Blogs

A reminder that next weekend the Federation day is hosted by Barnet at Arkley Village Hall, EN5 3LD on Sat 20th Feb. Speakers are Professor Linda M Field from Rothamsted on Insecticides, Pam Hunter on Bee Nutrition and Dr Sara Robb on Making Toiletries, all for £10. Wax exchange and Bee Basic equipment will also be available. A printable agenda with map is available.

Linda M Field

The forum is a recent addition to the National Bee Unit communications run by out Regional Bee Inspector Julian Parker. Moira went from HBKA and made notes on the day. Topics covered included the new NBU organisation, monitoring of imports and this year's foul brood totals. One aim is to recruit a network of Association volunteers to be known as Bee Health Advisors, as a local point of contact for less experienced members. Disease updates covered SHB, Asian hornet and DWV.

Entries close soon. A first or second in the Harrow Show should consider emtering at least the Middx county sections. See Jo at the apiary on Sunday 4th October, Harrow members can help by delivering and collecting your entries. Three day event includes one of the best lecture programmes in the country with international speakers, a trade show with many suppliers offering discounts and an education program with bookable sessions on many bee topics. See diary entry and links for details.

An opportunity to listen to a guest speaker before the National Honey Show. MONDAY October 26th  2015 - 8pm Harrow Art Centre HA5 4EA in the Greenhill room. Juliana became Assistant Professor of Apiculture in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University in 2013 after previous posts at Cornell with Thomas Seeley and N. Carolina with David Tarpy. There are limited places so please book your seat with Jo Telfer, donations to expenses welcome.

Beekeepers never like paying full price, one tradition is to stock for spring at the autumn and winter sales. Popular with HBKA members is Thornes at their Windsor branch, this year Saturday 5th September from 10 am. Pre-paid orders to be collected need to be in by 1st September. The pre-order system makes the sale less a scramble than it used to be but you can still turn up on the day to buy. Their website has lists of hive parts, frames and other basics that are mostly of "seconds" timber plus the cheaper lines of queen excluders, extractors and other items.

Our own Honey Show is on 31st Aug at Headstone Manor. Format change from last year, HBKA Honey show is part of the the Harrow in Leaf Show and the whole event is now the Headstone Village Show and it is for one day only,  Monday 31st August. Show format is to enter one or more classes, 20p per class, £1 minimum. Everybody contributes to the occasion and everyone learns something, no matter how long they have been showing. Click "Read more" below for links and times.

After the honey extraction on Sunday it seemed opportune to show some of the equipment available when your beekeeping gets a little more volume orientated. Click on the image above to see how it's done beyond the hobby scale.

Stories were circulating on several bee sites about the passing of Clive, author of "Practical Beekeeping" and well known from talks at conferences. Happily, not true it turns out. Like Mark Twain before him, reports of Clive de Bruyn's passing were greatly exaggerated. Expect any talks he's giving in the near future to be well attended, reserve a place early.

 

Annual disease inspection is this Saturday 20th June. Meet at Yeading Avenue, Orchard Grove, and Village Way at 9:00 with a view to starting work at 9:30, then all on to Hatch End in the afternoon. Bill and Odette at Orchard Grove, Jo and Brian at Village Way, Judy and Moira at Yeading Avenue.  Hive owners should be there to hear about the health of their hives, other members to see the process and help in lifting would be appreciated.