Articles about bees

How a honey bee colony works, what to do in the apiary each month and how to help bees through winter. Clear for beginners, useful for experienced beekeepers.

Five green and orange beehives with thick caps of snow on their roofs in a winter apiary

Everyone 15 min read Wintering Bees: How to Prepare a Colony and Check It Without Opening How the winter cluster keeps warm, how much food to leave, how to set up the nest and insulate the hive, and how to check colonies in winter without opening them.

A honey bee queen with a long dark abdomen in the centre of a pale comb, surrounded by her retinue of worker bees

Beginners 15 min read The Honey Bee Colony: Who Lives in the Hive and How It Works Queen, workers and drones: 16, 21 and 24 days of development, worker jobs by age, the colony through the seasons and how to tell at an inspection that all is well.

A row of colourful beehives at the edge of a flowering yellow rapeseed field under a cloudy sky

Everyone 14 min read Beekeeping calendar: what to do in the apiary month by month A month-by-month apiary calendar for temperate climates: spring inspection, swarm control, queen rearing, the main flow, harvest, mite treatment and winter prep.

Worker honey bee on comb with a reddish-brown Varroa mite on its back

Experienced 14 min read Varroa mites: how to count them and when to treat your bees Varroa is the main reason colonies die over winter. How the mite breeds, how to measure infestation with an alcohol wash or sugar roll, which thresholds matter and when to treat.

A large swarm of honey bees clustered on a mossy tree branch against green leaves and blue sky

Everyone 15 min read Honey bee swarming: signs, causes and how to prevent it Why colonies swarm, how to read swarm cells and colony behaviour, how to catch and hive a swarm, and which swarm control methods actually work.

Close-up of worker bees on pale wax comb with their heads lowered into the cells

Everyone 14 min read Bee language: dances, pheromones and sounds inside the hive How honey bees use dances to point the way to flowers, why pheromones matter and what a hive's hum tells you. The science of von Frisch and Seeley, made practical.

Dark Carniolan queen surrounded by grey worker bees on a light-coloured comb

Everyone 23 min read Honey bee breeds: the main races and where they are kept Dark European, Carpathian, Carniolan, Italian, Caucasian and Buckfast bees: how the races differ in winter hardiness, swarming and temper, where each one is kept and how to pick bees that suit your climate.

A honey bee gathering pollen on the yellow catkins of a flowering goat willow in early spring

Beginners 17 min read Spring honey plants: where the season begins The plants that feed bees in spring, from coltsfoot and willow to orchards, dandelion and oilseed rape: bloom dates, nectar and pollen, honey yields per hectare, honey character and what a beekeeper should do for the early flow.

A honey bee with yellow pollen loads flying up to lime blossoms against green foliage

Everyone 21 min read The main honey flow: summer nectar plants and how much honey they yield Reading the main flow on a scale hive, the key summer nectar plants — lime, buckwheat, fireweed, sweet clover, phacelia, sunflower — with yields and bloom dates, flow types by region, the June dearth and migratory beekeeping.

A honey bee gathering nectar on the lilac flowers of common heather

Everyone 17 min read Late Honey Plants: Heather, Goldenrod and the Last Flow Before Winter What flowers for bees from August to October: heather, goldenrod, phacelia and mustard cover crops, ivy, honeydew. Which autumn honey is safe for wintering, which must be replaced, and how the late flow helps raise winter bees.

Honey bees crowding the landing board and front wall of a hive on a warm spring day

Experienced 16 min read Nosema: spring dysentery in bees, how to diagnose it and what to do Nosema is a gut parasite that weakens colonies and kills them after winter. How Nosema apis differs from Nosema ceranae, how to spot the disease at the entrance and in the gut, where to send a sample, how to treat it and keep it from coming back.

Comb with a patchy brood pattern: dark sunken cappings mixed with empty cells, bees walking over the comb

Experienced 16 min read Foulbrood: American and European, how to recognise it and what the law requires American and European foulbrood are bacterial brood diseases. Signs on the comb, the matchstick (ropiness) test, a comparison table with sacbrood and chilled brood, laboratory confirmation, quarantine, destruction and shook swarms, disinfection and prevention.

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