Therefore I reach mid May and am wondering how my bees are getting on. Sadly two of my hives didn’t survive the winter – but then they were late swarms last year so I didn’t expect too much from them to be honest – but one got out of winter very strong. They have been going well and took a good amount of sugar syrup recently.

However, just as the bees were gathering in strength, the rain has started once more. I am hoping I can get in and get them sorted before they think about swarming. They will be needing space given the amount of brood I saw in there recently. Hopefully this weekend. By the way, the picture on the right are my hives in the evening sunshine….

How are your bees getting on this year?

I recently had the pleasure of doing a talk at the BBKA Spring Convention 2013 (a much better event than in 2012 and I think most would agree). Anyhow, I thought I would just share with you the presentation slides that I was talking about. The topic concerned beekeeping in the 21st Century and I just wanted to share with everyone the links that I feel pertinent online. I hope you like them and do please recommend others as the lists are by no means exhaustive:

I have to say that there are times when I feel really glad that I became a beekeeper. Times like the London Honey Show a few weeks back and the event I attended today, The National Honey Show, are a joy. To be honest you couldn’t get two more different events but there are a vital part of the beekeeping calendar.

Whether you want to attend some valuable beekeeping discussions, go shopping for some new kit or simply have a look at some fantastic examples of the products that a hive can produce in the show itself, the National Honey Show is one event to attend at the end of the year when everything else in the beekeeping year. 

It is interesting to seeing the contrast between the London Honey Show and the National Honey Show. For all that the former is relaxed, informal and fresh (if that makes sense) the National is the opposite. It is more formal, it is more stringent in its enteries (the London Honey Show classically lets honey entries enter if it is “honey” compared to the stringent entry criteria at the National Honey Show for example) and it just has the aura of old school Britishness.

I can see how it could be perceived as not moving with the times but, being a slight traditionalist, I sometimes like the formality and rules that govern the event. It is much like the tennis in my book. Would Wimbledon still have the same niche appeal if it forgot its routes and sometimes bucked the trend of the wider tennis world; I think not. The National Honey Show is an institution and though its formatcould be improved I think its core needs to stay.

Anyhow, it was a great day and lovely to meet up with old friends and to see that Beekeeping is waving a consistent wave of popularity.

Photos of The National Honey Show

Last year I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural London Honey Show and it was a raving success. My concern for this years London Honey Show was whether they could keep up the momentum.

The Lancaster Hotel was the host of the show and this year they took over a room at least 4 times the size of the room of last years event and this was the cause for my concern.

Last years London Honey Show was like a pressure cooker which despite the perspiration shed because the turnout was so good, made for an unforgettable atmosphere and something quite different in the beekeeping calendar. Could this years compete? 

This year, despite the large and risky move downstairs, did not disappoint, with approximately 300 people in attendance making the vast room feel busy once more. There were plenty of worthwhile and keen exhibitors (ranging from Neals Yard, keen to push their Bee Friendly campaign to obtain 100,000 signatures against Neonicitinoids to Hive manufactures and candle makers to worthwhile charities like Bees For Development) which added to the event.

There were three lectures which I hear went down well – one was about planting for bees, one I gave myself about beekeeping for beginners (obviously the weakest of the speeches) and one that I very regretfully missed which was about Urban Beekeeping.  Feedback was positive about all and the more open plan aspect of the room really added to the attendance at the lectures and the general feel of the event.

Photos of the London Honey Show

Particular feedback has to be given for the friendly nature of the event. After all it was a Honey Show and I really feel that the open and relaxed nature of the competition really lends itself to inclusion of all beekeepers – to have a children’s area was a great idea and made the event family friendly as well. The public vote (to decide the best honey – whether it be North or South of the river) is a wonderful addition that again smacks of inclusion and openness

However, I do believe the most heralded prize, Beekeeper of the Year (sponsored by Beecraft Magazine), is the one that really speaks out as making this event different. I have argued before about what makes you the best beekeeper and I think this award really says it all.

Being judged on the Best beekeeper shouldn’t be about how “good” or “knowledgeable” you are or how many jars of honey you get in a year but about your general attitude towards bees and what they are all about.

The London Honey Show award for the Beekeeper of the Year is all about this. You have to be nominated for your work in Beekeeping circles and especially with the wider communities that are affected by our passion. Last years winner Barnaby Shaw created and runs the Bee Urban project is a classic example.

This years winner from the London Beekeepers Association, Sharon Bassey, was the perfect recipient of the award for this years prize with her continued work with children and beekeeping – I really wish her luck with the project and in getting more funding for her to take her plans to new levels

All in all it was another raving success and the informality, friendliness, excitement and fun was still evident despite the move from last years smaller room. I truly believe that Jo and her team at the Lancaster Hotel should be applauded for putting on an event of such magnitude in the arena of beekeeping – sometimes complicated, political and traditional.

