May: Taster day

We have great fun running this day every year since we started doing them.

We've designed the day to give people who are thinking of taking up beekeeping a "taste" of what they are letting themselves in for.  We spend the morning going through some light touch beekeeping theory,including setting up a hive, the equipment required and holding a Q&A before everyonehas  a scrumptious lunch.

Then in the afternoon we pop everyone in a beesuit and take a look through the hives...

Strangely for the last 2 years the bees have obliged us by doing something exciting on the day. Usually swarming.  This year was no exception.  We arrived at the apiary to find a swarm in a neighbouring garden...so they had to be put into a hive...

As it was a lovely day, we had plenty of time and we had an audience... 

We did it the "proper" way  and ran them up the board...

How many bees fit in a box?

 

Enough to fill a board....

Now......can anyone spot the queen?

We think everyone enjoyed the day.

If you are interested in joining us for a "taster" of beekeeping next year, probably a Sunday in May 2016 please email us; info@epsombeekeepers.co.uk 

April: Beginners practical classes start

Don't be fooled by this sense of calm...

This apiary is about to get very busy, because today is the day the beginners practical summer course gets up and running....

These folk don't look at all nervous do they?

I'm not sure they all know exactly what they've let themselves in for...

Starting with checking what the bees are taking into the hives...

a quick check of the notes from the last inspection of last year...

A whiff of smoke...

and the roofs are off...

The first frames are levered out...

All eyes down to find the queen!!

Many hands  make light work...

The weather was (just about) kind to us and it seemed like everyone enjoyed themselves.  Now if we could just ensure that every Saturday is like this from next week till September we'll be alright!

Isn't it lovely to see the apiary busy again?

April: Bees and Ducks

The weather was certainly better suited to ducks than bees but undaunted we set up the stall and the hive...

We waited patiently and as the clouds briefly split the wonderful people of Epsom and Ewell came out to see the duck race.

And a good number of them stopped by to try some local honey...

I can't pretend that the ducks weren't the stars of the show though.  At 2 o'clock prompt they were off!

Bobbing and weaving along the Hogsmill....

Sometimes with the help of a steward with a stick...

We caught a glimpse of them as they spun past ...

Sadly we haven't heard where our queen-bee-duck came in the race for big "corporate" ducks...we're presuming that means not in the top three!  Never mind - we've got plenty of time to redesign her for next year!!  Perhaps we could incorporate a little motor?

March: Focus on disease

On Tuesday 31st March we held a "Bee Disease Awareness and Diagnostic Clinic"

Splitting the evening into two halves we started with a talk about the Small Hive Beetle.

Understanding some more about the beetle's life cycle and how it has adapted to exploit the opportunities of the honey bee hive should make us all less intimidated by the news of its progress ever closer to the UK.

After that several beekeepers who had been brave enough to collect a sample of their bees were able to test them Nosema.

 




Sadly this involves killing a sample of about 30 bees and then snipping them apart...

Examining the bee abdomen soup under the microscope some members found rather more nosema spores than they would like, so will be getting their bees onto new comb as soon as they possibly can.

This event was kindly sponsored by BDI (Bee Disease Insurance).  It won't be our only opportunity to test bees for Nosema and Acarine this year.  If you didn't make it this time we encourage you to bring a sample to the next session.  We will ensure the dates are well advertised on the website calender, facebook and in the monthly newsletter.

March: One day spectacular

One of the best bits of beekeeping advice is "make a plan for the season".  So in the spirit of encouraging beekeepers to get their season off to a flying start we decided to hold a "one day Spectacular" sale, giving everyone the opportunity to think about renewing boxes and frames.

It did mean we placed a monster order which had to be delivered in possibly the biggest truck to ever try to gain access to our apiary...

The pallets simply kept coming off the back of the truck...

But with a bit of teamwork, and some expert pallet truck driving, everything was unloaded and brought in....

Then came the grand sorting out,  what a lot everyone ordered!

So Saturday morning arrived and we were amazed ot find the first customers waiting for us at 10:15 when we arrived...

We were busy all morning as people called in to collect their orders...

There was much talk of optimism for the season ahead, and a fair amount of tea was drunk as the tables gradually emptied...

And finally one very happy shop manager (he's happy honest!)

Hope we'll all be happy after a very successful season, same time, same place next year?

March: Work Gets Underway.....

We've been struggling for space for a while at the Apiary shop and have spent quite some time working out what needed to be kept and where and trying to rearrange everything ...but somehow we hadn't quite managed to "crack" exactly what was needed.

Then we struck on a plan for a storage cabin....it would mean re arranging some hives a bit but we  could tackle some ground works improvements at the same time...

Work needed to get underway before the weather improves and the bees really get out flyin, this net isn't going to distract the girls from this direction for very long...

so here's a shot of our new path....

 

and from the other side with its "don't walk here I'm to dry yet protective" bin and ladder...

Our cabin base and improved paths...

As the new path was still drying out the candidates for this morning's BBKA module exams got to be the first people to use the new approach..

What a good job the apiary classroom doesn't look this intimidating all the time...

Here's hoping all the candidates will have got on as well as our builders!