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Swarming is the colony-level reproduction of honeybees. Its differences with individual bee reproduction are many, with the major one being that swarming results in two honeybee colonies. In individual bee reproduction, the result is the production of more bees in the colony. Swarming is a normal occurrence in a strong and productive honeybee colony. Beekeepers have several options to choose from when addressing swarming. They may allow natural swarming to occur, some prefer to control it , so that it happens when and in the way they want, and others opt to prevent swarming from occurring altogether. This guide aims to empower you with information and methods for best swarm control and management of honeybee colonies.

The British Standard National hive is unmistakably the most popular beehive in the UK and Ireland. The hive features standard dimensions, square and includes grooves that serve as hand grips, and is indeed the most popular design within the United Kingdom (UK) presently.

The four seasons of the year come with varying activities for beekeepers. Bees have different levels of activity in the seasons too. In spring, they grow the colony population and build up some stocks of honey. Beekeepers must prepare their beehives for spring activities towards the end of winter. In this article we'll discuss the tasks you need to carry out and how to get your beehives ready for spring.

A structured approach in barrier management gives you the best results in pest and disease control. It allows you unique insights into the barriers you establish and their effectiveness. You are also able to follow up and monitor performance of the barriers with ease. The barrier management system for pest and disease control in your beekeeping operation makes the operation safe, with your better understanding of risks.

Bee bread is a mixture of pollen and honey or nectar made by honeybees for use as food. Read on for detailed information that clears the air about what is bee bread and how honeybees make it. You will also gain insights into the composition of bee bread. Further, this article imparts to you information on how honeybees use bee bread within their colonies. Lastly, you will learn about how to harvest bee bread as a beehive product in your beekeeping operation and the health benefits to humans when they consume bee bread. In popular literature, you might find mentions of bee bread by its alternative names; ‘Ambrosia’, ‘Perga’ and ‘Bee pollen’.

Honeybees are an intriguing species with many unique practices. You may have wondered about their diet and not found many answers. Well, in this article, you will find detailed information and explanations of the feeding habits and resources of honeybees. This article will not only inform and explain, but also help you to become a better beekeeper. By understanding their diet, you will be able to provide the best nutrition for the honeybees under your care. Understanding honeybees’ diet is also good for those who are not beekeepers but interested in the wellbeing of bees such as conservation beekeepers, and the general public too.

Worker bees in a honeybee colony are do not lay eggs except in special circumstances. This explainer article answers your questions on what are laying worker bees and how they come about. It also details what you should do to prevent worker bees from turning into laying worker bees, as well as how to address the problem if it occurs in your beekeeping operation. The setup of honeybee colonies requires the queen bee to lay eggs in the beehive. Having laying worker bees is, therefore, not good for the beehive. This is because the eggs that a worker bee lays are not fertilized. They bring forth drone bees which do not have much to do in the beehive except to fertilize virgin queen bees.

In this article, we will explain exhaustively how to identify the different type of cells found in honeybee colonies. Expert beekeepers find it easy to identify these cells at a glance. This naturally comes with experience. Hopefully, you'll be able to better identify these cells by the end of this article.

Honey is the oldest source of sweetness known to mankind. Ever since we started exploring its benefits, honey has played a major part in food and medicines. The presence of honey was first discovered in Spain in the cave of Valencia. In the cave the honey seeker was portrayed on an 8000 year old cave painting at Arana Caves in Spain. This ancient painting shows a person extracting honey from wild beehive, which indicates that humans have been practicing honey harvesting for as long as 5000 BC. Today with all these years of experience and knowledge, there is new technology and better ways to harvest honey. Yet, the question lingers, are the ways of honey harvesting ethical?

You need to store beehive boxes properly so that they are usable when you later need them. This article guides you on how to store honey supers when you remove them from the beehive. Space management in the beehive is necessary to ensure bees only have the space they need and can secure. During beehive treatment, during extraction and in winter, the size of the beehive stack is smaller because you often remove some beehive boxes. Usually, honey super boxes are the boxes that beekeepers remove. In the beehive, they leave only the honey that honeybees will use for winter. In addition to the winter season, this article also details the other times you might need to remove beehive boxes from the stack.