When I started this blog it was all a bit of fun, I wanted to get one jar of honey in my first year but very quickly I became obsessed by the subject at hand and needed to know everything I could about it. Having a certain level of responsibility for many thousand bees meant that you felt accountable for them.

There are certain aspects of this hobby that I know find a little stressful. Despite all of my activities in the beekeeping world and all the books and exams I have taken, the bees will still do things that surprise me. I find it slightly stressful that I cannot understand what they are telling me. This is especially apparent with disease. Taking only visual cues is really tough and not knowing a definitive answer I find really difficult – this is especially apparent as beekeeping is now as much as managing disease as it the bees themselves.

There is another thing that I have found recently. We have come out of the warmest March in decades quickly followed by the wettest April on record. This has caused havoc in the hives – a very quick expansion in the brood as they revelled in the warmth and they have now been cooped up for well over 5 weeks as the rain keeps pouring. This means two things. Stores have been running low (resulting in many inspectors sending out warnings to make sure people feed the bees) and my prediction that there will be a big swarm season about to erupt when good weather returns.

Beekeeping is the most wonderful hobby to undertake but it does not come without its stressors (another one for me is the finger crossing throughout the winter as you are hoping the little ones are okay!). I suppose having this feeling is a good thing though as it means I care about them. This is one thing they certainly need at the moment….a bit of TLC.

Should you be interested you can now buy my book about my first year of beekeeping on Amazon – click here

Written by Laurie Krebs and Valeria Cis it is a wonderfully illustrated book which is 38 pages long and is the story of The Beeman, a grandfather, and his grandson while they check through the hives. Not only is it wonderfully illustrated but it is also very well informed and obviously written by a beekeeper.

It covers all aspects of a beekeeping year, a hive inspection, beekeeping equipment, honey extraction and then finishes off with Grandma making a wondeful honey muffins. Once the story is out of the way it then has a few pages of useful facts and information about beekeeping, bees and beehives which were very useful.

I would suggest any beekeeping parent would love this book and should put it on their young children’s bookshelf. You can buy it on Amazon here and it is priced approximately £5 for new or far cheaper for a used edition.

Read more Beekeeping Book Reviews

With two very young children I wanted to read this book to have some fun activities up my sleeve which involve the garden. As I have recently taught them about the colours bees like (see blog post here about How To Get Children Interested in Beekeeping) which went down really well this book has landed on my door step at the perfect time.

Firstly a little bit about the author, Dawn Isaac, whom I have corresponded with over Twitter many a time (@dawnisaac if you are interested). She is an award winning garden designer from Chelsea Flower Show fame and also writes about family gardening and design for the RHS and for the Guardian. What is really cool however, not that those accomplishments are not, is that she is all the horticultural consultant for Mr Bloom’s Nursery on Cbeebies!!! I never knew that previously but I personally think that is amazing as I love that show…….and so do the boys. Well done Dawn, fantastic.

Anyway, the book. It is beautifully put together and the first thing I felt was just how light and bright the front cover was. It instantly makes you want to open it and explore the inside. It is a hardback book and is 128 pages long with fabulous photos on every page. There are a total of 35 projects which are “For children to sow, grow and make” and they all look excellent.

With it being pitched at the children’s market it obviously has to capture their imagination as well and the little touches of detail littered across the pages suggest this won’t be a problem. I particularly like the use of plant labels as page numbers and the intricate drawings that pop up every so often with childlike writing to suggest a tip or suggestion.

The real test for me was showing the book to the boys and seeing what they thought of it. I sat down Sebastian, my eldest, at three and a half and asked him to look through it. It was obvious he liked it by he immediate opening and digesting of each page and then the “Daddy, can we do this?” or “Daddy, can we do that?”. Asking him which one he wanted to do first he chose the “Stop-motion bean pot” which was on the front cover. More on that later.

Showing it to my one and a half year old was a different story. Not expecting him to take an awful lot of notice I was surprised to see him take it from my grasp, walk to story corner (where we read them stories in an area covered with cushions) and then gently turn most of the pages and shout “fower” at me countless times (he is just grasping the word flower with a vengeance!). It kept him amused for a good 10 minutes, a record in our house so a winner there as well.

I can genuinely say that the projects that Dawn has picked transcend the ages as there are crafts in here which Jo (my wife) and I are desperate to try ourselves (the ice bowl for example looks amazing!). I would say there is a really nice mixture of projects here that the real youngsters will enjoy right through to teenagers especially as some of the projects, the stop-motion bean pot being one such example, having a multitude of enjoyment/educational levels. Firstly there is the project itself which is great for youngsters like Sebastian, my eldest, but then there is the educational aspect of seeing a bean growing in the open air and seeing how the roots set and the bean itself starts its journey towards the sky – you can see mine and Sebastian’s attempts with pint polka dot napkins here.

