Meetings

Frame- making Workshop with Ken Barnard
Great Dunmow.

Douglas talking the group through making a frame.

We had a very good session making frames at Ken’s workshop. It was an excellent opportunity for beginners to see how to put frames together. Douglas is a skilled woodworker so we were all shown how to make sure all frames were prepared properly.

As with most meetings, the discussion goes off at interesting tangents, some of which included talking about the importance of bee space in the hive, the different types of frames available, when to put wax into the frames, frame management in the hive, the merits of different types of hives and frames etc.
The afternoon was rounded off with some fantastic homemade cake by Rosie and coffee from Simon’s workshop.

Douglas and Ken wire their own frames and this prompted another discussion about the benefits of doing so. A session on this will be organised for anyone interested.

There is always something useful to learn at meetings regardless of experience. I for one came away with quite a few useful tips.

Steph Green 27/02/2023

Meetings

Asian Hornet Update with Andrew Durham.

Last night's talk by Andrew was, as normal, extremely good.
He bought us up to date with the progress being made by the asian hornet and predicted that, at least in southern Britain we were going to be affected.
He also suggested practical things that we could do to make life easier for our bees as it arrives. He has given us three pdf's which contain the essence of his presentation as well as more details. He gives us enough for those who are that way inclined to make their own kit and for those who think that DIY is best left to the credit card he suggests sources of suitable kit.