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Winter & Spring Losses
Many beekeepers suffer colony losses in winter and early spring and wonder what happened. Most losses are avoidable so let’s have a look at some of the common reasons why colonies die out, how we can prevent it and what we can do to help colonies that are vulnerable. Health It is important to carry…
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The Apiary in January
The days are getting longer and lighter, birdsong is in the air, there’s a growing sense of the earth awakening, reenergised after a long sleep. The winter bees in the darkness of their hives can feel this change and they are starting to prepare for spring. On milder days they will venture out on cleansing…
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Winter Preparation
Introduction The honey bee colony builds up to its maximum foraging force in July for the summer flow when they must accumulate enough food stores to last for the next 7 or 8 months. The population of ‘summer’ bees rapidly declines from now on until there only remains a small number of ‘winter’ bees. Unlike…
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Apiary Training Day – 7 July 2024
The day was divided into two sessions, one for beginners and beekeepers with less than 2 years’ experience and the second for improvers and those preparing for the BBKA Basic Assessment. The programme was built around the following topics: Beginners The aims were: To carry out a safe, efficient inspection with confidence, to recognise the…
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Queen Introduction – The One-Hour Method
It’s the time of year when beekeepers are buying in new queens and are faced with the uncertainty of whether or not the queen will be accepted in her new colony. The following method was first described by L.E. Snelgrove ¹ in 1940 who claimed an almost 100% success rate. The method is based on…
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Nosema
There have been many reports of winter and spring colony losses this year for which there could be any number of causes. One answer to the mysterious death of a previously productive colony is infection with a microsporidian, or spore-forming pathogen, called Nosema. Two types have been identified in Britain, N.apis and N. ceranae. They…
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First Spring Inspection
General Every intervention by the beekeeper is disruptive and stressful for the bees and the hive should only be opened if there’s a good reason for doing so. It is particularly important to recognize this in spring. The population of the colony is out of balance as the winter bees are starting to die and…
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Asian Hornet Trapping
HAPPY NEW YEAR! GENERAL The subject of trapping is surrounded by controversy, mainly concerning its effectiveness and its impact on other species and can risk pulling beekeepers in different directions. Naturally, we all want to be fully pro-active, use the best equipment and techniques available, and protect our bees. However, it’s important to understand that…
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Spring Trapping of Asian Hornet Queens
Introduction The purpose of spring trapping is to catch and kill queens which have newly emerged from hibernation at a time when they are most vulnerable. The theory is that if they are caught and killed at this stage they can’t go on to develop their own colonies. The foundress queen is the head of…
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Drone Laying Queen
One of the queens I raised this year has turned out to be a drone layer. Signs of Drone Laying Queen How does it happen and how do we know whether it’s a drone laying queen or drone laying workers? A drone Laying Queen (DLQ) has either: failed to mate successfully and has no sperm…
