Our first 2nd Monday meeting of 2023 was a fascinating, and timely, talk by Margaret Murdin NDB, on Keeping Healthy Colonies.
After describing the characteristics of a healthy colony Margaret then took us through what we beekeepers need to do to have colonies with these characteristics, including
- Nutrition and feeding, especially the importance of pollen
- Recognising healthy brood
- Diseases, pests and syndromes and their treatments (where possible).
Margaret reminded us how much useful information there is on BeeBase on pests and diseases and the various leaflets available from BBKA, for example on how to carry out a shook swarm or Bailey Comb change.
After the talk (and tea and biscuits) there were the normal ‘how are your bees doing’ conversations. We were also delighted to welcome two new members.
The sharp-eyed amongst you might notice that the venue does not look like The George in Brailes where we normally have our 2nd Monday meetings. They are currently closed on Mondays so we had this meeting in The Free School in Brailes.