Hi, It's the rock climbing apiarist here, as one of my friends and customers call me. After a very strange weather wise (cool and wet in the main), but productive summer I’ll be seeing you next year now. I will have 8 broods of gentle bee’s to sell to some lucky people in the spring. All bred in the Midland’s, naturally. My most productive bee’s these year have been the most aggressive, and sadly for safety reasons I had to cull them. In my apiary I have dedicated breeding hives for sale and commercial hives for honey production. In truth I’m so scared of the Asian hornet I’m reluctant to expand my operations further for fear of loss. I am monitoring what is happening with the invasive species, if they arrive in Leicestershire, it could well be game over for me as they eat 50 bees each a day.
My wild flower garden was a success for the wild bumble bee’s it attracted, but the honey bee’s were simply not interested in it’s flowers. This winter I am not feeding my bee’s and will wait until March when I will introduce Fondant. I think it increases the resistance and longevity of my bee’s and I have only treated two hives with Api Var, as I have a zero varoaa mite count.
It’s been a successful year, and if you have been fortunate to buy my honey you will have tasted the best honey in the country. I always sell it totally fresh, and it’s pure, not like 90 percent of supermarket honey that is doctored with syrup, or diluted with chemicals. You are not buying honey at £2.99 a jar, believe me.
I was shocked to read that Russians were booby trapping Ukrainian bee keepers hives with hand grenades last week, that level of hatred is unforgiveable as far as I am concerned and my thoughts go out to all of them this winter.
See you next year, I’m not planning any winter blogs, as I have another project to work on. I am however giving a lecture and honey tasting session at the Abdication pub on Mansfield Rd, Nottingham. Further details forthcoming in my next and last blog for 2023.
Happy Bee Keeping