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Is Spring nearly here?

 

Our honeybees are out and about enjoying a few dry and warmish days. So far all the colonies have survived the winter. The early Spring is a critical time as lots of young bees in a colony can easily run out of food, so I’m keeping a close eye on them.

With the spare hive boxes clean and the frames with beeswax foundation all made up, we are ready for the start of the beekeeping year. From mid-April it will be busy so the Let It Bee team has taken the opportunity to do some travelling. Gillian visited Costa Rica and Jane headed to Spain.

Whenever we’re on our travels we love to see what local honey is available and make a beeline for it (sorry, couldn’t resist!). Costa Rica has some amazing flora and fauna but Gill didn’t come across any honeybees or honey! The beautiful hummingbirds and butterflies seem to be the main pollinators.

Jane hit the jackpot in Seville where the streets are lined with the most amazing orange trees in full bloom. Yes Seville orange marmalade is nice but you should taste the local honey! We tried local avocado, oak, eucalyptus, lavender and orange blossom honeys. Then in Malaga we were treated to a fabulous honeycomb on the breakfast table💗

As well as enjoying some time out, we’ve been making lots of our most popular balms, soaps and beeswax wraps for the start of our local markets in April. If you’re in the area, please pop by and say hello. If you can’t make it to a market, our online shop is well stocked and more of Kneal’s delicious honeycomb chocolate will be available very soon.

Please be on the look out for the Asian hornet queens. You might find them in your shed or over wintering in a compost bin or similar. If you do spot one, take a photo and download the Asian Hornet Watch app to report it. Our bees and other insects have enough to contend with without this voracious, invasive species. Thank you.

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Is Spring nearly here?

 

Our honeybees are out and about enjoying a few dry and warmish days. So far all the colonies have survived the winter. The early Spring is a critical time as lots of young bees in a colony can easily run out of food, so I’m keeping a close eye on them.

With the spare hive boxes clean and the frames with beeswax foundation all made up, we are ready for the start of the beekeeping year. From mid-April it will be busy so the Let It Bee team has taken the opportunity to do some travelling. Gillian visited Costa Rica and Jane headed to Spain.

Whenever we’re on our travels we love to see what local honey is available and make a beeline for it (sorry, couldn’t resist!). Costa Rica has some amazing flora and fauna but Gill didn’t come across any honeybees or honey! The beautiful hummingbirds and butterflies seem to be the main pollinators.

Jane hit the jackpot in Seville where the streets are lined with the most amazing orange trees in full bloom. Yes Seville orange marmalade is nice but you should taste the local honey! We tried local avocado, oak, eucalyptus, lavender and orange blossom honeys. Then in Malaga we were treated to a fabulous honeycomb on the breakfast table💗

As well as enjoying some time out, we’ve been making lots of our most popular balms, soaps and beeswax wraps for the start of our local markets in April. If you’re in the area, please pop by and say hello. If you can’t make it to a market, our online shop is well stocked and more of Kneal’s delicious honeycomb chocolate will be available very soon.

Please be on the look out for the Asian hornet queens. You might find them in your shed or over wintering in a compost bin or similar. If you do spot one, take a photo and download the Asian Hornet Watch app to report it. Our bees and other insects have enough to contend with without this voracious, invasive species. 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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