Following recent thefts of bees in South Wales, there will be an item relating to this issue in tonight’s BBC Wales Today programme, which starts at 18.30.
If you miss it you can catch up on BBC iPlayer.
Honey Cleaning and Marketing
If you are planning ahead for the honey harvest to come (!) or already have some honey this year thanks to oil seed rape, this guide to the Cleaning and Marketing of honey from the Beedata website should be helpful.
The Buckfast Bee
Most of you will have heard of Brother Adam and the Buckfast bee he made his life’s work. It is sad that Buckfasts are no longer bred in the UK due, it is said to the problem of finding a suitably isolated site suitable for the mating apiary.
However a number of breeders have continued to breed and develop the Buckfast bee. One of them is Dr. Peter Stöfen whose breeding station is on the peninsula of Friedrichskoog, Germany. Dr Stöfen has produced some videos showing the excellent temperament of his bees. The video below is one example – German commentary only but worth watching. Oh for bees like these, I would kiss them too!
Healthy Beekeeping App from Vita (Europe) Ltd. [Updated]
Vita (Europe) has just released a smartphone app which they describe as ‘The first-ever smartphone app about keeping healthy honeybees …” and go to say that “The app is free and gives beekeepers easy mobile access to information and photographs about honeybee disease identification and treatment. The app, suitable for nearly all smartphones and tablet devices, can be downloaded free from www.healthybeeguide.com. It runs on Apple or Android, on iPhones, iPads, Samsungs and Blackberrys and the full range of smart mobiles.”
[UPDATE: Have now tried this….Seems this isn’t an App but a mobile friendly website].
Bees and Teas Report
We enjoyed a great afternoon at Tom and Barbara’s. Tom was able to show us his bee colonies including the creation of a classic artificial swarm – a simple process which we agreed is much easier to understand when demonstrated than when read about. Thanks too to the bees who had helped by raising a swarm cell for the purpose, obviously, of the demonstration.
We then got down to the serious business of afternoon tea. Copious quantities of sandwiches, scones, and cakes had been prepared by Barbara for the feast with a constant supply of tea to keep the whistle wet.
Thank you Barbara and Tom for your hospitatility.
Great stuff.
Pembrokeshire Beekeepers' Association 