Harrowgate Beeworks

Eleven hives on a windy slope, and the notebook that keeps them alive.

When to stop feeding in autumn

Syrup goes on until the colony stops taking it down overnight, and not a day longer: late feeding leaves uncapped stores that ferment over winter. Weigh the hive instead of guessing — a strong colony wants about eighteen kilos of stores on the scale before the first hard frost.

Reading a frame before you lift it

Brood in concentric rings, pollen above it, honey at the corners. Patchy brood with polished empty cells usually means the queen is failing, not that the bees are hungry, and no amount of feeding will fix it.

Extracting without bruising the comb

Warm the frames to room temperature first, uncap with a heated knife in one slow pass, and spin slowly for the first minute. Honey that runs clear at the gate needs only a day of settling before it goes into jars.

The smoker you can forget about

Dry pine needles at the bottom, a handful of hessian on top, packed loose. Lit properly it gives cool smoke for forty minutes, which is longer than any inspection should take.