What's new?

29^th August

Bittersweet memories

Enjoy the sights, sounds and smells from the last of your beekeeping this season. There’s still much to do, but it’s going to be a long time until you can work with the bees again, so make time to store away some memories for the long winter ahead.

The ApiaristDavid (The Apiarist)

24^th August

A bad honey guide?

Do honeyguides punish honey hunters who do not reward them after previous successful hunts? Historical anecdote might suggest this, but recent studies indicate the explanation is a little more prosaic.

The ApiaristDavid (The Apiarist)

22^nd August 2025

3D printing for beekeeping - part 1

Using 3D printing you can inexpensively produce items for your bees and beekeeping that are useful, and either unavailable elsewhere or costly. Here is an introduction to the technology, and a guide to some things you can make.

The ApiaristDavid (The Apiarist)

11^th August 2025

Some minor changes to the privacy policy to reflect the new analytics integrated into the website software. No tracking, no cookies, and nothing to be concerned about.

10^th August 2025

The content delivery network (bunny.net) is now re-routing all UK readers via Amsterdam or Dublin to avoid the 'signed in but unable to access anything' problems that have occurred intermittently for some users. I apologise for the 10-millisecond additional delay in page loading that this causes 😉.

8^th August 2025

Preparing for winter

Winter preparations should start during late-summer colony checks. With thorough preparation, the right colonies, low levels of pathogens and ample stores, losses should be very low, giving you — and the bees — a flying start the following spring.

The ApiaristDavid (The Apiarist)

4^th August 2025

My hosting company (MagicPages) upgraded the site software to Ghost 6. There's all sort of neat things for site owners, but the big public-facing change is the introduction of ActivityPub social media integration. WTF? This means that new posts and comments/discussion about those posts (as well as unrelated comments) can now appear on any ActivityPub-aware social media (like Mastodon, Threads etc.) if you follow @social@theapiarist.org. Bluesky users need to follow @social.theapiarist.org.ap.brid.gy as that platform isn't truly ActivityPub aware, but can be tricked into thinking it is.

2^nd August 2025

The What's New page appeared … it seemed like a good idea at the time 😉.

1^st August 2025

Did they not read Seeley?

Provisional observations on a free-living colony, the timing of the onset of swarming, and comments on the validity of a recent Citizen Science survey of free-living bees.

The ApiaristDavid (The Apiarist)