New website

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Honeybee Cut-Out in Barn Cavity Wall

I was called to extract some honeybees from a cavity wall in Astwick which had settled in and been living in the barn rent free for a year. First I removed the exterior cladding to reveal the honeycomb beneath. A beautiful patch of brood and comb can be seen in the centre. Lovely stuff.

I then placed the comb into prepared frames ready to relocate the honeybee colony into a hive. 

Here is a picture of my Dad holding the Queen in a clip. We found her right at the end. Lucky last.

Here is a picture of the hive right next to the cavity wall. The Queen is inside and the honeybees will soon follow her. Over the course of the next couple of days the complete colony will be settled into the hive. I'll come back late in the evening after they've all retired for the night and relocate them - leaving no bees behind. 

Cardona and son's New website

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Another Colony Saved. Bee Removal from Bedroom Ceiling...

 

This kind of removal is known as a cut out. By cutting a hole in the ceiling I was able to remove the colony piece by piece. The owner of the property will have to get a builder in to replace the plasterboard and plaster over the hole. 

 Each piece of comb which had brood in it was then placed in pre-prepared frames held together by elastic. This gives the bees their brood back once I rehome them in a hive. 

                                                                            

This bit of honeycomb came down with the plasterboard

I removed eight frames of brood in total from the cavity and about 6 lbs of honey stores. There was room in the cavity for them to expand into but this colony would have more than likely swarmed in the next month.

I found the Queen about 40 minutes into the job. I was chuffed to bits. She was a nice, light brown looking Queen. Here is a picture of me holding her in the clip - knowing that she was safe and sound and I had her under control was the biggest part of the job done. 

Once I had the Queen it was easy to then entice all her offspring and worker bees into the hive. This is a image of the hive with combs inside and the Queen clip at the entrance. The other bees are attracted to her pheromones and will naturally gather wherever she is. This is why its so important to capture the Queen safely without squashing or hurting her. It makes the whole process a lot calmer and methodical. 

Honey Bee Swarms are on their way to Herts and Beds...

Swarming season is set to arrive early this year due to the unusually warm Winter in Herts and Beds. If honeybee swarms are not dealt with quickly and efficiently they soon find a more permanent home – usually in a loft, chimney or wall cavity.

Many pest control companies who are called to deal with honeybee  infestations terminate them – this is unnecessary and detrimental to our local bee population. Instead, we urge anyone who finds a swarm, whether in their home or in the local community to call an experienced bee-keeper!

Cardona & Son are different, we save bees. We patiently collect and extract  the bees and re-home them back into the local area, safely into hives, ready to make beautiful local honey.

Here are our top tips for what to do if you’re faced with a swarm....

-          Don’t panic! Swarming bees are less likely to sting or attack as they are not defending a hive

-          However, for safety, keep pets and children out of the immediate area until you have sought advice

-          Call an experienced bee-keeper – Aim to  have the swarm collected as soon as possible to avoid infestation which may be more costly to remove

-          Don’t assume they will just go away by themselves!

If you need any advice on swarms - feel free to give Andre a call on 07958 655962

Introduction to Beekeeping - course dates 2014

Hands up, who wants to take up beekeeping in 2014? We thought you might like to hear about the experience of one of our 2013 students, Simon. (See below...)

Let us know via email if you would like to come and join in - we offer beginner one day taster courses from £95 pp (Max group size 4) and can also provide one-to-one training, set-up and ongoing support - which is what Simon went for.

Available dates for our taster courses are May 24th and July 12th  - cardonaandson@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

Andre and Jane
                           

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As an interested but completely un-initiated wannabee (geddit?), I was slightly downhearted about the traditional path to beekeepery that suggested I would have to spend many hours.. a scarce resource in my life, over many weeks learning about the intricacies of the hive before I could embark on my own apirarism.

Fascinated by the little blighters, It had long been a habit of mine to approach bees - particularly bumble bees - and stroke their enticing hairy backs.. a child brought up with animals and - yes, an apiary run by my late grandfather I was always content to stare at the comings and goings of hive bees from a couple of feet away, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t bother them and that I was unlikely to be interrupted by anyone (especially my family who considered the next door garden to be a little/a lot close for comfort).

