- 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
- 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
- Learning from the Bees Conference, Berlin June 24, 2019
- ONBG meeting, 15th June 2019 – TBHs, Freedom hives and a surprise swarm June 16, 2019
- Swarm stories June 2, 2019
- Grow, shake or drum? Transferring bees between hive types April 26, 2019
- ONBG meeting, 6th April 2019 – TBHs April 12, 2019
Category Archives: Wax
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
ONBG meeting, October 2019: Hive envy!
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 Cork, Eco Tree Hive, Einraumbeute, Feral, Ferals bees, Golden Hive, Honey, JustBeeEcoHives, Roseland Hex hive, Tree hive, Wild bees
1 Comment
ONBG meeting, 25th August 2015
10 people came to Brian & Faith’s place in Summertown Main topics covered: Autumn prep, feeding, honey, wax, wasps and badgers Desensitisation courses and stings. 2 or 3 of those present are on, or have completed a desensitisation course; results … Continue reading
Glyphosate resistant bees and the Invasion of Russian bees.
Its all happening over the pond right now. Seems that some beekeeper who had been experimenting with glyphosate resistance in bees had his colonies seized by the state of Illinois agriculture department under (allegedly) instruction from Monsanto. Watch the video … Continue reading
Posted in Hives, Honey, Inspections, Members, Pesticides, Research, Swarms, Uncategorized, Wax
Tagged AFB, bee inspectors, Bees, chilled brood, glyphosate, queens
2 Comments
So why do Bees build hexagonal honeycombs?
I was not even thinking about this until a friend posted a link to this explanation. What is it about bees and hexagons? Originally published on Wed May 15, 2013 8:18 am By Robert Krulwich Enlarge image Credit Robert Krulwich / … Continue reading
Bees and Biosecurity: Simple measures to control infections and keeping the bees happy.
Trees and Bees, the obvious top bar link. I have been promising to write something up for the blog for a few weeks now. What with the recent furore over Ash Die Back and other tree diseases its been one … Continue reading
Posted in Apiary visits, Books, Ecology, Hives, Honey, Inspections, Meetings, ONBG, Products, Research, Swarms, TBH, Wax
Tagged Ancient Tree Forum, Ancient Tree Hunt, At the Hive Entrance, Bees, bio-secure, bio-security, biodiversity, chalk brood, climatic changes, cross contaminantion, diseases, Drones, Environment, fungal spores, Garden plants, H. Storch, Hives, Inspections, life cycles, Microclimate, nature, OBKA, Parasites, pathogens, pollen, robber bees, smocks, spores, suits, Swarms, TBH, Varroa Mites, vectors, weather
2 Comments
Harvesting wax
I thought it was time I reduced all those old combs to something easier to store. How difficult could that be? Quite messy actually. Starts out looking like a sensible kitchen chemistry experiment. Nice clean equipment, lovely clean wax melting … Continue reading
