What can you see? Despite their names, both European Foulbrood and American Foulbrood are present in the UK and are potentially so serious, that their presence in an apiary is notifiable by law. The National Bee Unit (NBU) is the authority charged with controlling foulbrood. Beekeepers are legally obligated to report any suspected diseased coloniesContinue reading "Foulbrood"

Denise and Richard inspected the West End apiary on 20 June. In hive 1, they found the lovely new queen (split from hive 2 and marked yellow) was laying well in a great pattern. The queen marked yellow can be seen in the middle of Richard’s beautiful picture. The bees in hive 2 are inContinue reading "West End update"

The basic is a ‘one to one’ oral assessment The basic assessment is designed to provide new beekeepers with a goal and to give them a measure of their achievement so far in the fundamental skills and knowledge of the craft. To enter the basic, which is an oral assessment, a person must have atContinue reading "BBKA Basic Assessment"

Telling the bees is an age old tradition stemming from Europe in which bees would be told of important events in their keeper's lives such as births, deaths and marriages. Little is known about the origins of the tradition but some say it’s derived from Celtic mythology or even ancient Aegean notions about bees' abilityContinue reading "Telling the bees"

Stephen Barnes, chair of BBKA trustees has written to Area Associations and Branch Secretaries asking that we sign a petition urging the government to encourage local authorities to plant more wild flowers on roadside verges and other spaces in the public realm. There are a number of advantages to wild flowers verges. Not least, theyContinue reading "Wildflower verges"