I think we could all take a look at similar events in the beekeeping calendar and make changes to the way they are run. The London Honey Show is certainly doing something right and I expect it to be even bigger next year. 

Today was one of those picture perfect Autumnal days that are just a joy to be outside. Therefore it was the perfect day to try and move some bees – though late in the year, this was not just any old bee swarm but an established nest with combs to boot. It is not often that I will call in help and I tend to try to muddle on myself and making my own mistakes – which of course helps me learn. Bee swarm removal that has been in situ for 10-12 weeks however needs careful planning and thought.

I was very lucky therefore to call upon some lovely local beekeepers (the lovely couple who had found the swarm were colleagues of my father) Julie and Robin who were more than willing to help this tricky manoeuvre.

Usually I am used to seeing a bee swarm and usually their removal is pretty straight forward, however this bee swarm was about 8ft up under the apex of a shed – therefore a little bit more tricky and especially considering they had 3-4 visible combs already formed. I have seen this done myself but never actually completed the action of tying in comb to a frame. Julie and Robin had done it plenty of times before and therefore were perfect to call in on the act. Today couldn’t have been better in terms of weather. If you don’t want to read about it you can see various photos below which give you a fair idea. Beneath the photos are some action points and also a video of tying in the bees which I thought might be interesting.

Photos of Bee swarm Removal

Bee Swarm Removal:

1. We got all our equipment ready for this bee swarm removal which included knives ready to cut away the established comb, a sugar spray solution (so much better than smoke on this occassion to keep the bees calm) and also a seed tray to hold beneath the bees as we cut away the comb.
2. We then prepared the frames. You will see from the photos, we cut away a proportion of the wax foundation from previously made up frames. This was to give them something to work on (once they had been transferred it was fascinating to see them “working” this foundation immediately. We also used drawing pins and string to create a web on one side of the frame to hold the removed comb – we would then connect up the other side when it was in place. This was to keep the comb in situ while the bees built out on the sides to connect the comb to the edges. Once this is done they will dispose of the string outside the hive and perhaps this is one reason why to use string over elastic bands – which is quicker in the set up but perhaps a little move fiddly when manoeuvring into position and is harder for the bees to dispose of
3. We then prepared an area to do the above work – a compost bin with plank of wood on top!
4. We put some fondant into the side feeder of the nuc box ready for them to feed on immediately to give them a chance of surviving the winter.
5. We assigned jobs among ourselves for the complete bee swarm removal so that we were prepared and then got on with it

Video of a bee swarm removal:

Between calls of “come on Dad” and “I want to jump on you Dad” it slowly dawned on me that the picture was the field to the side of our house, complete with three fire engines using hoses. The message accompanying the picture simply said “Exciting” which didn’t really help matters.

I could work out from the aspect that these fire engines were about 25ft from the location of my hives which immediately put a knot in my stomach. It looked pretty serious and I was straight on the phone.

My mum had very kindly agreed to pop around to mow the lawn while we were away and was confronted with this scene as she arrived. As it turned out I was very lucky and the wind was kind to me, blowing the fire in the opposite direction. It was started by a mechanical fault with a tractor while harvesting which sent sparks into the dry hay.

Though the fire brigade were told 20 acres were on fire, it turned out to be just half an acre, but still, scary enough. If the wind was blowing the other way my hives would literarily have been toast. Lucky lucky. Below are some pictures of the damage post fire brigade and some have my hives in the background.

I have been very fortunate and my book (From A to Bee) has been turned into a Beekeeping Audio Book which I had never really expected. As  a Result I got in touch with the guy who

was going to be “my voice” and got him to answer a couple of questions. It all felt a little strange to communicate with someone who was going to become my voice! Anyway, this guy was to be Daniel Philpott, a veteran of over 100 audio books (but only now a Beekeeping Audio Book!)  and actor to boot, had the difficult job of making my book come to life and I cannot wait to hear it. You can find it on the Audible website for download now. Here were my questions about the beekeeping audio book:

1. How long did the beekeeping audio book take to record and were any bits of it particularly challenging?
From A to Bee took just over two days to record – every audiobook has its particular challenge – with fiction it might be a host different characters needing different voices, with non-fiction documentary it usually is unusual place names which have to be sourced, with fantasy fiction it’s usually both as the author has made up everything – including the place names!  With A to Bee the challenge was in the fact that’s it’s a published blog – the narrative is written from James’ perspective almost as a diary following James’ thought-processes through a real life situation.  The style is direct and chatty and sentences are a flow of those immediate thought-processes.As an audiobook reader you really  need to see things from James’ perspective and understand his character.

