I've been looking forward to this vlog for ages, because,
I've always wanted to keep bees,
but it was a bit impossible at the house we used to have
because there wasn't really a garden to it
We were on an estate.
and we can't keep them on a boat,
well we could have done,
but there wouldn't have been much room for us with the bees buzzzzzzin' in and out
and they wouldn't have found their way home.
and Dillon, no we'd have moved wouldn't we.
[Laughs]
But, today's the day we're going to get our bees.
I've been so looking forward to this,
even though a few people have tried to put me off it.
Do you know why, did you hear what they said?
They were saying that because I'm quite an anxious person and a worrier
that the bees pick up on that
and the bees won't be happy and they'll go for me every time I go near them,
because they can sense the anxiety.
That's a bit mean isn't it, I think
and I disagree with it, respectfully disagree, because,
I think that from what I've seen, when you're a beekeeper
it's quite a calming thing
and you have to concentrate because you're helping and looking after the bees,
so that kind of stops the ruminating and it breaks that anxiety
Ruminating?
Ruminating, you thought that was something to do with decorating
[Colin] in the production meeting didn't you [Shaun] I did yeah. [Laughs]
Ruminating? what? Ohh we're decorating the kitchen are we.
Didn't You?
Buff you wanted it, he wants to paint it buff don't you?
No!
So I respectfully disagree, I think it kind of helps stress
rather than causes it.
But we'll see!
Yes!
Won't we?
I mean it's not just, that's not the only reason I want to keep bees,
I kind of, I really like, love wildlife don't I?
Yes he does actually, we both do.
You remember the vlogs about the owls
and about the lambs
and in fact do you remember on the laming vlog, I asked a question,
Do spiders fart?
[Fart noise] [Laughing]
[Laughing]
Well I actually researched it after the vlog
and found out that spiders do fart
and if you put a spider in the bath with you and it farted,
the bubble would be so small that you wouldn't actually see it.
I wonder if it would still make that noise.
But if you can't see it, has it farted?
Well, this is the question think that they've got so many people.
But while I was researching it, I'm sorry we'll come back to bees in a minute.
I actually found out that when a blue whale farts
[Sound of a Blue Whale] I actually found out that when a blue whale farts
[Fart sound]
the bubble is so big, you could fit a horse inside it.
[Laughing]
No, it's true
Sorry, have I put you off your Grape-nuts?
It's something to tell your kids anyway, isn't it?
Ohhh!
But anyway, back to the bees.
So we we are first time beekeepers
Yes, well he is.
but I've been researching it for over a year, I've been learning quite a lot
and I've been speaking to about a dozen beekeepers for the past six months
and getting loads of information, which I've been soaking in like a sponge,
He does as well.
so I'm really looking forward to this.
One thing I want to mention before we get going,
is the comment section.
[Laughs]
This is a subject that's going to raise a lot of,
you shouldn't be doing that, you should be doing it this way, you should be doing it that way.
I have got a team of beekeepers helping me,
so I'm not doing this on my own
and I've done a lot of research
and one thing I found is that beekeepers tend to have differences and opinions.
You can have two beekeepers that have been doing it for 30 or 40 years,
one will tell you to do something one way and one will tell you to do it another way.
Exactly.
So I'm trusting the people that are helping me,
so by all means,
leave comments in the comment section and any tips and advice,
but please don't start with the, you should be doing this, you shouldn't be doing that,
because I'm trusting the team of beekeepers
that are helping me out okay, let's keep it all nice and positive.
And you don't want to deal with me.
[Laughs]
Shaun wants a wee,
I've got a spade and a shovel ready,
so I've got to go and start preparing that land.
[Music playing]
The first thing I've got to do is dig out a level area
and it's set back into the banking where it's the most sheltered from the winds.
Now the ground here is really sandy, in fact it's nearly just all sand
and that makes it quite easy to dig out and rake level,
but it also means I need to add a fair bit of gravel to give it some support.
I've also put some bigger stones around the edges of the bank
just to support it and stop it collapsing down.
Finally, I'm going to do my best steam train impression
and pack it all down to a solid foundation.
Once I've tidied things up, I'm going to lay a couple of wooden pallets down
and make sure that everything's nice and level before I put the hives on there.
Speaking of hives. . .
Well that's all the outdoor work done
it's all prepared and ready for the hives
which I'm just about to build.
Now I might look a bit hot and sweaty because I've just brought everything indoors,
it's just too windy out there to be able to film and everything keeps blowing about.
Now I could have got the hives fully assembled and delivered,
but I've actually bought them as a flat pack kit
to build myself, it's the same hive, I just have to build it myself
and I've done that for a couple of reasons.
