Beekeeping - Short and Sweet

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Interview with Belinda Bright from BBWear S1:E11 May 11, 2018

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During my recent visit to the BBKA (British Beekeeping Association) Spring Convention 2018 I managed to grab a few minutes to chat with Belinda Bright, Co-Founder of BBWear. With their combined experience, they saw the opportunity to develop a range of British made protective clothing for beekeepers. BBwear clothing is now sold all over the world and they are considered a market leader. BBwear suits offer protection, comfort and quality that is proven to last for many years. Since they started, BBwear has grown considerably and now have their three sons, James, Steve and Paul working with them. The business continues to develop and expand. Steve is a keen beekeeper and now manages their apiary of 10 hives. If you are interested in purchasing one of their bee suits why not give them a call or order online and use our unique discount code NHCBBW10 to obtain a 10% discount off any of their bee suits. BBWear are actively seeking worldwide distributors and if you are interested in discussing this business opportunity with them please do give them a call on 01872 562731 or alternatively drop them an email shop@bbwear.co.uk

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April Beekeeping Q&A S1:E10 May 04, 2018

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Beekeeping Short and Sweet - A podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span! This week is our April Question and Answer session from our Patreon members, lots of really great questions ranging from Apivar treatments for varroa, bailey comb changes, cleaning out dead hives and much more. If you’ve not yet started beekeeping and looking for help and assistance, pop over to my website, www.norfolk-honey.co.uk/getstarted and I’ll do all I can to help out with suggestions and recommendations for you. This podcast is sponsored in part by BBWear Beekeeping Clothing. British Made BBWear clothing offers Protection, Comfort and Quality proven to last for many years and now you can also grab a special discount off their latest lines by using discount code NHCBBW10 Use the code on their website www.bbwear.co.uk

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Beekeeping in April S1:E9 Apr 27, 2018

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Our Apiary in AprilBeekeeping short and sweet, a podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span, a beekeeper, in fact, just like me!Welcome back and thank’s for joining me here in Norfolk in the UK where we find ourselves just easing out of a prolonged cold, late Winter and chilly early Spring. The weather has really played it’s part this year with our beekeeping routine having been delayed somewhat by the colder weather.My podcast is released on a weekly basis firstly to our Patreon page where you can catch up with all of our content, if you’re not familiar with it, my beekeeping channel on Youtube and now more generally on Patreon is funded in part by my supporters on Patreon for which I am very grateful and if you’d like to have access to all of my beekeeping videos and podcasts as soon as they are released please do take a look at my patron page www dot patreon.com/norfolk honey. It’s April and I’m still waiting to be able to open up the hives and start seeing how the colonies faired over Winter. Today I’m looking at where we need to be heading this month with things that need to be done and so much of that still depends on the weather but we are moving into a warmer Spring like period and it’s noticeable that the bees are definitely becoming more active. It’s time to make sure everything is ready for the early season plans that we have in place and a good time for you to revisit your plans and think about what needs to be done this month in the apiary.It’s very much sunshine and showers at the moment, the sun warms everything up and then the cool Spring April showers turn up and cool everything back down again so it’s a tricky time for all of us, both beekeepers and honeybees. Of course, you could well be seeing lovely warm sunshine and temperatures well into the high teens and we all need to take account of the local conditions, just because I am able to inspect doesn’t mean that my beekeeping friends in Scotland can open up their hives.When I do finally manage to get into my bees I'm looking out for some very specific things.As I open the colony, how are the bees? Are there plenty of them, how many top bars do they cover? Are they moving about nicely or are they terribly sluggish, could that be a problem or are they just cold? I encountered Chronic Bee Paralysis Virus late last year and the bees just staggered around the colony, shivering and looking very sorry for themselves. Unfortunately they didn’t see out the Winter and I’ve had to clean out the hive and prepare it for reuse.Removing frames I’m looking not just at how much stores they have left but I’m also looking at the condition of the stores, is it still ok for the bees or has there been a problem with mould or fermentation, basically can the bees still use it?I’ve had some pollen supplement on my bees for a couple of weeks and I’m now looking to replace it with an early Spring feed of syrup. But don’t be in too great a hurry to start feeding your bees syrup, know why you’re feeding them, is it because they are running low? Are you aiming for an early crop such as Oil Seed Rape, also called Canola.Perhaps you're looking to expand the number of colonies you have or want plenty of bees for early queen rearing, just be sure you know why you’re feeding your bees. Once it’s warmed up a little I feed one to one sugar syrup in a contact feeder, it’s a system that works best for me.You might find your colonies have expanded incredibly quickly, this can seem like a really good start but be careful they have enough space, I’ve seen colonies swarming in early April because they haven’t enough space so be mindful that they may need additional room.This could be another brood box, ideal if you’re looking to split the colony or you may simply add a queen excluder and super, I like to make the first super I add one that has already been drawn with comb, I always think trying to get the bees to draw out fresh foundation th