All in all this is an excellent book and I cannot recommend it enough. Go, buy it and enjoy it. It is £14.99 and published by CICO Books but you can also find it on Amazon here

I have long been an admirer of Beekeeping Photography and so when I heard about the project being undertaken by Geoff Fitzgerald and his Beekeeping Photography exploits I had to hear more.

In this excerpt Geoff discusses one of his first shoots and how it spurred him on to bigger and better things…

If you want to find out more about Geoff and his beekeeping photography have a look at my Guest Beekeeping Bloggers page. In the meantime, if you are interested in contacting me if you have a great project please contact me

Urban Rooftop Beekeeping, hard to believe that there are people doing this in large concrete cities. Most people when they think of beekeeping they think of lush greens, farms, not on buildings such as homes, hotels, opera house theaters, and University roofs just to name a few.

So I had my new photo series idea, now I needed to start it somewhere, and I had been in the middle of planning a trip to New York City for other purposes, and decided that it would be the perfect place to start the series. I did some research for rooftop beekeeping and there were a handful of possible candidates, however one name kept coming up prominently, Brooklyn Homesteader more specifically the amazingly wonderful Megan Paska.
Setting up a date to shoot happened quickly as Meg is an extremely down to earth and easy to get along with beekeeper. She has her bees located on her own personal roof in Brooklyn with a gorgeous view of downtown Manhattan. It was an overcast day, which is actually perfect for shooting outdoors which gives me natural diffusion. This shoot was so exciting, as it was the first in this new photo series I could just envision in my head.

I started to get even more excited with the thought of all the other possible locations across Canada and the USA that I could include, however it was not until I had a chance to have a look at the images from our shoot that I knew I was really onto something quite special. The results were just as I had envisioned them, and I just could not wait to continue along this amazing journey I knew I was about to embark on with this photo series, not knowing at that time where it would eventually take
me.

If you would like to find out more about Geoff and his Beekeeping Photography please go to my Guest Beekeeping Bloggers Page

Here is the situation. I have been worrying about my hive for a little bit as it doesn’t seem to be growing particularly fast. I have about 5 frames of bees (14*12) but just one frame of brood which does appear to be drone. On Saturday I saw a capped Queen Cell but no queen though I did see eggs. My thoughts were a laying worker despite only one egg per cell and all pretty much central. This rang true as I thought it unlikely to see a queen with a capped Queen Cell in there.

Concerned I went back in today and saw the same capped Queen Cell and the same one frame of brood with an absolute lack of eggs and larvae anywhere else. However, today I saw a Queen wandering around dispelling my thoughts of Saturday. 

Is she just not getting the hint or is she just being stubborn? This goes against all that I have learnt about the Queen leaving at the capping of a Queen Cell. Very strange. Has anyone any thoughts?

Recently I have taken to view the project that is Lucenarium, as to being like that of a journey. As with all journeys it starts with a desire to be somewhere else and often ends somewhere unexpected. But for me the best part of the adventure is what happens along the way…………

As you can see our new equipment is pretty amazing and full on!

We have gone from this....

To this!!

It has many great safety features, and has been specially designed for ease of use by people with learning disabilities. Finding this equipment was pretty amazing, because it seemed like it was designed with Lucenarium in mind.

But it has not all been plain sailing getting up to this point.

In fact finding the right equipment involved some quite unpleasant sailing!

A good friend of mine, Barnaby (winner of the prestigious ‘London Beekeeper of the Year’ award 2011) and I took a trip to Holland to visit the factory where they make this specialized equipment. I discovered that a ferry crossing in mid January can be quite rough indeed. It took me two days to stop feeling that drunken sea-sick sensation.

The next day, we spent the whole day at the factory, ‘Gildewerk’ in Haarlem and were given a demonstration of all the equipment and different techniques that could be used to make candles, it was very informative and well worth the rough crossing (though next time I might consider Euro-star, even if it is more expensive)

Towards the end of the day Barnaby and I got taken to visit a project similar to Lucenarium in Haarlem. this was a too good an opportunity to turn down, so off we went……

The workshop was a lovely cosy space. Even though it was late in the day and all the people with disabilities had gone home, you could tell that it had a great atmosphere, and seemed like a lovely place to come and shop for candles and also to come to work.

It was a great inspiration to see someone doing something similar and to see the equipment that we wanted, in everyday use. It made me even more determined to make Lucenarium happen and really spurred me on.

