Sustainable beekeeping, chickens, and cake
When I buy flour for my sourdough, I endeavour to use it as an opportunity to support British farmers who are using environmentally sound practises on their farm, and have full traceability for the product. I have written previous posts about this but Hodmedod's and Bakery Bits are two of my go-to websites. They are … Continue reading New toy…
It was a beautiful warm day on Wednesday, and I noticed an awful lot of bees flying around in my carport where I store all my hive equipment. I am checking the apiary twice a day for swarms at the moment and on my sweep back round, I saw this: I presume it came from … Continue reading First swarm!
We have had some lovely weather here over the last couple of days, and the bees have been making the most of it. I am checking my apiary for swarms twice a day now, although all the hives have quite a bit of growing to do. Here is the hive I nadired last week - … Continue reading Spring growth
I have been waiting for a suitable opportunity to go and check the bees on the Marsh, and the need for this was hastened by my getting a message to say that one of the hives was leaning at rather an angle as the livestock had managed to get in to the apiary... On arrival … Continue reading School Apiary Check
The weather was a balmy 21℃ today and I took a trip to Berwick to check the bees in the Thermosolar hive. I was curious to see how much they had by way of stores and Varroa, as they had quite a bit of building to do when they first moved in (eight 14 x … Continue reading Spring Check of the Thermosolar bees
I often hear beekeepers say that it's not too late to lose your bees even in March, usually with a reference to feeding. I was asked by some friends (and former students of mine) to do a PM on their hive as the colony - having been active earlier a few weeks previously - had … Continue reading Spring loss
It was the first proper warm day of spring yesterday so I was able to get in to my hives, and also transfer a colony over from a WBC to their new home (a National), ready to be transported in a few weeks when they have propolised the frames to the box for security. With … Continue reading First Spring check
Even though my hives are just across the road from me, I'm trying to limit my visits to the apiary in light of "The Restrictions", and when I go, I wear overalls and take a hat/veil with me just to be on the safe side. However, I wanted to make sure they were ok and … Continue reading Spring Inspection boards
Covid-19 has made it difficult for me to run my courses, and given that the current restrictions are likely to be in place until June at the earliest, this means the beekeeping season will be past its peak and those wanting to get started this year might have missed their opportunity if they are wanting … Continue reading Sustainable Beekeeping in a Box