About the devabees

Where in the world?

devabees was a small apiary close to picturesque Chester in the United Kingdom.

The devabees have now retired and their apiary is closed.

During the spring and summer the devabees were moved out to locations around Delamere where they could forage in numerous wild flower meadows and orchards. When Autumn comes, the devabees spent the winter in the more sheltered accomodation offered by their home village. Thereby extending their season and making collecting enough wintertime stores a much easier prospect for them.

So what's the honey like?

Our locally bred devabees produced a glorious, light, bright floral honey that proved very popular with all who have tried it. One of the comments received from a devabees' fan described it as "liquid sunshine captured in a jar". We can't think of a better compliment for all of the hard work invested by the devabees.

Prize winning devabees honey

Our devabees honey has won various prizes including The Blackman Cup at the Cheshire Honey Show

Cheshire Beekeeping Association

devabees were members of the Cheshire Beekeeper's Association (CBKA) and proud to be so.

The members of the CBKA made us extremely welcome, provided tons of help and useful knowledge and turned out to be true friends.

We can heartily recommend any Cheshire Beekeeper to become involved with CBKA and would urge any Beekeeper to get invovled with their local Association.

Pictures

A few bee-related pictures that we like!

bees on honeycomb

Bees on Honeycomb

Worker bees filling their comb with stores of nectar and pollen.

Nectar is the dietary carbohydrate for the bees and pollen is their protein source.

bees on new comb

Brand new beeswax

When the wax for the combs is first made by the bees, it is a beautiful cream white colour. As the wax ages and the bees add propolis to strengthen the comb, it will go from cream to yellow to brown and almost black.

bees capping honey

Making Honey

The worker bees evaporate water from the nectar they collect until it is only about 17% water. That's when it can be called honey. They then put a thin cap of wax over the cell to keep the honey in perfect condition until it is needed.

Can you spot the male bee on the comb, known as a Drone?

loads of bees

Loads of bees

At the height of summer the Honey Bee colony's population has reached its peak size. This can make it challenging to spot the Queen in amongst them all.

However, it is what every Beekeeper wants to see; more bees equals a healthy colony and the prospect of a good harvest.

can you spot the Queen?

Can you spot the Queen?

In a Honey Bee colony there is one fertile female, known as the Queen. She is entirely dependent upon her daughters for all things; food and warmth. She has an abdomen that is longer than those of a Worker Bee. For many Beekeeping tasks it is important to be able to find the Queen, which is often far easier said than done!

Honey: Liquid Sunshine

Honey: Liquid Sunshine

This is what we all like about Honey Bees, the fruit of their labours - glorious Honey.

Get in touch

Do you have a question about our devabees or beekeeping?

Feel free to email us.