Learn how to make products from beeswax. Full details can be found here:
http://www.forestgarden.info/courses-a-tours.html

We are now taking pre-orders for stocks of bees, full colonies and Queens. All will be available from April/May, but keep an eye on the home page for more up-to-date news.    Order your bees from www.iwantbees.co.uk

We have a Full-time position available at Paynes Bee Farm, helping to bottle and pack the range of honey and honey based products.     You will be a self-motivated individual, who can deal with deadlines and a physically active job.

This is your opportunity to work in a family run, growing and successful business.

Send your CV, or for further details contact mark@paynes-beefarm.com

this is Nosema, at 400x magnification.

There are 2 types of Nosema, Nosema apis and the new variant Nosema ceranae, both are very difficult to identify. Nosema-infected bees do not look much different from non-infected individuals, but certain traits are evident even before microscopic analysis and confirmation of disease.

The lifespan of infected bees is often reduced and infected colonies often dwindle in late winter or early spring. In cases of Nosema ceranae, colony death can be even faster than with Nosema apis and may take only a few days – foraging is particularly affected and bees are often too weak to return from foraging flights.

Dysentery is a prime symptom of bees infected with Nosema apis, but it is not a symptom of Nosema ceranae infection.

Nosema apis infection causes young adult bees to change their behaviour. They stop brood-rearing and attending to the queen earlier than normal and instead they start foraging and guarding the hive like older bees. This reduces the number of new foragers and honey yields are reduced. The life span and egg production of infected queens also reduces and this encourages queen supersedure.

Nosema apis infection tends to cause adult bees to become bloated with water and this leads to dysentery. Digestion and production of royal jelly can be severely affected. If infected bees are confined to hives during cold weather, hive parts, combs and frames will become contaminated from faecal material. This is more obvious in spring when yellow-brown faecal spots can be seen on the outside of the hive after the first cleansing flights

Treatments for Nosema are best administered in the autumn, followed by a Spring treatment if still required.     There are 3 effective treatments available and all involve treating with a sugar solution.

Fumidil B - is an antibiotic and is known to work well against Nosema spores.

Nozevit – is an all Natural feeding supplement for treating against Nosema Spores.

VitaFeed Gold – is a liquid feed based on natural beet extract and molasses, shown to reduce Nosema Spores.

Nosema Treatments can be found here

It was the first day of many clearing the honey supers and extracting the frames this year.    Its certainly not going to be a record-breaking year for us in terms of honey crop but its not exactly been a great summer so we shouldnt be expecting much.     If you are going to start your honey extraction, make sure you have all the tools that you need, Here.   One thing we have noticed is our colonies have stored everything up in the supers.   If you colonies are doing the same and you want to remove all the supers, you will need to feed them and we highly recommend Apiinvert Syrup.

Well, our poly nuc hive has been proving very popular and we have developed an eke to convert the hive into a 14×12 jumbo hive.     The product is currently in production and is expected to be with us in about 2-3 weeks time.

http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/nuc-mating-hives/

Well, if you’ve had a good Spring, with all the warm weather and strong nectar flow, you will probably have a few supers to come off.    You can use porter bee escapes in your crownboard to clear the supers of bees, or you can brush the bees off.      However, we would recommend ‘Fishers Bee Quick’ as an extremely effective method.

Based on plant extracts, you spray it onto a cloth and lay it on top of your top super.    the marzipan smell drives the bees down.     Safe, quick and easy, it leave no residue in the honey and no bees are harmed.     1 bottle will last the average beekeeper 2-3 years, maybe longer.

The warmer the day is the better and quicker it will work.    Need more proof….  When we go out to remove the supers, just 2 of us can clear 250 supers in one day!!

In stock in our shop or online here:
http://www.paynesbeefarm.co.uk/clearing-supers/bee-quick-200ml/