Click here for updated list of Irish Native Honey Bee suppliers
Click here for more about the Native Irish Honey Bee
Irish Native Queen & Nuc Suppliers
Category Archives: Native Bee
Noxious Weeds!
You know how we all go on about how there’s a law out there that says farmers should remove ragwort from their land or face the consequences?
Well beekeepers, read this and weep – the full list of ‘Noxious Weeds’ as specified by the Department of Agriculture is as follows: Continue reading Noxious Weeds!
Bee Flowers – February
February 1st is the Feast Day of St Brigid (AD450-525) female patron saint of Ireland.
For us Celts it is also the first day of Spring but you Saxon Dogs will have to wait till March 20th!
For the bees though – read on: Continue reading Bee Flowers – February
Native Irish Queen Bees
Sorry – sold out for 2017
Selected for sweet nature, low-swarming, productivity and Varroa resistance.
Contact info@beespoke.info Continue reading Native Irish Queen Bees
Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020
The picture above is by Vincent Van Gogh (obviously says you), it lives in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam and is called ‘Wheatfield with Crows’. It was painted in 1890 – possibly his last picture. Vincent didn’t know about climate change or intensive agriculture; if he had, he would probably have cut the other ear off and left the crows out. Continue reading Ireland Pollinator Plan 2015-2020
Pollination and Honey Bees
So, why are honey bees such important pollinators?
From an ecological point of view there are at least 3 reasons:
- Honeybees have evolved in tandem with certain flowers and they have adapted to facilitate each other;
- One bee is able to rapidly communicate the location of a pollen/nectar source to the whole hive and an army sets out;
- The bees then concentrate faithfully on that flower species until the pollen runs out or the nectar dries up, at which point the job of pollination is accomplished.
These features obviously make the honey bee important from an agricultural/commercial point of view. In addition, hives of bees are mobile and can be moved from crop to crop – an arrangement which can suit bees, farmers and beekeepers so long as everyone has a bit of respect. Wouldn’t that be great?
But some detail: Continue reading Pollination and Honey Bees
White Eyed Worker Bee
White eyed drones are victims of a their genes. As we know, drones come from unfertilised eggs and as such they have only one set of chromosomes so all their genetic defects or mutations are expressed and some of them are out there for all to see – like white eyes. Continue reading White Eyed Worker Bee
Remote hive monitoring in action
Installing a remote hive monitoring system should give the armchair beekeeper some measure of comfort – especially in a cold spring when opening hives is out of the question. However, it ain’t necessarily so! Continue reading Remote hive monitoring in action
Remote Bee Hive Monitoring
Remote hive monitoring by Arnia is space age technology for bees – all linked up to a central hub on the mother ship over the mobile phone network.
Of course there is no substitute for visiting the bees but a system like this could be very useful not only in preparing your next visit but also monitoring the results of your efforts from a safe distance.
A road test would be handy!
Honey Bees and Climate Change
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