WBKA

Webinar – Bee Problems to be Aware of with Keith Bartlem – Thu, Jun 5, 2025 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

apiarymanager Education & Training, Events, Starting Beekeeping, Stories of Interest, Training, WBKA
Bee Problems to be Aware of with Keith Bartlem

Join us for a webinar on Jun 05, 2025 at 7:30 PM BST.

Register now!

This is a talk about common bee diseases, virus’s, and conditions which can effect any honeybee colony. A disease talk can be a bit depressing. So, there are anecdotes about my time as a bee inspector as well as my time of beekeeping in North Wales.

Keith is a former Seasonal Bee Inspector for the North East of England. Keith lives in North Yorkshire, just outside of Bedale. He is a Master Beekeeper, BBKA examiner, BBKA exam board member, and an active member of the Richmond and District Beekeeping Association. Currently, he manages twenty colonies, mostly using 14 x 12 hives.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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Webinar – Swarming and Making Increase with Alan Baxter – Thu, May 8, 2025 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

apiarymanager Education & Training, Events, Stories of Interest, Swarms and Swarming, Training, WBKA
Swarming and Making Increase with Alan Baxter. Join us for a webinar on May 08, 2025 at 7:30 PM

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Alan’s talk begins by outlining the reasons why bees swarm, a little of the biology that explains why and how swarming occurs, then the swarming process itself including the communications that the bees use when choosing their new home.

In the second part of the talk Alan walks us through the ‘countdown’ to swarming, the signs to look out for, and the moment in the process when swarm prevention (or Pre-emptive control) becomes swarm control (or Re-active swarm control).

Finally, we will look at the practical steps a beekeeper can take to prevent a swarm occurring, then move on to methods of simple swarm control involving making increase, why we talk about artificial swarms, and simple methods of control for beekeepers who don’t want more colonies.

Alan Baxter is a Royal Marines Veteran who began his beekeeping adventure in the Loire Valley in France, where he attended University then worked in adult education and training for 23 years. His apiary there was the target of heavy predation by Asian Hornets and he developed apiary management techniques to help his bees survive the onslaught.

He moved to England in 2020 and manages 20 colonies of gentle bees in 3 apiaries in Hampshire. He has founded and runs a Teaching Apiary with courses, exam preparation and coaching sessions for his local beekeeping association. He has completed all the BBKA Modules and holds the General Beekeeping Husbandry Certificate. He continues studying to be a BBKA Master Beekeeper and is halfway through the Cornell University Master Beekeeper Program.

Alan writes regular blogs and articles and gives talks and seminars around the country on Beekeeping, the Asian Hornet, the Wines of the Loire Valley, and the 1982 Falklands War.

He is the author of the Hampshire Asian Hornet Contingency Plan and a book Fit2Fight- A Practical Guide to Managing the Asian Hornet published by Northern Bee Books Ltd.

https://www.alanbaxtersblogs.co.uk

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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Reminder: Simple Queen Rearing with Dan Basterfield Thu, Apr 24, 2025 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM BST

apiarymanager WBKA
 

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Dan grew up with beekeeping around him, earning pocket money by clipping and marking queens. Having spent 15 years working in large companies, he returned to the family beekeeping business in Devon in 2005, and with his father
expanded the business and built a brand new Honey Farm as the centre of their honey production, queen raising, and teaching activities.
The bees can do it, so can you! Aiming to raise perhaps half a dozen queens to use for re-queening or making splits, we look at three very straightforward approaches that require little fiddling or additional equipment: making queenless nucs, the Demaree method, and the Miller method.
Dan grew up with beekeeping around him, earning pocket money by clipping and marking queens. Having spent 15 years working in large companies, he returned to the family beekeeping business in Devon in 2005, and with his father expanded the business and built a brand new Honey Farm as the centre of their honey production, queen raising, and teaching activities.
Dan holds the National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB), is a BBKA Master Beekeeper, and is an examiner for the BBKA and NDB examinations. He is a regular lecturer around the UK on practical beekeeping topics. Daniel wrote some of the BBKA’s Course in a Case training courses, has contributed to the BBKA’s Liquid Gold and Swarming videos, and co-authored the BBKA’s Healthy Hive Guide book. He has just published Using Apideas, a manual for queen mating nucs.
He is a member of the Bee Farmers Association, and has been a Trustee and Chairman of the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), and Chairman of the NDB Examination Board.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

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WBKA Convention update!🐝

apiarymanager WBKA

Dear Beekeepers

If you are coming to the WBKA Convention this Saturday on the Royal Welsh Agricultural Showground near Builth Wells please don’t forget to come and talk to us on the WBKA stand. We will be opposite Thornes and next to the Bee Inspectors in the trade hall so we are easy to find. All the trustees and some other officers will be at the event so we can answer most questions about the WBKA that you may have. Officers involved with membership, insurance, the magazine, education, beekeeping for schools, responses to introduced pests, communication, working with eR2, getting involved etc will be at the convention and we can arrange for you to talk to them.

We will also be there to talk about simple ways of increasing your colonies without the cost or  potential harm of purchasing bees from outside of your locality.

The weather on Saturday is not forecasted to be suitable for either beekeeping or gardening so what is better than spending the day at the convention and talking to other beekeepers?

We look forward to seeing and talking to as many of you as possible.

Cofion cynnes / Kind regards,

Jenny

Jenny Shaw
Ysgrifennydd / General Secretary
Cymdeithas Gwenynwyr Cymru / Welsh Beekeepers’ Association

WBKA Spring Convention 2025

apiarymanager PBKA, WBKA

Dear fellow Beekeeper,

With just over two weeks to go until the WBKA Spring Convention don’t forget to get your reduced price earlybird tickets before they close at Midnight on March 19th.

To get your cheaper earlybird tickets go online . https://wbka.sumupstore.com

There is a fantastic line up of speakers (see below) as well as the usual traders. The NBU team and Officers and Trustees of the WBKA will be there to offer help and advice on all things bee.

9:45 – 10:15       Opening Address by Lynda Marston, Wax Chandler Master

10:15 – 11:15    Stephen Martin, Science of Varroa resistance

11:45 – 12:45    Martin Bencsik, Vibrations within a hive

13:30 – 14:30    Christine Coulsting, Making the most of inspections

14.45 – 15:45    Stephen Fleming, Drone congregation areas

More details about the speakers are on the WBKA website and Facebook page.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

Jill Wheeler and the Events Team.