Monday 10 October 2011

Newsletter October 2011



Dear Beekeeper

Our outdoor season finished with a good crowd, and sunshine. The hives had Apiguard and the inserts removed and stores counted by a good team. The late hot weather and a long ivy season have given colonies far greater amounts of stores than usual. Hopefully the effort of raking and seeding by Len and Karl will bear a good show of grass. Many thanks to Richard for his wax demonstration, perhaps there will be more wax entries for the Show?

Feeding should now be complete; bees cannot take syrup and convert it into stores once the temperature drops. Keep the entrances small, and towards the end of the month put on mouseguards to prevent mice setting up home in your nice warm hive. Have the hive tilted forward slightly to let it drain should water get in. Think about wire netting to protect your hives from woodpeckers.

Thanks to Mary and Richard for support at the Ploughing Match, lots of you visited the stand as well. Thanet and Whitstable beekeepers made it such a friendly day. Congratulations to Richard who won with his honey!

I hope you have all put some Honey Show entries in to Chris Holdstock, he does a great deal of work to ensure smooth running. Entries should be in to him by the 15th. Any Registered or Associate member can enter. Our show is always bustling and demonstrates an impressive range of honeys and bee-related classes.

NB - Confectionery entries don’t have to use your own honey – you may not have any!

Bring jars of honey to the Show that you wish to be sold for you, correctly labelled for sale.

The SE Honey survey is on the Notice Board if yours is lost or can be completed online HERE. Please return by email to Alan or post paper copies directly to him or give to me to bulk post. The survey gives an overview of colony productivity and we get the results in January. It is interesting, so please respond!

Any other information you have lost can be found on the new website, make it your first port of call. Well done Gabrielle!


Maggie