Here’s a question that maybe someone could answer.
We were asked about the type of sugar war time beekeepers gave their bees – was it cane or beet sugar?
Did the UK still have imports of cane sugar during the war?
If anyone knows please leave a comment or email me at
brian@urbanbees.co.uk
We were filmed the other day for the AL Jazeera TV network.
They filmed us, our famous Prof Ratnieks and were on top of Fortnum’s where Steve has his hives. ( I was up there last month).
Click this link to watch
http://www.urbanbees.co.uk/UB_video/Aljazera.htm
I really wasn’t expecting much from this hive this year since it looked very weak throughout the summer but had a peek this Sunday and was very happy to see that the colony had grown into a brood and half and looked very strong and healthy. I added a QE and stuck a super on top in the hope that they get really busy in the next 2-4 weeks and make a few frames of Queen’s Park honey. I am asking a lot from them but it can happen in London.
Look out for us at Pestival in Sept.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/calendar/productions/beecab-103f
Thanks to the , University of Third Age (U3As), Science group for asking us over to give a talk. It was a lovely group who gave us a couple of things to think about, e.g. did beekeepers have cane sugar during the war to feed their bees?
Thanks for being an interested and interesting audience.
Thanks for all those people who have been in touch about our taster courses. We were thinking of running more courses in Feb/March but there seems to be so much interest we may run some in the autumn. If you’re interested get in touch.
We are really pleased to see that honeybees are still making the news. There doesn’t seem to be a week that goes by without one of the nationals reporting on some aspect of bees and beekeeping. Cool.
This hive was causing problems this summer and I combined a nuc with the weak colony in the WBC. After 4 weeks this colony has grown into the brood box and is looking good. It is looking strong and healthy enough to go into the autumn with a good chance of lasting the winter. Shame we did not get much honey off this site this year but at least we didn’t loose the bees.
After harvesting a super of honey I gave the bees back the empty wet frames for them to lick clean. I did this first thing this morning which sent the bees into a frenetic buzz looking for the source of this amazing food. This meant loads of foragers went looking for it outside the hive. It took them about an hour to realise that the food was not outside the hive but inside the hive above the clearing board. During that hour I had hundreds (or so it seemed) of bees checking out the porch, kitchen, lounge and garden.
Must remember to only do this operation at night when the bees are confined to the hive.
This year’s Battersea honey is in and by all accounts tastes fantastic. One of our customers said it was the best honey they had ever tasted. We have also been told it beats Greek honey.
Queen’s Park bees have recovered from their slow start but what ever honey they produce will be for them rather than us.
Wallington Bees have had terrible year so we will leave them to recover to a strong enough colony that will survive the winter.
Our second Battersea hive has slowly built up and we should get a super of honey from them soon.
Any questions please get in touch at info@urbanbees.co.uk
What an exciting morning. We were filmed for the Al Jazera network on a feature they were doing on urban beekeeping. Not sure when it will be broadcast on the TV but it will be after they have seen Prof Ratnieks on Thursday.
John the camerman was stung on his eyelid, shame. We gave him a jar of honey to ease the pain.
