Last night a blanket of white has come over the apiary… I am going to one of our sites this morning to see how the bees are getting on and get some photos of them with their snow boots on. See whats going on in January in our newsletter – catch the latest buzz.
Tag Archives: hives
A Day with Wally Thrale – Beefarmer in Bedfordshire
December 2014- Winter preparations
Wally Thrale is a Beefarmer in Bedfordshire.
Wally and I visited 3 busy apiary sites around the county treating them for Varroa mite and ensuring colonies have enough food for the winter.
The last winter was mild and we hope again for a mild winter. Beekeepers have experiences severe losses in previous years and colonies have died for a number of reasons.
Ensuring hives are well protected from woodpeckers is also vitally important in the apiary. A woodpecker can kill a colony and also damage expensive equipment in the process.
Look out for Wally’s article in our monthly update – catch the latest buzz…
A New Type of Hive…
October 2014
We have taken delivery of some new nucleus hives – ‘Polyhives’ made from… polystyrene.
These have been recommended to us as they have been successfully used in many countries for beekeeping – even in the harshest terrains and have benefits in terms of thermal insulation in Winter as well as keeping the bees cooler in the Summer.
They are more cost effective than wooden hives and are being looked at as an alternative in some cases such as swarming.
We are trialing a couple and see how they perform. The full lifecycle analysis and data on the total environmental impacts will be assessed alongside their beekeeping benefits and versatility.
Watch this space as we evaluate this new equipment…