East Cararthen Beekeepers Association

EAST CARARTHEN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION>

APRIL NEWS LETTER 2012

Dear Members,

Notes from the executive committee.

John Hall Legacy- it was decided that by purchasing “alternative beekeeping hives” with this money it this will give members a chance to see other methods of keeping bees.
Library- Nikki Grant is in charge of the library and has hada varied selection of new books suggested to him.
Website- we would like to ask if you would consider and have the time and skills to design a website, we feel that the association would benefit from this. Fred Powell has offered to keep it updated, should anyone be kind enough to consider this.
Apiary site- Nicky Grant has agreed to be the new apiary manager and the remaining grant money has been spent on new equipment.
There is a need for the preparation of bilingual literature for the association and the committee is looking for a willing volunteer (offers to the secretary A.S.A.P.).
We are looking into a suitable memorial to Henry Ferguson.
Is there anyone willing to offer there apiary for a” members open day”, the association try and visit a different place at least once a year, this can be extremely interesting seeing how others care for their bees.

PROGRAM for 2012. as from April.

April 12th. Basic beekeeping. Frank Gellatly.

May 10th Queen rearing. Alan Surman.

May 19th-20th Smallholders Show. Builth Wells.

June - Association Apiary Meeting.

July – Members Apiary Meeting.

July – Royal Welsh.

August – LLandeilo Agriculture Show.

August – Cil-y-cwm Agriculture and Horticulture show. This is our honey show.

September – Microscopy evening.

October – Ask the Panel.

November – Quiz with Carmarthen Association.

December – Pre Christmas get together.

SHOW TIME.

Have you ever been in the craft and produce tent at the local Agricultural show and said “I could do that!” well why not “have a go” and let your bees do the work.

The association attends the Llandeilo show and Cil-y-cwm show(which is the association show ) but we do need members to attend or they will cease to exist. Cil-y-cwm Agriculture and Horticulture Show usually held on the August bank holiday, honey classes are:-

2 jars of light honey,
2 jars of medium or dark honey,
2 jars of naturally granulated or 2 jars of creamed honey,
1 cake of bees wax or other beeswax exhibit,
honey cake,
Item of home made beekeeping equipment [not commercially available] and novice class.

This might give you some idea and tempt you to have a go! Last year it was 20p an entry, this is not a lot of money a class .We alsohave our association stand on display at these shows.

WBKA Training Weekend

At the end of February I attended the WBKA beekeeping training weekend at the RWAS showground in Builth Wells. The weekend was intended not only for people running courses but also beekeepers with a couple of years' experience to assist them in helping the next influx of beekeepers. The series of events are funded by the Welsh Regional Cooperative and are part of a national initiative under the Healthy Bees Plan to increase the number of beekeeper trainers and help them plan their training.

Representatives from 12 Welsh beekeeping associations attended the weekend with each association having 2, 3 or more delegates apart from East Carmarthen that had …... only me. We were given interesting & varied presentations on all aspects of beekeeping and training by Bill Cadmore (the BBKA/FERA regional training co-ordinator), Wally and Jenny Shaw from Anglesey (I'm sure you will have read many articles by Wally), Dinah Sweet (WBKA president) and Pam Gregory (author of beekeeping books & many years experience with beekeeping in developing countries). There was also someone called Frank who talked about teaching disease – I'm sure I've seen him somewhere before.

It was a great opportunity to meet beekeepers from our neighbouring associations, namely Lampeter & District and Brecon & Radnor. In fact I had a mutually beneficial conversation with one of the Lampeter members as, whilst picking her brains about poly hives, it transpired that she was just starting up a flock of rare breed chickens that I have been breeding for 16 years.

I didn't sample the RWAS accommodation as I was close to home but I did sample the excellent catering – we were well supplied with tea, coffee, cakes & biscuits all weekend and had a very nice evening meal to fortify us for Frank's evening talk.

I believe that there will be more of these events this year. Do consider attending one of them – it doesn't mean that you will get roped into running courses or giving talks but it will help you to help others improve their beekeeping skills.

Margaret Watson

April Seasonal Notes

Many will have done an initial inspection by now during the warm, dry weather that we have had. Most beekeepers report a good over winter with low losses and colonies building up well. It’s important to be prepared before you open the hive because there are several things you can be doing while the hive population is still relatively low. If you have a spare floor, it’s worth swapping floors so you can clean off any dead bees and sterilise the old one, wash it with washing soda, rinse and scorch dry with a hot air gun or blow torch. Replace any other hive parts that are sub standard and brood frames that you are not happy with, before they get filled with brood. Put new drawn frames in ideally, or foundation adjacent to the brood nest, where they will be drawn out, especially if the colony is given a stimulative feed. This should be done anyway if stores are low.

Check for eggs and brood and that it is healthy, i.e. pearly white, C shaped larvae and even, slightly raised cappings. This is a good time to find the queen and mark her before the hive gets too crowded, this year’s colour isyellow. Also monitor for varroa, you can give a treatment of apiguard in April before putting the supers on if you have neglected varroa treatment and levels are high. This should not normally be necessary if you used it last autumn and did oxalic acid treatment in the winter.

Finally keep a record of the numbers of frames of bees and brood on each inspection and watch them increase. Refer to your notes when swarming season starts and keep a close eye on the strong colonies if you don’t want to lose a swarm. Now is the time to be thinking about spare equipment to hive that swarm or enable an artificial swarm. Strong colonies may also need a super before too long if we get a nectar flow, it’s best to use drawn comb first to induce them through the queen excluder.

Frank Gellatly

For a comprehensive round up of what you should be doing now, have a look at the NBU Best Practice Guideline 6 ‘Spring Checks’

For more information on varroa control

Enter your mite drop figures into the varroa calculator on Beebase if in doubt

‘For centuries it was believed that bees were born from the carcases of dead animals. The 4th book of Virgil’s Georgics instructs the reader in the art of creating a swarm. Roughly translated Virgil instructs...... First, place a bullock in a confined space, block its nostrils and mouth. Next, bludgeon it to death without breaking its skin. Leave the body in a closed room and, once the bones have softened and fermented, you will have a swarm of bees. Sent in by Bridget Macaire.