hottsfieldhoney.Co.uk

I started keeping bees about 10 years ago – firstly with just two small hives filled with a couple of nuclei (aka “nukes”) obtained from another club member after joining the local beekeeping association. Those two nukes grew to fill out their hives during their first year and soon I had about 3 or 4 hives dotted around my garden, helped along the way by helping capture some swarms in my local area !

Numbers stayed steady at about 4 hives – sometimes a few more and sometimes less – and it was fun just trying to keep the bees in their hives. From about May to July beekeepers have to watch out for the first signs of swarming and take steps to control it otherwise half your “colony” of bees fly off into someones else’s garden and you are left with a much reduced apiary. Since its the old queen that leaves with her bees, you face a gap of about a month whilst the new queen starts to lay eggs and they hatch into new bees – so honey collection is similarly delayed. Thus in 2025 I tried splitting hives as a form of swarm control – and quickly found myself with 11 hives in one of the best years for honey for a long time.