Information online, books, hive makers, and bee-friendly plants
Natural Beekeeping
Information
- Natural Beekeeping Trust, and their useful index to the science behind natural beekeeping, with links to all those hard-to-find articles you half remember
- Barefoot Beekeeper (Biobees) focus on Top Bar Hives
- David Heaf’s Warré Pages
- Natural Beekeeping Network (Biobees online forum)
- Beesource – American forum, includes some non treatment beekeepers
- Michael Bush’s website – American site focusing on how to use low intervention techniques in standard US hives.
- Will Hanrott keeps treatment-free bees in foundationless Nationals and discusses it on his Oxfordbees blog
Books and magazine
- Natural Bee Husbandry – the first and currently the only natural beekeeping magazine
- Chandler – Balanced Beekeeping vol I and vol II
- Crowder and Harrell – Top Bar Beekeeping: Organic Practices for Honeybee Health
- Heaf – Natural Beekeeping with the Warré Hive
- Seeley – Honeybee Democracy
- Storch – At the Hive Entrance (NB the one on Amazon is a low quality pirated facsimile)
- Tautz – The Buzz about Bees: Biology of a Superorganism
- Winston – The Biology of the Honey Bee
- Cooper – The Honeybees of the British Isles
Groups
- Map of Natural Beekeeping Groups in the UK including our near neighbours:
- Hampshire Natural Bees
- Simple Bees – information, forum and occasional training sessions
- North Somerset Sustainable Bees – NSSBees was formerly YaBeeP
- Rose Cottage – West Yorkshire natural beekeeping hub
- Surrey Natural Beekeepers (Facebook)
Hive plans & makers
- Warré hive suppliers – list at David Heaf’s website
- Warré hive plans – how to build one yourself
- Top Bar Hive plans – how to build one yourself
- Bee Kind Hives – log hives, Warré hives, Freedom hives and Golden hives (Einraumbeutes)
- Heather Bell Honeybees – TBH and Warré
- Paynes – Warré
- Thorne – TBH and Warré (warning: TBH is non standard size)
- Natural-Beekeeping – Warré . Also known as Glastonbees. Also offer training.
- Jim the Bee – high end TBHs for sale, and courses in how to build one yourself.
- (Australia) – Bees at Home – Canberra based treatment free beekeepers whose range of services cover building hives, training and managing hives.
General beekeeping – information (no ‘natural’ focus, but useful general info)
- Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association (OBKA)
- British Beekeepers Association (BBKA)
- BeeBase -DEFRA guidance on pests and diseases, etc.
- Beginner’s guide to beekeeping (based in USA but generally relevant)
- Beekeeping online forum (focused on the UK)
- 101 fun bee facts
Pollen charts – visual guides to match the colour of pollen on a forager’s legs to plant type
- Sheffield BKA chart: swipe mouse over colour to see closest matching plant.
- North Shropshire BKA chart: can be organised by season.
Plant lists & booklets – good for bees and other pollinators
- Sarah Raven – pollinator friendly plants
- Rosybee – Oxfordshire nursery specialising in bee-friendly plants
- RHS “Perfect for Pollinators” plant list
- Meadow Mania – wild flower seeds for a bee border
- Emorsgate Seeds – pollen and nectar rich seed mix
- Dave Goulson’s plants list for bees
- Bee Happy Plants
- BBKA pollen and nectar rich plants list
- British Wild Flowers – large scale supplier of wildflowers
- Free download of 28pp booklet “Creating a Buzz” on how to make church or other community land better for pollinators – includes info on plants and suppliers
- Free download of booklet “Habitat Creation & Management for Pollinators” aimed at farmers and land managers
Oxfordshire Natural Beekeeping Group 