Norfolk Honey - Beekeeper Patrick Laslett

Norfolk Honey - Patrick Laslett

I started my beekeeping some fifteen years ago after completing the practical beekeeping course at Eastern College I started with two beehives and all the beekeeping equipment sold to me by a beekeeper who was giving up because her bees were stinging her neighbours. They were not the gentlest of bees and over the years one of my tasks has been to acquire and breed better tempered bees.

Fortunately I had a great mentor who took me under her wing, showed me the way, gave me queens and even shared an apiary with me for several years. Even to this day after many years the descendants of her queens tend to be best I have, in so much as they have a good combination of gentleness, the desire to make honey and the lack of desire to swarm. Getting a good balance of these three qualities is what every beekeepers aims for when selecting and breeding their bees.

During the last few years I have been a Norwich swarm collector and now have a wide range of bees from different sources. When I collect a swarm I like to keep them for at least a year before judging how good or bad the bees are - although some soon let me know that they don't like to be messed with.

One of the considerations all beekeepers are increasingly having to take in to account is the colony's ability to control and survive disease. In this sense control may be the wrong word but is becoming increasingly apparent that some bees survive the winter better than others.

I sell both bees and honey.

Please email me for my mobile number