MERIDIAN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
NEWS UPDATE
AUGUST 2015
TONY’S TOP SEASONAL TIPS
August in the Apiary
This is really when we start to think of the winter and how to keep our bees in tip-top shape
for the coming cold, hard months of the year. Hopefully now you have taken off a crop of
honey if you feel they have enough, so we should be treating for Varroa firstly and then
feeding to ensure enough stores for winter.
Varroa treatments – I have to be honest here and say that I have now decided not to use any
chemical treatments on my bees. I now believe that this is counterproductive and stops the
bees from forming their own natural defence against the mites. This means that I have to
get strong healthy colonies with good queens and yes I am prepared for any losses, I also
check mite drop throughout the season and dust with icing sugar. Last year we lost one
colony out of 10 and that was to Nosema! If you are treating then please use the treatments
exactly as the instructions state and try to use different ones each year so that the Varroa do
not become resistant. Remember that you must keep a note of any treatments used, dates
applied, batch number and expiry date in your honey book if you intend to sell any of your
honey – even if this is only to friends! This is to ensure complete traceability should there be
a problem and you never know when the environmental health officers will check your honey!
Wasps and robbing can be a particular problem at this time of year, we certainly have a lot
around and I have killed two nests as well. Be careful when you open the colony up and if
you see lots of wasps or bees zig-zagging in front of the entrance stop work, close up the
colony and put in an entrance block to help the bees defend themselves.
As ever, please do a check for disease, remember that you are looking for pearly white
healthy looking brood. The queen will [probably] be laying less at the moment but you
should still see an even, regular brood pattern - please get in touch if you see something that
you are not sure of!
By the end of the month all honey should be taken that you are going to take (unless you are
going to the heather!) so you can be spinning off the honey, filtering and storing it. We will
be doing a honey extraction workshop at the beginning of September if you wish to know how
Ailia and I do it, see the website for more details!
With few stores for them and limited nectar now is the time to heft your hives and feed them
sugar solution in a feeder, I use 2lb of white cane sugar to 1 pint of water, please feel free to
go metric if you wish. I aim to give each colony a couple of gallons in Ashforth type rapid
feeders if they take it all I give them more as I prefer to give too much than not enough.
Remember that we are looking after the winter bees now and they have to last a long time!
As ever, keep a watch at the entrances as you can tell a lot about how the colony is by what
the bees are doing at the entrance and it is very therapeutic to just spend some quality time
looking!
EDUCATION
MBA BEGINNERS COURSE
The next Meridian Introduction to Beekeeping course will run from 3rd September to 15th
October 2015. The course will cover:
 An Introduction to beekeeping
 The honeybee life cycle
 Types of hive, and hive construction
 The beekeeping year
 Bee husbandry
 Disease and its control
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Making frames and hives
Setting up an apiary
Extracting and preparing honey
Practical beekeeping and learning to “read” the colony
There will also be a practical session for which you will need wellingtons and rubber gloves.
Bee suits will be provided.
For further information or if you know anyone who would like to sign up for the course,
please contact Louise 01489 781155 louise.evans@talktalk.net
BBKA MODULAR EXAMS NOVEMBER
All candidates for BBKA modular exams in November should send their application forms and
cheques to:
Pauline Cooke
Hideaway, Grosvenor Road, Medstead, ALTON, GU34 5JE
Pauline will contact all candidates giving the time, date and place of the exams, in due
course.
NEWS
HBA LIBRARY
Two months ago the HBA Library's future looked bleak but now, with its relocation, to a
designated room at The Sustainability Centre, East Meon, GU32 1HR nearing completion,
things look much brighter. None of this would have been possible without the help and
support of the membership. I am very sorry that I haven't been able to take up every offer of
help - it is only a small room and much of the work has had to be done in dribs and drabs as
time and space has allowed, but I do appreciate all your support and good wishes. Thank
you. I hope that the Library lending service will be up and running, albeit with cataloguing,
sorting etc. continuing, by the early part of September. Please do come to see and make use
of YOUR LIBRARY. The library will be open on Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 6pm, or by
arrangement
Hope to see you there,
Avril Tillman
Librarian
Portsmouth & District BKA
01329-286839 or 07804819443
BEECRAFT 2016
Bee Craft's annual editorial meeting will be taking place in September. This is when
we discuss and plan what articles to include in the magazine the following year. This time we
have decided to ask for your input. We would be pleased to receive suggestions from you
and your members on what you would like us to cover, with contact details of potential
authors, enabling us to tap in to the wealth of knowledge that exists within county and local
associations. I would be pleased to receive ideas direct to my email wendy@bee-craft.com so
I can take them to the editorial team for inclusion in our discussions.
