Beekeeping in Ancient Egypt

We recently came across a fascinating article about the importance of bees and beekeeping in Ancient Egypt that we thought we’d share here.

It cannot be disputed that the Ancient Egyptians attached great religious and spiritual significance to the honey bee. Bees were associated with royalty in Egypt; indeed, as early as 3500 BC, the bee was the symbol of the King of Lower Egypt! (The symbol of the King of Upper Egypt was a reed). There are many examples of bee hieroglyphs to be found in the records, as well as hieroglyphs for honey and beekeeper.

Article Link

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Happy Christmas and Happy New Year

We are signing off until 2021. We hope you all have a lovely Christmas break and get a chance to spend some time recharging before the year ahead. We are hoping for a more hopeful, happy and safe start to the new year. Take care and see you on the other side!

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Beekeeping & Sustainable Development Goals

Apimondia or the International Federation of Beekeepers' Associations promotes scientific, ecological, social and economic apicultural development in all countries and the cooperation of beekeepers` associations, scientific bodies and of individuals involved in apiculture worldwide. We came across a report of theirs recently that shows the positive impact of beekeeping on a wider scale. Well worth a read through.

Beekeeping is an activity that can have an impact on all the 17 SDGs in consideration of the possibility it offers to improve food production systems from the most subsistence production methods to the highly developed technological advanced systems. It can do so without creating pollution or waste. It has a positive impact on biodiversity. Beekeeping brings people together and Apimondia assists in the global dissemination of knowledge about all 17 goals.

Read the full report here.

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Bee-Friendly Garden tips

We recently came across a very thorough article with lots of ideas and tips for planning your garden with bees (and other pollinators) in mind. From colour and variety to providing a water supply or even having a skep, there is a lot in this well informed article by Planted Well.

Check it out here.

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Zoom Lecture with Grace McCormack

Last week we tuned in to a fascinating Zoom lecture from Grace McCormack of NUI Galway called “Origins and diversity of Irish honey bees”. It was kindly hosted by the Tribes Beekeepers Association in Galway. The talk was full of interesting information about everything from Darwinian Evolution and Genetics through to the history of beekeeping in Ireland and the current status of the native black Irish bee. Hopefully the slides from the talk will go online - if we get a link we will share it here.

Here is a screenshot of a map of the AMM bee’s decline that we found particularly interesting.

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Honey to Nursing Homes

Last month we sent 10 jars of honey to 10 people living in nursing homes around the country as part of a competition. We were delighted to brighten up a day or two for various friends and relatives of those who entered and hope that the honey is being enjoyed by all!

More info here.

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98 species of bee in Ireland

Did you know that there are 98 different species of bee in Ireland? The honeybee counts as one and then there are 97 wild bee species including 20 bumblebee species and 77 solitary bee species. A common assumption is that honeybees are under threat - in fact they are thriving. It is the wild bees that are the worry.

In Ireland we have three very rare bumblebees that are almost extinct - the Shrill carder bee, the Great yellow bumblebee and the Red shanked carder bee. For these bees to survive we need to preserve their habitats, increase their food supply and lessen the amount of chemicals used in nature.

More information on the Biodiversity Ireland website here.

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Image from “Art by Tereska”

Book Recommendation: The Book of Bees by Piotr Socha

We absolutely love this book. The artwork, the detail, the information, the layout and the accessibility of it for children and adults alike. How doe bees communicate? How do bees procreate? What is a swarm? What do beekeepers wear? How is a hive put together? When did beekeeping begin? So many questions are answered in this beautiful 72 page hardback book. One of our favourites.

You can buy it in (or via their online store) one of our favourite Iocal bookshops - Tales for Tadpoles.

Honeybee Wings

We recently came across this very cool image of the wings of a honeybee on the Blind Bee Honey page on Facebook and thought we would share it.

The wings of a honey bee are fascinating in terms of their complexity and power. Here are some facts about them:

  • Honey bees can travel at 15 miles per hour thanks to their wings

  • The wings are arranged in two pairs

  • The wings are connected together by a row of hooks on the hind wing

  • The forewings are much larger than the hind wings

  • The wings are flexible and bend a lot mid-flight

  • As bees take off the wings twist as well as moving up and down

  • Bees use their wings to create airflow through the hive for ventilation purposes

  • They also flap wings to disperse harmful or unwelcome pheromones

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Photo courtesy of Blind Bee Honey.

Irish Made Awards Finalists!

We are chuffed to make it into the final of the food category of the Irish Country Magazine’s Irish Made Awards this year. Over 350 businesses applied and we are one of the chosen few to get through to the final following the judges deliberation. Next up is a public vote. You can vote here: https://irishcountrymagazine.ie/vote2020/ until September 30th!

Are you an Irish business owner or entrepreneur creating a beautiful product in Ireland? We want to find the makers, creators, craftspeople and businesses that make buying Irish so great. Whether you’re a sole trader or an SME exporting internationally, if you are made in Ireland, we want to hear from you. The awards will be open to businesses in the following categories, and an esteemed panel of judges will have the hard task of narrowing down the finalists in each category, which will then go to a live vote on http://www.irishcountrymagazine.ie in September.

