There are very few occasions where I feel like a prince when I’m beekeeping.

Sweaty. Swollen. Smelling like woodsmoke and propolis. It’s hardly the vibe of royalty. But then I stumbled across the PollenMaid Bee Suit and suddenly, I got it. Why Kate Middleton donned one on World Bee Day and looked like she was off to tea at Highgrove rather than into a hive full of angry bees.

It turns out… she may be onto something.

Designed for women, not just ‘also worn by’

For years, women beekeepers have been fumbling around in kit made for their taller, broader, longer-limbed beekeeping brethren. The result? Baggy sleeves. Bunched-up waists. A crotch somewhere around the knees. Enter: B J Sherriff’s PollenMaid.

A suit actually designed for women’s proportions. They’ve added shaping where it’s needed, shortened what always got in the way, and crucially – made the waist and chest area actually work for female anatomy.

Wearing a suit that fits makes you feel less like a beekeeper impersonator and more like you know what you’re doing. That confidence actually helps when you’re mid-inspection and the bees are testing your nerve.

The details that matter

Some suits just have that ‘we added pink so now it’s for women’ vibe. This isn’t that.

Engineered for comfort, fit, and practicality, the PollenMaid is the first-ever bee suit designed with women in mind. Its patent-pending drop-down back panel allows for quick, discreet comfort breaks—without removing the suit. Simply unzip, unbuckle, release—and refasten just as swiftly.

The PollenMaid features also include:

• Tailored fit with elegant, patterned trim
• Self-supporting hood for easy wear and storage
• Sherriff’s ClearView Veil for superior visibility
• See-through phone pocket for convenient use on the go

Bonus: Every PollenMaid suit arrives in a FREE BJ Sherriff signature storage bag.

Is it worth the royal seal of approval?

Well, if it’s good enough for Kate… In her World Bee Day photo, she’s spotted in a near-identical bee suit – sparking a flurry of interest in women’s beekeeping wear. Granted, she didn’t have a smoker in one hand and a half-glued super in the other, but she looked the part.

And let’s not underestimate what a difference it makes to see high-profile women showing interest in bees, biology, and bonnets. Visibility counts – even if it’s via a very clean pair of gauntlets.

Final thoughts: Buzzing about it

Would I recommend the PollenMaid? Yes. Wholeheartedly.

It’s not cheap – it’s a premium suit and comes in at £345 (at time of writing) – but after years of making do, it feels like a bit of kit that actually respects female beekeepers. You will feel comfortable, protected, and, dare I say it… a little bit glam.

Just don’t expect the bees to treat you like a princess. No one’s told them about World Bee Day.

Read more from the hive

How I started talking with bees
Discover how beekeeping became my path to sanity in Is Beekeeping The Answer To Regaining My Sanity.​

Navigating the beekeeping calendar
For a month-by-month guide on hive management, check out my Beekeeping Calendar.

When bees get feisty
Read about my experiences with aggressive hives and the steps I took in Aggressive Bees & A Physiological Reaction.

Exploring different hive types
Considering a new hive? Here’s my Review Of Beehive Types For The Novice Beekeeper.​Talking With Bees

If you’re anything like me, you’re always on the lookout for ways to improve your apiary. After all, we owe it to our buzzing little friends to give them the best start in life. That’s why I’ve been so excited to use the Vita HiveGate Advanced Hive Entrance. Let me tell you, it’s not just a hive entrance – it’s a hive upgrade. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far.

Please note that Vita are a Sponsor of this blog.

What is the HiveGate?

The HiveGate isn’t your average hive entrance. It’s an innovative tool designed to improve bee health and boost colony performance. By filtering forager bees before they enter the hive, it reduces the spread of pathogens like nosema and varroa – the kind of nasties that keep us up at night worrying about our colonies.

This clever piece of kit also improves air circulation in the hive and helps keep intruders out (yes, wasps, I’m looking at you).

My Experience with the HiveGate

Fitting the HiveGate was straightforward, even for someone who occasionally struggles with putting frames together without a small crisis! It sits snugly at the hive entrance and doesn’t require much in the way of adjustments. Once in place, I could see an immediate improvement in the flow of bees.

One thing I love is how the HiveGate encourages hygiene. Bees pass through a series of barriers that groom them, helping to reduce the amount of harmful pathogens they bring into the hive. It’s like a bee-sized spa day!

