Bee Farmer Know-How: Tips and Tricks for Every Level
Wed, 08 Jan
|Zoom
Two members of the Bee Farmers' Association, who happen to be the authors of the book 'Healthy Bees, Heavy Hives - How To Maximise Your Honey Crop', provide some beekeeping 'hacks' which may be useful to any beekeeper, whether hobbyist or commercial.
Time & Location
08 Jan 2025, 19:30 – 21:30
Zoom
About the Event
Paul Horton of Apidae Honey is a second generation bee farmer with approximately 300 colonies. His honey yields are amongst the highest in the UK, and 2024 was his best season yet, with over 60,000lbs of honey. As a former bee inspector he is an expert on bee diseases and the challenges facing beekeepers of all descriptions. For all of his experience and knowledge, he is surprisingly young! Paul is very open about how he has become a successful bee farmer and will happily answer questions on any aspect of beekeeping.
Steve Donohoe is a member of the Stockport branch of Cheshire BKA and runs Walrus Apiaries with his son Alex. In contrast to Paul, Steve tends not to move bees very much. He has around 100 colonies (50 production colonies and 50 nuclei) and harvested a much more modest crop than Paul (3,800 lbs). He raises queens from his best stock and inseminated breeder queens, to populate his honey producing hives and the nucleus colonies that he sells. He is the current editor of 'Bee Farmer' magazine.
In this talk the pair discuss practises used in their operations that may help other beekeepers, including finding the queen, supering, swarm control, processing honey and much more. As this is a Zoom call there is no excuse for non-attendence, so please spend an hour or two learning about how these two keep bees, from the comfort of your own home. See you there!