Melys Honey

Happy New Year to all Beekeepers and Brides to Be

2013-01-04T14:43:00.001-08:00

I have ordered new fabrics and embellishments for my new favours that will be coming soon.
What themes do you think will be BIG for 2013? I hope I have judged right, come back and see the new collection soon.

Melys Christmas Shop

2012-10-17T13:43:00.001-07:00

My Christmas shop has been opened please come and take a look we have favours to grace any Christmas table or maybe you just want a little stocking filler for someone special.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Melyshoney?section_id=12296336

Just look at this fabulous Christmas cracker, 3 mini pots of honey and nuts for a gourmet treat!

or maybe you fancy a DIY kit to fill with sweets or homemade preserves for your guests? come and take a look don't leave it to long as I only have limited supplies.

Buzzy Buzzy Busy

2012-09-30T06:17:00.001-07:00

Well I have neglected my blog haven't I??
I am so sorry but it has been a little hectic to say the least!! My etsy shop is now doing well and I have lots of quotes and sales coming in, so I shouldn't complain.
I have also had a full page feature included in the North Wales Wedding guide which I am totally thrilled about, and hopefully this will bring in a few local sales.
http://www.northwalespublishing.co.uk/wedding-guide/

It seems funny that I can send all over the world USA, Canada, Sweden and Australia and many parts of England but get very few sales in my own local area. With a bit of publicity now and some contacts made this should be rectified soon. You wouldn't believe I work in marketing would you?

Anyway back to the bees which is not such good news!
Like many UK beekeepers who have reported losses in bees and the honey production down almost 50%,we have had a few disasters too. The awful summer we have experienced this year has had a disastrous effect on us we have lost 4 hives due to the new queens being unable to get out and mate resulting in the colonies dying out.

The other 8 hives are doing Ok and we managed to take a fair crop of honey from them, but had to leave enough to sustain them through the winter so the price at the gate has now gone up in order for me to reserve honey for the wedding favours.

We inspected the hives this weekend and have now supplemented their honey with syrup to ensure they make it through the winter but it looks like they have closed the hive down earlier this year so it is a bit hit and miss if they take the syrup down or not. Another inspection next week should let us know how they are fairing before we to stop activity until the Spring.

bumble bee find

2012-07-13T04:44:00.001-07:00

I am thrilled to have been included in a lovely treasury feature in Etsy, and also on a blog
Please take time to visit either or both as all crafters need promoting from time to time and the bumble bee along with the honey bee need all the help we can give them.
Enjoy!!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury

http://butterflyintheattic.blogspot.com/2012/07/fun-freaky-friday-bumbly-honey-bees.html

Hazards

2012-07-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

The hazard of being a beekeeper are obvious to most it has to be stings!!

Now I don't want to put anyone off keeping Bees at all this is not the object of the exercise but you must take care.No cutting corners when getting suited up, make sure all zips and Velcro are fastened and you have at lease covered your arms and legs with another layer under your suit.

Why you may ask is she telling us the obvious?

Last week I was suited and booted and got stung on my foot?? Hubby had been covered in bees and had not put his boots on but opted for a pair of lace up boots and guess what he got stung!! helping to rescue him I brushed of the bees that had collected around his legs and brushed one bee straight into my welly. To late stung!! this resulted in a reaction and a trip to casualty.

This week no repeats please!!we both double checked we were protected and almost finished the bees with no stings until,....... hubby offered to finish the last hive on his own so I could get the rabbits fed and watered before going out.

He came to tell me he was finished still wearing his bee suit and yes he had bees on him. I shouted at him to go away and clear them off..... to late !! this time stung on the face. Bit swollen around the eye area but hopefully it will go down before work tomorrow as this is getting embarrassing.

The joys of being a beekeeper, would I give them up ??? No way

What has Fishing Got to do with Bees?

2012-06-29T03:21:00.002-07:00

I have just read a blog and been inspired !! the blog was all about how to write stories for a blog. I am sure a lot of bloggers out there like me struggle to find fresh topics to write about and keep our followers interestedI know I certainly do.

So I am going to change tack a little bit and try to give you an insight to my world, of course there will still be updates about the bees and the honey but hopefully it will be a bit more personal, I hope you enjoy it!!

Fishing!

Not a topic I have written about before, so here goes.

Last week my hubby and I went to join my parents in a cottage on the Blairquhan estate near Ayr, Scotland.

