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 didn’t try. I think it’s like most skills; at first, you are […]
OK, so we’ve been in lockdown for a while now. I only venture outside to go shopping occasionally and to walk the dog. Oh, and beekeeping, of course. It’s never been busier in the parks and the places where I like to wander; somehow, a lockdown has made […]
I need a new project! I’m thinking of doing one particular beekeeping topic in great depth, drawing on the expertise of experienced beekeepers and also the literature. Please can you let me know what you think by answering the poll? POLL CLOSED
Even though I live in a densely populated country, there are plenty of rural places to escape to, and these are the places that I keep my bees. I’m not keen on the idea of having bees in my garden. I don’t happen to have a four-acre garden, […]
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 crazy, like champagne bursting from a bottle as the cork pops. As the Covid-19 […]
I am no literary academic and don’t know how much of this is true, but it seems that Shakespeare’s life and works were shaped by the plague. This article (go on, click it) suggests that he had a lucky escape as an infant and that several of his […]
I have been keeping a low profile of late because I have a touch of walrus flu. I don’t think it’s anything exciting like that Covid-19, but who knows? A couple of weeks ago I got back from the gym feeling decidedly green about the whiskers, and since […]
Somebody asked me yesterday, “what makes a good beekeeper?” I don’t know if I’m qualified to answer that, but what I said was, “If you can keep your bees alive from year to year, you’re doing pretty well.” That’s probably not the best answer, but experienced beekeepers who […]
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 nucs are about half the size of a standard brood box, but […]
Many very experienced beekeepers in the UK advocate using the Demaree Method of swarm prevention for people with a small number of hives. George Demaree (1832–1915) from Kentucky first published his approach in an article in the American Bee Journal in 1892. I love the fact that a […]
