Dear Beekeeper
We had an excellent talk in March on small scale queen rearing from Terry Clare; he said it was a pleasure to see such a thriving association, around 70 present!
He emphasised that any of you who has successfully done an artificial swarm is a queen rearer.
The main work has to be put in before queen cells appear: the colony must be well-fed and disease free, with the desirable characteristics we all want; docile, non-swarmy, productive and thrifty with their winter stores.
Many thanks to Mavis, Jenny, Jill & Wendy who coped with the tea stampede!
Roy Dyche was glad to receive so many pairs of gloves for Ugandan beekeepers.
IN THE APIARY
The fine weather continues, but be careful of cold nights, the entrances don’t need to be fully open as yet. The DDBKA colonies are building up, but 2 were united mid-month, a queen had gone.
I have seen some very large colonies with many drones and well developed queen cells.
So, remembering Terry Clare’s advice, you must have spare equipment ready, a nuc box or a spare brood box and dummy boards to stop swarming.
The yellow of rape fields is very evident.
So some jars may be needed!
Our hive loan scheme and hive adoption is also available to beginners. We will have 4 National hives to be borrowed to give an inexpensive start to a beekeeping life. Let me know if you are looking for a mentor to give beginner support.
BEGINNERS AT DDBKA APIARY
I will not be doing a pre-meeting theory session at the apiary this year. Instead we have ear-marked one hive as the beginners’ hive and we will study this hive through the season making joint decisions about what is happening. Bring your bee suit if you have one, otherwise there are ones you can borrow. Bring some marigold gloves and wellies.
I have planned two linked beginners’ theory days on October 4th and 11th. Application forms will be in the next newsletter.
Mary Hill
(DDBKA Training secretary)
Maggie
He emphasised that any of you who has successfully done an artificial swarm is a queen rearer.
The main work has to be put in before queen cells appear: the colony must be well-fed and disease free, with the desirable characteristics we all want; docile, non-swarmy, productive and thrifty with their winter stores.
Many thanks to Mavis, Jenny, Jill & Wendy who coped with the tea stampede!
Roy Dyche was glad to receive so many pairs of gloves for Ugandan beekeepers.
IN THE APIARY
The fine weather continues, but be careful of cold nights, the entrances don’t need to be fully open as yet. The DDBKA colonies are building up, but 2 were united mid-month, a queen had gone.
I have seen some very large colonies with many drones and well developed queen cells.
So, remembering Terry Clare’s advice, you must have spare equipment ready, a nuc box or a spare brood box and dummy boards to stop swarming.The yellow of rape fields is very evident.
So some jars may be needed!
Our hive loan scheme and hive adoption is also available to beginners. We will have 4 National hives to be borrowed to give an inexpensive start to a beekeeping life. Let me know if you are looking for a mentor to give beginner support.
BEGINNERS AT DDBKA APIARY
I will not be doing a pre-meeting theory session at the apiary this year. Instead we have ear-marked one hive as the beginners’ hive and we will study this hive through the season making joint decisions about what is happening. Bring your bee suit if you have one, otherwise there are ones you can borrow. Bring some marigold gloves and wellies.
I have planned two linked beginners’ theory days on October 4th and 11th. Application forms will be in the next newsletter.
Mary Hill
(DDBKA Training secretary)
Maggie
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