May 28th Swarm

Paul a friend of mine gave me a small swarm from one of his colonies. They settled high up in a tree in his garden for two days before flying off. The next day they returned again and settled in another tree where he was able to collect them and put them in a box.

I decided to put them into the Polish mini hive I bought along with about 2 pints of 1:1 syrup, each frame is about half the size of a BS National so with the two brood chambers of 6 frames each its about the same as a 6 frame National nuc. The next time I will open them up will be some time in July or August.

May 15th

Last weekend I extracted 3 national supers, let it settle in a warm room for most of the week before skimming off the tiny bits of wax and air bubbles. Yesterday skimmed off the last few bits before stirring it thoroughly using an electric drill and then gently warming it up again in the airing cupboard over night.


Today I sterilized 60 jars before stirring the honey again thoroughly again and filling 53 whole jars with OSR honey.

Very Nice

May 5th - Exmoor

I went to see Pete, a good friend and fellow bee keeper I've had the pleasure of knowing for 3 years who lives on the edge of Exmoor. We spent the day touring some of his apiaries and he was kind enough to show me how to graft all be it from the passenger seat of his truck. 


After priming the cups with a small amount of royal jelly, he selected each larvae from the parent frame and carefully placed them on the royal jelly.

Both Clare and I fell in love with the local area who wouldn't when its field after field of OSR, hedgerows, woods, orchards, wild flower pastures, clover and of course Exmoor national park which is has thousands of acres of heather. If we win the lottery we will be house hunting the next day.