Bees, Bees, More Bees...and Some Bantams!
Hungry Bin Winner
We were lucky enough to have a visit from Hungry Bin designer Ben Bell earlier this month, and we all enjoyed welcoming him to Omlet HQ and talking to him about composting. Unfortunately we couldn't convince him to emigrate from New Zealand to work here permanently but he did do a great job of answering all the wormy questions you sent it. You can find most of the questions and answers on the FAQ page of our Worm Composting Guide. And this was the Hungry Bin winning question, from Pia:
Q) I was struck by the fact that a worm’s brain is apparently called a ganglion. What came first, the worm brain, or the lump often found in wrists in humans, which a doctor earlier this year told me is traditionally cured by being whacked with a bible? And why on earth do they share a name?
A) The only person that can reliably answer this question is Charles Darwin, who wrote a book called “The role of earthworms in the formation of vegetable mould with observations of their habits.”
Couple United by Bees
Showing your unity in a relationship usually comprises of buying a house together, getting a new pet or getting hitched, but one couple in China have chosen to do something pretty off-the-wall to show their love. They covered themselves from head to toe in bees! How bee-zarre.
We've heard of bee-bearding before, but usually this involves one person and only a few thousand bees on their face. So it's very unusual to see two people, embraced, and enveloped in just under 1 million of the buzzing insects.
Luckily, this couple aren't new to bees. Zhang Wei is a bee farmer, and he had been stung by over 400 bees in a previous activity. He chose to take part in this contest wearing only his underwear...while his wife Yongli opted for trousers, long sleeved top and netted hat. (Sensible woman).
According to the judges, the key to attracting the most bees to your body is having 'a peaceful mind and courage', so to attract a 96.5kg swarm, they must have been very calm and courageous indeed!
Tweet of the Week
Not following us on Twitter yet? You should be! Find out the latest news before anyone else and keep an eye on what we're up to! Click here to join us now!
This week's TOTW was tweeted by @tanya_weaver
"My @omlet hive was a buzz of activity yesterday at my 1st inspection. Found the queen & named her Freddie. http://girlmeetsbee.blogspot.co.uk/ #beekeeping "
Freddie!? Now that is bee-rilliant!
Win a £50 Voucher!
Philip sent us a great picture of his Beehaus this month. The green Beehaus is a buzzing hive of activity, with his year two colony hard at work, and we think they must be enjoying getting out in the sunshine after the rainy weather we had in early May.
We love seeing photos of the Omlet products being enjoyed by people and pets, and uploading your pics to the website is easier than ever. Just find your product on the website and click on 'Upload a Photo'. As long as the photo isn't too dark or blurry we will use it on the website and pay you £1 for each one. If that wasn't good enough, we will choose one photo every month to win a £50 voucher! So snap those eglus, aprons and egg cups and start earning some eggstra cash today!
Beehaus Scores Top Marks
The Beehaus got a storming review on the Talking With Bees blog last week. Rated a 5 out of 5 by blogger Roger, the verdict was “this is the beehive that I would buy if I lived in the city, lacked space or only wanted one hive.”
This beekeeping genius bee-lieves that the benefits of the Beehaus include allowing easy inspection of the bees, ergonomic height, light supers, good sized brood chamber, triple insulation and good swarm management (to name but a few). This chap knows what he's talking about...
Talking with Bees is a buzzing blog written by a man that thought beekeeping could be the key to sanity. It seemed to work for him, so if you want to give it a go, why not introduce your own Beehaus to the garden this Spring? Click here for more info!
Buy your own Beehaus today for £499!
A Sweet Offer for Everyone
It was National Honey Week earlier this month, and we missed it, doh! But we thought we'd have a bee-lated celebration with an offer on our delicious jarred honey. This week get 25% off the Cotswold Creamed Honey and Pollen Enriched Oxfordshire Honey and enjoy the sweet taste of honey at an even sweeter price. Honey is great on toast, in cakes and drizzled on your bowl of porridge, but a spoonful can also help keep the doctor at bay, because it can help to prevent hayfever.
To get your discount, simply add your honey to your shopping basket and enter this voucher code: HONEYOFFER25 Offer valid until 31st May.
Guardsman Egg Cup Set of 2
One of the best things about visiting London is watching the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. But now you can eggsperience this entertaining event much closer to home...every morning...and right on your very breakfast table! They might take a little more encouragement than those smart fellas at the palace, but given a nudge in the right direction, these Guardsman Egg Cups will perform meggnificently.
Just be on guard when introducing them to your toast soldiers, because they have been known to be quite competitive!
This week the McDonoughs tell us why their bantams are stars!
About You
We are Tony, Yvonne, Lucy and Ruby - avid chicken keepers living on the Wirral, the proud owners of four Pekin Bantams that live in our back garden in our lovely Eglu Go.
About Your Hens
Our flock comprises of Mrs Buckland a lovely a partridge pekin and the matriarch of the flock, always busy telling the others what to do. Her name came about following a summer holiday to cornwall last year when we visited Buckland Abbey, the former home of Sir Francis Drake. It was here we met some Bantams and were smitten! We came home and 4 weeks later we started keeping Bantams and the rest as they say is history!
Next comes Beaker she is a lemon cuckoo pekin bantam, she is my wife Yvonne’s. She gets her name from the fact that she has a deformed beak which bends to the right. When we saw her my wife fell instantly in love with her, she had been bullied and had lost many feathers. We took her home gave her some TLC and she has blossomed into a beautiful bantam. She can be a little highly strung and has a fantastic hopping motion which normally means she is first to treats!
Next comes Buffy a Buff coloured pekin bantam so named by my two year old daughter Ruby. Ruby tends to concentrate giving treats to just her bantam as a result Buffy is the largest of our girls and will shortly be put on a diet!
Last but not least comes Alice who belongs to my five year old daughter Lucy. Named after Alice in wonderland. She is a black and white mottled pekin bantam, the most laid back of our flock, the escape artist. Always last to go to bed and first up in the morning. She is our most productive bantam, probably laying 4-5 eggs per week, can be very cheeky and she likes a cuddle.
Future Plans
So thats our flock, plans are already being made for a larger or second eglu, more of the garden to be given over to the girls and after the summer holidays this year we intend to add to the flock. We cant wait to get them! In the meantime we have eggs a plenty enjoyed by us, family, friends, work colleagues and neighbours!