One, is that it's a lot cheaper, I've saved myself a few hundred quid
by doing it myself.
But if I build it, I get to know how to put together,
so I know how they're built and all the parts and everything
and if we get any more in the future,
I'm going to be a little bit more knowledgeable on how it all fits together as a kit.
Now the instructions weren't exactly helpful,
but with a combination of a couple of really good YouTube videos
and also a telephone call with the guy who supplied it
and a couple of people on Twitter that I know
and I've managed to build one already off camera,
because I didn't want to bore you looking at the camera and talking to people.
But I'm going to quickly do a bit of a time lapse on building the second one,
just so it gives you a bit of an idea how it's put together.
[Music playing]
I've chosen the National Beehive
and it's one of the most popular types of hive in the UK.
They're made out of Western Red Cedar
and it's a pretty light wood but very durable
which makes it ideal for beehives
because, well it's got to cope with the Highland weather conditions,
you can imagine what those are like.
Now it's really important to use the right bits of wood in the right place
and I've got to get them perfectly positioned before I start nailing them together,
otherwise it could cause some problems later.
The main part is called the Brood Chamber
and that's where the bees store all the pollen
and nectar and stores of honey
and where the queen lays her eggs.
So that's the brood box built,
this is the box where we'll have 10 frames that look like this,
but with a foundation on, I'll show you a bit later
and the ten frames sit in this brood box.
Now it's really important when I'm building this, to make sure that when the frames are in here,
the top edges are not any higher
than the frame of the box,
otherwise the things that sit on top of it
won't be level
and we don't want them sticking together and causing a problem
we want everything to be nice and flat
and to take apart easy so luckily, don't if you can see that,
but that is very very level,
everything measures out it measures the same from corner to corner,
which is 65 centimeters
exactly, so it's nice and straight
and we're ready to move on and build the next box.
[Music playing]
So the mesh on this frame at the bottom
forms the bottom of the hive
and then this tray will slide just through these grooves
like that
and then the hive sits on top of this tray.
[Music playing]
After talking to a couple of local beekeepers,
I decided to order a nucleus, well two of them, of bees, a few months ago.
A nucleus is a small family of honeybees,
it's got its own queen that's been created from a larger colony
and they come in this smaller nuc box that's got five frames inside it
and that's where they've been living and breeding and collecting for the last few weeks.
Today though, it's time to introduce them to the new hive.
There they are
sat by their new homes,
you should hear them.
Buzzing!
When we collected them, the people that we collected them from,
said, if it sounds like a train in the back of your car,
it's because they're getting a bit warm and fanning to keep cool.
They were fine in the car.
They were absolutely fine,
but when you listen to them, they do sound nice and calm,
but they sound like
bees.
[Laughing]
What do you expect.
So we've built the hives,
we've placed the nucs of bees next to the hives,
because now comes the fun part.
Ha!
we've got to take the four frames of bees that are in the nuc boxes
and take them out and put them in the new home,
which has got more frames in it so they can expand.
Is the doctor on standby?
Yeah.
[Laughs]
and I'm dreading this, because it's the first time ever,
that I'm gonna have handled bees,
Yes.
naked.
Oooh!
Of course I'm not, what do you think I am.
[Music playing]
What do you reckon?
Do you know what? It reminds me of Marshmallow Man off, Ghostbusters.
[Shaun Laughing] Yeah.
So this is,
I don't think any suit is like completely sting resistant,
there's a few that claim to be.
But this is supposed to be quite a good one
and I'm not gonna lie, I'm very very nervous,
very nervous about being stung,
because I haven't been stung since I was about four or five years old,
so I don't know how I'm gonna react.
I'll probably scream.
Two hives, I've taken the tape off the two nuc boxes,
so they're ready to go in.
I'm just gonna prepare the hives ready,
I just need to do a few little things, so I'm going to show you what I'm going to do.
So this is hive number one, I'm going to take the roof off first of all
and then inside, I've got this little feeder box,
because it's a brand new colony, I'm going to give them some
sugar water, fructose, stuff.
I'm going to put a lid on that,
I'm going to put this up
and if you just look in here, you can just see a little hole
in the top of the brood box where the bees can get up
and then they'll climb in here
and they can get to that lovely syrup in there.
So this is the hive, this is the brood box
I'm going to take some of these frames out
so that I can get
the new boxes in okay
and then I'm going to transfer the new frames from here
into here.
Right, this is the bit I've been dreading.
Before I open the bee's nuke box, I'm going to create some smoke,
which will keep them calm while I'm moving them.
All I've done is lit some plain paper in the bottom of the smoker
and then I add some hay,
which I've just got from the field behind us, there's plenty of it
and that gets the smoke going with plenty of air going through it.