This was our 3rd visit to the estate and I was looking forward to a relaxing few days fishing. I absolutely love fly fishing, a sport I got into late in life and have been doing it now for 6 years. My hubby was first interested and asked me to join him, he still goes fishing on the odd occasions but as he is not a very patient man finds it extremely frustrating especially when I hook into a trout and he doesn't :)

Why do I enjoy fishing?

I am the type of person that has thoughts running through my head day and night, could be to do with family, sometimes work or mainly about my hobbies of which I have lots. If I have a project on the go, I cannot stop thinking about it and find it hard to detach myself. This is the time to go fishing, even the drive to a lake or fishery is normally tranquil and my thoughts start to wander in another direction maily the first thought is Will I catch anything today? .

Unpacking my gear and setting up my rod takes minutes and then its off to find a nice bit of water to fish, last week we fished the small lake at Blaiquhan where there are lots of small but elusive native brown trout. I managed to catch and land 3 fish, 2 small ones around 1lb in weight and a larger one of approx 2lb, I am pleased to say all were returned safely.

The following day it was of to Coyle Water fishery this time with a bit of a competition going between hubby and me, as he hadn't liked the fact that I had caught the day before and he hadn't. He obviously fancied his chances on the larger lake.Neither of us caught anything in the first 2 hours so we had a break and a bite to eat from the picnic we had prepared, but I cant seem to sit down chatting or stop to eat for long as there are trout to catch.

My competitivness gets the better of me when I am challenged! soon I hook into a fighter and shout over to let hubby know I have a fish on!! he comes over to help me land it. As the fish gets a little tired of playing games and gets closer to the bank the net was put in the water, just as it is about to be scooped up hubby gets hold of the line, disaster !! he tried to pull it in and of course the fish un hooked itself and got away.
A few words were said and then I heard "dont ask for any more help in future you can do it on your own"
Hmm OK I will I though,t I will show you!

30 mins before it was time to pack up I ask how he is getting on, He had had a couple of knocks and just missed one, so with time running out I start to go through my fly box trying this fly and that fly, maybe I should try a dry or should I try a nymph?? You can see how I dont have time to think about anything else cant you!!

Well it was a buzzer that I caught the next fish on a beauty too, approx 31b in weight and would have made lovely eating but as we were on a sporting ticket it had to go back. Hubby says "Well done" but is not very happy. Unfortunately no more fish were caught that day and we went back to the cottage for a glass of wine. Cheers!!

Spring Honey

2012-05-18T02:30:00.000-07:00

Apologies first!! been a bit lapse with my postings lately but I hope to rectify this.

Well, my photographic skills did not win me any prizes in the competion I entered, I have to say looking at the winners I was completely out of my depth, so no surprise there!

The Spring has been a complete wash out, the nice weather in March had us hoping for a large Spring crop of honey although we will manage to get some there wont be as much as initially thought, after all the bees do need to feed themselves first.

We now have honey supers on 5 hives and 8 hives are on brood and a half and building up very nicely but if we dont get the nice weather who knows how much honey we will get this summer. So much is out of our control so all we can do is keep the regular inspections going to check all is well and swarm control when needed.

2012-04-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter to all the bloggers out there, I hope you have a lovely relaxed weekend.

I don't think for one minute I will be relaxing but this weekend I really don't mind as the family are visiting, sons,daughters, partners and gorgeous grandchildren what more could I want!!

With the weather turning colder it is not a good idea to open up the bees this weekend so I will leave them alone and take a quick look as soon as it warms up again, just to check their stores of food in case they have exhausted them.

Happy Easter!!

RSPB nature calendar 2013 entered

2012-03-29T15:39:00.001-07:00

First time for everything so I have entered the RSPB calendar competition with my honeybee photo. As a total amateur and up against some fantastic photos don't stand a chance but you got to be in it to try! Take a look at the entries and find mine it's by junctiongirl and leave a comment by all means

Glorious March, Bees and Blossom

2012-03-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

What a beautiful weekend it has been, glorious weather and so good for the bees who would believe it was still only March. I am happy to report that after inspecting our apiary all 12 hives have come through the winter.The bees are already extremely busy bringing in the pollen and nectar from the dandelions, damson blossom and ribes from what I can see in the garden.

The opportunity today was to good to miss so I stopped my chores for half an hour in the garden watching the bees and managed to get some lovely photos.

http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/1195836298

2012-02-21T14:06:00.002-08:00

I hope you all enjoyed your pancakes tonight drizzled with a little honey!!