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How to Use Pollen Substitute S1:E8 Apr 20, 2018

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Beekeeping short and sweet - A Beekeeping podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span, a beekeeper, in fact, just like me!In this week's podcast, I'm talking about Pollen Substitute, why you might use it, how to mix it up and how to use it.Unless you've been keeping honeybees for a prolonged period of time it can seem that at every turn there's yet another difficult choice to make. Here's my take on one of those choices, whether to feed your honeybees pollen substitute and if so, how to feed it to them.Following a long, drawn out Winter our honeybees sometimes struggle in the first few weeks of Spring, variable weather, certainly something we get all too often here in the UK, can see the bees explode from the hive en masse foraging for pollen and nectar on one day only to be huddled back up in a cluster the next.I suspect most beekeepers will have considered feeding some fondant to their bees at some point over the Winter months, maybe your bees seem to just munch through all the food stores you give them as quickly as possible (another reason for considering near-native or native bees as they tend to be more frugal) or perhaps you just got caught out with the amount of food or the length of Winter the bees have had.Either way, adding fondant is a simple process of mostly lifting the lid and adding a block of soft sugar fondant to the bees and replacing the roof.But what about Pollen Substitute? Why feed it, when should you feed it, what does it do and should you bother?Why Pollen Substitute at all?Stepping back to basics for a brief moment, most beekeepers know that honeybees collect nectar as a carbohydrate and pollen as a protein and it is this protein early in the season that helps the colony launch itself out of Winter and into that very important growth phase through Spring.In order to produce eggs the queen is going to need protein and for the workers to produce brood food for the ever-expanding number of larvae they also need protein, but that doesn't mean you should rush out and buy a sack of pollen substitute or start mixing your own concoction, it just might not be necessary.I've often explained to beginner beekeepers who contact me or attend my courses, with all things that you do in beekeeping there should be a reason, don't just launch into doing something because you read about someone (like me!) doing it or some old timer in the bee club was talking about what he was doing. Think through your beekeeping plans and have a plan of action to follow, have a purpose for everything you do in beekeepingSo, back to the Pollen Substitute, during early Winter you will see you bees out foraging perhaps on ivy, grabbing as much pollen as possible, storing this pollen gives the bees much needed protein for the long Winter period but also for the late Winter and early Spring period as they gradually start to build up again. If you're lucky you will have early Spring flowering plants and trees that will provide a source of pollen for them. I am very fortunate that here in Norfolk, UK we have at most of our apiaries a range of plants such as snowdrops, crocus, hellebores and many others that provide a much-needed injection of pollen. Everything really starts to kick in around early to mid-March when the Willow starts to flower and this is the main source of pollen that our bees have to forage.When to Feed Pollen SubstituteWhere I have chosen colonies that I want to be roaring away as early as possible I will give a light syrup stimulatory feed in early March and then, having encouraged the queen to increase her egg laying the bees are going to want more pollen and so I follow this light feed with the pollen Substitute. Timing will vary depending on where you are and how your season is unfolding but don't be tempted to feed syrup too early, it will simply act as a heat sink and draw away warmth from the brood nest.Here then is the dilemma and also the question fo

