A scale hive is a great way of keeping an eye on how much nectar the bees bring in during the day, how much water is evaporated off during the night or how many bees and how much honey left with that swarm you just saw leaving!
It can be an expensive addition to the apiary hardware if you want to go electronic. However, it is quite easy to make one from wood with some cunningly placed mirrors and a bathroom scales.
Here’s how… Continue reading Make Your Own Scale Hive
The South Kildare Beekeepers Association – ‘Beekeeping for Beginners’ Course starts on Monday 22nd February 2016 at 7.30 in the Church of Ireland Hall, Athy, Co.Kildare.
Includes talks, hands-on practical sessions with live bees, honey extraction and SKBA membership.
Booking now – only €50 – including membership of South Kildare Beekeepers for 2016.
For further details:
Are you the sort of person that stares out at the sheeting rain and thinks ‘Global warming – ha!’
Well the globe is certainly heating up, but not here at the wet end of Europe so forget long sunny days and a grape vine in the garden; for us, climate change means the same old stuff – wind and rain – but more of it.
But how will climate change affect our bees? Continue reading Honey Bees and Climate Change
Bee feeders come in all shapes and sizes, a variety of materials, complexity, price, feed capacity, bee capacity and feed speed; some you can make yourself and some you shouldn’t even try!
So which feeder? Continue reading Bee Basics – Which Feeder?
Beekeepers know Ivy is a great plant for the bees but is it a tree?
It is when it’s got a great thick woody stem and a big bushy crown with flowers all over it. Continue reading Bee Trees – Ivy (Hedera helix)
Certain species of Poplar are a valuable source of propolis for honey bees. The spring catkins may be visited for pollen and the spores of a parasitic rust fungus may be an alternative protein source in times when pollen is in short supply.
Poplars are a complex, wind-pollinated, pioneer tree species and they interbreed like mad; as a result they can be difficult to identify. There are many species world wide and several native to Europe. In addition, fast growing hybrid cultivars have been bred and these are much planted for timber. There is also interest in the fast growing varieties for short rotation coppice as a biomass crop.
In Ireland only two Poplars are considered native – although other species have been introduced as ornamental trees or for timber, shelter-belt or screening. Continue reading Bee Trees – Poplar (Populus spp)
Preparations for winter should begin immediately after the honey harvest. Treat your bees and feed them as soon as possible or they might not be there to greet you come spring. Continue reading Wintering Bees
Introducing a new queen bee can be ticklish enough – especially if she has spent a few days in the post and has gone off lay as a result. Here’s the best way to introduce a queen that’s been in the post. Continue reading Queen Bee Introduction – Postal Cage
Lighting your smoker and keeping it lit is part common sense, part practice and part art. Puff puff
As with starting any fire you need a starter fuel which lights easily and can be deftly thrust down to the bottom of the smoker without it being so volatile it sets fire to your sleeves or spits sparks at your veil. Continue reading Beekeepers Smoker Fuel
Michaelmas, or the Feast of St.Michael, is one of the four quarter days which mark the changing of the seasons.
The four quarter days are:
They all approximately coincide with either an equinox or a solstice. Continue reading Michaelmas – Bees and Wintering
