The Ormskirk and Croston Branch started a queen rearing programme in 2003. In order to improve the quality
of bees in the local area, it is intended to initially gain experience in the identification of hive
characteristics by accurate recording of hives.
From this we intend to start a program of selective queen rearing using the guidelines of
BIBBA.
A marked queen running into the darkness
The breeding programme was extended during 2005 and 2006 and it has had a noticeable effect on
the temper of the bees that we have bred.
An empty queen cell
Initially our dark British bees were obtained from the
Galtee Bee Breeding Group with more recent
bees being mated at the Blackburn Holden Clough mating site.
