Tuesday 19 July 2011

Newsletter July 2011

Dear Beekeeper
There was a large crowd for Tony’s funeral, all aspects of his life represented; family, seafaring, bowling and beekeeping. Len has sent a donation of £160 from us to the RNLI in his memory.

In the apiary, the rapid storing of nectar which had started at the end of June has been slowed considerably by the cooler,windy, wet weather. Bees have been consuming their stores in the supers, but at least no longer need feeding to cover the lack of nectar at the start of June.
The swarming impulse is mostly over, it’s been a very active season, swarms in post boxes, swarms from nucs etc, but the bees should now be concentrating on filling their hives with stores.
Thanks to Karl, Mary and Jill for help with looking through the hives last month, all but one have now successfully requeened themselves, but can I find the new queens???

5 of our members have passed the Basic Beekeeping examination, the first step.
Well done to Chris Evans, Mannetta Leigh, Chris Nicol, David Roberts and Aniela Smith!
Thanks to Jan for organising it and especially to Mary for teaching them so well [she deserves her trip to Buckingham Palace on the 19th]

I have been alerted by the National Bee Unit to ensure that you are all aware that the wasp menace is starting early this year. They can rob a colony of honey very efficiently, especially if it is small [a nuc] or weak.

Reduce the entrance to an inch or less, make wasp traps from a teaspoon of jam and water – NOT honey - mixed in a jam jar with wasp sized holes punched in the lid. Hang in a nearby tree or place near hives. They will happily drown themselves.

Maggie