The results? My colonies seem calmer and healthier. Of course, the true test will be the upcoming season, but I’m optimistic that the HiveGate is going to make a significant difference.

Why You Should Try the HiveGate

Here are some of the reasons the HiveGate might be the perfect addition to your apiary:

• Healthier hives: By reducing the spread of pathogens, the HiveGate helps your bees thrive.
• Improved air circulation: Proper ventilation means fewer problems with condensation, especially in winter.
• Intruder protection: The HiveGate reduces the risk of wasps and other pests entering your hives.
• Ease of use: It’s simple to install and works with most standard hive types.

If you’re curious, check out video below to see the HiveGate in action. It’s fascinating to watch!

Add It to Your Beekeeping Toolkit

Investing in the HiveGate was one of the smartest moves I made in beekeeping last year. It’s a small change with a big impact. If you want to give your bees the best chance of thriving, I can’t recommend it enough.

To learn more, visit the Vita Europe website. You’ll also find other great resources to support your bees.

Read More

• My beekeeping calendar
• Guide to managing varroa
• Beekeeping equipment

Varrocheck

To ensure the health of your honey bee colonies, it is essential to regularly monitor and check varroa mite levels. There are a number of ways of testing and counting varroa mite but one of the quickest, accurate and easy ways is to use the VarroCheck recently launched by Vita (one of my sponsors).

How to use

You put diluted alcohol into the test bottle, choose two or three frames from the centre of the brood area, shake the bees into a large tub, scoop a full measure of nurse bees and put them in the bottle, clipping it shut. You shake the bottle to wet the bees and euthanase any varroa mites and count the varroa mites. You then do a quick calculation to work out the percentage infestation level.

There are a lot more details here.

How much does it cost

At the time of writing it cost less than £20 in the UK and less than $20 in the USA.

Happy beekeeping!

For further information, please see my guide to Varroa Management.

Founder of BJ Sherriff Beekeeping Clothing 

It is sad news about a beekeeping legend. The innovator Brian Sherriff has passed away at the age of 94.

Celebrated for the protective beekeeping clothing which bears his name, Brian Sherriff was born into a family of British corset-manufacturers, his grandfather having set up his first factory in Bristol, UK in the late 1800s. Brian was apprenticed into the family business, starting out in the cutting room. As fashions morphed from full-length corsets into the modern bra, so Brian’s career also took shape. In the 1950s, under his father’s guidance, he became director of a bra factory in Cornwall.

Brian created his own calling card. When asked to explain his line of business, this could be brought out with a flourish. “The Bra-kerchief” was a miniature replica bra which could be tucked into a gentleman’s top pocket with just a starched peak emerging, resembling a handkerchief. The presentation pack read: ‘Size 15 inch. Guaranteed to fit … as long as you’re the right size!’ 

 The bra factory enjoyed success. However, as market forces changed in the late 1960s, Brian acquired his first beehives, intending to set himself up as a bee-farmer. This was not to be his future, however.  

It was a bee sting which took his career in a new direction. Brian always credited his beloved wife Patricia with the invention of the BJ Sherriff beekeeping hood. Unlike a traditional hat and veil, which he had found not to be sting-proof, the structured hood she designed was very effective and revolutionized beekeeping. The first prototype was made using materials they had to hand in the bra factory: boning and net intended for bras, and fabric reserved for swimming costume gussets. A full-length bee-suit soon followed, featuring a sheriff’s star and the brand BJ Sherriff was born. 

 Brian’s early life was spent in Bristol, where as a teenager he experienced bombing raids, later recalling the smoke and the sound of the lions roaring in Bristol Zoo. He fully expected to go into active service when he left school and was trained in the use of a Sten gun. To his relief, he never went to war; peace was declared just weeks before his seventeenth birthday. 

 Brian Sherriff, born 24 May 1928, died 6 August 2022. 

Never Lose a Queen Again

I wanted to let you all know that BJ Sherriff, a sponsor of this blog, have recently launched an innovative QueenSafe™ bag.

New Queen bees are either expensive to buy, or take time to rear, so you don’t want her to go missing!

The bag allows beekeepers to safely and securely manipulate their queen bees with ease: transferring queens between containers, colour marking or wing clipping.  The tube is self-supporting and is hand washable. It concertinas in to a flat circular shape.

