President’s Ramblings – February 2025

Is it just me, or are we really starting to see the end of what has been a very long winter?

The snowdrops have been out for some weeks now, and now the crocuses are in bloom. Our daffodils are starting to flower now; although I saw some a few weeks ago down near the coast. The catkins are looking quite prominent now, so given a few warm days the bees should be able to collect much needed pollen.

Due to the long winter I guess the bees may well need feeding. Fondant placed close to the winter cluster won’t go amiss, but as a rule of thumb we can feed syrup from the beginning of March. The syrup needs to be thin, i.e. 1:1 as we want the bees to be able to use it not store it. If you want to give the bees a bit of a boost you might want to think about giving them fondant with pollen in it such as “Candipolline”. (available from C Wynne Jones)

I recently came across an article in the telegraph about a new Varroa treatment :-
Innovative research is under way with aims of providing another solution to the varroa problem by developing a treatment using novel biotechnology tools such as RNA interference – also known as gene silencing. The pesticide is administered to the bees in sugary food pouches. The ingested RNA pesticide then goes into their body and begins acting on the mites who are sucking their blood.

However there are concerns around how quickly the pests will develop resistance to the RNA approach, with some early evidence indicating that the highly specific mechanism could lead to rapid resistance.

Watch this space I think!

Spring Convention time is almost upon us, with the WBKA convention on 22nd March at Builth Wells, and the BBKA convention from 4th to 6th April at Harper Adams. Always a good time to meet up with other beekeepers! There are good speakers at both events and there will be chances to get some bargains from the trade stalls. You can take along your old beeswax and exchange it for foundation at very good rates.

That’s it from me this month. Looking forward to a good beekeeping year.

Geoff Critchley