Dear Members
Once again it’s time to wish you all a very Happy
Easter and let’s hope the weather will be kind to us. It’s been very
good just lately hasn’t it? Dave and Rich have been doing the
preparatory work for our new conservatory and we’ve been lucky so far.
Dave and I will be back at the Auction this year doing our usual things so
hope to see as many of you as possible there on the 5th. If
anyone could give us just an hour on Sat 4th at 1.0pm just to
help us sweep the shed out, arrange trailers into position etc we would be
very grateful. Please contact Suzanne or me.
June
New Members
We have even more new members!
Mr Paul Ellis from Gladestry
Mr Richard Kelly and Ms Kate Smith from Dilwyn
Bob and Pam Mendy from Old Radnor
Andrew and Babs Strangeway from Lyonshall
David Curd from Weobley.
We are also pleased to welcome back two previous
members who have re-joined us:-
John Childs from Westhope
Martin Price from Penybont
We are very pleased to welcome them all to the
Association and hope to meet them very soon.
June
Future Events
Annual Auction.
Sunday 5th April 2.0p.m.
Venue: Lower Newton Farm, Kinnersley.
Format is the same as usual- the club has 10%
commission on sales. Do come along, there are usually lots of bargains to
be had. Goods can be brought in between 2-4.0p.m. on Saturday
4th and on the morning of the sale between 10.0-12.0noon. If
you have anything to sell and have problems with Transport contact us or
any committee member. Please make sure anything you bring is clean and in
a reasonable condition as we have been let down a little in the past with
goods complete with dead bees, cobwebs etc and it does bring the standard
down.
Lower Newton Farm is on the A4112 Brecon to
Leominster road. (0S ref SO346498 (Sheet 148). The access to the
farm is directly opposite the entrance to Kinnersley Castle, on the right
coming from Leominster direction and on the left going towards
Leominster.
It may have seemed a long way away but it is here again now!
BBKA Spring Convention- Stoneleigh.
April 17th, 18th, 19th. Always worth a
visit
Saturday May 9th- Practical Class 1
2.0-4.30p.m. at Golden Valley Apiaries, Peterchurch.
N.B. Please note that this year the course is again
run over 2 weekends rather than 5 Sundays. Class 1&2 are May
9/10and Class 3&4 are May 16/17. It’s that time again! We have
had such a lot of interest again in the courses and we have had to close
now.
June
Saturday May 16th- Dorstone Plant Day
This is a very well supported day locally and an ideal
place to stock up on your summer plants. Dan will be there with his trees
and the Wye Valley Stand will be there too. Events are staged at Dorstone
Hall, Dorstone Church and the Playing Field. For more info please ring
Bryn Brooks on 01981 550260.
June
Past Events
Saturday March 21st
Maylord Shopping Centre Hereford.
Apiary Notes for April
It would seem that most bees in this area have come
through the winter quite well, after the previous two years it is very
welcome. However do not be too quick to judge; we still have time left for
things to go wrong. In the past we have seen many colonies die in the next
two months mainly due to what we used to call spring dwindling- in other
words failure to make progress. Many people have checked their bees five
or six weeks ago and gone back some time later only to find the bees in a
worse state than before. When you have nice new young bees present and
plenty of pollen everything should be okay. Now this brings me to the next
thought many keepers practice feeding in the spring with the hope of
getting the bees nice and strong. This practice is not widely condoned; it
will bring your bees out of step with the season. We have seen this many
times over the years. Of course this does not mean to say you should not
feed if your bees are short of food but if you have fed properly in the
autumn there should be no need to practice this kind of thing. We should
leave our bees to do what they do naturally and develop with the season.
It is a well known fact that we as beekeepers are in danger of interfering
with the natural balance by introducing various antibiotics and treatments
of one kind or another. This is not the right way to go, in my opinion we
are in danger of over medication. Of course when you have established you
have a problem by all means treat in the appropriate manner. The key here
is to establish first what the problem is. Now some would argue that
trying to prop up bees that are sick is the wrong thing to do. How often
have you heard one beekeeper or another say ‘oh I united that poor stock
with a strong one.’ Personally I would prefer beekeepers to breed up
from good colonies. I remember a conversation I had with Karl, I think we
reached the conclusion that it was a dangerous practice. In some cases you
simply to do not know what is wrong and to unite with a good colony you
may be introducing something undesirable into that good stock. Of course
if it is simply Queen failure or something which is very obvious and no
danger then this is quite an acceptable practice. My motto is be very
careful when carrying out this practice. Now what about that stock that
died out? If you come across this kind of scenario what should you do? The
first and most important thing is to close the entrance block to prevent
other bees entry then establish if possible the cause of death. Do not
allow other colonies to rob this one out, it is a method of transferring
problems. If it is possible to establish cause of death then you might
consider sterilising the comb. It goes without saying if it is one of the
brood diseases it is better to incinerate, scorch and clean the hive
thoroughly. Now what about examination? It is good practice to set aside
time to examine thoroughly for the presence of disease. I personally like
to do this before any equipment is added then should you be unfortunate in
finding disease you will not have piles of equipment on your bees.
Remember if you have marked your supers when you removed them you will
know which bees they came off or indeed the site where they were kept.
This may seem over zealous but it is well worth while; also another point
to remember is when you are in the process of doing pollination work you
should keep a movement record of where the bees came from and where they
go to. This is very simple but very important. Should you come into
contact with disease it is very helpful from the point of traceability.
The best of luck for the coming season
Dave
Apiary Site Available
If you are interested in a site in a small orchard at Orcop please
contact:-
Mr S. Williams from Grafton on 07944456445
Newsletters by e-mail
About a third of our members now receive their
newsletters by e-mail except when there are enclosures as this month. If
any of you, especially new members, would like to do this please send me
your e-mail address and I will add you to my list. Please remember