Friday 17 June 2016

Newsletter June 2016

Dear Beekeeper

The rapeseed flowers are well over by now & you should have extracted your spring honey if you were lucky enough to have any. I still have reports of queens being slow to mate & begin to lay, there was a very cold week at the start of June which would not have helped mating prospects. At Eythorne, inspecting weekly, we have found a couple of queens dead in their cells, always a sad sight, and meaning that a couple of weeks have been wasted while waiting for her to emerge. The bee season is short even if all goes well. Patience is needed.

Keep up your weekly inspections, make plans to deal with swarming signs – queen cells with an egg & white royal jelly. A sure sign that they have intentions.

Don’t do nothing, swarms are a nuisance & worry to the public, you will also lose half your workers.

Please let me know if you are still looking for swarms or a nuc.


Exam Time

All good wishes to the candidates taking their Basic Assessment [the first stage in BBKA examinations] on June 18th at Eythorne. Mary has prepared them well, hope the weather does its bit.

Bees Abroad

The latest news from the bees abroad project can be found HERE!

Best wishes

Maggie

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