Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers

2.00pm Saturday, 12th February 2011
The Village Centre, Hillsborough, BT26 6AR



The Institute of Norther Ireland Beekeepers were delighted to welcome for the first time to Northern Ireland commercial bee farmer Ged Marshall for two lectures at The Village Centre in Hillsborough. Ged also gave two lectures to Roe Valley Beekeepers in Limavady.

Ged produces honey and queens for sale and has been a Bee Farmer along with his wife and daughter in Buckinghamshire since 1994. He studied bees and beekeeping in Tenerife, Denmark and France along with the famous Brother Adam at Buckfast Abbey.



Ged talked to a rapt audience of novice, beginner and experienced beekeepers about a year in the life of a Commercial Beekeeper, of which there are very few in Northern Ireland.

He explained how he moves his bees from crop to crop throughout the season.

He has contracts with many farmers in his area and knows how many hives he needs to move, but has to wait for the phone call for the exact timing, when the flowers on the various crops start to blossom. and the farmers want to increase their crop yields by the bees doing their invaluable work of pollination.

The second talk was on the more technical subject of queen rearing, which generated lots of questions, comments and alternative theories from the enthralled audience.

At the end of his talks, Ged was presented with a book on the building of The Titanic and The Port of Belfast.



INIB Chairman Michael Young, MBE said “ We are very fortunate to have had such and experienced and knowledgeable speaker as Ged visit Northern Ireland. His talks were most interesting and gave beekeepers of all levels the opportunity to hear about bee farming on a much larger scale than we are used too and different techniques on the fascinating aspect of queen rearing. The feedback from the audience was so positive, we hope Ged will come back again soon.”

For further information about the Institute of Northern Ireland beekeepers, go to www.inibeekeepers.com or contact Michael Young on 02892689724