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 at once; adding space, dealing with swarm cells, raising queens and soon – harvesting the spring honey. It’s a good job I have … Read more
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 patterns tells me to hold off until later because the weather can be quite unreliable for mating flights in May. The best … Read more
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 fished before, I consumed a library of books on the subject and, incredibly, I won. It wasn’t difficult; I think I caught two fish and … Read more
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 this year. Many forage plants are available simultaneously, especially dandelion, apple, oilseed rape and trees such as horse … Read more
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 produces the best queens. Mike has slightly adapted it to suit his needs, and others who make hundreds or thousands of queens … Read more
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 split’. I leave them with one queen cell from which to create a new mother. It’s a comparison … Read more
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 would avoid the wooden spoon award for the last place; somewhere in the middle of the pack is where I’d … Read more
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. The bees appear optimistic; they are busy and growing and, in some cases, swarming. It’s the perfect time to start … Read more