Raising Money for The Alzheimer's Society this weekend...

This Saturday we will be at the newly re-opened Two Brewers in Stotfold with two of our finest Gloucester Old Spots helping celebrate a very ‘British’ Weekend.

The pub will have a gourmet barbeque as well as afternoon tea on offer during the day. We’ll be there promoting the preservation of British Rare Breed Pigs as well as raising money for our chosen charity The Alzheimer’s Society UK. Jane will be climbing Ben Nevis in September to raise money for the charity, so we’re offering all the chance on Saturday to feed our piglets for a small donation to this worthy cause.

15% of all orders placed in May for our Meat Boxes will also be donated to The Alzheimer’s Society.

For more info on Saturday's frivolities please give me a bell: 07958 655962

Hope to see you there!

Andre

Rare Breed Meat Boxes

The swarm that got away...

On today's inspection we found about 8 Queen cells so we carried out artificial swarming, we were feeling quite happy about the way it all went. We were having a nice cool drink and I glanced out the window and saw lots of bees and said to Margaret 'It looks like a swarm in the tree!' So I guess I  messed it up, so out we went to try and catch it... 

This is half of my bees from hive one that have swarmed after we had done an artificial swarm control. Ok, lets get them back into a hive... 

We make a plan...

We have cut the branch off and then placed them in a box with new frames... 

Here is the box with the bees inside, we've left it here hoping the rest will find their way back too and set up home.... But its not long until...

.... here they all are 10 minutes later in a hedge about 2 metres away. 

So we smoked them into a box and called for help and by the time help had arrived 

we just got sight of them on their way again, we rushed outside but they were nowhere to be seen. 

Hive Two:

 This is the Queen I had marked with a yellow spot last year that we'd been looking for. 

We just thought she was being elusive, but Andy found her and placed a Queen cage over her. She'd lost her yellow spot which is how we lost her!

Now here he goes. What you see in this image is capped brood in the centre, pollen on the outside edge and stores of honey by the scissor handles.

Holding her by her head 

He marks her thorax

Much better job than I did last year. 

Now the wing which I've never done.

Andy is the local Bee Guru from the Bee Association and has been a great help and support over the last year. We are grateful to have someone local to help us, they're a very important resource for new bee-keepers - Thanks Andy!

Sometimes labels on pork dont make it exactly clear...

Sometimes labels on pork don't make it exactly clear in which country the pigs have been reared, so please try and make sure that the pork you buy is reared in the UK where the welfare standards are assured to a higher standard than the rest of the EU and you will be supporting the UK pig industry too, which needs all the help it can get.

Just got my food safety certificate

  

I have the Bee Buzz.... zzzz...

Hive Number One:

Lots has gone on over the last two weeks, on Saturday's inspection we found lots of play cups (these are when the colony practices how to make queen cells), we got rid of them all and have moved over to a double rather than single brood which means we now have almost two colonies in one hive. So we have a lots of bees and lots more soon to hatch. Now that the queen has some more space I hope that she will stay,
but from now on i have to have a look every 7 days, so as not to lose half of my colony through swarming.

I've added a super with new foundation so I hope to see some stores of honey soon as the  rape is out in the fields now.

 

Hive Number Two:

Is coming a long nicely now, have not managed to see the Queen in this hive this year but she is there as we can see laying eggs.

I set out my bait hive to see if we can lure a swarm in, this is not uncommon I've left it in a garden where I collected a swarm last year.

Looking forward to lots of lovely Hertfordshire honey soon!

Free Range

To be truly free range a pig should have lived its entire life outside with access to open space and have the opportunity to display natural behavior.