PBKA

Annual PBKA Honey Show – Saturday 16th September 2017

apiarymanager PBKA, PBKA Honey Show

Just to advise all members that the annual PBKA Honey Show is on Saturday 16th September 2017 at the Visitor’s Centre, Scolton Manor.

The centre will be open shortly after 9am and your entries should be available for staging by 10am to allow the judging to start promptly at 11am. We hope to see as many of you as possible put in an entry or two this year.

NB. Would all the winners of cups and trophies last year, please ensure they bring them to the Honey Show suitably cleaned!!

The follow up Honey Lunch will be at Wolfscastle on Sunday 12th November, so pencil it into your diary if you would like to come…….further details to follow in due course!

Note that you don’t have to put in an entry to come along to the Honey Show and we would be delighted to see you if you just want to have a look at the entries, or fancy a cuppa and a chat!

Directions: As you enter the main gate at Scolton, turn left and follow the road down to the Visitor’s Centre pay and display car park.

Click on Schedule for the Honey Show 2017 for full details.

If you have any queries, please contact the Apiary Manager on pbkaapiarymanager@live.co.uk

Hive Live

apiarymanager PBKA, Stories of Interest

Thanks to Andrew Martin for alerting us to a good documentary on honey bees this week with some interesting research into orientation flights etc.

There are two episodes, here’s the link to Episode One:

Urgent warning!

apiarymanager Foul Brood Diseases, PBKA

Would PBKA members please note that there have been outbreaks of AFB and EFB in the Tenby/Narberth area.

We have been advised to direct you to the National Bee Unit (NBU) factsheetApiary_Hygiene_and_Quarantine for your information and action. Also ‘Foulbrood Disease of Honey Bees and other common brood disorders’ has a lot of information on biosecurity and barrier management, including ‘10 rules for foulbrood control’. These are on Beebase at:

http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=167

We strongly recommend that all PBKA members sign up to Beebase in order to ensure that they receive any warnings and to obtain advice etc in the event of a disease outbreak.

Beekeepers within 3km of the outbreak with a current email address on Beebase will have been emailed an alert from the NBU. All beekeepers within 5km of an outbreak should exercise vigilance as per the above factsheet, which also covers swarm collection.

Please also note that we will be holding a National Bee Unit Beekeeper Advice Surgery on July 15th at the Picton Centre, Haverfordwest which will cover bee diseases and details on this can be obtained NBU Advice Surgeries Flyer 2017. Specific details re times etc to follow in due course and we would urge you all to attend.

Varroa warning from the NBU

apiarymanager PBKA, Varroa

In some regions of the UK, colonies are starting to show symptoms of high levels of Varroa mites, for example wing deformities and perforated cappings. Therefore, it might be prudent to start monitoring colony mite populations and information on how to do this can be found on page 15 of the Managing Varroa booklet. Also, the Varroa calculator can be used to help calculate your estimated mite population in your colonies:
http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/varroaCalculator.cfm
If your colonies have a high amount of Varroa, i.e 1000 mites after calculating it from the average drop, you may want to treat them with a registered varroacide. Suitable treatments where brood is present would include
Apiguard;
Apilife Var;
Apistan*;
Bayvarol*;
Mite Away Quick Strips (MAQS) and;
Thymovar.
If you wish to use an oxalic acid based product then a broodless condition should be created first. Additionally, if you have honey for human consumption on the hives, remember that MAQs is currently the only registered product which can be used. When using any medicines it is important to remember to always follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
*Mite resistance to these products have been recorded and so a resistance test (the Beltsville test) should be carried out before using the product.

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