Nearly the end of March already…. where does the time go? Hopefully your bees have made it through the winter and are coping with the spring build-up (although I do know some have suffered losses…….) – the spring was lovely while it lasted!
Last month I promised you a little bit of insight into my visits to a New Zealand apiary (there’s quite a lot to say so I’ll save the Fynbos for next month).
I have a daughter in Auckland who we’re lucky enough to visit quite regularly and last time I was there I invited myself to an apiary Field Day in the city. This club was founded in 1947 by a group of hobby beekeepers, one of whom was Percy Hillary, Sir Edmund Hillary’s father. The members run monthly field-days where anybody can visit and they host regular talks and presentations. They also run a 16-hour Beginners’ course over two days and two evenings and foul-brood recognition courses.
There are six colonies at this apiary and each is looked after by a specific team of five or six who rotate duties according to who is available. The bees forage all-year round which accounts for the number of honey boxes (deeps and supers) on each. When I visited, the beekeepers completed a quick and basic inspection (it was raining 😊), returned cappings to the crown-board and then treated for varroa using oxalic acid sublimation and a modified car battery.
They kindly invited me to join their WhatsApp group so I’ve been able to follow the varroa treatment journey since then. The graph shows how the numbers have declined during the six weeks since my visit; interestingly they have treated the colony about three times a week on average with OA sublimation….. a very different method to the way that we do it!
Regarding community news, Jeremy and I gave a talk to the Young Farmers Association in Alton Barnes last Friday evening. The meeting was well attended: around 30 people aged between about 10 and 40 were there. Questions were asked throughout and at the end and there was quite a lot of interest in the 3D lifecycle models that belong to the club!
We are almost there!
After a recent spell of warm weather, as I write we are back to cold winds and rain. This should serve as a warning for those of us perhaps a little too eager to get into the hives. Whilst a quick check was possible in the warm spell, it is the nighttime temperatures you need to keep an eye on. Having a colony open for any length of time runs the risk of chilling the brood and giving the bees a big job to warm up the hive again before nightfall. Traditionally, March would catch beekeepers out, with rapidly changing weather patterns and some serious cold spells, especially at night.
BUT those traditional patterns no longer necessarily hold true in light of climate change, as the speaker at the WBKA AGM made clear. Nature is generally some weeks ahead of itself when compared to a few decades ago, with the consequent challenges for bees and beekeepers.
With April arriving, hope springs eternal in the hearts of beekeepers and I would certainly suggest that you have a look in your hives [14C+ with light winds] as soon as you can, if you have not done so already, to check that all is well, the queen is there and laying, there are sufficient useable stores [some of the Ivy honey I’ve seen lately has been untouched] and she has sufficient room to lay [with frames not bunged up with stores].
With the coming of Spring, we can hopefully put the memory of those winter losses behind us and look forward to a productive year, marred only by the profiteering by fuel companies and some sellers of nucs [£350 is the highest I’ve heard…….. unless you know better?].
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In 2026 the NBU will not be allowed to participate in spring queen trapping (DEFRA). All beekeepers will need to be vigilant monitoring for YLH from early spring: members can get bait stations and (hopefully) Trappit from the apiary (contact Roger or Jeremy).
There has already been an alert of a live hornet sighting, together with several dead hornets, in Cambridgeshire but we ought not be complacent….. who knows what this year will bring!
That’s all for now – if you’ve got thoughts about items you’d like to see noted or covered in this newsletter, please get in touch.
Andrea
Andrea Waylen
Chair, Kennet Beekeepers Association
Email: andrea.waylen@gmail.com Tel: 07876 157826
