Using the CBKA website

Posted on by July 7, 2011

In the month since we launched the new site, 26 people have registered, which is a great start, being about one-third of the total CBKA membership.  The members’ forum has got off to a good start, with over 50 posts on 12 different topics, ranging from swarm lures to to plastic frame feeders.  The forum is only as good as the questions posed, so please login and participate.

Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of the site.   If you want to change your password, then you can change this easily.  In the “Passwords etc” box shown on the home page, click “site admin”.  On the site admin page, click “profile”, and scroll down to the new password fields.  Don’t forget to click the “update profile” button, before you leave the page.

On the forum, you can post pictures, as well as words.  You can also save a photo (known as an avatar), so that people more easily recognise you.  To do this, navigate to the Forum page.  Towards the top of that page is a button labelled “profile”.  Click that, and then choose “Select your Avatar”. Scroll to “upload an avatar”, and click on the browse button to upload an image from your PC.  Don’t forget to click the “update profile” button before you finish.  If you have photos you’d like to show other people, you can attach them to a forum post, or email them to Adrian Davis, and I can put them in the website’s gallery.

If you haven’t signed up yet, then navigate to http://canterburybeekeepers.org.uk/, and register to join in the discussions!  And if you are stuck, or have ideas to improve the site, you can send me an email from the “contact us” page.

May 2011 apiary meeting

Posted on by July 7, 2011

On the 14th May we are going to hold a series of local meetings around the district with one of our more experienced members to lead the event at each location. The intention is to build local links between beekeepers and bring a meeting closer to home. If you are interested in hosting a meeting please let us know, either by phone, or email.

Theft of hives

Posted on by July 7, 2011

Colin Sawyer, an Ashford beekeeper, rang me to let you all know that he had three hives stolen last week. They were in the countryside and because vegetation had died down over winter were visible from the road. There were two double brood nationals and one single brood. They were home made from marine plywood which are easily identified by him. If you hear of anyone offering similar hives for sale please let Colin know.  You will have received his phone number in an email from me (Julian).

Also a Sidcup beekeeper had twelve of his best colonies, including drone and queen breeders taken during the week. One apiary was virtually cleared out, the other nearby had three colonies taken. All were on Langstroths, all frames had the month and year written in red felt tip pen on the top bar. Only good colonies were taken, anything a bit iffy was left behind. This suggests that it was a beekeeper.

Those of us that have our hives in the open and accessible to the public should take this event very seriously. The reality is although most beekeepers try to help and support each other there will always be an exception. Our hives and particularly our bees are very valuable as anyone looking at the cost of bees from suppliers will realise.

To protect our hives the police will always advise you to put a very visible marking on objects to make them either unattractive to steal or difficult to hide their identity. To that end a large name or postcode on the side of the hive with a branding iron or router is a good idea. Also every frame should be marked – ideally when new with your name or postcode or phone no on the top with a black spirit marker which will soak into the softwood. These two measure may well deter and will certainly raise suspicions in anyone who sees them or who is offered them for sale.  Also if your hives are painted a subdued grey or brown colour and hidden from view they are less likely to come to other people’s attention.

Let us hope that this is a one off but at the same time make sensible precautions.

Photos and notes from April 2011 meeting

Posted on by July 7, 2011

Photos from the Apiary meeting on 2nd April 2011 have been added to the gallery.  We had a balmy spring afternoon to inspect Joan and Julian’s bees.

We also had the chance to discuss and carry out a Bailey comb exchange, and a shook swarm.  These are two methods by which old comb can be removed from colonies, to reduce the pathogen load in a hive, and to improve the quality of broodcomb.  In both cases a bucket of heavy syrup was applied to facilitate the drawing of new comb.

In the shook swarm method, the old box and frames were moved to one side, a Queen excluder inserted below a new brood box containing frames of fresh foundation.  All the bees were shaken into the new box – despite our best efforts, the queen was not found.  With heavy feeding the bees should draw out the new frames.  All the current brood is lost, but colonies typically build up quickly from this procedure.

The Bailey comb exchange is less dramatic.  A new brood box with frames of fresh foundation is placed over the existing brood box, below the crown board.  With feeding the new frames will be drawn out.  Julian will need to assess the progress of the colony over the next 3 weeks – by which time all the brood in the lower chamber will have emerged as adult bees.  At this point the lower box can be removed, as the colony will typically have shifted its brood rearing efforts into the new, upper box.

Husbandry notes for March

Posted on by July 7, 2011

Early March is a critical time for honeybee colonies. We will now be getting warmer
weather and the queen will increase her laying. In consequence the bees need for
food will increase and because there is little food around they may run out and
starve. Therefore check the stores in your hive on a warmer day. If you have less
than two brood frames of stores you must feed them. Homemade candy or
purchased fondant is OK also feeding with sugar syrup in a slow contact feeder. A
honey or larger screw topped jar pierced with small holes 1/16”” or less will be fine
placed over the holes in the coverboard.

Once you start feeding you should continue to do so. In emergency feed sugar syrup either in a frame feeder or directly into an empty comb. Eggs laid now will become foraging bees in the middle of April – about the time that Oilseed rape makes its first appearance – weather dependent of course.  Make sure you have frames for your supers made up but I suggest you leave putting the foundation in until  just before the first super goes on at the beginning of April to keep your foundation in top condition.