Newbattle Beekeepers Association

Bumblebees have developed a remarkably successful method for fighting off Asian hornets, new research shows.

Scientists at the University of Exeter found buff-tailed bumblebees drop to the ground when attacked - taking the hornets down with them.

Read More on the BBC News Website

Strap your hives down ahead of the winter storms so they don't end up as a "natural disaster" statistic in the surveys of winter losses. Some examples of good and bad practice, and the consequences of not battening down the hatches.

Read More Here

A recently introduced initiative by the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) provides help and support for commercial and semi-commercial apiarists. To access the support you must be a BIBBA member and have at least one regular sales outlet, keep locally adapted bees and support the aims of BIBBA.

For More Details Click Here

Find out More on the BBC News Website

For all you budding honey competitors, The Scottish Smallholder Festival is being held on Saturday 14 October at The Highland Hall, Ingliston and there is a small honey competition for you to enter.  To date they have received no entries and are most keen to recitify this situation. 

The courses are aimed at beekeepers with experience who want to pass this on to others - a perfect fit for our mentors!

Course participants should have gained their Basic Beekeeping Certificate (BB)

The course is run over two days and will run from 09:00 - 17:00 on both days

The course is subsidised by the SBA and Newbattle Beekeepers Association is willing to further subsidise the fee by £50 making the cost to an NBA participant £50.

Places are very limited. To book a place contact Alan Riach Phone or text 07702 436612

Book your place, pay the SBA fee of £100 and reclaim £50 from Newbattle Beekeepers Association

The archive of the Scottish Beekeeper Magazine is now available online. It is in PDF format and is searchable in blocks of one year starting in 1924. It ends with the 2020 magazines if you are not a member of Scottish Beekeepers Association. If you are a member all editions are available via the members area of the website  

Access the Public Archive via this Link

A new veterinary medicine to treat for Varroa, ApiBioxal 44.2mg/ml solution, has recently been approved for use in the UK.

It is a ready-to-use treatment based on oxalic acid in solution.

View Product Details Here

The next diet of module exams is on Saturday 18th of November, but you need to register to sit these exams by Saturday 30th of September. 

There's a variety of topics for to choose from including the management of honey bees, their biology, behaviour, diseases and pests, to honey bee products and forage.

Should you wish to find out more please use the link below

SBA Module Exams

Unfortunately for farmers, bee populations are under pressure, due to factors such as climate change, habitat loss and the use of pesticides. The European honeybee is also being badly affected by a parasitic mite called varroa destructor.

Based on a moshav, or collective farm, in central Israel, Mr Sade is the founder of tech firm BloomX. He says that the company has found a way to mechanically pollinate crops in a similar way to bees.

Find out More from the BBC News Website