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Post by SueA on Jun 16, 2018 8:15:08 GMT
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Post by sweetpea on Jun 16, 2018 17:02:06 GMT
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Post by Cherry on Jun 16, 2018 20:24:00 GMT
My neighbour keeps bees and I eat honey e very day. I am pleased you showed us this interesting part of beekeeping. Good photos sweetpea. |
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Post by SueA on Jun 17, 2018 7:12:45 GMT
The beekeeper's wife said her husband has all the equipment to make honey but doesn't do it as he feels the honey belongs to the bees, he just likes caring for them & has built his own apiaries etc., she also said they're both not that keen on honey either!  We often go to a little family run honey shop near Knutsford called Bax bees but he's hardly got any honey at the moment as it's been a slow start this year for his bees due to the strange weather I suppose. There are a couple of beekeepers locally who used to sell jars in a nearby butcher's shop but that closed & you can get the odd jar from the local fishing lake place occasionally but that involves a longish walk up the moss. |
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Post by steve on Jun 17, 2018 7:12:56 GMT
So SueA does all the hard work and sweetpea gets the credit! 😁 |
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Post by SueA on Jun 17, 2018 7:14:08 GMT
I don't mind sharing the glory steve! |
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Post by roofgardener on Jun 17, 2018 7:43:30 GMT
that's AMAZING SueA . Thanks for posting it. |
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Post by sweetpea on Jun 17, 2018 10:46:25 GMT
Cherry needs to visit specsavers happens to us all jen 
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Post by grindle on Jun 18, 2018 5:18:09 GMT
that must have been fascinating watching how it was done SueA thanks for the photos |
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Post by SueA on Jun 18, 2018 7:34:14 GMT
It was really good to watch & not something you're likely to see very often, I seem to remember Dai om here showing us a pic. of a swarm at his allotment site but I've never seen one in real life before. The bees had settled on a dead lilac tree in the neighbour's front garden, she said she'd been thinking of getting rid of it as they'd cut the branches back & the way the beekeeper was hitting it to dislodge the bees I thought he could finish it off for her - I didn't think he'd have to hit the trunk so hard! |
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Post by roofgardener on Jun 28, 2018 9:33:54 GMT
A couple of years ago the family visited a Victorian Allotment site in St Anne's for its annual open day.
There was a little huddle of market tents in the carpark, featuring produce grown by the allotmenteers; jams, honey, plants in pots (flowers and herbs mostly).. and one small table with a couple of beekeepers showing how they make a beehive. Lots of tiny little carpentry tools, bits of wood to make the frames, and so forth. All very interesting.
A while later, whilst having a well-deserved cup of tea, we became aware of a hubbub. Or possibly a fracas. A group of people where in animated discussion with the beekeepers, waving their arms in the air and pulling each others beards. Suddenly, the beekeepers grabbed various tools etc, piled them into a couple of bags, and the entire assembly hobbled away and up one of the allotment access roads.
We ambled after them, curious as to what was going on. After a short walk, we saw the group milling around outside an allotment gate. We where also aware of this amazing sound... a bit like a power generator... "THRUMthrumthrumthrumTHRUMthrumthrum".
You've guessed it; a swarm of bees had just landed in an allotment. The beekeepers identified the queen, and herded her into a safe location in a nearby hollow log. Whilst they where doing this, and after frantic and heated debate with several allotmenteers, a couple left to quickly assemble a "proper" beehive using the aforementioned demonstration pieces, with a view to putting it into the "winning" allotmenteer's allotment, and then transferring the swarm to it once ready.
In the meanwhile, the assembled onlookers where allowed to "rotate" through the allotment gates to get a view of the swarm, most of which had landed and 'occupied' the log whilst a few scores of others formed a "Combat Air Patrol", buzzing around to guard against interlopers.
It was a remarkable day !
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Post by SueA on Jun 29, 2018 7:42:24 GMT
That was handy roofgardener , they should have had a raffle & the winner got the bees! You should get a hive for your roof garden Roofy, free pollination for your plants & honey if you wanted to extract it, not sure if your landlord/landlady would be keen though?  |
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We often go to a little family run honey shop near Knutsford called Bax bees but he's hardly got any honey at the moment as it's been a slow start this year for his bees due to the strange weather I suppose. There are a couple of beekeepers locally who used to sell jars in a nearby butcher's shop but that closed & you can get the odd jar from the local fishing lake place occasionally but that involves a longish walk up the moss.
