Exmoor Hillside Bees

Exmoor Hillside Bees Bee Keepers located on the beautiful Exmoor National Park near Minehead, in Somerset 🐝

Up to 200 thousand of our bees are located on the hillside within the Exmoor National Park. Busy buzzing away, surrounded by rolling fields, they forage from sunrise to dusk! We can never be sure what takes their fancy to forage on, but know their honey is delicious! We've just celebrated our first year, James is the Bee Keeper & Danni (me) manages this page and makes the labels for our honey jars

! Join us on our journey as we increase our hives and learn what it really takes to protect these very special creatures, being one of the worlds pollinators!

So here we have all six colony’s in hives 🐝 Gone have the nursery hives as the two swarms are all settled in 😊 BUT just ...
04/08/2023

So here we have all six colony’s in hives 🐝 Gone have the nursery hives as the two swarms are all settled in 😊 BUT just when you think all is going well, something takes a turn 🙄 and this time it’s more worrying as our original hive (hive 1) is Queenless ☹️…No idea why or where she’s gone as really she should have still be with us for another year. So, we are keeping everything crossed that the Queen cell James spotted in the hive the other day, turns into a mature Queen as she gets on with her job in hand! 🐝 We won’t know for a about 10 days or so 🤞

Let’s talk about bad weather, because let’s be honest…we’re not having much of a summer are we? ☔️⛈️ Bees like us humans...
01/08/2023

Let’s talk about bad weather, because let’s be honest…we’re not having much of a summer are we? ☔️⛈️ Bees like us humans, don’t go out much when it’s raining. The drop in temperature means they have to work harder to regulate the temperature in the hive 🐝 BUT rain is also good for the nectar flow as it makes the plants grow 🌼 So it’s a bit of a catch 22 situation 🤷🏻‍♀️ What we’re hoping for is change sometime soon, so the bees can get back out there to produce not only our summer harvest but also the food they’ll need to get them through winter…James said to also add….”they also need to get out for a wee” 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 (if the weather stays bad and the bees don’t go out, this can cause dysentery if they start to eat the unripe honey)

Did you know that after about 6 to 8 weeks, if a colony doesn’t have a Queen it will cease to exist!? ⚰️ and luckily we’...
27/07/2023

Did you know that after about 6 to 8 weeks, if a colony doesn’t have a Queen it will cease to exist!? ⚰️ and luckily we’ve noticed this a few times this season 🤦🏻‍♀️ To the tune of £120! 🙄 Two were for the collected swarms, so when people suggest Beekeepers are getting “free bees” little do they know it will cost money to ensure they’re rehomed happily. Frames of eggs were put in with both swarms and we waited and waited for them to make a Queen and yet they were unable to produce one 🤦🏻‍♀️ We think it’s the weather…🤷🏻‍♀️ the 3rd hive that became Queenless, made their own Queen but for whatever reason the bees deemed her unsuitable so disposed of her! ⚰️☠️ So as time was matching on, we quickly brought another Queen…all is now calm at sea! 😄 The photos below show James marking one of those Queens and the other is how the Queen with attendants are delivered via Royalmail…always fun for the postman! 😂🐝

So here’s all of our six hives 🐝 We had to give the first swarm we collected time to settle in the nursery hive before m...
24/07/2023

So here’s all of our six hives 🐝 We had to give the first swarm we collected time to settle in the nursery hive before moving them across to a full hive this weekend. They’re doing so well but we did have to buy a Queen! (I’ll explain what that means in another post) So only one more swarm to move over! The nursery hive is the one closet to the front of the photo and the smaller hive is the new one and also in the next photo - hive 5 🐝

Christmas in July? 🎄 Well why not! 😄 We sell our honey locally but it got me thinking…🤔 What would make a nice gift? So ...
22/07/2023

