The world of bees
Bees
How a colony lives, how a bee is born, which strains to choose, and thousands of years of shared history.
Contents
inside the hive
All articles
- History and culture
History of beekeeping in Britain: from wicker skeps to the National hive
History of beekeeping in Britain: Anglo-Saxon honey rents, Domesday hives, straw skeps and bee boles, the BBKA in 1874, the National hive and varroa in 1992.
- Bee strains
Honey bee breeds in the UK: the native dark bee, Buckfast, Carniolan and Italian compared
Honey bee breeds in the UK: the native dark bee, Buckfast, Carniolan and Italian compared, the genetics behind them, Colonsay, BIBBA and the queen import rules.
- The colony
The honey bee colony: queen, workers and drones, jobs by age, brood timings and how a hive organises itself
How a honey bee colony works, for UK beekeepers: queen, workers and drones, jobs by age, brood timings, winter bees and what to read on a National frame.
- Bee biology
Honey bee life cycle: egg, larva, pupa, development times for queen, worker and drone, and how long bees live
The honey bee life cycle day by day: egg, larva, pupa, 16, 21 or 24 days by caste, summer and winter lifespans, and what it means at a British hive.
- The colony
Queen bee: what she does, how she is made and mated, how long she lives and how to find her
The queen bee explained for UK beekeepers: her role, queen cells, mating flights, laying, pheromones, lifespan, the 2026 marking colour and queenless hives.
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