BIBBA guide to forming and running bee improvement groups
With contributions from Jo Widdicombe, Roger Patterson and Steve McGrath.
The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) No 1200969 founded in 1964 (originally called The Village Bee Breeders Association (VBBA)).
BIBBA’s objects are ... “…the conservation, restoration, study, selection, and improvement for the public benefit of the native honey bee of Britain and Ireland (Apis mellifera mellifera), and of near-native and locally adapted honey bees…..”. This is done in several ways and includes the championing of varroa resistant beekeeping.
This guide is intended to help beekeepers to work together to further these objectives. For further information see the BIBBA website: www.bibba.com or contact the Groups Secretary via the BIBBA website or .
Introduction
Many of us are keen to improve the quality of our bees but, with limited resources, may feel it too big a task to tackle on our own.
This guide is aimed at guiding beekeepers on how they may work together to develop a locally adapted and varroa resistant bee, best suited
to the environment, bees and beekeepers.
There has been, and still is, a tendency to look to imported queens as an easy way to improve quality, but imported bees have not been selected for their performance in our conditions and results can be disappointing. They may prove less hardy than local stocks, perhaps resulting in higher winter losses.
Despite this, in recent years imports have
continued to rise and the possible biosecurity risks associated with importation are generally ignored.
Any improvement in temper achieved by importing bees tends to be short-lived, as succeeding generations cross with local bees, making an incompatible mix of different sub species.
This ongoing importation adds to our mongrelised bee population, both managed and free-living, making the selection and improvement of bees more difficult.
Apart from pockets of pure native bees (Apis mellifera mellifera), the overall population of honey bees in much of the British Islands and Ireland is of very variable quality and characteristics
owing to the genetic mix of several sub-species.
Because of this, beekeepers are often
reluctant to use local bees for improvement; it is easier to believe that there are better bees elsewhere, which of course has led us to where we are now. It is unsustainable to keep importing queens.
Despite all the imports since the mid-19th century, the genes of the original native sub species still form a large portion of the make-up of many of our bees, particularly of colonies not derived from recent imports.
The natural dominance of the native strain in much of our stock represents a valuable resource which can be refined and improved. It makes sense to work with this natural dominance, rather than try to impose and maintain an exotic strain which would generally depend on repeated imports.
A bee that is developed from a local population of bees that has thrived and survived for several generations in the same area will have different qualities and better local adaptation than bees brought in from other regions, as well as being easier to maintain in the area.
By working with the best of our existing bees, rather than resorting to importation, we can start on the gradual path of improvement, rather than one of constantly battling with declining
standards.
Breeding for varroa resistance
Perhaps the biggest advance in bee improvement since the turn of the 21st century has been the discovery and raising of varroa resistant bees that can manage varroa levels themselves to a point that they aren’t detrimental to the colony without chemical or biotechnical intervention by the beekeeper.
This work has been done on local stock and nearly all imported bees are currently treated prophylactically as their varroa resistant status is unknown.
Currently, the majority of managed colonies on these islands are probably susceptible to varroa. Unfortunately, the “official” advice is to treat, rather than look for signs of resistance, with warnings that you will lose your bees if you don’t treat. This doesn’t help selecting for resistance, it just propagates bees that rely on chemicals for survival.
If we are to get to the point where the majority of managed stock doesn’t need treatment, we will need breeding programs to select and even prioritise varroa resistance amongst other traits.
Working together to improve our bees
The majority of beekeepers are operating on a small scale. By co-operating and working with other like-minded beekeepers through the sharing of resources, labour and skills, the possibility of developing a hardy, docile, varroa resistant and productive bee can become a reality.
The purpose of this guide is to assist the formation and continued success of a Bee Improvement Group. It is not intended to give advice on the practical side of bee improvement. For that, please see other BIBBA material.
What's in this guide?
- What is a BIBBA Bee Improvement Group?
- Are Bee Improvement Groups Needed?
- Starting a group
- Terminology and name
- Objectives or aims
- Group status and finance
- Composition of the group
- Finding a site
- Deciding which methods and equipment to use
- Stocking with bees
- Colony assessment and selection
- Record keeping
- Queen rearing plan and timetable
- Diversification
- Distribution of bees and queens. Do you charge for them?
- Biosecurity
- Continuity of a Bee Improvement Group
- Maintaining interest
- Liaison with BIBBA
- Publicity
- Problems and avoiding problems.
What is a BIBBA Bee Improvement Group?
As far as BIBBA is concerned, the first reference to “Groups” was in a typed document (Groups Paper VBG/1) “Group Formation and Organisation”, by Beowulf Cooper dated Feb 1966. The intention was for all members (then VBBA) to form local or regional groups, with bee breeding being a part. This never progressed, although in later years “Queen Rearing” and “Bee Breeding” groups were formed, with no formality or definition of either.
Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding are specific terms and we feel that “Bee Improvement Group” includes both, so that is BIBBA’s preference.
BIBBA encourages the improvement of honey bees by all beekeepers to reduce and prevent the need, or perceived need, for importation of bees and treatment for varroa.
Greater progress is likely to be achieved by beekeepers working together in a reasonably organised manner. A group to work on bee improvement could be in many shapes and sizes, as there are many different situations in different areas. The make-up of a group in a densely populated area may be rather different from one in a sparsely populated area.
A “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group” could be just one person, two or more with no affiliation to a common organisation, or part or whole of an organisation, such as a local BKA. Groups can obviously operate on their own if they wish, but there may be benefits in being part of a larger community who are all trying to achieve a common goal.
BIBBA is willing to help and guide groups by offering the opportunity to become a “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group”.
Tthe benefits include:
• The opportunity to network with other like-minded groups to share experiences, which could be practical or administrative. BIBBA will help foster this network.
• The possibility to share genetic material.
• A “BIBBA Groups Secretary”, who can help with any problem you may have, or signpost you in the right direction.
• Access and signposting to relevant BIBBA material on bee improvement, bee breeding, queen rearing and varroa resistance, among many other practical guides and videos.
• A regular newsletter and groups case studies
• The chance to attract new members to your group.
• Possible bulk buying of equipment.
• Buying and selling used equipment.
• Knowing other groups that are operating in your locality.
• Having your own entry with a summary, contact details and images on the BIBBA website.
• Access to tuition and hands-on workshops.
There is no subscription or joining fee as BIBBA wishes to make it easy for groups to join the network. However, it is subject to the few conditions set out below. Joining is simple via the BIBBA website. A group can withdraw at any time or have the group status removed if they no longer comply with the group status conditions.
BIBBA must ensure that groups are bona fide bee improvement groups to maintain the integrity of the BIBBA group status. There is a filtering process, so to become and retain the status of a “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group” the following should be complied with:-
• The group must be open to other beekeepers, not deliberately restricted to one person.
• The group must support the objects of BIBBA (see above).
• The group should support selecting for and proliferating varroa resistant colonies as one of its aims.
• The group agrees not to import bees or queens, or propagate from recently imported stock.
• At least one person in the group shall be a fully paid-up member of BIBBA. If the one person is no longer a member the group will be removed for a short time until the situation is rectified. This by agreement with the BIBBA Groups Secretary.
• Membership of a “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group” does not include individual membership of BIBBA.
• Although commercial beekeepers may join a BIBBA group, the status will not be given solely to a commercial organisation where there is no provision for other beekeepers to join.
In addition:-
• We make it clear that groups remain entirely independent, with BIBBA having no say in how the groups are run. Groups organise themselves how they wish, handling their own finances and administration.
• Groups have no call on BIBBA funds and vice versa.
• “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group” members have no rights, other than those held by the individual BIBBA members in their group.
• Events and activities held by groups must not be seen or advertised as “BIBBA Events”, unless by prior agreement. This to ensure that all responsibilities stay with the group.
• Help, information and advice from BIBBA is given in good faith. The recipients must decide if it is appropriate, therefore the responsibility for any loss or damage is theirs.
• This section may be reviewed at any time. Changes will be displayed on the BIBBA website.
Are Bee Improvement Groups Needed?
As ever in beekeeping, there will be several possible answers to this question.
Most beekeepers think parochially, to the point where they often think only of what happens in their own club or association and not what's happening nationally. They are more likely to be happier working in a small local group, with local beekeepers who may have taught them, rather than with someone from afar. That fits in quite neatly with the concept of producing locally adapted bees, especially as in some parts of the country conditions can vary considerably only 10 to 20 miles away.
Most beekeepers have five colonies or fewer, many with only two or three. That means they have little to compare with and no chance of influencing the bee population in their locality. However, if several beekeepers work together in an organised group there are many more colonies to work with, progress can be made more quickly and more extensively. In addition, knowledge and skills can be shared by the more experienced/competent beekeepers in the group.
In nature, ecotypes (i.e. distinct geographic forms adapted to specific environmental conditions) evolve and this is also true with honey bees. A local group should develop local bees for local beekeepers and the local climate.
Consequently, a lot of groups throughout the country propagating bees that suit their own local environment is better than importing identical bees and queens from regions with very different conditions.
BIBBA, therefore, believes that Bee Improvement Groups are needed.
Starting a group
Before starting a group, see if there is one already operating in your area. One of the benefits of being a “BIBBA Bee Improvement Group” is to publicise your existence. There is little to gain by forming a new group where there's one already established. It’s better to produce a stronger group with more members and colonies.