2. How do you go about preparing for recording an audiobook?

I read the book in detail making notes on words to look up for pronunciation and writing the initial of any character in the margin that speaks.  I inevitably end up reading the script out loud to check that the sentences are flowing and underline key words in a sentence to help listener comprehension.

Following that there’s always a list of pronunciations to go through.  The A to Bee list was mercifully shorter than some, about a page – once I had 15 pages of pronunciations to wade through as the book was constantly referring to obscure Belgian and Dutch villages!  If a pronunciation can’t be sourced from online or paper dictionaries or other internet sources and indeed telephone calls – there is always the author if it is a contemporary book – I think I contacted James twice on this book to check:

a) the pronunciation of ‘Beehaus’ – which appears to be a German word which would effect the way it is said, although the German for be is ‘Biene’

My Beekeeping Audio Book!

The only way to confirm these was to go straight to the horse’s mouth!

I sourced how to pronounce those  Polish words from a Polish chef working nearby…!

Before the actual recording I like to go over what we’ll be getting through that day and concentrate on any difficulties.

3. Did you learn anything while recording my beekeeping audio book, From A to Bee

Lots.  In fact so many conversations with me during preparation and recording of the beekeeping audio book From A to Bee consisted of ‘Did you know that bees….’
The thing I thought  was incredible was the fact that the worker females like to nibble the wings off the lazy male drones and boot them out of the hive! When I told that story I don’t think everyone believed me…

4. Was there a particular entry that sticks in your mind for a particular reason?

As with question before – the bee facts were fascinating.  Without looking at the book again I can tell you:

a) Bees forage within a 3-mile radius of the hive.
b) The most common hive used is the ‘National’
c) There are bee purists who don’t add wax strips to ‘help’ the bees get started with production
d) The queen far outlives the workers – is it 5 years she lives and the workers a few months?
e) American bees for commercial production travel thousands of miles on the backs of lorries.
f) Somewhere in China an orchard was pollinated using hundreds of people with mini feather dusters instead of bees!

James is very single-minded!  If he wants a jar of honey, he’ll get a jar of honey – even if it means being repeatedly stung on the ankle, chased down the garden by a guard bee while waving a paint pot, playing weight-lifting with a bee hive full of bees and then dropping it on his toe while endeavouring to transport it to the wilds of some National Trust heather field and indeed will take honey from a brood box….

5. Where will people be able to find the audio book?

This audiobook is being produced as a download and can be found on Audible.co.uk

6. Where can people find out more about you and other projects you have been involved in?

If you ‘Google’ Daniel Philpott Actor you will find various web pages about me.

And finally…this is a very enjoyable read and lends itself perfectly to the audio format.  A great one to listen to while driving to and from work or anywhere else for that matter…

My thanks to Daniel for taking the time to answer these questions about this beekeeping audio book and I hope you enjoy the Beekeeping Audio Book should you download it. 

Anyway, yesterday I was called out to collect a swarm that had arrived 10ft up in a cherry tree…….in August?!? What is this year all about I ask myself. The old beekeeping poem doesn’t even mention August as you can see below!

A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay;

A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon;

A swarm of bees in July isn’t worth a fly.

So, I took lots of photos and videos and let me tell you the story of what happened

It all started with a phone call from my artist friend Guilia who is very kindly working on a set of beekeeping cards for me (set for release in September which is exciting). Guilia works in a local farm shop who also have 4 bee hives and hence people call them from time to time about the bees. Very kindly she referred this call to me.

I couldn’t quite believe there was a swarm in August but I know that it does happen. Sometimes it can be because of a heavy varroa infestation, sometimes it does happen as a result of varroa treatment but you can never really tell. If anyone knows of other reason why I may have received a swarm call so late in the season I would be interested to know what you think.

Anyway, I arrived and sure enough, a nice little clump had formed about 10ft up in a cherry tree as you can see from the pictures below. I have to say, they were a little bit larger than I had expected. I got all of my beekeeping equipment together and got to work.

They were on a slightly thicker branch than I had hoped but equally they were a very calm set of bees to work with. I positioned the nuc box I had with my underneath them and slowly pushed the box upwards to let them make their own way into the hive which 75% of them did with ease – always a nice way to rehouse rather than just slamming the branch down and generally I find they move in quite well.

I didn’t think I had the queen in there though so I gently brushed the rest into the nuc box with a soft brush and all was done within about 5 minutes. All nice and peaceful.

Within 5 minutes of putting the nuc box on the floor I noticed bees at the entrance fanning, always a good sign and so I left them to it to return later on last night.

They are now all well and good in their new home and I will be rushing to get some more sugar to make up bucket fulls of sugar solution. As they were lartger than expected they might make it but I am going to leave them in the nuc box I think just to make sure.

I did a small video below to show the swarm in situ. A nice little swarm in my opinion.