Making Waves...

We recently came across a fascinating study from back in 2019 about how honeybees can survive drowning by generating ripples on water surfaces! If a honeybee falls into a pond, their wings get wet and can’t be used to fly. A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that when bees drop into bodies of water, they can use their wings to generate ripples and glide toward land. To quote the scientists involved:

We report the honeybee’s propulsion at the air–water interface. Honeybees trapped on a water surface use their wings as hydrofoils, which means their wings generate hydrodynamic thrust. The surface wave and flow patterns generated around the bee are the first indication that the wings are used as hydrofoils. Furthermore, the water flow measured under a mechanical wing model showed that both net and oscillatory thrust contribute to their locomotion.

Read the study here.

New stockists for 2023!

We are delighted to have some new stockists signed up for 2023 and beyond. It’s always nice to meet new shop owners and talk through who we are, what we do and then agree that both visions line up together. You can pick up our honey in many places (full list here) but for now, here are the newest additions!

Irish Beekeeping Events

Over the coming months there are a number of important events taking place in Irish Beekeeping. First up is the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Association (FIBKA) AGM taking place in Tullamore in mid-February. Secondly the Native Irish Honeybee Society (NIHBS) AGM taking place online on the 27th of February and finally the NIHBS Conference which is taking place on the 10th & 11th of March in Tullamore. We are excited to be members of both groups and look forward to attending their events. 

OpenHive Volunteers 2023

Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of agriculture. For thousands of years people have been passing on this skill to others. It can take years to learn all that is needed to keep bees proficiently. But every experienced beekeeper had to start at the beginning. It can be daunting to start out on this journey, which is why we take on a volunteer team each year. We give people the skills and confidence to keep their own bees.

Each year we take on a small group of volunteers. Education forms a huge part of what we do at OpenHive and we really enjoy teaching like-minded people the skills we have picked up as beekeepers over the years. There is a lot of hard work involved but we feel like there is a huge amount to gain as a result.

To apply for our volunteer programme, please fill out the application form on our website: OH Volunteers. Please note that applications close on Monday February 13th. 

Wicklow mountain Heather Honey

Heather honey is dark in colour and can be reddish/orange to dark amber with its own particular flavour. It is a favourite with many people. The taste is tangy, pungent, smoky, and mildly sweet that leaves a long aftertaste.

We love heather honey - it’s a real delicacy. The heather in the Wicklow mountains only flowers for roughly 2-3 weeks per year so its always very reliant on getting good weather for that window. Thankfully this year we had a great harvest and are really proud of this delicious honey.

We were very excited to receive a bronze medal award from Blás na hÉireann in August of 2022 for our heather honey.

Heather honey been recently studied by Trinity and UCD (2018) to show it is comparable to Manuka honey. Ours comes from Wicklow and was harvested in the late summer.

Extracting this delicacy requires a lot more work than regular honey. Each year we move the hives up to the heather when it begins to flower. Heather is generally located in remote areas of the mountains which can be difficult to access. The honey is also known as a thixotropic honey, meaning it is like a gel rather than a liquid, and therefore, can not be spun out like regular honey.

You can order it here - enjoy!

A vaccine for bees?

The world’s first vaccine for honeybees has been approved for use by the US government, raising hopes of a new weapon against diseases that routinely ravage colonies that are relied upon for food pollination.

At the start of January we read an interesting article from The Guardian about a new vaccine in the US targeting foul brood. Approved by the US government, this could be a breakthrough in the fight against bee diseases. It remains to be seen what the long-term effects will be and whether more chemicals in hives in the answer. We will follow with interest as the data becomes available.

NiftyBusiness & East Glendalough School

Last summer NiftyBusiness partnered with us to deliver an educational apiary to East Glendalough School in Wicklow Town. This project is part of their ESG strategy and will start with a three year programme. The apiary will allow the staff of NiftyBusiness and the school to engage in conservation work with OpenHive. 

EGS were delighted to host a team from Nifty Business who cleared the site and constructed the apiary at the end of the summer in 2022. We look forward to sharing more about this apiary when the beekeeping season begins in March/ April. 

OpenHive Beekeeping Experience

We have partnered with Windyridge Nurseries to deliver an exciting new experience for 2023: An Introduction to Beekeeping. Whether you want to learn more about bees or are interested in dipping your toe in the water before starting your beekeeping journey, this is a great way to get up close with our native Irish honeybee. The experience runs for three hours and includes an informal talk (about our bees, the beekeeping season, harvesting honey etc.), a honey tasting session and of course hands on practical beekeeping. For many more details and to book a spot on the experience please visit our website - Beekeeping Experience.

Overwintering Honeybees

Heading into winter can be a testing time for bees as the temperatures drop and there is no longer much to forage on. The fate of each colony will depend on how well prepared they are for winter - is there enough stores (of honey)? Is the hive safe? How big is the colony?

The bees will from a cluster to keep warm made up of a generation of bees with different physiological characteristics from those of the summer population. The winter bees are larger, stronger and have a longer lifespan to last the 4-6 months of winter, as opposed to the 6 week cycle of a summer bee. The centre of the cluster will be as warm as 32-37°C! 

