Josh Frazer

Lake District Honey Company

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Barely out in the Pennines. This is the stuff that's not been chewed up by heather beetle.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Totally different game here. Weather, availability of forage etc., is a world apart from the South/Central region. Where you have a hedgerow, we have drystone walls. No field margins either, and broadleaf trees are more sparce.. Probably comparable to your bees in Wales?

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Glad to hear it, would be good to catch up! I'm sure you used to refer to Brackley as the Goldilocks zone - some truth in that.

Bees look numerous, no real flow to work away at and deplete fliers over the past 6 weeks. But then that's no guarantee of a crop...

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees We are currently in Kent for a wedding. Things look v v v crispy down this part of the world.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees It's Cumbria, so, rain. However, we had an amazing May and I can't complain. Summer flow just kicking off here, if we get some weather then it may be reasonable.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Haven't dared to check... When the rain inevitably arrives, it should breathe a little life into it.

You can do it, Chris, if you don't buy a ticket, etc.!

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Jaws on the floor across the board up here, this will have a huge (mostly negative) impact.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Absolutely. Days like this make me question what's best to breed from in future.
These were new queens as well. Demoralising, but we march on. Pollen is pouring into the hives here, and the colonies look big across the board. Seeing very few other losses (dwindle, DLQ etc).

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ObserverUK @ApidaeHoney Nice one, Paul, well said. Good photo, too!

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees @calluna4u Not the case in the West, wet weather persisted. Heather yield for us has *far* outstripped spring/summer crop for bees left behind. Best home sites have been heavy balsam flows, but little else.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Fantastic, though I think that drainage hole at the bottom will be plugged by sugar, unless you get a rubber bung for it. Worth getting a paddle to agitate the clumps of sugar that form at the side.
Otherwise, it looks top, huge upgrade 👌

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Come and see our mixing tank. It can do 1300L at a time (1tn sugar for 2:1). It's an old milk tank with an element, no issues with clumping if you have a strong paddle motor. Great bit of kit.

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Hahaha exactly 🤣

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Damn that's tough... worth it for the borage?

[Josh Frazer @Joshuawfrazer]

@ElmTreeBees Jim reckons Ling will yield at 16 degrees, fingers crossed it stays above that.