I have been really busy lately coming up with new ideas for our Wedding Favours, with the Spring wedding season almost upon us I am hoping for a busy time.

Here are a few of the new ones the others can be found on the favours page and can be bought in my etsy shop. I do hope you like them!! If you would like them customised in any way please contact me.

Bees Butterflies & Blooms

2012-02-17T07:04:00.000-08:00

Bees Butterflies & Blooms by Sarah Raven on
Have you watched it? you must!!

We need more people like Sarah to help the plight of the Honey Bee and get everyone doing their bit.

If you have missed it watch it on iplayer now and catch up BBChttp://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b013pw23

Do not underestimate what you can do to help, even if it is only one pot of insect friendly flowers on the patio it all helps our bees and insects.

Keep up the good work Sarah

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T02:54:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day!

A day for love and planning a future together, I wonder how many proposals there will be made to day?

On that note I am very excited, it has made me think of some new adornments for my wedding favours, I just need to try and source them from somewhere out there!

But I can tell you they will be themed!!

A Welsh Theme to go with Welsh Honey!!

February Inspection

2012-02-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

Whilst the rest of the country battles with heavy snow here in North Wales it has been a beautiful day, almost spring like!! lots of sunshine and no need for hats and gloves!!

So as it was such a great day it was time to check on the bees and see if we have any disasters in the hives?

I am pleased to report all 12 hives are strong and healthy, and have come through the winter so far so good.

A little sugar paste has been given to a few hives to help their stores but the majority had enough food to see them through.

The bees were even out foraging today on the snowdrops.

Roll on the Spring

Talk at the WI

2012-01-20T05:55:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to you all !

It has been a bit quiet on the bee front during the last few months as there has been little activity from the hives. This is only to be expected however, we did see a few venturing out just before Christmas when we had that mild snap of weather.

I was asked by my local Women's Institute to do a talk this year on my beekeeping experience and I was happy to say yes, thinking it would be sometime in the summer. As this was a newly formed WI they were struggling for speakers so they asked if I could do the talk in January.

January!! oh goodness me, could I really go through with it so soon !!

Unaccustomed as I am to speaking in public, I set about writing myself some notes on bees so that I had all the information to hand should anyone ask me a question, ( my greatest fear, being asked something I didn't know the answer to). However my daughter got to hear what I was doing and told me not to be so boring!!

People don't want to sit there and listen to you spouting out a lot of boring facts, give them a summary of how you got involved with bees, she said and then take it from there.

So with her advice ringing in my ears and a few props to show them , off I set to the meeting. Surprisingly I was not nervous at this point as I thought I wouldn't be needed until half time, I would get a nice cup of tea and then I could prepare myself.

It didn't quite happen like that and I was called upon to do my talk within 30 minutes of arriving, no time to get nervous I was on!

I wont bore you with the details, but I can tell you that I had re-read all my blogs and used these snippets to tell my story, almost in the same format and it went down extremely well. With questions coming at me from all angles, I felt very proud to have been able to answer them all, thank goodness for my cribbing before hand.

During our tea break, (well earned I think) I was congratulated by everyone and thanked for telling my story, even the regional representative, wanted to put my name forward on the circuit to do talks.

So who knows I may be doing it again sometime in the future!!

Honey Sales

2011-09-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

The sales on our honey has been so encouraging with nearly 70 jars sold, what is more encouraging is that everyone who has bought it has come and told me how different it tastes to shop bought honey and how much they love the flavour.

One colleague told me he eats it spread on bread with cheese, I will have to take his word for that as I don't eat cheese myself, my favourite way of eating it is a spoonful in a bowl on natural yogurt and a few fresh raspberries, delicious!!

I am very naughty though, at bedtime I love to take a spoonful and just let it melt and slide down my throat, I am sure my dentist would have something to say about that if he knew but I cant resist the temptation as the pot sits next to my bed.

I do believe it is also helping with my acid reflux, whether it is all in my head I am not sure but if you search the Internet, honey has such fantastic properties and they claim it is good for the digestion so I will continue with my naughty but nice bedtime treat.

The Honey Business

2011-09-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

A fascinating programme was broadcasted today on radio 4 - The Honey Business

This programme is well worth a listen to anyone wanting to compare a commercial honey to a raw pure honey like Melys Honey / other local honey produced by your local beekeeper.

I know what I would choose! but dont take my word for it listen for yourself here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b014m76w

Selling Well!

