Having just finished extracting our Spring 2025 crop, I thought I’d share what I have learned about processing honey. It’s a subject many new beekeepers pay little attention to, until the day comes when their bees make a decent crop. What to do with it all? Do I have to spend even more money? Is … Read more
Despite the glorious recent sunshine, there was little nectar coming into the hives according to the ’shake test’. It is time to start clearing supers and taking away the honey. It looks like we are on for about 2,000 lbs (907 kg) of summer honey based on the full supers sat on the hives. Unfortunately, … Read more
When I was between the ages of five and ten years old, I was labelled a “genius” and a “prodigy” by several of my teachers because everything came easy. Once I went to secondary school, it soon became apparent that I was neither of those things; I had just been a slightly quicker developer than … Read more
Firstly, it’s important for me to make two things clear; I live in a relatively mild climate and when it gets hot I suffer, regardless of what I do. Our recent ‘heat-wave’ has temperatures up to 29 Celsius (84 deg F) in my area, which is probably nothing to many beekeepers around the world. Nevertheless, … Read more
Normally, I send out an article each Monday morning, having written it the night before, but it’s all gone pear shaped. On Sunday, after doing lots of bee stuff, including adding clearer boards to hives, I was too tired. Today has been full-on honey extraction (spring honey crop), followed by adding clearer boards to the … Read more