BOURNEMOUTH & DORSET SOUTH

Beekeepers Association

CHAIRMAN’s NEWS

Dear All,

Our Association is growing in numbers!

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the 21 new members who joined us at a very successful Introduction to Beekeeping Day in April. It is always great to see new members joining our beekeeping community so a very warm welcome to them all!

May is the month when our colonies are building up rapidly but as we all know, it is not the time to become complacent and assume that all is well. Be on swarm alert!

Our colonies may have survived winter and early year food shortages but now the swarming season is well on its way and even after applying various methods of swarm prevention, some

colonies will be determined to swarm.

We have a number of registered swarm collectors who are already busy and if you would like to receive a swarm, please let Peter Darley know as soon as possible. You have to be ready to receive a swarm at a short notice so do discuss with Peter what you need.

I would like to remind you as well that although our Tuesday meeting at Parley Hall will not resume untill September, we are holding a number of training sessions throughout summer, both, at High Mead and Dudsbury. Please, see our website for more information. I hope to see many of you joining us when you can.

My best wishes to you all for a warm summer and plenty of honey,

Elizabeth El-Dars, Chairman

TOPICAL TIPS Do not forget that bees need water

MAY 2017

Wannabee Day

We have just had our yearly Wannabee Day and I hope as a result we will see a few

new faces on our Saturdays afternoons.

The day was well attended with ages ranging from 11 to 60 plus. They learned about a beekeepers year first and then Michael Duffin introduced them to a

selection of the equipment that is needed for beekeeping.

After lunch we were very lucky with the weather when the sun came out and we were able to have a good look into the hives and even carry some little

manipulation.

Everybody seemed to have a very enjoyable and interesting time and we have

already received some very positive feedback.

A very big thank you to Michael Duffin, Alla and David Neal and Kelly Smith for

helping to make it a very successful day.

Helga Aldersey, Education Co-ordinator

Our High Mead meetings

All times 2.00pm

- unless otherwise stated

14th May Beginners

20th May IPM Part 2 and Swarm

Control (practical)

27th May Beginners

3rd June IPM Part 3(practical)

10th June Beginners

17th June IPM Part 4 (practical)

24th June Visit by Kevin Pope

1st July IPM Part 5 (practical)

8th July Beginners

15th July Beginners

Lavender Fields Tour 23rd June 2017 Travel + Tour + Cream Tea - £22 - per person

Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects Workshop 7th July 2017 “Plants for bees & Hygienic Behaviour in Bees”

Travel + Workshop + Cakes & Tea/Coffee - £23 - per person

Please contact: Alla Neal, lapa11@hotmail.com, 07900 805 355

IMPORTANT DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

BADS-BKA HONEY SHOW—Sat, November 18, 2017

Hall on the hill, 17 Marlow Dr, Christchurch, Dorset BH23 2RR, UK

BADS-BKA CONVENTION- Sat, February 24, 2018

Speakers—Celia Davis, Margaret Murdin, Declan Schroeder, Kirsty Staiton.

Bluebells in Bloom

Pic. by Graham Lovell

FEARLESS FRED THE FIREMAN.

On Wednesday 26th April there was a call to a swarm under a flat roof two storeys high above a launderette in Kinson.

I thought ‘No chance’ but reckoned without Fred. Sedgeley, our intrepid fireman member.

Having borrowed Deb Crutteneden’s ‘bee vac’ Fred was ready for action.

We climbed up the two storeys onto a flat roof via a fire escape and a ladder taking with us the bee vac, an extension

lead and an electric jigsaw.

We removed a section of guttering, peeled back the flat roof felt, and saw that the colony entrance hole was too small

for the business end of the bee vac, so Fred got to work enlarging the hole with the jigsaw.

When it was large enough Fred carefully put in the business end of the bee vac and I switched it on. All went well, at least for a while, you could hear the bees pinging down the hose, when the suction dropped. We checked everything and discovered a blockage in the hose from the bee vac nozzle into the bee vac box. We carefully pushed down a length of garden hose and found what turned out to be a ball of bees blocking the hose. We had no option but to push them through to clear the hose, unfortunately some of the bees did not survive this but the hose was clear and Fred

‘hoovered’ or at least ‘Henried’ the rest of the colony into the box.

There were several combs under the roof so the colony had been in residence for some while.

