All Blog Entries

We have a group which meets on Thursday evening at the association apiary for general beekeeping stuff rather than queen rearing.
It pretty much just apiary management stuff - whatever needs to be done that week.
last Thursday I marked and clipped a couple of queens and in the next box to check there was plenty of sealed brood but no larvae or eggs, no queen and about 8 queen cells.
First thought was a swarm but this colony was still building up.
It was a colony which ...

Just caught a nice swarm in a bait hive in the garden at about 5.30 this afternoon.

My garden shed where I store my supers, as yet unpacked this year, had hundreds of bees in it earlier this afternoon. I only have an apidea with a queen I salvaged from a dwindling colony in the garden and furthermore, these were yellowish bees.
I have 3 bait hives in the garden but the one they were interested in was a Payne poly box with the eke on so I guess near 40l capacity which is what ...

24 little hours.

Yesterday in 'Todays news' in the main forum I admitted my beekeeping incompetence - or at least my relative inattention this spring. One swarm had just departed. It was in the air and we (Bill, Rick, Dave and me) watched it settle high in the oak tree, then within an hour it was off. It took up residence in the walled garden wall where it will discomfit Ethel, the gardener. And we couldn't find the queen in (another) one of my six. So I visited again tonight and ...

Our group of new beekeepers were due to take their practical exam Saturday week ago but it got rained off and was rescheduled for this evening.
We got glorious weather, bright sunshine and maybe 18c or 19c.

Our students are linked to the FIBKA exam system as opposed to the BBKA.

We had 13 students, 4 external examiners and 3 suitable colonies were set up at the association apiary.

I was a bit nervous about this as two of the three were headed by ...

We had thunder lightning and hail today but 20 hardy souls turned up for the first meeting.
13 of them signed up to join the Native Irish Bee society and most of the rest were already members.
Beekeeping activity was limited as even though the rain stopped it was only about 10c.
We split into two groups as we have 2 sites about 200 yards apart.
One colony had already filled a brood box with bees and brood and we gave it a second brood box of drawn comb underneath the ...