News & Events

Beekeeping news & events in West Cork.

Native Irish Honeybee on Flowering Rocket

May Newsletter – A Wet & Cold Month

After what has been a particularly cold and wet May, we look forward to June! Weather permitting, the blackberry and the clover will emerge and this is a great source of nutrition for our bees. As the flow starts you certainly need to inspect your hives weekly. As a beginner, you might be tempted to have a ‘peep’ more often …

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Advice for Beginner Beekeepers in Ireland

Michael has been busy working away at writing some brief overview helpsheets for beginner beekeepers, and we’ve put these up on the website in our new ‘Advice’ section, which we hope to keep expanding to create a useful information source for beekeepers in our particular climate. Let us know if there are any beekeeping topics you’d like us to cover. Remember, if you have any questions at all about beekeeping, we’re only an email away!

Beekeeping for Beginners - Online Course 2021

2021 Beginner Beekeeping Course

We’re delighted to announce our 2021 beginner’s course! Thanks to Covid-19, this will take place via live online video sessions, but we also hope to hold hands-on sessions at our West Cork apiaries in the spring if HSE guidelines allow. The price includes a full year’s membership of FABKA with all associated benefits, as well as a copy of the …

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Covid-19 Update

We are acutely aware that the beekeeping season is slowing down for this year. But, in effect, it is the beginning of the new season in the form of preparing, feeding, treating for the winter season. We have all been following the FIBKA and HSE guidelines (see below) since March this 2020 year. We have now decided to try an …

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A Challenging Season

The idea of starting a new FIBKA Association in this beautiful picturesque Fastnet Area was but a dream. The delightful wild rock and hill strewn vista with lots of varied flora and fauna for bees and insects is a paradise for pollinators. What motivated us to start a new group initially was the arduous road journey from the Mizen Peninsula …

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Establishing FABKA

The inaugural meeting of The Fastnet Area Beekeepers’ Association (FABKA) took place at the Teagasc Office in Skibbereen, a cold wet winter’s evening warmed by the welcome of Mairead and Mike Love the energy and vision behind this new endeavour. We were introduced to a number of special guests including Paul O’Brien the current President of the Federation of Irish …

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Mairead and Michael Love of FABKA

FABKA in the Southern Star

We were excited to be featured in the Southern Star newspaper this month! A new association designed to promote and champion the importance of bees is about to get underway in West Cork. Award-winning beekeeper Mairead Love and her husband Michael who have a number of hives at their home near Goleen are the driving force behind the new association …

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