Bee Health

Asian Hornet update!

apiarymanager Feeding Bees and Starvation, Hornets, PBKA

Hi everyone, just a quick note on our European hornet, these are much bigger than a wasp but they do have a striped yellow and black rear, the thorax (or shoulder area) is brown and their head is yellow. I noticed an increase in sightings of the hornet in 2023. This year I am seeing more of them. I asked a pest control officer in our area about his sightings, he also believes numbers have risen. I spilled some bee feed at the entrance to one of my hives, every evening a hornet arrives, licks the landing board and leaves. It shows no interest in the bees nor to enter the hive. The bees do not attack it either, is this an uneasy truce?. Try not to spill feed on or in your hive, take the wax frame scrapings away from your apiary, you do not want to attract wasps I am sure. With the blackberry in flower the honey should start building. Our warm autumn and mild winter means you need to feed more or leave more stores in your hives. Each of my hives had about 30lb of honey, 12l syrup and 2 kg of fondant between September and March the bees ate it all but I did not lose any to starvation.

Peter Kirkup

PBKA Asian Hornet Coordinator

Starvation warning from WBKA!

apiarymanager Bee Health, Feeding Bees and Starvation, PBKA, Starting Beekeeping, Stories of Interest, WBKA

Dear Beekeepers

Our Regional Bee Inspector, Dan Baxter has asked me to forward the article below on starving bees to all contacts in Wales. With the cooler temperatures and inclement weather starvation is being observed across Wales by the inspectorate and supplementary feeding may be recommended to minimise colony losses.  I am also getting reports from Association secretaries about colony losses due to starvation and there is no promise of better weather in the near future.

June gap -starvation risk

apiarymanager Feeding Bees and Starvation

Just to remind all beekeepers, that the June gap has arrived and large growing colonies and nucs etc. with little or no available forage, can quickly suffer from a shortage of stores.

So be sure to check that your bees have enough food, especially if you have taken off any spring honey. Note that if you add extra frames of sealed stores you should keep them in the brood boxes, so as to avoid getting them mixed up in the honey supers. Also, if you have to feed directly, use a light syrup (i.e. 1:1 sugar/water ratio) with any honey supers taken off during the feeding process.

Asian Hornet Co-ordinator

apiarymanager Hornets

Hello, I am Peter Kirkup, your Asian Hornet Co-ordinator, I work for Natural Resources Wales and part of this work involves investigating reports of alien species including the Asian Hornet.

In an effort to raise awareness I am interested to hear from anyone willing to be a verifier. A verifier will simply be asked to visit a potential sighting close to them, confirm which species is present and photograph it and send a text back to me if it is an Asian hornet. If you happen to see the nest take a picture if you can safely. DO NOT disturb the nest, you or others might get severely stung. The ‘what3words‘ is a great app for precise locations. Please make yourself familiar with the Asian Hornet appearance. Confirmed sightings can be reported here.

Confirmed Asian Hornet sightings this year to the end of May are 13 individuals captured and one nest destroyed. All have been in Kent or East Sussex but one hornet was found in London. If you browse you tube there is a video showing European hornet and an Asian hornet side by side. There is an Asian hornet app available but it does not work for everyone.

We must all be vigilant, thank you for reading this far.

Peter Kirkup

Tel: 07770 883720

 

World Bee Day 2024

apiarymanager Bee Health, Education & Training, Environment, Events, National Bee Unit, PBKA, Stories of Interest

Bees are so important to the health of our planet that they have their own special day.

World Bee Day takes place on 20 May each year, and its aim is to spread awareness of the significance of bees.

Bee campaigners also ask people everywhere to do more to help and protect the special insects.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) is urging everyone including governments, private companies, researchers and consumers to take action to help save the popular pollinators.

See BBC link for further details!🐝