Welcome to the August 2025 Newsletter from Rugby Beekeepers

Message from our Chair
Hi all, August is here, so it’s the start of the bee winter, though the height of our summer. I've been struck by the large number of wasps in my garden this year. Reducing the size of the entrances on your hives can help your bees to defend against wasps, but weak hives are often lost as they cannot defend themselves as well. I have already heard of some of our members losing colonies to wasps, with every last cell cleared of larvae, pupa, honey and pollen.

I was in France in July and saw my first Asian Hornet up close and personal. I have seen all the pictures lining up AH with the European one, where the European Hornet is larger. What the pictures don't really show is the AH has more bulk. Its body mass is bigger, quite a sight, photos don't do justice. It was a persistent critter with a taste for rosè wine, which ultimately had to be sacrificed to the cause and a new glass sought!

Jersey, which is our benchmark for the AH fight, continues to have the highest number ever. By August 3rd they had identified 342 nests, to put that into perspective, last year there were 80 by that date. In the UK numbers remain low and almost confined to Kent and Sussex, but please be vigilant. We have several international distribution centres on our patch and that is a route in for insects to hitchhike.

Enjoy the sunshine, harvest your honey and start winter prep. Remember most varroa treatments work best in warm weather.

Cathy Moore

Message from Gail Plester Yes, August again, if you have not already completed the extraction process, like myself, you should have a plan in mind. Last year it seems a few of us had to extract again later in August and still be able to leave a full super on each hive for winter. Others were not so lucky however, I do believe after speaking to beekeepers across the county it must have been associated with the crop/hedgerow dispersion at the time, as there seemed to be a true demarcation line between us all. Some members appear to have had a huge OSR honey crop, whilst others had none.

Generally, once the extraction is completed it’s a good time to check for varroa and treat bees whilst the weather is still warm [several of the treatments are temperature sensitive] others, such as Thymol based ones, require removal of supers to prevent honey getting tainted.

Steve Brown has shared his experience of a product called ‘Honey-B-Gone’ to clear supers, see below.

For reference, BBKA/National Bee Unit have useful articles on late summer and winter feeding along with varroa treatments.

At the Branch apiary last Sunday Martin and Kim led a session on varroa treatment and preparation, which was well attended by new beekeepers. I was amazed to see how the new beekeeper’s confidence, knowledge and observation skills had truly increased over the weeks, a great credit to the Apiary management and teaching. The apiary takes a great deal of time to monitor and organise, I would like to thank Kim for all his diligent work in the background and Martin for supporting sessions each month.

Do not forget to save/collect your spare wax in a box to render and process. Wax can be exchanged for foundation at the conventions or used to make candles, polish, soaps, creams, etc. Please read up on the safety regulations before trying to sell products you have made. Also, your insurance only covers you for selling pure hive products, i.e. honey or wax, so you may also need to check this too. Many articles are available on rendering and hive products.

Things to consider over August;

• Wasps are definitely more troublesome this year, sadly I am aware of hives destroyed by their presence. - Mitigate by small entrances and care with feeding in apiaries
• Check for varroa levels and treat accordingly
• Plan the winter feeding for the individual hives. Your colony will need about 20kg of stores to get through the winter
• To check on hive stores, practice hefting the hives maybe or using scales as some people do
• Clip undergrowth around hives, brambles can be vicious and a massive trip hazard when carrying items
• Do try to keep your apiaries clean and free of debris that may encourage unwanted insects or vermin

Gail Plester

Extracting and excluding the bees, by Steve Brown

Over the years I have tried a variety of things for excluding the bees from the supers prior to extracting the honey. I have designed my own crown boards and have found that with rhomboids I could achieve good results. My problem was that to extract four supers off one hive would involve putting the rhomboids on the night before, removing the supers, going back after extraction and setting up the next two, removing those two and extracting and finally putting them back. This was 5 contacts over at least three days. It was weather dependent and time consuming, especially going to out apiaries.

A brief flirtation with using a garden blower was not successful. Even the top of the range 18 Volt rechargeable system did not shift as many bees as I would have liked.

This year I decided to read about and watched the videos to purchase ‘Honey-B-Gone’. Essentially you spray a solution of oils on to a card which is like a large 10-inch square beer mat. The solution is bee friendly, does not accumulate in wax and does not taint the honey. The impregnated beer mat is put on top of the Super and the roof is put back on. It literally takes 5 minutes to set up and on a hot sunny day with sun on the metal roof the super will be cleared in 10 to 15 minutes. I can vouch for the fact that this really did work.

For me the expense was worth it, both in saved time, and at least half of the cost was recouped in mileage not driving to the out apiaries. The video at Thornes mentions that it works much better on a hot sunny day when the metal roof is warm. This is definitely correct. The response is varied on cooler cloudy days and my experience with a hive that was in the shade was less good. To me it had a great advantage at home. If the rare combination of having a bit of time coincides with a sunny day, I can nip down the garden clear and extract a super in less than an hour.

I am convinced that the positives more than outweigh the negatives with this product. I do question whether it will work as well in late May with the spring honey. Though this year it was hotter in May and June than July/August.

I am happy to chat over my experiences at our meetings when they start in the autumn.

Steve Brown