Bees on the move

Transported 2 of our big hives to a blueberry farm last night. Unfortunately on the way there we had a leak............. of bees from an inconspicuous whole in the side of the floor. Cue absolute mayhem in the car ha ha ha. Pure chaos. Anyway we got there in the end and as soon as this bad weather ends the sooner my bees can start working the blueberry fields harvesting some lovely blueberry honey. Also a big thanks to Guy from blue www.bluesauces.com who let us put them there. Hopefully it should benefit us both by or bees pollinating his crop and us getting the honey, so every one is a winner :-).

Observation Hive

Just had my observation hive come through the post. I'm in a bit of a predicament with what to do with it now though. Whether to split a colony and keep an colony in the observation hive or to split the colony for 1- 4 days and merge them back after. The observation hive only has 2 brood frames and a super frame so it would be a small colony but I think they would be ok. Still undecided and will post with what I decide to do. This observation hive should be fantastic in drawing in crowds at food fairs.

First market stall of the year and the bees are loving the weather

We have attended our first show of the year at love food festival in Bath. Didn't enjoy the early start on a Sunday and the long drive but it was well worth it getting Hilltop Honey in front of new customers. Mean while the bees at home are loving the unusually nice weather for this time of year and are taking full advantage of it. Couple of months they will be on the oil seed rape bringing in the first honey crop of the year.

Busy Bees

The bees were out in force on Sunday. All 11 of my hives are rearing to go after surviving the Winter. Before you know it it will be April and we will be milking the bees again!!

1st Loss

Lost my first hive this week!! Sad times. They were just to small of a colony to keep warm enough to survive. :-(

Chester Christmas Market

Go to www.facebook.com/hilltophoney and view all our photos from an awesome couple of weeks in Chester.

Bee Security!!

Just found this article about bees being used as security!! That must mean I have one of the biggest security firms in Britain with 60,000 employees :-). Tho my employees are very fair weather security they just refuse to work in rain or the Winter which I can't say I blame them. If the queen is willing to wear a bee suit I could see this working!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-16645223