I Built Them a Buffet
Wasps stripped our new queen’s colony back to a few dozen bees, and it turns out we’d left them a snack. What we did, what we got wrong, and how it all traces back to a split that went sideways in June.
The Buzzword
Bee facts, science, and everything you never knew you needed to know about bees.
The Board Said Four. It Just Didn’t Say It Clearly.
We did the mite count before the Apiguard went on. Four per square sounded like good news, right up until I did the sum against the area the bees actually cover. Then the treatment went on, and one label instruction cost me my favourite gadget.
She Went Up on a Mating Flight, and Didn’t Come Down
Colony 001’s virgin queen went up on a mating flight while we were on holiday and never came back. How we confirmed the colony was truly queenless, why waiting wasn’t an option in late August, and what a twenty pound queen from a brand new contact actually bought us.
Thirteen Ways to Treat Varroa, and Why We Reach for Apiguard
The home apiary. Three hives and a new nuc, as of this week. We ordered the Apiguard yesterday. It hasn’t landed yet, and for once that’s useful, because it means there’s still time to do a proper mite count before anything goes near a hive. Three hives now, and a new nuc that turned up … Read more
A Day Down the Microscope
No suits, no smoke, just a bench and two microscopes: a bee taken apart wing by wing in the morning, and an afternoon learning to read the pollen fingerprint that tells you what is really in a jar of honey.
Two Weeks Later
One queen thriving, one nuc lost to wasps, and one hive still refusing to say whether it has a queen at all. A bit of everything in this one.
Where Did She Go?
If you have been following along, you will know that we have had a season. You can read the full version in How Do I Fix This but the short version is this: a hive that went queenless, a plan that went sideways, and two beekeepers standing at the apiary feeling considerably less confident than … Read more
How Do I Fix This
Before I start, a quick note. There are approximately twenty different ways to do everything in beekeeping and every beekeeper you meet will swear theirs is correct. They’re probably all right. This is just our way, our season, our very humbling few weeks. Your mileage may vary. The bees’ mileage definitely will. Right. Now that’s … Read more
She’s Called Clover (Officially She’s 2026-01-002, But We’re Not Calling Her That)
We joined a queen rearing group, grafted a larva, got one queen from twenty attempts, and let Bee Girl do the fun bit. Meet Clover. She is marked white, she is in a nuc, and she has no idea what is waiting for her.
She Crossed Up
A Buzzword Post There are moments in beekeeping where the bees do exactly what you hoped they would do, exactly when you needed them to do it, and you have to resist the urge to ring someone about it at an inappropriate hour. This was one of those weeks. But we’ll get to that. The … Read more