Category Archives: Native Bee

Native Irish Honey Bee Book

This book is a collaborative work with contributions from expert beekeepers and scientists throughout Ireland.

Native Irish Honey Bee Book
Native Irish Honey Bee Book

It contains everything you need to know about the Native Irish Honey Bee – from evolution to genetics and into the future with conservation and ‘how to’ sections from commercial beekeepers.

Includes a practical section with step by step instructions on queen rearing and bee-breeding techniques.

Click here to re-watch the book launch

Click here to buy the Native Irish Honey Bee Book

Queen Rearing Timetable for Cloake Board & Jenter Kit

It’s easy to get confused when setting up your queen rearing – I know – I’ve been there.

But don’t panic, this simple-to-use timetable/diagram below  is for queen rearing using the Cloake board method with a Jenter kit. However, if you prefer to graft or the queen won’t play ball with the Jenter – all is not lost – just graft the smallest larvae you can find on day 8 and all should be well.

Good luck!

By the way, the header photo is of the Lewis chessmen – found on the island of Lewis, Scotland in 1831. They were made from walrus tusks and whale teeth in Norway or perhaps Iceland in the 12th century.

Their queen rearing is not going well. He thinks she’s to blame. She thinks she’s to blame. Meanwhile the bishop wonders if it could be something to do with his grafting tool. It does look a bit on the clonky side.

Click the timetable for a bigger picture. Continue reading Queen Rearing Timetable for Cloake Board & Jenter Kit

Perfect Supersedure

Supersedure is a characteristic of the native Irish honey bee. It is where the bees replace an ageing or waning queen without swarming.

Perfect supersedure is where the old honey bee queen obligingly remains in-situ, laying to the best of her abilities, until the new queen is up and running – before gracefully fizzling out.

This is a sought-after trait for obvious reasons and if you find it in one of your colonies you should definitely factor it in to your bee improvement assessments. Click here for Bee Improvement and to download Assessment sheets.

Here are some fuzzy photo’s of a perfect supersedure in one of our hives yesterday (20.5.19)

Native Irish Honey Bee Supersedure

Click here for Fighting Queen Bees

Click here for Piping Queen Bees

Click here for How to Improve your Bees

Click here for more about the life cycle of honey bees

Click here for more about the Queen Bee

Click here for Swarm Control

Click here for Swarm Prevention

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