Welcome to the February newsletter. The aim is to offer tips / suggestions each month that may help support your beekeeping.

The first newsletters I remember were those written by Bruce Roberts, who was an amazing Beekeeper and the fount of all beekeepers knowledge, to many of us. After Bruce, Margaret Holdsworth took over, who is a passionate and extremely well-informed beekeeper. Many of my notes and tips are based on their sound experience and knowledge.

Each month I would also like to discuss a disease that we may find in our hives as we check the frames, bees and varroa board, just to remind us of the signs and symptoms that may present with certain conditions.

This month Cathy Moore is going to update us on the Asian Hornet and where we are now with the progress of monitoring it in the UK.

Steve Brown has written about the actions we can take as beekeepers to prepare and protect our Honeybees from the Asian Hornet.

We hope to see you on Wednesday 7th February for our AGM and an update on the Asian Hornet by Cathy Moore.

Tips for the month

• Keep hefting or weighing hives about once a month to make sure colonies have sufficient stores to get through winter.
• Do not disturb the bees by opening hives.
• Make sure there is water near the hive which bees can use to dissolve crystallised stores and fondant.
• Review hive records and plan what to do next year - what queens you want to keep, what queens you want to breed from. How to improve the temperament of your bees.
• Clean and repair hive equipment ready for the Spring, and check your stock of frames, wax, etc and prepare a shopping list.
• Think about doing a little -studying, either through BBKA courses, or your own research. Maybe try to identify one area you would like to become more knowledgeable about and research it.
• Either strap down hives or place a heavy brick or stone on the roof to prevent it being blown off in high winds that often occur in February.

The Spring Convention at Harper Adams has opened its study sessions and workshops so ensure you book the talks that interest you early to prevent disappointment.

Ensure you have registered your apiary on BeeBase so if there is disease located in our area you can be contacted by the bee inspectors to stop it from spreading. BeeBase should also inform you of any Asian Hornet activity within your region too.

Gail Plester

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The Asian or yellow legged hornet

Vespa Velutina is a newly invasive species. It is thought to have first been detected in Europe in 2004, in Bordeaux, in a shipment of ceramics from the far east.

It has a voracious appetite and queens can fly up to about 40 kms to establish new nests. Each nest produces 300 to 400 new queens at the end of the season. They mate, hibernate and build nests in late Spring. The majority of those newly mated queens are lost during the winter. But with such a range of flight the few that survive from each nest can then establish their own some distance away, spreading the species rapidly.

In appearance, the Hornet is smaller (25mm - 30mm) than our native Vespa Crabo ( 30 - 35mm ) has an orange head, yellow legs and a broad yellow stripe on its abdomen

The first, primary, nest is built by the new queen, she lays a few eggs, builds, forages and feeds until the first workers are hatched and developed enough to take on these tasks, at which point she becomes nest based and lays eggs. This nest is described as about the size of a tennis ball and can be found anywhere, in a shed, a disused building, inside a tree, etc. Anywhere that is a little protected from the weather. The secondary nest is a very large one. It can be 1 metre long and half a metre wide. Most are smaller but still larger than we expect the average wasp nest to be. This can also be anywhere, high up in huge trees, inside dense bushes, in roofs etc.

Food. These insects love eating insects, they tear off all parts except for meaty thorax, take the morsel hack to the nest, and come back for more. Honey bees are not their main targets , but a hive presents a dense easy access source of excellent quality nutrition. The bees, larvae, eggs and honey, all in one place. Our bees will be in danger.

What can we do to reduce the threat?

Currently none have been spotted in Warwickshire, but there was a sighting in Oxfordshire. The first foraging queen for this year was spotted in Hastings on January 24th, very early. Usually we have been informed that late February would be the time to see the first queens.

We need to have traps out to check if any are here. However, we need to be careful. A trap does not discriminate, many other insects will also be attracted. If we put a trap out it should be inspected daily, twice daily if possible and other insects released alive.

At the AGM I will have a variety of teams available to look at and discuss traps and how best we can deploy them.

The presence and actions we can take regarding the Asian hornets is a huge subject. I will add to this each month, bring information about research and spread.

Hope to see you at AGM February 7th, to talk more.

I'm happy to field questions, though I don't promise definitive answers.

Cathy Moore

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Asian hornet Action list

ACTION NOW... PREPARE... join in the Branch DIY muzzle and floor solidifying activities, you have been sent an email about this.

Brief Summary;

• Bait stations and traps
• Avoidance... do you have a potential second site?
• Decrease predation Branch action – investigating ways to produce economic DIY versions of Jaberprobe, Harp (very expensive), Belgian Asian Hornet Apishield
• Defence measures – Access denial
• Muzzle the branch has a low cost option planned, see email you have received
• Stop it kit?
• Husbandry
• Weeds = cover
• Deny hornet access under hive
• Replace floors the branch has a low cost option planned, see email you have received
• Hives closer together Early splits
• Ensure good level of stores
• Feed at dusk carefully

Steve Brown