Varroa Mites Are Lurking
Varroa mites cause the death of more colonies than most people admit – here I discuss a summer mite check, if only for peace of mind.
Hive Health & Diseases
Keeping bees healthy in the UK means, above all else, managing varroa. The mite and its associated viruses — deformed wing virus in particular — remain the most common cause of colony loss for both hobbyists and professionals, and yet the advice on managing them continues to evolve as resistance patterns shift and new research emerges. This category covers varroa monitoring, treatment options, and the evidence behind them, alongside posts on other diseases and pests that affect honey bees in the UK.
The aim is not to repeat the official guidance — the National Bee Unit does that well — but to examine it critically, to look at what the research actually shows, and to consider how it applies at the scale most beekeepers are working at. Posts here tend to be analytical rather than prescriptive, because hive health rarely comes down to a single cause or a single fix. If you want to understand what is happening to your bees rather than just react to it, this is the right place.
Hysteria Is Now Orthodoxy
An era of populism, conspiracy theories, idiotic social media clickbait and cavernous divides between rich and poor, conservative and liberal values is upon us. Perhaps the last time things were this bad was in the 1930s, and we know how that turned out. Ray Dalio goes into the various economic cycles that continue throughout history … Read more
Spreading The Word
Last year, or perhaps the one before, I stumbled upon the Ulster BKA ‘Winter Webinars,’ and I’m so glad I did. The speakers are often very well informed about whatever the latest things going on in the beekeeping world are. Many webinars on bees contain bits that I’ve heard before, but I don’t mind at … Read more
Learning from Nature
At the recent autumn convention of Cheshire Beekeepers’ Association, Professor Tom Seeley talked about ‘Darwinian beekeeping’. I had doubts but wanted to hear the great man speak. His many years of studying honey bees, particularly those living in the wild, have surely got to be of interest to anyone keeping bees. Pros and Cons Seeley … Read more
The Fight Continues
It won’t be long until spring has sprung and beekeepers across the land start to open hives and assess how their bees did over the winter. I could be more cynical than the average walrus, but I strongly suspect that most beekeepers are like gamblers with winter loss figures. They are happy to talk about … Read more
Charting Brood Breaks
Following on from my article about using brood breaks to help with varroa management, I’m going to get into ‘death by charts’ territory today. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of Randy Oliver’s spreadsheet model, which can be tweaked to reflect one’s colonies and treatment regimes. In the absence of any beekeeping, … Read more
Brood Breaks to Control Varroa
Varroa mites have been a big problem for honey bees in most of Europe and North America for thirty or more years. Many colony deaths stem from varroa and associated viruses, and many beekeepers probably don’t even know that mites were the culprit. After all, who does mite washes on all of their colonies? Answer: … Read more
Local Bees?
There are some confusing messages out there in beekeeper-land regarding bee types, imports and so forth. In a world where the news that gets picked up is the one delivered in the loudest voice, sometimes accepted truths are just opinions. Nothing wrong with opinions, I have a few of my own, but the hard part … Read more