“Bee Improvement for All”
Dear Beekeeping Colleague,
In conjunction with the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) the Surrey BKA will be holding a “Bee Improvement for All” day. This is one of a number that BIBBA will be staging throughout the country on a regional basis. We have tried to select a date as far ahead as possible in the hope it doesn’t clash with other events. It would be appreciated if you could avoid arranging an event on that day.
Please advertise the event in your newsletters, websites and meetings and ensure this message goes to as many organisers and beekeepers as possible.
Details as follows:-
“Bee Improvement for All”.
An all day event aimed at encouraging all beekeepers to improve their bees. The purpose is to help all beekeepers to continuously assess their colonies, so they have a good idea of which queens to cull, and which colonies to take queen cells from when they need new queens.
There will be tuition on how to raise queens using queen cells that bees often present us with during the summer, as well as some simple “artificial” techniques that may be suitable for the more advanced beekeeper, or those working in groups.
Further details can be found on http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beeimprovementforallday.html
Date:- Saturday 31st January 2015
Time:- 9.30am for 10.00am start – 5.00pm close
Venue:- Cobham Village Hall, Lushington Drive, Cobham, Surrey, KT11 2LU.
Cost:- £18/head. £14/head for under 18, but must be accompanied by a fee paying adult. Refreshments and lunch included.
Bookings to:-
Sandra Rickwood. sbkabibba@gmail.com
Enquiries to:- Sandra Rickwood. sbkabibba@gmail.com
There are a number of similar events for those who are unable to attend. See above link.

“Bee Improvement for All”

A whole days learning how to improve your bees.

Bee Improvement should be of interest to all beekeepers and for a number of reasons including temper, quietness on the combs and suitability to the locality.

The queen is an important factor in the characteristics of a colony, so colony assessment and queen selection need more attention than many beekeepers give them. This does mean queen rearing, but the bees give us many opportunities during the summer to raise queens with little effort needed by us.
“Bee Improvement for all” is a one day course that is designed to help beekeepers use these opportunities to improve their bees, as well as giving information to those who wish to raise more queens. Some speakers and books don’t serve the beekeeper with a few colonies very well, as they often use methods that are beyond the needs of the ordinary beekeeper. This course is organised to help and encourage beekeepers of all abilities to improve their bees, using simple techniques without the need for specialist equipment.

Amongst the topics covered will be:

• Setting the criteria you want in your bees.
• How to assess your own and other people’s colonies.
• Recording assessments using simple methods.
• Rearing queens from local bees to avoid relying on buying them.
• Deciding which colonies to use queen cells from and which queens to cull.
• Using natural queen cells the bees build.
• “Artificial” queen rearing for those who want more queens.
• Changing queens in colonies.
• Making up mating nuclei.
• Getting queens mated.
• Working with other beekeepers and the local BKA.

There will be plenty of information on colony management, with emphasis on understanding what is happening inside colonies and keeping things simple.
This course will help beekeepers to rear their own queens from local stock and not rely on imports.
“Bee Improvement for all” courses are organised by the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) on a nationwide basis, sometimes in conjunction with local BKAs or bee breeding groups. They are all day events, but the timings and cost will depend on local arrangements.
Further details can be found on http://www.bibba.com or http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beeimprovementforallday.html

Bee Craft, the Beekeeping magazine have received numerous comments on their Live Webinar (Hangout) last week. If you missed it, the recording can be viewed through this direct link (along with the latest news on Small Hive Beetle) :

http://www.bee-craft.com/managing-small-hive-beetle/

Alternatively, watch the video below (thanks to Bee Craft)

