Author: Chilcotts Farm

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Honey Bee Flying Toward Apple Blossom

The Best April Ever for Bees?

I’ve been keeping bees for 10 years, and I don’t remember an April like it.

The warm dry weather here in Devon, has definitely benefited the bees. They have been out and about every day. The blossom is flourishing and producing the good stuff …. nectar and pollen.

In the garden, the old apple trees, are buzzing. The buzz from the trees provides a background hum to the whole garden. It literally sounds like a swarm of bees is somewhere settling.

The hives are bursting. The workforce has been busy taking advantage of nature’s bounty.

The bees have been so productive that the hives are filled with honey and I have had to make more room for them to store their harvest.

All I need to do now is manage them from swarming and taking their produce away!

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Wild brood comb in a bee hive

Wild comb

Last year I housed a honey bee swarm I collected from the local area. On returning, I put the swarm into a new hive with about half the intended frames I had to hand. I needed to assemble more and intended to put the remaining frames in the following day.

However, I didn’t get the chance to return to the hive for a couple of days. At this point the colony had drawn wild comb which was hanging from the crown board (the lid on the top of the hive).

In a dilemma, I decided to leave the hive until the following season and sort it out then.

Yesterday, was the day. In the main picture you can see 5 pieces of wild comb. Each of these were packed with brood (growing baby bees).

I took three pieces of the wild comb and attached each piece into a frame using elastic bands (not sure how this will work). I then transferred these to a new hive with new frames. The new hive was put back in the same place as the original hive.

  • Wild comb resting on the top of the hive
    Wild comb resting on the top of the hive
  • Hive before the tidy up and removal of wild comb
    Hive before the tidy up and removal of wild comb
  • Wild comb attached into a frame with elastic bands
    Wild comb attached into a frame with elastic bands

I couldn’t find the queen, but hopefully she was somewhere amongst the existing frames or was brushed off into the new hive as I removed each piece of wild comb.

Now all tidy and manageable, the hive can be easily inspected. Next week, I will go in and see if I can find the queen or evidence that she is still laying.

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Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876

Barnstaple History

We have done a lot of work to the house and the out buildings. Moving a lot of stone, roof tiles and bricks we have discovered all sorts of things, including little pockets of history.

Most of the bricks and roof tiles which were stacked up appeared to have been from outbuildings that had fallen into ruin. Most of the bricks and tiles were unmarked or branded. Interestingly we have found a batch of roof tiles & the odd brick stamped with Lauder & Smith Brick & Tile Works, Barnstaple.

Lauder & Smith Roof Tile circa 1876
Lauder & Smith Roof Tile circa 1876

It turns out this tile works was about 3 miles away from Chilcotts Farm in an area of Barnstaple called Pottington. The pottery was in business for 38 years from 1876 to 1914.

I am guessing the start of the First World War in 1914, was the reason for the demise of the company.

We haven’t researched the age of the property, but we thought it was mid 1800s. The farm house, isn’t built of bricks, but rather a rubble construction with render. I am guessing the Lauder & Smith bricks and tiles were brought in at a later date and used for an outbuilding.

Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876
Lauder & Smith brick circa 1876
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Happbee Easter - Bee themed Easter egg

Happbee Easter!

Happbee Easter!!!!! The bees are doing fab lately.

The fine weather has meant they can get out and gather nectar and pollen. The colonies have built up really well and already very large and storing lots of honey.

Fingers crossed, it is going to be a good year for the bees!

We currently have some of last season’s honey for sale, but currently with lock down, can not sell it 🙁

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Breakfast - Good Friday - homemade jam

Good Friday Breakfast

Even though we are in lockdown, it could be worse! The weather is fantastic! The sun and warmth maybe shining in through the windows, or you have the opportunity to sit outside ….. it could be worse ….. it could be raining!

This morning we sat outside and had a lovely breakfast with homemade jam made with homegrown fruit!

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Beehive blown over by #StormCiara

Unhappy Bees!

Well wouldn’t you bee unhappy too if your house has been blown over, and you are exposed to all the elements?

I can see the hives from the house and am always keeping an eye on the them checking all is well.

Everyone had been warning us about #StormCiara, but for some reason I didn’t think about the hives. This morning when I got up, the hives were fine, but the wind was gusting. The BBC website said gusts up to 70 miles per hour.

Mid morning, one of the hives blew over! Spotted as it happened, I shot out to pick the hive up to protect the poor bees from the wind and rain. As I upped the hive and went to get some blocks and straps to to put on the roof and hold it down, it blew over again!

Angry, unhappy bees is an understatement! Poor things. Anyway, I managed to up the hive again (Four stings later – four little bees obviously managed to get into my bee jacket) I weighed it down with bricks and strapped it together. I then strapped all the other hives down too.

Fingers crossed the queen has not been damaged, and all the girls will support her as she starts to lay in the coming weeks.

Strapped down beehive ready for the winds
Strapped down beehive ready for the winds
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Antique bottles dug up on a Victorian Farm in North Devon

Buried Treasure

While landscaping our gardens we have dug up many things including old tools, farm implements, water pumps, tyres, bones and scrap metal.

However, one of the most delicate and lovely things we have found are antique bottles.

Varied and obviously old, quite often the writing on them tells a story.

One bottle reads:

WHEELER
LONDON
TRADE MARK
SOFT WHITE HANDS

Another reads:

MRS WIINSLOW’S
SOOTHING SYRUP
CURTIS & PERKINS
PROPRIETORS

My favourite is:

SAMPLE BOTTLE
DR.KILMER’S
SWAMP ROOT
KIDNEY CURE
LONDON.E.C

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Stored apples eaten by mice and rats

A Bite Out of Every Apple!

It would appear we have a mouse problem in our store! After carefully picking and storing our apple crop, It would appear a little mouse family has come along and taken a bite out of nearly every apple!

Even worse, it would appear that we have had rat visitors too with big toothy bites out of some of the store squashes.

A Stored Butternut Squash, eaten by a rat
A Stored Butternut Squash, Eaten by a Rat
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Medlar in Autumn - North Devon

Autumn Fire!

Wow! The colours of the medlar in autumn is incredible!

I have never eaten the fruit. Each year I store it, ready to eat, and never get around to it.

I am not sure if it is the fact that you have to let it get to the point of rotting before you eat it that puts me off?

However, I wait until the spring and the big flowers probably make up for what I may have missed.

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