Their researcher Johnathan says “can’t believe how easy this is to use – having lost a few queens in my time whilst trying to mark them in my truck – they like to climb down the air vents never to be seen again! But not anymore – this is a great piece of kit”

Link to QueenSafe™ bag on the BJ Sherriff website.

Festival Of Bees 2021 – Kent, Bath, Yorkshire

The Festival Of Bees is for beekeepers and those who are interested in becoming beekeepers.  More information can be found here: Festival Of Bees

They are looking for Stewards and Ambassadors.  Please contact Kerry if you are able to offer your services: tel. 01227 831220; kerry@festivalofbees.co.uk.

Bee Suit Warranties And Repairs

Many of us will be getting out our beekeeping suits and discovering holes in the veil or the knees.

This is a timely reminder that some of the beekeeping clothing manufacturers offer warranties and have in-house repair services, so do use these services if available.

A sponsor of this blog and the bee suit I use: BJ Sherriff garments carry a 5 year warranty on all zips and they repair garments of any age as long as it is deemed economically viable to repair them.  They have repaired a few garments over 40 years old in recent weeks!  Contact them if you need a re-veil or refurbishment of your BJ Sherriff protective clothing.  Repairs are carried out by their authorised specialist machinists and therefore do not revoke their warranty.  Call them weekdays, 9.30am to 14.30pm: tel. 01872 863304; or email: orders@bjsherriff.com.  Link to their website: www.bjsherriff.co.uk

Further Information:

• My bee suit review

Kate Humble Beekeeping On Escape To The Farm

It was nice to see a reminder of last summer’s beekeeping, and something to look forward to next summer, as I watched Kate Humble doing some beekeeping last week on Escape To The Farm (Channel 5, UK, 20th October 2020, 9pm).

Stay safe everyone and see you on the other side.

It was nice to see the beekeepers wearing BJ Sherriff beekeeping suits, which are massive a Cornish, success story.

I wrote a review of bee suits and if you want to visit the Sherriff site here is the link: www.bjsherriff.co.uk . *

* Please note, BJ Sherriff are a sponsor of this blog.

Season 7 – I Still Don’t Know What I’m Doing

Background

• 2 colonies in total:
  • 1 colony is either drone laying queen or laying workers
  • And 1 good colony
• 2 new queens bought in the post and ready to pop in

Plan

1. Hope bad colony was drone laying queen, find her and pop in a 2019 queen
2. Artificially swarm the good colony and pop new queen in the new colony so it gets motoring straight away (leaving old queen in the hive on original site)

What Happened

Bad colony

• I could not find a queen and the egg pattern looked distinctly like laying workers, i.e. patchy.  No point wasting a queen on this colony.  Best to let the colony gradually dwindle.

Good colony

• 10 frames of bees.  Had not gone into the supers at all.  Quite a bit of drone comb. Little progress in 2 weeks.
• I couldn’t find the queen hence did a 3 way split
• Took 3 frames out and placed into the other side of the beehaus and popped in a queen. I also made sure drawn comb and stores in this hive
• Took 2 frames out and placed into beige nuc. Made sure drawn comb and stores in this hive.
• Hope queen is in the hive on original site
• Will leave for 2 weeks and see where we are
• Not confident that any of my colonies will make honey this year … but they do have 7 weeks to build up ready for the July nectar flow

Overall

Not one of those days when you spot and mark halve your queens and feel almost competent.  This was a reality check that it’s tough to find queens some days.  However, at least I vaguely knew what to do – hopefully create some colonies that are good to go into winter.  Over to the bees!

https://youtu.be/GWGmeVL-PoM

Read More

• My Apiary Notes
• My Colony Losses
• Beehaus Review
• Swarm Management

Beehaus Review – Season One

The Beehaus has been an object of desire for me since I started beekeeping and the Omlet team kindly provided me with one to experience and review. I set it up and populated it with honey bees in May 2018.

Here is my first season review – and I would be really interested to hear the experiences of other beekeeper’s who use the Beehaus.

Summary

The bees have thrived … and importantly, the ergonomic height and double brood box (allowing easy combining of colonies and artificial swarming) has meant there is almost no heavy lifting and shifting and no pressure on my back.  This has to be one of the key benefits of this hive.