2011-09-15T13:06:00.000-07:00

I am so thrilled that the honey is already selling extremely well, lots of people we know have been buying in bulk and I have left a jar at a local retailer to see if they would be interested in selling it.

What struck me today was the fact that some of the people who have bought our honey have bought it to help their allergies. This took me a bit by surprise, I know honey is good for you, that it is antibacterial, antifungal and keeps for ever!I also new that it was good on open sores and ulcers but allergies

this I did not know.

Feeling a little stupid for not knowing this I had to find out what information was out there on the net,

there was pages and pages that you can read about it, I am not certain if it has been proven but it does seem to make sense.

Basically if you are one of the million Hay fever sufferers, if you eat a spoonful of a local honey over a period of time before the pollen starts it helps to alleviate the horrible symptoms naturally.

How good is that, clever little bees.

I need to do a bit more research on the benefits of honey so that I can ad information page for you all to read. I remember as a little girl my Nain (grandmother) used to give me a teaspoon of honey in warm milk to drink before going to bed, she said it helped you sleep, and I know that works.

I still reach for my bedtime drink now especially if I am over tired.

Another thing she passed on was to add a teaspoon of honey to a mug of hot water with a squeeze of fresh lemon, this was said to be a cure for sore throats, again this remedy has been carried on in my family and we all reach for the ccomfort of it at the first sign of a sore throat or a cold.

Now what else can I find out?

Cappings turned into candles

2011-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

My beeswax cappings have now been turned into small pure beeswax candles and I can say I am delighted with the results.

Some facts
Unlike most of the manufactured paraffin candles, beeswax is hypo-allergenic, great for people with allergies or other sensitivities and for those of us who want a safe, clean burning candle in our homes.

The candles have no perfume or anything else added but have a slight aroma of honey and will burn for approx 3 hours much longer than a parafin wax equivalent. When burned in a draft free environment with a wick trimmed to 1/4" a beeswax candle will burn bright and clean without smoke or soot

General safety and burning tips for beeswax candles
•Never leave a burning candle unattended.
•Keep candles away from children and pets.
•Keep candles away from flammable materials or overly crowded settings.
•Burn candles only in a draft-free environment away from fans, open windows, air ducts, etc. This will help to prevent any dripping or smoking.
•Light the wick from the base of the wick, where the wick comes out of the candle, to allow the beeswax to absorb into the wick.
If you would like to buy please go to Honey and Honey Gifts tab for more information or visit my etsy shop.

its arrived

2011-09-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

It has arrived, at last!!

Over the weekend, It seems to have been all steam ahead, the label was completed by son Tom and I must say he did a fantastic job and didn't lose his patience with me despite the numerous changes he had to make, font sizes, positioning of text moving graphics etc etc

I hope you all like it as we are thrilled with our new Brand.

Once the label was sorted it was time to jar up the honey!

The Jars we have chosen are the hexagonal ones, they hold 12oz, 340g in weight

The selling price is £5 a jar.

The honey is a light colour and looks like it will set in time. It is a mild tasting honey and delicious on toast or drizzled on your cereal.

If you would like to buy a jar please contact me by email melys@maelgwyn.co.uk or visit my shop at etsy.com

Beeswax from the cappings

2011-09-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

I have read a few articles about using the capping's that were left behind after harvesting the honey, all agreed that you needed to make sure you get the last drop of honey out of them which we did,

and the yield was 10lb, can you believe that?

Next they tell you to let the bees clean the capping's, so we put them out on a tray and in a bowlon the patio to see what would happen! It was like a swarm, the bees came from nowhere, the smell of the honey obviously was so strong that they came and found it. It took them just 2 days to take away every last drop of honey leaving me with what looked like shavings (the wax).

As I have never dealt with beeswax before I decided to have a go last night whilst Mel was out, the last thing I needed was his opinion or to be told I was doing it wrong!! I like to make mistakes on my own lol

With a large saucepan of water on the stove, and another pan to act as a double boiler on top I placed some of the shavings into the pan, slowly and surely they started to melt but instead of a nice clear wax that I should be getting, I had a lot of debris and some sludge in the mix,

time to read about it again!! what was I doing wrong?

I soon realised that I should have washed the capping's first, to late now! so I continued on but added a mug full of water to the pan, apparently the wax separates easily in the water.

The liquid then needed straining to remove all the bits/sludge so I found an old jelly bag from my preserving days and strung it up so I could empty the hot liquid into it, placing a silicone tray below I pored it in slowly to avoid any splashes of wax.

