It’s been a long, chilly spring here but there have been a few warm days and all the beekeepers I know (including me) have rushed to take a look at their colonies! Seeing the bees after a long winter always puts a huge smile on my face!  It is incredible to think it’s six months since I last saw inside the hives.  Thankfully, they have all made it through winter – with one exception. The one exception?  A colony with a drone laying queen. I’d had suspicions that there was something wrong with the colony in question because the activity at the entrance wasn’t as strong as the oth ..read more

Yesterday, Paul and I moved a couple of beehives to his apiary out in the beautiful Surrey countryside.  They will be very happy there with lots of Blackthorn, Marsh Marigolds and many other lovely sources of fresh pollen and nectar. Moving bees is one of those things that can sound much more daunting than it actually is.  Yes, there are things that can go wrong, and a car full of escaped bees is an image that makes even me shudder! However good planning and preparation go a long way to a moving day that goes without a hitch. A good mover I had to get to grips with moving bees quite ..read more

Welcome to our first episode of the beehive jive beekeeping podcast for 2021, almost live from Tracey’s garden. In between munching cake and coffee, we discuss what spring jobs we’re wrapping up, which can be summarised as cleaning stuff, making stuff and putting frames togather. Paul missed last season because he was ill but he’s back now and keen to get started once the weather stops being cold and miserable. He’s recently painted his polynucs with garage door paint as suggested over at the amazing Apiarist blog. Probably going to give queen rearing a whirl this year, if you are check out Ri ..read more

People are generally so interested in bees.  When people find out that I’m a beekeeper, they light up and ask lots of questions.  They’ll usually email me whenever there is something about bees in the news.  Just this week someone took pictures of a seven-page feature in the FT and messaged them to me. I love these people.  They make me believe that bees stand a chance. Every year at Mayfield Lavender I have the pleasure of welcoming people just like these on a ‘Bee Safari’. So . . . what happens on a Bee Safari? I had the idea to do this because I get so many questions and ..read more

After I finished this post I had this conversation with my wife. Me: I’ve just finished a post, I need to take a picture of the boxes outside. Lovely wife: Why? Me: The post is about me being a tidy beekeeper. Lovely wife: *laughing* oh really! How interesting! *laughs some more* Anyway …. At the bottom of my garden is my bee shed. It has power, lights, a heater and all my bee stuff. On cold wintery afternoons, I potter around in it listening to beekeeping podcasts, cleaning stuff and making frames. My wife bought it for me as a present. I love it. Paul, what a wonderful life partner you must ..read more

Being told you have cancer is awful. Beekeeping taking your mind off cancer is terrific. When I received my cancer diagnosis, it became clear chemotherapy meant I faced at least a year of hospital visits and binging Netflix. Terrible box sets and non-fun drugs didn’t fill me with joy, but I still had beekeeping. My brother offered to buy a bee suit and lift all the heavy stuff for me. Despite everything, 2020 had the makings of an excellent beekeeping season. Free time, someone to do all the grunt work, leaving me to float around the apiary enacting my grand beekeeping strategy – what could go ..read more

At last we’ve had a few days of sun here in South-East England!  Judging by the daffodils and blossom, spring may be about to arrive at long last. But while many bees will soon be feasting in flowering gardens, my bees live in a more rural area that is a bit ‘pollen lite’ at this time of year.  Having done a recce there are lots of woods and horse paddocks (lots of dandelion for later), some blackthorn here and there, but no suburban gardens full of rich pickings of crocus and other delights.  Once the dandelion begins to flower, we’ll be alright.  But at the moment, there ..read more

When talking to other beekeepers, you often get a sense that one of the things they love most about beekeeping is the opportunity to learn and keep on learning.  There are just so many fascinating aspects of beekeeping to explore. If you are the kind of person who enjoys formal learning i.e. exams, then it is worth checking out the British Beekeepers’ Association’s modules. There are seven in total covering a range of topics including husbandry, biology, bee behaviour and queen rearing. A learning experience Although I have now done several modules, I didn’t get off to a great start. The ..read more

You’ve probably noticed that the podcast has been on a sabbatical in 2020. Earlier this year Paul was diagnosed with cancer and has been receiving treatment for it this year, hopefully, we’ll be back next spring smokers blazing.  In this episode, Paul and Tracey catch up in the first-ever remotely recorded podcast. Tracey has been looking after Paul’s bees for him and we discuss how she’s managed to make way way more honey from his bees than he ever has. The post Lockdown beekeeping appeared first on The Beehive Jive ..read more

I went to check my hives today on a cold but sunny day here in South-East London. We’d had some strong winds and I have a couple of rickety hive stands so I was worried they might have blown over. But all was well.  It made me think yet again about how important it is to prepare your beehives for winter weather so you can sleep at night while those winter storms rage.  Must replace those wobbly old hive stands! I have two out apiaries at the moment; one has eight colonies that survived the big chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV) outbreak last year, but still show signs of the virus, The other a ..read more