The Walrus and the Honey Bee

The Chilled-out Walrus Philosophy of Beekeeping and Life

Having fun at Glorious Goodwood When I was between the ages of five and ten years old, I was labelled a “genius” and a “prodigy” by several of my teachers because everything came easy. Once I went to secondary school,…

26 Jun 23 Walrus

How many types of hive can one beekeeper manage?!

Apiary with different hive types Is there method in this madness? As you can see from the photograph showing part of one of my apiaries, there is plenty going on. One might even conclude, upon initial investigation, that the resident…

Steve pointing to some mating nucs with his hive tool

18 Jun 23 Walrus

Life Cycles and Spectacular Growth

From tiny acorns do giant oak trees grow The ability of honey bees to grow their colonies from little nucs to enormous hives with bursting supers is extraordinary. Some colonies that came out of winter looking small are now booming.…

12 Jun 23 Walrus

Summer Survival: Beekeeping Tips for the Scorching Sun

Summer flowers Firstly, it’s important for me to make two things clear; I live in a relatively mild climate and when it gets hot I suffer, regardless of what I do. Our recent ‘heat-wave’ has temperatures up to 29 Celsius…

5 Jun 23 Walrus

The Fascinating Journey of Honey Bees: Honey Production

Honey Extraction Normally, I send out an article each Monday morning, having written it the night before, but it’s all gone pear shaped. On Sunday, after doing lots of bee stuff, including adding clearer boards to hives, I was too…

29 May 23 Walrus

Scorching Scotland And Fantastic New Queens

Steve Donohoe in Tighnabruaich My favourite place in the world may not appeal to everyone. A seven hour journey to get to a house that’s always a little cold (even with bright sunshine outside), followed by sleep on a mattress…

Steve Donohoe and Michael Palmer near Lake Champlain

22 May 23 Walrus

Only The Best of Queens

Me and Michael Palmer near Lake Champlain I imagine that we all have our heroes. On the matter of producing queens, mine are Jay Smith & Brother Adam (both no longer with us) and Mike Palmer (alive and well). The…

15 May 23 Walrus

New queens – the season has taken off!

This will be my new honey processing room This is what I’ve been waiting for. Those long winter nights and short days are past, new life is bursting forth everywhere I look, and proper beekeeping is back. It all happens…

8 May 23 Walrus

How To Handle Swarm Season

Three swarms last year You could write a book on the subject of ‘how to handle swarm season’, and several people have. In the one thousand or so words allotted to this blog post, I shall therefore have to miss…

1 May 23 Walrus

Creating A Lovely New Apiary

The Mole at our new apiary site I have my bees at ‘out-apiaries’ and have never risked keeping them at home. That’s a personal choice which works for me (and my neighbours) but I have far more hives than could…

24 Apr 23 Walrus

Reviewing Beekeeping Notes is Addictive in a Good Way

Field of Oilseed Rape This morning, Mrs Walrus MBE made a quip about where I might be “on the spectrum,” indicating that it is probably some way along. Although this was partially in jest, it was possibly a tactic to…

17 Apr 23 Walrus

Swarming Time and Solving the Space Problem

The mini-plus tower was split into two This is a time when some large discrepancies show up between colonies. One of my apiaries was absolutely booming and nearly every hive bursting with bees. In other places, the picture is more…