Bee Craft

To BBKA Members
4 October 14
SMALL HIVE BEETLE UPDATE
The following update has been prepared by the BBKA based on communications with the UK authorities,
including the National Bee Unit and the Chief Plant Health Officer in Defra, since expressing our deep
concerns at the meeting of the Bee Health Advisory Forum (BHAF) on 23 September.
DEVELOPMENTS IN ITALY
The National Bee Unit is in discussion with the Italian authorities and our European partners to ensure that
measures are in place to stop Small Hive Beetle (SHB) from entering the UK and harming our bee population.
Following the discovery of the beetle at the port city of Gioia Tauro in south west Italy, Italian authorities
established a 20km radius protection zone and a 100km surveillance zone around this initial site. Surveillance
and control activities have been focused on the 20km zone and movement restrictions placed in the 100km
zone preventing any export or movement of bees, bee products and equipment from the zone.
On Wednesday (01/10/14) the Italian National Reference Laboratory for Apiculture published an update on
the extent of the outbreak; they report the detection of 16 infested apiaries, all within the original 20km
protection zone. Infected apiaries have been destroyed and the surveillance and control measures continue.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE UK
For England and Wales, the National Bee Unit has completed the tracing of all imports of packages of bees
imported from Italy, around 600 colonies, and all results have been negative for SHB.
As well as the risk of SHB entering the UK with honeybees there are other potential routes by which SHB
could enter the UK.
We are particularly concerned about the importation of fruit and other plant materials from this agricultural
area of Italy and have urged restriction of the trade in plants, fruit and vegetables from the SHB exclusion zone
in Italy, into the UK. This has been discussed by the Plant Health authorities with Bee Health policy officials
and whilst they state that they do NOT have legal powers to stop the entry of plants, fruit and vegetables from
Italy under plant health legislation, we have urged them to reconsider this aspect under the terms of animal
health provisions. The following actions have already been taken:
1. The Fresh Produce Consortium has been alerted of the risk of SHB entry on imported plants, fruit and
vegetables from Italy and have been supplied with the NBU advisory leaflet. The Consortium has agreed to
inform their members and circulate the leaflet to them.
2. The Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate which inspects plants, fruit and vegetables at points of entry into
the UK and HM Customs and Excise have been alerted and supplied with information on the risk and to
how identify SHB.
ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS
The BBKA is at present not satisfied that these steps alone are adequate and wishes to see full and early
consideration of the imposition of the importation of fruit, vegetables and plant material from the restriction
zone. The BBKA has requested an urgent meeting with the authorities , currently scheduled for the week
commencing 13 October, to further review the measures in place and to be taken. This will include how best
the BBKA and its members can contribute to dealing with this contingency and a number of related issues such
as the importation of honeybees into the UK. However, it is important to understand that the greatest risk of
undetected entry of SHB into the UK is not likely to be with honeybees but in imported fruit, vegetables and
other plant materials.
It is important that beekeepers can be reassured that an effective contingency plan is in place with effective
methods of early detection based on monitoring of imports, the sentinel hives already in place and that
effective treatments are ready to hand. This will be the key objective in our discussions with those charged
with bee health, but above all, prevention of the pest arriving on our shores..
KEEPING UP TO DATE
The BBKA will continue to update its members via the BBKA website.
Members are also recommended to use the NBU website for the latest information, specifically the News
Pages and the Small Hive Beetle page within the Bee pests and diseases section:
http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/
BeeBase
Beekeepers who subscribe to the RSS feed will get an automated update when the news pages change:
http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/public/News/news.cfm#148
Small hive beetle general information:
http://www.nationalbeeunit.com/index.cfm?pageid=125
Italian National Reference Laboratory for Apiculture
http://www.izsvenezie.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1729:aethina-tumida-situazioneepidemiologica&
catid=59&Itemid=373
http://www.izsvenezie.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1722%3Apresenza-di-aethinatumida-
in-calabria&catid=138&Itemid=606
The information is also on the EU Reference Laboratory for honey bee health ANSES
website
https://eurl-milk.anses.fr/en/minisite/abeilles/detection-aethina-tumida-small-hive-beetle-southern-italy
A copy of the first presentation of the outbreak is publicly available on the Commission website. Things have
moved on since, but it outlines the measures and shows photographs of the first infested colonies.
http://ec.europa.eu/food/committees/regulatory/scfcah/animal_health/presentations_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/food/committees/regulatory/scfcah/animal_health/docs/20140919_aethina_italy.pdf
NB It is essential that this matter is dealt with objectively and responsibly and that
members should be reassured that the BBKA will do its utmost to ensure that the risk
of SHB entering the UK is reduced as much as is legally possible under EU trade and
animal health legislation and that should SHB enter the UK, that we are ready and
prepared to deal with it. Our primary objective is to prevent the arrival of SHB in the
UK.
Dr David Aston
Chair, BBKA Technical and Environmental Committee

Beginners Evening Class: Introduction to Beekeeping

Vale and Downland Beekeepers Association is pleased to announce that their well established evening classes for Beginners will be starting this October. The course includes:

• Membership to the association
• 8 weeks tuition on the theory of beekeeping
• 1 day practical workshop on making up your equipment individual mentoring through your first season with bees weekly practical sessions of handling bees at our association apiary.

Numbers are limited, please contact Lilian Valentine

(jvalentine515@btinternet.com) or tel: 01235 767524 for registration details.

Why not join our Summer beginners meetings later this season – come along and have a chat with one of our experienced beekeepers.

From May 2014, The Vale & Downland Beekeepers’ Association will be holding evening meetings during this season for beginners and public. The first of these meetings will be held on Wednesday 7 May starting at 7pm. Additional meetings will be held on the following Wednesday’s: June 4, July 2 and August 13 – all starting at 7pm

If you know of anyone who would be interested in attending any of these meetings please contact Lilian Valentine 01235 767524. Venues for these meetings will be decided upon nearer the time. If you cannot make a Wednesday evening please contact Lilian and we will see if we can arrange another evening.

We look forward to meeting you!

Please find attached the Agenda for the Schools and Young People Special Interest Day Agenda for Saturday 1st February.

A few place remain open should anyone within our association wish to take part. Anyone wishing to attend should register with jan.alcock@bbka.org.uk as soon as possible.

Download The Agenda.

Download directions.