2024
Plas Tan Y Bwlch, September
We met at the Association Apiary on Saturday 28th and managed to open hives between showers. We checked the varroa floors and opened the brood boxes briefly to check they have stores. The varroa levels varied quite a bit and some will need treatment. Some were left with supers as there was not enough stores in the brood box and some will need feeding, while we were able to extract a small amount of honey from the strongest. We took the opportunity to move any old, black brood frames that were empty of brood to the edge of the box ready to be replaced in the Spring.
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Plas Tan Y Bwlch, July
On Saturday the 24th we met at 12.30 for a picnic and it was lovely to be able to chat with beekeeping friends in the sunshine. Paul Pearce then showed us how to adapt an inexpensive hornet trap to catch the yellow legged hornet with minimal or no bi-catch. Liz Childerley then spoke to us about disease inspections and we were just about to decamp to the apiary to put that into practice when the heavens opened. It was a heavy downpour and was not about to pass over quickly so the disease inspections were abandoned, hopefully to be carried out at a later meeting. So, no practical beekeeping, but a lot of useful information being shared and lots to take in.
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Plas Tan Y Bwlch, May
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2023
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Plas Tan Y Bwlch, October
The weather was kind to us for our last apiary meeting of the year at the Plas Tan Y Bwlch apiary on Sunday 22nd October. This is the first year we’ve had an apiary meeting in October, but since somebody needed to feed the colonies, check equipment and generally prepare for Winter, we decided to make a meeting out of it and use it to discuss Winter preparations as well as getting the necessary work done. We had 3 new beekeepers turn up to help and it felt very worthwhile being able to answer their questions and discuss beekeeping at this time of year.
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A lovely day for our May apiary meeting. The bees were happy and all very well behaved. Our members enjoyed the chance for some beekeeping chit chat over ice cold drinks afterwards.
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Our first apiary meeting of the season was at Plas Tan Y Bwlch. The somewhat chaotic and damp “spring” weather required a quick rethink: Supers were hastily put on the hives in anticipation of better weather next week. The bees were flying despite the drizzle, but we deemed it unwise to go into brood boxes, so we retired to the field studies room for tea and biscuits and a beekeeping chin wag.
2022
Plas Tan Y Bwlch
The final apiary meeting of 2022 was held on Saturday the 10th September at the Association apiary.
It was a good day today and a strong turnout of 23 people. Participants included newcomers from our beginners course this year and others hoping to join the course next year, plus some ‘old hands’. We split into 3 groups. Varroa boards were checked and MAQS was used on colonies that needed it. After checking the strength of all colonies 3 nucs were combined with the smaller ones, leaving us with 6 strong colonies for Winter.
County Show 2022
The County Show went very well, in no small part due to the efforts of our show secretary Julia Aldridge. A big thank you to Julia and her team of volunteers. In summary, the judge was very happy, the volunteers were stars and there was a lot of interest from the public. Carys picked up all the trophies having just pipped Tom & Nia at the post, although
the latter won more first prizes! Congratulations all who took part and helped out, and thanks to Claire for the photos.
Another very warm day, but Hilda and George’s bees were well behaved as always.
The ten visitors split into two groups to inspect the eight hives.
Five of the hives were in the process of raising new queens. Four of those hives already had brood and two of the queens were found and marked with George’s favourite marker colour. See if you can spot one of those queens in the photos.
The queen in the hive without brood was left unmarked, at least until she had mated and started laying.
After the inspections everyone retreated to the shade for a good chin wag. The new flask was filled with icy water for cold drinks as the demand for hot tea and coffee was low, and Hilda supplied a feast of delicious cakes!
Dewi & Hâf Parry’s At Home, 19th June, Betws y Coed
Bees At Bala Lake.
On the 21st of May Lisa held an apiary visit with her lakeside bees near Bala. A beautiful setting and very friendly bees contributed to a lovely day out!
On the 30th April the weather smiled on us again. The gathering at the association apiary in Plas Tan Y Bwlch attracted 20 members, old and new. We did a shook swarm from an old Commercial hive with black comb into a Standard National. And we also did a pre-emptive split on a very strong colony, putting the queen in a nuc box, so that hopefully we can put the queen cells into 2 nucs next week and put the queen back in her old hive.
The weather relented despite a poor forecast and turned warm and balmy for Liz’s “At Home” in August. The bees are kept on the outskirts of the Plas Dolguog Hotel gardens in Machynlleth.
On Saturday 17th July Dylan kindly hosted our second “At Home” event of the season.
On Sunday 27th June we gathered for our first “At Home” at Paul and Pauline’s apiary near Arthog
Our first meeting since lockdown began took place on Saturday the 22nd of May.
20 MBKA members gathered at our association apiary in Plas Tan Y Bwlch. It was very heartening to see such a good turnout with new members well represented.
Once restrictions are fully lifted we will transition back to our regular meetings and events, which include:
- Talks on all aspects of bees and beekeeping by expert speakers
- “At Home” events in the warmer months of the year, where we meet to look at the bees and hives of another member and discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by the keeper.
- Open days at the association apiary, and a fun honey show at the AGM.