Queen Rearing – The Walrus and the Honey Bee

Scorching Scotland And Fantastic New Queens

Steve Donohoe in Tighnabruaich My favourite place in the world may not appeal to everyone. A seven hour journey to get to a house that’s always a little cold (even with bright sunshine outside), followed by sleep on a mattress…

15 May 23 Walrus

New queens – the season has taken off!

This will be my new honey processing room This is what I’ve been waiting for. Those long winter nights and short days are past, new life is bursting forth everywhere I look, and proper beekeeping is back. It all happens…

10 Apr 23 Walrus

Breeding the Best Honey Bees: Selecting a Quality Queen Bee

Queen bee with workers on pollen frame Now that we are in that time of crazy colony growth, it won’t be long until some people start to raise their first queens of the season. My experience and research into weather…

Honey bee queen with yellow dot on thorax

14 May 22 Walrus

How I Make Queens

One of my lovely queens with quite light coloured bees Grafting, Cell Builders And Mating I'm good at learning from the successes, mistakes and wisdom of others. Once, we had a fishing tournament at school that I'd entered. Never having…

1 May 22 Walrus

Temperature And Queen Colour

A 2021 Queen It's a non-beekeeping day today, and we have had some much-needed rain overnight. This should not be unusual here in Manchester, but it's actually been untypically dry. My bees have generally got off to a quick start…

23 Feb 22 Walrus

Making Queens: Brother Adam

Buckfast Home Apiary 1965 (photo: David Kemp) The recent passing of David Kemp prompted me to review some of my notes from when I interviewed him. Mike Palmer often says that he believes Brother Adam's method of raising queen cells…

19 Jul 21 Walrus

They Fly?!

Photo by Boba Jaglicic on Unsplash Raising queens has helped my beekeeping enormously. I have been able to compare hives headed by home bred queens with 'self-made' queens. The latter tends to occur when bees swarm or when I make a 'walk away…

20 May 21 Walrus

Elvis Method (My Way)

Walrus in a bee suit If beekeeping were an Olympic sport, I would not be on the podium receiving a gleaming gold medal whilst listening to 'God Save The Walrus' and trying to hold back tears of joy. Hopefully, I…

26 Apr 21 Walrus

The Optimism Of Spring

Honey bee and apple blossom Here in the UK, and presumably, across much of the northern hemisphere, we are in that beautiful time of the year when optimism reigns supreme. I'm optimistic that this season will be a great one.…

27 Oct 20 Walrus

Mating Mathematics

Math or Maths? In 2005 some researchers studying matings in the Hope Valley (England) found out some interesting stats on mating distance. Mating distance is the distance between the hive from which the virgin queen flew and the colonies from…

24 Jul 20 Walrus

Nine Years In

Hollyhock in Ulta Violet light I am coming to the end of my ninth beekeeping season. I started with two hives, and now I have nearly forty, including nucs. My journey has just begun, but at least I'm through the…

25 Jun 20 Walrus

Introductions

Rolling Stones 1969 Creator: L. Trievnor | Credit: Getty Images "Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name," teases Mick Jagger in the epic Stones track "Sympathy for the Devil". He sings, "Let me please introduce myself; I'm a…