THE February meeting of Okehampton Beekeepers on February 9 hosted former national bee inspector Richard Ball.

Richard has visited the branch on several occasions, discussing a wide range of topics from Maltese beekeeping to the importance of maintaining the ideal brood environment.

The subject of his latest talk was Queen breeding and selection. It attracted more than 40 people, including visitors from other beekeeping branches in Newton Abbot, Exeter and Cornwall.

Richard highlighted the unique difference between bees and normal farming livestock, where mating and breed improvement can be tightly controlled.

He covered the difficulty in diverse breeding for non-commercial beekeepers, and the effect the varroa mite has had on bee breeding and beekeeping in general.

The question and answer session at the end covered a range of interesting topics, including breeding the indigenous black British bee.

The branch's next meeting takes place on Thursday March 8 at Whiddon Down Village Hall, and features a discussion on the merits and shortcomings of different designs of beehive.