All the colonies overwintered well giving us a good start to the year, although I later realised that it is not the easiest thing to keep an eye on 10 large colonies with a record number of adopt-a-hive people. For this reason it has been decided to split the colonies for the coming season thus making manipulations more manageable to the new intake of adopt-a-hive people.
Despite the purchase of five new queens, all of which were accepted by their colonies apart from the Hawaian one, we had to deal with a couple of swarms. Regular varroa checks were carried out and formic acid was administered to all hives – remember that this kind of treatment is effective not only against accarine but also against varroa.
Mid Summer the Apiary was given a clean bill of health by James Morton, National Bee Inspector, to our great relief as EFB had been found in colonies not far from the Apiary.
Last year was very good with a lot of activity at the Apiary. The rotation system where Members took active part in the running of the Apiary Inspections has worked extremely well – it was a particular pleasure to note the enthusiasm shown by the Adopt-a-hive people, many of whom I hope will go on to become experienced beekeepers.
A large amount of honey was extracted at my home and I would like to thank everyone who helped. However, this was a very sticky business and for the sake of my marriage not one that can be repeated. It has been decided, therefore, to purchase a 4-frame honey extractor which will enable the new adopt-a-hive people to extract the honey in the comfort of their homes. Also, another of the benefits is that this extractor is easily transported around London due to its size.
As mentioned earlier colonies will be split and requeened to make them more manageable. Members, who are interested in starting up new colonies, can buy bees or purchase second hand equipment from the Club by contacting me.
I would like to thank Graham Seed for donating some of his supers and brood boxes to the Club prior to his relocation to Singapore. Graham helped out at the Apiary on a couple of occasions and he will be very much missed.
Angela Dougal has kindly agreed to step in as Assistant Apiary Manager this year, I look forward very much to welcoming her to the Apiary.
On a sad note Maggie Ridout passed away last year, as you all know. Maggie was the very first person I met in the club and became my Mentor in all aspects of my beekeeping. With a helpful and cheerful approach she tought me to always look at the bright side of beekeeping – even when there was no honey and the Queen had left. She always had time to answer my questions, however tedious or silly they might have been. If it had not been for her I probably would not have stuck to beekeeping.
I would like to emphasise to all the more experienced and knowledgable Beekeepers out there the importance of lending a hand to those lesser experienced Beekeepers. Also, it would be appreciated if more people would attend the Apiary Meetings to exchange ideas and information about beekeeping – after all this is your Club so make the most of it!