- 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
Saturday 9th September, Steeple Aston – Warres, TBHs, feral colonies and preparation for winter
Twitter: @OxNatBees
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Recent Blog Posts
- 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
- Beginners start here March 2, 2017
- Angry bees February 16, 2017
- Winter forage February 8, 2017
- Calm bees February 5, 2017
Category Archives: Hives
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
ONBG meeting, 13th May 2017 – swarms and exotic hives
Eighteen folk met at Gareth’s apiary in West Oxfordshire, where he experiments with hive variations and populates them with free mated bees descended from the extensive population of local ferals. Gareth is a trustee of the Natural Beekeeping Trust, has … Continue reading
Posted in Apiary visits, Experimentation, Hives, Meetings, ONBG, Swarms, Warré
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Cob beehive – an experimental top-bar hive adaption
One of the key pieces of advice for any new beekeeper is to have at least two populated-hives. In the event that a hive becomes queenless, brood-comb from another can be moved to it (so the bees can raise an emergency … Continue reading
Posted in Experimentation, Hives, TBH, Technology, Uncategorized
Tagged adobe, clay hive, cob
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Adapting to foundationless frames in a National hive
Will uses National hives in Oxford, and has successfully been adapting them to low-intervention beekeeping principles. He writes about his successes and learning experiences on his blog, Oxford Bees. It is a good guide to how to start blending natural … Continue reading
The Bee Meeting: North Tawton and South Leigh
In 1962 Sylvia Plath wrote The Bee Meeting, a poem in which she describes her experience of attending a meeting of beekeepers in North Tawton, a village in Devon. Last weekend, fifty-five years later, the Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group gathered … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Event, Hives, Meetings, ONBG, Publications, Uncategorized
Tagged "Bee Meeting", Plath, poetry
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ONBG meeting, 1st April 2017 – an emergency cut-out
Ten of us gathered at Rachel’s home to rescue an endangered feral nest from the wall of a building about to be demolished, relocating it to her Warré hive. The bees had been living in a cavity behind a bricked-up … Continue reading
