How-To Guides
Public beekeeping guides from BeehiveTracker. Google and visitors can read these guides without logging in.
How to Run Multiple Bee Colonies
to Run Multiple Bee Colonies Running multiple bee colonies well is not simply “more of the same”. Once you move beyond a few hives, success depends on repeatable routines, sound records, biosecurity, realistic workload p...
AdvancedHow to Manage an Apiary
to Manage an Apiary Managing an apiary well is less about reacting to emergencies and more about building a reliable system. A productive UK apiary needs three things: a suitable site, a seasonal plan, and accurate hive...
AdvancedHow to Choose an Apiary Site
to Choose an Apiary Site Choosing an apiary site is one of the most important management decisions a beekeeper makes. A good site gives colonies early sun, shelter from the prevailing wind, dry ground, reliable forage, c...
AdvancedHow to Breed Better Bees
to Breed Better Bees Breeding better bees is deliberate, seasonal work. It means choosing clear traits, selecting the best colonies and drone sources, using reliable queen-rearing and mating methods, keeping disciplined...
AdvancedHow to Improve Honey Yields
to Improve Honey Yields Improving honey yields is not about one clever trick. It comes from building strong colonies before the flow, keeping them healthy, preventing swarming, adding supers at the right time, harvesting...
AdvancedHow to Manage Colonies for Heather Honey
to Manage Colonies for Heather Honey Heather honey is one of the most distinctive UK honeys: dark, aromatic, strongly flavoured and often premium-priced. True ling heather honey, mainly from *Calluna vulgaris*, is also t...
AdvancedHow to Manage Colonies for Oilseed Rape Honey
to Manage Colonies for Oilseed Rape Honey Oilseed rape honey can be one of the most productive crops in a UK beekeeping year, but it is unforgiving. The nectar flow is short, heavy and early, and the honey granulates qui...
AdvancedHow to Move Bees to a New Forage Site
to Move Bees to a New Forage Site Moving bees to a new forage site is not just a transport job. It affects forager orientation, queen safety, colony stress, disease control, public safety and future productivity. A good...
AdvancedHow to Prepare Bees for Pollination Contracts
to Prepare Bees for Pollination Contracts Successful pollination work depends on strong, healthy, queenright colonies delivered at the right time, backed by clear communication and good records. A grower is paying for re...
AdvancedHow to Make Increase Colonies
to Make Increase Colonies Making increase colonies is one of the most useful advanced skills in beekeeping. Done well, it gives you spare queens, replacement colonies, saleable nucs and better control of swarming. Done b...
AdvancedHow to Overwinter Nucs
to Overwinter Nucs Overwintering nucs in the UK is possible, but it is less forgiving than overwintering full-sized colonies. A nucleus colony has fewer bees, less thermal mass, less room for stores and a smaller cluster...
AdvancedHow to Manage Double Brood Colonies
to Manage Double Brood Colonies A double brood colony is a colony using two full brood boxes, usually two National brood chambers in the UK, with brood and nurse bees spread through both boxes. It can be a very useful sy...
AdvancedHow to Use a Demaree Method
to Use a Demaree Method The Demaree method is a queen-right swarm control technique that uses a second brood box and a queen excluder to separate the laying queen from most of the brood. It is a vertical split rather tha...
AdvancedHow to Use the Bailey Comb Change
to Use the Bailey Comb Change The Bailey comb change is a controlled way to move a colony from old brood comb onto fresh frames without shaking all the bees into a clean box. It is useful when brood comb has become dark,...
AdvancedHow to Do a Shook Swarm
to Do a Shook Swarm A shook swarm is a drastic brood-removal method in which the adult bees, including the queen, are shaken from their old brood combs into clean equipment containing fresh foundation or clean drawn comb...
AdvancedHow to Use Snelgrove Boards
to Use Snelgrove Boards A Snelgrove board is a bee-tight division board used to manage a strong colony as two separate units on the same hive stand. It is most often used for swarm control, making increase, controlled re...
AdvancedHow to Manage Bees Without Queen Excluders
to Manage Bees Without Queen Excluders Managing bees without a queen excluder is entirely possible, but it is not a “fit and forget” method. Instead of relying on a metal or plastic barrier to keep the queen below the ho...
AdvancedHow to Keep Bees Naturally
to Keep Bees Naturally Keeping bees naturally in the UK means using husbandry that supports bee biology while still meeting your duty of care. It is not “leave-alone beekeeping”, and it is not an excuse to ignore Varroa,...
AdvancedHow to Practise Low-Intervention Beekeeping
to Practise Low-Intervention Beekeeping Low-intervention beekeeping means opening hives less often, disturbing the brood nest less, and making every manipulation count. It does not mean leaving colonies to fend for thems...
AdvancedHow to Compare Treatment-Free and Treated Beekeeping
to Compare Treatment-Free and Treated Beekeeping Treatment-free beekeeping is often discussed as a philosophy, but it should also be tested as a practical management system. The question is not simply whether colonies ca...
Bee BehaviourHow to Tell If Bees Are Angry
to Tell If Bees Are Angry Bees are not “angry” in the human sense. In beekeeping, the useful term is defensive. A defensive colony is responding to a threat, stress, disturbance, robbing pressure, poor weather, queen pro...
Bee BehaviourHow to Tell If Bees Are Queenless
to Tell If Bees Are Queenless **Short answer:** a colony with single, well-placed eggs in worker cells had a laying queen within the last three days. If there are young larvae but no eggs, the queen may have been lost or...
Bee BehaviourHow to Understand the Waggle Dance
to Understand the Waggle Dance The waggle dance is one of the most useful pieces of bee behaviour a beekeeper can learn to read. Foragers use it to tell nestmates where a profitable resource is. The angle of the waggle r...
Bee BehaviourHow to Recognise Robbing Behaviour
to Recognise Robbing Behaviour Robbing is when honey bees from another colony, or sometimes wasps, steal nectar, syrup or honey from a hive. It is most common in late summer and early autumn, especially during a nectar d...