Overall

1. The bees have done very well in this hive.  They produced honey, they are strong in numbers and they are healthy.  Obviously I could say the same for my wooden 14×12 hives but the point is the bees have thrived in the Beehaus, as they would in a cedar or poly hive
2. The high stand, thick insulation and entrance that helps defend against wasps has given me confidence that they are protected and have a good home
3. The double brood box allowed me to:
   • Easily unite two colonies without the lifting and shifting boxes of bees
   • Give the bees extra space to put further honey stores
   • Be confident that I can readily perform an artificial swarm next year
4. The thick insulation should further help see them through the winter
5. The high stand and ease of combining hives and artificially swarming takes the pressure off beekeeper’s back and is excellent ergonomically

The Frustrations

1. The cover boards slide around and it is a challenge to make sure they are bee tight. I’m getting better at this and always make sure it is bee tight … but I would have thought they could have been designed to simply slot into place
2. Where the grey panel meets the green panel, my Beehaus has a large gap.  I have had to tape this up (see photos below)

I look forward to continuing my beekeeping with the Beehaus.  My back particularly appreciates working with this hive.

Reader Feedback

I would be really interested in the experience of other beekeeper’s who use the Beehaus.

Read More

• My original Beehaus review
• Beehaus Website (20% discount as I write this post)
• I also have an active page where people are looking to buy and sell their Beehaus: Beehaus For Sale.  This is free to use, but I sometimes take a few days to approve adverts and replies.
• I keep notes of my beeking in My Apiary

Video Of Beehaus In Action

 

Thermosolar Hive – Guest Review

John in Ireland has very kindly provided a review of his first season with the two Thermosolar Hives:

29th May 2018: Purchased 2 overwintered nuc’s from a friend and brought them to my site in the countryside where I already had 2 Poly Hives.  There are no other Bee Hives within 2 miles of these so they have free range.

30th May: The following evening I transferred the frames into the Thermosolar Hives in which I had fitted the Hoffman frames and foundation.

9th June: Routine check – found that the colony were building comb on to the existing national frames that I had inserted from the Nuc and as a result I was unable to carry out a full inspection, but I added a super.

24th June (during our Irish heatwave): Found evidence of honey in Supers. Bees could be seen using the Super exit and I blocked off the Solar Panel at front as I felt the bees would get burnt alive in the soaring temperatures.

8th July: Supers full and added the other 2 Supers.

15th August: I put on clearing boards and as the weather had deteriorated I removed the board that was blocking the Solar Panel in front.

17th August: Removed 3 full capped supers from each which extracted 95 lbs of golden honey.

The brood chamber seems quiet full of Stores & I have not seen any evidence of Varroa in hive to date.

I intend to give them a feed of just sugar and water syrup this week.

I will not be doing the Thermosolar Treatment this year on these hives as the temperatures have dropped a lot here in the last few weeks and I did not want to do the treatment with the Supers on.

I hope to get a few more Supers made locally where the carpenter made up feeding boards for me.

I notice that there is no crown board and as a result I found that when opening for inspection the frames were coming away with the roof!!!

Overall I am quite happy with the Thermo Hives this year 2018.

Thanks John – much appreciated, great honey production.  Roger.

Read More

• Thermosolar Hive Guide (this page provides links to external pages)
• A reader of this blog kindly provided me with a photo of his wax moth infested hive, which I have added to my post Wax Moth Infestation

Wax Moth Infestation

Greater Wax Moth Infestation (Galleria mellonella)

I didn’t have my camera, so I can only describe the extent of the infestation.

Upon taking off the roof I was presented with a few hundred wax moth larvae in the polystyrene that I used in the roof. I could see larvae spilling out of the two Porter bee escapes in the crown board.  I was met with resistance when trying to prise off the crown board – it was stuck down with a very sticky and thick cotton wool like fibre.  This cotton wool like web was 1cm thick over the top of all the frames.  It was full of larvae and so thick that there was no way the bees could get through it.  Upon trying to pull out a frame I was met with this thick cotton wool web down each seam of bees and in each frame. The frames were beyond repair and I chucked them in a pile to be burnt. By this stage there are thousands of larvae crawling around which I slice through in the hope that they do not enter my other hives.  Ten minutes after I started taking the hive apart, I even find them on my smoker which was on a spare hive stand 1m away.  They don’t stop crawling, searching for food and shelter.  The brood box was also beyond repair as the larvae had bored into the woodwork and made hundreds of boat-shaped indentations as well as the thousands of eggs that would be present in the cracks.

