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It is that time of year again and yesterday my wife and I put up the Christmas Tree and decorations what a fabulous time of year. We have just been to Winter Wonderland and seen beekeeping stalls over there and so that has been my inspiration! It again got me thinking about what gifts you could buy a Beekeeper. Having looked around there seems so many different ideas that I felt I had to write a small blog about it. Therefore here are my ideas for beekeeping gifts this Christmas: Read the rest of this entry »

I often say that it would take a lot to suggest to anyone that I am the fountain of all knowledge when it comes to beekeeping but I say that I am the World’s leading expert at being a beginner. Therefore I thought I would write a small piece for all your potential beekeepers out there who maybe considering starting to keep bees next year.

What exactly do you need to start keeping bees? There is quite a lot of discrepancy when you read all the books on starting to keep bees and what equipment you need but, in reality, there is a basic set up and then there is a slightly more comprehensive suggestion. Let me start with the basic set up. Read the rest of this entry »

I was very fortunate this week to be a part of a wonderful event at The Lancaster Hotel in London; The London Honey

The London Honey Show at the Lancaster Hotel

Show. Famed for being the first hotel in London, if not the UK for keeping bees on the roof this seemed a very apt location and WOW, what a success.

The room from start to finish was filled with people and Jo and her team got it spot on with a healthy mix of exhibitors and excellent speakers - though sadly I missed every single one of them and so am going on 3rd party reviews all of which were excellent. Of particular note was that of Tim Baker, a Head Master who has encouraged his school to take up beekeeping with superb results; more on that later. Read the rest of this entry »

There seems to be a move amongst blogs that have been going for a while to sometimes reflect on their own articles from time to time and this is what I aim to do here. It is accepted to talk about 7 different blog articles which include: The most popular post, the most helpful post, the post that surprised you the most amongst others.

I hope this review is interesting for you as it has been great to relive some of my old posts: Read the rest of this entry »

Since the start of this blog I have always saught to question every element of beekeeping. It does seem that there are plenty of ways to do the same

Which Beehive should I pick?

job and equally there are many opinions about which way is the right way. This is part of the reason that, when I started beekeeping I decided to trial different beehives.

For example read my comparison between a National Beehive and an Omlet Beehaus. Well I have decided to expand my apairy and, in doing so, am going to expand my variations of hives. I have floated the idea around several beekeepers to rather surprising reactions generally looking at me rather strangely as if to say “are you alright?” or “is one type of hive not enough?”

But why are there so many types of beehive? Read the rest of this entry »

I did a check on the bees recently and discovered a pretty heavy infestation of wax moth. I knew there was some present but due to the bad weather I hadn’t been able to inspect the hives for a while. The weaker colony is riddled with it (if conditions are right and warm, eggs of the wax moth can hatch after just 5 days) which is no surprise because wax moth really only affects weaker colonies. Stronger ones can deal with it quite well.

So how can you deal with it? There are two methods of control; one natural and one chemical which I hope to cover here in this blog post. Read the rest of this entry »

I hope this small video helps you in working out how to perform an artificial swarm. Audrey at my local beekeeping association demonstrated it to me and it all made sense with this marvellous model which she very kindly let me borrow. See what you think.

Perhaps the concert wasn’t a great idea. Perhaps the copious amounts of the new beer from Fullers (Honey Dew; I felt it was rather apt when I should have been revising to have a few more than usual to see if it would help) and perhaps the 2am finish was also not the best preparation for my first beekeeping exam.

Waking up with a foggy head I had to launch straight into my 2 year old’s football session followed by lunch at his favourite cafe feeding him and my youngest. To that point I still hadn’t managed to do any preparation for the Beekeeping exam to be taken at 2.30pm. I was beginning to get a little bit concerned especially considering the comments from the last blog about advice on taking your beekeeping exams. Read the rest of this entry »

I will admit to being slightly sceptical at the advice.

Just wait another week, queens often come off lay at this time of the year. You wait and see, she will be there somewhere

There I was, not really having sleepless nights, but I will admit to being slightly concerned, about the fact I simply couldn’t find my queen in either hive. Not just that but I also couldn’t see any eggs or larvae. See my post about a beehive with no queen. But it was more than that with the Omlet hive (where I have now spotted the queen); it is a completely different queen than the one I had before – and the haven’t swarmed. Could it have been a supercedure at this time of year? (for other newbies, in the latter part of the year hives can replace queens they are not entirely happy with by supercedure and not swarm)

There I was, filming the last days filming with the film crew, in search of a queen and she suddenly appeared in the Omlet. Not only that but she didn’t have a blue spot on her back.

I have offered two possible answers and so I am interested in which one you think it may be – and please offer any other alternatives that I have no doubt not thought of.

Read the rest of this entry »

[google1] I read this fantastic guest blog by Amy Leigh, a newbie beekeeper from San Diego, and felt I needed to share it with everyone. Amy’s blog can be found on her Benefits of Honey blog

We’ve come up with a list of 15 beekeeping innovations throughout history that has developed the industry to what it is today.

Let us know what you think and please feel free to add some more onto the bottom of the list………..

Read the rest of this entry »