Category: FAQs

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Finally February!

Sitting back to write this blog I started like I always do by looking through my phone for photos I’ve taken. January seems to have been an incredibly long month, and I’m not usually one to be wishing time to go by!

Earlier this month we treated our bees with something called Oxalic Acid. This scary sounding compound is actually organic and is what makes Rhubarb leaves poisonous. We use it as a way to kill off Varroa mite a tiny mite that lives on Honey bees. Left to their own devices they can have a real impact on the bees health eventually killing off the hive in many cases. January treatment is ideal because the bees have very little brood so the mite are all exposed when we trickle the syrup mixed with Oxalic acid down over them.

Honey Jarring

Much of the past few weeks seems to have been taken up with Jarring Honey. As well as our own jarring we have also had honey to do for another brand we work with. Around 1,800 jars for them so it’s kept us busy during the past week or so!

What’s really interesting with packing for other brands is getting to taste honey from all around the UK. It gives you a real appreciation for just how amazing honey is!

Lots of jars just in!

New Products!!

This month we have had an influx of new products come in with our brand new soaps from Soaplantables a company that makes natural goat milk soaps with an amazing label that can be planted to grow wildflower seeds! The Lavender is certainly a favourite of mine!

One of our other new products you may have already seen on our social media and that’s these beautiful Valentines day honeys!

Our New Look

I’m sure many of you will have noticed since January our website has started changing somewhat!

I’m really excited that Angie, our new Graphics designer is helping us to really bring the brand to life by showing off what we want to bee! An independent bee farm producing Great British Honey! I think showing our story is a really important thing to do so that you, our customers can see exactly where your honey is from and more importantly how it got to you!

We want to make sure we get it right so if you have any feedback over changes we’ve made I’d love to hear from you so that we know our customers are happy!

Thank you all for reading this month’s blog, hopefully you’ve enjoyed finding out what we have got going on and what we have been busy doing!

This month our only market is Market Bosworth on the 27th February so we hope to see you there!

Matthew Ingram
Holt Hall Apiary

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with Holt Hall Apiary and Mailchimp to receive marketing, and blog updates. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Posted on by — 1 Comment

Has The Warm Weather Affected Our Bees?

So this weeks post will only be short but I think it’s an important question to answer as it’s one that I’ve been asked quite a few times recently. It’s not just none beekeepers asking this question as well many beekeepers are asking themselves this same question, I know I certainly was!

So firstly to dispel a little beekeeping myth, I often get asked ‘has the warm weather woken your bees up?’. Well technically no, because honey bees don’t sleep! Unlike other species of bees, honey bees don’t hibernate at all. The reason honey bees produce honey to store food that won’t go off for them to eat throughout the winter.

Although bees don’t sleep or hibernate they are much less active during the winter, the cold weather means they can’t fly and to preserve food and allow the hive to be kept cooler the queen ceases or reduces egg laying so there are no young bees in the hive. The warm weather we had during February allowed the bees to go out foraging for pollen on the snowdrops and crocus much earlier than usual which is a good thing as pollen is needed to feed young bees. The sudden warm temperature also prompted the queen to start laying at a much faster rate.

So why could this be a problem? Well active bees and brood rearing uses up lots of energy and in turn food. The main concern is that the bees could run out of food before the spring flowers come out. To get around this we’ve added extra feed to some of the most active hives, the food, which is basically a bakers fondant (Pure sugar). The fondant is put inside a plastic bag to stop it from drying out and going hard. We cut a small hole in the underside of the bag and the bees crawl up through a whole in the roof of the hive to get to the fondant.

Bakers fondant in the insulation on top of the hive.

So when can we stop worrying? Well when the Oil Seed Rape comes out and the temperature is warm enough for the bees to fly they will produce lots of honey, up to 10kg a week in the right conditions! This week I’m going to set up the apiary site next to the oil seed rape and hopefully get all the hives moved next weekend so they are ready for the crop to start flowering.

Thank you for reading this short post, hopefully you’ll have more of an idea about the impact this mild winter has had on our bees and what we are trying to do to keep them as healthy as possible.

Don’t forget Mothering Sunday is on the 31st March, we have loads of great gifts from things for the home and garden as well as our hugely popular beekeeping experiences. Remember if you live within 5 miles of us and spend more than £10 you get free delivery and even if you don’t we have really competitive postage prices! Take a look at all our products here – Shop

Matthew Ingram

[mc4wp_form id=”1002″]