Frightening Bee Virus Is Aptly Named Recent Reader Poll Thank you to those kind readers who responded to my poll about the greatest challenges facing you as beekeepers. The issues of swarming and failed/missing queens topped the poll, but for a long time, the leader was Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus (CBPV), which ended up in … Read more
Within the past week, the community of beekeepers lost a great man. Peter Little of Exmoor Bees and Beehives moved on to the great apiary in the sky. I’m sure they welcomed him with open arms. My thoughts are with his family. I cannot claim to have been incredibly close to Peter, but I did … Read more
As many say in the beekeeping world, ask ten people about something, and you’ll get eleven different answers. I don’t think that’s entirely true, but beekeeping is undoubtedly a ‘broad church.’ A common way to start beekeeping in the UK is to buy a nucleus colony; a small but perfectly formed colony of bees in … Read more
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 pollen coming in, queens laying like there’s no tomorrow, and beekeepers trying to stay ahead by putting more … Read more
How this Walrus does it I harvested my last honey in August and treated for mites as soon as the honey supers were off. This works for me. Many beekeepers leave the harvest until later, maximising their honey crop, but I’m happy with what I do. At that time my bees are still bringing in … Read more
There is always something new to learn about bees. The same probably applies to almost anything. Material for my blog posts should be endless and easy to come by. Ubiquitous, you might say. I have a vast library of books, interviews with beekeepers, my own experience, research papers, and so on. Now and then I … Read more
In beekeeping, as in life, everybody makes mistakes. Even bees occasionally make them. The hard part is owning up to them. Douglas Adams said, “a common mistake that people make when trying to design something foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.” I hate the fact that I stray into the realm of … Read more
Peter Little has always been an absolute legend to me because he knows so much about so much and is quite happy to pass on his wisdom. He runs Exmoor Bees and Beehives with his wife and sons producing honey from the glorious Exmoor countryside. They also make and sell bee hives made from Western … Read more