Beekeeping Equipment – The Walrus and the Honey Bee

Gifts for Beekeepers

Christmas Presents Hopefully, if you are reading this at around the time it was posted, you are having some time away from work and enjoying time with family and friends over the holiday season. I’m quite anti-social, not really a…

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…

27 Mar 23 Walrus

Queen excluders: are they needed for successful beekeeping?

Framed wire queen excluder Answer: it depends. That is always the answer for every beekeeping question, or so it seems. Actually, there is one which is always ‘yes’ – see end of this article. When I had kept bees for…

Kasia Jolanta and Alex at the beekeeping show

27 Feb 23 Walrus

The Greatest Show of 2023

Kasia, Jolanta and Alex at the beekeeping show It’s not that difficult to be the greatest show of 2023 when we are still in February. I’m talking about ‘The Beekeeping Show’ last Saturday in Telford, a trade show for beekeepers,…

6 Feb 23 Walrus

New Beekeeping Show At Telford

Telford International Centre If you are a beekeeper in the UK, you will probably have heard about The Beekeeping Show in Telford, Shropshire on 25th February 2023. It’s a new trade show that has been set up by three bee…

26 Apr 22 Walrus

Now I’m A Van Man

My Bee Van It's finally happened. I bought a van. It's only a small van, but a van it is. Not only can I carry around a lot more bee stuff and bees, but I can also drive like a…

7 Mar 22 Walrus

Are Poly Hives Any Good?

Some of Murray McGregors Poly Hives At this time of the year, many beekeepers are preparing trips to Stoneleigh and/or Harper Adams to attend beekeeping supplier trade shows. New or future beekeepers may find that the vast array of available…

17 Apr 21 Walrus

Walrus on Video

Video clips showing how to use Randy Oliver's varroa model and making hive floors. If a picture is worth 1000 words, what about a video?

15 Oct 20 Walrus

Buying Early Saves Money

Bees on Ivy Now is the time when I buy lots of bee stuff. It's better to buy things when items are being discounted than wait until spring when suppliers run out of stock. I know that beekeepers are not…

24 Mar 20 Walrus

Spring has Sprung

Image by Brent Connelly from Pixabay Spring is my favourite season, and spring has sprung at last. Critters are waking up and making baby critters; it's getting warmer, and if bees can be happy, mine are. They are flying like…

4 Feb 20 Walrus

Nucleus Power!

Polystyrene Nucs (Denrosa Apiaries) A nucleus hive, customarily called a "nuc" is just a little hive. I have heard it pronounced "nuke" and "nook" and I imagine non-beekeepers wonder what weapons of mass destruction have to do with bees. Many…

27 Sep 19 Walrus

Hive Ventilation

Air Conditioning There are many things in beekeeping which cause furious debate. One part of this, which this demonstrated below, is that different beekeepers deal with different environmental conditions. Here are some extracts from Interviews with Beekeepers on the subject…