Many Beekeepers offer a voluntary collection service for swarms of bees. For details of these Beekeepers please click here…
Unfortunately we cannot help with wasp or bumble bee nests, or established honeybee colonies in buildings. See below for more information about bumble bees.
Swarming is a natural process by which bees colonies reproduce. Normally when bees swarm they do not sting, so if undisturbed they are not an immediate threat. Don’t panic! Usually they will find themselves a suitable home and disappear after a few hours.
However, their idea of a ‘suitable home’ might not be yours. They have been known to occupy chimneys, wall cavities, bird boxes and house roofs. It is better to ask a beekeeper to collect them. This ensures that they will be given a good home and not destroyed. This service is normally provided free, but a contribution towards travelling expenses, or perhaps a donation to charity might be requested.
Unfortunately we cannot help with wasp or bumble bee nests, or established honeybee colonies in buildings.
If you are worried about bees in the roof or in a bird-box please watch this video before phoning. These are tree bumble bee drones. THEY DO NOT STING. The nest will die out at the end of the summer when you can block up the hole or move the bird box. We cannot help with these bees but you can find out more at http://bumblebeeconservation.org/
Other sources of information:
Concerned about Bumblebees? Visit www.bwars.com to find out more.
A message from the National Bee Unit:
In some regions of the UK beekeepers have reported excessive use of food stores due to the un-seasonally warm weather. It would be advisable that you check your colonies have adequate stores and add supplements if required. With the weather being quite variable, fondant is the best option not liquid feed.
For those of you thinking about treating your colonies with Oxalic acid, we remind you to only use only approved products Api-bioxal or Oxuvar and to administer the treatment by label instruction only.
Further information about colony feeding and keeping good and accurate medicine records can be found on our website at www.nationalbeeunit.com .
A report on East LAN’s recent “Brains Trust” evening, an article on Polynucs, an obituary for Ted Goodhead and a run-down on the latest developments at the HBKA Apiary.
A rather less bulky Buzzword this month, everyone, in line with the general seasonal decline in activity of bees – and beekeepers too! Still the odd report or two though plus another article by Celia Davis that’s definitely worth reading.
Something for everyone this month – Asian Hornets, Festival of Bees & Honey and other event reports, coming soons, change of charitable status (Committee Corner – you absolutely must read this), a fascinating piece about pheromones, Bob’s bit, some adverts – and some rather depressing but not unexpected stop press news too.
This month’s Buzzword starts off with our forthcoming Festival of Bees & Honey and then goes on to cover LAN reports, honey harvesting workshops, internet trawling and the merits of (accidental) leave-alone beekeeping – a heady mix to be savoured at your leisure…
The Royal Three Counties Show, the Summer Garden Party, the Hog Roast and the Winter Cluster are the main things covered in this edition.
Some substantial LAN reports in this edition plus an alert from the NBU, a quick Internet trawl and news about how HBKA members can help publicise our “new look” Honey Show.
This edition of The Buzzword includes some interesting LAN activity reports plus an article on Asteraceae by Celia Davis.
Here’s where you can find more reports from the LANs, obtain advice about allergic reactions and how best to deal with them, take a brief trip to Corfu (of Durrell Family fame) and, more sadly, read the obituary of Jim Oliver, our 2015-16 President.
Inside this edition you can read the first LAN reports of the season, see event reports and information, discover how to prevent a colony swarming without finding the queen and get an update on pesticide problems in Herefordshire.
In this edition, you’ll find that the first HBKA meeting of 2016 has already taken place (see report on page 3) and that next up is the AGM on Tuesday 15 March at which Marin Anastasov is the guest speaker. Also inside, you can read about Mead Making, Bailey comb changing and Pesticide Problems in Herefordshire.
This month there are items on mead and moisture, a glimpse of beekeeping in Mexico, reports on national and local meetings – and, on pages 1 and 2, some upcoming events to note, in particular, the AGM on 15th March.
First one of the New Year highlighting the abnormal weather conditions, telling a dramatic story, giving instruction on mead-making, offering advice on hive cleaning and keeping you up to date with what you should be doing bee-wise this month.
Welcome to 2017!
Just a quick reminder that Memberships are now due for renewal. Go to Join Us to select and pay for your membership. Remember to select the Renew Membership options if you are renewing your Full or Associate Membership.
We have a new payment system this year that will accept payment by:
- Debit & Credit Cards processed through PayPal (no PayPal account needed)
- Bank Transfer – BACS
- Payment by Cheque
The website will create an account for you as your purchase and send out a password to you – keep this handy as this will speed up future transactions. You can manage your account on the My Account page, here you can edit your details and see details of purchases etc.
The new system should work seamlessly, however if you encounter any glitches please let us know at firstname.lastname@example.org and we will check it out.
An update from The National Bee Unit
Following the finding of Asian hornets in Gloucestershire recently the The National Bee Unit have received a large number of suspect Asian hornet reports from members of the public and beekeepers which we are following up. Bee inspectors have now visited over 100 sites. Asian hornets have been seen at just six locations within 500 meters of the original site.
Efforts to track down the nest and destroy it are ongoing. There have been no other substantiated reports of hornets anywhere else in the UK so please be patient while we continue our field work and be assured that when appropriate, national alerts will be sent out via our email alert system. In the meantime, our news feed on BeeBase will be used to keep everyone updated.
Please also see the updated ID sheet to help you Identify Vespa velutina in your apiaries. At this time of the year, the best bait to use in traps is fish bait diluted to 25%
Please continue to monitor your own apiaries using hornet traps and encourage those whom you know are not registered on our database to sign up here….