- 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.
Next ONBG Meeting
Sunday 19th July 3-5PM, Oxford
Twitter: @OxNatBees
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Recent Blog Posts
- Lockdown winter projects February 27, 2021
- Book review: Treatment Free Beekeeping, by David Heaf February 9, 2021
- Horizontal hive types January 17, 2021
- Bees Without Borders: conference report November 23, 2020
- Winter is coming November 7, 2020
- Winter survival surveys show ‘treatment-free’ works August 5, 2020
- ONBG meeting, July 2020: a Bee Tea at Dee Cottage July 20, 2020
- Book Review – Interviews with Beekeepers by Steve Donohoe July 1, 2020
- Look up during lockdown May 1, 2020
- Preparing for swarm season April 4, 2020
- Covid-19: evolution in action March 31, 2020
- A new hive design: the Drayton hive February 27, 2020
- Victorian Twitterstorms February 4, 2020
- Top Bar Hives, warts and all January 4, 2020
- ONBG meeting, October 2019: Hive envy! November 9, 2019
- Convergent theories September 17, 2019
- Learning from the Bees, Berlin – bees au naturel! September 11, 2019
- ONBG+ meeting, August 2019: insulation, cavity size, Golden Hives August 19, 2019
- ONBG meeting, July 2019 – what makes a good hive? July 25, 2019
- At the village fete June 30, 2019
Author Archives: Paul
Lockdown winter projects
Have you ever wondered what beekeepers do in winter? My own strategy is to try and eat my own weight in honey. Others are more industrious. Here are a few examples our group has shared over lockdown.
Book review: Treatment Free Beekeeping, by David Heaf
Rigorous metastudy marshals the evidence and pushes the debate forward Published by Northern Bee Books and IBRA, 2021. £24.95 / US$30, 119 pages, ISBN 978-1-913811-00-6 This is a seminal work – the first comprehensive review of treatment free (TF) beekeeping … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Experimentation, Honey bee research, Publications, Research
Tagged book, review, Treatment Free
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Horizontal hive types
Andrew Bax, OxNatBees member and developer of the Drayton hive, has had an article published in January’s Beecraft magazine comparing different types of horizontal hive: their advantages and tradeoffs. You can read his review here: Andrew Bax article on horizontal … Continue reading
Bees Without Borders: conference report
What: 6 lectures, mainly on wild / unmanaged bees, by European researchers titled Bees Without Borders – I attended by Zoom and the recordings have been released here. Some of the lectures were very technical. When: 21st November 2020 Who: … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Honey bee research, Pests, Research, Trends in Beekeeping
Tagged amm, Black bee, Wild bees
3 Comments
Winter is coming
The Winter Cycle It’s getting cold at night – time to fit mouse guards! You may see dark stains or frost on landing boards early in the morning – this is the humid breath of the hive condensing as it … Continue reading
Winter survival surveys show ‘treatment-free’ works
Each May OxNatBees surveys our members for information on winter losses. This graph shows losses year by year, compared with other surveys. The stand-out point is that our losses for untreated hives populated by local bees (blue “ONBG” line) are … Continue reading
Posted in Members, ONBG, Pests, Research
Tagged Beeinformed, overwintering, Survey, Winter
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ONBG meeting, July 2020: a Bee Tea at Dee Cottage
This was the first ONBG gathering this year as our normal annual cycle of events was interrupted by lockdown. Our last meeting was in October last year! Precautions were taken: access to handwash, masks, social distancing, everyone took their own … Continue reading
