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Published on Leave a comment on June Tasks in the Apiary

June already and the bees are busy in the lovely sunshine we are experiencing. Has anyone told them next weekend will be cold and wet?

Anyway I have added a page of information as to what we should be doing in  the apiary this month.

On the swarm front I know that several of us have been called out to swarms and with the splendid weather that we are experiencing then I would not be a bit surprised if we do not get more call outs this week.

One area where it has been very quiet is in our alert system for the Asian Hornet. So far this year we have had no confirmed sightings in England to the best of my knowledge.

Jersey has reported rising numbers of Asian Hornets but numbers are down compared with this time last year.  Remember we must "Be Alert, Control Vespa Velutina, Save our Bees" and the essence of our program is "Track and Trace and Exterminate". I am pleased to say that the the Covid Virus programme is not quite the same as the Asian Hornet programme!

Published on Leave a comment on Oil Seed Rape

Having been out on my walk today - and yes I was totally legal. The scariest part of the walk was when I met a lady who waved her stick at me and warned me not to come any closer because her stick was 1.8 metres long.

Anyway on my walk I saw a lot of oil seed rape. Let us face it oil seed rape is not a shy little flower. Anyway that has caused me to do some research into oil seed rape and bees. It is a crop that can cause bee keepers quite a headache so I thought I would explain why here.

We are also into May and I have added the tasks for this month. It is the month for swarming but who knows what this month will bring. On my walk today the temperature was about 20C which was very pleasant. By Monday the daytime temperature could be as low as 10C - too cold to inspect the hive - and it is May. What a strange year this is!

At the moment the Dorchester Show is still scheduled as usual. In connection with this we have had a request for some bee equipment details of which are on the Wanted page. Do not forget that we also have a For Sale page and if you have used the lockdown to sort out and tidy your kit you may have something that can go on that page.