Well June will soon be upon us and the dutiful beekeeper will be checking their hive(s) in a 7 day cycle. Why? Well the early summer honey should be due for removal before the first week in June.

Honey left where it is and the bees left to their own devices will result in (if the early summer bloom has been good) bees gradually taking back the honey ready to swarm. The bees will take the stored honey ready to feed the swarm for the three to five days it takes to relocate and get settled. If the honey is…

Agricultural Research Services (ARS) are making positive strides in creating a strain of honeybee which is proactive in attacking the Varroa mite head on!

ARS are focusing on creating honeybees with a certain genetic trait; Varroa Sensitive Hygiene. The VSH trait in the bee means it is more likely to find and remove mite infested pupae from the capped brood developing sealed inside the comb cells. This can be obviously difficult for the bees to detect as the mite attacks the brood within the capped cells and so rely on the protective layer of wax to escape the bees natural…

Whilst searching for European Foul Brood (EFB) which was discovered in over sixty hives in the Perthshire and Angus area (forty of which have been destroyed), the American strain has also been found in Perthshire apiaries and hives. American Foul Brood (AFB) has been found in atleast four hives and three apiaries.

EFB infected colonies can fortunately be treated and normally saved, those with AFB however must be destroyed by burning the infected hive. The disease itself is caused by a bacterium that infiltrates the bee larvae, consuming their food supply starving the larvae to death. It can be recognised…