3479 Api Culture

[QUOTE=sdoj]Added to the list of things that family and friends ask me to buy in Italy and bring back to England with jolly old Ryanair is bee-keeping equipment - it costs much less in Italy and now I have a small swarm of apiculturists who want clobber.

However, it was easy to find when we lived in the mountains but I have not been so lucky around the Prato/Florence area. Can anyone help? The latest order is for gloves - 5 pairs![/QUOTE]

Sdoj, I got very excited seeing your post Api Culture. I had visions of a gang of us 'phut, phutting' along in formation on Sunday mornings, you at the front in your custom made jobbie of course, whilst behind an irate queue of mercedes and BM's grew longer and longer, hooting their horns and hollaring in rage :D

So enthusiastic was I that I had even thought of starting the first 'Puglian Chapter' ... with crossed olive branches over a 'Beware Toxic Waste' logo on the back of our leather jackets.

Then I realised you were talking about bee keeping .... awwww :(

Aww Sue, Dave and I got our leathers on all ready for the off as well! :D Sounds a cool chapter to me, scare the hell outa everyone, eh? :cool:

:) Bring your own swarm.

[QUOTE=sdoj]:) Bring your own swarm.[/QUOTE]

Talking about swarms. Once nearly bought a house off a bloke that had 6 hives of bees in his garden. He assured me that he'd be taking the bees with him. I didn't buy it, the house that is ;) because, after all, what's to stop them finding their way back home?

I mean, cats and dogs do it don't they? Find there way back home that is. What's to stop a swarm of bees deciding that they don't like their new garden ... perhaps not enough lupins or marigolds, whatever. That the clover and sunflowers in the previous garden were far superior ... so that's it 'matey' ... we're off.

Imagine that lot turning up unexpectedly :eek:

Summer is coming and the bees are getting busier, so if you are prone to analphylactic shock which is a sudden, severe reaction characterized by hypotension and breathing difficulties, caused by exposure to a foreign substance, such as a minute drop of bee venom, stock up on adrenaline, as the reaction can be fatal!

Thankfully, bees for the most part, are generally happy little souls and won't sting if you don't hassle them, in fact, they will only sting as a last resort, unlike vespas who will sting again and again for no reason.

I like the odd bee or two in the garden and leave them alone, probably as the honey sometimes produced can be delightful.