Two months on, our equipment arrived and though we have already moved it twice, it appeared on my doorstep early one morning with out any warning so we were not quite ready for it, we are delighted to have it. We have now got it set up and we have just given it a test run (or should i say maiden voyage?)

So for now it is full steam ahead…….

Over the next couple of weeks we will all be working flat out to to make a stock of candles to take to a secret location for a photo shoot, and I will have my head down trying to secure some funding to take Lucenarium forward.

James’ note: Should you want to know a little bit more about Iain and his exploits with Lucenarium Beeswax Candles you can find information on the Guest Beekeeping Blog page

I remember with great fondness my need to be mentored in my first year. I will never forget the tag team of Maggie and Tom who helped me through that first year with lots of laughs (and drinks) along the way. It was therefore interesting when I was approached by Matt Browne who wanted to become a Beekeeping Mentor at his local association. I felt it would be an interesting journey this year and wanted to follow it for myself. I hope you too enjoy it.

If you want to find out more about Matt Browne you can on my Guest Beekeeping Blog page and if you have an interesting project or have a story to tell please contact me

We’ve been beekeeping for about 4 years now and have been asked by our local club to be mentors.  My initial reaction was that we don’t have enough experience, but the club has assured us that as long as we have a year or two’s experience then we will be fine.  So, we are signed up and ready to help someone start the new season for the first time.

Our start to beekeeping was less than perfect, to put it politely.  We had been to a few sessions at the local club and I had my head in a number of books when someone on our allotment was moving and offered us his full working hive for £40.  I jumped at the chance, knowing that it was going to be a challenge because we had very little experience, but it was a bargain!  After a quick dash to Maisemore Apiaries for some kit, I set about inspecting the hive.  It was a national brood box with a single super on, that hadn’t been opened for a while (I could tell by the ivy growing up it).  To say they they were lacking in space was an understatement.  The hive was absolutely rammed with bee’s and it frightened the life out of me!  From there on we set to sorting them out with some more space, and getting the verroa problem under control.  It was a real crash course and not something I would recommend to anyone.  We have learnt a few things since then and are a little more responsible beekeepers now.

So, by way of penance for our slightly unorthodox start to beekeeping, we are ready to start with helping someone new, and hopefully guide them away from a few of the many mistakes that we have made.  I suspect we will learn a great deal along the way also.

The Bee Colour Experiment.

Bees can see ultraviolet light which means they are more attracted to flowers of certain colours. Using this simple experiment, you will be able to see which coloured flowers are the most popular with bees in your garden

What you’ll need:

• 1 circle/square of paper in each of the following 7 colours; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple and White
• 7 Plastic bottle tops (white ones if possible)
• Half a cup of sugar
• Warm water
• A pencil and paper
• A bit of patience waiting for the bees!

What to do:

1. As a grown up to help you mix half a cup of sugar with half a cup of warm water. Mix together until the sugar has dissolved and leave to cool
2. Cut out your coloured circles/squares of paper, roughly the same size as the base of a large bottle (if you prefer you could cut them into flower shapes!)
3. Place your coloured paper shapes in a line on a flat surface in a sunny place in your garden. Make sure they are about 5cm apart from each other (if its windy outside you may need to take your paper shapes down so they don’t blow away!)
4. Clean out your bottle tops with water before carefully filling each one half full with sugar water.
5. Place on bottle top with sugar water in the middle of each coloured paper shape and watch to see if the bees pay a visit!
6. using your pencil and paper, make a tally of how many times a bee visits each colour. Which colours did they like the most? Do any other insects, such as butterflies, visit your artificial flowers too?

So there you have it. I hope you liked the suggestion by the RHS. I’m off to try it myself now with my two boys.

Nevertheless I managed to get out into the garden for a much needed Spring tidy up and lots of last minute pruning but I was also able to quickly nip up to the bees. I had peered in earlier this week and so that they had eaten the last of the ambrosia fondant so I knew that I had to do some feeding.

There has been much deliberation on Facebook (My beginner beekeeping page can be found here) about whether to feed fondant or sugar syrup and I have to say I have opted for the latter. There is a school of thought that suggests that it could still get cold and hence fondant would be better but after today, a glorious warm spring day, I just couldn’t bring myself to be pessimistic about the weather and feed them fondant.

I therefore opted for a weak sugar syrup (ratio of 1 part sugar to 1.25 parts water) which is said to stimulate brood rearing in the hive as it simulates a nectar flow (according to a recent Beecraft article I have read) and so we will see how that goes.

All in all a wonderful Spring day, all the family was out in the garden and it just doesn’t get much better than that.