The Barefoot Beeman

The Barefoot Beeman Normal for Norfolk beekeeper and passionate swarm rescuer. If it’s any thing bee, think Barefoot 🦶🐝

No26. The 'cotman close' Diss swarm.. I got a message from a lovely gent whilst in the middle of cutting grass.. about a...
12/06/2026

No26. The 'cotman close' Diss swarm..

I got a message from a lovely gent whilst in the middle of cutting grass.. about a swarm he had witnessed land in front of his house.

On my arrival (left my mower in the middle of the field 😝) I was surprised to see a lovely large prime swarm sat at a lovely height..

Into the box and 20mins later taken off the to clover ☘️ fields to start their work and house building.. 🏠

After the past couple weeks of rain and with the temperatures rising I'm expecting the next week or two too produce a few swarms. As ever if I can bee of help please feel free to get in contact..

🦶 🐝

No25. The 'stowmarket' school swarm.. A little out of the range I normally go to collect swarms but being in the middle ...
12/06/2026

No25. The 'stowmarket' school swarm..

A little out of the range I normally go to collect swarms but being in the middle of a school playground meant it a priority to rescue and relocate this swarm..

The lovely ladies working at the school had contacted several local beekeepers to be told they will move on.. and they couldn't help..

Well they sat fast in the tree for nearly a whole week throughout the rain showers and storms.. ⛈️

They were most peaceful and happy to bee offered their new home 🏡

What happens inside the colony in the weeks following a live colony removal and relocation ?! (In the photos below you w...
08/06/2026

What happens inside the colony in the weeks following a live colony removal and relocation ?!

(In the photos below you will see frames of comb that were removed from a chimney in the live removal and relocation process)

We gently remove the comb from the chimney and then rebuild it into the frames that fit the beehive, this is to transfer the young bees and transfer the resources to the colonies new home.

We then make sure they have adequate food to continue their building.. we supply new wax frames for them to continue working on and building out the colony. (In the view to eventually removing the old comb once it's of no further use and all bees have hatched)

As you can see now that they have successfully secured the comb to the frames themselves. They now decide the elastic bands are of no use and not part of what they want inside the hive for their colony.. (they like removing unwanted objects)

So now they nibble thru the elastic bands and proceed to removed them from the hive.. using what must take some incredible strength they cut the bands and slowly start to pull them out the entrance !!!!

It takes a lot of behind the scenes work and management after the removal from both us and the bees to get the colony's back to full efficiency and as if they had always lived in their new hive... 🐝

Another day another successful live colony removal and relocation.. 👍 🐝 At a lovely property in Denham, these chimneys w...
04/06/2026

Another day another successful live colony removal and relocation.. 👍 🐝

At a lovely property in Denham, these chimneys were planned to be demolished but due to a good sized colony of honey bees being located once the scaffold was installed the builders were no longer able to proceed.

Well last night we managed to open up the void and comb by comb we were able to remove and rebuild them into their new home. 🏠

The weather was kind enough and we only managed to get caught in one 🌧️ shower.. there was even enough spare honey that the owners got a nice bowl of dark rich bean 🫘 honey.. 🍯

It takes years of knowledge and experience to work out what's going on in the colony during removals, we are always searching for the queen, working out which comb can be removed next and how to preserve the brood as best as possible for rebuilding... you are also required to have special public liability insurance to be able to undertake such work....

Another successful win for the bees.. 🐝

What do you do when you've got two very large, very active honey bee colonies living on a very busy malting's production...
02/06/2026

What do you do when you've got two very large, very active honey bee colonies living on a very busy malting's production factory ?!? 🏭

Well you call in the pros... here at Barefoot Beeman we have nearly 30 years experience with keeping honey bees and nearly a decade of live honey bee colony removal experience..

This was a one of the most incredible locations and jobs we have done in many years, industrial by size and industrial by site..

Two colony's located 12ft apart on the top of the loading bay at Simpsons Maltings. Located some 25-30ft off the ground behind the cladding of the building. These colony's had been residing here for several years but recently became rather swarmy and had vastly out grown their space..
(For the past 4 years I have collected the swarms from these colonies..)

Well over two days myself and Tom started work towards the end of the maltings work day and worked through until past midnight.. successfully removing, rebuilding and relocating these two very large colony's to their new homes in the quiet countryside to carry on there vital roles..

This was a major undertaking, involving some serious team work and skills not to mention the devotion and help from the Simpsons maltings team with one particular gentleman going above and beyond.. (his father used to be a beekeeper, he would bee most proud of his sons efforts). This chap came in to help on both days, even though he wasn't actually working those days.