The social world of honeybees is normally divided into three castes: workers, drones, and queens. But in the winter the male drones die off, leaving only the female castes: the workers and the queen. The queen stops laying in order to maintain the colony's limited food source. She will start laying again in January/February.

The above photo was taken in our Kilpedder apiary in Dec 2021.

Soft Set / Creamed Honey

The first time we launched our soft set honey was at The Taste of Dublin in the summer. It promptly sold out that very weekend! It is now back. Our soft set honey comes from Newcastle, Co. Wicklow and is a  smooth and creamy spreadable honey. Soft set, or creamed honey as it used to be known, is made from regular honey in which the natural granulation process is controlled to give a rich and buttery honey texture. There is nothing added to soft set honey except honey that has already granulated naturally over time. We bring our bees down to Newcastle in Co. Wicklow in early spring where they forage on the oilseed rape crop. From that honey we create this soft set variety. Read more and pick up a jar or two here. 

The Dublin Honey Show

Last weekeend saw the annual Dublin Honey Show take place in Dundrum. This event allows beekeepers from all across the county, and indeed, further afield, to gather together and compete for prizes. There were over 30 categories from light honey to dark honey, from beeswax products to bee photography! It was lovely to be able to be there for the day and enter a few of the categories. We were delighted to see our Soft Set honey be deemed as Highly Commended in it's category! A big thanks the County Dublin Beekeepers Association for organising the event and to all the volunteer judges who put so much time into it for everyone else's benefit. Everyone is welcome, it's not just for beekeepers!, so be sure to drop in next year. 

Helping Bees from at home: Winter flowering plants

Winter can be a tough time for bees. There is often little forage available and in times gone by this has suited the bees who will form a tight cluster in the hive (much like penguins do!) to save their honey reserves. However, with our recent milder autumns and winters, the bees are active for longer in the season, this can mean that they use more honey than they traditionally would have. It's great, therefore, to provide them with a few varieties of plants that flower during the winter months. See a few options for your garden below:

- Hellebores - Open-faced, single flowers give easy access to nectar and pollen. 
- Willows - Honey bee on goat willow (Salix caprea) 
- Crocuses - Early crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) is easy to grow, even in your lawn. 
- Mahonias - Mahonia 'Charity' is hardy and colourful.

You can find more ideas here. 

Valentine's Day Gift Box

Some honey for your honey?! Pick it up here.

This is a lovely gift set for your Valentine, comprising, honey, dried flowers, a honey dipper and beautiful hand rolled beeswax candles, chocolates and more! This gift includes the sponsorship of a queen bee in the coming 2022 season! You can name the queen and we will include the certificate in your gift box! Make sure you show your Valentine how much you care.

Included in the gift set

  • Raw Irish Honey 227g

  • 2x hand-rolled beeswax candles

  • Queen naming certificate

  • Dried lavender

  • Native Irish wildflower seed-bombs

  • 2 bars of Bean & Goose chocolate

  • Hand turned honey dipper (made in The Yard social enterprise in Dublin 8)

  • Wooden Hearts

Last day of shipping is the 10th of February to ensure your pack arrives on time!

Ecological mismatch

Worried scientists in the UK are reporting that plants are flowering up to a month earlier than they should due to climate change. This can cause “ecological mismatch” - a concept that refers to the consequences of climate change to the environment. If plants continue to flower early there would be knock on effects for many other parts of our ecosystems, including the foraging honeybees.

Volunteer with OpenHive

Beekeeping is one of the oldest forms of agriculture. For thousands of years people have been passing on this skill to others. It can take years to learn all that is needed to keep bees proficiently. But every experienced beekeeper had to start at the beginning. It can be daunting to start out on this journey, which is why we take on a volunteer team each year. We give people the skills and confidence to keep their own bees.

Each year we take on a small group of volunteers. Education forms a huge part of what we do at OpenHive and we really enjoy teaching like-minded people the skills we have picked up as beekeepers over the years. There is a lot of hard work involved but we feel like there is a huge amount to gain as a result.

If you are interested please apply before January 31st via this link: https://www.openhive.ie/volunteers

Happy Holidays & Thank You!

We are going to take a short but well earned break for the holidays. Thank you all so much for your support. It has been a wonderful year for us and for our bees. Without the support of our OpenHive community we wouldn’t be where we are now and we a re hugely grateful for that. Enjoy the holidays!

Kyle, Mark, Jack & the OpenHive crew.

Where is your honey actually from?

A fascinating article detailing a long-time issue. So little is known about the origin of the cheap honeys on the shelves in almost every shop near you. Shopping directly from the beekeepers (or reading the labels closely and buying accordingly) will give you a more ethical/sustainable product as well as a tastier honey. We recommend OpenHive honey, naturally, but there are many other excellent local honeys to try. Don’t be scared off by the prices of a high quality local product vs. a blended, sweetened mixture from overseas…

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/28/bee-aware-do-you-know-what-is-in-that-cheap-jar-of-honey?

New Stockists!

Exciting news - you can now find our delicious raw Irish honey in a few more stores around Dublin. We’ve added Bear Market Coffee and 64 Wine to our roster of stockists. Please see below for the full list!