Student Internships with OpenHive

Are you a student beekeeper? Are you studying horticulture or science? Are a marketing student looking to work with a growing Irish company?

OpenHive is an Irish beekeeping and honey company. We were founded in November 2019 by Kyle Petrie and Mark Earley and are based in Dublin. Our ethos is based around sustainability and conservation in modern beekeeping. We want to build a community of beekeepers and honey aficionados who feel the same way we do and we need help to achieve that goal.

We are offering the following internship roles within our company:

  • Beekeeping

  • Digital Marketing

  • Operations Management

Please contact us with your CV and any other relevant details at info@openhive.ie. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Irish Bumblebees

We often get asked questions about bumblebees and sent photos and videos of these beautiful bees buzzing around the place. We found ourselves learning more and more about them and thought we’d pass on some of that knowledge.

Did you know?

  • There are 21 species of Irish bumblebees

  • The easiest way to identify bumblebees is to start with their tail - at the end of their abdomen. Irish bumblebee tails can be white, red, ginger or blond

  • Four of Ireland’s bumblebees are endangered and 2 are vulnerable. The Great yellow bumblebee is on the verge of extinction from Ireland

  • Some of the species of bumblebees in Ireland are cuckoo bumblebees - they kill the real bumblebee queens and lay their eggs in the nest!

  • Bumblebees are social bees living in colonies with a queen, many female workers, and some males.

For more information go to:

Beekeeping in the Irish Times

A couple of weekends ago we came across this article in the Irish Times and thought we’d share it. Well worth a read for anyone starting out. You can find it here: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/homes-and-property/i-thought-beekeeping-would-be-easy-the-bees-had-other-plans-1.4518836

I learned two things (on my first visit). Firstly, how fascinating these insects were in their thousands, as they flew around me, and equally, I learned how fast I could run away.

Then, I thought beekeeping would be straightforward, practical and dare I say easy. I thought that with a certain amount of book reading and YouTube tutorials, I too would become a successful beekeeper. I thought I could turn my hand to this formidable hive and master them. The bees, it turned out, had other plans.

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How to start keeping bees

We are often asked for advice about starting off as a beekeeper. We always give the same kind of answer, with STEP ONE being the most important of all, but thought it might be nice to put up a blog post about it. Hopefully this will help you on your journey!

  • STEP ONE: Find your local beekeeping association and join up! Why? Well, it is through the association that you will meet people, learn more and find all the information you need. As well as that, your membership fee will give you all sorts of useful benefits - insurance, membership to your national association (FIBKA), access to monthly beekeeping magazines, deals on equipment, access to queen breeders/nuc sellers and much more. As well as that, it supports the community you are looking to be a part of.

  • STEP TWO: Do a beekeeping course. Start with a basic beginner course and if you enjoy it you can move on to the more serious courses at a later date. Buy books and start reading about bees!

  • STEP THREE: Visit an apiary and get a feel for being near bees. Maybe join in on an inspection with a local beekeeper. It’s important to know what it is like to be around bees before you start.

  • STEP FOUR: If you are certain you are going to get bees and start beekeeping go through our “the basics” checklist:

    • Do you have an appropriate place to keep hives?

    • Can you afford the time and money you will need to invest in the hobby/skill?

    • Are you buying your bees from a reputable source? There is a list of well known and trustworthy sellers on the FIBKA website in the member section - once you’re a member).

    • Are you supporting Irish beekeeping shops? (list below!)

    • When you start, we advise to start with two colonies side by side. You can correct any issues from one with the other. It also helps to show if something is out of kilter if you have a comparison!

  • STEP FIVE: Always ask your mentor/local beekeeper friends for help. Everyone learned their trade from somebody else - the beekeeping community is a friendly one built on shared information. Someday you too will be able to share your knowledge.

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STEP SIX: Always listen to the experts!

We are learning from those around us on a daily basis. The world of beekeeping is huge - there is way more to know that any one person can take in. Keep your mind open and absorb all the knowledge available to you. There should be more than enough to keep you interested!

  • STEP SEVEN: Enjoy! It is a lifelong skill that will bring you so much pleasure and learning. There will be tough times as well but they come with all hobbies and passions. Have fun and be safe!

HELPFUL LINKS

We use the following suppliers for all our equipment:

You can find all the information you need on the FIBKA (Irish Beekeepers Association) website here: https://irishbeekeeping.ie/

FYI - we are all paid up members of the County Dublin Beekeeper’s Association. You can visit their Facebook page and website if you like!

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Curated European Honeys

As part of one of our broader goals of education we want to share with Irish honey consumers tastes from further afield. We’d like to invite you to come with us on a voyage of discovery as we present to you various exceptional honeys from different corners of the continent of Europe. After a long, and very tasty, selection process we have handpicked a small group of honeys to share with you. We will release them one by one with details about the beekeepers involved, about the bees who make the honey, about the areas that the bees forage in and more. 

