Author Archives: Jonathan Getty

About Jonathan Getty

Jonathan Getty is a member of the Belfast & District branch of the Ulster Beekeepers Association and is at least a fourth generation beekeeper in the Getty family. His main beekeeping interest is queen rearing based on our native bee Apis mellifera mellifera. He started up the Belfast Minnowburn queenrearing group several years ago and it now has about 50 active members. He also manages about 30-40 colonies of his own. Jonathan holds a BSc Hons in Psychology from Queens University Belfast and gained a postgraduate teaching qualification at Stranmillis Training College. He is a fluent Spanish speaker.

First queens emerged and now in Apideas

Posted on May 15, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

The first small batch of queens are now in Apideas. 9/9 emerged.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Incubator

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

The first queen from the grafts on 1st May has emerged in the incubator half a day early.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

First queens emerging 2015

Posted on May 11, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

The queens from the first grafts carried out on 1st May should be emerging on Wednesday 13th May. The cells will be placed into Apideas with a cupful of bees tomorrow 12th May. Mating flights should take place from about … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Natural Comb

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

I like to give mu colonies the chance to make natural comb so that they can decide the cell size and the number of drones they want.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Drones

Posted on May 7, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

Queenrearing can get underway when the drone rearing colonies have lots of these:

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Nuc activity St Pat’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

Irish bees working hard on a bright but cold St Pat’s Day.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

colonies are starting to build up

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

I was able to have a very quick look at a few colonies in a spell of warmer weather at the weekend and all had some worker brood. A colony with a queen entering her 4th season had a decent … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

queens laying

Posted on March 7, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

I checked a few of my overwintered apideas this morning and was pleased to see a queen on a frame of freshly laid eggs in one of them. Good to get the new season underway.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Signs of spring

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Jonathan Getty
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Fresh pollen

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Jonathan Getty

Nice to see some fresh pollen coming in. The colonies are building up nicely and the bees appear to have overwintered well.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment