OK so I have had a busy weekend. The weather has been truly horrible. It has rained now for pretty much every day of the entire year. It is 22nd February and I think we have had more than 50 days of continuous rain. Last week on one of the few non-rainy patches I went … Read more
Anyone who knows me or has read my blogs will now that I LOVE my poly hives. I am a great fan of the Paradise Honey solution but it is time to try something new. Can I keep my core requirements and improve on the function? In all cases functionality comes first. As a beekeeper … Read more
I like poly hives as they are hard wearing, warm in winter cool in summer and very productive as the bees spend less energy controlling the temperature which could result in a better harvest. I tend to get better through winter results using these hives than I do from the wooden ones and the bees … Read more
So late in the year I noticed that the green hive was empty on Station F. This was a real shame as the bees that were in there were from a lovely swarm that I pulled out of a gutter in Broadbridge Heath. From a near death experience to a happy and prosperous hive –> … Read more
OK so this brings us to the end of 2025. It has been a strange year; started really early and built up quickly in the spring. Blackberries out in July, and now in mid August it is clearly moving into Autumn!! I tend to time my years based on the flowers. end of year is … Read more
Tonight I tried the kit for the bee venom extraction. I tried to take pictures but it is really hard with lots of flying bees and not being able to take my gloves off to work the touch screen on my phone! The glass sheets were cleaned and disinfected prior to use using the C11food … Read more
OK so this one has proved to be a lot of fun and is a long and drawn out story. I had a call about a swarm of bees in n apple tree in Horsham. This was going to be fun! The swarm had entered and gone up deep into the tree so that my … Read more
Lovely ball of bees in the bush. Was very quiet so put as many as I could into the nuc box and sat back and waited. They were really chilled and docile. I had Ellie with me, once again who was fearless!!! Bees had come from a very well established colony in the wall nearby … Read more
Another one this year. lovely bunch of bees in the apple tree of a local house. Message came through on the BeeSwarm website. Fairly easy collection dropped the mass into the box and placed on the sheet then watched them all march up into the box.
Lovely swarm in the field need me… I recognize the hives behind at the back of the picture!!! Damn I must have missed the Queen cell!! I guess every day is a school day. This one likely came out of Red / White poly Hive. Settled and happy in their new home in the Purple … Read more
