Hot Weather- bees need water too!

All photos & text copyright protected The Hive Honey Shop Ltd- 2013©

Don't forget to top up your water source for your bees. If you don't have a water supply then shame on you! Get going now as your little bees get hot and thirsty too.

It's simple to make a water source. we found a disused child's sand pit lid, unturned it and filled it with gravel, old bits of wood, bit of soil and within a few weeks it was a desired water source for many bees around.

Don't make the mistake to give bees fresh water- they will not touch it. They prefer well mature mineral rich water sources. A bucket of tap water will not attract bees. So plan ahead and give your bees plenty of areas around the water to land safely on without drowning. We line the edges of all our water sources with moss, bees love it and use the moss to filter the water before drinking or filling up to take the water back to their hive.

TAKING ORDERS FOR LIVE BEE NUCS 2013

We are breeding a small amount of nucs this year and as always it is on a first come first served until stocks last basis. See our products pop down menu on the home page and navigate from there to Live Bees For Sale. There you will find all the details and prices.

What is the difference between a Swarm and a Colony of Bees?

All photos & text copyright protected The Hive Honey Shop Ltd- 2013©

A common question we get asked is, ’I want to buy a swarm, do you have one?' Over time we began to realise that many new comers to beekeeping were confusing a Swarm with a Colony. So here's a quick guide.

1 SWARM OF BEES

This is a wild cluster of unknown bees that have left an established colony of bees. There will be a queen (unmated?) and around 10-30,000 bees only, no frames or honeycomb in which to breed yet. 

NEVER BUY A SWARM! A swarm is an unknown quantity, possibly with disease, bad tempered or just love to swarm. Ask yourself, why did these bees swarm in the first place? We find the top answer to be, the owner beekeeper left them alone because they were so bad tempered and aggressive. In time the bees built up in size and without proper management from the beekeeper (really only a keeper of bees!) the bees swarmed. A swarm is fine in the hands of a seasoned beekeepers but no fun if you are a beginner. Chances are you are just taking on someone else's problem bees.

2 COLONY OF BEES

This is an established working group of bees with a mated laying queen and worker bees on frames of drawn comb. There will be eggs, open brood and sealed brood (all stages of development in spring & summer). This is what you buy and pay for. But beware-since the recent boom in beekeeping interest loads of ‘over night bee breeders’ have emerged from nowhere. Bee breeding is a very involved scientific matter. Very few come close to being able to say they are bee breeders let alone sell bees.

It appeared to be an easy way to make money, so hundreds of amateur beekeepers are not publicising bees for sell. Like most things, you get what you pay for! A Nuc of bees (nucleus) is the small beginnings of what will grow into a full colony. Normally a nuc will consists of five frames of drawn comb full of eggs, open brood, sealed brood, around 20,000 worker bees, one mated queen and some drones. Most bee breeders sell nucs rather than full colonies. If they are selling a colony ask WHY? In most cases it is not the standard reply, 'I have too many hives and want to cut back.' Nope it more likely they don’t like the bees, they swarm too much or they are diseased so they are looking to shift them. So please take our advice:

A-Ask many questions even if this person is the head of a beekeeping Association this does not mean they are qualified to sell bees or have applied selected breeding technics. Most beekeepers in time can fumble through making a nuc but not of a quality that you should be paying for.

B-Don't let them push you around with, ‘I have been a beekeeper for over 30 years!’ I knew of a beekeeper, head of his county beekeeping association selling bees. He asked me about queen cells on a frame he had which turned out to be drone brood, a VERY basic thing that most beekeepers know. I was shocked and worried for all those who had bought his nucs.

C-Examine the nuc before you buy. Never buy bees that are posted to you. A convenient way to get your bees, only to be disappointed once you open them up. Bees that are posted never do well in transit. If you pick them up yourself, you are able to look them over, find the queen, see all the stages of development and care for them on the journey home. If it is a long distance then take a spray bottle full of fresh water and 3 tablespoons of cane sugar. You can spray the bees through the travel air mesh to keep them cool so they do not over heat. I hear far too many sad stories about bees overheating and dying when posted, as there is no one to cool them down or handle them with gentle care during transit.

Remember this is going to be your hobby. If you want to enjoy your bees spend your money here, you can save money elsewhere. Do your research before you go out asking about buying bees. The better information you have on hand will arm you with the ability to make the right choice from the right person.

Don’t miss our next article- Buying Beekeeping ‘SECONDS’ A nice way of saying Defective! A must read before you buy. Save money and time. Subscribe now not to miss these updates.

Happy Valentines Day! ♥ Sunny in SW London

photo copyright ©-The Hive Honey Shop

                          

Happy Valentines Day! ♥ It's so nice to see blue sky and the SUN again! Even our bees look happy. The hives have bust into action with 1000s of bees having a bit of a ‘stretch of their wings’ after being stuck in the hive because it was so cold.

Remember though that in order for your bees to fly out, using great amounts of energy, they need FOOD. So they will be dipping into their saved honey stores. Take care to feed them if you suspect food is getting low. Try not to disturb them much when feeding, it upsets them at this time of year.

'Feb' Top 5 Keep Your Bees Alive -Tips

photo copyright ©-The Hive Honey Shop

Here we are in Feb 2013 and wow is it cold. So here’s The Hive Honey Shops Top 5 Tips to keep your bees alive!

