Tel: 01352 740991

Take a look at other sites for Beekeepers, or anybody interested in honeybees

British bee keepers association
The British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) works to promote bees and beekeeping and to provide a range of services to its members.

Bee Keeping Database
Our main aim is to support UK Beekeeping with free beekeeping information and access to Beedata services.

Bee improvement  and bee breeders association
Founded in 1964 for the conservation, restoration, study selection  and improvement of the native and near native honey bees of Britain and Ireland

South Clwyd Beekeepers’ Association

A DelfrynDesign web site © 02 November 2009

The native European honeybee has evolved from bees which originated in central Africa about 28 million years ago, and migrated into Northern Europe after the last ice age. Bees have been kept by beekeepers for over 5000 years, and honey found in the Egyptian tombs is still edible.

Bees live naturally in any suitable cavity and in this country were traditionally kept in straw baskets called skeps. The modern wooden beehive, which was first used about 150 years ago, allows more honey to be harvested with minimal disturbance to the bees. Bees store honey in the honeycombs they build from wax formed on their bodies.

A colony of bees in summer typically consists of about 50,000 worker bees, up to 500 drones (male bees) and 1 queen. The queen can lay up to 2000 eggs per day and she can live for up to 4 or 5 years. The workers live for only 6 weeks during the summer, but live up to 6 months through the winter.

Bees gather nectar from flowers and process it into honey. Bees also collect pollen and this is used to produce a protein rich food which is fed to the larvae and also to the queen. A worker bee will visit between 100 and 1,000 flowers on a foraging trip and will make up to 10 trips a day in fine weather, during the summer months. Returning foragers will communicate using a dance, to tell other bees where they have been to collect the nectar. Honeybees are extremely good pollinators, and some beekeepers are paid to put hives into orchards in the spring. The benefit of bees as pollinators in agriculture far out weighs the value of honey production.

A one pound jar of honey is the equivalent of 55,000 bee flying miles!

Honey Baked Chicken

This is a simple but perfect recipe for party food. The skin stays crunchy and holds the honey flavour. Honey helps to tenderise meat and gives a distinctive flavour as it caramelises.

1 chicken thigh and I drumstick per person.
4 cubes of fresh ginger, peeled and crushed.
3 cloves of garlic crushed with a little salt.
1 tbsp  soy sauce.
4 tbsp runny Honey House honey.
Black Pepper.
Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mk. 5. Put the chicken pieces in a small roasting tin packed closely together. Mix  with the ginger, the crushed garlic and the soy sauce. Rub some fresh ground black pepper onto the skin.
Drizzle the honey so that the top of each piece of chicken is dripping with it and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out with the juices running clear. Eat hot or cold. If eating cold, collect the pan juices and add to the salad leaves with a dressing.  Why not try it with one of the Honey House pickles?

Contact us:
Geoff and Janice Critchley, 15 Lon Cilan, Cilcain, Mold, CH7 5PL
Tel: 01352 740991. E-mail: Geoff@HoneyHouse.biz