You need to be sure that a group will have a good chance of being successful, certainly medium term. Enthusiasm gained by listening to a convincing person, lecture or video needs to be sustained. Initial enthusiasm can soon wane when there are early failures and it becomes apparent that success is proportionate to the time, effort and knowledge applied by the collective group.
One person could start a group but, to be effective it will need several members and to be able to build to at least 10 to 20 full colonies in the early stages to be viable.
This is particularly important when selecting for varroa resistance as there will be a smaller pool of potential starter stock to choose from and you will need to carefully manage the transition to varroa resistance due to the risks involved.
You can certainly start quite small as a useful trial run, but this will need to be increased as colonies will be needed for several purposes such as assessment, providing material to raise queens from, queen cell raising colonies, making up mating nucs and for trialling queens. You will find that support should grow once you have started.
Speak to other local beekeepers to see if there is any genuine interest in forming a group. You need a reasonable level of commitment, even if some are only willing to allow inspection of their colonies to assess their bees, agreeing to donate a few larvae from good queens and requeening the poorer colonies.
If a branch, division or a group of a beekeeping association wishes to work together, this can be advantageous due to the greater numbers involved and the possible backup of useful resources. A BKA teaching apiary, for example, can be ideal for producing queens and nucs for current or new members. Associations are well-placed to educate beekeepers in new skills and there may already be a pool of useful skills available.
Local BKAs are the backbone of the organisational structure of beekeeping. They have the infrastructure already in place, so that is the best place to start. It is unreasonable to load more work onto the existing committee, so have exploratory discussions first, to see what is possible. The group could be a specialist part of a BKA.
BKAs are organised in different ways. In some counties there is just one county BKA, which may be quite a large area, involving a lot of travelling, or variable topography. Queen rearing colonies need tending more than honey producing colonies, so it’s unreasonable for group members to travel great distances. It may therefore be worth considering setting up several groups within the same county. For those counties that are split into branches or divisions, it may be best to be part of them.
Whatever you decide, make it easy for yourself and your local beekeepers. Without making it complicated, draw up a realistic plan listing your group aims and future goals. It will give you something to focus on. You can modify them as you go, because some things will work well, others may not.
Contact the BIBBA Groups Secretary at before starting, as they will be able to help and support you.
Things to consider:
- Is there already a group near you that you could join?
- What will drive the longer-term success and enthusiasm of the group? Do the other members of your group have the commitment? (see group composition section)
- How will you get hold of, and quickly build up, your starter stock?
- At the very least, you will need donor colonies, cell raising colonies, and bees to fill mating nucs.
- Can you form the group as a part of your local beekeeping club or association and draw on its resources?
- If it's a large association covering a large area, do you need more than one group?
Terminology and name
The name of the group should be decided carefully. It is probably better if it is descriptive, so it is clear what your purpose is, not just now, but into the future. You will probably be concerned with “bee breeding”, “queen rearing” and “bee improvement”, so one of those is the most likely choice.
“Bee breeding”, at the level most beekeepers will operate at is simply assessing colonies, deciding which to breed from and which to cull. Although it may sound complicated and may not be attractive to many beekeepers, it is actually quite simple at a basic level. “Queen rearing”, although only propagation, is made to sound very complicated and difficult by some speakers and writers, so again, it might not appeal to some.
Most groups will be concerned with improving their local bees, with breeding and queen rearing as major elements, so perhaps “Bee Improvement Group” is a catch-all that sounds much simpler and easier for beekeepers to align to.
When naming a new group, it might be useful to make it obvious where you operate, or who you are aligned to, such as a BKA, county, town, area, hills, valley or river.
You can see some of our existing group names in our directory.
Objectives or aims
These are best agreed by the group, rather than simply copying from elsewhere. You decide what you want to achieve.
Make sure they are reasonable, easily understood andvworkable. We suggest avoiding writing a manual and legal documents, as these are unlikely to be needed and could become a distraction.
There are some helpful ideas throughout this guide. Adapt them to suit your needs.
The main object of a Bee Improvement Group is obviously bee improvement, so that should be your focus. It is easy to think this is simply about raising a few queens, but for a little more effort you can produce bees and do some teaching, both of which could be very valuable in improving the bees in your locality. These are discussed further in “Diversification”.
The group must decide which characteristics or traits are important in their selection programme, bearing in mind it is easier to achieve success if fewer qualities are chosen.
You also need to decide who will be the beneficiaries of the breeding project. Here are three possible options:
- Producing queens for group members only. This won’t get many desirable drones into the air, so local bee improvement will progress slowly. This should be expanded if possible.
