- 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.
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Recent Blog Posts
- ONBG meeting, March 2024: swarms and hands-off inspections March 28, 2024
- ONBG meeting, February 2024 – history and high tech February 19, 2024
- ONBG meeting, December 2023 – rhythms and hues December 31, 2023
- Skep making course in Suffolk December 19, 2023
- Winter losses – not quite what they seem November 5, 2023
- ONBG meeting, August 2023: a lakeside picnic September 18, 2023
- How common are wild colonies? August 15, 2023
- ONBG meeting, July 2023: the systems perspective August 12, 2023
- ONBG meeting, June 2023 – a Bee Tea at Dee June 25, 2023
- Learning from the Bees 2023 – meeting our community April 27, 2023
- COLOSS visits Oxfordshire April 10, 2023
- The Hardest Thing of All to See is What is Really There April 6, 2023
- ONBG meeting, March 2023 – new year, new lessons March 9, 2023
- Winter projects November 23, 2022
- ONBG Meeting, October 2022 – 10th anniversary gathering October 9, 2022
- ONBG meeting, June 2022 – Unlearning beekeeping June 27, 2022
- ONBG meeting, May 2022 – A Swarmy Bee Tea at Dee May 25, 2022
- The Sideboard Bees May 11, 2022
- ONBG meeting April 2022 – swarm prep May 5, 2022
- Trends in beekeeping March 6, 2022
Tag Archives: Queries
Grow, shake or drum? Transferring bees between hive types
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 Drumming, Grow down, Queries, Shook swarm, Transferring colonies, Warré
2 Comments
Moving hives less than 3 miles
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
New bees update
I spent a lot of time observing the bees this morning and wanted to share my findings with the group for comments and guidance. As some of the flying bees had been returning to where the hive had been originally … Continue reading
First bees
On wednesday, 23rd May, I had a call from Harry that a ‘pestaker’ was bringing a swarm from Tetbury about 40 minutes away. I dashed over to Shilton and waited to usher the ‘pestaker into the drive’ He arrived in a BMW and … Continue reading
swarms
I was wondering whether the split in my colony on Saturday would definitely lessen the urge to swarm and it seems from Lynne’s post it may not! Don’t know what to suggest Lynne- how frustrating. Perhaps the popcorn might be … Continue reading
Swarming from split and multiple casts
Yesterday the hive that Paul split – see previous post – swarmed from the ‘original’ colony half. So the split didn’t make them feel any less like swarming- but hey, I’m telling myself it’s just a good strong colony maybe… … Continue reading
Bearding or Massive clearance sale on drones?
A week on from the hive split and I noticed a lot of bees on the outside of the hive I split. See how the other hive, in the background of this picture, has no “beard” outside the entrance? If … Continue reading
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