Author: apiarymanager

Webinar – Swarming and Making Increase with Alan Baxter – Thu, May 8, 2025 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

apiarymanager Education & Training, Events, Stories of Interest, Swarms and Swarming, Training, WBKA
Swarming and Making Increase with Alan Baxter. Join us for a webinar on May 08, 2025 at 7:30 PM

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Alan’s talk begins by outlining the reasons why bees swarm, a little of the biology that explains why and how swarming occurs, then the swarming process itself including the communications that the bees use when choosing their new home.

In the second part of the talk Alan walks us through the ‘countdown’ to swarming, the signs to look out for, and the moment in the process when swarm prevention (or Pre-emptive control) becomes swarm control (or Re-active swarm control).

Finally, we will look at the practical steps a beekeeper can take to prevent a swarm occurring, then move on to methods of simple swarm control involving making increase, why we talk about artificial swarms, and simple methods of control for beekeepers who don’t want more colonies.

Alan Baxter is a Royal Marines Veteran who began his beekeeping adventure in the Loire Valley in France, where he attended University then worked in adult education and training for 23 years. His apiary there was the target of heavy predation by Asian Hornets and he developed apiary management techniques to help his bees survive the onslaught.

He moved to England in 2020 and manages 20 colonies of gentle bees in 3 apiaries in Hampshire. He has founded and runs a Teaching Apiary with courses, exam preparation and coaching sessions for his local beekeeping association. He has completed all the BBKA Modules and holds the General Beekeeping Husbandry Certificate. He continues studying to be a BBKA Master Beekeeper and is halfway through the Cornell University Master Beekeeper Program.

Alan writes regular blogs and articles and gives talks and seminars around the country on Beekeeping, the Asian Hornet, the Wines of the Loire Valley, and the 1982 Falklands War.

He is the author of the Hampshire Asian Hornet Contingency Plan and a book Fit2Fight- A Practical Guide to Managing the Asian Hornet published by Northern Bee Books Ltd.

https://www.alanbaxtersblogs.co.uk

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Excellent first meeting of the season! 🐝

apiarymanager Education & Training, Events, PBKA, PBKA Apiary, Starting Beekeeping, Training

We had an excellent first training session of the season this afternoon, with a mixed turnout of beginners and improvers!

Plenty to look at and lots of questions for the trainers. Many thanks to all who came along, with a special ‘Thank You‘ to the training team who did a magnificent job as always!

See you all at the next meeting on Sunday 11th May. 🐝

Pic by Paul Eades 2025

Pic by Paul Eades 2025

Reminder: Simple Queen Rearing with Dan Basterfield Thu, Apr 24, 2025 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM BST

apiarymanager WBKA
 

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Dan grew up with beekeeping around him, earning pocket money by clipping and marking queens. Having spent 15 years working in large companies, he returned to the family beekeeping business in Devon in 2005, and with his father
expanded the business and built a brand new Honey Farm as the centre of their honey production, queen raising, and teaching activities.
The bees can do it, so can you! Aiming to raise perhaps half a dozen queens to use for re-queening or making splits, we look at three very straightforward approaches that require little fiddling or additional equipment: making queenless nucs, the Demaree method, and the Miller method.
Dan grew up with beekeeping around him, earning pocket money by clipping and marking queens. Having spent 15 years working in large companies, he returned to the family beekeeping business in Devon in 2005, and with his father expanded the business and built a brand new Honey Farm as the centre of their honey production, queen raising, and teaching activities.
Dan holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB), is a BBKA Master Beekeeper, and is an examiner for the BBKA and NDB examinations. He is a regular lecturer around the UK on practical beekeeping topics. Daniel wrote some of the BBKA’s Course in a Case training courses, has contributed to the BBKA’s Liquid Gold and Swarming videos, and co-authored the BBKA’s Healthy Hive Guide book. He has just published Using Apideas, a manual for queen mating nucs.
He is a member of the Bee Farmers Association, and has been a Trustee and Chairman of the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), and Chairman of the NDB Examination Board.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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