It should be fairly straightforward, shouldn’t it? A colony makes several virgin queens, eventually whittles them down to one, and she flies off on several mating flights. She returns to the welcoming embrace of her workers, and begins the long process of laying hundreds or thousands of eggs every day during the summer, autumn, and … Read more
Prefer a podcast? https://youtu.be/8S3AAW-ey9E I have returned from a holiday in Lanzarote – the Seaside Hotel Los Jameos Playa as usual – and I’m eagerly awaiting the Beekeeping Show at Telford. Snowdrops and hazel catkins have been out for some time, but there is still a cold bite to the air. It’s tempting to overreact … Read more
I have been blundering my way through twelve years (feels like more) of beekeeping and, more recently, raising queens, so some people might assume that I have achieved beekeeping enlightenment. What’s more, I have had the privilege to travel and meet/work with/interview some very enlightened keepers of bees, some of whom are now friends. Then … 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
Spring has arrived here in Walrus-land, so it’s time to do some actual bee work at last. This coming season will be a year of expansion. The winter has certainly seen some undesired growth in my waistline, but that’s the wrong kind of expansion for me. Hopefully, my frantic beekeeping activities will help to burn … Read more
Virgin Queens Are Not Making It Back I’m deep into writing a book, with the deadline approaching faster than my output of words, but it seems wrong to neglect my blog for too much longer. This one is not very scientific, just some observations and musings about some changes that I have seen in the … 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
I have just completed a Star Wars marathon, which involved watching all of the Star Wars movies and stories in the correct chronological order on Disney+. One film per evening, for eleven straight evenings. In order, they are: The Phantom Menace (George Lucas, 133mins) Attack of the Clones (George Lucas, 142 mins) Revenge of the … Read more