Drumroe honey

25/12/2022

One of our Native Irish Black Honey bees - a threatened sub species.

23/12/2022

NIHBS conference Friday and Saturday 10/11 March 2023. Details and event booking to follow shortly on the website

08/11/2022

THE PROTECTION OF THE NATIVE IRISH HONEY BEE BILL IS PROVISIONALLY SCHEDULED FOR ITS THIRD READING IN THE SEANAD TODAY (November 8th, 2022) AT 19.00. To see and hear Senator Vincent P Martin watch:
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/
But remember - the Bill is only Provisionally scheduled for tomorrow evening so, before you set out, check here first:
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/seanad-schedule/

Sorry about the short notice!

The Native Irish Honey Bee Society (NIHBS) is asking for the support of all Public Representatives so please urge your TD or Senator to continue to support this Bill as it proceeds through the Oireachtas.

07/08/2022

BREAKING NEWS FROM:
Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping History
Centuries Old Belief that Bees Can Predict the Weather is Scientifically Proven to be True.

Bee Folklore: Bees as Weather Prophets.

🐝 When bees remain in their hives or fly but a short distance, expect rain (1)

🐝 Bees will not swarm before a storm. (1)

🐝 When bees to distance wing their flight.
Days are warm and skies are bright;
But when their flight ends near their home
Stormy weather is sure to come. (1)

🐝 Bees returning hastily and in large numbers are said to indicate approaching rain, although the weather may be clear. (1)

🐝 A bee was never caught in a shower. (1)

🐝 When many bees enter a hive and none leave it, rain is at hand. Hence the rhyme;
" If bees stay home, Rain will soon come;
If bees fly away, Fine will be the day. " (2)

Many of the ancient writers like Aristotle, Virgil and Pliny, considered bees to be able to predict the weather. For centuries, this ancient knowledge was assumed to be folklore. Over 2,000 years later, researchers have scientifically proven it to be true.

In 2015 researchers discover that bees really do predict the weather.

Trackers reveal that honeybees forecast the weather and plan their work day accordingly. RFID monitoring indicates honeybees work harder before a rainy day

Image: One of the experiment colonies, honeybee Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system and tag-marked workers. a: tag; b: recorder; c: reader. The tag has a diameter of 3 mm and is 0.08 mm thick and weighs 1 mg.

ABSTRACT
Storms are usually accompanied by a drop in temperature, and an increase in wind and barometric pressure and rainfall, which have negative impacts on most activities, survival and reproduction in insects (Gillot, 2005). The majority of studies mainly focused on how the flight activity of various flying insects such as honeybees, bumble bees, horse flies and leafminer were directly influenced by intraday weather changes (Burnett & Hays, 1974; Lundberg, 1980; Casas, 1989; Vicens & Bosch, 2000). However, accumulating evidences showed that animals can make behavioral changes before storms, which is enormously important for their survival in severe weather condition. Before upcoming storms birds unusually chirp and bathe with sand; native frogs croak and hide their eggs masses; spiders spin shorter and produce thicker webs and wasps hide their comb before rains (Galacgac & Balisacan, 2009; Acharya, 2011). In early 1893, honeybees were reported more active before storms (Inwards, 1893). In this study, we compared the working habits of foragers on days that were followed by a sunny day and those that followed by a rainy day using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) which was developed and manufactured by the Honeybee Research Institute of Jiangxi Agricultural University in collaboration with the Guangzhou Invengo Information Technology Co., Ltd., and we firstly showed that honeybees worked harder before a rainy day.

See Full Article Here:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284714080_RFID_monitoring_indicates_honeybees_work_harder_before_a_rainy_day

RFID monitoring indicates honeybees work harder before a rainy day (PDF Download Available). Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284714080_RFID_monitoring_indicates_honeybees_work_harder_before_a_rainy_day

Source:

(1) circa. 1883 ~ Weather Proverbs By Henry Harrison Chase Dunwoody Page 55-56

(2) circa. 1882 ~ Arthur's Home Magazine - Volume 50 - Page 87

08/06/2022

30/05/2022

The Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021 (Protection Bill) will go through its 2nd stage in the Seanad next Thursday
In Oct 2021, Senator Vincent P Martin introduced the Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021 into Seanad Éireann. Now we need your support!
The bill proposes banning the importation of non-native subspecies of honey bees into Ireland. For more than 30 years we have been fighting to protect our native dark honey bee, which over millennia has adapted to our unique climate and landscape.
Without the ban, imported bees will further dilute our bee’s genetics as well as potentially introduce foreign pests and pathogens, which have in the past wiped out entire populations.
Help us protect this unique national biological treasure. Write to your local Senators/TDs. To make it easy, we’ve drafted a letter for you on our website: www.nihbs.org

