High above the Teign Valley, overlooking the Powderham estate with views reaching to the River Exe, Simon meets Neil Graham.
Neil is a retired Psychiatric Nurse with over 30 years of service within the NHS.
Early on his nursing career he started beekeeping. Self taught with just one beehive he quickly discovered it to be a natural antidote to a very challenging profession. Over the years he has slowly increased the amount of hives in his care and now very deservedly retired from nursing, he is a full time honey and beeswax producer. His knowledge and passion is clear to be seen.
Neil was recommended to us by the extremely knowledgeable, head beekeeper, Clare Densley at Buckfast Abbey. Clare told us how Neil cares for the bees using the same principles of beekeeping as the Abbey does, which all originates from the most famous monastic beekeeper of all: Brother Adam.
Neil has very kindly agreed to supply us with natural raw honey which we can sell as part of our Gilboy’s product range. He has several apiaries dotted around the Teign Valley, nearby to our Staverton workshop, and today he has agreed to show and explain to Simon how the honey is made and collected.
If you would like try some it for yourself. gilboys.co.uk/collections/honey
Video Index
00:03 Introduction to honey
01:37 Meeting Neil the Beekeeper
02:10 Opening one of the nursery hives for the next year
03:36 Finding the queen bee on a brood frame
04:32 What is a drone bee?
05:03 How many eggs will the queen bee lay in a day?
05:25 A worker bee with loaded with pollen
05:34 The difference in brood and honey in a comb
06:13 How many bees in a nursery box
06:35 White larval bees
07:27 What are worker bees?
07:45 Removing honey, will it be damage the hive or harm the bees?
08:38 Bee larvae
08:44 Why is the beeswax a dirty brown colour?
09:40 What is a wax foundation frame?
10:50 A new frame of honey
11:08 Why the honey is capped
11:24 Wasps steeling the honey
12:51 Why are your hives different colours?
15:27 Powderham Castle Apiary
15:52 How many bees in a hive?
17:15 Neil leaves the bottom box of honey for the bees
17:40 Removing a frame of honey
18:30 How much honey is in a frame or comb?
19:12 Where do the bees get the nectar from
19:41 How many time can the wax be harvested?
20:40 How long do bees live?
22:05 How to recognise drone (male) bee
22:33 What is propolis?
24:24 How far do bees fly?
26:18 Neil's honey extraction room
26:53 Removing the wax capping to reveal the honey
28:29 Placing the frame into the honey spinner
29:34 Neil explains how his honey is cold filtered
30:15 Honey being spun out of the comb
31:03 tapping the collected honey into a Gilboys jar
32:13 Neils Organic beekeeping principles