Tip1:

Check that your hives are secure, roofs have not been blown off, vandals have not disturbed your hives but that they are safe and secure.

Tip 2:

Snow! In many parts of Briton. So go check each hive and remove any snow blocking the entrances. Your bees can suffocate or succumb to a build up of moisture within the hive which is not good for them.

Tip 3:

Feed your bees if necessary. A simple gentle lift at one end of the hive will give you an idea if your bees have eaten all their stores. In this case give them honey fondant over the coverboard holes. Best to break bits and drop them down the holes to give your bees a hint that food is above and starvation has been avoided.

Tip 4:

Now’s the time to take inventory of what hive parts, frames foundation etc will be needed in the coming spring. Don’t wait- do it now BEFORE your bees need them. Take advantage of this quite period to get your bee requirements and apiary in order.

Tip 5:

Check that your mouse excluder is still in place. If you have woodpeckers in your area, protect your hive with netting. But most of all do not disturb your bees unnecessarily. Any knocks, bumps or vibrations can have a bad affect on your bees. They will use up their remaining energy to crawl up and see what all the fuss is about and eat more of their limited stores in the process. If you need to feed your bees do this quietly and do not linger about.

Great Car Reg Plate!

I was walking in Balham London, just dropped off a delivery order of HayfeGUARD Local Honey to As Nature Intended when my eye caught this car registration plate. I stopped dead and grabbed my mobile to take a photo. The driver looked worried as I did this. I popped over and told him I work for The Hive Honey Shop in Clapham, family run honey shop and loved his licence plate. He smiled broadly and I invited him to drop by for a sample of our local honeys.

I was blocking traffic, cars were honking and he smiled again then buzzed away!
photo copyright 2012 ©-The Hive Honey Shop

Urban Beekeeping- Time to keep your own honeybees!

There has never been a better time to keep your own honeybees and inner city sites are the best! Why? There are more flowers per square mile within city areas as opposed to the the countryside which is made up mostly of grass meadows, fairly useless to honeybees. To give you an idea, the average countryside beehive can gather approx. 50 jars of honey per year, where as a city beehive can collect approx. 70-100 jars per year. More flowers close by means more honey!

So how to start. Begin by gathering as much information as possible on the subject. Read several books, watch DVDs, explore the internet and then sign up for a beekeeping course. The Hive Honey Shop in Battersea run weekend Beginner Beekeeping Courses from their bee farm in Surrey. What makes this course so unique and sought after is each student gets the opportunity to open a beehive and handle live honeybees after the Saturday theoretical module session. Reading about it is one thing, practical hands on learning is always more beneficial.

So now you know all about keeping bees, where do you get them from and where do you keep them in a city? There are many professional bee breeders, but even a greater number of rogue amateur beekeepers passing themselves off as ‘bee breeders’. Since the decline in honeybees and a surge in public interest, many people have decided to get involved by keeping their own bees thus helping to maintain our bee population. However as a result in the rise of beekeeping interest, so has there been a rise in those wanting to get in on the act and profit quick. I have never in my 48 years of beekeeping seen so many people offering bees for sale. Where have they come from? Just hobbies beekeepers bumbling along selling unknown swarms or their own mixed mongrel breeds.

Bee breeding is a skillful art and the result of careful selective breeding will produce passive, gentle to handle, disease free, good honey gathering bees. My advise is scrutinise the credibility of anyone offering bees for sell.  Just because they have been beekeeping for a million years does not mean they are qualified or selling pedigree bees. Yes just like any animal breeding program, breed selection is important and bees are no different. Left to their own devises to free mate they can produce some very aggressive bees, the last thing you need when keeping bees in a tiny terraced garden. This brings me to- where do you put them?

The lovely thing about keeping bees is you do not need a big space for them. Bees can fly a distance radius as great as three miles to find nectar, in a city far less. They free fly as they wish so the surrounding area need not be large. You just need about 2 meters distance around your beehive to work and of course free access for the bees to world outside. We keep them on balconies, roof tops, parks, allotments, factory car parks, the attic with a widow open to name but a few!

Now many hotels and restaurants in London have beehives on their roof tops gather honey with great success. James our head beekeeper here at The Hive Honey Shop was asked to set up beehives at St James’s Palace for HRH the Prince of Wales. They now have two cottage beehives in the grounds that are gathering the most amazing collection of nectars from all the annual and perennial flowers within Buckingham Palace and the Mall.

Recently the press published silly articals suggesting that there are too many people keeping bees in the citys so there will be little food for the bees-nonsence! There are PLENTY of flowers and there is more than enough room for hunderds of new hives. 

There is a great deal of enjoyment to be gained from keeping your own honeybees, but do not enter this art lightly. Bees require your complete commitment, help and protection. Even though they are wild insects, they no longer are able to cope on their own. So the idea of ‘let them alone beekeeping ‘ is not an option. But for all the hard work and promise of tons of golden nectar, the real lasting affect you will take away will be a new found admiration, love and respect of these little creatures that will stimulate your imagination as you never dreamed possible.

for more information about buying honeybee colonies, equipment and courses contact:

The Hive Honey Shop

93 Northcote Road

London SW11 6PL

Tel: 020 7924 6233

www.theivehoneyshop.co.uk