GBKA Registered 
Charity Number : 1014600
|
GBKA Registered
|
You
should finish feeding towards the beginning of this month. Remember the bees
need up to 40lbs of stores for the winter. When you try to heft the hive it
should feel as though it is attached to the stand. Fit
mouse guards and take woodpecker precautions if necessary. Remove
entrance blocks if you do not have open floors, they need plenty of ventilation
during the winter. Store
supers very carefully to keep out wax moth and mice. Make
sure you have removed any Bayvarol or Apistan strips. This
beautiful trophy was given to the association by Ivyn in memory of his wife. It
is awarded each year at the AGM to the person who, in the opinion of the
members, has contributed most to the art of beekeeping during the current year. Please
telephone Janet, 01291 690331, and give her the name of your nominee. The secretary and chairman make the final
decision. Comment We
have had such a glorious September that I suspect some of you have found honey
in the supers that have been extracted and replaced to be dried out? If you are
lucky your bees may not need feeding, but I always find that they will not store
in the brood box until I have removed the supers altogether. This year I put
them back for ‘drying’ on top of an eke, and that does seem to have helped a
bit. A strong colony can always be left
with a super of honey on top—but I rather think the gurus will tell you to
remove the queen excluder. Otherwise the bees could starve because the cluster
won’t come through it. Then you have to be a bit nippy in the spring or the
queen is laying in it and there you are running your bees on a brood and a half.
The alternative is to put the super under the brood box. This works better from
the queen laying angle but does involve a lot of heavy—we hope—lifting. It
also raises the cluster further above those mesh floors. I heard someone at
Apimondia recommending an eke under the brood box, he said it helped keep the
bees warm. I tried that once and by the time I went in in the spring it was full
of brace comb. So I do think it is a good idea, but put the eke under the mesh
floor, so it works as a draught reducer but the bees can’t get into it. Rattus
has written about Apimondia for us. The most interesting thing we find is
leaning about different methods of beekeeping in other countries and hearing
about the problems that they face and how they overcome them. Of course most of
it is therefore not relevant to British beekeeping and some people might find it
a waste of time. We find it fascinating. The Africans we met knew far more about
top bar hives and extracting honey from them than any of the lecturers. Bridget Some
remedial work is needing to be done at the apiary site. A bit of levelling will
make it easier to mow and there are frames to be made up. Please can you get in
touch with John if you can help so that a working party can be arranged at a
convenient time. John
Holden 01874 831273 This
was a good day out and the weather was kind to everyone. Thank you all the
helpers, it makes a great difference if there are plenty of people to do some of
the talking. The observation hive caused a lot of interest, several names were
gathered for the beginners classes. And 47lbs of association honey were sold.
(Price £3.50) The
committee is anxious to recruit new members. Please think HARD about this and if
you think you can help and would like to discuss it, do phone me or any member
of the committee to find out how much time and effort is involved. We are
urgently in need of fresh faces and new ideas and hope to be able to rejuvenate
ourselves after the AGM. Anyone with financial skills please consider becoming
our treasurer. Next
year’s programme has been skilfully arranged by Ken Key and we have an
interesting selection of speakers coming. You will see who they are when you get
the programme card. Several are
going to require overnight accommodation. If you can manage to do this please
would you get in touch with Ken so that he can make the appropriate
arrangements. Tel: 01873 852512
Bridget Apimondia
2005 – Some Personal Reflections Apimondia
2005 drew more than 3,500 visitors from 101 countries to Dublin for a week
in August. That one observation is a testimony to the immense interest in bees
around the world as well as to the recreational, social and economic importance
of these creatures to mankind. However, a visit to Apimondia soon makes one
aware of the amazing diversity of beekeepers, beekeeping techniques and the bees
themselves. I suppose that this diversity is not so surprising, given the wide
natural geographic distribution of bees and the desire of beekeepers to maintain
colonies in the contrasting climates of Central Africa and Greenland. Other
challenges are posed by the relentless spread of pests and diseases, these being
as diverse as slow paralysis virus and the small hive beetle. Beekeepers tend to
be inquisitive by nature and, when presented with these challenges, respond in a
creative way. The greatest thing about Apimondia is that it serves as a focus
for beekeepers to share their experiences, problems, ideas and inventions with
anyone who will listen, for a whole five days. It is easy to detect the
enthusiasm of the hobbyist who can immerse himself in a prolonged discussion of
the pros and cons of oxalic acid treatment without being reminded that the
washing up is still piled high on the draining board. The
unique environment provided by Apimondia also serves to widen horizons. For
example, the workshops on Beekeeping for Rural Development organised by Nicola
attracted large numbers to learn about the construction and operation of top bar
hives. Many of us were as fascinated by John Donaghue’s humorous commentary as
by his skill with the saw in his construction of the hive. When asked after a
particularly energetic saw cut which side of the pencil line he made his
incision, John looked puzzled. The questioner followed up by asking whether or
not the line could be seen on the section in hand. John looked at the section
and then at the questioner and, with a twinkle of the eye, responded “well, I
can see half of it”. I suspect that few of us who witnessed this performance
will actually make ourselves top bar hives. It was a lot of fun, though. There
were also the more serious bits. The illustrated descriptions, by Peter Neumann
and James Ellis, of what we can expect when the small hive beetle visits our
colonies were sufficient to strike the fear of God into the most hardened
campaigner. The Danish Beekeepers, including Apimondia President Asger Jørgensen,
highlighted the likely plight of the black bees resident on the Island of Læsø,
should the Danish Ministry of Agriculture pursue proposals to renege on its
policy of maintaining the island as a conservation area. It is strange how
politics starts to interfere at a time when there is growing interest in the
conservation of what many regard as the “native bees”. On the subject of bee
ancestry, Dorian Pritchard gave a fascinating account of the use of DNA
profiling to construct pedigree diagrams of the relationships of queen lines.
This demonstrates one of the many situations where modern scientific advances
can contribute to beekeeping. The
poster sessions, the exhibition and the coffee shop all provided endless
opportunities for networking, the thing at which beekeepers really excel. The
somewhat antiquated venue of the Royal Dublin Society was brought to life by
five days of animated conversation. I suppose that the crowning moment was Ceri
Collingborn winning the title of Honey Queen for the UK against stiff worldwide
competition. At least it gave us just the excuse we needed for sinking a couple
of pints of Guinness – an essential aspect of Dublin’s cultural life.
Rattus
|
Whilst the domains gbka.co.uk & gbka .org .uk are owned by G Cole. The web pages under these domains are published for the Gwent Beekeepers association and its members , in order to publicise our association's news, aims, activities, and the art of beekeeping.
|