- Raising mated queens for distribution to local beekeepers, either free or at a price, will increase the number of desirable drones flying, but will be limited by the mating facilities. It will also encourage the possibility of the beekeeper raising further queens from those supplied, which should increase the number of desirable drones in the area.
- Raising queen cells for distribution to local beekeepers. These can either be taken home and placed in prepared colonies, or queenless nucs can be brought in temporarily to have the cells introduced to them. They can be taken away when the queens have started laying, or the queens removed and fresh queen cells given. This might seem unnecessary to the more experienced beekeeper, but many beekeepers don’t know how to do this, as it is not always taught. Introducing a queen cell and waiting until the queen is laying is a brilliant teaching opportunity for a beekeeper. It’s very pleasing for someone who has never done it before. If a new beekeeper sees how easy it is, they are more likely to raise their own queens in
future than buy them.
Here's an example of one group's aims, including where the resulting bees will be distributed:
Group status and finance
The status and funding of existing groups varies, with mixes of models from local association support funding, self-funding through bee and honey sales, to sponsorships and partnerships.
There are different situations and opportunities in different localities and it is good that groups reflect that by developing their own character.
For a variety of reasons, including the wide variation in allegiance and ownership and past experiences, BIBBA will not fund the setting up or running of groups.
Some examples of funding sources include:
- Self-funding through queen, bee and honey sales
- Branch funding, possibly matched by regional association funding
- Member and/or public donations
- Grants
- Sponsorship
- Crowd funding
Your funding model could include more than one of these sources.
Providing there is a good relationship between the members, the group may consider there is no need for formalities, such as elected officers, constitution or a bank account, etc.
Larger groups may want to have a more formal structure, although you still may not need to go as far as electing officers and updating a constitution.
Composition of a group
Working with like-minded beekeepers enables the sharing of ideas, enthusiasm and enjoyment. Beekeepers who wish to form a group should be prepared to learn the skills needed for the successful assessment and selection of stock, and for the rearing, mating and introduction of queens. These topics are not always taught, so you may be contributing to increasing the knowledge and skills of beekeepers in your locality.
Before forming a group, talk to other beekeepers about bee improvement. Make sure they are aware of what you are hoping to achieve, as it may be different from what they have been taught or read.
A group should consist of beekeepers who are seriously interested in achieving bee improvement through the selection and improvement of their stock, rather than through the quick fix, but unsustainable route of importation.
Members of the group should view bee
improvement as a long-term commitment. There may be difficulties, but they can always be overcome.
The make-up of any group can be quite varied and will probably be quite fluid. This includes enthusiasm, knowledge, skills and personality. A bee improvement group is likely to be the
same. It is useful to have people of varying skills and experience at all times, and as an ideal you need some with the knowledge and skills highlighted.
Some people may bring more than one skill to the group, while others may not necessarily even be beekeepers. As with all organisations or groups it’s best to avoid overloading a few members.
Key skills in a group team
• Leaders who are good organisers that can get the best out of the resources
available.
• Good, sound, experienced and skilled beekeepers who can handle bees well, assess them and teach others.
• Administrators who can deal with seeking resources, contacting members, financing the group, making records, etc.
• Practical people who can make or repair equipment, sheds, gates, fences, etc, cut hedges and mow grass.
It is important that you have sound practical advice. Inexperienced people, although they may be enthusiastic, may mislead you. You may buy a lot of kit you subsequently don’t use, or cull some very good queens because someone has read the wrong book, watched an inappropriate video or listened to someone with little experience
and knowledge. You may wish to seek external help in the early stages, until you have gained enough knowledge and experience to be self-sufficient.
Every group will benefit from having at least one beekeeper who is experienced at bee improvement, as it is easy to make mistakes that may not be immediately obvious.
Colony selection is very important, as it is easy and quite common for inexperienced beekeepers to cull a good queen. The selection of equipment and methods are also important.
“Experienced” can be best defined as someone who has raised their own queens successfully for several seasons from their own or local colonies
and who has a good reputation for doing so.
You need people who are team players who you can work with. One or more “strong” characters can disrupt a small group that otherwise would work well together to achieve a great deal.
Finding a site
Situations will vary considerably, from urban areas where suitable land is difficult to come by, to great expanses with plenty of options, such as moorland or forest in less densely populated areas. Beekeepers are often quite resourceful and will make the best of what is available. One thing is certain, the bees won’t mind. If you tell landowners what you are doing, you could find useful sites that can be used in return for a few jars of honey. It is probably unwise to enter into a formal agreement.
The greatest amount of space required is probably for mating colonies. Due to breeding manipulations, these shouldn’t cause a nuisance by swarming, so could be nearer human habitation or activity, than for honey production colonies.
