The essence of early Springtime for the beekeeper – a honey bee harvests pollen from dandelion flowers – protein for baby bees (larvae)!

Notice the huge full pollen sack on the bee’s leg (“The Bees Knees”)

Beekeeping is always interesting, occasionally challenging but satisfying and rewarding – why not join us? – and learn about one of the Wonders of Nature right here in South Kerry?

Read more about this fascinating news here
and the detailed scientific paper is here.

A sequence of pics showing a small swarm of bees being collected and put into a hive on the 12th June in Ballinskelligs!

Small, but perfectly formed; the swarm clustered in a pear tree…

At 09:00 in the morning – they had probably been out all night in the wind and rain…

Bees already shaken down, or brushed, by hand into a cardboard box…

Picking up stragglers by hand…

A stone under one corner of the box allows the bees to go in and out freely..

The bees seem to be settling into the box nicely – so the Queen bee is likely to be in the box too…

‘Calling’ in their sisters (and one or two brothers) by ‘fanning’ with their wings and dispersing a pheromone – a great sign that the Queen is safely inside…

Seven hours later, virtually all the swarm has settled inside the box for the night and now is the time to wrap the box in the white sheet and take them to their new permanent home…

New home, a small beehive also called a Nucleus box…

One more tricky bit to do – getting the bees out of the box and into the hive without damaging the Queen bee…

Colony beginning to settle in their new home, and late comers walking in the front door up the white sheet…

More significant fanning…

Job done, about ninety minutes later…

A new colony of bees takes it’s place alongside other larger colonies! One of Natures wonders – a bee colony reproducing through swarming!! What an amazing privilege and sense of achievement to be part of the process…