Category Archives: Hives

ONBG meeting, 15th June 2019 – TBHs, Freedom hives and a surprise swarm

Posted on June 16, 2019 by

Fifteen of us met in a beautiful cottage hidden near the middle of Oxford. The plan was to have lunch, inspect Top Bar Hives and see a nearby Freedom Hive, and we managed to meet these targets due to skillful … Continue reading →

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

Grow, shake or drum? Transferring bees between hive types

Posted on April 26, 2019 by

Recently a question was raised on the OxNatBees members’ mailing list on how to transfer bees from one hive type to another where the bars are incompatible, in this case from a National deep brood box to a Warré. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Group Digest, Hives, ONBG, Warré | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

ONBG meeting, 6th April 2019 – TBHs

Posted on April 12, 2019 by

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 by

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 →

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New adventures

Posted on March 3, 2019 by

“So what are you going to do with the bees?” it was the first question that anyone asked when I said I was moving house. The bees had lived for two years in a back-garden hive but now the tenancy was coming … Continue reading →

Posted in TBH, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Training new beeks

Posted on March 1, 2019 by

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 by

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 →

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