A well organised teaching apiary is probably the greatest teaching resource a BKA can have. It can be used to invite non-beekeepers as a sort of open event, so they can see what is involved in the craft. For beekeepers, it can be used for teaching all levels, right from new beekeepers to the most …
🏆The teaching apiary. A brilliant resource- BIBBA Read More »
Webinar TBC- “Bee Farming with native/near bees” Part of a series of webinars on Bee Improvement. These webinars are appropriate for all beekeepers. The emphasis will be on using bees that will thrive and survive in the locality they are kept in. BIBBA Webinars If you are looking for more webinars by BIBBA, you can …
Far too much emphasis is placed upon queen rearing and not on the wider aspects of bee breeding, such as the selection of quality breeding stock. Bees have far more years experience producing good quality queen cells then we have, so why not keep things simple and let them produce their own queen cells? The …
For over a century, some beekeepers have manipulated the genetic composition of their stock, believing the resultant colonies superior to those derived from local open mating. Such “bee improvement” is essentially anthropocentric. Excluding importation of alien subspecies, there are four extreme bee improvement methods, all others being lesser variants. Each used the scientific understanding of …
🏆Four incompatible approaches to bee improvement- BIBBA Read More »
Bee Improvement Groups are easy to set up and run, but there may be many different circumstances. Are they one or more individuals? Are they part of a BKA? Are they formally constituted? Are they simply an adhoc group of interested beekeepers? Do they have sufficient knowledge within, or do they need help? Do they …
Webinar TBC “Raising queens and the use of mini nucs” Part of a series of webinars on Bee Improvement. These webinars are appropriate for all beekeepers. The emphasis will be on using bees that will thrive and survive in the locality they are kept in. BIBBA Webinars If you are looking for more webinars by …
Beekeeping Associations are important parts of the beekeeping community, although they probably don’t always realise how they can influence the standards of bees and beekeepers in their own catchment areas. Much of beekeeping teaching is performed by local BKAs, both theoretical and practical. The former can be done by courses, the latter by practical demonstrations …
🏆BKAs – How they can help improve the nations bees- BIBBA Read More »
Kevin Thorn is the coordinator of the Abberton Native Bee Project in Essex, where a group has been established with the aim of reintroducing the native honey bee to the area. The group works with Colchester BKA, Essex and Suffolk Water and Essex Wildlife Trust and has been operating for nearly 4 years. As an …
My queens are naturally open mated, but I have been flooding the vicinity of my apiary with drones from my own native dark bees. Each year I over-winter more colonies of bees than I need, keeping only the best and requeening those that do not come up to my criteria. My selection programme is based …
Following a spell out of active beekeeping for family and business reasons, on my return I soon discovered the bees in my area had degenerated from gentle bees that suited my district to yellowish stingy mongrels that were very unpleasant to handle. This was caused by a local beekeeper who imported queens from Australia and …
