The Walrus and the Honey Bee

A friendly, informative space for both new and seasoned beekeepers, offering practical advice, personal storytelling, and an emphasis on responsible care for honey bees. Steve Donohoe is a bee farmer, author, and magazine editor based in Cheshire, UK. He works alongside his son, Alex.

Education Hobbies How To Leisure

Update frequency: every 11 days
Average duration: 23 minutes
Episodes: 18
Years Active: 2025

Share to:

Open Mating Queens

Whether you are raising queen honey bees or just dealing with colonies that have swarmed or superceded, the success of the mating of the new queen is a matter of some importance. Steve Donohoe talks …

00:53:23 | Thu 17 Jul 2025

Walrus Wobbles (beekeeping blunders)

Some of the many things that can and do go wrong when beekeeping, and what to do about them

00:14:03 | Wed 18 Jun 2025

Beekeeping: Myth Busting

Steve Donohoe discusses the beekeeping season so far, as well as some beekeeping myths, and ideas on intensive versus extensive farming methods.

00:36:38 | Thu 29 May 2025

Beekeeping Twilight Zone

Some strange and unexpected things can happen in beekeeping - here are some of them

00:12:21 | Sun 18 May 2025

Swarming Hurts Your Honey Crop

A little about how much honey you might lose if your bees swarm, and some ways to prevent swarming or reduce the honey lost.

00:11:06 | Sun 04 May 2025

The Best Queen Cells

Steve Donohoe walks through his method for making the best queen cells he has ever seen. It's the same method as used by Brother Adam, back in the day, and by Mike Palmer, and others.

00:14:56 | Mon 21 Apr 2025

Varroa: Why Treat? by Kirsty Stainton

A balanced and detailed look at the science surrounding the issue of non-treatment of honey bees, including a comparison between the two main approaches: selective breeding and using survivor stock.

00:22:59 | Sun 13 Apr 2025

Beekeeping Essentials: The Critical Spring Period

From Steve Donohoe's blog post of the same title, this covers all of the important beekeeping things that matter during the springtime. It covers feeding bees early on, then providing space, dealing …

00:15:27 | Tue 25 Mar 2025

Interview With Jolanta

Taken from a chapter in Steve Donohoe's book, Interviews With Beekeepers, this covers a conversation between Steve, Jolanta, and Murray McGregor in 2017. Jolanta is the head of the queen rearing unit…

00:21:16 | Mon 10 Mar 2025

Beekeeping Essentials: Introducing Queens

Imogen reads from Steve's blog post, in which sets out his latest learnings and understanding of this sometimes tricky subject. How to introduce a new queen into a colony that has lost it's own.

00:17:45 | Sat 01 Mar 2025

Early Spring 25 Update

As we move from winter into spring here in England, Steve Donohoe discusses over-wintering success, feeding colonies, and plans for once the season kicks off.

00:09:19 | Fri 21 Feb 2025

Room For All Types Of Beekeeper

Intro

00:25 New book by Dorian Pritchard on conservation of native bees

01:10 Argument for conservation of native bees, legally protected areas should be created

02:40 Is the black bee really the best b…

00:17:49 | Mon 27 Jan 2025

Swarm Prevention Strategies

Intro

including reference to Ian Steppler YouTube video just posted on varroa treatments, using Randy Oliver spreadsheet model. https://youtu.be/Z2FLoAq6LDc

02:20 Recent apiary inspection of nucleus co…

00:55:37 | Wed 15 Jan 2025

Latest Advice On Varroa

00:30 Importance of both good queens and low mite levels

01:40 How Steve's thinking on varroa treatment regimes evolved from 2 times per year to three.

02:20 Alcohol wash on all colonies as per Randy O…

00:13:34 | Thu 09 Jan 2025

Rapeseed Oil and Offshoring

0:00 When oilseed rape (OSR) first arrived in the UK

00:50 The UK has moved from being a net exporter to net imported of rapeseed oil, costing the UK economy £1 billion

01:10 List of the main cooking o…

00:09:35 | Mon 06 Jan 2025

Stress Testing Varroa Treatment Regimes

Based on post of 19 November 2024 on thewalrusandthehoneybee.com

01:30 The damage caused by varroa mites - leading cause of colony losses worldwide

03:30 Learning to keep bees alive

04:00 Current trend…

00:46:35 | Sat 04 Jan 2025

Queen Rearing - Timings and Workflow

Intro and reasons for not using an AI reader.

01:30 Reasons for making queens

02:35 Importance of being organised, knowing timings, mindset - sometimes things go wrong

03:19 Breeder queens, Steve's thre…

00:36:28 | Thu 02 Jan 2025

How To Increase Honey Production: Three Factors That Matter Most

Imogen reads from Steve's blog post of 1st September 2024

00:53 Queens

The importance of the queen in a honey bee colony cannot be overstated

02:37 Gruff Rees reviewed "Healthy Bees, Heavy Hives" by Pau…

00:14:55 | Wed 01 Jan 2025

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are the property of Steve Donohoe. This content is not affiliated with or endorsed by eachpod.com.

EachPod