Articles

Having taken a long time to come into lay, the new Queen may not be for the observation hive much longer. The drones have gone, but a coup may be planned …

The process to gain pan-European regulatory approval for Varroa control products and honeybee treatments such as HopGuard is not easy. Yesterday the regulatory team at Vita met to discuss the next stages — residue assessment.

The observation hive has been in action for a few weeks now — and is as mysterious as ever. There’s a queen, a retinue, the motions of going through egg-laying, but no brood or eggs yet … UPDATE: she IS laying.

Sebastian Owen has appeared in a Bee Craft Hangout (public video conference call) about bee diseases, specifically Nosema and Chronic Bee Paralysis. The hour-long video packs in lots of useful information. You can watch it here …

As I approached a newish apiary last weekend, I wondered where any swarms might choose to hang up. I was busy working on the final hive and happened to glance up …

My Beekeeping Year is a fun, A4-sized seasonal chart for beekeepers to note down memorable events during their beekeeping year. Download it for free.

Last Saturday saw the annual Meon Valley Beekeeping Auction in Hampshire, England. Two hundred lots were up for auction, some mainstream some quirky, and many bargains.

There are about five million colonies of bees in modern Russia. Some of the biggest operations have 1000-5000 colonies. But everyone has been hit hard by the Rouble exchange rate crisis and times are difficult.

Vita’s website is now available in four of the top ten languages used on the internet: English, Russian, Spanish, and French. A separate website in Italian is also available.

Sebastian Owen, Vita’s Commercial Development Manager, ran a personal best in the London marathon yesterday and in the process raised sufficient funds for three water tanks in Uganda. It was no stroll in a Royal Park though!

There are some pests that honeybees cannot sting, so they produce a secret weapon from their armoury: the honeybee bite stuns the pest so that it can be ejected from the hive.

Now that spring has arrived in the northern hemisphere, swarming looms and Vita swarm lures are being readied for action. But how do those swarms find their way to their new home?

Blogpost: I have three apiaries — one in a garden in a village and two on agricultural land four and six kilometres away. Guess which is striding ahead despite being the smallest starter?

See the Asian Hornet in action in SW France and the challenges of nest destruction in new short video clips released by the UK Animal Plant and Health Agency.

A few days after St Patrick’s Day, Vita attended the very successful Ulster Beekeepers Association Annual Conference in the town of Antrim where 350 bee folk had gathered to hear talks and visit trade stands.

On Friday 20 March 2015, there was a solar eclipse over parts of Africa and Western Europe. But how do bees react to the phenomenon? Previous studies give some clues.

Vita’s stand was very busy at Stoneleigh on Saturday when British beekeepers had their first taste of spring at the now annual Bee Tradex expo. Hot topics were the Asian hornet and the Small Hive Beetle.

Beekeeping associations across the world are invited to compete for a new Vita award for honeybee health initiatives. The Awards highlight the work of beekeeping groups to combat health threats to honeybees.

Pick up a bargain by buying the Apishield hornet trap at Bee Tradex exhibition in the UK on 7 March 2015. There will be a limited supply of traps available, so reserve yours now and avoid p&p charges!

Sebastian Owen of Vita is enduring all sorts of British winter weather to train for the London Marathon in April. He is raising funds for projects in one of the world’s poorest countries.

Beekeepers often wonder why some honeybee colonies have much higher levels of Varroa infestation than others in the same apiary. No two colonies are ever the same.

Contrasting debris drop of two colonies in two neighbouring apiaries in England after six days in January. There is one obvious difference, but close inspection reveals a more ominous difference.

Luxembourg has issued a €5 coin commemorating the European honeybee as part of a Fauna and Flora in Luxembourg series. But you will have to pay more than 12 five-Euro coins to acquire one!

The dwindling queenless colony of bees in the observation hive make a break for it either during a downpour or a heavy frost and seemingly in the pitch dark!