Educational Talks
Due to popular demand we have now started running educational talks about bees and our business. These can be for any groups from schools to gardening clubs to beekeeping associations, any age range so long as the group is interested in bees we are happy to come and talk.
Our talks last up to one hour although you can request that to be shorter or longer depending on your requirements. You can see our list of talks below
Talks In Person
We will bring our own projector if the room is suitable so we can show lots of beekeeping pictures, they really help when it comes to explaining certain aspects of beekeeping.
We also bring lots of interesting things; beeswax comb, smoker, beekeepers suits, live bees in a glass hive (season dependent) to our ‘A year of British Beekeeping’ Talk
Please fill out the form below to get a quote for us to come and talk to your group.
Zoom Talks
During Covid 19 we have been invited to talk to a number of beekeeping associations and groups on a variety of subjects.
We can share our presentation to your members so they can follow slides just like they would if we were there in person. We make the talks as engaging as possible and make sure theres plenty of time for Q&A at the end.
Talks last one hours plus time as much time as needed for questions at the end.
If you are a BKA talk organiser and would like us to do multiple talks as part of your winter series please email us HERE so we can discuss your needs for a series of talks that compliment each other. For one off talks please use the form below.
Our Presentations
A year of British beekeeping – This is a great talk for non-beekeeping clubs that are interested in learning about the basic yearly cycle of honey bees in the UK. There are lot’s of photos illustrating the whole year with everything explained assuming there is no experience of beekeeping with the member attending.
An Australian Bee Farming Season – Matthew will talk you through his experiences working on a 2,500 hive bee farm in Australia in 2019. You will learn lots about the differences to beekeeping in the UK and Australia from the different practices of migratory beekeeping to the attitude and prevalence of bee diseases. Matthew talk about beekeeping during the bushfires and the unique challenges faced in Australia
From 20 hives to 60 in just one season! – In this talk Matthew explains how he went from 20 hives to 60 in just one season. Making an increase is one of the most talked about aspects of beekeeping and Matthew will share how he managed his expansion and while most beekeepers won’t want to be expanding up to 60 hives or more he will explain how simple no-nonsense methods can be used to make increases from 2 hives and up!
My Route into bee farming and the expansion of Holt Hall Apiary – Matthew’s route from accounting student to full time bee farmer is a little unusual, especially as he’s still only in my mid 20’s! Matthew will talk your guests through how he got into beekeeping, how he grew Holt Hall Apiary and lessons learnt along the way. This is a fun and relaxed talk with lot’s of pictures from when Matthew started as a hobby beekeeper through to today with 140 hives!
How we manage hives as a bee farmer – One of the questions we always get asked is how do you have time to manage so many hives? In this talk Matthew will explain the practices we use to efficiently manage our hives through the season to maximise honey flows when they come. How we move hives from crop to crop and tips that hobby beekeepers can do to help them better manage their hives thinking like a bee farmer.
Extracting honey a sticky job!- In this talk Matthew will show you around our honey room with photos. We will discuss clearing the supers, transporting them and all aspects of uncapping, extracting and jarring. We will talk about different types of honey like Oil Seed Rape, Heather honey and cut comb. While we show you around the equipment we use Matthew will make recommendations for different scales of beekeepers from those with one or two hives to those looking to expand their beekeeping significantly.
A New Season Starts! – Winter is one of the most risky time for bees, and beekeeping practices can have a massive impact on hive survival rates. In this talk Matthew will go through how he gets his hives ready for winter, what he does during the winter and importantly how to prepare the bees for the following season. This talk is best given between September and March.