Husbandry
This is incredibly important to us and an outline is given in seasons of the year.
Our bees are a form of livestock and as such need proper relevant animal husbandry.
All of the treatments we use to control the varroa mite, perhaps the worst pest at the moment, are based on natural products.
We practice integrated pest management which means a variety of techniques are used, this reduces the dependence on one form of treatment and allows gentler or less frequent doses.
Our aim is not to lose a swarm. It is a natural event and swarms are not aggressive unless significantly disturbed. This is one of the reasons for regular inspections. If we realise the colony has “made up its mind” to swarm, we will intervene and carry out an artificial swarm. We will trick the bees into thinking they have ”moved to a new house” by putting them into two hives. This means we do not lose our bees, honey production will be reduced less and there is no swarm to disturb our neighbours or the general public.
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We try to develop bees that are good natured, produce a good honey crop and have a low tendency to swarm.
How do we continue our supply of bees?
Having purchased our original bees from local beekeepers we have gradually increased our stock by splitting for artificial swarms and catching swarms.
We have bought queens bred in the UK to fill gaps when colonies have lost queens. We try to stick to local bees that are adapted to our local climate.
Last year for the first time we bred our own queens. We were successful and had 5 new healthy dark queens.