Soon the wax/water mix started to drip out the bottom of the bag, leaving the gunk behind and as it cooled the wax hardened and the water separated. I was onto a winner!!! or so I thought.

I finished that whole batch and then took a look at my wax, it was clean no debris, so that had worked but something was still wrong, the wax was pliable not brittle so back to the text book I went.

I cold smell honey in the wax and that should all have been washed out, so I decided to re melt it all again in the double boiler and add more water in the hope that it would separate.

This time the colour of the wax was a lovely pale shade of yellow and the water that was left behind had the distinct honey smell I think it is now OK.

This morning I had another look at my handiwork and I am quite pleased the wax is hard and brittle and looks like it should with no smell of honey.

Next time though I will definitely wash it first, it would have made the process so much more easier and quicker. You live and learn don't you!!

Now, what to do with that lovely wax, candles, tea lights or polish?? any of them would make great Christmas presents, but what to choose....

Labels to Be(e) or not to Be(e) -pardon the pun

2011-09-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

The honey is delicious and is sitting at the moment in the settling tank awaiting bottling. We are not quite ready to bottle up yet, so you will have to wait a little longer to find the weight of the honey. I hopefully will let you know in the next week or so.

In the meantime we have a big problem!!

Labels, who would think it would be so hard to decide on a label for the Honey jars.

Do we want to buy one from the beekeeping suppliers like everyone else, no I don't think so! Everyone and his dog seem to be using these, and if we are going to create a brand we need something a little better.

After hours and hours of trawling through the Internet looking for alternatives that were a bit more upmarket and reasonably priced, we still haven't decided on any, they are either far to expensive for the small amount that we want this year or they look terrible, all cottagy and flowery.

So we have now decided to make our own, how foolish this may turn out to be remains to be seen as we rarely agree on things of this nature and end up falling out.

We were supposed to sit down today and design a label, but Mel had to go to his choir and it was such a lovely afternoon I went fishing but I can tell you it was well worth it two very nice 3lb trout were caught by me and my son was a little disappointed that I caught the first one on the very first cast.

Ha Ha

Disaster had struck when we got home, the beef Madras I had put in the oven for supper before leaving was so burnt it was inedible, I had the oven on to high instead of a slow cooking so we all had to make do with a pie out of the freezer.

Maybe I should have designed that label after all!!

The deed is done- golden nectar extracted

2011-08-27T15:17:00.000-07:00

The rain didnt stop all this morning and heavy showers were forecasted for the afternoon

Do we do it or dont we?

Yes of course we did, we couldnt help ourselves it was so exciting!!

Mel and Gary went to check the hives and see how many supers we had, whilst I prepared the utility room for the extraction process. I had been warned it could be messy job.

If you have never extracted honey before then be warned it creates a wholly sticky mess everywhere, despite how careful and prepared you are!

I had all the work surfaces scrubbed clean, all the utensils and buckets sterilised and the extractor thouroughly cleaned, the floor was covered in cardboard and newspapers, plenty of cloths and hot water at the ready.

All set to go!

The supers were brought in and stacked ready, the first frame was picked out ready to be uncapped to allow the honey to flow freely when placed in the extractor.

You need a steady hand and a jug of hot water to dip the knife in and a board over a container to place the frame on whilst you cut away the cappings. Tilt the fram forward so the cappings drop into the container as you cut them away. Normally this can be done in one sheet if the comb is evenly drawn out, if not it will take several goes to do it. Remove as much of the cappings as you can, but try not cut to far into the honeycomb. Have more than one container at the ready as we ended up needing three.

As the cappings are removed hand them to a helper to place them into the extractor, repaeat until the extractor is full.

Now slowly start it up and watch the honey start to spin out, hitting the sides and flowing down into a golden pool at the bottom.

Watch the bottom of the extractor as the honey slides down, dont let the honey pool in the bottom to much before opening the gate and filling your bucket.

Dont forget to place the strainers on first though!

Next close the gate on the extractor and carry on with the rest of the frames until all done, meanwhile the bucket of collected honey now needs to go through a very fine mesh strainer to catch any missed or remaining tiny bits of pollen before being left in a settling tank to let all the bubbles rise to the top.

The extracting process is quite long depending on how much honey there is to extract but dont try and rush it or cut corners, instead give yourself plenty of time and have few cups of tea in between as you stop and admire the golden nectar flowing into the buckets.

