Dorchester and Weymouth Bee Keepers Association

There are updates to the Honey Show Schedule. Make certain that you have downloaded the latest. It is here.

So what are your bees doing? Some seem to be doing really well with lots of activity and loads of honey. Others seem to be OK but lacking in enthusiasm. Mine seem to be the lazy ones.

I have checked for diseases and there is nothing to worry about. I have checked for Varroa and that is not the problem. I blame it on the weather. I certainly don't want to rush around in this heat and I would rather stay indoors doing odd jobs inside and I guess that is how my bees feel. Stay inside, build a few cells, feed some larvae, bit of hive work - just chill.

Anyway nothing I can do except make certain there are stores and that they have access to water.

What you can do is download that show schedule and see which classes you are going to enter. There is also a link now to the entry form.

The work on the schedule for the Dorset County Show goes ever on and here is the latest version. Note that to make life easier for all those who are interested I have amended the title of the file to include the date on which it was published. That will help you check you have the latest.

There is also a link now to the entry form.

For those offering to help there is a form here.

Keep your eye on this site as this is where you will find the latest information.

I said that the Honey Show Schedule would soon be here and here it is.

In fact this is a newer version so make certain you have downloaded this.

I also said that there are a lot of classes and here are just a few of them:

1) Two 454g jars of light honey
2) Two 454g jars of medium honey
3) Two 454g jars of dark honey
4) Two 454g jars of crystallised (not soft set) honey
5) Two 454g jars of soft set honey
6) Two 454g jars of chunk honey
7) Three identical jars of honey, 7
8) One frame of comb honey suitable for extraction
9) Two containers of cut comb honey, between 200g - 250g in weight
10) Two sections, square
11) Two sections, round
12) One cake of beeswax
13) Five blocks of beeswax, approximately 27g each
14) Five pieces of identical decorative moulded beeswax
15) Two identical beeswax candles,from a plain mould
16) Two identical beeswax candles, not moulded
17) One bottle of dry mead
18) One bottle of sweet mead
19) One flower made from beeswax (may be coloured)
20) One photograph of interest to beekeepers.
21) Shop counter display of honey.

And that is not all. There are loads more.
For the complete list and a fuller description get the latest version here.