Recently we have been building new hive bodies (brood chambers) out of Western Red Cedar.  A brood chamber is usually the bottom box of a hive and houses worker-made cells where eggs, larvae and pupae develop.  Some cells in this part of the hive also hold pollen, nectar or honey which is used to feed the developing larvae.  This is where the queen is laying eggs, and the brood nest is located. These hive bodies were designed by WW Smith of Innerleithen many years ago.  My father had a strong association with WW Smith who was Scotland’s first commercial beekeeper, so we ada ..read more

We had a look at some bees on 28th April at Cornhill, fifteen miles inland, and found that they were doing well on the wild cherry blossom known locally as ‘the gean’.  There were many young bees taking flight for the first time and making a lot of noise as they orientate on their hives and find out where they belong.  This is known as ‘play flight.’  We looked at some other hives that were in a field of oilseed rape and found that the bees had no interest in the flowers. Oilseed rape no longer yields nectar, at least the modern varieties don’t.   We have found that the bee ..read more

Honeycomb is made of beeswax.  Beeswax is made by young bees from the nectar of flowers.  Generally they make it during hot weather in the Summer when there is a ‘honeyflow’ and nectar is being secreted by flowers.  The wax is kneaded into honeycomb which is then used to store the honey which is being produced at the same time.  Six sided cells are made that interlock, each cell wall is also the wall of the adjoining cell.  Similarly, the bases of the cells are interlocked with other cells that face the opposite direction to form a ‘comb’.  The cells are inclined ..read more

All the bees are now home in their Winter quarters.  We try to put them into sites that can see the sun between midday and 2pm, given that the morning sun warms the hive up and the midday sun will make the front of the hive much warmer.  A sunny site improves the morale of the colony and it also allows the bees to make cleansing flights regularly as they are wintering on heather honey they will need to relieve themselves once a month – hopefully not onto someone’s washing or newly polished car! Too much sun on a day when there is snow on the ground inevitably means that many thousan ..read more

Here is some aerial footage of the current restoration of the Union Chain Bridge. It includes the Spencer Engineering compound based at the Honey Farm. For more information go to the website of the Friends of the Union Chain Bridge (If you become a member you can receive a regular newsletter) and to their new sister website Union Chain Bridge.org.   Subscribe to our Newsletter GET THE BUZZ Leave this field empty if you're human: The post Union Chain Bridge Restoration – A Bird’s Eye View appeared first on Chain Bridge Honey Farm ..read more

I came across this photo of 24 wild white clover sections and thought about it.  There were beekeepers (3 brothers) who lived locally at Crookham who constantly selected their queens for excellence and this included the bees ability to make a perfect job of sealing their sections.  It was never easy to persuade bees to work sections and there would be a great number of Italian queens brought into the area at that time (1950s).  The bees belonging to the Italian queens would seal their sections in a craggy manner with half the wax opaque (very thin). To fill the sections to this ..read more

We went to a wedding knowing that a swarm of bees was hanging high up on the 11th century church.  I left the empty hive on a dustbin and, when we came out, they had taken up residence. The swarm would be hanging on the church because the ‘scouts’ would have identified a place to start a new home and when they got there it was not apparent where the entrance was.  When I put the hive on the dustbin the ‘scouts’ would be relieved to find it and bring all the ‘repletes’ in. A swarm will only leave their parent colony if there is an imbalance within the colony. I.e. too many young bees ..read more

There are many animals found in beehives.  The pygmy shrew often spends the winter in the inner cover of a beehive where he eats dead bees and leaves a pile of black excrement in a convenient corner.  When we find the pygmy shrews they are often dead, probably from ingesting too much venom.  They do little or no damage to a hive of bees.  They are often to be heard fighting amongst themselves in the long grass during the summer.  Mice cannot get into our hives because the entrance is too shallow (8mm). In upland areas we often find small lizards on the inner cover of h ..read more

TREES – By Willie Robson of Chain Bridge Honey Farm   I was thinking the other day about the sycamore tree and the other trees that will soon be flowering.  There are already tassels laden with pollen on some of the willows and the alder will also provide plenty of pollen.  Much more prominent in the landscape will be the blackthorn (sloe) in March and the gean (wild cherry) in April.  There must be blackthorn bushes grown commercially because shop shelves are laden with sloe gin.  During a warm spell in April, bees will get some surplus from all the different varieti ..read more

At present we are wondering how the bees are coping with the Winter. All of them have been brought down from the hills and put into Winter sites, often in disused walled gardens and other sheltered locations.  It is important that winds from the North West (piercing) and the South East cannot get at the hives because at this time of year the queens are laying eggs to rear brood ready for the Spring.  If the wind can get at the hives it makes it so much more difficult for the bees to maintain the temperature necessary for brood rearing (35°C).  The effect of the wind is muc ..read more