Honeybees

That's a good deal

My crystal ball foretells a new best seller on the Bradan stall - Chilli honey.

Fantastic, SC & Bob. In my experience, beekeepers are a generous lot, like gardeners. We were given our first hive and colony, bought the second one for next to nothing and built 2 more hives to house swarms that we were taught to catch by other beekeepers. The most expensive items were the clothing (so we improvised) and a smoker. Also buying proper honey jars so that we could sell the honey. IIRC we used to get abut 60 pounds of honey from a hive each year so that's a lot of jars and labels. Plus the wax to make candles, polish etc. ..... and Bob can turn some Honey Dippers to sell with the honey..........and make model beehives to keep the honey jar in. I'll find mine and take a photo.                     

Sorry, I missed your book challenge. Do you have it now? Is it good?

Thank you veggie any advice you can give, would be greatly appreciated. Definitely would love to see photos   .
The idea of home turned dippers has already been mentioned by himself   . I like the model bee hives Idea for the jars. 

The book is very good. It’s quite amazing how few plants are actually good for honey.
You would of been proud of me, I found a discount code   .

My crystal ball foretells a new best seller on the Bradan stall - Chilli honey.

Your crystal ball is a little too good! I was asked if I could make chilli honey by the mobile pizza place. They use a chilli honey drizzle on one of their pizzas. That was before keeping bees was even thought about     .

Fantastic, SC & Bob. .....Also buying proper honey jars so that we could sell the honey....

If you get regular buyers, you can train them to return the empty jars, then you only need to buy new lids. (They rust 'cos folk don't dry them properly after washing out the jar).

Do you still have your bees, Moth?

Do you still have your bees, Moth?

Alas,no. I can't give them the time they need because of caring for my mum and having to be close at hand all the time. It was very sad to see them go this summer, especially as they made the best tasting honey I've had this year, which has crystallised into silky smooth set honey. Mind you, I won't miss the hard work of lugging full supers about. 

Sorry you had to let your bees go Moth. How much honey did you get from a hive each year?
I’m just interested if different parts of the country with slightly different climates produce differently. Obviously there’s a lot of other elements that would effect the quantity. Like how much forage there had and how far they have to go for it. 
I know we definitely won’t get anything like the 60 pound per hive Veggie used to get. I think we’ll be doing very well if we get close to that between both hives. 

I was very surprised to discover sycamore is very good for honey bees. I didn’t think sycamore supported much life at all. I’m very pleased to be proven wrong. We’ve got a lot around us     .

Do you still have your bees, Moth?

Alas,no. I can't give them the time they need because of caring for my mum and having to be close at hand all the time. It was very sad to see them go this summer, especially as they made the best tasting honey I've had this year, which has crystallised into silky smooth set honey. Mind you, I won't miss the hard work of lugging full supers about. 

I know exactly what you mean about the weight of a super! Especially when you're being pursued by the annoyed bees who see you as a robber! Its sad to see them go though - but their honey memory liveth on! I have a couple of boxes of full jars in the garage and the honey is 20-25 years old. Its darkened and crystallised but a bit of warming in the microwave or a pan of hot water and its good to go. Maybe the taste is a bit stronger than when first bottled but its still better than the commercial stuff.

Sorry you had to let your bees go Moth. How much honey did you get from a hive each year?
I’m just interested if different parts of the country with slightly different climates produce differently. Obviously there’s a lot of other elements that would effect the quantity. Like how much forage there had and how far they have to go for it. 
I know we definitely won’t get anything like the 60 pound per hive Veggie used to get. I think we’ll be doing very well if we get close to that between both hives. 

I was very surprised to discover sycamore is very good for honey bees. I didn’t think sycamore supported much life at all. I’m very pleased to be proven wrong. We’ve got a lot around us     .

Don't take my 60 pounds as a measure - I may have got it wrong! Its a very long time ago - 20-25 years at least. It also varies from year to year, depending on the weather and its impact on the flowering season and the bees ability to leave the hive and forage.