- ONBG (OxNatBees) is an informal mutual support network for beginners and experienced beeks who aspire to practise bee-centric, low intervention, and chemical-free beekeeping in Oxfordshire. To join the group and share ideas, questions, information and experiences, please use this site's Contact Us form.
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Recent Blog Posts
- New Arrivals: The Rat Box Bees October 10, 2017
- ONBG meeting, 9th Sept 2017 – colony personalities, and ferals September 17, 2017
- After a sting September 12, 2017
- Bees and beekeeping in Borneo August 30, 2017
- Lore of the Honey Bee July 30, 2017
- ONBG meeting, 15th July 2017 – a rooftop apiary July 24, 2017
- OxNatBees exhibit at RSA Motivate July 14, 2017
- ‘Inspecting’ your bees – the low-intervention way July 5, 2017
- Neonicotinoids implicated again June 29, 2017
- Summer starvation warning June 17, 2017
- ONBG meeting, 13th May 2017 – swarms and exotic hives June 7, 2017
- Bees in trees May 29, 2017
- The ‘other’ bees: Steven Falk workshop May 22, 2017
- Cob beehive – an experimental top-bar hive adaption May 5, 2017
- Adapting to foundationless frames in a National hive May 2, 2017
- The Bee Meeting: North Tawton and South Leigh April 8, 2017
- ONBG meeting, 1st April 2017 – an emergency cut-out April 4, 2017
- Spreading the Bee Buzz #11 – Starting Beekeeping March 29, 2017
- Two swarms in the same hive: an update March 22, 2017
- ONBG meeting, 12 March 2017 March 14, 2017
Author Archives: Paul
ONBG meeting, 9th Sept 2017 – colony personalities, and ferals
Eleven bee enthusiasts met in north Oxfordshire to discuss preparation for winter, look at feral colonies around a village, and discuss how colony personalities differ. This last is because we get a lot of questions from people concerned that their … Continue reading
Posted in Apiary visits, Meetings, ONBG, Stings, TBH, Warré
Tagged Feeding, Feral, feral bees, Personalities, Personality
2 Comments
Bees and beekeeping in Borneo
Recently I met with Made Setiawan, a medical anthropologist and ethnographer who lives in Oxford. He works for the Indonesian Katingan Project on a reforestation operation in Borneo, working in an area where the native forest has been largely razed … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Log hive, Products
Tagged apis cerana, Borneo, Ecology, peat forest, rainforest, trees
2 Comments
Lore of the Honey Bee
I’ve been looking at an old bee book, The Lore of the Honey Bee by Tickner Edwardes. There’s almost nothing in it of relevance to us because he was what we’d call a conventional beekeeper, and the book was written … Continue reading
ONBG meeting, 15th July 2017 – a rooftop apiary
Eight of us met atop a building in central Oxford where Will keeps six hives, a mix of Nationals and their big brother Commercials, twenty metres above street level. He blends natural and conventional beekeeping, being treatment free, using foundationless … Continue reading
OxNatBees exhibit at RSA Motivate
Written by Alison OxNatBees was represented at RSA:Motivate, a gathering of community, citizenship and environmental activists, on Saturday 10 June at the Oxford Town Hall. Alison, Ann P and Paul set up the stall in the exuberantly baroque surroundings of … Continue reading
‘Inspecting’ your bees – the low-intervention way
All beekeepers naturally want their bees to be healthy and thriving, and periodically ‘inspect’ them to determine how they are doing. Responsible apicentric low-intervention beekeepers want to do this with a minimum disturbance to the integrity of the bee colony. … Continue reading
Posted in Inspections
3 Comments
Neonicotinoids implicated again
A major new study of the impact of neonicotinoid pesticides has been published in Science. The Guardian has a good summary of the results here. Because this is the largest field trial so far, it is difficult for the pesticide … Continue reading