Fred spent the best part of two hours lying on his stomach retrieving the colony, (see pic) and more than deserved the

£30.00 that the launderette owner gave us.

He took the colony home and was hoping that he had the queen, but if not would either amalgamate these bees with his own or give them

a frame of eggs and let them make a queen.

Either way, hats off to Fred for his ingenuity, care, diligence and

perseverance.

A credit to BADS, and bee-keepers.

Peter Darley.

DUDSBURY NEWS

Since having the frames and foundation delivered this week I am now busy making up new wired frames ready to play catch up

in the apiary. I hope over the next week to have reduced the number of hives back to 6 as requested by the committee, Shook

swarmed all the National BS standards into 14 x 12 and the one langstroth also into a 14 x 12. I have selected 2 hives we will

use for the Horsley Queen rearing demonstrations and this will take place very soon Shelia will send out a notification on the

dates, but will be in the next few weeks now I have the kit. The process will also be covered in a PDF you will be able to

download from our BADs web site. - www.bads-bka.org/

So in short by the end of this week as I am writing this 8th May we should have 6 strong colony's all ready for the rest of the

season and for queen rearing and Basic training for our members.

This should also leave us with some BS Standard Brood boxes for sale please let me know if you are interested in buying any.

Finally we have added a new tape message line to the front page of the web site where you can see at a glance the next event

taking place hope you find this useful.

Bob Menz, Apiary Manager

Paul’s QUEEN CAGE, To avoid loss of a swarm

Put 8 clean Brood frames into the box, mark them “A” to “H”.

Put A and B into the cage along with the queen. Put the lid on the cage and close up the colony. Leave alone for one week.

On day 7 open the colony and the cage, secure the queen and place her in a safe place. Remove frames A and B, put frames

C and D into the cage. Return the queen to the cage. Put frames A and B each side of the cage. Close up

On day 14 and 21 repeat the procedure with the frames containing brood around the cage.

By day 24 all the brood from frames A and B will have emerged and can be placed in the cage. Continue the routine until all risk

of swarming has passed. The work involved should not take longer than the normal weekly check for the queen and queen cells.

At the time of the shook swarm there will be the original brood combs without bees, these will contain 21 days’ worth of brood.

IF THERE IS ANY RISK OF DISEASE THE BURN THE FRAMES AND COMB. If there is NO risk of disease, place a queen

excluder over another colony. Place the box of combs over the queen excluder and close up. The bees below will come up and

look after the brood. Remove the box after 24 days when all the brood will have emerged. If the combs contain any drone brood

provide a top entrance or release them every few days.

David Aldersey, Steve Morby and Andy Smith have a cage to try this summer

- Paul Mann

Our Website: http://www.bads-bka.org/ Find us on:

For comments and feedback please e-mail to: lapa11@hotmail.com

OBITUARY Henry Bartlett. 1940 -2017 When I retired from fulltime work and decided I wanted to try beekeeping Henry was a tremendous support to my idea. I joined Beekeepers of Dorset South (BADS) based on the edge of A31, Ferndown Bypass. Henry encouraged me in my new hobby and worked much faster at assembling frames, etc. than I did. It wasn’t long before he was drawn into the world of beekeeping, with social events including barbecues and skittles.

He had known Edward Lutley through business and then came the question of repairing the shed/tearoom, used after hive inspections. Henry and Edward undertook to do this including a new roof. Later, when I was on the committee, there was the possibility of amalgamating Bournemouth and our Association to form another BADS – Bournemouth and Dorset South. Again Henry thrived on the social life, Summer Solstice parties at Helga and David’s home, skittles, selling every one else’s honey at New Forest Shows and a visit to Highgrove.

He enjoyed meeting members, helped me with heavy lifting, assembling and transporting. He was well‐known to many members who saw him as a friend and throughout these years he would be a reluctant beekeeper which did not stop him talking beekeeping with many and being very knowledgeable!

He died suddenly on 19 February after a short illness but he had wanted to do as much as a could for the community and I have received so many lovely comments from everyone.

A true gentleman, I’m told. After almost 54 years of marriage, I shall miss him. Many of you will too. - Heather Bartlett

PLANTS

All give Nectar and Pollen

Allium Borage Cotoneaster Pyracantha Chestnut Lavender