What Queen Quality Actually Means, and How to Measure It Old timers say queens aren't what they used to be. The science suggests they're right — and explains exactly why, and what you can do about it.

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Don’t Overlook Honey Bee Nutrition - How brief pollen shortages can weaken colonies weeks later Even a short pollen shortage can weaken honey bee colonies weeks later. Research shows how nutrition affects brood, foraging ability, and colony health.

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My life is good without alcohol 🙏 #sobriety

Minding Your Bees and Cues Click Here if you listened. We’d love to know what you think. There is even a spot for feedback! Read along below! Nature’s Timing By: Becky Masterman & Bridget Mendel Phenology is …

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Recovering From High Bee Colony Losses This Winter Discover effective strategies to recover from high colony losses and enhance beekeeping productivity following challenging seasons.

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Understanding Bees: Navigating Evolving Beekeeping Advice Explore how evolving science impacts beekeeping advice, uncovering stressors and methods that shape the future of hive management.

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Understanding Local Bees: The Truth Behind Their Adaptation Explore the complexities of local bees in UK beekeeping and discover if they truly outperform imported queens for successful hive management.

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Varroa Resistance In The UK Explore the challenges of treatment-free beekeeping and the complexities of achieving varroa resistance in honey bees.

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Effective Queen Management Strategies for Healthy Bee Colonies Discover the intricate world of honey bee colonies, their roles, and how beekeepers manage queen changes to ensure hive health.

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The Walrus and the Honey Bee Explore the challenges of treatment-free beekeeping (TFBK) and its potential impacts on honey bee health and sustainability.

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A Beekeeper In Winter After the hard work of harvesting and extracting the summer honey crop, followed by tidying up the resulting sticky mess, it is rather pleasant to have a little break from beekeeping. We add the pu…

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Enhanced Bee Breeding: Embracing Diversity in Beekeeping Explore the nuances of bee breeding and improvement with insights from BIBBA, focusing on native honey bees and their conservation.

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Endangered Status of Wild Honey Bees: A Wake-Up Call Discover why wild honey bees in the EU are now labeled as endangered and the implications for their conservation and biodiversity.

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Essential Insights on Pollen Substitute Bee-Feed Research Discover the insights from Randy Oliver on pollen substitutes for bees and the importance of sterols and amino acids for colony health.

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Understanding Sustainable Queen Production in Beekeeping Explore the contrasts in beekeeping philosophies, from sustainable practices to breeding, in this insightful article on bee management.

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The Varroa Treatment Debate: Is Non-treatment Insanity? Explore the alarming trend of beekeepers opting out of varroa treatments, and understand the implications for bee welfare and farm productivity.

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Non-Treatment Sanity Check Podcast Episode · The Walrus and the Honey Bee · 24/09/2025 · 41m

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Varroa Reduces Bees’ Surface Antimicrobial Defences A recently published article in Scientific Reports suggests yet another way in which varroa mites are bad for honey bees. Varroa reduces bees’ surface antimicrobial defences. Apparently, many social insects do something called “venom bathing”, which basically involves coating their bodies with venom from sting glands. The main component of bee venom is melittin, which is antiseptic, antiviral, anti-fungal, and antimicrobial.

We’ve always feared Varroa for feeding damage and virus spread. But now there’s a third pathway: suppression of melittin, bees’ antimicrobial shield. The case for early Varroa control is stronger than ever.

I had to look that up! We seem to be getting flowers earlier and quicker, with hotter drier summers but wetter winters. Our spring flow was great but summer not so good this season. Best wishes 😊

Important Beekeeping Tips 2025 A walrus studying beekeeping theory For those who start beekeeping, probably as a hobby, or to save the world, some will become obsessed for the rest of their lives, and many will give up within three years. When reality crashes into idealism, there are casualties. That’s actually a good thing; it makes sense to keep looking until you find your ‘happy place’ - the activity that brings you purpose and joy.

Important Beekeeping Tips 2025

A walrus studying beekeeping theory For those who start beekeeping, probably as a hobby, or to save the world, some will become obsessed for the rest of their lives, and many will give up within three years. When reality crashes into idealism, there are casualties.…

Honey extraction, again YouTube video by Steve Donohoe

youtube.com/shorts/c5Cpv... #beekeeping #honey

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Recent Photos

To the handful of crazy beekeepers who wait in anticipation for my blog posts - there are a few, apparently - I'm afraid this one is basically a few photographs that I have taken this…

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Open Mating Queens Podcast Episode · The Walrus and the Honey Bee · 17/07/2025 · 53m

New podcast episode! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

Enya, Walrus, and Bees YouTube video by Steve Donohoe

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Late season forage for honey bees YouTube video by Steve Donohoe

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Yes, good point

Understanding Honey Bee Queen Mating Success Rates Explore the challenges of honey bee queen mating, including success rates and factors influencing effective reproduction in beekeeping.

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Open Mating Queens Daughter of an II carniolan queen that has been introduced to Buckfast workers (Photo: Andy Sweet) It should be fairly straightforward, shouldn’t it? A colony makes several virgin queens, eventually whittles them down to one, and she flies off on several mating flights. She returns to the welcoming embrace of her workers, and begins the long process of laying hundreds or thousands of eggs every day during the summer, autumn, and spring.

Open Mating Queens

Daughter of an II carniolan queen that has been introduced to Buckfast workers (Photo: Andy Sweet) It should be fairly straightforward, shouldn’t it? A colony makes several virgin queens, eventually whittles them down to one, and she flies off on several mating flights. She…

Peacock butterfly with wings outstretched

Peacock butterfly - saw this today, lovely thing #butterfly

Wasps! YouTube video by Steve Donohoe

youtube.com/shorts/r5G8z... #beekeeping