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Award winning honey and beeswax

Wow! September was a busy month with two big honey shows – the Birmingham Honey Show at Winterbourne Gardens and the Warwickshire County Show. It was a lot of meticulous work preparing all my entries, but it was worth it. I came away with 5 first prizes, 5 second prizes and a bunch of ‘highly commended’ entries. I’ve been to tell my bees that they have award-winning honey and beeswax 🥰.

As beekeepers our work slows down significantly in October – the weather cools down, the forage is vastly reduced – except the ivy which is buzzing with pollinators. We are making sure the colonies are healthy and heavy with honey stores to see them through the winter. As the days get colder the colony will cluster around the queen and keep warm waiting for the arrival of spring. The workers have already kicked out the male bees – the drones – so there are fewer mouths to feed over the winter. 

For us though there is no time to chill!  Gill and I are now busy preparing for lots of local Birmingham markets coming up over the next 3 months. We’re kicking off the spooky season at the vibrant Kings Heath Artisan Market on Sunday 8 October. Details of all our markets will be available on our website. We’ll be selling all our usual goodies as well as some fabulous, new products – bee-themed of course!

Later this month we’ll be joining other beekeepers around the country to celebrate National Honey Day. Bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the planet and our world would be a very different place without them. So please support our bees by buying honey from local beekeepers and planting lots of pollinator-friendly plants and shrubs in your garden. Autumn is a great time to plant lots of lovely Spring flowering bulbs. Look for the ‘bee-friendly’ logo on the packaging.  

And, finally, a special plea for our bees. We have a major new threat to our honeybees and other pollinators. We need your help so please check out the pages here or download the Asian Hornet Watch ap to learn more and record suspected sightings. Thank you!

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Award winning honey and beeswax

Wow! September was a busy month with two big honey shows – the Birmingham Honey Show at Winterbourne Gardens and the Warwickshire County Show. It was a lot of meticulous work preparing all my entries, but it was worth it. I came away with 5 first prizes, 5 second prizes and a bunch of ‘highly commended’ entries. I’ve been to tell my bees that they have award-winning honey and beeswax 🥰.

As beekeepers our work slows down significantly in October – the weather cools down, the forage is vastly reduced – except the ivy which is buzzing with pollinators. We are making sure the colonies are healthy and heavy with honey stores to see them through the winter. As the days get colder the colony will cluster around the queen and keep warm waiting for the arrival of spring. The workers have already kicked out the male bees – the drones – so there are fewer mouths to feed over the winter. 

For us though there is no time to chill!  Gill and I are now busy preparing for lots of local Birmingham markets coming up over the next 3 months. We’re kicking off the spooky season at the vibrant Kings Heath Artisan Market on Sunday 8 October. Details of all our markets will be available on our website. We’ll be selling all our usual goodies as well as some fabulous, new products – bee-themed of course!

Later this month we’ll be joining other beekeepers around the country to celebrate National Honey Day. Bees are some of the hardest working creatures on the planet and our world would be a very different place without them. So please support our bees by buying honey from local beekeepers and planting lots of pollinator-friendly plants and shrubs in your garden. Autumn is a great time to plant lots of lovely Spring flowering bulbs. Look for the ‘bee-friendly’ logo on the packaging.  

And, finally, a special plea for our bees. We have a major new threat to our honeybees and other pollinators. We need your help so please check out the pages here or download the Asian Hornet Watch ap to learn more and record suspected sightings. Thank you!

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Why do bees swarm?

If you see a big, swirling cloud heading out across the rooftops and trees, it could be a swarm of honeybees. They have left the safety of their hive and are flying off to find a new home – a hole in a tree, a chimney or an empty hive. It's an awesome sight! 

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Swarming bees are full of honey - carrying supplies for their new home - so they usually don't sting. But it's best to stand well back just in case!

Swarming is an important, natural process. It happens when a colony of honeybees splits and the queen takes a large number of worker bees with her in search of a new home. It's the way they reproduce. As soon as the old queen reaches the new nest site her entourage builds wax honeycomb so then she can lay her eggs and there’s space for pollen and honey stores.

Meanwhile in the original hive site new queens are hatching. Another one or two queens might leave the colony to set up a new home but one will stay to rule over the original hive. In this way the colony becomes two, three or more colonies.

Honey bees mostly swarm early in the season from late April to June. So this is a busy time for beekeepers!

Swarming early in the season gives the bees enough time to set up their new home and gather plenty of stores to see them through the winter. Beekeepers put out bait hives to try to lure a passing swarm. We also ‘artificially’ swarm our colonies which means separating the brood from the queen and flying bees. This splits the colonies and the urge to swarm goes away - usually! 

So if you are lucky enough to see a swarm of bees, marvel at this force of nature and then find your local swarm collector here: https://www.bbka.org.uk/swarm#swarmmap 

 

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How do you move a honeybee colony?

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