Centenary Dinner 15th November 2019. Photo Courtesy of David Ferguson
The association Centenary Celebration Dinner was held at the Garden Cafe at Traquair House on Friday 15th November 2019.
The occasion was held to mark 100 years since the founding of the Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association in July 1919.
Eighteen Peeblesshire beekeepers and partners enjoyed the lovely food provided by our host and fellow beekeeper Mary Shields.
Peter Stevenson the association treasurer made a short speech touching on the history of the association and the fellowship that comes from being part of a group of people who have a shared interest.
The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all and was a fitting way to end the centenary year.
Many thanks to the secretary, Mandy Clydesdale, and our host Mary for organising such a successful event.
Venue: Community Centre (Drill Hall) Peebles 7.30pm
Luis Melora Lead Bee Inspector
Luis Melora is the newly appointed lead bee inspector for Scotland.
Our first lecture of the winter season and an opportunity to meet and welcome Luis. He will speak about his first 3 months in the job, the move from hobbyist to lead bee inspector and an update on the Foul brood situation in Scotland, Asian Hornet threat and overview of beekeeping in Scotland.
In June 2017 Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association (PBKA) purchased two nucleus colonies of native dark Amm bees from Colonsay and set up an isolated apiary outside Peebles. The aim was to increase the number of bees of this strain in the area and to eventually make nucs available to members.
Over 2018 it was found that the location, being remote, meant fewer members were involved than hoped and a previously unknown apiary had been identified 3km away. Then unfortunately, the two members who lived nearby and who were looking after these bees were to be moving away from Peeblesshire, so in November 2018 they were relocated to another member’s apiary, Linda’s, closer to Peebles for overwintering.
By Spring 2019, one of the colonies had died out and an isolated apiary site had not been found. Around this time we heard that Kate Atchley was setting up a native bee apiary in the Cheviots and with her help, three members, Wilma, Linda and David, set out to raise some queens from our remaining colony, to then go and be mated in the Cheviots.
Using the Nicot Cupkit system,
a first batch of six queens were raised and introduced into apideas,
with all the timings worked out on a spreadsheet version of “Tom’s
Table” updated by Roger Patterson and available from Dave Cushman’s
website. Our first batch were ready in May, but Kate advised there
were insufficient drones available in her new apiary, so we raised a
second batch of queens, and in June five apideas went off to the
Cheviots where they all mated successfully. The first group of queens
we raised were mated locally and will provide pure Amm drones in the
area.
In July we collected three
apideas, leaving two with Kate and she swapped one of her mated
queens in a Lyson MiniPlus nuc, to help mix our bees’ genetics. Our
four newly mated queens were spread out, one in each of Wilma and
David’s apiaries, two to the PBKA apiary and Linda still had the
original Amm colony in her apiary. Sadly two died out over the summer
but two are now a good size in nuc boxes, well fed, treated for
varroa and ready for winter, along with the original colony.
We have learnt that rearing
pure Amm queens has its challenges, brain teasing timings and
logistics, but that it is possible even for relative beginners like
ourselves to do this, plus it was fun and the reward is that we end
the year with three pure Amm colonies where we only started with one.
We would certainly encourage others to try this too.
Next year we hope to raise
some more native dark queens. We have had an approach from another
Scottish Native Honey Bee Society member, who may have a suitable
location not far from us for a mating apiary, so we might support
that too in our aim to improve the native bee’s presence in
Peeblesshire. To be continued . . .
David Ferguson
New Amm queen at PBKA Apiary – photo Wilma MacLean
Venue: Community Centre (Drill Hall) Peebles 7.30pm
An introduction to the associations newest and most expensive acquisition – a Konigin 12 frame electric extractor.
We have recently bought a brand new electric extractor. Before lending it out for general use we would like to demonstrate the correct use of the machine. It has several programmable options and a few quirks that are worth knowing.
We will bring the machine along to the hall so we can see it in operation (no actual honey will be involved). There is an instruction video that we will show, as well as paper instructions.
Elaine, Wilma and Peter visited the association apiary on Wednesday 18th.
The main job was to put Apivar strips in for varroa treatment.
For the records we used 500mg strips – Lot: 190344, Expiry: 02/2021
Minimum date for removal will be 30th October, Max date 27th November.
Report
Hive 2
Varroa count 4 (in 4 days) = rate 1 per day
Super was about half filled with stores – some uncapped. This was moved to below the brood box. Queen excluder was removed. 2 x apivar strips in brood box. Crown board and large feeder on top with syrup.
Hive 3
Varroa count approx 60 (in 4 days) = rate 15 per day
Please contact
Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details
so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather
or other circumstances.
Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.
All welcome, particularly beginners.
Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are
available to borrow on request.
We had a good visit to the association apiary. A few regulars and some welcome guests turned up including some junior bee enthusiasts. Scroll down for the photos.
Thanks to Janet for the notes.
Inspection Notes from Apiary visit 7th September 2019
Hive
4
Queen not seen.
Brood box – three frames with small
amount of sealed brood.
Lots of bees.
One super with lots of sealed honey,
another super with a smaller amount of sealed and unsealed honey.
Action
taken:
Super with smaller amount of honey
moved to below the brood box.
Clearing board put in between brood
box and super with sealed honey (super above brood box).
Queen excluder removed.
Next
visit:
Take top super off.
Feed with syrup.
Hive
2
Queen,
eggs and brood seen.
Actions
taken:
Frames with sealed honey moved to the
sides, and unsealed frames moved towards middle.
Hive
3
Two
supers, both partially filled. Third, empty super on top to
accommodate fondant feed.
Actions
taken:
Fondant feed (almost all gone)
removed.
Best frames from both supers
transferred to one super. This was left above brood box with
excluder removed and replaced with a clearing board.
Less filled frames put in the other
super which was then placed under the brood box.
The empty spare super (from the
fondant feed) left on top of the clearing board).
Hive
5
No
super. Queen seen. Some sealed brood – no eggs or unsealed brood.
Frames very full of stores.
Nuc 3
Queen
seen – still laying.
Actions
taken:
Syrup added.
Black
Queen Nuc
Lots
of sealed brood, larvae and eggs. Queen seen.
Action
taken:
Reservoir at the side of the nuc
filled with syrup and stick added for bees to climb on.
Update Sun 8th
Richard and Peter removed the cleared supers from Hives 3 and 4 and replaced with feeders in an empty super as eke. Feeders were filled with syrup.
A swarm has taken up residence rather near the storage shedsTabitha and Daisy enjoyed their visit to the bees.These are building up from a native bee mating nuc.A native dark bee queen courtesy of Kate Atchley laying well in the nuc.Feeding syrup.
