How it all started - Beers & The Bees

Our Honey & Beeswax Journey Begins..

I think all of us can agree that 2020 certainly gave us some more time at home...

It was May, lockdown 1.0 was taking hold here in the UK so I decided to move back to my hometown in Essex. With a minimum of 4 weeks in complete isolation, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity to take on a new challenge...

One evening sitting in the garden, I was persuaded to clear out the shed which was long over due. To my surprise, at the back of the shed was my old bunk bed from my childhood (god knows what it was doing there)...

I decided to ponder on the idea of upcycling the wood, I had no idea what to do with it but I wanted to make something in my spare time after work, it not like I had much else to do....

It was getting warmer, another night in the garden but this time with a couple of cold beers after a brutal 10km run...After a few more bottles, I came across a video online which showcasing an absolute corker custom made beehive.

The Light Bulb Moment...

Armed with a healthy level of alcohol dancing through my bloodstream, a notepad and a new formed interest in this custom beehives, I started to look into these creatures and their homes a little more.

One video lead to the next, then another, and another...I was hooked - After a few hours, I now understand the basics of these creatures and how they like to live to some degree.

Believe it or not - Beehive dimensions are very precise, too small the bees will swarm and the logistics of the hive wont work....Too big then the bees will fill all the empty space with something called 'brace comb' which will cause no end of problems when inspecting your hive.

Taking my new found knowledge of beehive dimensions and the basics of how these creatures work ( yes I am a nerd ), I decided to have a measure up of the bunk bed slats on the off chance I could make it work....

I squared up the slats, as expected it was too big.... But (and here comes the "light bulb" moment)....It was big enough to fit a hive inside.

Apparently some beekeepers insulate their hives in the winter, and a beehive casing such as this would be perfect for that ( If I failed then I suppose it would make a great garden feature ).

Build It And They Will Come...

The build starts, working on the masterpiece a little more every evening, after two weeks and a lot of tinkering my creation was complete... I now have a beehive case, an internal breeding chamber, no bees and the most inexperienced beekeeper in the world.

My mother starts to understand where this is all going and understandably, she becomes very much against the idea of this idiot becoming a beekeeper in her back yard.... She calls a halt to the project an demands this Bee house is used as a garden feature and NOT a fully functional beehive.

A couple more beers later and another Youtube rabbit hole in " how to lure bees into a beehive" another plan was formulated.

We were in the middle of swarming season (late spring), with a little lemon grass oil and some sugar water it made a perfect lure for wandering bees looking for a new home....

The phone call arrives... Within 48 hours I have a very angry mother who is explaining that thousands of bees are now circulating her garden like a sea of locus!! 

I was shocked that this plan actually worked, and now a little overwhelmed with what to do next! Luckily my mum knew a childhood friend who, believe or not was actually a beekeeper ( the man I now call...Sensei ) and he came to the rescue.

He gave me a few pointers on what to do, how to handle them and what diseases to look out for....Over the summer Sensei and I regularly checked the hive progress and I was HOOKED....It was a steep learning curve in my first year, but to watch them grow and eventually have a little excess honey towards the end of the year was very good indeed!

The Natural Hive Co Is Born ...

The bees are in place and growing well, candles are being made from excess wax, and my colony are working through their first winter.

With this in mind and the bees hunkered down until spring, I decided to start putting the framework in place for expansion...We built the website, we have made enough beeswax candles to light up Europe, and ordered 10 new hives with 10 colony's for next season.

We have a series of different candles available to you all, we have some major plans for world domination in the beeswax / honey and are very excited for next season, we hope you have enjoyed our humorous but exciting journey so far and we hope you enjoy our products!

Here are some progress of pics of where it all started, enjoy!