Author Archives: Emily Scott

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About Emily Scott

I am a UK beekeeper who has recently moved from London to windswept, wet Cornwall. I first started keeping bees in the Ealing Beekeepers Association’s local apiary in 2008, when I created this blog as a record for myself of my various beekeeping related disasters and - hopefully! - future successes.

Starting beekeeping – a practical checklist

Posted on October 10, 2010 by Emily Scott

Yesterday I went to a Ealing beekeepers association session. We were working through a ‘Starting Beekeeping – Practical Checklist’ produced by the BBKA following requests by beekeepers teaching beginners. There are eight sections to the checklist: Background, Manipulation, Basic disease, … Continue reading →

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Michaelmas daisies, bees’ feet and pheromones

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Emily Scott

Another wet, damp day at the apiary yesterday. But my little bees were still out in force, carrying back swollen pollen baskets filled with a bright yellow and golden pollen. I asked John Chapple what they might be finding, and … Continue reading →

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Preparing honey bee colonies for winter & anti-varroa bees

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Emily Scott

I found out about these two links from Andy Pedley’s Ealing and District Beekeepers email newsletter, which I always enjoy reading… Fera’s National Bee Unit have put together a leaflet on preparing your colony for winter. Essential reading. I always … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Disease prevention | Tagged , | 4 Comments

A September day – 25/09

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Emily Scott

Went down to the bees today, but first I mixed up an autumn sugar syrup feed for them. This has a ratio of 2 pounds of sugar to 1 pint of water. It is important that the sugar is white … Continue reading →

Posted in Honey | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Allotment adventure

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Emily Scott

I was down at the apiary on Saturday when one of the other beekeepers, John Chapple, mentioned that he had been left an answering phone message telling him that the roof of a hive on an allotment in Perivale had … Continue reading →

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21/09/10 – not much going on here

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Emily Scott

Yesterday was a easy beekeeping day. We all checked our varroa boards following our Apiguard treatment last week. The Apiguard kills off a large percentage (but not all) of your hive’s varroa mites, causing them to fall through the wire … Continue reading →

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Even more FAQs

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Emily Scott

Continuing my answering of beekeeping questions on the Innocent Smoothie website (see previous FAQs post)… Q: What kind of relationship do bees in a hive have with each other? and how do they have rules? An interesting question this. Each … Continue reading →

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FAQs

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Emily Scott

I subscribe to the Innocent Smoothie newsletter, and noticed that they had a blog competition recently to win an afternoon cream tea and look in a hive with a beekeeper, Tim. To enter the contest, members of the public were … Continue reading →

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Another year without honey – 7th August

Posted on August 7, 2010 by Emily Scott

Felt quite depressed at the apiary today. Quite a few people were talking about how big the honey crop was this year, and how many jars they had, and me and Emily (my hive partner) have…nothing. Zero jars. A super … Continue reading →

Posted in Colony management, Honey | Tagged | 2 Comments

Basic Beekeeping Assessment exam – learning under the trees

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Emily Scott

Today, at 6pm in the slightly dim light under the Apiary’s many trees, I took my Basic Assessment in Beekeeping exam, a practical and oral exam which is sort of equivalent to taking your driving test. It is run by … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee behaviour, Exams, Uncategorized | Tagged | 10 Comments