Bee Health

Low Food Stores

apiarymanager Feeding Bees and Starvation, PBKA

Message from the National Bee Unit!

In some regions of the UK beekeepers have reported excessive use of food stores due to the un-seasonally warm weather. It would be advisable that you check your colonies have adequate stores and add supplements if required. With the weather being quite variable, fondant is the best option not liquid feed.

For those of you thinking about treating your colonies with Oxalic acid, we remind you to only use approved products Api-bioxal or Oxuvar and to administer the treatment by label instruction only.

Further information about colony feeding and keeping good and accurate medicine records can be found on our website at www.nationalbeeunit.com

Another Asian Hornet sighting!

apiarymanager Hornets, PBKA

There has been a confirmed finding of an Asian Hornet north of the Mendip Hills in Somerset. As with the first sighting, work to find, destroy and remove any nests is already underway.

Husbandry Advice:

It is very important that beekeepers remain vigilant and monitor their apiaries and surrounding forage for any Asian hornet activity. At this time of the year, Asian hornets can be seen foraging on the ivy for nectar and preying on other foraging insects for protein.

Traps should also be hung out and closely monitored. When using bait, please refrain from using light beer or lager mixed with sugar as this does not work. In France a Dark beer, mixed with 25ml of strawberry syrup and 25ml of orange liqueur has proven to work well.

Additionally, a protein bait of mashed fish e.g. prawns or trout, diluted to 25% has also proven effective. Anyone wishing to make their own traps may find the following factsheet useful: How to make a homemade Asian hornet monitoring trap. 

Further guidance on identifying the Asian hornet can be found on the Asian hornet pages of Beebase where you will find a very useful Asian hornet ID sheet and Asian hornet poster. All of this information can be found on the Asian hornet page of BeeBase: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageId=208

Asian Hornet update from National Bee Unit!

apiarymanager Hornets, PBKA

Following the finding of Asian hornets in Gloucestershire last week we have received a large number of suspect Asian hornet reports from members of the public and beekeepers which we are following up. Bee inspectors have now visited over 100 sites. Asian hornets have been seen at just six locations within 500 meters of the original site.

Efforts to track down the nest and destroy it are ongoing. There have been no other substantiated reports of hornets anywhere else in the UK so please be patient while we continue our field work and be assured that when appropriate, national alerts will be sent out via our email alert system. In the meantime, our news feed on BeeBase will be used to keep everyone updated.

Please also see the updated ID sheet to help you Identify Vespa velutina in your apiaries: http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageId=208. At this time of the year, the best bait to use in traps is fish bait diluted to 25%

Please continue to monitor your own apiaries using hornet traps and encourage those whom you know are not registered on our database to sign up.

Colonies short of food?

apiarymanager Feeding Bees and Starvation

Following the poor summer and general lack of honey during the main flow, many beekeepers are reporting that their colonies are short of food.

Could we therefore suggest as a matter of urgency, that you check your colonies for stores and if necessary put on feeders of syrup? Also, remember to check your colonies are queenright and monitor/treat for Varroa as appropriate!