JANUARY

4/1/20…(Sat) Api-Bioxal treatment and BBQ at our Apiary 11 am start

 

17/1/20... (Fri 17th) Association Dinner at The Sugarcane Bistro on the square in Comber. Booking details as per email.

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15/1/20 (Wed) preliminary Beekeeping Course starts

 

22/1/19 Association meeting:

Members night: Tales from some of our members, gadgets, gizmos and more...

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FEBRUARY

14-15/2/20  (Fri and Sat) UBKA Annual Conference at Greenmount CAFRE Campus, Antrim 

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26/2/20…Association meeting:

JOHN HILL from RANDBKA - Randalstown and District Beekeepers Association will be giving us an update on The ASIAN HORNET  

 

MARCH

21/3/20 Sat Clean up at the Apiary 11am

Please bring a strimmer and other suitable tidy up tools.

 

25/3/20… Association meeting:

The following meeting: Nuc Raising - for the busy beekeeper with  Irene Power has unfortunately been cancelled.

Alternative details yet TBC

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APRIL

22/4/20… Association meeting:

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MAY

27/5/20…  Association meeting:

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JUNE

24/6/20…Summer BBQ at our Apiary

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JULY

No Meeting

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AUGUST

/8/20 Gormanstown Summer course

 

26/8/20... Association meeting:

 

29/8/20... (Sat) Apigard demo and talk about varroa treatment at our Apiary.

Details and directions tbc and will be emailed to members.

 

SEPTEMBER

30/9/20…7:30pm

with guest speaker Roger Patterson who is kindly giving us a live webinar via Zoom called “Dead Bees Don’t Buzz – Surviving the Winter “

Members should check their email for details on how to join us.

 

Roger Patterson started beekeeping as a teenager in his native West Sussex in 1963, at one stage having 130 colonies. He is a prolific writer, speaker and demonstrator of practical beekeeping, where his down to earth approach gained by observation, lateral thinking and being taught by many colonies of honey bees for over 50 years is appreciated.

His travels have allowed him to see different bees being kept in different conditions by different beekeepers, so increasing his knowledge that he freely passes onto others.

He is the current Apiary Manager of the Wisborough Green BKA in SW England.

 

Roger is passionate about the craft, encouraging beekeepers to learn the “basics” well, so they can understand how to solve their own problems, rather than consult sources that may be unreliable, as many are. 

 

He owns and manages Dave Cushman’s website www.dave-cushman.net, that is accepted as one of the world’s most comprehensive beekeeping websites.

 

Roger says that this talk could have simply been called “Wintering”, but so many speakers have that title, often just giving the impression that wintering is something you don’t think about until the autumn. Bees are preparing well before winter and this presentation encourages beekeepers to do the same, but from a position of understanding how a wild colony does it. Before varroa, bees survived the winters very well. They had to, as the survival of the species depended on minimal winter losses.

In managed colonies, winter losses are much higher than they should be. Why is that? Are beekeepers doing something wrong? Are their bees unsuited to our conditions? Are they neglected? Are they misunderstood? Are they unhealthy? What can we do to lessen the chances of losses without “mollycoddling”? Should we try to reduce losses? Are losses a good thing? These are all questions that successful beekeepers should be asking themselves.

There are many things beekeepers can do to help the colony survive into spring, some are mentioned in this thought provoking presentation.

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OCTOBER

28/10/20…  Via Zoom, Our members Keith Rolleston and Fred Warden will be giving a presentation on their Queen rearing escapades this summer. Please see your email for the zoom meeting link.

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NOVEMBER

25/11/20…Via Zoom, John Hill from Randalstown BKA will be giving us a presentation all about Propolis: Its history, what it is, what it can be used for.  

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DECEMBER

16/12/20 Quiz Night Via Zoom,  .... Details tbc

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