Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Peter Edwards
E-mail: beekeepers@stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk

Sunday 21 April, 3pm. First Association apiary meeting - ring for directions if you need them. Regular meetings will then be held on the third Sunday of the month up to the end of September; additional ad-hoc meetings will be arranged as necessary.

Saturday 27 April, 9am-5pm. BBKA Spring Convention and Exhibition at Stoneleigh. This is the Silver Jubilee year and there is a special, enhanced programme of events with five extra lecture sessions. Don't miss it!

Friday 17 May, 7.30pm. Committee meeting at Terry's house.

Friday 18 October, 6.30pm. Annual Honey Show

Spring seems to be getting earlier each year and the recent fine weather, combined with a reasonable winter, has ensured that this season is already one of the earliest on record. I was talking to a friend who is heavily into pollination and he tells me that the plum is at least a week earlier than he has ever known it and that pears are flowering three weeks early. There has also been at least one swarm in the UK - in Exmouth on 29 March!

However, we have seen strong colonies at the end of March in the past - and then had to feed them in May, so do beware if the weather turns cold. Remember that the strongest colonies will be in trouble first because of the amount of mouths to feed - so keep a watchful eye and do not lose your best stocks.

Our Regional Bees Inspector will probably remember his first visit to a Stratford Association meeting more for getting his car stuck in the Hon. Sec.'s field than for the abundance of members present.

Robin Hall and his staff clearly have a major task on their hands in tackling the quite widespread pockets of EFB, which he describes as 'a disease of the apiary', as distinct from AFB being 'a disease of the hive'.

Robin restated the guidelines that we should all follow in reducing the risk of our bees contracting disease. The importation of bees and equipment into the apiary from unknown sources is clearly risky, and even the swapping of supers between colonies is not recommended. Apiary hygiene is most important, and while most of us may not need to launder our bee suits every day, as Robin does, the use of washing soda solution to disinfect metal tools seems to be a good idea. Leather gloves, well impregnated with propolis and sting pheromone, are anathema to Robin; he uses household rubber gloves, with disposable latex gloves on top.

The first inspection of the season (which some of us carried out on the day of Robin's talk) should include replacing the hive floor with a clean one, assessing the amount of brood and stores present, removing the worst combs and replacing them with foundation placed on the edge of the brood nest, and adding a super over the crown board, so that the bees can expand into it if they wish. Above all, the brood should be examined carefully for any sign of ill health.

Looking ahead a bit, we were given a method for dealing with a colony when queen cells are found in it. It is basically the making of an artificial swarm on the original site, with the parent colony placed on top, but separated by a simple Snelgrove board. When the new queen is established, the old one can be removed and the two parts easily united.

Following his talk, Robin set off for his home in the Forest of Dean after a 20-minute delay while his car was extracted from the mud! (DNK)

I thought that it might be helpful to give you an update on the EFB situation. You will recall that several members have had outbreaks and these have been all around Stratford. In my own case, I had cases at Ailstone Farm, Snitterfield and Aston Cantlow. I have been working closely with the Ministry to clear up these outbreaks: some colonies have been destroyed, some 'shook swarmed' (this is the experimental treatment with 97% success rate) and two were just treated with antibiotic because it was too late in the season to do a shook swarm. So far things are looking promising, but it is the colonies in the last category that are of most concern due to the low success rate of antibiotic treatment.

I will now be increasing my number of colonies (I have located some good stocks that I will be buying - they will be inspected by Robin) and obviously would not wish to put them in apiaries where there is even the slightest risk of EFB. I intend, therefore, to use a couple of sites as 'hospital apiaries' and move colonies to them from apiaries where there has been EFB; these sites can then be restocked with 'clean' colonies. This will enable me to be reasonably sure that any further outbreaks in my bees are contained and can be dealt with effectively and quickly and will also reduce the risk for other Association members. (PE)

I will be attending a DLC training day at the National Bee Unit in York on May 24 and will then be able to tell you more about what this will do for the Association. In the meantime, I will be happy to advise on any suspected disease problems. (PE)

At the committee meeting held on 27 March, it was decided that we should follow Robin Hall's advice on hygiene when handling the Association's colonies. In future leather gloves will be banned; latex gloves will be supplied by the Association - and will be discarded after the meeting. The committee will ensure that washing soda solution is available to sterilise a smoker and hive tool for use at the meeting. This will ensure that apiary meetings do not become a vehicle for transmitting disease across the area. (PE)

Young, succulent shoots of mint are just appearing, so now is the time to make this delicious and very simple mint sauce. Take half a jar of warm honey and fill to the top with freshly chopped mint. Use from the jar, or add some vinegar (balsamic would be best) if desired when serving. That's it! (PE)

Tim Jones has lost his colonies and requires bees this spring. Please contact him if you are able to help. (PE)

'Happy is the man who can make his hobby his profession' - George Bernard Shaw.

As some members will be aware, I have taken early retirement from the day job and am now a full-time professional beefarmer!

My objectives for this year will be:

• To continue to be very vigilant for disease, with the particular aim of ensuring that EFB is eliminated (see separate article below)
• To increase my number of stocks in order to provide additional income, mainly from the sale of bulk honey
• If time allows, to start setting up a queen rearing operation with the twin aims of producing sufficient queens for my own use and to improve the quality of my stocks. Criteria for selection will be hygienic behaviour, honey production, good temper and low swarming.

In addition, I will be acting as Disease Liaison Co-ordinator (see below) and Newsletter Editor for the Association. That should be enough to keep me out of mischief for a while!

I hope that there will be spin-offs for Association members both from my greater buying power and from the increased experience that I expect to gain.

I will let you know in due course whether GBS was right! (PE)

The Association website will be one year old this month so do visit it to say 'Happy Birthday'!

I have to admit that the development has been slower than I had hoped, but there is now a basic structure in place with a hit counter and full search facilities. The site now has 35 pages containing 27,773 words - I will tell you how I know that next month. The next move will be to add photographs which I am working on - I now carry my camera with my beekeeping kit.

We also have links to BBKA, Beedata and the Warwickshire websites and are now getting hits via these links. The 500th visitor was recorded on 17 March.