Izzy, I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying this thread. I know nothing of bees and beekeeping, and am finding this thread utterly fascinating.
Thanks for opening up a whole new world!
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Yo tambien, Izzyā¦I know a little about bees, but this has been very interesting. The other day in my garden I saw a hornet the size of a B52! We have many native bees that nest in the ground, and many different varieties of bumblebees, which I love. Right now they are loving the swath of lavender in front of the terrace.
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please, please, please, next time check the colour of the legsā¦ if the legs are YELLOW, please report the viewing here >>>> Plateforme suisse dāannonce pour le frelon asiatique ā Signalisation dāobservations du frelon asiatique en Suisse
it is very important! they make nests of thoursands of them, which can measure up to 1.5 m (the nest), yes, 1.5 m!!! they can also be dangerous for adults (and even more for children). If you report it, the local veterinarian authorities will use the information to try to triangulate the presence of the nest, and destroy it.
If the legs are red, brown, or black, these are the different local species of wasps and/or hornets, which are protected (and are not a problem for bees).
Thanks on behalf of all the bees! 
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It had dark legsāI know a killer when I see him!
P.S.: I live in western ATāI need to investigate what AT is doing about preventing Asian hornets from taking root here!
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Izzy, if you for one moment think that I going to ask a hornet to show me its legsā¦!
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Well, it is that time of the year againā¦ honey harvest! Happy to report that the bees have behaved and, apart from the unavoidable stings, they have produced a very fine forest honey. And to celebrate it, I created even a post in my newsletter, considering @bossybaby preferred channel " things that you cook & bake". It readsā¦ We know a lot about the usage of Honey in Rome, through poets, philosophers, writers and doctors of those ancient times. Honey was used as a medicine, as a daily cooking ingredient, and as a summer drink. Mead (fermented honey) was not known in ancient Rome, until they began conquering lands to the North, but still, they did drink a lot of honey. Honey water was a common drink meant to feel refreshing, and was a recommended ātravelersā drinkā ('Conditum Melizonium Viatorium '); it contained just honey, water, and pepper. Interesting! Would you give it a try? Let us know! And, if you feel more adventurous, they had a 'Conditum Paradoxum ', which was the original version of our āsummer wineā (tinto de verano) -and actually a better one! You can read the full recipe here ā honey, wine, pepper, laurel, saffron, date stones and mastic resinā¦ invigorating!
p.s. I must admit I bought mastic resin during one of my trips to Greeceā¦just because I saw it in the supermarket, and I didnāt even know what it was (I read some Greek, and couldnāt make sense of itā¦because I had never seen it in any recipe! Now at least, I know I can make Conditum Pardoxum. Whoād say!
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I remember running out of alcohol in a party and someone from Bretagne saved the night with honey-wine. I would not do it again, but considering the circumstancesā¦it was a good drink
Conditum Melizoniumā Viatorium sounds better than mulled wine. Iāll make an experiment when colder days arrive.
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Hotel Baur au Lac in ZĆ¼rich sent itās bees on āholidayā in the ZH Weinland - to protect them from noise and vibration from Street Parade:
(Izzy, Iād be interested to hear your take on beekeeping in citiesā¦ )
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I walked past the fellas loading the bee hives into their van on Friday morning and didnāt give it a second thought - I was pre-caffeinated at that point. So interesting to hear the back story.
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it made me laugh! Thatās interesting, the article (in German) is actually misleading! it talks about ābeesā, but the photos shown are not of honeybees, but of wild-bees. Yet, the actual colonies are of honey bees (which I imagine they are not, as shown on the photo, in the hotel garden, as it would be a little bit of a nuisance to the hotel guest (or dinners).
@ShirleyNot I guess you decafeinated stroll was veeeery early, because bees wake up with sunriseā¦(so, about 6.30 a.m), so you want to transport them before.
It makes sense to move them, yet, not so much for the bees ā they can handle 1 day of noise and vibration, without problem - they just get a little bit restless and more aggressive, but they learn to live with it. my take is that the hotel moves them also to avoid problems with the hotel guests, as the people around would be a little bit more annoyedā¦because of the bee stings, of course!. So the hotel minimized the problemā¦for the humans 
How do I know they handle noise and vibration? countless beehives installed the whole year at airports (also in Zurich), which actually control the level of air pollution (trapped in the honey!).
Yet, @Meloncollie your question was about my opinion of beekeeping in cities. I have a very strong opinion, and it aligns with that of Agroscopeā¦ there is a heavy over-population of honey beehives in cities, specifically in Zurich. This has a detrimental effect in the health of the bees ā and other species also. I wrote a small article about it ā here is the summary, and the link to the original study:
Not good news for urban Swiss bees, I fear. The rapid rise in urban apiaries is exceeding the amount of greenery available to feed both honey bees and other pollinators, according to a study from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research .
The study, called āChallenging the sustainability of urban beekeeping using evidence from Swiss citiesā found that the number of beehives across 14 Swiss cities has more than tripled in recent years, from 3,139 in 2012 to 9,370 in 2018. By 2018, these cities (among which is ZĆ¼rich ), were home to an average of 10 beehives /sq km of urban green space, despite the fact that this area only provides enough resources to sustain 7 hives. This is due to the increase in the number of āurban / hobbyā beekeepers, and the reduce of the urban green space areas.
"We found ā¦ ( ) ā¦ that available resources are insufficient to maintain present densities of beehives, which currently are unsustainable , " the researchers explained.
This is terrible news, and could explain the high mortality in winter of bee stocks held by urban beekeepers. Our bee-cottage is almost 100 years old, when Witikon was only crop fields, forest (and a cemetery). Unfortunately, we are seeing - particularly in the last 5 years- a continuous reduction of the green areas around our beecottage, its transformation into urban building zones, and the proliferation of more and more hives on the roofs of the buildingsā¦ maybe time to move our beesā house to a more remote locationā¦
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Apiary, I learned a new word today.
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Aviary, apiaryā¦the birds and the bees.
Mods! Alert 
This thread has just become X rated!
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This was about 7.50am. Maybe they were teenage bees..?
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Thanks, Izzy - a very interesting read!
Iāve wondered how urban beekeeping - a project often entered into because it fits in with an image a company wants to project - actually helps or harms bee populations.
Really appreciate your post.
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The murderous hornets are back. My panicle hydrangea is covered with buzzing bees. Along comes a hornet, who ranges around the bush looking for a victim. Once found, it wrestles the bee to the ground, beheads it, and kidnaps the body back to the hive. Iām always too late to render the coup de grace, and Iām not sure that my annoyance is well placed.
Damn this stuff is fascinating!
A bee swarm splitting in two and the ānewā one moving to a new home
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I cannot compete with David Attenborough Greatly explained (we know now that the scouts are sent earlier, so by the time the swarm leaves the hive, they know where they are going).
Bees are amazing!
that murderous hornet could be an invasive species (if is the Asiatic hornet.)ā¦ or a protected one (the European one). can you check the colour of the abdomen of the hornet? if it is completely black, with a touch of yellow, it could be the invasive species, and it is worth reporting it to the authorities . It is unfortunately a real danger, not just to isolated bees, but to full colonies.
Alarm wegen Asiatischer Hornisse beim Circle am Flughafen ZĆ¼rich | Tages-Anzeiger
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