Weather and bees 06/02/25
The effect of weather patterns on bees and bee management A talk by Geoff Blay, Master Beekeeper and Bee Farmer Report of the joint winter meeting of East Devon Beekeepers and West Dorset Beekeepers, Kilmington Village Hall, 6th February 2025. 64 attendees. Geoff’s first slide said:Unsettled conditions:— we’re British, we always moan about the weather— […]
Better season 02/01/25
East Devon Beekeepers January meeting 2025 Preparations for a Better Season – a talk by Dan Basterfield NDB Held at Kilmington Village Hall. Attendance 35, Including friends from West Dorset branch. Dan Basterfield and farther Ken run the Blackbury Honey Farm in East Devon, currently with between 90-100 hives. They are both BBKA and NDB […]
Insulating hives Oct 24
EDBK winter meeting 2024 A talk by Derek Mitchell, Hives and Insulation: Fact or Fiction? Held at Kilmington Village Hall, 3rd October Derek is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Thermofluids, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds. He first became interested in bees after attending a talk at Buckfast where he learned that […]
Swarm Control Apr 2024
Queen Cells in my Hive! What do I do? A talk by Nick Silver 27/4/24 Finding queen cells in your hive is the beginning of a natural process which ends with swarming and the establishment of a new colony in a new location. Hopefully, the old colony will rear a new queen who will mate […]
Cut-outs and Queen Marking
Stan and Mike’s Cut-out Video + Nick and John’s ‘To Clip or Not to Clip’ April meeting, held at Kilmington Village Hall. 30+ attendees. The evening started with Stan Wroe and Mike Jones giving an illustrated description of their bee cut-out adventure. Stan was originally alerted to bees going in and out of a large […]
Island Beekeeping Mar 2024
From Orkney to the Isles of Scilly – the challenges and quirks of island beekeeping at the geographical extremes of the UK, even when varroa isn’t present. A talk by Stephen Fleming, joint editor Bee Craft magazine, held at Kilmington Village Hall, 7/3/24. 35 attendees. Stephen has been involved in some research work aiming to […]
Keep calm, Feb ’24
How to Keep Calm and Carry on A talk by Clare Densley and Martin Hann at Kilmington Village Hall, 1st February 2024.A joint meeting with West Dorset branch. 60+ attendees. Richard Simpson welcomed back Clare and Martin. The full title is How to Keep Calm and Carry on when Things Don’t Go as Planned (with […]
Winter Social-Tips & Tricks
My Beekeeping – Tips and Tricks A talk by Nick Silver at the EDBK winter social 7th December 2023 I started beekeeping in 2015 and now have 16 colonies (9 for production plus 7 nucs) spread around four apiary sites. The aim is to produce good quality food products. This year I had 550 lbs […]
Bee Microbiome 10/23
The Honey Bee Microbiome – An adventure on the inside A talk by Graham Kingham to East Devon Beekeepers, 5/10/23 ‘You are what you eat’ or more correctly, what you digest. We will briefly look at human and honey bee digestion and the alimentary canal. The honey bee microbiome will be explained and the effects […]