“Luckily”, Mike, a reader of this blog did have a camera to take some photos of his wax moth larvae infested hive.  Mine looked similar.  He lit a fire below the hive below.

I lit a fire in the allotment and burnt all the frames and brood box.  I took my propane torch and scorched the roof, crown board and floor.  I’ll leave that in the field and hopefully a cold winter night will kill any remaining baddies (it needs to be below -7C for 5 hours to kill the wax moth eggs).

There were a few hundred surviving bees, so I hope they were welcomed into one of the other hives.

Here is a photo and video of a surviving larvae I found the following day:

I couldn’t find any photos online as bad as the infestation I experienced, but here are a couple of photos from Bee Aware in Australia.

How I Think It Happened

• Weakness – The hive this happened to did not have many bees.  It had failed to requeen and I added a new queen too late in the season.  A strong hive will keep the wax moth and the larvae at bay
• Easy entrance to the hive – The wax moth probably got into the roof.  I had blocked the Porter bee escapes with Blu Tack, which means the eggs could become larvae without being attacked by the bees and then the larvae could move into the brood box
• On a couple of occasions I removed bits of wax and left them on the grass

How To Reduce Likelihood of Wax Moth Infestation

1. Strong hives – colonies with many bees will manage the wax moth and keep any infestation to a minimum
2. Solid crown boards – this will close an entrance for wax moth or their lavae to readily get into the hives
3. Cleanliness – bag any wax and recycle it
4. Scorching – use a flame to scorch hive equipment that is put into storage
5. Freezing – if space and low quantity, place brood frames in freezer for 5 hours
6. B401/Certan – spray stored brood combs with B401 (also known as Certan), a safe and environmentally friendly product based on a concentrated solution of Bacillus thuringiensis, that does no harm to humans and bees

The Good News

But there was some good news.  2 out of my 3 hives are in excellent shape.  Full of bees, lots of flying bees bringing in pollen, plenty of stores for winter.

Here’s a video of the Beehaus:

Read More

• My Apiary notes
• B401/Certan (external link) – protects comb from wax moth over winter
• How to keep your bees healthy

BEE Fayre – 11 & 12 August – Cornwall

If you are near Enys House and Gardens, Penryn, Cornwall on Saturday 11th or Sunday 12th August 2018 it is worth going to this charitable and educational BEE Fayre.

BJ SHERRIFF organise this event to help raise awareness of the plight of the bee. There will be interesting short talks and demonstrations, including Skep Making, build an Insect Hotel throughout both days as well as Honey for Sale, Bee Gifts, bee friendly plants, Honey Cosmetic stalls, paint your own bee pottery at Starglazers and a creativity area for children.

This year the money raised will be donated to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Beekeeping at Help for Heroes and Bees Abroad.

BEE Fayre Timetable

Read More

• BJ Sherriff website
• Enys House & Gardens website

Efficient Beekeeping

As I become a more confident beekeeper I am observing the honeybees more and inspecting them less. This in turn is good for the bees and saves me time.

On Saturday my focus was to observe (in order to make plans) and add Apiguard (to reduce varroa).

I spent about 1.5 hours beekeeping – and most of this was taking equipment backwards and forwards.

It was great to see the colonies thriving and to be working with the bees again.

External Observation

5 of the colonies have many bees leaving the hive and returning laden with pollen.  Pollen = brood rearing. All fine.

1 colony had very little going on. Suspect no queen.

Internal Observation

I opened the hives, observed for 5 seconds, added ekes and applied Apiguard.

5 colonies were packed with bees and had expanded over 9-11 frames.

I was glad of the 10Kg of sugar I fed each colony 6 months ago.

The 1 dubious colony had 4 frames of bees but I suspect this colony is failing. Plan – keep under observation. On next inspection – possibly close the hive and throw bees onto the grass if required.

The objective of today was to check the 2 nucs I was selling had eggs, stores and gentle bees.  Which they did.

Read More

• My Apiary – beehive notes
• Apiguard – Vita product page