21/05/2022

17/04/2022

Protect our Native Bee
"On the island of Ireland authentic populations of native Irish dark honey bees, Apis mellifera mellifera (Amm), still exist in the wild and in many beekeeper's hives but they are under threat. Our native bees thrive in this changeable climate but they are facing their greatest challenge yet - hybridisation from non-native bees. The causes are the imprudent importation of non-native sub-species and the breeding of hybrid honey bees. Sadly, these bees then contribute to the shared gene pool and in the long term, jeopardise the whole island’s biodiversity and heritage by destroying the native bee in our landscape. A Conservation Area (CA) is a designated area of land where Amm is accorded special protections and where beekeepers commit to only keep native Amm. If you live on the island of Ireland and you have a care for its Biodiversity, go to www.nihbs.org and learn more about Conservation Areas in the "What we do" drop-down list, then:

• Commit to a local Conservation Area, it's simple
• Explain to beekeepers in your area about the importance of protecting Ireland's native dark bee, inform and educate. Get them on board
• Go to the NIHBS website and read our “ Statement Against Importing Bees to Ireland “
• Support the “Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021” by emailing your political representatives. A sample email is on the website
• Become a member of NIHBS. More info at www.nihbs.org .

There is strength in numbers."

06/04/2022

This photo represents everything to which we owe life and biodiversity, pollination.
We can plant all the wind turbines and all the trees you want, but without this key element, life would not be what it is. Will you help to take care of them?

13/03/2022

In Oct 2021, Senator Vincent P Martin introduced the Protection of the Native Irish Honey Bee Bill 2021 into Seanad Éireann. Now we need your support!

Endorsed by NIHBS and the vast majority of Irish beekeepers and their representative bodies (The Federation of Irish Beekeepers Associations, Irish Beekeepers' Association CLG , Ulster Beekeepers Association, and INIB-Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers), the bill proposes banning the importation of non-native subspecies of honey bees into Ireland. For more than 30 years we have been fighting to protect our native dark honey bee, which over millennia has adapted to our unique climate and landscape.

Without the ban, imported bees will further dilute our bee’s genetics as well as potentially introduce foreign pests and pathogens, which have in the past wiped out entire populations.

Help us protect this unique national biological treasure. Write to your local Senators/TDs. To make it easy, we’ve drafted a letter for you on our website: www.nihbs.org

14/12/2021

The Native Irish Honeybee Society are Members of INRBS https://inrbs.ie/

08/09/2021

Hi everyone. We are happy to announce that we have most of our usual outlets stocked up and ready to go. Briefly and working away from Ballyporeen we have Vee Valley fruit and veg in Clogheen and moving on to Cahir we have stocks in Norman O’Briens butchers. I am hoping to restock in Clonmel next week and will keep you all updated.
In the other direction Kevin and Michelle lane in Anglesborough and at both Cummin’s and O’Neil’s in Galbally are selling our honey. Coming back through Mitchelstown the honey is in Hanley’s butchers and Dave Conroy’s shop at the petrol station at the top of town.
If we stock any other outlets we will keep you updated so, until then, please enjoy our honey.

06/09/2021

This is a project from the Native Irish honeybee society in which we are heavily involved in an attempt to preserve our native bee from genetic corruption from foreign imported bees.
It is partly due to the survival ability of these bees that we have come through the past 12 months of atrocious weather (for the bees at least) and are now able to stock our honey into most of our usual suppliers. Due to the bees ability to cope with the Irish weather they have produces a good harvest in a very short period, hence, after a hectic 6 weeks or more, I am only now putting the honey on the shelves starting locally to Ballyporeen and will update you as to where very shortly.
Don't forget that I also manage Pat Russell's bees and his honey is already flying off the shelves, so to speak.

https://www.facebook.com/NIHBS/posts/4633148983375843

NIHBS’s core goal is the conservation of our native Irish honey bee ( ), partly accomplished by encouraging the breeding of native bees and discouraging the importation of non-natives. From 2019–2020, there was an alarming 327% increase of queens brought into Ireland!

To counter this trend, NIHBS conceived the Queen Rearing Group Scheme (QRGS) to bolster Ireland’s self-sufficiency in bees by breeding both mated and virgin queens for distribution. Open to member beekeepers, groups learn queen rearing, are mentored by experts, and gain access to our network to sell queens and ensure their proliferation. So far there are 13 groups around the country.

For more info, visit nihbs.org/queen-rearing/nihbs-queen-rearing-groups-scheme/

30/07/2021

https://fb.watch/73GGUKRVSR/ These native bees kept in our area are the best suited to our climate. After poor weather from last June till this June, which greatly reduced the harvest last year, we have a good harvest coming this year mainly due to our bees reading the weather and holding back until they deemed the weather was right to expand the colonies in June ready for the great weather in July. I don't think I have ever been so busy before as the last six weeks!

21/07/2021

** Book Launch Alert! **

We’re publishing a book, “The Native Irish Honey Bee, Apis mellifera mellifera,” available online from September 18th. Written by scientists and beekeepers, its aim is to increase awareness of the native honey bee and its role within Ireland’s natural heritage as pollinator and honey producer. It will also inform people — the general public included — about the need for conservation in the face of serious ongoing threats, which could otherwise push it into extinction.

As they say out there in media land, “When they’re gone, they’re gone.” Help us prevent that fate!