Night Meeting: 7pm Thu 12 Nov 2015
Report on Apimondia 2015
Presented by: Tony Gordge
Tony will report on his visit to the 44th APIMONDIA International Apicultural Congress 2015 held in Daejeon, South Korea. Apimondia is a bi-annual international event focussed on bees and apiculture.
Field Day: 10am Sun 29 Nov 2015
Agenda: Honey Extraction
We will be extracting honey in the club honey house and inspecting hives in our apiary.
2015 CHRISTMAS PARTY: Sun 6 Dec 2015
Our annual Christmas party has been announced to celebrate our year’s activities and you're invited! The lunch will be fully catered for so you will need to book your seat at the link below by 29.11.2015
Vale Bob Perkins: A Memorial Service
On the 7th of October 2015 we held a special service to honour the passing of our dear friend and distinguished lifetime member, Bob Perkins. Many of Bob’s friends, including Bruce White; Ken Simpson; Lamorna Osborne and Ian Phillips along with Bob’s family and neighbours shared some very special memories of Bob and his life of giving to others. Bob’s ashes were scattered around a tree he planted in our apiary a few years ago and we saw a slideshow from Tamara of Bob’s journeys and life with bees. Rest in Peace Bob, you will be missed and fondly remembered by us all.
What We Did Last Month
Last month’s night meeting featured Ian Phillips sharing the advanced techniques of swarm prevention including the Snelgrove method.
We also travelled north to the Tocal field day along with beekeepers from all over the state. The field day was well attended with talks and demonstrations on beekeeping featuring a wide variety of informative topics from both amateur and professional apiarists. A special thanks must go to the Hunter Valley branch of the ABA who hosted the event. Well done to all of you, a great annual event. Also a big thanks to Ian Phillips who drove our special chartered bus for our members.
New Members
We warmly welcome new members to our Illawarra branch. These new members include: Dimitrios Darakis, Belmore; Dietmar Jandl, Bonnet Bay; Branislav Vavra, Mortdale; Hugh Pearson, Loftus; and Emma Follett, Engadine.
Honey Extractors
Many people are extracting honey this time of year and if you haven’t got your own extractor, our club provides quality portable extractors you can borrow for a few days. These are always in high demand so if you want to borrow one please see Ivan in the bee shop to reserve your spot. The shop will be open on monthly Thursday night meetings and Sunday field days approx. 30 minutes before the meetings commence. If anyone needs supplies outside of these times please contact Ivan on 0419 254 831 to arrange another time
Swarms in Nucs Available
It’s swarm season and that means we often have swarms available to members. This usually means you can pick up a nucleus box complete with 5 frames and a healthy swarm of bees to get you started. Demand is always high so if you want to make sure you get a swarm when it comes available please contact Ivan in our beekeeping store or you can call Ivan on 0419 254 831
In the Apiary: A New Reign
This time of year queen breeders are producing quality stock for re-queening your colonies. Our club offers members a chance to order queens from tried and tested breeders. We already have ordered two batches for the season but if you are considering replacing your queen see Janice at one of our meetings and she may be able to add you to the next list. We have a very informative guide to re-queening, thanks to one of our trusted queen breeders Morayfield Apiaries, available here.
Going with the Flow
On 26 October 2015, ABC TV’s Australian Story told the journey of Cedar Anderson, the inventor of the Flow Hive. Cedar explains "There’s me and my brother Chris getting the honey out and they’d get so ferocious that I’d just have to stand back, you know. I thought there must be a way just to tap honey straight out of the hive, without opening the hive, that is more gentle on the bees." Most beekeepers probably would use another adjective rather than "ferocious" to describe bees however this story makes interesting viewing. To see the episode, you can visit the Australian Story link here.
Recycle Your Wax
Our club is planning some candle making, training and production with beeswax so we need your wax. Members are invited to donate any unwanted washed beeswax to the club that will go towards these sessions. Donations can be left at the club house.
Advanced Beekeeping Course:
Beekeeping experts, including Bruce White OAM, will be holding an advanced course in beekeeping at our apiary later this month. The 2 day course will feature demystifying the task of raising queens; practical demonstration of equipment and procedures; grafting your own queen; various methods of introducing mated queens. This is invaluable course covering queen rearing and introduction however it is now fully booked out. The good news is that there may be another course scheduled for early 2016. If you’d like to reserve your spot in this course, should it become available, we urge you to email Tanya now!
EXPRESS YOUR INTEREST IN QUEEN REARING HERE
Beginners Beekeeping Courses:
We have 2 more beginners beekeeping courses set for early 2016. To see more info and when our next course is due visit our beekeeping page below.
BOOK YOUR PLACE IN THE BEGINNERS COURSE HERE
Emmanuel Farrugia [editor, the Buzz]
the Buzz by SaveOurBees.com.au