So, it was certainly on my bucket list but not on my short-term radar as us denizens of office based employment are won’t to describe it.  Imagine my joy then to be recommended to a gentle giant of a man who would teach me what I needed to know to get started and set me up with the wherewithal.  "A neat thought”, I thought.. but how good can this be?  Surely, too to be true!  However, on the recommendation of a friend who had taken the plunge, I picked up the phone on a what-the-hell basis and have never looked back.

Andre Cardona took me gently by my metaphorical hand and led me through the simile of the tangled undergrowth that is the care and husbandry of the (literal) colony.  His knowledge and skill, evident from the start, were both comforting and reassuring.  After a session or two following him around and getting real hands-on experience of hive inspections, queen identification, marking etc. etc. we spent a number of what seemed fleet hours discussing the finer points and preparing for the arrival of my own first hive.  Illustrated with his own pictures, Andre’s explanations of the complexities of hive life and the various basic points were joyful and thankfully not complex.. As well as his excellent company (a man you’ll never forget once met), he prepared me well for the day when, bumping and grinding down my road in his trusty Volvo, he appeared complete with my first hive and colony, my hive tool, bee book and super frames.  Enrolling me in the BBKA - a great move, was the icing on the cake and I really have never looked back.  Although still a beginner (i think you always are), I have kept my bees in good condition and happy - as far as I can tell.  Supported always by Andre’s friendly voice on hand to answer any tricky ones, I have had the most joyous time with my bees (I’m still trying to find names for them all) and relish in the thought that I am helping to support such a vital and charming animal in its sometimes perilous existence in modern Britain.

Go on.. you know you want to! 

SD

Bumper Honey Crop....

After what could only be described as a pretty dire lead up to this Summer for our bees -  a rainy end to the season in 2012, bitterly cold Winter and snowy April -  we have been pleasantly suprised by our best honey harvest yet this season.

Many hours have been spent filling jars full of lovely honey and it seems that all the hard work has finally paid off. (clever bees too obviously...)

As has been widely reported in the press, the prolonged and coldest Winter for over 50 years brought with it big losses of bee colonies. We've thankfully managed to replenish the colonies we lost over the Winter and feel positive about the year ahead.

On another brighter note, more and more of you are taking up beekeeping! We've been busy over the last couple of months training up families and businesses to keep their own hives and have enjoyed hearing about their own first harvests and successes. 

If anyone would like more info on learning more about beekeeping - please get in touch with Andre on 07958 655962 or cardonaandson@gmail.co.uk

Hope you're all enjoying this lovely Summer,

Jane x

Easter....

Just a quick post to say we hope everyone had a fantastic Easter... Ours was spent at home keeping warm! Oh and cooking of course...

Andre managed to check on our bees while the sun was shining (despite the cold they were out foraging!) - its been a hard and long Winter for them but thankfully most have made it through and will be anxious to start getting out there into the Spring flowers. We topped up their feed with some fondant which should set them right until the weather warms up a bit.

Santi kept busy painting some colourful bird boxes which we've started to put up outside - hopefully we'll have a garden full of sunshine and birds and bees very soon... (All fingers crossed!) 

Piglets for sale!

We've got 11 lovely Saddleback piglets for sale from our prize winning sow 'Scoops' a mix of female and male - already chubby and 10 weeks old - Saddlebacks are great porkers and make excellent meat. If you're new to rearing pigs we can help with lots of advice too...

Piglets can be sold with or without Pedigree papers - we can arrange delivery for a small fee too.

Give Andre a call on 07958 655962 to discuss...

Hope all your Chrissie preparations are going well - Don't forget to order your Christmas hams soon! (Not many left now)

Jane and Andre x

Bee Update... 2012 Season

We've had an interesting year with the bees - well that is a slight understatement! As was widely reported amongst bee circles all over the UK it was the worst Summer for over 100 years. Some would argue it wasn't really a Summer at all - and I think the bees would agree!

