Category Archives: ONBG

Winter survival surveys show ‘treatment-free’ works

Posted on August 5, 2020 by

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 →

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ONBG meeting, July 2020: a Bee Tea at Dee Cottage

Posted on July 20, 2020 by

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 →

Posted in Apiary visits, Hives, Meetings, Swarms, TBH, Wax | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A new hive design: the Drayton hive

Posted on February 27, 2020 by

A new hive design has just been launched by OxNatBees member Andrew Bax – the Drayton Hive. His new design consists of a deep horizontal hive which combines some of the best features of modern apicentric hive design such as … Continue reading →

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ONBG meeting, October 2019: Hive envy!

Posted on November 9, 2019 by

17 folk converged on a north Oxfordshire village to share lunch, view some stunning and unusual hives, discuss When Honey Goes Wrong, and view the feral colonies round the village. Well, that was the plan. The schedule was instantly junked … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Experimentation, Hives, Honey, Meetings, ONBG, Warré, Wax | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Convergent theories

Posted on September 17, 2019 by

A potential problem with a natural beekeeping group is: members never talk to conventional beekeepers. So 14 of us visited a large (80 hive) commercial apiary… with a twist. It’s run by the Swindon Honeybee Conservation Group, headed by Ron … Continue reading →

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ONBG+ meeting, August 2019: insulation, cavity size, Golden Hives

Posted on August 19, 2019 by

The Oxfordshire group invited members from the neighbouring Hampshire and Wye Valley natural beekeeping groups to join us for a joint meeting at Gareth’s apiary – 34 people from 7 counties converged for the session. These annual co-events allow for … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Event, Experimentation, Hives, Honey bee research, Meetings, ONBG, Research | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

ONBG meeting, July 2019 – what makes a good hive?

Posted on July 25, 2019 by

19 of us converged on the beautiful village of Long Crendon to discuss and admire a variety of hives built by Eric. This led to a wide ranging discussion of a plethora of hive types and their tradeoffs. Background – … Continue reading →

Posted in Apiary visits, Hives, Meetings, ONBG, TBH, Warré | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment