Aims and Objectives

The Aims of The Groups

1. To establish small groups who wish to learn the skills needed to carry out their own queen rearing proficiently.
2. Assist the groups by mentoring and tuition to achieve the same.
3. Help the groups to manage themselves efficiently to their best advantage.
4. Ensure that the groups have good quality genetic material to breed from.
5. Make sure that the groups have the correct equipment to carry out the task and to advise them on its use.
6. At the end of the scheme the beekeepers involved will have sufficient skills and proficiency to pass on these to others in the future.

The Objectives of The Scheme

1. That each member will become proficient in queen rearing.
2. The group will reach pre-set goals throughout the duration of the scheme (2+ years)
3. The members will be able to continue queen rearing after the end of the scheme.
4. Excess queens will be raised in year 1 for donation to local keepers to raise the quality of their bees in the area.
5. Queens will continue to be raised in year 2 with a view to distributing to the public.
6. The knowledge gained will be passed on to others in future.
7. The groups will be able in part to assist in the setting up of future groups (year 3)
8. The genetic stocks of the native Irish honeybee will be improved in the areas around the locality of the groups.
9. More queens will be available for sale nationwide in the coming years.
10. To enable the groups and their associations to become self-sufficient in the provision of native bees and queens.

 Operating Guidelines

Overview

1. The title of the scheme will be known as The NIHBS Queen Rearing Groups Scheme
2. The scheme will run over two plus years and enable NIHBS to bring on groups of beekeepers with the necessary skills to produce native queen bees, become self-sufficient in queen rearing and supply others beekeepers in the local area with quality native queens and have surplus to sell or donate to the wider beekeeping public during and after the scheme ends.
3. Participation in year 2 will rely on the group achieving certain goals and giving feedback to those managing the scheme in year 1.
4. For the start of year 2 the groups will each produce a nuc headed by a quality Amm queen which they can swap with other groups having different genetic lines to increase the genes in their areas.
5. In year 3 the groups will be required to assist with the start-up of new groups by supplying a nuc of bees headed by a quality native queen.
6. Mentoring and tuition will be provided by experienced queen rearers mainly using online materials.

Group Size and Numbers

1. Minimum of 8 (6) members – No maximum
2. All members to join NIHBS for the duration of the scheme.
3. Participants to be members of a national association of beekeepers and each to have insurance cover through that membership.
4. At least one member (leader) to be a NIHBS member in the previous year to ensure genuine applications and a reliable point of contact.
5. The group will need to ensure that they have adequate insurance cover for the project. NIHBS insurance will not cover this scheme.
6. Create a WhatsApp group, to include the assigned mentor, and all group members.
7. The groups are to be based on the islands of Ireland

Scheme Acceptance Requirements

1. A suitable apiary site on the island of Ireland.
2. Confirmation that group members will provide at least one apidea/mating nuc each charged with bees.
3. All group members must be members of NIHBS for the full duration of the scheme.

What NIHBS Will Provide

1. Mentoring through Zoom
2. Contact with experienced mentors through WhatsApp (approx. 1hr per week during the queen rearing season)
3. Year 1 – Nuc of bees with a quality Amm queen as a starter colony. This ensures that the group does not have to introduce a new queen to a colony and ensures that the area will have sufficient good drones for year 2.
4. A set of Nicot Cupkit queen rearing equipment and a selection of basic grafting equipment
5. A good quality incubator
6. A set of relevant NIHBS leaflets to the group leader and relevant queen rearing/breeding leaflets to other group members.
7. In year 2 NIHBS will arrange for the groups to exchange nucs so that the genetics are not duplicated (supply an additional unrelated native queen to increase diversity in the local gene pool.)

What The Group Will Provide

1. At least one experienced beekeeper with some knowledge of queen rearing to act as a single point of contact for the administrators and mentors, to steer the group and pass on information to them.
2. A nominated administrator (person) to deal with managing the group in their finances, and insurances etc.
3. Due to the increasing size of the scheme and GDPR all correspondence will be from NIHBS to the admin who will pass it on to the members as requested and vice versa.
4. An apiary site, either with existing Amm in the area or isolated to enable the area to be flooded with Amm drones over the first year.
5. Each group member to provide and fill at least 1 apidea/mating nuc of some type.
6. Each group member to produce 2 to 3 mated native queens in year 1.
7. Each group member will keep written records of their own colonies using the Hooper’s/GBBG sheets, or similar, to assess the colonies for use in the year 2 breeding program. The record sheet used to be agreed with assigned mentor and to be shared with the mentors for assessment.
8. Produce as many as possible virgin queens for the local beekeepers to use to increase Amm genetics in the local population.
9. Increase production in year 2, by acquiring more apideas/mating nucs, to produce 6 mated native queens per group member.
10. Exchange good well mated native queens with other queen rearing groups in year 2 to increase spread of quality genetic material.
11. Feedback regularly to the assigned mentor, and to the scheme administrators at the end of the season, in order to receive assistance through year 2.
12. Feedback to the administrators periodically and at the end of the season outlining the year’s successes, failures and the groups’ intentions for year 2. This will allow NIHBS to assess the scheme going forward and also publish updates on the scheme in the Four Seasons.
13. The incubator remains the property of NIHBS for the duration of the scheme. It will be donated to the group on condition that the year 2 production is at least 6 mated native queens per group member as stated above, otherwise it shall be returned to NIHBS in working order. Likewise, if the group does not continue on to year 2, the incubator shall be returned to NIHBS in working order.

Mentoring

1. This will be in the form of PowerPoint presentations given remotely by Zoom
2. Individual weekly contact by WhatsApp and email with an allocated mentor by a designated person. Time and duration by agreement of both parties
3. Mentors will be selected to be as close to the groups as we can manage.
4. Members visits to queen breeding premises (limited availability and if agreed with the mentors)

Further Support

1. Provide advice on the availability of queen rearing seminars and demonstrations.
2. Advice on reading material.
3. Advice on YouTube material.
4. Advice on group purchases.
5. http://beespoke.info/queen-rearing-groups/

Overview and Requirements for Applicants

Overview

1. The scheme will run over two plus years and enable us to bring on groups of beekeepers with the necessary skills to breed queen bees, become self-sufficient in queen rearing and supply others in the local area with quality queens.
2. Participation in year two will rely on the group achieving certain goals and give feedback to those managing the scheme in year one. At the end of year one each group will have a nuc which can be swapped with a genetically different one with a group in a different area.
3. In year three the groups will be required to assist with the start-up of new groups by supplying a nuc of bees to them headed by a quality queen.
4. Mentoring and tuition will be provided by experienced queen bee breeders mainly using online materials.

Requirements

1. The group size will be a minimum of 8 (6) members with no maximum (a maximum of 12). At least one member will have been a NIHBS member in the previous year to ensure genuine applications.
2. A reliable contact, the administrator, will be delegated to manage the group who will be the link between the group and the NIHBS administrator, they will also coordinate the group’s finances and any insurance requirements etc. and oversee the setting up of a WhatsApp group for internal and external group chat and mentoring.
3. All members of the groups are to join NIHBS for the duration of the 2 year project and also be members of a national beekeeping association.
4. The groups are to be based on the islands of Ireland and have the use of a suitable apiary site.

What NIHBS Will Provide

1. Mentoring through Zoom and WhatsApp/email contact and advice on reading material and online content.
2. Provision of genetic material to commence queen rearing and a small number of tools.
3. What the group will provide
4. An administrator and at least one experienced beekeeper with some knowledge of queen rearing to act as a point of contact and to steer the group and be the point of contact with the mentor for the weekly virtual update.
5. An apiary site, either with existing Amm in the area or isolated to enable the area to be flooded with Amm drones over the first year.
6. Each member is to provide and fill at least 1 apidea or mating nuc with bees.
7. The group will need to keep records of their own hives to use for selection for breeding from the groups own stocks after year one using the Hooper’s/GBBG format and be made available for inspection if needed. In addition to this it is advisable for the group to have the use of an incubator for the queen cells.
8. At the end of the year the group will need to produce records for assessment of the number of queens raised (see below) and the general progress of the group in year one to be able to progress to year two and produce a brief note of their aims for year two.

Production Targets

1. In year 1, produce 2 mated queens per person, produce double this number of virgin queens for the local beekeepers to use to increase stocks locally.
2. Feedback regularly to their mentor in order to receive assistance through year.
3. Feedback to the administrators at the end of the season to review moving on to years two and three.
4. Increase production by double in year 2.
5. More details of the above will be issued to the shortlisted groups before acceptance into the scheme.