Tag: local swarm collector

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Local Devon Honey Spring 2020

Bickington & Fremington Devon Honey For Sale

We have jarred up this year’s first batch of honey (Spring 2020), which is now for sale. Collected and produced by our bees. This spring honey is still runny and floral. Although it will probably crystallise over time (as all naturally produced honey does), when it goes solid, we provide instructions on how to make it liquid again.

Local Honey made by bees in Barnstaple, Bickington, and Fremington. Bees on our smallholding at Chilcotts Farm
Local Honey made by bees at Chilcotts Farm - Extracted using traditional methods
Chilcotts Farm Honeycomb - made by bees in Barnstaple Devon
North Devon Local Honey from the surrounding area of Barnstaple, Bickington & Fremington

Local Bickington & Fremington Honey

£6.00

Produced by our bees in Bickington and harvested using craft skills and traditional methods.  Our Honey is unadulterated, filtered and not heat treated, and therefore retains all its natural properties.

CLICK & COLLECT only.  Buy online and schedule a time to pick-up.

Card payments only online.  chilcotts farm takes mastercard visa maestro  Find us here …….

Out of stock

Description

Flavour

Our bees are located in our fields between Bickington and Fremington, just on the outside of Barnstaple, North Devon. They forage for nectar in the hedges lining the fields, local trees as well as local gardens. In our opinion, the honey shows the characteristics of a traditional English honey, smooth but floral with hints of fudge and citrus.

Granulated Honey

All natural and unprocessed honey will crystallise over time.  Depending on which flowers the bees have been visiting will depend on how quickly the honey granulates or goes solid.  Processed liquid honey bought in the super market, is treated to stop granulation.  This is often done through heating the honey.  This process destroys the natural properties of the honey removing the benefits and altering the taste. At Chilcotts Farm our honey is Pure and Untreated.  All we do is filter our honey after it has been extracted. The fact that honey crystallises and granulates, is the best evidence that you have a quality pure product.  However, if you prefer liquid honey you can restore it to a liquid state by gently heating the honey.  To do this:
  1. Loosen the lid of the jar, and stand the honey jar in a bowl of hot water.
  2. Gently stir the honey until the honey becomes liquid again.

Find out More About Our Honey

If you want to know more about our Honey click here.

Newsletter

Want to know when we have honey?

Subscribe to our email list and we will let you know when we have honey available.

Honey maybe available late spring or September depending on the season. We will let you know.

Additional information

Availability

Normally available in August or September
Allergy Advice

May help pollen allergies
Origin

Produced in Devon, United Kingdom
Ingredients

Pure Filtered Unadluterated Honey

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Newly mated honey bee queen just returned from mating flight

The Queen is Laying!

The #BidefordHoneyBeeSwarm, collected from Bideford in Devon, has settled into its new hive nicely.

With the poor weather, I have continued to feed the bees, which has enabled them to build comb quite rapidly.

I inspected the bees last Sunday to discover a whole frame (both sides) full of sealed brood (bee larvae) and a large Healthy Queen bee walking around. This is a very positive sign!

I often get asked “What does the Queen look like?”. In this picture, in the middle, you can see a Queen Bee that has just returned from a mating flight.

Surrounded by attentive workers, she will soon get slightly bigger to the extent that she is unable to fly. At her peak she could be laying in the region of 1,000 eggs a day!

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Honey Bees feeding on sugar syrup from a top feeder

Feed Me, Feed Me Now!

The third installment of the #BidefordHoneyBeeSwarm.

On day three of collecting the swarm from Bideford, the bees have bee put into a new hive, and are now being fed with sugar syrup. At this point I would typically medicate the bees against the Varoa mite, but haven’t had the chance to do this yet.

In the picture, you can see the bees coming up from the hive below into a feeder.

The feeder is essentially a dish with a lid, that I fill with sugar syrup. The feeder sits on top of the hive in a box that I cover with the roof, so its normally in the dark inside the hive.

The sugar syrup is 1 part sugar to 1 part water and is typically fed to the bees during spring and summer to encourage the queen to lay.

In this instance I have given it to the bees to encourage them to build out comb in the hive, but also at this time of year (May/June) there may not be too much forage (flowers) around for the bees as we are on the cusp of the summer flowers coming out.

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Collected Honey Bee Swarm located in Isolation Apiary

Collected Swarm Settled In to the Quarantine Apiary

The second part of #BidefordHoneyBeeSwarm. A couple of days ago, I collected a swarm of honey bees from Bideford.

The small colony of bees collected from the plum tree have been put into a small hive (Nuc) and placed in the quarantine apiary. Here they will be treated for disease and on day 3 fed a light sugar syrup to help them build in size.

Currently I have placed the Nuc next to the hive where they will be housed.

The bees have started leaving the Nuc and familiarising themselves with the surrounding area. You can see this by their behavior. When the Nuc was first positioned and the bees let out, they would emerge from the Nuc and fly in ever increasing circles up into the sky.

This is to allow them to spot landmarks and orientate in relation to their new home.

The next step will be to feed and medicate the new colony.

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