DD Bees

22/07/2026

🐝🌼 Our bees are making the most of the fantastic summer forage just now!

From Phacelia and ox-eye daisies to creeping thistles and a wide variety of other nectar-rich wildflowers, our bees are busy collecting the nectar and pollen that will become this year’s delicious DD Bees Summer Honey. Every apiary has its own mix of flowers, so each batch of summer honey has its own unique flavour and character. 🍯

If you look closely at the worker bee on the creeping thistle in photo 3, you may notice the slightly tattered edges of her wings. During the summer, worker bees live for only around six weeks. They spend their lives foraging, raising the next generation and supporting the colony. Those worn wings are a sign of thousands of flights and a lifetime of hard work for the benefit of the colony.

We still have some of our delicious Spring Soft Set and Spring Runny Honey available, and our Summer Honey should be ready soon. We’ll keep you posted as the harvest gets underway!

Thank you, as always, for supporting DD Bees. 💛🐝🍯

15/07/2026

13/07/2026

We're delighted to announce that our DD Bees Honey is now available at Cel's Fresh Fish 😁

Next time you're visiting Cel's Fresh Fish shop in Arbroath for their fantastic fresh seafood, pick up a jar of runny or soft set. The runny tastes amazing drizzled over Cel’s delicious hot smoked salmon 🍯🐟💛.

Many thanks to Cel’s Fresh Fish for stocking our honey and for supporting local 🫶.

12/07/2026

🐝 Meet One of DD Bees’ Home-Reared Queens! 👑

Back in May, one of our Arbroath colonies raised its own replacement queen rather than us introducing one.

She mated successfully and has been laying extremely well ever since, producing a strong, consistent brood pattern. Today, we marked her with a small white spot so she will be easier to find during future inspections.

The first photo shows her before marking, with the others showing her afterwards. The mark does not harm her and helps us inspect the colony more quickly with less disturbance.

A queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day at the height of summer. Although this queen is only around two months old, she could lay well over 100,000 eggs by the end of the season.

Watching a colony successfully raise and establish its own queen is always one of the highlights of beekeeping.

🐝 DD Bees – Local honey, produced by local bees and local flowers here in Angus.

10/07/2026

🐝 From Egg to Honey Bee – Nature’s Incredible Journey 🐝

These close-up photographs were taken during a routine inspection last week at one of our Arbroath apiaries.

Although they may look similar at first glance, each photo captures a different stage in the life of a future worker bee.

🥚 Photo 1 – Freshly laid eggs

If you look closely, you’ll see tiny white eggs standing upright in the bottom of the cells. The queen lays a single egg in each cell, and after about three days it hatches.

🐛 Photo 2 – Young larvae

The eggs have now hatched into tiny larvae. At this stage they’re fed almost continuously by thousands of dedicated nurse bees, receiving a rich diet that allows them to grow at an astonishing rate.

🐝 Photo 3 – Older larvae

Just a few days later the larvae have become much larger, almost filling each cell. Within the next 3–4 days the worker bees will seal these cells with a wax cap. Inside, the larva transforms into a pupa before emerging around 12 days later as a fully developed young worker bee, ready to begin its life helping the colony.

📅 From the day the queen lays the egg to the day a new worker bee emerges takes just 21 days.

It’s incredible to think that every honey bee in the hive has followed exactly the same journey—from a tiny egg no bigger than a grain of rice to one of the thousands of workers that forage, care for the young, build wax comb and help produce the delicious local honey that ends up in our jars.

🍯 Every thriving colony depends on this remarkable cycle of life, repeated thousands of times throughout the season.

💬 Did you know it takes only 21 days for a worker bee to develop from an egg into an adult?

🐝 DD Bees – Local honey, produced by local bees, from local flowers.

10/07/2026

🐝 A Colourful Look Inside One of Our Hives 🌼🍯

These photographs were taken during a routine inspection last week at one of our Arbroath apiaries.

At first glance, it looks like an ordinary honeycomb… but look a little closer and you’ll notice the incredible range of colours inside the cells.

These aren’t filled with honey – they’re packed with pollen, often called bee bread. Worker bees collect pollen from flowers, mix it with a little nectar and enzymes, and store it in the comb. It’s the colony’s main source of protein and is essential for raising healthy young bees.

🌼 Every colour tells a story.

The yellows, oranges, greens and deep purples all come from different flowers growing across the local countryside and gardens. From the colours we can see, our bees have likely been visiting a wonderful mix of summer forage, including bramble, white clover, rosebay willowherb, knapweed and many other wildflowers.

A varied diet helps keep the colony healthy and strong, and it also contributes to the unique character of our local honey. Every jar is a reflection of the flowers blooming within a few miles of the hive, which is why no two seasons ever taste exactly the same.

It’s amazing to think that thousands of bees, each weighing less than a gram, work together to create something so remarkable.

🍯 Nature’s own recipe, made right here in Angus.

🐝 DD Bees – Local honey, produced by local bees, from local flowers.

02/07/2026

So grateful for DH Robertson’s ongoing support 🐝❤️. If you haven’t already, pop in to try some of their amazing produce. Their hot and spicy chicken kebabs are a personal favourite 👍

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

LOCAL HONEY is back in stock @ D H ROBERTSONS

🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

24/06/2026

Wow can’t believe how popular our DD Bees honey is again this year! So thankful for all your ongoing support, it is very much appreciated. Our hard working colonies are at the heart of everything we do 🐝🍯🥰.

23/06/2026

One of our stunning 2025 Queens extremely busy laying between 2 and 3 thousand eggs a day to create more wonderful DD bees to make even more delicious honey for us all to enjoy 🍯. The colour denotes the year that the queen was born and blue is for years ending in a 5 or 0 💙They’re truly fascinating 🐝.

PM me if you’d like a jar of our delicious spring honey. 😎

21/06/2026

Our spring harvest honey is ready to share! 🍯

Fresh, golden, and straight from the hive, our delicious DD Bees honey is truly delightful. We can't wait for you to taste the natural sweetness our bees have worked so hard to create 💛

🐝