Right, so we survived year two of the Ulster Beekeepers Association Annual Conference. And this time, we actually came prepared.
Last year? Complete chaos. Mum frantically scribbling notes while her brain tried to keep up with words like “polyandry” and “mitochondrial DNA.” Bee Girl wide-eyed at all the bees and beekeepers. We left with half-understood concepts, a headache, and a vague sense that we’d learned… something?
This year was different. This year we had a strategy.
The Great Conference Split
We made an executive decision on day one: divide and conquer.
Mum’s Mission: As many lectures as humanly possible. The problem? They ran simultaneously, so you had to choose. Professor Grace McCormack on chemical-free beekeeping? Absolutely going to that one. Jonathan Getty on queen rearing and why importing bees is problematic? Yes please. But that meant missing others running at the same time.
Mum sat in lecture halls, took notes, collected the conference booklet, and tried very hard to look like she knew what “haplodiploidy” meant.
Bee Girl’s Mission: Have actual fun.
She had the option of workshops on honey extraction, microscopy, mead making, and making products from beeswax and honey. And she went straight for the creative stuff.
Look at what she made. Actual proper rolled beeswax candles – yellow, natural, pink, and these gorgeous purple-and-blue striped ones. Not wonky beginner attempts. Proper candles that look like they belong in a shop.
She also made skincare products – lip balm and creams that actually look professional (we’ll show you those in a minute). And here’s the thing: she loved it so much that she bought kits to make more at home. The Thorne bag came back full of supplies, ideas, and an eleven-year-old who’s now plotting what we should create next.
What Mum Actually Managed to Learn
Here’s the thing about beekeeping conferences: they’re brilliant. They’re also completely overwhelming if you’re still at the “wait, which end of the bee is which?” stage of your journey.
But we came home with the conference notes booklet. And last night, when I actually sat down and READ through it properly – not in a crowded lecture hall where I’m trying to keep up, but at my own pace with a cup of tea – everything started clicking.
Here’s what we learned about:
The Native Irish Bee Situation
Turns out our native dark bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is actually incredible. It’s adapted to our climate, our weather, our forage. Jonathan Getty gave a whole talk about why importing bees might not be the brilliant idea everyone thinks it is. Our local bees have evolved over thousands of years to survive here. Imported bees? Not so much.
The more we learn about our native bees, the more we realize how special they are. And how much we need to protect them.
Chemical-Free Beekeeping (aka This Changes Everything)
Professor Grace McCormack’s research on varroa resistance in Irish bees was the lecture I absolutely had to attend. She’s running trials on colonies that aren’t being treated for varroa, and some of them are thriving. Some colonies seem to have natural behaviors that help them manage the mites – grooming, uncapping brood, hygienic behaviors we can’t necessarily see but that make a massive difference.
This lecture made us rethink everything about varroa treatment. The idea that some bees might be able to handle varroa on their own – that treatment-free beekeeping might actually be sustainable in Ireland – is fascinating and opens up a whole new way of thinking about bee health.
We’ll be diving deep into this one in a future post because honestly, it deserves its own space.
Things That Will Keep Us Awake At Night
I didn’t make it to all the pest and disease lectures (they clashed with others), but reading through the conference booklet later… well. Let’s just say I need to do more research on Asian hornets and this Tropilaelaps mite situation.
The booklet describes Tropilaelaps as basically varroa’s bigger, meaner cousin that’s already made its way from Asia into Eastern Europe. It’s smaller, harder to see, breeds faster, and could devastate our bees if it reaches us.
Great. Another thing to research and worry about. (We’re really selling this hobby, aren’t we?)
Queen Rearing & The Belfast Minnowburn Group
Jonathan Getty’s talk about the Belfast Minnowburn queen rearing group was fascinating. The concept makes so much sense: if you can produce queens from colonies that are thriving in your area, you’re breeding bees that are already adapted to your local conditions.
We have zero idea how to do this yet, but at least now we understand WHY it matters. And why buying queens from who-knows-where might not be the best approach for Irish beekeeping.
Bee Genetics (Send Help)
I didn’t make it to Alice Pinto’s genetics lecture (it clashed with another), but reading through her notes in the conference booklet… wow. Mitochondrial DNA vs nuclear DNA. Haplodiploidy. The whole “Great Bee Blend” situation where imported bees are mixing with native bees and threatening the genetic diversity that took thousands of years to develop.
It took reading the summary three times before it started clicking. But once it did? It actually made sense. And it made us care even more about preserving our local bees.
The Reading-It-Later Revelation
Here’s what we learned about learning: sometimes the best education happens AFTER the lecture.
In the moment, you’re trying to keep up. You’re scribbling notes. You’re nodding along hoping you look like you understand. But later – when you’re home in your pajamas with tea and the conference booklet – that’s when it actually sinks in.
We missed lectures we wanted to attend because they clashed. But the conference notes gave us summaries we could read at our own pace. No pressure. No trying to write fast enough to capture everything. Just information, clearly laid out, ready when we were ready for it.
Turns out, we learn better when we’re not panicking.
What We’re Doing About It
Over the next few weeks, we’re going to break down what we learned. Properly. In language that makes sense to those of us who still have zero idea what we’re doing.
We’ll translate the science into beginner-friendly terms. We’ll connect it to our own bees and our own questions. We’ll share what’s relevant to other wannabe beekeepers who can’t make it to these conferences or who, like us, need to read things seventeen times before they sink in.
And yes, we’ll absolutely be sharing what Bee Girl creates with those candle-making and skincare kits. Because beekeeping isn’t just about managing varroa and worrying about Asian hornets. It’s also about making beautiful things from what the bees give us.
The Bottom Line
Year two at the conference was better than year one. Not because we’re less overwhelmed (we’re still completely overwhelmed), but because we’re getting better at learning. We know now that it’s okay not to understand everything in the moment. We know we can come home, re-read, process, and actually absorb the information when we’re not in panic-scribbling mode.
We still have approximately zero idea what we’re doing. But we’re getting better at figuring it out.
Stay tuned for the deep dives. They’re coming. And they’ll be in proper beginner-speak, we promise.
Mum & Bee Girl
Bee Happy Honey