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 …
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 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 …
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 Unfortunately the superb weather of April has been replaced by a somewhat more familiar icy blast and we had to delay our plans.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 …
Alasdair Joyce’s Apiary at Dallas Dhu 15th May After a morning of poor weather more than 40 people arrived at Alasdair and Mary’s delightful home and garden to find that the weather was kind and the rainy drizzle had stopped. The bees are situated about 100 yards away from his house through a woodland garden …
We’ve been planning to embark on a queen rearing programme here at MBA for some time now and this weekend, at last, we’re going to start in earnest! The method we are going to use is good for small scale queen rearing but can be adapted for greater numbers. It’s called the Cook Method and …
Today was such a beautiful day I just had to pop over to my apiary (minus beesuit as they’re a gentle bunch!) to take a few pics of what the girls were up to. Plenty of action in and out of the entrance and pollen of various shades from orange to pale cream. The first …