Although not ideal for working, mating nucs can be stacked up to save space. If mini nucs are used, they can be placed on discarded items that can often be obtained by asking members and friends, looking in skips or making a trip to the local scrap yard. Discarded shelving or planks of wood, such as old scaffold planks, spaced apart and rested on something to provide a safe and rigid structure is adequate. For standard nuc boxes, longish items such as scaffold poles, angle iron or aluminium ladder sections rested on something firm, such as concrete blocks, will be suitable.
A small informal group that isn’t aligned to any organisation could probably manage to produce a reasonable quantity of queens by using the facilities of one of the members, or a small piece of land belonging to a friend.
For a more formal and larger group, maybe a member has adequate facilities that could be used. It doesn’t need much space to raise queens, especially if mating can be done on several sites, with the queen cells raised on one.
A larger group may also be teaching beekeepers, so may need parking space for several vehicles. A facility to work in the dry would be an advantage, so a building such as a garage, barn or shed could be useful. If not, then a temporary structure, such as a tent or gazebo would be satisfactory.
Queen rearing is only performed during the summer, perhaps from the end of April until the middle of August in the most favourable locations, so 14-16 weeks at most, less elsewhere. If a permanent site can’t be found, then perhaps a temporary site is possible during the summer, with a wintering site elsewhere for the colonies.
If the group is part of a BKA, there should be no problem. If normal meetings are held at the teaching apiary, then all the facilities could be there.
If you are building a varroa resistant apiary, then ideally it should be separate from apiaries with mite susceptible bees to avoid constant infestation. This won’t always be possible when starting out, but you should aim to re-queen the mite susceptible colonies as soon as possible, thereby flooding the area with drones from your mite resistant colonies.
In urban areas, there may be allotments or a piece of waste ground behind buildings that can be used. In both cases parking should be no problem.
For the larger groups who may be producing bees as well as queens, it may be advisable to have a satellite site. If so, then make sure it is three miles or more away if possible, so bees don’t fly back when moved.
Whatever site you decide on, make sure it is safe and secure.
You should register on BeeBase, which brings the usual benefits and will allow you to see how many other apiaries are within 10km, although this is only a rough guide. Displaying the site postcode, or if in a rural area, the nearest one, may be useful in an emergency. Make sure everyone knows where it is.
Some other considerations:
- Do you know what is around your apiary? Learn what are nearby beekeepers doing as it could impact your breeding program.
- Security: The bees you raise through a selection and breeding program are valuable and you don't want to lose the work you have done to theft or disease.
- Future proofing: Select your site to cater for the number of queens you want to raise longer-term, not in the first year or two as you're building your project. You don't want to run out of space.
It is strongly suggested that if nucs are brought into an area for mating there is some degree of isolation. This needs to be away from the queen producing area, so perhaps in an adjacent field or the other end of a wood.
Place nucs belonging to different people some distance from those of other beekeepers. These precautions are in case of Foul Brood infection in incoming nucs, that will result in a standstill order, so hampering progress. See the note about BDI later.
An alternative is for an experienced beekeeper to inspect nucs before they are brought in.
Deciding which methods and equipment to use
The method, or methods, of queen rearing need to be agreed by the group after very careful consideration. It might appear to be a good idea to try several different techniques to see which gives the best results, but that may be a mistake as you might get overwhelmed and confused by the different methods available.
The most important thing is to understand the theoretical aspects and the required time schedules, not try out all the methods you have read about.
If you have an experienced queen rearer in your group, it may be best to do what they do initially. You have someone who is competent at one method, so you should be able to produce queens successfully from the start. They may have only used one method or tried several and decided on one that suits them best. It doesn’t matter in your early stages, as anything used reasonably efficiently is a good start. You need to concentrate on producing good queens by one method, easily and quickly, not being inefficient at all of them. A reasonable degree of success in the early stages is better for morale than failure is.
When the group gets bigger and more experienced, then you can explore other methods, so you can compare.
Grafting is the one method that is known by everyone, whether they have used it or not, simply because that is the one that is most commonly promoted. It is, however, the method that most people seem to have the most problems with. When teaching grafting, you soon discover those with poor eyesight and poor dexterity. However, not all methods require grafting.
There are several methods of raising queen cells, but unless you have someone competent, it is probably easiest to use a queenless honey production colony until the knowledge and skills levels have got to a reasonable level. Most of the queenright, or temporary queenright methods, although probably more suitable for raising larger numbers of queens, are more involved and may need more explaining. They can come later.
Never lose sight of the fact that natural queen cells, such as swarm or emergency cells, can produce excellent queens if care is taken. They may not be your chosen method, but there are often opportunities to use them during the summer.
