Harsh Realities
Steve with Keiler Nuc There is that saying, "if it were easy, everyone would do it," and I think it applies to some aspects of beekeeping. Frankly, in the early years of one's beekeeping life, just keeping them alive and…
Category: Queen Rearing
Making Queens!
Buckfast Breeder Queen In my area, we are entering the busiest time of the beekeeping season. Colonies are expanding rapidly, and some have swarmed or are about to. Spring/early summer is often like that; a massive amount of nectar and…
How’s your Dronage?
Drone: Makro Freak/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5) Drones are awesome. Everyone should love them, but they have had a bad rap. Many believe that they are "lazy" and all they do is hang around eating stores and contributing nothing much…
Any Beekeeper can make Queens
Queen honeybee by @squgcreative You don't even need to be able to graft larvae to make good queens. Apparently, grafting puts a lot of people off, because they find it too hard or they heard that it was difficult and…
10 x 10 Queen Production
Queen Honeybee by David Illig https://flic.kr/p/nCMgZU The Chosen Ones I have some great queens in my hives. My best one is a "yellow dot" in her third season. Her hive is always one of my tallest, giving me loads of…
We’re all Newbs at Something
Walrus with bees The term "newb" is typically used by gamers to describe somebody new to the game, or gaming, and is somewhat derogatory. However, we all have to start somewhere. Even the most gloriously proficient expert at something was…
Bee Breeding: Life, uh…finds a way
Life finds a way It's a dog's life I have always struggled with the idea that there are sub-species of honey bees but not dogs. A chihuahua is a tiny dog, and a great Dane is enormous. There are many differences between these…
A Craftsman and a Gentleman
I knew that Peter Little was a nice guy, having had a few telephone conversations with him at various times, but I had no idea until I met him just how highly skilled he is in so many technical areas.…
A Legendary Bee has Died
In the Winter of 2017, I met Murray McGregor, owner of Denrosa Apiaries, based in Coupar Angus, Scotland and was delighted to be able to spend over a day with him. He carefully chooses his words and takes his time…
Are Your Queens Majestic?
Actors from the Crown and Victoria Are Your Queens Majestic? Anybody who has been reading my blog for a while will no doubt form the view that I am obsessed with queens. I'm talking about queen honey bees, not what…
Total Body Workout
push in cage made from wire mesh There is an ancient symbiotic relationship between the walrus and the honeybee. We have all heard the expression, “float like a walrus, sting like a bee”, and this bond has been forged over…
Regicide in the woods of Vermont
brood factory nucleus colonies I’m back home in Blighty after a wonderful stay in Vermont, a very pretty corner of the USA near the border with Canada which reminded me of parts of Scotland. Instead of whisky they have a…