Broodnest In The Cold
Source: Randy Oliver Not many beekeepers pull brood frames out of their hives in the middle of winter. Whilst this is not surprising, given the risks, it does mean that we tend to imagine what's going on inside the hive.…
Tag: Randy Oliver
Give us a Break
Mr & Mrs W taking a break in Argyll Somebody asked me yesterday, "what makes a good beekeeper?" I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that, but what I said was, "If you can keep your bees alive from…
Soul Walrus
Walrus on a bee We recently took delivery of a piano. My wife saw it in Forsyth’s in Manchester and, having declared it to be a lifelong dream to learn to play, persuaded me that such purchase made perfect sense.…
If Peter Drucker kept Bees
Management Guru Peter F Drucker Peter Drucker The legendary management consultant, Peter Drucker, may well have kept bees; I don't know. He certainly made a vast contribution to twentieth-century management theory, and I'm sure his influence will stretch far into…
Winter Survival
Murray McGregor shows a winter cluster 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…
Pragmatism or Xenophobia?
Frame of Sealed Brood 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…
Science Vs. Experience
The Kyles of Bute I love science. I've even got a chemistry degree, but don't ask me about it because that was over thirty years ago. As soon as I left university, I went to the City to do accountancy.…
Let’s Keep Some Perspective
Pollen even in Winter Losing sleep about bees Beekeepers, especially those new to the noble art, get anxious about a multitude of factors surrounding the keeping of their bees. I know this by looking at posts on beekeeping forums and letters in the…
What’s Your Plan? (You need one)
I am back from my Californian adventure, which involved spending time with Ray Olivarez of Olivarez Honey Bees and Randy Oliver who runs the popular scientific beekeeping website and writes in the American Bee Journal. I learned a lot and…
California Dreaming
My adventures in which I meet my beekeeping heroes began with a trip to Vermont in the USA, in July 2017, and next week my final two interviews will take place in sunny California. I am seeing Ray Olivarez of…
Managing the Mighty Mites
Gosh, it's been a long time since I wrote a blog post. Perhaps I have some sloth DNA somewhere in me. Maybe long ago a wayward walrus mated with a sloth and generations later the characteristics of our three-toed slow-moving…