You Could Live In This Beehive!

I'm having a full day filming at Thorne Beekeeping. In this video, I'm going to give you a full tour of the beekeeping shop. So the first thing I noticed when I walked in here was these Asian hornet harps. I've never seen these before, but I've heard about them. Hopefully something we're not going to have to deal with in North Wales. But, you know, the Asian hornets are here and they're here to stay. So second thing that caught my eye here, which I think is really important and a good start to the video, is register with Beebase. Not just applicable to Lincoln, everybody should register with Beebase. Get your apiaries registered. Get on top of any diseases. So these are really popular at this time of year, lovely little candle moulds, silicone moulds. You can see there, you've got like a little gnome, you've got a little Christmas tree, really nice. And then over here you've got all of your Conaghan honey extraction machinery, lots of different extractors, creamers, all of different sizes. And then over here you've got some Thomas Apiculture equipment as well, really good selection of uncapping and extraction machinery. So another thing I've not seen before that's Asian hornet related, a muzzle for basic hive stands. So the idea being that the Asian hornets can't get too close to the entrance to get the bees. They'll still hawk outside the entrance. It isn't a silver bullet, this one, but definitely helps in the fight against the Asian hornet. Nice little item down there, stainless steel manual honey press. Really good if you've got really stubborn heather honey that you just can't get out. And then we've got a wide selection of all of the different bits that go on the beehive. So we've got queen excluders, crown boards, supers, ekes, roofs, a Vivaldi board there with the pillow that's inside it, lots of different types of stands, all the different variants of roof. It really is pretty cool in here. Like, they don't just sell National equipment, they don't just sell Langstroth equipment. You've got Dadant, you've got Commercial, you've got Layens, you've got pretty much every single beehive variant and all of the different bits that you need. Lots of nice, really good quality frames there. I've been around here today looking at all of the frames, how they're made, how they're making these beehives. I was unaware just how big the operation was down here and how much of it is actually made here in Lincoln in the UK. You can see here Western red cedar, perfect boxes there. I think they're either Dadant or commercial. But look at them, not a single blemish on them. Really nice, lovely observation hive. That really is beautiful. And you can see up on the wall there as well, you've got all the different types of hives. So I missed out a few there. You've got the Smith hive, the commercial hive, WBC hive, national hive, obviously Langstroth hive, Dadant hive. They produce so, so much different kit, all of it which fits together for all of the different hive variants. I love you get random stuff like this as well. So you've got a bag of cedar chippings there. That would be perfect for some smoker fuel. I love the smell of cedar. And then you've got your Empire smokers again. I've been here today. I've been filming how they make the Empire smoker here. Everything barring the knob is made in this factory or made within the UK. Empire smoker, brilliant product. I really like the copper one as well. Copper one's absolutely beautiful. And how about this? This is pretty cool. So a multicolour, multi-material WBC hive. That is really cool. I've never seen one in so many colours before. Favourite item in the world, not only in this shop but the world. That is absolutely ginormous. I think they need to turn that into like a chair or something and then I can buy it and then that can be my beekeeping chair. But that is probably the world's biggest beehive. It's built in the style of a WBC But oh my word, that is the coolest thing I think I've ever seen. So as I continue through the shop, we've got loads of different types of sections here. You've got your section racks, Irish sections, wooden sections, Ross round sections, and then all of the ancillary equipment that you need to produce and to package up your sections. Got a nice selection of different bee suits as well. And again, some more observation hives here. Good to see that they've got like a budget variant there as well. But I know if I was getting one, this is definitely the one that I would go for because it is absolutely stunning, and it will last a lifetime as long as you don't drop it and smash the glass and let all of the bees out. Observation hives are the best thing ever if you're doing any market stalls. Really does draw in a crowd and help you sell your honey. So one of the best things about the Thorne store, in my opinion, is the ability to get beeswax in any configuration that you want. Most of the beekeeping manufacturers, yeah, you can get National, you can get Langstroth, But get drone base on some Dadant comb, you're just not getting it unless you get it from Thorns. They're the only place that will do kind of like the more niche beekeeping foundations that people need, and they will do stuff to order as well. And they'll even do it if you bring in your own beeswax, you can get your exact same beeswax turned into your very own foundation for you. But there is a huge amount of beeswax in here. I spent the day going around watching how they turn the crude beeswax into foundation, And it is a really, really cool process. So over here you've got all of your different style of frames. You've got your 14 by 12s, you've got your Smith frames, DN1, commercial shallows. Again, pretty much every single variant of frame that you can imagine. And I watched how these were made in the factory earlier, and it's amazing the amount of work that actually goes into producing all of these frames. First quality, second quality. There is a huge variety of frames here from everyone from the person with a single colony of bees in their back garden up to the biggest of bee farmers. So there we go, a quick look around the beekeeping store of Thorn Beekeeping. I'm going to hang around here for a little bit longer and see if anything takes my fancy.