Sustainable bees and queens for everyone
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A course for progressive beekeepers
A one-day course to help and encourage beekeepers to consider their bees and beekeeping in a more sustainable way, rather than following the usual rigid straight line thinking that may not always be in the best interests of bees and the craft.
The course will be packed with information that explores issues that face modern beekeepers, together with possible solutions and plenty of discussion time. To appeal to all beekeepers, the programme has interesting topics that should enthuse attendees and encourage them to find out more and explore different methods, some of which may not be found in standard teaching material.
The tutors are Karl Colyer (Cheshire) and Roger Patterson (West Sussex), both are nationally known practical beekeepers who willingly pass on the experiences gleaned from many years in the craft.
VENUE LIST
Programme
9.00 Venue open, Registration
9.25 - 9.30 Introduction and welcome
9.30 - 10.15 Roger Patterson: “Locally adapted bees: What are they and why are they important?”
10.15 - 10.30 Break
10.30 - 11.15 Karl Colyer: “Free-Living bees and Sustainability”
11.15 - 11.30 Break
11.30 - 12.15 Roger Patterson: “Producing queens from natural and artificial cells”
12.15 - 1.00 Lunch (please bring your own lunch and refreshments)
1.00 - 1.45 Karl Colyer: “Moving towards Varroa Resistance”
1.45 - 2.00 Break
2.00 - 2.45 Roger Patterson: “Some ways of making colony increase”
2.45 - 3.30 Karl Colyer: “Value-added interactions with your bees”
3.30 – 4.00 General discussion, Q&A and close
For BIBBA Members only - free of charge
Please bring your own lunch and refreshments.
Parking may be limited. Please share transport if possible
This is a ONE DAY event; repeated at different venues
Terms of Booking https://bibba.com/terms/
Speakers and Presentations
Karl Colyer
Karl has been keeping bees since 2003. He enjoys building his own hives from recycled wood where he can and is a very practical and hands-on bee breeder, bringing his engineering, quality and production experience to the fore.
Over 500 hives have been built and approaching 2,000 queens have been reared during this time. Various hive designs, configurations and methods of operation were explored to understand how to have the simplest, most flexible, cost and time-effective way of managing a large number of bees whilst juggling other life commitments. Karl rears locally-adapted bees for enjoyment, education and his sole source of income.
“Free-Living bees and Sustainability”
Free-living bees in trees and, more commonly nowadays, in buildings survive and thrive despite zero inspections, feeding and treatments. Free-living bees in your area are an indication of locally adapted bees that are able to deal with local pests and diseases. Much can be learnt from these bees and they provide a valuable breeding resource for beekeepers wanting hardy, local stock.
“Moving towards Varroa Resistance”
Karl has been producing monthly articles for the BBKA magazine on Varroa resistance during 2026. This talk will cover the essential elements to help beekeepers explore Varroa resistance with their own bees.
“Value-added interactions with your bees”
An inspection that results in no action is unnecessarily disruptive for the bees and not the best use of time for the beekeeper. There is a balance to be had between too few interventions and too many interventions. Working in balance with your bees will allow the bees to live sustainably and the beekeeper to monitor and assist where necessary rather than ‘interfere’ with the bees
Roger Patterson
Roger is a practical beekeeper who started keeping bees in his native West Sussex in 1963. He has learnt a lot by observing bees and beekeepers in a wide variety of locations, which has helped him to develop his down-to-earth management system and to question some mainstream thinking. He willingly passes his knowledge and skills on to others as a prolific speaker, demonstrator and author of five books. The popular “Live@theHive” features him being live streamed inspecting colonies of real bees and giving tips from his home apiary. He features in many of the videos on the BIBBA YouTube channel.
Roger has been a demonstrator at the Wisborough Green BKA teaching apiary since the early 1970s and is currently the Apiary Manager, where there are normally over 30 colonies for tuition. For about 15 years he had 130 colonies of his own, but is now down to around 35. He is President of BIBBA and owns and runs the Dave Cushman website http://www.dave-cushman.net/, which is considered to be one of the world’s most comprehensive beekeeping websites.
“Locally adapted bees: What are they and why are they important?”
All unmanaged creatures need to suit their environment, otherwise natural selection, which is ruthless, will ensure they don’t survive to influence future generations. Honey bees are unusual, in that they have both free-living and managed populations that can freely interbreed. Throughout the world, there are approaching 30 honey bee sub species, all with their own ecotypes that have evolved to suit the conditions they live in, but don’t always thrive when introduced into other locations without artificial help from humans.
There is increasing interest by many beekeepers in keeping bees that perform well with little intervention, and concerns about their welfare. This presentation discusses some of the issues in the hope it will help beekeepers understand their bees more so they can care for them better.
“Producing queens from natural and artificial cells”
Queen rearing is often seen as being complicated, probably because beekeepers make it so. Why do many beekeepers destroy queen cells on sight, when they could produce excellent queens, then buy queens that may not be best suited to their area or needs?
This presentation will demystify what is an important part of good stock management.
“Some ways of making colony increase”
All beekeepers need to increase their colony numbers, for different reasons and at different times of the year. Several methods will be discussed to satisfy different needs.
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