Blogs

This year The National Honey Show once again is returning to Sandown Park . The new venue means there's plenty of space to enjoy the fantastic display of all the classes including honey, wax, mead, photography and many others in the main Surrey hall, with the Traders next door in the same hall.

The Federation of Middlesex Beekeepers Associations’ Beekeepers Day is for many of us the beginning of the beekeeping year/season when we can gather to talk about bees and beekeeping. This year’s annual meeting will be hosted by Ealing and District Beekeepers’ Association, on Saturday 25th February 2017 at Holy Trinity Church,Suez Avenue,off Medway Drive, Perivale, Middlesex, UB6 8LN.
There will be three very interesting lectures given by Dr Martin Bencsik, Clive de Bruyn NDB and Bob Smith NDB followed by the Annual General Meeting of The Federation.

For more information and directions please see the attached file below:

In summer 2016 the South East Region welcomed two new Seasonal Bee Inspectors to the team, Hilary Hayward and Mark Patterson. Hilary has been looking after the beekeepers of West Sussex, and Mark commenced work in the Greater London area, south of the river. Adjustment of other inspecting areas meant north of the Thames is now covered by Brian Mc Callum, whilst Kent and East Sussex have been ably managed by Kay Wreford and Michael Cooper.

If you are interested in methods in which queen bees are raised, we would like to reccomend a very useful and fascinating course run by The Federation of Middlesex Beekepers.

The BBKA Basic Assessment is the simplest qualification in beekeeping. It is designed to show a level of competence in the basic skills and knowledge of the craft. Acquiring the qualification can be really important if you want to keep bees on an Association apiary or on a local authority allotment site.

The HBKA Beginners Course starts on 25th of March and runs for two weekends. These are held in our Hatch End Apiary where you will lern about and how to handle bees under guidance of our very experienced tutors.

On Sunday 11th December please come along to our last meeting of the year to enjoy a fun quiz, mead, and some festive treats. Usual start time of 11am for 11.15. There will be an opportunity to chat to friends, buy your Bee's winter treatment and talk about plans for the new season ask- for advice and give some! Think about courses you might want to take.:- Information will be available on.Basic beekeeping/ Beyond Basics discussion / Modules or General husbandryLook forward to seeing you there. Please bring if you can a small plate of festive food to share

Middx Federation Day 2017 is hosted by Ealing BKA on Sat 25th Feb. Full program of speakers with Martin Bencsik on accoustic hive monitoring, Clive de Bruyn (below) on Spring beekeeping and Bob Smith on pollen traps. All for £10, also available are lunch sandwiches, wax swaps and equipment sales.

2017 Federation Day Programme

The education session this week is about wax moths. These little insects can cause such a mess in the hive, honey and over the frames. Jo will be leading the session to talk about and help us to understand the difference between the greater and lesser wax moth, its problems and some of the things we can do to help our bees.