This book is a collaborative work with contributions from expert beekeepers and scientists throughout Ireland.
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.
Unless you killed the queen yourself, or saw her die, you can’t be certain the bees are queenless unless you test them. Here is the simple queenlessness test. Continue reading How do I know if my hive is queenless?
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
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)
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 Prevention
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Selected for sweet nature, low-swarming, productivity and Varroa resistance.
Contact info@beespoke.info Continue reading Native Irish Queen Bees
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
Replacing a queen bee can be a tricky operation but forewarned is forearmed. To maximise success you need to think carefully about about your Target Colony and the State of your Queen. Read on… Continue reading Queen Bee Introduction – Basics
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
