The Coventry Branch December meeting was held on Monday 19th December and it was great that so many of you were able to attend despite the miserable weather on the night. Unfortunately, I was unwell and was unable to join you all but I hear that everyone had plenty of good things to eat and that Dave’s Christmas Quiz was a fiendish as ever.
There were about 6 teams taking part and the competition was fierce so I heard. Well done to the winning team! On behalf of the committee, I’d like to thank Dave for once again pulling together the quiz questions. Dave has also been busy in the Branch apiary once again and met up with some members on 18th December. Supplies of Api-Bioxal were distributed to those who have taken advantage of the group purchase and the trickle method for applying Oxalic Acid was demonstrated whilst treating the branch colonies. This was an ideal time to apply the Oxalic Acid as the recent cold spell should mean that there is unlikely to be much brood in the colonies. If there’s no sealed brood, the acid is likely to catch most of the Varroa mites as they try to survive on the bodies of the adult bees.
All 9 colonies at the Branch Apiary are alive and were tightly clustered as would be expected given the temperatures. The colonies varied in size from 6 seams to only 3 seams of bees. The small colony, with only 3 seams, may have a weak queen, but the bees in evidence were all workers proving she is laying fertilized eggs, so hopefully they can make it through to the spring when we can reassess their progress or they may take matters into their own hands and supercede her. Now that the varroa treatment is done, the colonies just need to be monitored to ensure they have enough stores to see them through.
The next Branch Meeting will be held on 16th January 2023 when one of our own members, Dr Ulya Lalo, will give a talk entitled ‘Effective beekeeping during a short season for you and aims for your bees’. Ulya, originally from Kiev, Ukraine is a biophysicist and neuroscientist who has been keeping bees in Warwickshire since 2013. It should be a very interesting presentation full of insights into her beekeeping methods and how we might be able to apply some of them to our own beekeeping practice.
As usual, the February meeting will be the Branch AGM for which we will need members in put, so as always please keep an eye on your in box for messages from Covbee with more information in due course.
Julia Barclay