The winter we had has been a very mild one and, as a consequence, many colonies have come through with more bees than usual. Today I checked most of my hives with the intention of […]

Queen breeding and rearing are two areas that many members have shown a keen interest in and further to our talk earlier in the year from Kevin Thorn on the native bee reserve at Abberton […]

At the time of writing it is still raining and no sign yet of any prolonged dry spell. Talking with a farmer yesterday there is limited time now for fields to dry out to enable […]

We are approaching the danger months for our colonies. In my experience there aren’t many colony losses until February or March. The main reasons for colonies dying out are beekeeper error or the weather. As […]

Why ‘nucs’ are important in beekeeping There are many uses for nucs in several beekeeping management situations. Some examples of their use are to: overwinter spare queens and bees to make up for winter losses […]

Colonies are all ready for winter now with mouse guards, woodpecker netting and bricks on roofs. For my own peace of mind I like to visit apiaries occasionally during the winter to make sure nothing […]

Now we are into October the weather has turned more autumnal although the bees are working the ivy during sunny spells. In fact some hives are working as if there is summer flow so they […]

Our bees are now preparing for winter and it is time for us to make sure colonies are in a good condition to survive the winter. My hives were all treated for varroa during August […]

The bees in my garden have completely ignored the large patch of Snowdrops planted especially for them.  However, they have adored the pots used for growing tomatoes last year, with leftover but “spent” organic compost.  […]