Processing Bee Products, Mar ’26
Processing Bee Products for the Show Table A talk by Liz Westcott from Torbay Branch, 5th March 2026 Liz was introduced as former President of Devon Beekeepers’ Association and many East Devon members will know her from her presence at Honiton Show, selling products of the hive. Honey extraction The first thing Liz pointed out […]
Treatment free 02/26
Keeping Healthy Bees – Is being treatment-free possible? A talk by David Packham to East Devon Beekeepers and West Dorset Beekeepers 5th February 2026 Introduction David listed some basic considerations leading towards a better understanding of how to keep bees healthy. This was followed by some thoughts on keeping colonies treatment-free. Looking at these headings […]
December Social 2025
EDBK Winter Social 4th December 2025 Cooking with Honey The Tasting Attended by over 30 members The Cooking with Honey event at last year’s Winter Social was a great success, so we thought we would repeat the exercise in 2025. Diane Shepstone from Bradford BKA has continued to print ‘Cooking with Honey’ recipes in BBKA […]
AGM 06/11/2025
EDBK Annual General Meeting Held at Kilmington Village Hall on Thursday 6th November 2025 Before the AGM, Hilary Kirkcaldie called for a minutes silence in memory of those members who had passed away during the last year: David Wiscombe, Chris Charlton, Ges Pelham and Baruch Livney. The AGM was efficiently run as all the reports […]
Solitary Bees, Oct ’25
An illustrated talk on solitary bees by Brigit Strawbridge Continue reading
Winter Preparation 6/9/25
A talk by Nigel Boulton and John Badley 06/09/2025 Held at the Bee Shed. We start with a reminder of why we prepare the hives for winter. Everything revolves around keeping the bees alive and healthy through the cold period and ready for the start of the new season. There are three causes of colony […]
Honey Processing, Aug ’25
Honey Extraction in words and pictures Demonstration by Nick Silver at the Bee Shed, 9th August 2025 The whole process can be divided up into discrete operations. Removing the honey frames There are many gadgets to clear bees from the frames of capped honey, but all of them require more than one visit to the […]
Varroa update
Varroa: a problem or not, how do I know, and what to do about it.Plus: an overview of the Asian hornet threat. A talk by Nigel Boulton and John Badley A quick reminder of the life cycle of the Varroa mite will set the scene for the talk. CHEMICAL TREATMENT PHASE INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PHASE […]
I Spy… Getting your eye in. 2025
I SPY…. I Spy….. Getting your eye in. 7th June 2025 Thanks to all those who came to this meeting and asked all the questions. We hope you benefited from the discussions and will put some of the hints and tips to good use in your own hives. As promised, I have duplicated the Task […]
Improvers Day 2025
Hygiene in the hive Nick Silver introduced the session by saying we would be having informal discussions about various hive hygiene considerations. We would then go into the apiary for some demonstrations and hive manipulation practice to improve handling techniques. The following are notes of the topics covered. John Badley started the discussions by reminding […]