Christmas in July? 🎄 Well why not! 😄 We sell our honey locally but it got me thinking…🤔 What would make a nice gift? So we’ve put together a hamper with lots of gorgeous things we can make from the hive..apart from the seeds, they’ll help to save the bees! 🐝 So whilst you’re tasting our delicious honey, you can burn one of the pure beeswax candle 🕯️, plant your seeds & brag about how you’re doing your bit to save the bees! Will be in our new shop soon 🍯

18/07/2023

So these bees are looking after the eggs on the frame and also the larvae that they have already capped over, which will then become bees - the orange bits! 🐝 Keeping up? 😂 Took me a while…..The bees will put pollen onto the frame for food and nectar too which will make honey, all of this is food kept for themselves 🐝

Did you know that the structure the bees build to house the honey is not hexagon shape? Neither did I till the other day...
11/07/2023

Did you know that the structure the bees build to house the honey is not hexagon shape? Neither did I till the other day 🤷🏻‍♀️😀 So in our hives they’re given a frame. This is a sheet of bees wax and has little hexagon ridges. The bees then do the process of “drawing out the comb” which feels like little paper walls but it’s thin wax. They actually make circle shapes but because they make so many, it pushes together to make the hexagon shape, so the frame is designed for exactly that reason….Who knew? 🤷🏻‍♀️

09/07/2023

Do you ever wonder why honey brought from Bee Keepers can vary in colour and texture? 🍯 Well it’s to do with what the bees forage on 🌻 Bees can do a round trip of 5 miles a day but they’re likely to travel just up to a mile. Our bees are surrounded by wildflowers, berries, nettles & lots more so they really do have their very own mini feast. This producers the most delicious runny honey….yes I know I’m bias 😋😉 But bees kept by r**e fields are likely to produce set honey & will be a lot lighter in colour. James was told it’s a bu**er to process, so I’m glad we don’t have that issue! 😅 So, honey that now declares to be “Heather Honey”….I’m sure you can guess what fields the bees have foraged on 😉🪴

08/07/2023

This is called Brood Frame and it’s where the Queen 👑 lays her eggs to build the colony. If you look closely you’ll see one hatching 🐝

Until James does his inspection this weekend & I can get a proper photo, I’d thought I’d show you our 6th colony. Yep it...
07/07/2023

Until James does his inspection this weekend & I can get a proper photo, I’d thought I’d show you our 6th colony. Yep it was in a tree! 🌳 A swarm he collected locally a couple of weeks ago after I’d seen an sos on Facebook. So why do bees swarm? Well basically it’s because the colony have grown too big for the hive and their Bee Keeper hasn’t either done any swarm control or noticed that they were preparing to swarm, so all the bees are doing is looking for a new home 🏡 Bit of a learning curve this one as I forgot to ask how long it had been there 🤦🏻‍♀️ These bees hadn’t been there long so hadn’t settled down, therefore it meant they were still pretty peed off! 🙄 Giving James an excuse to moan for 3 days about the 50 stings he got getting them down 🙄😂

Meet some of our Bees 😊🐝 Here they’re busy making honey 🍯 Did you know that before they even start to fill the frame wit...
06/07/2023

Meet some of our Bees 😊🐝 Here they’re busy making honey 🍯 Did you know that before they even start to fill the frame with nectar they have to make the hexagon case for it to go in? The technical term is “drawing out the comb”

Welcome to our page! 🐝 We’ve just completed a full year as Bee Keepers & what a whirl wind it’s been! We’ve learnt so mu...
06/07/2023

Welcome to our page! 🐝 We’ve just completed a full year as Bee Keepers & what a whirl wind it’s been! We’ve learnt so much but there’s still so much to go! We started this journey with James attending a Bee Keepers course in January 2022 with no plans to have any hives that year, but before we knew it we now have 6! Our bees produce the most natural & delicious honey 🍯 but to get to that point we’ll share the trials & tribulations of what it takes to care for these magical creatures to produce it 🐝 (5 of the 6 hives)

Address

Carhampton
Minehead

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Exmoor Hillside Bees posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category