Tuesday 7th April 2020
We know how important pollinators are for farmers, in fact they’re an integral part of growing food for people and for cows. We’ve had hives in the valley for a while now and our bees are very much seen as VIPs on the farm!
We love our bees so much that we want to share the love, so we’ve decided to partner up with Buckley’s Bees to build and manage 10 new beehives and colonies across a number of British organic dairy farms. A father and daughter team based in Cheshire, Buckley’s Bees Beekeepers are registered BBKA members and have been breeding and caring for British Bees for over 50 years, so we know they share our passion for all things bee!
With reductions in wildflower meadows and increased urbanisation, there are now just 270,000 active hives in the UK compared with around 1,000,000 hives in 1900! Over the next two years we hope to provide homes for hundreds of thousands of new British honey bees.
Our partnership with Buckley’s Bees will mean that these hives and bee colonies are looked after and managed throughout the year according to the BBKA and Defra standards, with regular inspections to check on their homes and manage the colony for honey production. One day we may even be able to use some of the honey they produce in our products!
Currently our queen bees are building their colonies and are being looked after by Emma at Buckley’s Bees in their designated apiary in Cheshire. They will be moved to 10 hives across 5 organic dairy farms in the UK as soon as travel restrictions are lifted – homing thousands of new bees over the next year!
Over the coming months, we’ll be updating you with news of our colonies so you can meet our new bees and find out more about the amazing work they do on the farm!
Keep up the excellent work. All farm’s should take their example from Yeo Valley and the world would be a better place
brilliant news for the bees
Bees so important, planted a lilac budlia last summer, 6 varieties of butterflies visited but also Honey, Miner, Leaf cutter bees and Bumblebee s. Magical 🐝
Bee👍👍👍
I have made a bee hive too because I’m also helping the bee population
One of the most important creatures on earth which lots of people dont realise. Good on you YEO VALLEY.
Great news about the bees.
We all need to. Do our bit to reestablish these excellent practices, which have slipped off the “normal”everyday occupations..
I love bees 🐝 💕
Love bees and I support my local bee keepers. To much imported honey in this country. Keep going Yeo.
God bless you, dear Yeo Valley, for all good, sustainable and healthy food that you daily bring to our tables and now especially for the bees! They are so much needed especially now, when their numbers, as we know, decreases tragically all around the globe! It is so good of you to love and share them with friends.
Longing to see the new Yeo Valley products with your natural honey!
Don’t forget bumblebees that especially in early spring are very important pollinators for fruit trees . Like rough areas and uncut lawns for their nests so undisturbed wildlife areas even a few metre square will help them
Love a bumble !
That’s fantastic news, Yeo Valley. Can’t have too many bees – they are wonderful creatures.
So sad that numbers have dropped so dramatically in the UK and wonderful that you are doing something about it, excellent. Lyn
I love bees so think this is a fabulous idea. We try to make some of our garden bee and butterfly friendly.
I buy local honey from the farm shop near where I live which is delicious.
Higher up the thread mention is made of “seed bombs” for prizes. Love that idea for a prize but also with Yeo’s organic farming, this is a brilliant idea anyway and an extra source of income for you!
Saw on-line recently that veggie growers should mix bee-friendly flowers among the veg or grow close by to encourage pollination of veg flowers. I have heard of marigolds but the pics I saw were of dahlia and lilies which were a surprise! Love bees and friendly wasps, that have a hive in one of our compost bins, which we were about to move, but now don’t dare!
As a beekeeper, I welcome this wonderful venture. Be sure to buy unadulterated honey by buying British especially direct from local beekeepers. Find one near you by contacting BBKA.
Hooray for our much needed
and much loved BEES !!!
Fantastic !
The more bees the better.
We’ve planted lots of wildflowers particularly around our home office…wonderful to work with the doors open and to hear them buzzing around the flowers
We love the bees, our neighbour has a hive that relocates each year around now into our garden. They terrified our builders one year until I explained that if you don’t bother them, they won’t bother you. Lovely creatures, we now have lots of different types due to growing flowers & shrubs for them.
What a good idea, I love to see bees on the foxgloves in my garden.
Great idea. Maybe with your teokens we could get some while flowers for the pollinators. Just a thought keep up the good work.
I just love bees I have an amazing honeysuckle bush that they feed on every morning the more bees we can have everywhere the better 🐝🐝🌞
Well done with the bees. Our small garden is bee, butterfly and Ladybird friendly. Bee and insect homes, that are being used regularly are a boon to our very small fruit and veg crops.
IT IS GOOD
Hey guys!
Fabulous idea – more bees anywhere is good, more organic bees even better!!
As a novice bee keeper and dairy farmer’s daughter I know how important a holistic approach is to maintaining happy cows to make happy milk.
Happy bees are important too. Have you considered remotely monitoring the hives back at Yeo HQ? A system such as that made by Arnia allows you to monitor not only the bees themselves, but also the weather around the hives and therefore the cows too.
Good Luck!
Good news keep the great work I had a Bee Hive experience last year as a birthday treat amazing
This is great work!. All the plants in our garden are for bees & butterflies.
Well done bees are important
Great News! Maybe Yeo could offer wildflower seed bombs in exchange for yeokens?
Great news for UK bees. Our early flowering raspberry plants are loved by our garden bees.
I have a little bug hotel in my garden, where 2 solitary bees have laid
eggs, i have also done a no mow may to support the bees.
Fantastic. Bees are wonderful fascinating creatures and so important for our planet! 🐝
Thank you Helen for mentioning the solitary bees which many people don’t know about. Only honey bees make honey and use hives. Don’t forget that the bumblebees also are great pollinators. The more flower types we have in the garden and hedgerows, the better it is for all types of bee.
Our garden in Scotland is alive with bees.
We have this year erected a mason bee house but so far there has been no activity around it.
Honey bees are wonderful, but I support other comments saying we must remember the 250 other species of bees in the UK. It’s all about habitat, and availability of biodiverse, native forage plants for them.
Thank you! The bees thank you! It is refreshing to read about a concerned effort to concentrate on a project preserving life that has to do with nature and not pharmaceutical intervention.
How wonderful!
I would love to, ahem.. ‘bee’ updated on the bees.
I wonder also, if you could provide links to bee experts, bee care and bee housing, as well as updates to the Yeovalley bees?
Buzzing brilliant news! Bring on the bees.
Rural dwellers should be encouraged to convince Parish & Town Councils to set aside sections of parklands in order that bee keepers can situate hives to maximise availability of blossoming trees & flowering shrubs. Schools to be encouraged to get involved and communities to share/buy the honey.
V good re looking after our bees so thank you.
Also on breakfast BBC1 TV programme today they talked about the threat of Hornet bees so please keep a look out for them and report any you see not sure who to but Buckley’s Bees will no I expect. Take care. The Sweet 🍬 family of Corsham
So glad to see British bees in these hives. Too many countries have imported foreign bees for pollination to the detriment of their own native bee populations. Great work.
🐝❤️ 🙃
Great news but don’t forget about the native solitary bees too. They need nest sites – sandy soil banks facing south or bee nest houses with tubes of various sizes.
Great idea, look forward to the bees arriving.
Well done we need the bees
Wonderful for doing this, I have planted a number of plants in an attempt to aid bees as much as possible. Thank you.