Spring Is Here.. or is it?
Well if I had been writing this a week ago I’d have been talking about the beautiful weather and how great it was that the season was well underway. Fast forward a week however and we are plunged back into cold weather. Or at least it seems cold after that warm spell, I think it’s actually quite normal remembering back two years to the Beast From The East that hit right at the end of March 2020.
The main problem for beekeepers with the warm and then sudden cold temperature is that the bees have been out collecting nectar and pollen and the size of the hive has increased with more and more eggs being laid everyday but as the cold weather has come in it has stopped the ability of the bees to collect food which has put the bees in a risky area! They can very quickly run out of food at this time of year if we as beekeepers aren’t keeping an eye on them.
One of the main jobs we’ve been doing over the past week or so is moving our hives. Now unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures but I do have one from last year and the process is much the same.
First we remove any feeders and lids and use small straps to tie the hive together so that it won’t come apart during transit. Then on the morning of the move we lift the hives onto the trailer having first covered the entrance with masking tape so the bees can’t get out!!
Once on the trailer we make sure they are strapped down to the trailer with a second strap and away we go! When we arrive on the new site which at the moment are Oil Seed Rape (OSR) sites we just reverse the process!
The bees are out and re-orientating within a couple of minutes and soon start making use of the new food source!
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Thank you all for reading our blog, next month I’m hoping to come back with a delicious honey recip-bee to get your mouth’s watering and some more updates on how the season has started… hopefully!
If you’re wanting more content from us then I’m happy to say we’ve joined TIKTOK and you can now see lot’s of short videos about our beekeeping all month! We really are embracing Social media during April and hopefully we will be doing a Facebook/Instagram Live for you all to watch and see exactly what we are up to and to ask any questions.
Also don’t forget that by signing up to our mailing list below you’ll get blog updates and an email around the middle of each month with an offer which is 10% off one of our honeys so that’s a great way to keep in touch and save a little each month!
Thank you
Matthew Ingram
Holt Hall Apiary