The method of queen mating may be quite a difficult choice, with the hives being probably the most expensive items purchased. It may appear to be cheapest to use mini nucs, but these can have low success rates even in the hands of an experienced user. In the early stages, it might be possible to borrow standard nuc boxes from local beekeepers, or perhaps not consider mating in your early stages, but produce queen cells or virgin queens for members and local beekeepers.
You can watch a video on how Roger Patterson makes up a two-frame nucleus which can be used for queen mating here.
If you borrow equipment from members, it is a good idea to identify it in some way. Some beekeepers brand their hives, or mark with a postcode, which is useful, but some may not. It makes sense to have an inventory, but with an enthusiastic group, these things may get forgotten.
The BIBBA YouTube channel has a range of videos that can support you in your queen rearing. To help you, we have created playlists that cover specific topics including our "Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding" playlist.
Stocking with bees
You will normally select your starting stock based on the aims of your breeding project. So, if the aim is produce calmer locally-adapted bees, for example, you won’t initially select your worst tempered bees.
Initial stocks could come from group members or the wider association membership. You may find that some beekeepers are unwilling to let others handle their bees, which could restrict you. Maybe they would be willing to provide you with a swarm cell or two if they’re not prepared to let you handle their bees?
Providing they are healthy and hived carefully, with poor ones requeened, there is nothing wrong with populating the queen cell production area with swarms. They are free and usually available in most years, perhaps giving tuition to new beekeepers on swarm collection, hiving and after care.
Stocking for varroa resistance is more difficult and is another strong reason for working as a group. Ideally, you will start with stock that has already been confirmed as being varroa resistant, but such colonies are not readily available. If you don’t have access to stock that’s already confirmed as varroa resistant, do you have stock that is showing traits like uncapping of worker brood at the pink/purple-eyed stage and chewing out infected pupae (evidenced by pupal parts on the insert tray)? It would be best to start with these.
You’ll need a plan for reducing treatments and monitoring and assessing, and the group will
need to assess the risks. Maybe you would start by reducing treatments on half the colonies to start with, so spreading the risk.
Colony assessment and selection
A Bee Improvement Group should be seen as improving all colonies in the locality, therefore it is reasonable to expect beekeepers to contribute in some way, even though they may not be directly involved in the group.
For help with colony assessment and
selection, see other BIBBA material.
Record keeping
It is important to keep records, so you know where donor queens have come from and where they have gone to, and how well the progeny is scoring against your assessment criteria. This is probably best done on computer. Make sure it is in a simple form that can easily be understood. It is probably advisable for several people to have access to records,
in case of illness.
You can find an example record card here.
Queen rearing plan and timetable
The group should decide on its plan for each season in terms of how many mated queens it hopes to produce. Losses will be experienced at each stage of the queen rearing process; some larvae will not be accepted, some queens will not emerge, some will fail to mate, and so on. A general guide is to aim to produce at least two to three times as many queen cells as the final tally of queens being aimed for.
Whatever you do, don’t see this as failure, rather see it as a learning opportunity that you will improve on and enjoy. Waste is an acceptable part of rearing queens. Bee improvement involves the survival of the fittest. It must always be remembered that certainly in the early stages, in areas where there is no established stability of type, culling may be heavy, further reducing the success rate.
Once queen rearing begins, the timetable needs to be rigidly adhered to, but it is good to build some “slack” into the system, in case targets are not being reached. The schedule for the season should, therefore, allow the opportunity for the rearing of extra batches of queens in case of failures or low numbers of queens produced in some batches.
Once a plan has been decided on, the amount of equipment and the number of colonies that are needed for queen rearing and for the provision of material for nucs or mini-nucs can be calculated. The plan should ensure that there are enough colonies for queen rearing and for drone production, although these can be full honey production colonies. Equipment, such as nucs and mini-nucs, must be available and bees will be needed to stock them.
Diversification
As suggested in “Objects or aims”, there are other opportunities for a bee improvement group. There are two main things that are likely to work against raising bees and queens that suit your locality - teaching and the availability of bees and queens, so these are discussed below:
- Teaching. The “standard teaching” is often of a very basic nature, with much that is more suited to exotic bees than those that best suit our climate. This includes the insistence that queens must be very prolific to produce large colonies and therefore large honey crops, and that queens should be replaced regularly. This will perpetuate if nobody explains that this teaching has more to do with conditions elsewhere in the
world than in our fickle climate. In addition, it’s often stated that local mongrels are bad tempered, without indicating that this could be caused by continuous importations. Colony assessment, bee improvement and queen rearing aren’t often demonstrated or taught. This gives opportunities to group members to offer to give talks and help with teaching and demonstrating locally. - Bees and queens. Beginners, after completing their course, are often left to acquire their first bees from a commercial supplier or online, without any indication of how they will behave or perform. Some BKAs buy in nucs for beginners from commercial sources. Either way, they are likely to be headed by imported queens. There is a great opportunity to produce nucs for beginners at a very reasonable price. They will be local bees headed by local queens. If managed carefully, nucs can be used for mating queens in and selling, so serving two purposes.
