Dear Member,
The sharp-eyed amongst you, like Bruce, will have noticed two errors in last month’s newsletter - the date for Tradex at Stoneleigh is the 5th of March (not the 10th’) and our AGM was on the 17th February, not the 18th’ Apologies to all those misled by my errors.
The date for the AGM also appeared incorrectly in W13 and this may have accounted for the rather poor turn out for the AGM - I hope not too many of you turned up to a dark and unwelcoming Friends’ Meeting House on the Thursday. You will have missed an interesting talk by our chair, Steve Brown, on Apitherapy. According to some research quoted by Steve, beekeepers live approximately 3 years longer than the rest of the population. Good news for all of us and something to encourage new beekeepers into the hobby.
You may have seen the obituary in Beecraft to Cohn Butler who died in January aged 103 - obviously a living embodiment of this research. Butler was responsible for conducting wide ranging research into queen pheromone - where it is produced, how it is distributed in the colony, how it influences cell building and how it attracts drones. Most of us are familiar with the Butler Queen cage which he developed.
At the AGM the current committee was re-elected, with the exception of Mike West who has now retired, and Peter Hams who indicated he no longer wished to be programme secretary. We are therefore currently looking for another person to join the committee, and for someone to take on the role of programme secretary (identifying and arranging speakers for our monthly meetings).
If we continue with the Branch Apiary, we will also need an Apiary manager. We also were not able to identify a Chair elect for next year. Anyone interested in any of the above should contact one of the committee.
The date for our next speaker, Graham Royle, is definitely correct, so can I urge you to come to his talk. I heard Graham speak at last year’s BBKA Spring Convention and was impressed by his ability to communicate simply and clearly. He is an experienced beekeeper and educator I am sure it will be a fascinating evening and give us all something to think about.
Spring is definitely in the air with crocuses and snowdrops heralding the change in the season even though the temperatures are belatedly giving us a taste of winter, so the beekeeping season is round the corner.
Tips for the month:
Now is the time to make sure you have some clean hive floors so that later in the month you can lift you brood box onto a new hive floor without disturbing the bee too much. If you only have one spare floor you can replace one floor and then scrape and flame the old floor you removed to do the same with your second hive.
If like me you have not got round to cleaning and flaming all your spare equipment. there is still time to do it before the season starts in earnest. Try to discipline yourself during the year to keep clean and used equipment separate. Remember that beekeepers are the biggest spreaders of bee disease. • Monitor varroa mite drop over 7 days and treat if you have a drop of 2 mites per day.
Check that your bees are bringing in pollen and if the weather starts to improve consistently so that bees are able to take cleansing flights at least weekly, you can feed with a 1:1 sugar solution through a contact feeder. If you start to feed now you will need to continue until there is a consistent nectar flow. ie higher temperatures and nectar sources available.
Don’t be tempted to look at the brood nest too early or the bees may kill the queen. Wait until the flowering currant (ribes sanguinium) is in flower and temperatures are about 15° C.
Margaret Holdsworth