Question Thyme: Geoff Cox, Bee Keeper at Thyme

At Thyme we keep a few hives of bees, from which we harvest fresh honey to be used in the Ox Barn. Today, we meet our Bee Keeper, Geoff Cox, who shares his knowledge on all things bees!

First things first, how did you get into Bee Keeping?

I was born on a dairy farm and many of my formative years were spent in an agricultural environment. So I have always had a love of wildlife and the environment. It wasn’t until later in life that I had the time, space and the opportunity to start beekeeping. They need a lot less space than a herd of cows!

Can you only have a hive of bees from a natural swarm?

No. Many beekeepers look to provide swarm control to the general public as a way of getting more colonies, but you don’t know where they have come from. It may be from a wild colony or from a managed hive and the beekeeper hasn’t managed to stop them swarming. We have all had hives that swarm!

One of the most important jobs for a beekeeper is to stop the bees from swarming. Partly because they can be a nuisance when they decide to make their new home in a house roof or chimney but also because you lose almost 50% of your bees from that hive. If you are keeping bees to produce honey then you have lost half your workforce. Beekeepers will deliberately split their hives in a managed way to prevent swarming and they also get a new colony of bees from it.

When can you take the honey from the hive?

This will depend on the local flora. If a hive is within an area where the bees are producing honey from oil seed rape (OSR) then you will harvest the honey as soon as the OSR has finished flowering otherwise the honey sets solid in the comb. In most cases honey is harvested once a year in about September.

As a tip for our keen gardeners, which plants do bees particularly like?

The best place to look is the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) website where there is a list of the best plants across the seasons.

However, it’s not just about honeybees for me; the best sort of planting will involve a good variety of species that attracts all types of pollinators. As beekeepers we are also interested in diversity and encourage people to look after the bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and moths and all the other myriad of pollinators. Even wasps are a useful pollinator!

Is it possible to keep urban bees?

Yes, definitely. Many beekeepers have their hives at home in towns and cities. There are businesses in London which have hives on their roofs. One of the most famous examples of urban bees are possibly the ones that were sited on top of Notre Dame in Paris. They managed to survive the fire that devastated a lot of the building.

How much space do you need to have your own hive?

Probably not as much as people think. Many gardens are suitable to keep bees if viewed purely on size. You need enough room to be able to inspect the hive and have enough room to move around the hive and put your equipment down. Another consideration is always the impact on neighbours and the general public. Will the bees be flying close to their house or a footpath? Are your neighbours allergic to bee stings? Who will be impacted if your bees swarm? Many amateur beekeepers who have several hives will site them on farmers’ land to aid pollinator of a particular crop – Oil Seed Rape, Field Beans or fruit orchards.

As a Bee Keeper, what are your main challenges throughout the year?

The main one is probably swarming for all the reasons mentioned previously. But you also need to consider the amount of food available in your area and are there any times of the year where it will be insufficient because of the types of plants around. Disease and pests is another major consideration that beekeepers will always be on the look-out for.

What do honeybees do in the winter?

Whilst honeybees don’t hibernate they are very inactive during the winter months from about November to March. They cluster within the hive to keep warm and they will have stored honey for food which is within easy reach. On warmer days they will fly out of the hive but this generally for ‘toilet’ purposes. During the winter the bees are a bit like emperor penguins that huddle in big clusters with the outer ones moving in to the middle to get warm when they have done their stint on the extremities of the cluster.

How do you prepare for the new season of Bee Keeping?

By making sure that all the equipment I want to use for the new season is clean and in good repair. I will also have decided which colonies I want to breed from. That decision will be based on the temperament of the bees, how much honey they have produced in previous years and what is their tendency to swarm.

What effects do the weather have on Bee Keeping?

As a wild animal (albeit managed) the weather can have a huge affect on them. Too cold and the bees don’t build up very well in the early part of the season to produce a strong colony. Too hot and/or dry and the plants don’t produce enough nectar to provide a food source. Too wet over the winter and condensation can build up in the hive creating a less than ideal environment.

We love the story of the red Brooklyn honey and were wondering if you could tell us how it is that honey can be different colours or flavours depending on where the bees have been visiting?

Just as different vegetables have different flavours, nectar also has different flavours depending on what plant it has come from. Bees will fly up to three miles in search of nectar so there will always be a variety of plants within that area to forage on and honey will always be a combination of different nectars. When individual bees are out foraging for nectar they will only visit one species of plant on that trip and then return to the hive. Apparently they don’t ‘mix and match’ the nectar they collect on each trip. There are ways of limiting the number of nectars collected – for example siting your beehive where everything around it for a three mile radius is a mono-culture (e.g. OSR or heather) will produce a honey with the flavour of that crop. You then harvest the honey immediately so it isn’t combined with other nectars. Similarly, the colour of nectar varies from plant to plant.

What do you love about being a Bee Keeper?

There are so many things. Being outdoors and interacting with nature at a very basic level. You never know what else you might see when visiting your hives. One of my apiaries is a water meadow so I have seen a variety of birds nearby. The challenge of ‘managing’ a colony of wild animals; you never know what you are going to find when you open up the hive. Are they building up to a healthy strong colony, do they have enough food available, are there any signs of disease, are they likely to swarm, are they preparing to get rid of their existing queen and produce a new one. The greater understanding and respect I’ve gained for the environment and how we can have a positive and negative impact.