The temperatures have noticeably dropped this week and my son and I had to walk to the school bus in the dark this morning! Rob and Gabriel have been working hard making sure all our nucs and hives have plenty of food stores ready for winter. Most of the full colonies stocked up on heather honey when they were at the New Forest but many of our nucs will need food throughout winter. The lighter ones have been offered another lot of syrup this week but it really is getting too cold for syrup now however all our nucs are polystyrene so a little late feeding of syrup for them will be ok. All the other colonies and nucs will be given a block of fondant. On the nucs we use an eke to create a space between the the roof and the frames so that we can place the fondant directly on top of the frames.
Did I mention we have a warehouse move? It’s not a move by choice as the units we are in will be pulled down shortly. They are being demolished to make way for some brand new large warehouses. The new ones are way too big for us, and too expensive, but the owner has renovated an old building for us and its beginning to take shape now.
We are all very excited about our upcoming move. The new unit will have a bigger honey processing room, which will have enough space to take our new purchase this year – our uncapping machine (see picture above). I myself have not used it, but I am told it was the best buy we have made for a long time. The labour it saves is phenomenal and although it looks a nightmare to clean, our apprentice has the great idea of using a pressure washer which proved to work perfectly. Well done Gabe 🙂
Our new unit will also have a half mezzanine floor which will be much needed space. There will be a work space for frame assembly and hive repairs and best of all we have a toilet!! No more using the farm toilet, which has lots a creepy crawlies in it yahoo… (I don’t do eight legged things)
Just before I sign off I will mention that our apprentice is off on a block training week this coming week 22nd October, we hope he has a good week and learns lots. As part of the week they will be the National Honey Show, if you have not been before its a great day out with lots of people to meet, plenty to buy and there are also lots of lectures on various bee topics.
Beckys Beezzzs 