Because of all the rain it made it nigh on impossible for our bees to forage as they normally would - they ended up being stuck in their hives alot of the time - The little honey they did bring in they had to use for food, we had to keep a very close eye on them to make sure they had enough food and didn't end up starving. One week I would check up and see some full frames of honey, then the next it would be all gone! It was certainly up and down like this all Summer.

We managed two harvests from all the hives during the season regardless, but the yeild was much, much lower than usual. Funnily enough it seems like over the last month the bees have brought more honey into their hives than during the whole Summer put together!

I was still busy collecting swarms (some even out of chimneys!) - but they didn't tend to fare so well once I'd settled them into their new hives - either losing the Queen (lost on her mating flight) or she wasn't able to mate for one reason or another. That was really disappointing as I really try my hardest to look after all the girls.

Now is the time to settle the bees in for the Winter - They've all been fed with sugar fondant to keep their stores up, I've put mouse guards on and reduced the size of the entrance to stop any little creatures robbing the hives. I've also added weights to the rooves to stop the Winter wind blowing them over. I'll be checking them once a month during the Winter to make sure they're OK - fingers crossed they'll all be safe and sound and we'll have a better season next year!

Venison, Apples and Pie!

Some more of what we've been up to recently.... 

We were very lucky to be given some venison - which begged the question 'What to cook?' Well, sausages of course! We made a mixture of Pork and Venison - one batch with a little white wine and paprika and the other batch plain - so we could get a good meaty taste. Both were delicious!

 Here's our Venison - all ready for mincing...

 Venison, Pork and some fat minced ready for the sausage mix...

 These were the paprika ones which had a lovely dark reddish colour

 And finally, separating into sausages... Still haven't mastered the art of stringing them together to hang.. Need some lessons on that front.

We're also lucky enough to live opposite some very old orchards which are part of Fairfield Park - There are so many trees which are always laden with fruit. The boys headed over with the wheelbarrow to collect some. Most of these were juiced and made into cider for Christmas - but we kept some aside so I could try out a simple Apple Pie recipe I saw on the telly recently...

 This was the finished product and they didn't last long! Apples were chopped up and stewed with some cinnamon and brown sugar - recipe says to add lemon zest and ground ginger too. Then left to cool before adding to squares of puff pastry and baked in an oven for 20 mins. They were crunchy and buttery and smelt amazing - I highly recommend it, so easy :-)

Hitchin Food + Drink Festival!

We'll be at the Hitchin Food and Drink Festival this Saturday and Sunday (8th and 9th September) selling our lovely sausages - to take home AND gobble up straight away! Come by and say hello!

Andre + Jane x

Baking, Jam and Honey!

Its inevitable that the rain will arrive over a long weekend - luckily we had some delicious home grown goodies to keep us going. Some people like to DIY but I prefer to bake :-) and the boys appreciated it... Our bees have been busy too, Andre found a frame packed with honey, it weighed over 2 kilograms!

So we had a batch of sausage rolls made with our own sweet chilli and pork and leek sausages - they were amazing and so easy to make. I did cheat with packet puff pastry - Its a Lorraine Pascale recipe - And finally, some home grown jam made with fruit from the garden - Greengage and Victoria plum. Theres lots more fruit on the trees so I think we'll make up a huge pot of chutney - my favourite!

Hope you all had a fantastic long weekend despite the soggy weather!

Jane x

Bee Testimonial... (and sausages too!)

I contacted several people to solve my ‘bee in the chimney’ problem, and only Andre stepped up to the challenge. Whilst others told me it wouldn’t be possible to get rid of them without killing them, Andre told me confidently that he’d be able to smoke them out, then rehouse them. Due to his patient approach over the course of an afternoon and evening, this is exactly what happened, and my family and I watched in amazement as he worked.

Perhaps even better than his bee skills, though, are his talents as a pig breeder. There can’t be many beekeepers who can offer you pork and ribs after they finish, but Andre assured me that his sweet chilli rare breed sausages would be amongst the best I’ve ever tasted. Once again, he was as good as his word, and when these came off the barbeque, they caused a virtual riot as everyone fought over who’d get the last one.

