Category Archives: Hives

Fanning

Posted on June 25, 2018 by

Hottest day of the year so far (27C), and I saw bees fanning at the entrance to this hive, though not the others near it. This colony was smaller and a while ago, I put a block of wood across … Continue reading →

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ONBG meeting, 20th May 2018 – TBHs and tall tales

Posted on May 30, 2018 by

An anarchic group of beekeepers met on a very sunny day at Shadiya’s farm near Oxford to celebrate International Bee Day with a picnic and a peek at her Top Bar Hives. We began by discussing winter losses, which were … Continue reading →

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ONBG meeting, 21 April 2018: swarms, and learning from mistakes

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

Lured by chocolate brownies, ten of us gathered at Brian and Faith’s house  in Summertown to prepare for the impending swarm season, view their hives, and meet like minded enthusiasts. Below, are our checklist for swarm catching, descriptions of Brian’s … Continue reading →

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The Hive at Kew Gardens

Posted on April 19, 2018 by

A pair of magpies have made their nest high in the ‘Hive‘ sculpture in Kew Gardens. They saw a chance to steal a space amidst the shine of aluminium, and are filling it with branches and twigs from the trees … Continue reading →

Posted in Hives, Technology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Visiting the Bee Pubs: Part 1

Posted on April 2, 2018 by

In the last two years, I’ve seen a lot of drawings of bees trying to play guitars. They’ve been on posters, on chalkboards, on signs and on flyers but I’ve yet to see a bee that’s succeeding. The guitar is … Continue reading →

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How to tell if a hive is alive in winter

Posted on March 18, 2018 by

We are having some very late snow for this area. How can you tell, by looking at the outside, if these hives’ bees are alive or not? (Answer below)

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Infrared images of hives in winter

Posted on March 11, 2018 by

I mentioned borrowing an FLIR (heat vision) camera from Jack in an earlier post. He blogged some pictures of his own TBH’s taken with it. Now here is what I saw on a variety of hives belonging to myself and … Continue reading →

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