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chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 08 10:23 pm Post subject:
I would say your mum's - they can forage off dairy land - clover and stuff. We are moving our four hives out of the garden precisely for the small-boy reason - and the poor old chickens got chased around in a comedy fashion a few times last year. Mochyn and her old chap have kindly offered us a corner of their patch.

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 08 11:47 pm Post subject:
They can forage up to 2 miles--we are totally surrounded by fields and a very few scattered houses but I got the best tasting honey ever last year

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 9:22 am Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

I start my bee course in a couple of weeks

Go Mandy! - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did mine - it was the best decision I've made in a long while - I wouldn't worry too much about the foraging at your Mum's - they are resourceful little madams and will probably find plenty of pollen to harvest - are there plenty of tree's and/or hedging because that will be full of things like blackberries, sloe's etc plus there are always loads of dandelions on pasture land and they love dandelions - mine brought loads in last year.

Chez - Are you saying the bee's chased the chickens ? - We are just debating where exactly to house our chickens - we were considering using the space between the greenhouse and the bee's - there is an apple tree in front of the bee's and my bee's are very placid

Green Man

Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5272
Location: Rural Scotland.

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 9:25 am Post subject:
Doesn't the thicker honey still have some wax in it?

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 9:25 am Post subject:

Cho-ku-ri wrote:

Doesn't the thicker honey still have some wax in it?

No - you extract the honey from the wax unless you are selling it on the comb

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 9:38 am Post subject:

jocorless wrote:

Chez - Are you saying the bee's chased the chickens ? - We are just debating where exactly to house our chickens - we were considering using the space between the greenhouse and the bee's - there is an apple tree in front of the bee's and my bee's are very placid

One of our hives is a bit frisky, AND has quite a strong following trait. The garden is sloped and their hives are at the top - so as they come in, they are going past the chicken house at person-head-height, which seems to disorient them. This particular hive had quite an old queen last year I think - and it made them particularly grumpy. There were two occasions where the guard-bees followed us down the garden and decided that the chooks were also a threat.

We have talked about putting netting up around them - but I am worried about Leo bumping against them in toddler-mode, so we have decided that it's better for them to go to a quiet corner of Mochyn's place.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 10:39 am Post subject:

Ahh - OK - we should be OK then - I'm planning to raise a new queen from my hive this year so we can expand upto 2 hives at home and hopefully buy a nucleus of bee's in from the guy who supplied me with the original nuc - which will start the out apiary I'm planning at my Mums - they have a lovely big lawn area at the top of their garden which never gets used - so I can get 2 maybe 4 hives up there easily

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 10:42 am Post subject:
That sounds fine - ours are a bit close together where they are at the moment and I messed up putting the supers on so they didn't have very much space. And of course there was the whole 'being unable to lift due to being heavily pregnant' thing, so they didn't get managed as well as they could have done. We learned A LOT, though .

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 11:00 am Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

My biggest decision will be where to put the hive.

Any chance of having it at your school? One of my old schools had four bee hives, I remember seeing my first swarm there.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35089
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 12:14 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Jamanda wrote:

My biggest decision will be where to put the hive.

Any chance of having it at your school? One of my old schools had four bee hives, I remember seeing my first swarm there.

No. We have major building work starting soon. It will be chaotic enough with half the grounds out of bounds.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 12:17 pm Post subject:
Besides, I don't want our bees going to Bideford College, nasty rough place. Now, if we could afford to send them to public school...

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 08 10:39 am Post subject:

When our bees forage off the rape fields (all round us) we have to take off the frames and spin them before the end of May or the honey sets in the frame. When we jar it it sets almost overnight into a pale cream solid mass.
later on in the year when the bees are doing other stuff (normal flowers, blackberry etc) the honey is a darker golden liquid.
You can decrystallise by heating (gentle heat or your honey will lose its aroma). we leave ours in the conservatory on a hot day.
Lorraine

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 08 10:40 am Post subject:

sean wrote:

Besides, I don't want our bees going to Bideford College, nasty rough place.

Now, if we could afford to send them to public school...

Went

Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 6968

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 08 10:54 am Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

That explains our recent purchases then, from an area in spain where rape is fairly extensive - going to try and source local honey this year as it does help with hayfever etc and is much nicer tasting.

lottie

Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 5059
Location: ceredigion

Posted: Tue Jan 29, 08 11:44 am Post subject:
I really don't like rape honey---although I know it's the major crop for a lot of beekeepers---I think it tastes like sweet lard---There are no rapeseed fields here , so the setting in the supers isn't a problem.

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