I must also thank Simpsons maltings (tivetshall) for choosing to go down the best route for the bees, and making the choice to opt for a live removal and relocation... another great win for the bees.. 🐝

01/06/2026

When a colony becomes queen less and they fail to produce another queen the colony also starts to fail.. at this point if we can provide them with a queen they can either accept her or reject her.. This colony immediately realised the incredible gift of her introduction and happily accepted her, she sits there quietly whilst they excitedly come up to see their new monarch. She sat still whilst they groomed her, then she walked between the frame and off to give a life of service to her new colony. She's now happily laying and soon to be marked with her royal 'white' dot...

🐝 !! We've reached 2,000 followers !! 🥳 This is a post to thank all our barefooted friends and followers, we appreciate ...
31/05/2026

🐝 !! We've reached 2,000 followers !! 🥳

This is a post to thank all our barefooted friends and followers, we appreciate all your kind comments, likes and shares of what the girls 🐝 and ourselves do..

As a thank you we would like to invite you to a barefoot competition !!

Would you and one other person like to join us for the experience of opening up some beehives, spotting the queen, learning about the workings of a beehive and even getting to taste warm honey straight from the Hive ?!? (You'll also get to take home a selection of honey) There will Bee suits and gloves will bee provided. All you need to do to win this great experience is:

Like and share this post and then......

We're asking for your photos, simply get a jar of barefoot honey (it can be half empty it doesn't matter) and take a photo of the jar in a great surround or place.. and post the photo to this thread....

( maybe a tranquil spot in the countryside, with wildlife or livestock, or a famous building, a holiday, a beach setting, a comedy photo, a photo showing us how you enjoy your honey, however you think the jar is best shown off)

The best photo will be chosen by ourselves on July 1st !!!

Best of luck everyone bee lucky 🍀

That makes 3 live colony removals and relocations successfully done in 36 hours !!Did you know between myself and Tom we...
30/05/2026

That makes 3 live colony removals and relocations successfully done in 36 hours !!

Did you know between myself and Tom we have nearly 30 years bee keeping experience and just over a decade of colony removal experience.. 😮

We have moved bees from most places and successfully given them the chance to survive and thrive in life...

We are also fully insured to undertake such work..

This is a removal and relocation from a chimney in laxfield with the colony having previously stung the owners and produced swarms the past couple years so it was time for them to move away..

On opening up this colony first signs showed it was rather inactive due to a lack of room (most of the comb contained old comb set solid with old honey..

As we dug deeper we found that the chimney pot itself was producing the most noise, and that actually the colony was active but restricted to living in the chimney pot alone..

After successfully removing and building out the comb in the pot the queen was located, and they were then rebuild into their new nuc box home..

We returned after dark to relocate them to their new home 🏠. They will really thrive now being given a fully furnished box to live in and room to carry on in life...

The chimney has been tarped up, and is now awaiting a lovely local gent to appear and rebuild shortly....

(With a live removal not only does the colony get to survive but also the void get cleaned out and all wax and honey and comb get removed reducing future problems of more bees, wasps, mice or rats appearing in the void)

The bees are working incredibly hard even with the current heatwave, with the thyme, clover and phacelia honey coming in...
25/05/2026

The bees are working incredibly hard even with the current heatwave, with the thyme, clover and phacelia honey coming in well..

Today we have started on the spring honey harvest on a day of 32oC 🌡️ plus temperatures having a honey kitchen with air conditioning 🥶 was the greatest win. We choose to pull honey supers yesterday in the evening, as wearing a bee suit in these temperatures is not fun..

With a little luck and some rain 🌧️ we're hoping to have some very special honey types, honey comb and all with very distinctive flavours !! 🤤

No.24 The 'Rickinghall' swarm. Nice peaceful swarm that had sat overnight in a farmyard. They made their way into the nu...
24/05/2026

No.24 The 'Rickinghall' swarm. Nice peaceful swarm that had sat overnight in a farmyard. They made their way into the nuc box happily and got moved away to the herb fields for them to build up for the summer flow of honey..

With the current temperatures we're really trying not to be in a bee suit during the day but when the bees need help, it's time to don the suit and keep taking on water.. 💧

Now to spend a couple of days processing and jarring the spring honey... (luckily the bee kitchen has air conditioning, so it will be a rather lovely environment to work in 😊)

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Diss
IP21

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+447890973944

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