Latest News
Bee News
spring inspections May 2008
Every seven days now we are carrying out bee inspections to optimise the health and happiness of our little friends. This involves opening up the hives and, one by one and very carefully, taking out the frames of bees to see what's going on. The questions we ask ourselves while we do this are - do they have enough room, are there any eggs (to show the queen bee is present and laying,) are there plenty of pearly white larvae, food stores and healthy bees. We started our inspections a little late, I got stung on the head, and we missed the clue that one colony was about to swarm, probably due to being congested in the brood box (thats the bottom box where the queen lays eggs and workers look after the brood.) Luckily, we caught the swarm and managed to home them in a brand new "nucleus box" with a frame of stores to keep them fed and busy. Early May we put on the supers (the top box that sits on the brood box) with a queen excluder in between. This keeps the Queen in her place in the brood box so she doesn't fill the top boxes for honey stores with eggs. Our huge hawthorn bush, covered with white blossom, and the sunshine yellow dandelions are important food sources for the bees in May.
Feeding the Bees - 25th March 08
In Spring the bees should have a lot of lavae to feed so their stores can diminish quite rapidly - we noticed, on a couple of sunny days this month, bees carrying pollen into the hive - an indicator that there is brood to be fed. Worrying (probably without cause) that the bees will starve we fed them with a little sugar syrup made from one part water one part sugar to keep them going through these rainy days.
bee news 11th February 2008
Our bees are taking advantage of the recent sunny weather and are out on whats known in beekeeping as "cleansing flights." Returning to their hives with pollen is a good sign that the queen is egg laying. The pollen is carried in pollen sacks located on their hind legs. Snowdrops and Gorse are a good food source for bees this month.
Bee News October 2007
We have just bought some heather beeswax from Peter McFadden of the Conwy Beekeepers Association. Peter takes his bees to the heather every September. It's a beautiful deep golden colour and has a lovely heady aroma. We shall be using it in our scalp cream and a new product - a honey, kukui nut and avocado hair food (in stock soon.)
Next year we hope to be using some of our own beeswax and honey. Beekeeping is new to us so fingers crossed for a good honey season next year. We have two hives, now made secure and predator proof for the coming winter months. The bee hives have open mesh floors for good ventilation so we have now put bee blankets over the crown boads to keep in the heat.
Ingredient & Product News
New Laughing Bird Products January 2008
We have five new products which are now available to buy.
Honey and orange blossom body wash with cocoa butter,coconut and lime
Honey and shea butter hair food with kukui nut,avocado and olive
Lavender and chamomile soap
Honey and shea butter sugar scrub with black soap, baobab and almond
Honey and shea butter body lotion with rooibos, moringa and rose
Pleases contact Helen or Mark if you require any further details
We hope you enjoy our new range....
Goat News
spring antics 2008
Anyone who has had goats as pets will be full of stories of the endless amusement from their antics. Yesterday the goats managed to let them selves out of the meadow to the greener grass the other side of the gate ... and then into the kitchen. Now, if they were litter trained we wouldn't mind as our goats smell like fresh air and lush grass and they are extremely affectionate and lovable companions but, as they are worse than dogs for eating anything in sight and instantly proved the lack of litter training, back they went, complaining all the way.
goat news 11th February 2008
YumYum and Mitzu are out sunbathing in the grassy meadow. We are digging a patch to grow a special mix of grasses which will make excellent hay for the goats next year.
Goat News September 2007
YumYum and Mitzu our Anglo Nubian goats do not enjoy wet or windy weather. We realised this when attempting to walk them to the meadow on a misty and damp morning. The volume of their baas of complaint was quite something and I'm sure they could be heard for miles. They do have a lovely field shelter but really prefer to stay in their stable on a deep bed of straw listening to the radio. Mitzu (YumYum's daughter) is now fully weaned (another very vocal process!) and growing fast. YumYum's milk is slowing down a bit now, to 2.5 litres a day but that still leaves plenty for the soaps and us. The milk has a 6.5%butterfat content making her a very good goat according to experts(?) This makes very rich and moisturizing soaps. Look out for our NEW Lavender & Chamomile soap featuring YumYum (in stock now)