Author Archives: Paul

ONBG meeting, 6th April 2019 – TBHs

Posted on April 12, 2019

15 of us converged at Zuzana’s to see her Top Bar Hive, and particularly how to move bars around an occupied hive to make room for the nest to expand. This is necessary in large, established colonies in this type … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Inspections, Meetings, ONBG, TBH | Tagged | Leave a comment

ONBG meeting, 9th March 2019 – new season, new faces!

Posted on March 30, 2019

Fifteen of us gathered at Mary’s in Oxford to share a meal, view her hives, and discuss bees and particularly preparation for the forthcoming swarm season. Spring has begun early this year and beekeepers are wondering if it is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Meetings, ONBG, Swarms, Warré | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Training new beeks

Posted on March 1, 2019

In early February, we held a couple of afternoon training sessions for new beekeepers, to give them an outline of what’s involved in keeping bees in the UK. We started with basic biology, and how this drives their very alien … Continue reading →

Posted in Event, Local lore, ONBG, Pests, Skeps, TBH, Warré | Tagged | Leave a comment

Moving hives less than 3 miles

Posted on February 21, 2019

The “3 foot / 3 mile” rule-of-thumb refers to how if you move a hive more than 3 feet, sometimes returning foragers cannot find it. Their internal maps are so precise they get confused, and keep looking where the entrance … Continue reading →

Posted in Hives | Tagged | Leave a comment

ONBG Meeting, 1st Dec 2018 – insulation and instrumentation

Posted on December 30, 2018

Eight beeks and some interested neighbours gathered at Gilliane’s house on the edge of Oxford to see her hive upgrades with cork insulation, how she remotely monitors the temperatures inside them, and to swap bee stories. Gilliane has already blogged … Continue reading →

Posted in Meetings, TBH | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Learnings from the Learning from the Bees conference

Posted on November 27, 2018

In my earlier post on the Learning from the Bees conference, I discussed the “who was there and what it was about” aspects. This article covers what I actually learned about bees. I always particularly enjoy lectures and books covering … Continue reading →

Posted in Pests | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Meditations on the Learning from the Bees conference

Posted on November 8, 2018

At the end of August the world’s first major international gathering of natural beekeepers, Learning from the Bees, took place in the Netherlands. The atmosphere had a festival vibe and concentrated on healthy bees and improving the environment, rather than … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, Experimentation, Honey bee research, Log hive, Pesticides, Research, Skeps, Sun Hive, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments