Category Archives: Bee Basics

What to do with queenless Apideas

An annual quandry for beekeepers is – what to do with all those queenless Apideas at the end of the queen-rearing season.

Most advice is to set the Apidea over a nuc and unite the two but this often comes to one sort of sticky end or another and is less viable when you have a number of them.

Here’s a neat alternative: Continue reading What to do with queenless Apideas

How to find the Queen

Finding an unmarked queen is difficult enough so getting her marked early in the season is vital for what comes later.  As an illustration of that – see if you can spot the queen in the photo above – experienced beekeepers hold your whist!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the same photo but with the queen marked. Continue reading How to find the Queen

Importance of Pollen

A good supply of pollen is essential to a honeybee colony because…

… bees cannot live on honey alone. While the sugars in honey supply the bees’ energy needs, in addition they require the protein, fats, minerals and the miscellaneous dietary supplements found in pollen. The protein content of the pollen of different plants is variable but generally very high, containing amounts comparable with peas and beans (Witherell), or seeds and peanuts (Dietz). Continue reading Importance of Pollen

Swarm control – Demaree

The Demaree method of swarm control, devised by Kentucky beekeeper George Demaree in 1892, is a very effective method of preventing swarms but it will only work on strong colonies which have not begun making queen cells.  I’ve been using it for the past 4-5 years with great success especially when used in conjunction with a Snelgrove board. That way you can prevent a swarm, get a new queen and a great crop of honey.

Here’s how to do it: Continue reading Swarm control – Demaree

Hooper’s Five Questions

Ted Hooper’s five questions – as described in his book ‘Guide to Bees and Honey’ were devised to walk the beekeeper through his or her weekly inspections. The first 5 columns in the Colony Assessment Sheet are there for you record the answers.

Take a look at this frame of bees above – yes there are several things there that should put you on alert!

What you do, or don’t do, in response is the essence of beekeeping. Continue reading Hooper’s Five Questions

Beekeeping for Beginners Course 2015

The South Kildare Beekeepers Association – ‘Beekeeping for Beginners’ Course starts on Monday 23rd February 2015 at 7.30 in the Church of Ireland Hall, Athy, Co.Kildare.

Includes talks, hands-on practical sessions, honey extraction and SKBA membership.

For further details:

Honey Bee Colony Assessment

Bee improvement is not difficult – anybody can do it and in fact every beekeeper should do it. The first step is to assess your colonies for a full season and record the data in a Colony Assessment Sheet. It will take a full season because the bees often do not show their true colours till they are big and strong and start to throw their weight about. Once you have the data you can compare colonies systematically and objectively then select stocks for breeding and stocks for culling.

The sheet below has been designed to record both Colony Assessment Data and routine beekeeping information from each visit. Click it for a better view. Scroll down and I’ll walk you through it…

Continue reading Honey Bee Colony Assessment