Welcome to the April 2025 Newsletter from Rugby Beekeepers

Message from Cathy Moore
It is predicted that we are to enjoy a warm springtime, great for us and the bees, but sadly also good for the Asian Hornets, now officially referred to as the ‘yellow legged hornet’. The Queens fly comfortably when the temperature is above 13 degrees, and there is now plenty of food available for them as we enter Spring. Do please watch out for the start of their primary nests, which can be anywhere, sheds are popular locations. Their primary nests look very much like a wasp’s nest.

Please add the Asian Hornet app to your phone in readiness, it is available from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

For those of you who have not had a chance to read the BBKA article about effects of AH inbreeding, it appears there is a chance that as the gene pool is quite small, inbreeding could be causing queens to become sterile. There may be hope yet!

Gail Plester Welcome to April and the start of our new year of exciting beekeeping. I imagine most of you have plans and have started by opening and monitoring activity in hives along with preparing for the inevitable swarming season. One member already has queen cells present, whilst others are reporting colonies already covering 8 frames with brood. With the fine weather predicted to last for a week or more I think there is a good chance we will see some swarms a lot earlier this year.

If you want to be a swarm collector, or would like to receive a swarm, please let Martin know and he can add you to the WhatsApp swarm list. His email is secretary@rugbybeekeepers.org

We have now completed our annual two-day new beekeepers course, where we had 20 attendees. They seemed highly motivated, and keen to go forward with their beekeeping journey. We look forward to integrating them into our apiary and monthly meetings here at the branch. The course would never have taken place without the loyal support of both the committee and non-committee members preparing in advance, along with supporting the course over the two days, a massive thank you from the branch.

A plea for help at our official fetes, as part of our charity status we have to offer education to the public. We always provide this, by supporting local events and running a stall. We are always in need of a little help setting up and taking down the marquee each time, along with helpers during the daytime. It's always a great opportunity to chat to the public and each other about bees, whilst they view the literature, equipment, produce and live bees safely enclosed in the observation hive. You do not need to be an experienced beekeeper to help on the day, new beekeepers are more than welcome to be involved and learn. You are also welcome to sell honey at the shows should you have any.

The dates are;

• Rugby Spring Fayre May 5th
• Dunchurch Fête June 22nd
• Woolston Fête June 29th

Please initially email Liz if you could help at the Spring Fayre in any way, even for an hour

So now we come to ‘things to consider ‘as we move through the month of April in our apiaries. Firstly, enjoy your bees, observe them, stand and look at the landing stage activity, the colour of the pollen going in, the forage nearby, the number of forager’s going in and out, so much can be learned from this activity alone. Always seek advice if concerned.

• To help prevent cross infection ensure you have a soda crystal pot and clean individual hive tools. Clean suits, boots, disposable gloves and clean apiaries are also crucial

• Safely check suits for damage over the winter and always have apiary postal code available and access to a phone whilst caring for bees

• Review last year’s hive notes

• Open the hives during a suitable warm temperature, albeit it’s beautiful as I write this, later afternoon temperatures can drop resulting in cool bees and problems

• Consider changing dark dirty frames during the next few months, slowly move them to the edges or use a method, when suitable, to change all frames such as a bailey comb change or a shook swarm, books and articles will advise on how and when

• Prepare supers ready to add easily when needed, it is generally considered time to add a super once brood is on 7 frames

• Varroa checks on board inserts give a good indication of drop - refer the National Bee unit for guidance

• Monitor for stores whilst checking on build-up of brood. Feed if risk of starving

• Mark queens as soon as possible, it is much easier whilst the numbers of bees are at a reduced level

• As the brood increases over the weeks, each hive being different of course, you will need to consider weekly checks for signs of swarming

• Whilst checking bees always be mindful of early signs of disease. You may not know what disease it is, that does not matter, but what matters is, you must know what normal standard healthy brood looks like at all stages, if so you will soon identify any anomalies’ Always seek early advice if you have concerns.
  
  Meetings
  Our series of autumn/winter meetings at Sacred Heart Church have now come to an end, our last meeting being held a few evenings ago. They will restart later this year when the beekeeping season has come to an end. Over the next six months we will switch over to practical training sessions at our training apiary. More details of these sessions will be emailed to you in the next couple of weeks