Bee Part Of It! hive arrives in Worcestershire

The new BBC H&W hive at Croome Park, Worcestershire

A new hive has been set up at Croome Park in Worcestershire, part of the BBC's Bee Part Of It! campaign.

The BBC Hereford & Worcester hive will be looked after by Keren Green, a local beekeeper who already manages some of her own hives at the National Trust estate.

The new hive will not immediately begin producing enough honey to be harvested.

This could take a month or so and is dependent on many outside factors such as the weather.

The bees for the hive arrive in a box, which consists of worker bees, young bees, eggs and of course the Queen who will lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.

Surviving winter

In June, July and August beekeepers take the honey off the hive.

Bees always produce more honey than they need, but because beekeepers harvest the honey from the bees, Keren will give the bees a sugar solution in September to help them survive the winter.

The bees for the new hive will arrive in a box

The bees take this sugar syrup and pack it tightly into the brood chamber - at this time the colony numbers have dwindled from 50-60,000 in July to around 15,000 for the winter.

Through the winter, the bees huddle together keeping the ambient temperature in the hive warm to survive.

If they need to feed, they do not have far to go because they store the syrup within reach.

The bees will also receive medication to keep the Varroa mite levels down.

Varroa is one of many threats to honeybees, and beekeeping is really just the same as farming, that is, managing a livestock that produces a food product.

So beekeepers provide bees with a dry, wind proof home; add more space when they need it; provide food when they need it and medication to keep them healthy.