Paynes Southdown Bee Farm Ltd

23/08/2024

Check out our website for the biggest and last ever sale we will have.

28/06/2024

Sunshine & Summer Sale! save up to 25% off selected items such as poly hives, warre hives, frames, wax foundations and more! Nothing we like more than sunshine and a good sale. www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk

19/06/2024

Fantastic afternoon checking this apiary which had virgin queens introduced on 14th May. The frames were full of sealed brood and nucs brimming with bees so time for an extension box to give them more space. Such a rewarding sight and couldn’t be happier with the acceptance rate of around 90%.

05/06/2024

All of our poly nucs contain queens raised by us so this afternoon we checked on the progress of one of our nuc sites. This is our second batch of our 2024 virgin queens introduced at the end of April and due to the weather and less than ideal conditions we were unsure what to expect!

However, we were really pleased with their progress with around a 90% acceptance rate. The majority of them have now had our Paynes nuc extension box added giving them room to expand up into. We find that the bees expand more into frames when placed directly above their brood nest compared to when they are moved into a full hive and have frames side by side. Once we have a good sized nuc and extension we either split them or move them to one of our honey production apiaries. We left a few slightly smaller nucs as they are for another week, then they will get an extension box too.

It was also a good opportunity to feed the nucs as we are currently facing a June gap in our area so it’s really important to keep a close eye on your colonies.

We have a few more nuc sites to check which also had virgins queens introduced at the end of April so hoping to get those checked tomorrow and go through the same process. Fingers crossed for similar acceptance rates 🤞!

24/05/2024

It is with much sadness that we announce the passing of Paul Payne on Tuesday 21st May 2024, a much loved husband, father, father in law, grandfather and cousin as well as a smiling friendly face to all our customers and all that knew him. Dad was a second generation beefarmer and loved the bees, making up beehives, doing local shop deliveries as well as tending to his chickens. He worked hard and the bee farm was his life. He will be very much missed by all of us.

12/04/2024

Busy day prepping nucs for our second bee collection morning tomorrow. Thankfully the weather was kind to us today, hopefully we’ll be seeing more days like today 🤞☀️. We look forward to see everyone tomorrow who’s picking up their bees 🐝,

26/03/2024

See the bee with the redish/pink spot - that’s the queen bee 🐝 ! She has that red mark to show she was born in 2023 as we follow an queen bee international marking code. Any queens born this year will be marked green! She has a longer body than the other bees so is easier to spot especially if she’s also marked and it’s her job to lay the eggs in the hive which become female worker bees or male drone bees. In the peak season she’ll lay around 2000 eggs a day!

Her every need is met by the worker bees who feed her, groom her and even carry away her waste! She usually has a circle of bees around her to look after her which you can see in the photo.

25/03/2024

Great seeing frames like this in the hives. The queen is really starting to increase her brood laying so despite the winter bees dying off we will see an increase in bee numbers.

Bee fact 🐝: At her peak the queen bee will lay around 2000 eggs a day! She will lay one egg in each cell and the majority will become female worker bees with some becoming male bees called drones.

20/03/2024

Today is the spring equinox - the first day of spring and the bees 🐝 are off! Plenty of pollen coming into the hives. We are really excited for the season ahead and looking forward to meeting our customers who are collecting nucs of bees from us in the weeks ahead. Emails will be going out in the next week or so to book your collection time in so keep an eye out on your inboxes.

You can’t beat working outdoors when the sun is shining and you’re listening to bird song and the hum of the bees 🐝 ❤️

14/03/2024

Lots of yellow pollen flooding into the hives today at various apiaries. Bees were enjoying the sunshine as much as we were!

23/02/2024

All set up for . Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow! We are a long standing third generation bee farming family business based in Sussex running over 1000 colonies. We sell beekeeping equipment, nucs of bees in our own design poly nucs as well as raising all our own queen bees.

Come by our stand (stand 46) and say hi and take a look at our National poly nuc and poly hive and all the extra components such as supers, feeders, crownboards etc.

Our poly nuc is our best seller year on year and for good reason! It’s one unit so no building needed and no weak joints as well as having its own side feeder so no need for a top feeder. It’s also super insulated, lightweight and made of high density polystyrene 120g/litre.

See you tomorrow if you’re attending the show 🐝🐝

22/02/2024

All loaded and ready to set up. Looking forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

The Beekeeping Show is on Saturday 24th February 9 am till 4 pm at The Telford International Centre.

Parking is free at the venue for those travelling by car subject to availability. There are 4 electric vehicle charge points on site.

Telford Central Station is located less than a mile from The Telford International Centre and is walkable in around 15 minutes. There is also a regular bus service from the train station.

Assistance dogs are always welcome at The Beekeeping Show. However, we are unable to allow access for all other dogs and/or other animals.

For more information please see https://www.thebeekeepingshow.co.uk