Hi to all. A quick update as I’ve not had a chance to post anything for a while.
The warehouse move went ahead albeit very quickly; we had literally just 2 days to get out of our old unit before they demolished it! The honey processing room is the last element to finish. We just have the windows and the door to fit, a little bit of plumbing and then we are up and running.
Do keep an eye on your hives and nucs during this winter. The high winds at this time of the year can catch you out. We had 15 lids blown off a couple of weeks ago and one stack was also completely blown over.
Our full colonies and nucs are getting through their food like it’s going out of fashion at the moment. The mild days see the bees very active so be sure to keep an eye on them and heft them often to ensure they are heavy with food. Add a pack of fondant over the central hole of the crown board if you think they are light so they have food there if they need it.
The apprentice is off skiing at the moment and I have my fingers crossed he comes home with no broken bones as we still have hundreds of frames to make and nuc boxes to prepare for 2019…. Have fun Gabe 🙂
We launched our new Cinnamon infused honey last month. Sales are going really well and the feedback on the product is very good. I have been having it on my toast or in my porridge most mornings for breakfast. I slipped a jar into the Christmas present box that is heading up to Derby to my sisters as a special surprise for her. Coupled with the new product launch we have re-vamped all our labels and added bar-codes to them as well. We are all really pleased with them. It is surprising what a few tweaks to a design can do. The new labels are much wider though and this is was making it quite tricky to put then on the jar straight without it taking ages – I had not taken that on board when I designed them! I had no need to worry however as my son came the rescue and made us a label application machine!! We saw one on our visit to Denmark with the Bee Farmers back in March and I took a photo as I thought it was a super idea. My son based our machine on this and the outcome is great. Even Rob will offer to do the labeling now.
Finally I wish you all a very Happy Christmas and good wishes for 2019 to everyone. Hears hoping the new year will bring another lovely warm beekeeping season for us all with bumper crops of honey and healthy happy bees.
Beckys Beezzzs 