We are passionate about transparency, local produce and showing you a clear line between you the consumer and the beekeeper who makes the honey in the jar in front of you. We will not blend the honeys or add anything to the honey. It is pure honey straight from the beehives. 

The sale of these European honeys will be used to fund our native Irish bee conservation program, which includes a native Irish bee queen rearing program and building more apiaries full of Apis Mellifera Mellifera black Irish bees. 

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SLOVAKIAN FOREST HONEY

The first honey of OpenHive’s curated European honey is a Forest Honey from from Nižná, in northern Slovakia. 

Produced by a local beekeeper called Pavel Kozacik, this honey is a rich dark honey with an intense, fruity and spicy taste to it. Pavel has decades of experience keeping bees and is well known locally for this expertise and the high quality of his produce. The majority of Slovakian bees are from the Carniolan race - Apis Mellifera Carnica, known for their productivity and ability to forage in lower temperatures.

This honey (pictured below during the jarring process) will be on sale via our website later this week.

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Easter Gift Pack now on sale!

Our Easter Gift Packs are on sale in our store now. We have a limited number of them and they are only on sale until Tuesday night so get your orders in nice and quickly!

In each pack there is:

  • A jar of raw Irish OpenHive honey

  • 1 hand-rolled Irish beeswax candle

  • 1 Naomi Good Ceramics candle holder

  • 2 bars of Skelligs Irish chocolate

  • 1 native Irish seed bombs package and

  • A wooden honey dipper

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Honeybee Castes

There are three castes of honey bees:

  • Drones (male)

  • Queens (female)

  • Workers (female)

Here is a brief explanation of each caste:

Drones

Drones are male honey bees. The drone’s head and thorax are larger than those of the females. Drones’ large eyes touch on the top centre of their head, which makes them appear more “fly-like.” Their abdomens are thick and blunt at the end rather than pointy like the abdomens of the females. A drone is 15-17mm long. They are heavier and stockier in appearance with bigger abdominal muscles to power broader wings.  

Queens

Honey bee queens are the reproductive females of the species spending most of her time laying eggs in the hive. The queen’s head and thorax are similar in size to those of the worker. However, the queen has a longer, plumper and more pointed abdomen than the worker - she is 18-19mm long. Her abdomen carries large ovaries. Her legs are long and stout, with no pollen-collecting sacs. Her sting is curved and less barbed and does not cause her to die when used.

Workers

Worker honey bees are non-reproductive females. They are the smallest in the physical size of the three castes, approximately 12-15mm long. Their bodies are specialised for pollen and nectar collection as well as wax production with pollen sacs on their legs and wax glands on their abdomens. They have a barbed sting that if used causes the worker to die.

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ApisProtect & OpenHive

We are really excited to be working with ApisProtect this year. They recently launched a hobbyist version of their bee monitoring technology here in Ireland and we’ve bought a number of them for some of our apiaries. This sort of technology is really interesting for us and we’re very much looking forward to getting it in our hands and in turn, into our hives!

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Who or what is ApisProtect?

ApisProtect is inspired by proven research from academia. In 2013 Fiona Edwards Murphy began her doctoral research into the application of sensors and networking in honey bee hives. The project received international recognition, including at least 8 academic publications, awards from the Irish Research Council, the IEEE, IBM, The Irish Laboratory Awards, and Google, as well as extensive international media attention. Most recently awarded the Sodexo WMB Female Newcomer Award 2018.

Following this project, ApisProtect has been formed, moving the use of technology in beehives into the commercial sphere, to provide insight for beekeepers to prevent losses and increase productivity. The team behind ApisProtect has the diverse background required to succeed in this space, including decades of engineering, scientific, beekeeping, and commercial experience.

If you’d like to learn more about them you can watch their CEO Dr Fiona Edwards Murphy on the BBC World News documentary Follow The Food here: https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-farms-being-run-from-space/

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Mother's Day Gift Packs

We are very excited to launch our luxury Mother’s Day Gift Pack. Looking for something unique and thoughtful for someone special? Look no further! In our gift pack you will find:

  • A jar of raw Irish OpenHive honey

  • A hand-rolled Irish beeswax candle

  • A bespoke Naomi Good Ceramics candle holder

  • A packet of OpenHive native Irish seed bombs

  • Two bars of Brona artisan Irish chocolate

  • A bunch of dried lavender flowers

You can find the pack here: https://www.openhive.ie/shop

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Rare Australian bee found after 98 years…

An Australian bee that hasn’t been in almost 100 years has been found in the rainforests of eastern Australia according to an article in IFL Science. The Pharohylaeus lactiferus is the only Australian member of a genus usually found in New Guinea. The bees hasn’t bee seen since the mid 1920s until a university student called James Dorey from Flinders University spotted it whilst studying for a Phd.