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Girl Next Door Honey

Girl Next Door Honey is a website run by a beekeeper in San Diego, USA called Hilary Kearney. It’s an informative, well laid-out and has a brilliant blog attached to it called Beekeeping Like A Girl. We’ve found many fascinating articles and excellent photographs all across the site, blog and Instagram handle. Some of it is advice, other articles are opinion pieces - there is plenty of content for all standards of beekeepers. Of particular fun, especially for beginners, are the Queen Spotting photographs (see below) where Hilary asks you to find the Queen in a picture taken from one of her hives. There is also a shop with books, posters, bee suits and fun items like stickers and magnets. Well worth a gander!

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Here are the various links you need:

Website: https://girlnextdoorhoney.com/

Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/girlnextdoorhoney/

Blog: https://beekeepinglikeagirl.com/

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(Photos courtesy of the website and Instagram account of Hilary Kearney)

Different Types of Honey

There are many different types of honey available both in Ireland and abroad. In this post we are going to look at some of the more well known honeys and give a little bit of information about each of them.


Acacia Honey - acacia honey comes from what’s called the black locust tree or “false acacia” tree, usually the Robinia pseudoacacia or Caragana arborescens species. It is very popular in Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary.

  • Light amber colour

  • Very sweet but light taste with floral accents

  • High in fructose and low in glucose

  • Slow to crystallise


Citrus Honey - comes from orchards of different fruits. The nectar can come from: oranges, grapefruit, lemons, mandarins, tangerines, limes and many others. Many Mediterranean countries produce citrus honey.

  • Very light in colour

  • Fresh and floral taste

  • Medium sweetness and low acidity


Forest Honey - different to most honeys as the honey is made from honeydew, a sugary secretion left on trees by insects. The bees collect, store and convert this into honey. Common across Europe.

  • Dark or very dark in colour

  • Very little crystallisation

  • Medium sweetness

  • Taste depends on trees involved

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Heather Honey - the western European answer to Manuka honey, heather honey is hard to extract due to its thickness but well known for it’s healing properties and taste. Found in Ireland and in the UK.Dark-coloured honey

  • Mild, sweet taste with a tangy aftertaste

  • Thixotropic consistency, which means it only becomes more liquid when stirred, shaken, or agitated. 

  • Pungent aroma


Manuka Honey - Produced in New Zealand this honey is expensive due to the small window in which the plant flowers and the distance it needs to travel to get to our market. It’s widely recognised as a superfood honey with distinctive and measurable health benefits.

  • Rare, dark-coloured honey

  • Rich and sweet flavour

  • From the flowers of the Tea Tree bush

  • Better known more for its health benefits than its flavour


Sunflower Honey - Sunflowers or Heliantus Annus produce thousands of seeds and are rich in nectar and pollen. Very popular in Europe, especially Bulgaria and Poland.

  • Bright, yellowish colour

  • One of the fastest types of honey to crystallise

  • High level of glucose and fructose

  • A medium sweetness with strong acidity

Photo credit: Buram Honey

Honeyland

We came across this film earlier this year and it blew us away. The story, the videography, the central character and of course, the bees. A different pace of life and in a completely different part of the world, Honeyland tells of Hatidze Muratova, a wild beekeeper in the hills of Macedonia. It’s a documentary that took over three years to film and tells us about nature, relationships and human life. The fact that it features some beautiful bee footage is almost an added bonus. Highly recommended from OpenHive HQ!

Honeyland is In Theaters July 26, 2019 Hatidze lives with her ailing mother in the mountains of Macedonia, making a living cultivating honey using ancient b...

OpenHive Monthly Newsletter

We have a monthly newsletter that we launched last month. It goes out near the beginning of each month and is full of news about us, about us, about our bees and about events we are involved in. Last Friday we sent out the latest edition that included a new section called Cocktail Corner. You can read the first two newsletters at the links below and if you’d like to sign up you can do that here.

Gliondar - Honey Bee Heaven

Last Wednesday evening RTÉ 2 broadcast a lovely episode of their programme Gliondar that focused on beekeeping in various parts of Ireland. From hobbyists to competitive honey shows and back, the piece covers lots of different angles of beekeeping and is an informative, interesting and heart-warming look at our passion.

A lot gets covered over the course of the 24mins including the Dingle beekeeping scene, a walk though the hives of master beekeeper Eamon Magee, a fascinating look at drones arriving to mate above a field in Tipperary and more. There is something in it for everyone - we highly recommend giving it a watch. And, as a bonus - it is as Gaeilge.

You can watch it on RTÉ Player here.

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Bee friendly plants

Over on our Instagram account we have been sharing photos and information about some of the plants that we see our bees foraging on. Today we thought we’d produce a small (and by no means exhaustive!) list of plants that anyone could grow to help bees in your own garden. We’ve also included some tips to make your garden more attractive to bees and links at the end for anyone looking for more details.


Plants: Asters, Bluebells, Crocuses, Geraniums, Poppies, Roses, Snowdrops

Shrubs: Cottoneaster, Fuschia, Lavender, Rosemary

Trees: Apple, Holly, Lime, Sycamore


Tips:

  • Provide a water source - something with rocks or an edge to it that the bees can perch on.

  • Plant in clusters. Bees are drawn to groups of a flower as opposed to individuals.

  • Don’t use any pesticides!

  • Let weeds grow in your garden.

  • Plant early flowering trees.

  • Try to have flowers in the garden all year round.

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Further reading:

Photo Credit: Science News