Honey can be easily produced, perhaps creating a little income to buy equipment or pay invited speakers.
Distribution of bees and queens. Do you charge?
The more good queens you distribute, the better chance you have of being successful at improving the bees in your area, but how do you achieve that? Some people will be willing to pay for queens, others won’t. You may need to have a policy on how you deal with this.
On one side you have the group (perhaps in conjunction with individuals) who are producing bees and queens, so why shouldn’t they have a reward? On the other side, there are beekeepers who are being persuaded to requeen their colonies, so why should they pay to replace queens they were happy with?
The solution may depend on the circumstances of the group. If the group is independent, it might need a little income. Not only is there equipment to buy, but also the cost of feeding and medication may need recovering. A little income from selling bees and queens may help offset these costs.
If the group is allied to a BKA, then some of the costs will already have been paid for, so they may see the production of queens as a benefit to members.
Perhaps to give queens a value, it might be worth considering giving them to those who contribute to the group and charging those who don’t. If the latter, you may need a policy on failed queens, although you may need to satisfy yourself that failed introduction may be a fault of the beekeeper, perhaps for not ensuring the recipient colony is queenless, which is a common cause of failure.
Bees are eagerly sought by beginners. It is probably good to get new beekeepers thinking about using local bees right from the start, so they should be a priority. If these are charged for it may provide enough income to fund the bee improvement. Surplus queens can either be sold or given away, as it will help distribute good genetics into the area.
Biosecurity
An outbreak of a notifiable disease (AFB or EFB) could disrupt a bee improvement programme for months or even years. Every care must be taken to avoid introducing or distributing these diseases.
A group of beekeepers working together, sharing equipment and bees, face an increased risk of disease, as stock and equipment may be obtained from various sources. There is also an increased potential for the spreading of disease over a wide area through the distribution of stock to numerous beekeepers.
Beekeepers involved in Bee Improvement Groups must be vigilant about the health of their colonies and work with, and seek advice from, the Bee Inspectors in their area. Perhaps the identification of foul brood should be part of the teaching.
As mentioned earlier, you may want to consider having a second apiary where you keep one of each of your queen lines so that the genetics have some insurance against disease or theft.
Continuity of a Bee Improvement Group
A newly formed group can be fragile and unstable, and therefore vulnerable to collapse if things go wrong, before any real achievements have been made.
Aim to achieve steady progress on a yearly basis, even if it is only an increase in experience, and be encouraged by any moves forward, however small. There have been many groups that have been started and quickly ceased. That seems a pity, when often they could flourish, with a slightly different approach or better planning.
Reasons for failure could include:
- Initial enthusiasm is from a small number of people, perhaps new to the craft. They may soon give up.
- Knowledgeable and influential people retire from beekeeping or move away.
- There is no clear plan, or misinterpretation of what there is.
- One or more “strong” characters in the group.
- Disagreements.
- Becoming disheartened if every activity is not a success.
- Lack of sound knowledge and skill.
- No succession planning.
With volunteer organisations there are often highs and lows. If you see one or more of the above, or any other reasons looming, then try to address it, so the group can thrive and survive – just like the bees you have hopefully produced.
Once the group is established it will only have a long-term future if there is a regular influx of new members. These are most likely to be new beekeepers, so they will need teaching. It is important to give them time and experience, not to give them the mundane jobs they may soon tire of. They are the future.
Maintaining interest
Most of the activity of a Bee Improvement Group will be between the first and last batches of the season’s queens, perhaps 14-16 weeks at the most. How do you maintain interest at other times?
During the inactive season you can discuss any problems you may have had, what went right, what can be improved and perhaps any new techniques you can trial for next year. It is useful to update and adapt your plans and aims for the following season and the project based on what you achieved in the previous season.
Equipment can be made, such as boards for some of the cell raising methods. These are often simple to make and may not be commercially available.
You can invite outside speakers or consult teaching material, either written or online. Be aware there is some that
may be inappropriate for your situation, but an experienced beekeeper can make a recommended list.
During warm summer days, simple things like a picnic or barbecue, or just tea and cake following a session, will help to keep the group together. Beekeeping has a social side.
Liaison with BIBBA
BIBBA is keen to encourage the formation and success of Bee Improvement Groups. We think it is a good way to get beekeepers of all abilities improving the quality of our bees nationwide. Bee Improvement Groups can demonstrate that bee stocks can be improved in lots of ways, including hardiness, temper, varroa resistance and performance.
