Read some of our previous articles
Beginners in the apiary
– April
It’s never too early to think about swarming. By April, there should be lots of new bees coming through. The strongest colonies will be heaving with bees and the swarming instinct will begin to kick...
Insulation, insulation, insulation
In a career that has taken him from mechanical engineering to space craft software, Derek Mitchell returned to earth when his wife took up beekeeping. Looking at the hives that beekeepers used, he...
Eight nifty mechanical
signals produced by worker honey bees
A review of the forms and functions of the eight mechanical (non-chemical) signals that worker honey bees produce and that human beings have deciphered.Imagine that you are a worker bee...As you...
Ask the mentors
Clare Densley and Martin Hann from Buckfast answer your beekeeping queries.Q: Last spring my colony swarmed. I collected it and put it into a new hive. About two weeks later another swarm came out...
Techniques in the apiary: Varroa-monitoring methods
In July, 12 beekeepers attended the Advanced Beekeeping Course run by the National Diploma of Beekeeping (NDB) at Pershore College in Worcestershire. One of their exercises was to compare different...
Beekeeping shorts: Frame turning
How much beekeeping practice is well-intentioned nonsense? The sort of thing that is earnestly passed on to beginners by a tutor, who learned it from their tutor, who learned it from … and has...
Summer in the apiary
In mid-summer make sure your bees have room to store nectar and honey and prepare your extracting equipment. Plan for healthy colonies next year by monitoring queens and brood comb condition. Be...
Bees and bugs: Clarke’s mining bee
The females of Clarke’s mining bee (Andrena clarkella), when freshly emerged, have a striking colour pattern – bright orange hairs on the thorax, contrasting with a black face and abdomen. The hind...
Colony loss post-mortem
The sound of buzzing emanating out of the hive as you crack open the crownboard is often reassuring, but during your first spring inspection what if that sound is missing?The BBKA annual winter loss...
Photo of the month
Enter our Photo of the Month competition and win a cedar WBC hive worth over £400 kindly donated by National Bee Supplies.
Each year, we select our favourite readers’ photos to feature throughout the following year. Your photos don’t have to be of professional quality – we look for images that are fun, dramatic or tell a beekeeping story. This year, photos will also be entered into the National Bee Supplies calendar competition.
Send your photos (between 1MB and 10MB as email attachments rather than embedded in emails) to [email protected] any time up to 31 October 2024.
Submit your article to BeeCraft to feature in our magazine
We always welcome new contributors to the magazine.
Please email your article or ideas to the editorial team.
We will work with you to produce an article you can be proud of.
Latest winner!
Zoe Oke, Nr Launceston, Cornwall
It was a routine inspection and I found a queen lying dead, almost posing, on top of the brood frames with all her attendants facing her. I remember thinking that just for a moment it looked as if the workers were paying their last respects to what I assume was a superseded queen. I snapped some pictures on my phone and was really pleased to capture the moment so well.
