Ovingdean Honey and Jam

Honey taken and now putting the bees to bed for the winter.
Over 260lb from 4 hives, biggest crop ever, even though it was an odd year for flowers.

We are looking to harvest our honey this weekend and it looks like the girls will have done a great job. We should have it in the jars and ready by Tuesday. Don't forget we have still some lovely set honey avaliable.

Just an update on the bees DRFRA visit highlighted that we have a couple of very strong hives but also a couple of weak ones that are slowly failing due to unknown reason as there are no visible disease, such is the issue with bees now. That said the 2 strong hives have between them 9 super which potentially equates to approx 140 lb of honey.
Whichbwe will probably take earler this year as the weather has been so bad.

Bees are doing well despite the weather. We have the second DEFRA health check in a week's time, that we hope will show the colonies are healthy. We are considering taking some honey early and we'll let you know if we do, but currently we have some lovely naturally set honey from the last crop. If you would like some please do contact us.

Hi After 20+ years of being at 2 Byre Cottages Ovingdean we have moved, up the hill ☺ couldn't go too far. So Ovingdean Honey and Jam has moved to 31 Wanderdown road Ovingdean for your local honey, still have some 2023 crop left.
As a note we had our first of 3 Defra visits to the hives and all good for the coming spring and summer months, if it decides to turn up 🙄.

Ovingdean Honey and Jam will be at the Rottingdean Artisan Christmas Market on Saturday 18th November with our honey. Come and see us today.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=837031961551212&id=100057332475349

Ovingdean Honey and Jam will be at the Rottingdean Artisan Christmas Market on Saturday 18th November with our honey. Come and see us today.

Our limited edition black current jam.is back on the menu. We only have approx 20 jars.

After a long weekend of extracting honey, we now have 167 jars avaliable. So honey is back on the menu 🤗. If you would like a jar or two for your toast this weekend, or your porridge next, then do contact us.

Here is another links re DRFRA with links to reporting pages

Asian hornets identified in Dover - Defra in the media Updates from Defra

Hi. Long time since my last post sorry. We are ramping up to take the honey from our bees this weekend. Its difficult and labour intensive but in the end we will have hopefully lots of goldern honey from all the work the bees have put in. We will then settle the hives for winter with varroa treatment and make sure they have enough food and pollen. Once we have the honey jarred we will be able to offer it out to everyone.
Other news.
Varroa has been a long never ending battle for the bees and now we have a new threat the Asian hornet, very distintive but as name suggests its not native to the UK so the bees have no defense against it. It is a registered threat species so must/ should be reported to DEFRA if there are any sightings in the UK. Unfortunately there have been some this year with the closest being in Newhaven. If the species does get a foothold here in force it may potentially be disastrous for our bees and your breakfast topping. So please do keep an eye out for them. I can post some images to aid identification if you wish.
Or go to this site.

Asian Hornets - Our position | The RSPB The Asian hornet poses a significant threat to the UK’s wildlife and the RSPB urges the public to report any sightings to the relevant authorities.

We did our first inspection o our hives last weekend. Luckily we only lost 1 hive out of the 4 we put to 'bed', its difficult to know why as it was a young queen and the girls had lots of stores so not due to starvation, it shows however how any wild bees are struggling to survive. The next few years will start to get difficult as we now have another new pest tgat our bees will have to contend with.. the Asian hornets.. been seen nesting in some locations in the UK now. DEFRA is on it but all beekeepers need to be vigilant.

On the plus side, we have 3 healthy hives and will build to make these to 4 with a new swarm if one comes through, so we hope to have a good crop of honey in the Autumn.

We still have 2022 honey avaliable which was a bumper year for us if you would like some.

Another very intresting article.

www.express.co.uk

The days are getting longer and a little warmer with the sunshine now. Had a quick inspection of the bees and we have lost a hive, not sure why as they had lots of stores. The others seem strong so we will look to replace over the swarm season.
We still have honey and jam avaliable if you would like to purchase some.

Hi everyone, for all those thinking 🤔 where is the jam in Ovingdean Honey and Jam, well I have just made some Raspberry and I'm making some Gooseberry later today.
It is in very limited supply, small batches and once gone I wont be able to produce any more until late Summer 😥.

Hi
A few days of shopping left until Christmas Day.
Stuck on ideas and you're still looking for that stocking filler or present for a relative or small gift for a loved one, then there is nothing better than a local jar of honey to sweeten the heart.

Hi.
We still have honey available, for that time when you cant think of what to give someone as a small festive present. They will love you for the the memory, when they have it on their warm butted toast or porridge, as the taste wisks them off to a lovely warm summers day.🌞🌞

Putting the girls to bed for the winter currently. We have ensured they have enought honey and pollen for their winter food stores and this warm weather currently means they are taking the last of the nector from any open flowers and ivy. We have treated them to help reduce the devistating varroa mite that could destroy the colonys over the winter. Fingers crossed they will all come through in spring, for a strong 2023.

We still have avaliable this years honey if you need some, and Im going to be making some more jam as the nights get darker (Raspberry, Gooseberry and Blackcurrant) great gifts to give as presents.

Thank you to everyone who came to the Ovingdean Green Fair and purchased some of our honey, dont forget if you run out, which you may do soon as its so nice, then do get in contact for some more. 👍

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3311644919093394&id=1476507642607140

Our 2022 honey is now avaliable. After losing 3 out of 4 hives in 2021 we got back up to full strength this year and took our honey harvest on this August Bank Holiday weekend. If you would like to purchase, then please contact us.

Update!
Some may know that we went into winter 2020 with four really strong colonies, all with new queens. It was all looking pretty good during the winter however, we suffered devastating losses in February and came into the new season with only 1 remaining colony.

The season has been challenging, we've never experienced such a poor year and consequently, for the first time ever, we decided not to take any honey at all. We've left it for the bees and the upshot is we have no honey for you lovely, supportive people 😥

The soft fruit harvest was equally disappointing but we've had enough raspberries and blackcurrants to make some jam. Drop us a message if you'd like some and fingers crossed for a kinder, more consistent winter temperature and a bumper 2022.