Now I don't want to overdo it with the smoke,
so I'm just giving them enough to keep them as chilled as I can,
before very carefully moving each of the five frames
out of the nuc box and into the new hive.
[Music playing]
This is the first time I've ever been as close to thousands of bees like this
and believe it or not, I'm actually not nervous at all
I'm just being really careful, but I'm having a good look at them
and they seem to be doing really well as a new colony.
Once all the frames are back in,
I'm going to release the queen into the hive,
she came separately in the nuc box, in this little yellow plastic cage
and all I'm going to do is slide open the bottom door
and she just climbs out and goes down into the centre of the frames,
where hopefully she'll start laying plenty of eggs
and the colony will start to grow really fast.
I've got to admit, I was convinced I was going to be like a screaming girl,
because the bees have been in the nuc boxes most of last night and this morning, that
as soon as I opened it they were just going to
swarm around me and attack me like something out of some 70's horror flick
and that you'd see me screaming and running away.
But it was the opposite, it was
they were very calm
and
you can see they're getting used to their new surroundings already.
Now I'm going to leave them for a few days now
to settle into the new home.
What I am going to do is, I'm going to secure the hive
to the stand that it's on.
I've got a strap that I'm going to use just to keep it steady,
so if any deer or anything comes and
gives their bum a scratch, it's not going to move it
and I'm going to keep an eye on the feed, to make sure they've got plenty to to eat
and then eventually, it's not going to take them too long
before they start coming out of their own accord
and exploring, there's plenty for them to go out and work and bring back.
I'm quite relieved, I'm excited, but I'm relieved as well.
These ratchet straps secure the hives and the concrete blocks to the pallet
and that means if any deer or any other wildlife comes and pushes them,
the hives will be better protected.
All that kneeling down and digging and building hives and stuff,
proper aching all over.
I'm tired and I was only watching.
It's hard work, isn't it?
Do you know why your body starts creaking and cracking and aching when you turn 30?
Because it's knackered!
Because, yeah it is.
Back in the olden days
when Shaun was in short trousers, shorter trouser,
[Laughs]
before the days of modern medicine life expectancy of us was was that in your mid 30's
It was actually yes.
and that's why your body starts aching
and and you get pains in your tummyand stuff when you turn 30.
Oh I've been having them for ages then.
Because it's your body telling you,
you shouldn't be here,
[Laughs]
It's time to go.
Oh my god!
How old are we?
I've been dead thirty years!
[Laughing]
Oh dear, no crack on.
I've loved it and the bees seem to be happy,
we're going to leave them for a few days now to settle in
and then we're going to see how they're doing.
I can't wait, I'm loving it.
What we're also doing is, we didn't think of this, a very kind viewer
sent us some seed bombs
that have got seeds that the bees love to to pollinate and get nectar.
Wild flower bombs.
Yeah, wildflower bombs.
And we thought it's a great idea,
so we've been we've been kind of planting them and throwing them about.
So we're gonna put a link in the video description, so if you want to help our bees
and get us some seed bombs
that we can get going for for next year really now, for spring I think next year.
There's a link in the video description.
But they seem very happy,
where we've positioned them it's actually on the opposite side of our land away from the house,
so there's a lot of distance between them and the house.
We don't want them interfering with us.
And it's in a really nice quiet part of the land,
there's trees and a big banking,
so they're sheltered from the north from the west and from the east against the wind
and the hives basically look out southeast,
which is exactly where it should, so they get loads of sun
on the morning nice and early to wake them up,
so that they can go out and get the pollen and the nectar and do their stuff.
Lovely!
It is lovely.
Sorry, I'm babbling now.
Hide always babbles, doesn't he?
I hope you've enjoyed this as much as we have ,
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It's as if I've been on the honey already isn't it?
You've been on something.
I can't wait for the honey to come, we're gonna start selling it I think aren't we?
We are.
If we get enough, so you'll be able to buy honey from our bees.
Probably not until next year now.
It probably will be next year now, because they've got to build up the stores for this winter
Yeah.
for themselves.
Right, I'm off for a calm down, I think Shaun needs another wee.
I need a little, I think I might have a pie.
And I think we might go exploring next week.
Yes.
Till then take care, bye-bye
Ta-ra.
[Music playing]
See what I have to live with.
I'm rubbing my face.
As long as that's all is rubbing.
Get off me!
Do you remember that?
Yes.
Got to do it all again.
Never work with children or animals or Shauns.
[Laughing]
Bubbles?
[Burps]
Good morning.
Good morning, are we're doing it all again, I didn't realise.
I've been up since 6 o'clock to do this and it's 11 already.
[Coughs]
You alright?
Yes.
I wish you'd hurry up, I want a wee!
[Music playing]