Newbattle Beekeepers Association

Read the Ministerial Letter Here

Kiva is an easy way to make a real difference in someone's life. Will you join me in helping El Pedernal Community Bank in Santa Ana to pursue their dream? 

Support the Santa Ana Beekeepers 

Working together for the past five years, this community bank has found balance with nature and profitability by adding value to their coffee farms. They have learned that working alongside bees, has made each coffee harvest bountiful and so has been the honey harvest. With beautiful orange trees surrounding the coffee plants, they provide a much needed and beneficial shade, this allows the coffee plants to grow with the upside that the honey produced and harvested by El Pedernal Community Bank has a delicious orange zest smell and taste; a much liked characteristic by many who purchase it. 

It is through both activities that each family is able to provide for their own and continue with their labor. Because demand has grown in the past year, they need to increase their productivity and this is why they are looking for their first KIVA loan. They community bank will use the funds to buy bigger and better beehives and honey collecting equipment so as to keep up with the demand. Pictured here are some of El Pedernal Community Bank members.

Click on the link below to read the post

Too Many Honey Bees in Town?

another-beast-from-the-east 

Would you recognise a tropilaelaps mite if you found one in a hive? Click on the link above for more information.

Packed with useful information on honey bee biology and practical beekeeping, including training manuals, how-to videos, articles, scientific references and Bees for Development Journal - all free to access from anywhere in the world.

Visit the Resource Centre

You can also request printed resources for training and awareness-raising events, especially where internet connection is unreliable. 

When he was between the ages of five and ten years old, he was labelled a “genius” and a “prodigy” by several of his teachers because everything came easy. Once he went to secondary school, it soon became apparent that he was neither of those things; he had just been a slightly quicker developer than his class mates

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2023 sample pack requests CLOSED

Due to super enthusiasm for taking part in the scheme the limit for the number of sampling packs planned for sending out in 2023 has been reached so the sample pack request option on the website is now closed. This means you will no longer be able to request a sample pack, but if you have received one already please go ahead and collect your samples and send them back. The scheme is sorry to disappoint but they are managing their time and resources this year to avoid last year's sample backlog and delay in producing results.

Take your winter losses now - Unite weak colonies or those headed by dodgy queens........

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See below for  a copy of an email from Nicola Kerr, the Policy Head of Animal Welfare and Bee Health at the Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy. She asked that we share the information with our members. 

We would be grateful if you could please share the following information with your members. 

We are contacting you to inform you of an outbreak of American Foulbrood (AFB) in honey bees near the Calders area of the Lothians. This is the first outbreak of AFB detected in this area in recent years. 

 

This outbreak concerns a number of hives and was discovered by Scottish Government bee inspectors during the delivery of their honey bee health inspection programme, with the diseases being confirmed by SASA on 3 August 2023. 

The beekeeper concerned has been informed of the official confirmation of the diseases. They are fully cooperating with the Scottish Government bee health inspectors.

The colonies infected with AFB will be humanely euthanized as there is no permitted treatment for the disease in the UK. Restrictions are in place in the affected apiaries. We are working with the beekeeper to identify the possible origin of this outbreak as well as any possible spread of disease. 

BeeBase registered beekeepers within 3 km from the infected apiary will also be alerted of this outbreak via BeeBase.

What does this mean?

This is an informative announcement to raise awareness of key points. There are no subsequent restrictions in the area as a result of this finding other than those in place for the infected apiaries. 

Next Steps

Please can beekeepers also be reminded of the importance of acquainting themselves with the symptoms of foulbrood diseases and how to carry out a full foulbrood inspection. All beekeepers should carry out at least one foulbrood inspection a year, but we recommend more frequent inspections for those in areas where disease has been confirmed

If there is any suspicion of AFB or EFB, there is a legal requirement to notify the Scottish Government Honey Bee Health Team.

Strict biosecurity is the best prevention to avoid infection, especially for beekeepers who are located within the outbreak area. Swarms of unknown origins should be isolated in a quarantine apiary and inspected for signs of disease before they are brought into contact with other colonies. 

Extreme care should be taken with old and second-hand equipment. Such equipment should be thoroughly cleansed and sterilised before re-utilising. In our experience, old infected equipment is the main source of spread of AFB. 

