David Kemp
Survival Rate of New Queens
I’m going to be dipping into some research by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation in Australia in 2003. You can get the research paper here. It’s by Rhodes and Somerville and has some clues that should help with introducing queens. Some of the things they studied were: Failed introductions Many beekeepers are familiar … Read more
Bee Work in Winter
I had a lovely chat with David Kemp this week on the telephone. He is a talker! It’s always a privilege and a pleasure to hear his stories, and he’s still going strong at 82 years of age. I asked him for the secret to long life and happiness, and he said that a lot … Read more
Pragmatism or Xenophobia?
Beekeeping is Local Maybe I am naive or just positive and optimistic, but I’m sure that to many people I have some dangerously liberal ideas. For a start, I deliberately travelled all over the place to meet experienced bee farmers to see what I could learn. Then I wrote a book about the inspirational people … Read more
Taxes, Taxonomy and Tolerance
At this time of the year the issue of tax raises it’s grim visage, with online filing of returns having to be submitted by 31 January. I have just been sorting my tax return out, and to distract me from the pain I had a look at taxonomy, which is slightly less complex than tax, … Read more
Remembering Buckfast
As Monday mornings go, this isn’t a bad one. There is a chill in the air which seems only right given the time of year, but the sun is shining and I am settling down to write something for my humble wee blog. Well, it’s a bee blog actually, but it’s also wee, and it … Read more