The involvement of BIBBA should be a supporting role, helping groups to be part of a large network that will encourage co-operation between beekeepers in different parts of the country, to reduce the reliance on importation, for the benefit of all.
If a group is operating entirely on its own it is possible to feel isolated, with nobody to turn to if you have a problem. Being part of a much larger, but loosely formed organisation, could provide the help and encouragement that will help you. It may be that others have experienced the same or similar issues you have. An emailed or online request may help solve something quickly. Help shouldn’t all be one way. Ideas, opportunities and successes can be shared by regular contact.
Register your group on the BIBBA website to benefit from being a BIBBA Bee Improvement Group.
Our trustee responsible for our groups network can be contacted at
Publicity
The more successes you have, the more beekeepers are likely to support what you are doing, even if only passively. It may be worthwhile publicising your group and your successes. This could be done in many ways, with perhaps someone organising publicity on behalf of the group.
It is easy to work away in isolation, enjoying what you are doing, with few beekeepers locally knowing what that is. That won’t help the improvement of bees in your area and may result in other groups forming, because they didn’t know you existed. Telling local beekeepers is quite important. All it needs is a little regular drip feeding of information.
It could be useful to have presence on the BIBBA website, this can be arranged ">through the Group Secretary.
Problems and avoiding problems
Being associated with a Bee Improvement Group, whether as an organiser or helper, should be a pleasure. There is so much to learn and so much to give. But there are occasionally things that go wrong.
Careful planning will reduce problems, as will spotting them early and dealing with them before damage is done. It probably isn’t fashionable to highlight problems, but they are a reality. If it helps to make a successful group, then why not?
There may be local beekeepers who don’t support what the group is doing and prefer to use imports. Although it may be annoying, it will do no good to be confrontational. If you think you have a good message, then putting your case persuasively is better than conflict.
It isn’t uncommon for people in a position of influence, such as an association officer, teacher, demonstrator, apiary manager, etc to sell imported queens. If members are then taught to replace queens regularly, but not taught how to raise their own, they may buy from the same source. It is difficult to give advice here and in any case, not good form for BIBBA to be involved in local issues, other than to perhaps suggest having a few words about conflict of interest, or registering disapproval at the AGM.
It is always worth having a back-up apiary site (see “Finding a site”) in case something unexpected occurs. If a BKA teaching apiary is used, there is unlikely to be a problem, but if an independent group, you may be asked to move at short notice if your site is used on a favour basis. As the area required is probably quite small, most people will know a farmer with an odd corner, or someone with a paddock or orchard who can accommodate you temporarily.
It is advisable to have appropriate insurance cover. BIBBA are unable to advise on that subject, but you could be faced with someone being stung or having an accident. If the group is part of a BKA, then perhaps you are covered. If independent, you may not be. Instead of assuming your group members may be covered by being a member of a national BKA, we advise checking. Policies are usually displayed online.
Theft and vandalism are always possible. Sturdy hedges and fences and locked gates may deter minor problems, but you may need more. Unless there is some sort of alarm, problems are only discovered after the event. Consider what are called “wildlife trail cameras”, that can be discreetly placed to record vehicle number plates and faces if possible. To aid possible prosecution, you may need one that records time and date. These are very reasonably priced and as they are designed to be set up outdoors, they should be reasonably maintenance free. They obviously won’t stop a problem but may help discover the culprits.
If you are in an area where Bee Diseases Insurance (BDI) operates, usually included in BKA membership, it will pay to read and understand the terms, otherwise you may find you are uninsured. Remember that hives with non-standard frames that are intended for queen rearing are not covered, so are not included in total numbers. If the site is communal, no compensation is paid unless all colonies are insured.
As discussed previously, you might consider a small second apiary where you keep a colony from each of your
queen lines, so the genetics are protected in case of theft, vandalism or disease.
It is well known that imported queens, probably because they are usually pure races or hybrids, can produce aggression in colonies in the next few generations if bred from. This is called “F2 aggression”. Unfortunately, local/native bees are often blamed by supporters of imports, when it is probably most likely the fault is caused by the imports. You may need to counter this.
Beekeeping politics is sadly a part of beekeeping. Personalities are often the cause, so you may need to handle difficult people quite firmly. Beekeeping should be a pleasure. A small element causing a bad atmosphere or breaking away to form another group will be unhelpful.
You may have to deal with inexperienced people who try to run before they can walk. The reading of advanced and specialised books can induce enthusiasm that may be difficult to manage.
In the modern world, people expect things instantly. Beekeeping isn’t like that, especially when queen rearing and bee improvement are concerned. Be patient. You will get there, but it will probably take longer than you expect.
©BIBBA – November 2025
