Know what to do if your bees have died? Find out here
Brenda Davies advises on what to do if you find a colony of your bees has died.
Holidays can go with a buzz - Brenda Davies looks at family days out and reports on Disappearing Bee Syndrome
WITH the school holidays fast approaching, it is time to think about family days out. Here are three suggestions with bees in mind.
Start by keeping it simple - Brenda Davies provides useful advice to help new beekeepers make the right decisions
NEW beekeepers starting off on their own this month will find that deciding which type of hive to choose is only the beginning of a whole new world of baffling alternatives and strange jargon.
Swarm control methods
IF bees didn't sting and swarm nearly everyone would want to keep them on their smallholding so that they could enjoy having their own honey for breakfast.
A big day not to be missed
BEEKEEPING isn't just about keeping bees and having your own honey, although you can stop at that if you want to. Beekeeping also opens up a whole new world of related things to learn about and enjoy.
Importance of expansion
MARCH takes us from winter into spring and by the end of the month the days will be longer than the nights again. Of course this doesn't guarantee good weather, far from it. March is notoriously unpredictable. It can be gloriously sunny one week and then plunge us back into winter the next.
The importance of pollen
FEBRUARY and March are the most difficult months for bees. They are also very difficult for new beekeepers who are anxious to know how well their bees have come through the winter.
Codes, customs and better honey crops
JANUARY is named after Janus the Roman god of beginnings and endings who is rather unusual because he has two faces. One face looks forwards into the New Year, while the other face still looks backwards on the year that has just ended. So January is a good time for us to do the same thing and look both ways. Plans for the spring and summer ahead need to be made before we forget how the bees performed last year.
Seasonal ideas for beekeepers
DECEMBER is a quiet time for bees, but with short days and the run-up to Christmas, it can still be a busy time for beekeepers.
Honey Storage
In an average year, an average colony of bees will reward the beekeeper with about 40-50 lbs of honey. In a good year, a good colony of bees can easily give double that. So whether you have one colony that does exceptionally well, or you have several colonies giving an average yield, sooner or later you will find that you have a to deal with a bumper harvest.