In addition, we would like to emphasise the importance of beekeepers registering and keeping the locations of their apiaries up to date in BeeBase. This will allow the Scottish Government Honey Bee Health Team to assess if there has been a risk of disease spreading to their bees. This is all the more important for those beekeepers who find themselves within the area where the outbreak has been confirmed. 

Free registration to BeeBase is available at the National Bee Unit website. Registration on BeeBase also ensures that other beekeepers in an area are automatically alerted to disease outbreaks.

Additional information can be found on the following webpages: 

• Foulbrood – how to spot and report the disease
• Honey bee health guidance

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at: Bees_Mailbox@gov.scot

Best wishes

Nicola

 

Policy Head of Animal Welfare and Bee Health | Animal Health and Welfare Division | Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Economy 

 

(She/Her)   Full-time remote home worker: please contact me at Nicola.kerr@gov.scot, or on MS Teams. I work a 9-day fortnight with every second Monday off. 

BIBBA Conference Early Bird Rate Ends Tomorrow BIBBA Conference Programme 2023 "BIBBA: Supporting Practical Beekeeping" There are two streams:- Room 2: “Early Years” for beekeepers who are developing their knowledge and skills and want to move on from what they may have been taught as beginners. Room 1: “Later Years” for more advanced and general. Participants are free to attend whichever presentation they wish.   Friday 1 Sept 10.00 onwards. Venue open 15.00 Town Walk: Philip Johnes: Details TBA 18.20 Welcome 18.30 Presentation     Kevin Williams: "History and Traditions of Bee Keeping in Wales" 19.30 Dinner 20.30 Quiz Saturday 2 Sept 8.15 Registration 9.15 – 9.30 Introduction and Open Conference Room 1: Caroline Mullinex. Welsh BKA Chair: 9.30 – 10.30 Presentation Room 1: TBA 10.30 – 11.00 Break 11.00 – 12.30 Presentations Room 1: Steve Riley: "Identifying varroa resistant traits" Panel: "We have varroa resistant bees; do we have resistant beekeepers?" Room 2: Lynfa Davies: "Queen rearing with just a few colonies" Panel: "Is small scale queen rearing difficult?" 12.30 – 13.30 Lunch 13.30 – 15.00 Presentations Room 1: Ceri Morgan: "Making a living from Locally Adapted Bees" Panel: "Locally adapted bees: are they an important resource?" Room 2: Karl Colyer: "Beekeeping on a Budget" Panel: "Can beekeeping be a zero cost hobby?" 15.00 – 15.30 Break 15.30 – 17.00 Presentations Room 1: Lynfa Davies: "How and why encourage drones?" Panel: "Should we promote drone management more?" Room 2: Jo Widdicombe: "Native, near-native, locally adapted or imported?" Panel: "An alternative approach - Moving towards sustainable bee improvement" 19.00 Dinner Sunday 3 Sept 8.15 Registration 9.00 – 10.00 Presentations Room 1: Dan Etheridge: "The Tropilaeplaps mite - Varroa’s exotic house mate!" Room 2: Helen Tworkowski: "Lessons from the Bee Shed" 10.00 – 10.30 Break 10.30 – 12.00 Presentations Room 1: Roger Patterson: "BIBBA: Defining and Supporting Small-Scale Commercial Beekeepers" Panel: "What and how can BIBBA do more to support Small-Scale Commercial Beekeepers?" Room 2: Kevin Thorn: "Producing locally adapted queens is more fun than buying them" Panel: "Bought queens: Do we always know what we are getting and why should we care?" 12.00 – 13.00 Lunch 13.00 – 14.30 Presentations Room 1: Colm ONeill: "Colony assessment: How to identify top performers" Panel: "Should we assess colonies to suit the bees, beekeeper or both?" Room 2: David Parker: "Beekeeping with a full time job" Panel: "Hints and Tips for Beekeepers with limited time" 14.30 – 15.30 Presentations Room 1: Dorian Pritchard: "Genetic priorities for honey bee conservation and their application in a new Dark Bee reserve" Room 2: Peter Jenkins: "The Kiss Approach to Beekeeping" Full Details & Registration Full Details & Registration