According to Dory the bee is “part of a group called the masked bees that are relatively hairless and have quite remarkable facial markings,”. This makes them easy to distinguish from other bees, and P. lactiferus is “unusually big and thick, maybe with two ccs, so it can be told apart from most other masked bees”.

Here’s hoping for more exciting discoveries just like this in future.

Read the full article here.

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OpenHive on the Ryan Tubridy Show!

Last Tuesday we were absolutely delighted to have a few minutes to talk to Ryan Tubridy about beekeeping, how OpenHive began and what our aims are on his radio show. An engaging and funny host, Ryan spoke to Mark about how he has been since the last time he was on the show (summer of 2019) before moving on to discuss beekeeping as a hobby, OpenHive as a company and how the public can help the native Irish bee in future. You can listen to the piece below.

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Bees and snow

Last week we had some really cold weather hit Ireland and our hives in Wicklow, just south of Dublin, were snowed in, as you can see in the below picture. We visit the apiary to check in after the storm and clear the landing boards, just to give them a little hand.

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Bees can cope well during a cold spell like this (as long as it doesn’t last for too long!) as they regulate the temperature within the hive through their winter cluster. The worker bees actively generate heat by shivering - vibrating their flight muscles but keeping their wings still, which raises their body temperatures. With thousands of bees constantly shivering, the temperature at the centre of the cluster warms up to about 35° C. When the workers on the outer edge of the cluster get cold, they push to the centre of the group, and other bees take a turn shielding the group from the winter weather.

Cocktail Recipe!

It’s a cold, windy and grey Monday out there. We’re looking for something to cheer ourselves and our readers up and we stumbled across this lovely recipe over on the Powers whiskey website. Going to give it a go tonight and give those Monday blues the nudge.

Ingredients

  1. 2 parts GOLD LABEL.

  2. ½ part honey syrup (equal parts OpenHive honey and water)

  3. 6 parts sparkling water.

  4. Squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

  5. Lemon peel to garnish.

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Method

  1. In a Collins glass filled with ice.

  2. Combine POWERS, lemon juice and sparkling water.

  3. Stir to combine and serve with a lemon peel.

Jack McGrath joins the team at OpenHive!

We are very excited to announce the Ulster & Ireland international prop Jack McGrath has joined our team. Jack has been fascinated by bees for a long time now and used the lockdown to tackle bee conservation. 

As a team player, I’m fascinated by how tens of thousands of bees can in one hive can work together as one productive unit. Humans the world over were all in lockdown, but nature, the bees, they just carried on as if nothing was happening.

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As part of his training to become a beekeeper with OpenHive, McGrath learned that the native Irish honeybee is a species under threat. So, he got his own hives and is committed to conserving this threatened species. He has become an advocate for the Irish honeybee and a spokesperson for OpenHive honey. OpenHive operates a hive sponsorship programme through which individuals and corporates can easily contribute to a vital conservation programme for Irish Honeybees. 

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“These little guys need our help to survive. Let’s put our shoulders to it and get them over the line .” 

Press Release

Book Recommendation: The HoneyBee by Celia Davis

The below two books are two of the best books we have come across in terms of learning about bees. They are exceptionally thorough, up to date and very well presented. Highly recommended for anyone who is interested in a more in depth look at the world of the honey bee and everything around it. We bought purs from Beecraft but they are available elsewhere as well. Happy reading!

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Bee Documentary: The Pollinators

Over the Christmas break we got to catch up on some of the more relaxing aspects of beekeeping - learning about bees for fun. A film about the migratory beekeepers of the United States called The Pollinators was one such example. It tells the tale of the huge business of pollinating fruit, vegetable and other foods in the US and the role that bees have to play in it. The award-winning film is a very interesting, beautifully filmed look at a very different type of beekeeping. More info on the website here: https://www.thepollinators.net.

NOW AVAILABLE ON DIGITAL: https://geni.us/ThePollinatorsThe Pollinators is a cinematic journey around the United States following migratory beekeepers and th...

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Heat up your Honey

Here’s a very simple way to add some heat and flavour to your honey. All you need are some chili pepers, some honey and a little patience. Delicious on pizza and with lots of other dishes. Enjoy!

  • Step 1: Chop up chili peppers of your choice - we used 5 habaneros & 5 birds eye

  • Step 2: Heat up about two jars of raw Irish honey - we used OpenHive, obviously!

  • Step 3: Add all of the above to a pot and simmer gently on a medium heat for 5 minutes

  • Step 4: Remove from heat and let it cool

  • Step 5: Strain through a sieve and put into a jar

  • Step 6: Store in an airtight container in your fridge and use liberally!

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