It seems that the first thing I say in most of these blog posts is usually something to do with the weather. Being a beekeeper makes you very focused on it. Everything revolves around it when it comes to bees. And this year has been a year of extremes. From the blast of winter we …
It wasn’t the warmest day we’ve ever seen in May but for once at least the sun was shining as Moray Beekeepers gathered for their annual visit to the hives at Pluscarden Abbey near Elgin. The setting was as beautiful and inspiring as ever and it wasn’t long before beesuits were donned, smokers were lit …
Last summer I found myself on the way to a house at Moss of Barmuckity where I was reliably informed there was an abandoned hive in the garden, still occupied by bees. Upon arrival I spoke to the owner, Jimmy, who told me his father had been an avid beekeeper but had now moved into …
Those of you who read this blog and who keep bees will no doubt have heard of the name Brother Adam. In short Brother Adam was a monk of Buckfast Abbey who spent his entire life devoted to beekeeping and bee breeding. He developed the Buckfast bee and was a hugely influential figure in beekeeping …
Contributing author: Viv Hill After days of looking at a distinctly unoptimistic weather forecast you will not need to use your imagination to know how happy we were when the day dawned bright and sunny and, more to the point ,stayed that way. Graham and Viv Hill were pleased to welcome the 40 or more …
Contributing author: Viv Hill Everyone is going to love this!!! Well I do. V. x. This mnemonic helps remember that ‘drat’ order that one can never remember!!!. Be Warned You Require Gloves Blue White Yellow Red Green 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The numbers are matched with the year end …
So we got a message at the weekend that a swarm had arrived and taken up residence in someone’s loft near Elgin. Bees had been there before and this swarm had discovered the old combs left behind by the previous owners. All perfectly accessible we were assured. I should have known at that point that …
Last Wednesday we carried out the last stage of the process – dividing the sealed queen cells up amongst mating nucs. We didn’t get as many pictures this time as everything got a bit hectic whilst we were filling the nucs and all hands were needed. First we got all the mininucs ready for filling …
Today and yesterday saw the critical parts of our queen rearing procedure taking place. Or to my mind the scariest parts. For the morning session we had myself, Tony, John, Dianna and Ian in attendance. The plan was to rearrange the colony to make the bottom brood box (full of young bees after last week’s …
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that we were about to embark at long last on a foray into rearing our own queens. Unfortunately the superb weather of April has been replaced by a somewhat more familiar icy blast and we had to delay our plans. However this week it was decided that if …