So gracias for dealing with the bees, Andre, and hasta la proxima delivery of meat!

Michael Dunn, Cambridge

Thanks Michael! 

Chilli Fiesta Shenanigans....

The sun finally came out to shine on us at the annual Chilli Fiesta organised by Edible Ornamentals at Mansion House... We were serving up our tasty Sweet Chilli sausages all day long - They went down a treat! Lots of families out and about celebrating Father's Day in the sun, sampling lots of chilli delights - our personal favourite was the Hot Headz Smoky Chilli Ketchup.... Mmmmm...

Big thanks to Ben and Cheryl who came to help out on the day - We couldn't have done it without you! Not forgetting Ben handing over his rather 'bright' sunnies for the day - Thanks!

Was great to meet some new friends and we look forward to coming along again next year...

Andre and Jane

We're making a book!

Here are some sample images taken during a photo shoot at The Radcliffe Arms recently - we're putting together a book of fantastic dishes (Yes, we did try some of them...) The pork was especially delicious, however, we may be slightly biased there! 

We'll be publishing before the end of the Summer - so watch this space! 

And for those who can't wait to see the book - pop in to the Radcliffe Arms in Hitchin to sample some tasty fare - make sure you tell them we sent you :-) 

Andre and Jane

Mid Summer Revels love our sausages!

Last year they sold out on the BBQ (for the first time ever...) so delicious were our sausages... So this year they're back with an even bigger order! Make sure you make your way over to St Nicholas' in Norton (Letchworth) for a fantastic family day out on Saturday 23rd June - as well as a chance to get some great grub :-)

We keep the fat content low and the meat content high in our sausages making them a great choice for kids - we can tone down the herbs and spices too for those who are a little fussy - great to have a local school supporting local business, we'd welcome any other schools interested to get in touch!

Andre and Jane

Thinking of getting into beekeeping?

The recent warm weather has really brought out the bees - We've been flat out collecting swarms from all over the local area - some enormous, some little - mostly honeybees but not always... One of the swarms we collected was from a street in Royston - a young family had called us to have it removed. It turned out that the chap concerned's Mum used to keep bees and he was quite interested in taking it up now himself. 

So, last Friday we did our first official one to one training - We organised everything from the hives, bees, suits and equipment and gave an introduction to beekeeping - some great hands on experience and put our customer in touch with his local beekeepers association. We'll also give follow up support when he needs extra advice and help. 

The smell of beeswax brought back lots of memories of his Mum and he was delighted to be well on his way to a satisfying future in being a beekeeper. 

So if anyone out there is interested in getting into beekeeping and would like our help to set everything up please get in touch - We love talking about bees! 

Andre and Jane

Chris Parsons 

Bee in Chimney Testimonial

Dear Andre,

Thank so much for coming and removing the bees nest in our lounge chimney. When the man from the North Herts Council told us there was nothing he could do as they were honey bees we were very worried, As you saw they were entering a hole in the side of the stack about 10 feet from the ground but in the late afternoon when they were queueing up to get back in they must have enlarged their entry hole and cut through into an ensuite bathroom, several dozen came in les than half an hour with some getting into the bedroom itself.

That night my son had to sleep elsewhere. Luckily you arrived the next morning and soon had the situation under control erecting a ladder with a temporary hive next to the entry hole.You smoked a lot out and they moved to the temporary hive. You went off from 12 till near sunset when you returned but bees being bees they had decided that a step from the path up to the lawn was a better spot than the hive you had left.They had swarmed here 

and even started to lay down wax to make a new nest.


I was most impressed when you got down the hive from the ladder top and ever so patiently smoked and coaxed them into the hive with a large soft feather! It must have taken best part of an hour but you were most successful and in the following five days we have only seen two or three on the stack side near the entry hole. Once again Andre a very big thank 

you and I would not hesitate to recomend you to anyone with a similar BEE !!! problem.

Very kind regards,

Robert Greenwood, Lilley, Hertfordshire.