Queen Colour

Expertly marked queen!

The queen marking colour for 2025 is BLUE.

Useful Beekeeping Links

Explaining Hives
A former member of FDBKA, Mike Alsop, wrote an excellent piece explaining the different hives used in the UK and their constituent parts. Although written in 2009 it still relevant today and can be seen HERE.

BeeBase
All beekeepers will find this an extremely useful resource and should consider signing up.  BeeBase is the website for the Animal and Plant Health Agency’s (APHA) National Bee Unit. It is designed for beekeepers and supports Defra’s Bee Health Programmes. BeeBase supports the aims of Healthy Bees Plan 2030, focusing on protecting and sustaining our valuable national bee stocks.
The website provides a wide range of apicultural information for beekeepers, to help keep their colonies healthy and productive. Information includes the activities of the NBU, honeybee related legislation, diseases and pests including their recognition and control, publications, advisory leaflets and key contacts.

BeeConnected
This is another very useful resource bringing farmers and beekeepers together. By REGISTERING on the site beekeepers will be informed if any local farmers, who have also registered, are planning to spray an insecticide that will affect bees.

Honey Sales & Labelling
Labelling rules and regulations can be confusing; click HERE to see the advice from BBKA.  The BBKA raised a petition on the Government website calling for a change to labelling rules so consumers can easily recognise all countries of origin of the honey contained in a jar sold in the UK.  The link to the petition and the disappointing government response on 31st January’23 is below.

Link to Petition

Treatment for Varroa
Good beekeeping includes the control of the varroa mite.  Click HERE for the various methods of control. More information can be found in the January 2023 section of our Blog page written by Alan Baxter. The website www.varroaresistant.uk provides practical and scientific information to help beekeepers transition to varroa resistant beekeeping.

See also a video on our YouTube channel of Oxalic Acid being applied by FDBKA member Paula Little.

Yellow-Legged Asian Hornet Identification
It is important for beekeepers and the public to recognise Asian Hornets which are a threat to our honey bees, especially with the large increase in confirmed sightings in 2023.  Click HERE and HERE for identification posters.  It is recommended that all beekeepers with smart phones download the Asian Hornet Watch App where sightings can be reported. If a sighting is within our Fareham area you can contact our FDBKA Asian Hornet Team Leader, Mark Fisher on 07921954686.

How to make an Asian Hornet monitoring trap.

Beekeeping Year Planner
Download your BBKA Year Planner HERE

Hive Record Sheet
BBKA have an excellent hive recording sheet which can be used in it’s entirety or modified to your own needs.

BBKA News Archive
Did you know that you can read all the back issues of BBKA News online?  Go to bbkanews.com  To login use your BBKA membership number including the dots (e.g. 93.10.1234) as the User Name.  The password is your postcode. 

Bee Friendly Pesticides
To make a ‘bee friendly’ pesticide:

  • Mix 5ml Neem oil + 2ml Liquid Soap + 1 litre of water (add soap to the water first & then slowly stir in the neem oil)
  • Pour into a spray bottle
  • Note: The Neem oil may need warming to mix fully

In 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024 the UK government permitted use of neonicotinoids for beet growing without a vote in Parliament. This substance is highly toxic to pollinators, persists in soil and leaches into water courses. BBKA raised a petition to the UK government requesting that such decisions in future are put to a vote in Parliament. Unfortunately the petition, which ended on 5th Janury’24 did not raise the necessary 10,000 signatures to receive a formal response.
On Tuesday 5th March, MP’s had a debate on the environmental impact of neonicotinoids and other pesticides. Click HERE to view a video of the debate and the transcript.
It looks like finally the government may be listening to environmentalists as they published a Policy Paper in December’24 committing to ending their use, though no date has been set.

Greenpeace also have a petition to ban bee killing pesticides which is addressed to the Environment Secretary. All beekeepers are encouraged to add their name by following the link with over 1.6 million people having done so by early 2025.

Bee friendly natural pesticides that won’t harm pollinators.

Top 10 Plants for Bees
Bee numbers have steadily been in decline over the past several years and gardeners are being encouraged to have wild patches and to grow flowers that will help out our little buzzing friends. As beekeepers we should encourage this & hopefully numbers will start to increase again. See HERE for the top bee friendly plant and flower recommendations.

How to make a bee friendly garden / 12 months of forage

Places to visit
Find below some interesting bee related places to visit within an easy drive from our base in Fareham:

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