We filled to buckets then ran out of containers to store it in so had to improvise and put it in saucepans, thank god for stockpans and preserve pans dont underestimate how much honey you may get and get caught out like us.

Next there were the cappings to deal with lots of honey in the bottom of the basins there too!! and the wax is to valuable to waste but thats another story.

The biggest job was the clean up after, but we managed in the end. Now it's time for a well earned glass of wine whilst I admire our very own honey

How much honey did we extract??

Would you like a jar?

Guess the amount correctly and I will send the person who guesses the nearest,

wins a jar of Melys Honey.

Getting Ready "H Day"

2011-08-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

Well "H" day is fast approaching, hopefully weather permitting Saturday is Honey Day.

We are almost ready to extract the honey from the hives and it is so exciting!!

We have gone completely mad and bought ourselves a brand new Honey Extractor, cost = expensive but we thought, we are in for the long haul and we will have to buy one next year anyway so why not buy it now!! so we did.

The weather has not been terrifically good this last month so we made a conscious decision to leave the hives alone, thinking less disruption would equal a bigger honey yield. So we will see, we are hoping for around 100lbs of amber nectar out of 3 hives, fingers crossed.

All 2011 hives are to be left with their stores on in order for them to be strong colonies going into the winter, with the exception of Hive number 9 as this was a prime swarm and has a full super on.

All the Nuc boxes have now been transferred into hives with the exception again of one which is going to be wintered in a polystyrene Nuc box that has a feeder in it and 6 frames, this is a trial to see how they manage. All reports say the Nuc boxes are strong enough to do this so we are having a try.

Come back tomorrow for the "H" day outcome and hopefully I will have photos to show the process.
Why not have guess how much we will extract!!

Hive Inspection

2011-08-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

This weekend we needed to do a full inspection of the hives to see how they were performing in relation to being queen right (hive with a laying queen) and were we were up to with the honey situation.

Our concerns were with firstly the queens!!

As my daughter was down for the weekend to celebrate her Dad's birthday and was keen to see inside a hive. She decided to suit up and join me, we decided it was best to inspect just two of the hives and leave the rest to the following day.

I explained when inspecting a hive, that you must stand behind the hive and not in front so the foraging bees can continue working without obstruction. Next I proudly showed her how to use the smoker, giving the entrance of the hive a few puffs of smoke to let the bees know we were coming. Then you can take of the hive roof, placing it upside down on the floor near to you but without being in your way, then take off the crown board.

You need a hive tool for the next bit to help take of the honey supers as these are nearly always glued down by the bees with propolis, at this stage the bees were flying all around her and she stayed perfectly calm and in control. I was very impressed!

I pointed out the honey combs not yet capped to her and the lovely frames that were ready to harvest, she felt the weight of the frames with and without honey on them, giving her an idea of how much honey was on a frame (2-3lb).

As we got down to the brood box (were the queen lays her eggs) we had to be very careful at this point in case the queen was on any of the frames. A few puffs of smoke help send the bees down into the box. Using the hive tool again, prize the nearest frame out carefully, this is the trickiest bit! as there isn't much room to move things.

By loosening the first one gently on one side of the frame and then the other, lift it gently from the hive this frame usually just contains stores (honey), put this to one side. Now, I explained you have a little more room to gently free the next frame by sliding it towards you. and when you have inspected the frame, place it back in the hive where you took the first frame out. Inspect each frame in turn replacing it as close the previous one, this working gap moves along with you as you inspect the hive. A few puffs of smoke now and again if you need to quieten the bees down but avoid overuse of smoke.

Last time we inspected these hives they had virgin queens in them and by now they should have been out on a mating flight and started to lay eggs. I checked to see if I could see any eggs but I am afraid all I saw was pollen and honey, bad, bad news! this was the same scenario in both hives. There was nothing more to do other than replace the supers and put the hive back together and go break the news to Mel. He was of course concerned at the news but also delighted that Cathryn had assisted in her first inspection and enjoyed the experience, relaying how calm she had been and how fascinating it all was.

Hive Inspection
Apart from checking for eggs as we had done on this occasion, when inspecting hives you must also note many other things and keep accurate records of what you have seen.

Is the queen present and is she laying
Is there brood at all stages
What is the behaviour of the bees like
Is the colony developing as well as expected
Does the queen have enough space to lay more eggs
Is there sufficient space for the honey to be stored
Do they have enough stored food to last until the next inspection
Are there any queen cells
Are there any signs of disease

I will let you know what happened next in my next update.................