Dear Kennet BeeKeeper,
Well, what a season for swarming it has been, after a bad lot of winter losses our bees seem to be making up for those dead colonies. Some days the WhatApp swarm group have had 5 or 6 swarms to deal with, I do think it important that we, as the local bee Association, do try to collect swarms and I wish to thank all of you who have been involved so far this year. So – if you have NOT looked in your beehive yet this year there may not be any bees left!!
The next club meeting is this week on Wednesday 1 June at Bishop Cannings Village Hall SN10 2LA, doors open at 7.00 pm and we start at 7.30 pm. This is an evening for Bee Chat so please think about any questions you may have and do, if you can, send me some bee related photos by TuesdayEvening and I will put them into a slide presentation so we can all see them. Some people have sent me some nice pics already but a few more would be good. We may also discuss an opportunity to utilise some free local sheep’s wool to warm your hives over winter, interesting proposition, which should add interest to our discussion evening.
Apiary Safari on Saturday 11 June. We will be visiting two apiaries before lunch the first near Wilsford then onto Pewsey. We then stop for a picnic lunch in a garden apiary in Corsham, (or go to a pub). You will see how others keep their bees in Langstroth, WBC and National hives. This will be strictly limited to the first 25 members. Clean Bee suites are a must. If you can share a car that is helpfull. We will start at 11.00 am and finish about 3.00 pm. If you wish to attend send me an email saying how many people in your car. I will then send you the programme for the day.
We currently have 3 opportunities to keep bees in an out apiary. The opportunities exist at Woodborough, Bushton and Broad Town. If you need extra space to house your bees and any of these locations are of interest to you, pleased contact Elaine Lewis on 07890 908168 or elainelewis@hotmail.co.uk and Elaine will be happy to provide you with more details.
A few reminders:- Bath & West show Thursday 2nd – Sat 4th June 2022
The Fete at the Easterton is being held on Bank Holiday Monday 29th August and is at Easterton Village Hall, Richard Oliver is looking to run the stall but help will be needed. Is that you ?
Are you intersted in Further Apiary skills? Contact Emma Morley on email:-emma@thebeeskneeshoney.co.uk.
And just to be a bit political, there is a petition at the bottom of the email about getting local authorities to plant wild flowers on roundabouts etc, I though as beekeepers some of you might like to sign.
Looks like a good year for Honey so far !
All best wishes
Robert
Chairman Kennet Beekeepers Association