‘natural high’. My wife often says to me that she wished that she was a bee, maybe I should buy her a onesee bee suit for her birthday:smile:
The weather in NSW is very mild although we do get some stinking hot days in summer over 40 degrees C but not often. I reside in the Blue Mtns just west of Sydney. There is an American Meteorology website that has done a world wide study and came to the conclussion that our suburb is #1 in the World and I can’t argue with that. The bees will love it when they arrive. My home made hive sign will welcome them home each nite. I figure, happy bees = happy honey and more of it. 
Your “onesie” concept had me thinking of this:
THAT’S IT. Just what I’m looking for. Thanks heaps Dawn. I’m on the case. Just hope that they ship to Oz.
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Hi Max, well done on your native beehive:) I’m with you on the natural high vs drugs. I’ve already had my early morning fix. We had some heavy rain during the night so the rainbow lorikeets were out the back keen for a feed. It was good to give them some honey/water & watch them go for it & observe their antics:).
It was nothing like this this morning, but towards the end of the video you see some funny antics between the rainbow lorikeets & the blue faced honey eaters.
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PS, I DID fix that rotten post:)
Ha ha…bet your wife will love a bee suit…
Where you live sounds idyllic…sigh…
Here’s hoping for a good summer!
Me too hoping you all have a good summer over there cause I’ll be touring Germany and Scotland in June/July