Beekeeping How-To Guides
About The Author
I am not Britain’s leading beekeeper or teacher. I am not known for monthly columns in bee magazines or for any beekeeping books. As a beekeeper I have not won any prizes or honey competitions. I am not known for my writing and ability to demystify the honourable pursuit of beekeeping. I am a novice beekeeper with a lot to learn. And despite being a beekeeper I am quite risk averse and finish each guide with the disclaimer “These how-to guides are provided for general interest and information only. No liability is accepted for any injury or loss arising out of the contents of these pages“.
However. I am passionate about becoming a good beekeeper and have attended beekeeping courses, read many books and trawled the Internet in the search of quality advice. I am not attached to any particular form of beekeeping (natural, traditional) or practices. I am open-minded and willing to change my mind immediately when presented with better advice.
Quality Of Advice
There are many beekeeping books and much advice on the Internet. As one of my first beekeeping teachers said “… with 2 beekeepers you have 3 opinions, get 4 beekeepers together and you need to form a splinter”. So, a lot of the advice out there is contradictory. Who should a novice beekeeper, such as myself, turn to? Which advice is of the best quality? Is there a right answer?
When writing these How-To’s I have used a hierarchy of where I think the best guidance has come from. At the top I place the most trust in advice from the National Bee Unit, as it is maintained by FERA, the Food and Environment Research Agency and as a Government body they have to take a lot of care when publishing information. So, if they say feed a swarm with a Thin Sugar Syrup and someone else says Thick Sugar Syrup, I have gone with the former. Where there is no advice from the National Bee Unit, I have used information from National Beekeeping Associations (particularly the BBKA) as their advice is usually peer reviewed and of good quality. The next tier of information I have used is Local Beekeeping Association websites. The next tier are the beekeeping books and finally beekeeping websites and forums. Most of the following pages take information from all these sources.
The Guides
General
- Bee Hygiene
- Beekeeping Calendar: Month-By-Month
- Getting Started
- Hive Record Card
- Honey Labelling (UK)
- Selecting A Beehive
- Urban Beekeeping
- Managing The Asian Hornet
- Managing The Small Hive Beetle
Various Times Of The Year
- Catching A Swarm
- Dealing With Aggressive Bees
- Combining Hives (also known as Uniting Hives)
- Feeding Bees
- Hiving A Swarm
- Photos of brood comb to help you identify eggs, pollen, healthy and diseased comb
- Requeening (aggressive) hives
- Varroa Management (also read Oxalic Acid Treatment)
Spring Beekeeping Techniques
Summer Beekeeping Techniques
- Harvesting Honey (from clearing supers to jarring; includes Oil Seed Rape and Heather)
- Supering-Down
- Swarm Management
Autumn Beekeeping Techniques
Winter Beekeeping Techniques
Beekeeping Books
If you want to buy the beekeepers bible or a more basic guide please have a look at my pages on UK Beekeeping Guides and USA Beekeeping Guides.