A must for all beekeepers!
Please note that a ‘drop in’ advice surgery is to be held by the National Bee Unit and hosted by Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association, at the Picton Centre, Haverfordwest on Saturday 15th July, from 2pm until 5pm.
Highly recommended and all welcome!
We welcomed our friends from the Bridgend Beekeepers’ Association to the Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre last Saturday, who came to visit the facility and enjoy the grounds on a beautiful summer’s day. It was great to see them!
This Saturday 24th June we are holding another ‘Taster Session’ for would be beekeepers (now fully subscribed!) and on Sunday afternoon, we will be giving beekeeping demonstrations to the public as part of the Western Telegraph’s ‘Big Day Out’ event!
We hope to see you there!
Just to remind all beekeepers that the June gap can still happen and inclement weather, combined with large growing colonies and little or no available forage, can quickly result in 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.
Would PBKA members please note that the apiary meeting at Scolton Manor, originally scheduled for Sunday 4th June, has been cancelled due to an event being held at Scolton on that day. The next apiary meeting will be on Sunday 18th June.
Would PBKA members please note that there has been an outbreak of EFB in the St David’s area and an outbreak of AFB in the Wisemans Bridge area. The information relating to this is on Beebase at http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/BeeDiseases/efbReport.cfm
We have been advised by the Regional Bee Inspector for Wales to direct you to the National Bee Unit (NBU) factsheet Apiary_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.
Use of a common pesticide in spring could have an impact on wild bumblebees by interfering with their life cycle, a UK study suggests. See here for details!