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Monthly Preview: March S1:E7 Apr 13, 2018

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Welcome back to the Podcast. This week is my monthly review of jobs that might feature in March. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was chatting about the tasks for February, Spring is definitely on the way. Having said that Spring will soon be here there is also a risk to our bees from a last Winter chill and with it our bees could well be eating through their final remaining stores so it's important to keep a watchful eye on what stores your colonies have left and give them a top-up of fondant if needed. By now most of the Winter repair and cleaning work should have been completed, unless of course you're anything like me and leave most tasks to the last minute, anyway, it's time to get stuck in to the final few jobs that need to be done to be prepared for the new season.

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Q & A March 2018 S1:E6 Apr 06, 2018

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Beekeeping, Short and Sweet. A podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span. A beekeeper, in fact, just like me.This is my monthly Q&A session answering beekeeping questions submitted by my Patreon supporters. In this episode, we have questions relating to sloping apiaries, dummy boards and others.Thank you to everyone who submitted questions for the Q&A for March. It was really quite difficult to keep it "short and sweet" but I only overran by a few seconds.Some really great questions and hopefully as we move forward I will get better at the whole Q&A process.Keep the comments and suggestions coming, there will, of course, be a Q&A Podcast lined up for April.

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BIBBA - Abberton Reservoir Interview with Kevin Thorn S1:E5 Mar 30, 2018

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Today's podcast is the follow-on interview with Kevin Thorn, Group Coordinator for the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association and also the person heading up the project at the Abberton Reservoir near Colchester, Essex. UK.Kevin explains how the project got started, the processes that they went through and who is involved.

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Interview with Kevin Thorn from BIBBA S1:E4 Mar 23, 2018

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In today's podcast I meet up with Kevin thorn, Groups' Organiser for the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association here in the UK.I am a member of BIBBA and I wanted to share some information about the group so that other beekeepers could learn a little more about the organisation and maybe even decide that it was something worth getting involved in.The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association has its own informative website www.bibba.com where you can find lots of useful information about the group and ways to participate.If you are interested in any aspect of the association's activities please do get in touch with Kevin by email, kevinthorn@me.com

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Nosema - A Practical Guide to Diagnosis and Control S1:E3 Mar 16, 2018

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A podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span, a podcast, in fact, designed for a beekeeper just like me!Nosema is a spore-forming parasitic microsporidian. There are over 200 different species of Nosema, fortunately, only two of those affect our honeybees.Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae.Each one is slightly different and develops in the honeybee slightly differently but both can devastate a honeybee colony.If you would like me to check your honeybees for Nosema check out my website:http://www.norfolk-honey.co.uk/product/nosema-assessment/The Scientific paper I refer to in the podcast is;"Effect of thymol and resveratrol administered with candyor syrup on the development of Nosema ceranaeand on the longevity of honeybees (Apis mellifera L.)in laboratory conditions" Costa, Lodesani and Maistrello.Apidologie 41 (2010) 141–150 Available online at:c INRA/DIB-AGIB/EDP Sciences, 2009 www.apidologie.orgDOI: 10.1051/apido/2009070

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Oxalic Acid Sublimation Using The ProVap220UK S1:E2 Mar 09, 2018

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A podcast for the inquisitive beekeeper with a short attention span, a podcast, in fact, designed for a beekeeper just like me!The ProVap 220UKIn Today's Podcast, I review the latest piece of equipment I have called the ProVap220UK Oxalic Acid Sublimator/VaporiserCheck out all of the product details on our website http://www.norfolk-honey.co.uk/product/provap220uk/

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