APIFORM SIT-IN BEEKEEPING
We're a non-profit Foundation from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and we came up with a worldwide project, APIFORM SIT-IN BEEKEEPING for disabled people. We've been selected out of
over 1,400 applicants as a semi-finalist in the 2015 edition of the European Social Innovation
Competition. Along with 29 other semi-finalists, Our Team will be invited to the social
innovation mentoring academy in Vienna this September to progress our idea with tailored
support and workshop sessions. Here we'll promote and upgrade our idea, into viable and
immersive project, and try to reach the stars with it. You can view shortlist here:
http://www.nesta.org.uk/apiform-sit-beekeeping
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http://www.nesta.org.uk/european-social-innovation-competition-semi-finalists
Our Foundation made a beehive that can be approached and opened from behind, while
sitting. The principle is fairly easy, beekeeper is sitting, and all of his/her work is done while
sitting in one place. You can inspect, feed, even check your bees without even touching them,
thus lowering the stinging. Our Foundation already made this beehive (APIFORM beehive),
worked with beekeepers in wheelchair, people with back pain, arthritis, women, even with
children, for research purposes. The idea is formed around a well-known principle of bee
space, and innovations in the world of beekeeping, adding all sorts of improvements to the
original design. We want to give the blueprints for the making of this beehive, FREE-OFCHARGE for everyone. Our goal is not to profit over this idea, but to make beekeeping easy.
We only ask in return your support via facebook, twitter and other social networks, in return,
we'll provide you with all the info about this project. All we need is the links on which you
share this info, if you choose to. Please feel free to contact us regarding anything...
If you share us on Twitter, please include @apiformbee @EUSocialInnov #diogochallenge
For more information on APIFORM SIT-IN BEEKEEPING for disabled people please visit
https://twitter.com/apiformbee
https://www.facebook.com/apiformbee,
https://www.pinterest.com/apiformbee
https://instagram.com/apiformbee
and contact us there.
We hope that you can help us and give something to your clients, so we decided to contact
you regarding this project.
About Foundation Forgotten Garden
The name of our Foundation "Forgotten Garden" presents our Bosnian roots, all of our
forgotten back yards that have been forgotten by the new age, new generations. Foundation
does not presents just the garden, but the whole array of customs and old trades, forgotten
by the people.
Beekeeping is already a sustainable business, one colony of bees can provide two more next
year. Honey has price stability in the world market, with fairly high price. Other bee products
are highly accumulative and the region demand is not as nearly as full of bee products. Three
years in beekeeping is an easy task for any beekeeper who is ready to learn and live with
these amazing creatures. Not to mention the pollination side of beekeeping, bees pollinate
third of our food, so the benefits for the land and farming are great. Beekeeping is a great
way to promote and implement healthy living and organic lifestyle to people. In ever growing
communities there is a great void for bee products to fill, and we think that can be achieved.
Hope We'll hear from you soon,
Tahmiščić Haris
Project Manager APIFORM SIT-IN BEEKEEPING for disabled people
BEECRAFT LAUNCH BEST BEEKEEPING PHOTOS
BeeCraft have launched a new online article that will be published each week. It's all about
Beekeeping photos. We're going to collate the best beekeeping photos from around the web
each week and post them on our website. There are some truly amazing beekeeping photos
shared through Instagram (a social photo sharing site) - it's a great feature that associations
and beekeepers will no doubt like and want to share. You can find the main page if you
click here - there are at least two weeks of photos already there for you to enjoy.
MORE MESSAGES AND NEWS ITEMS MAY BE FOUND ON THE WEBSITE MESSAGE
BOARD AND INFORMATION PAGES
Look at the amazing video clip of the first 21 days of a bee’s life (Information
page)!
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EVENTS
MERIDIAN EVENTS
HONEY EXTRACTION WORKSHOP
SATURDAY 5TH SEPTEMBER: Tony Ashworth
Please see the website for further details
OTHER EVENTS
HAMPSHIRE BKA CONVENTION 2015
The Hampshire BKA Convention will be held at Sparsholt College on Saturday 14th November
2015. The speakers will be: Prof Dave Goulson - his book "The Sting in the Tale" is a delight;
Prof David Evans “Varroa and viruses - a dangerous combination”; Simon Croson
"Beekeeping through the Camera Lens" and Nigel Semmence will be telling us what we need
to be concentrating on in 2016. There will be stands - the usual suspects such as Thornes,
Compak, and Northern Bee Books, plus Arnia and Brunel. The programmes and tickets will
be distributed early in September; now is the time to ensure diaries are marked up!
WANTED OR FOR SALE
LOCAL HONEY WANTED
Farmer's Choice, an online Farm Shop in Segensworth (www.farmerschoice.co.uk), are
looking to source some locally produced honey (Hampshire). We only source Free Range,
British, Locally Sourced and Seasonal produce. We totally understand that honey is a
seasonal product and sometimes in limited amounts. If you are able to supply us, please
contact:
Jill Cussen, Marketing | Farmers Choice Free Range Ltd
jillcussen@farmerschoice.co.uk, Telephone 01489 583828 | Fax 01489 577759
BECKY'S BEEZ
Now is the time to start thinking about taking off the honey and putting on your varroa
treatments. We are offering a 5% discount on ApiLife Var, Apistan, Apiguard and BienenWohl
500ml until 31st August. Simply put your order in via the on-line shop and the discount will
automatically bee applied. There are a lot of wasps around at the moment so please check
your hives and reduce the entrance’s down to a single bee space so they can defend their
homes.
Office: 01264 351104, Mobile: 07973 423628
Beckys Beezzzs Limited, Fourways, Picket Twenty, Andover, Hampshire SP11 6LF
www.beckysbeesonlineshop.co.uk
PLEASE VISIT THE WEBSITE REGULARLY TO KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST NEWS AND
INFORMATION
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