BEE INFORMED. President s Report Ray Goldsworthy. Membership Reminder BAYSIDE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION INC.

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1 BAYSIDE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION INC. DATES TO BEE INFORMED REMEMBER FIELD DAY: Sunday 13 September 2015 MONTHLY MEETING : Thurs 17 September 2015 AGM Thurs 17 September 2015 Club Membership NOW OVERdue Valley Bee Day 12 September 2015 I S S U E 2 2 S E P T E M B E R Welcome to Bee Informed for September Swarms, swarms and more swarms. That s all I seem to be hearing about lately. It really is important that all members check their hives and make sure there is enough room for the Queen to be laying. You need to go down into the brood box and give her more room if needed. Lift frames that have pollen and honey and also capped brood. Check for queen cells and swarm cells. If you are new to beekeeping and are not sure what you should be looking for, it is important to come along to the field day so that you can work with the other members to inspect the club hives and ask questions. It is the best place to learn about beekeeping! I hope your month in the apiary is enjoyable! President s Report Ray Goldsworthy INSIDE THIS ISSUE: President s Report 1 Top Bar Hive 2 Top Bar Hive Update 3 Splitting Native Bee 4 Hives What s On 4 The August meeting again drew a large attendance with several visitors. With a talk from Graham Smith on how he restores old frames ready for the new season and discussions on brood checks, re-queening and other aspects of beekeeping, everyone was well entertained. Barry s segment each month on what you should be doing with your bees is proving very worthwhile and receiving a lot of positive response. It is refreshing to hear comments from several members about how interesting and informative they found the meeting. I encourage everyone to contribute by asking questions and providing solutions which sometimes can be many and varied. If you have an idea or way of doing a particular task with your bees let us all know about it so we can all learn. The next meeting, in September, is the AGM so please give some serious thought as to how you can assist your association by taking on an active role. Club Matters Next club field day Next club meeting AGM 5 Ray Goldswothy Membership Reminder For Sale 6 Membership Form & 7 Equipment Hire Minutes Members 8 Only Membership Fees were due 1st July Please note that any member that has NOT paid their membership fees within two months from the due date (ie: 31 August 2015), is NOT able to vote at the AGM. Members can either pay fees at the next meeting or use the form on page 4 of this newsletter. Don t forget, if you are doing a direct deposit, you must put your surname as a reference otherwise I can t match up your payment with you and the bank is not allowed to give me any information due to privacy laws. Page 1

2 Club Hives Top Bar Hive by Ray Goldwsorthy Top Bar Hive After the presentation at the July meeting by Paul Wood on Top Bar Hives, Corrine generously donated a top bar hive, minus bees. Thanks to Corrine this now provides us with another style of keeping bees. An opportunity arose on Wednesday 26 August, when James Spierenburg called and told me of a swarm, bees only as they had not started building comb, which had broken a branch due to the weight and had crashed to the ground. As it was almost dusk, James covered the swarm with a cardboard box till we could get there the next morning and hope it was still there. Well yes, the bees were mostly still in the box so it was quite an easy job to place that box into another and seal it up. I transported it to the site and with the assistance of Col and Marion Samuels we prepared the top bar hive ready to place the swarm into. First we melted some wax onto the top bars of which 2 had a triangular bead, 2 a semi-circular bead and the other 2 we attached a narrow strip of foundation, all to provide the swarm with a point of wax to encourage them to start to build comb. Once the hive and bars were ready we weighed the bees before pouring them into the hive. The bees weight was 6kg!! that was only bees, a very large swarm. As we poured them into the box they started to move in under the bars and clustered there as you can see in the photos below. A large cluster also formed on the outside which is normal and within 30 minutes most had moved inside. We will be checking on the progress, hopefully, on Thursday 3 rd Sept. a week after they were housed in the hive. Ed: Please see photos on next page for the photos from the 3 September when a number of members went to the club apiary for an impromptu mid-week field day. I m sorry I missed it, because as you will see on the next page those bees have been busy busy busy!! Page 2

3 Club Hives Top Bar Hive update photos courtesy Rod Baxter The following photos are of the top bar hive one week after installing the swarm. Can you believe the rate that these girls are working!! I am keen to watch this hive develop. The members who attended the mid-week field day also inspected a couple of the other hives that needed looking at. One was lacking somewhat in bees and there were quite a number of queen cells. Verdict = suspected swarm! And whilst they were inspecting the sealed queen cells, a queen hatched as they were inspecting!! See if you can find the new queen in the photo on the bottom right. I ll print the answer in next month s newsletter so you can check to see if you were correct. Page 3

4 Splitting Native Bee Hives at Ian Beiers apiary by Rod Baxter Approximately 28 people attended at Ian s house for a native hive splitting demonstration. Of the people attending, there was about an even split between Club members, Friends of Indigiscape and personal invitees of both Ian and Rod. Two hives were split and joined with new tops/bottoms to result in four hives. There was honey and pollen and both were good! Rod is pleased to report that there were no human casualties and only a few poor beesouls injured during the event J Thanks Ian for a really enjoyable day! What s On! Valley Bees are proud to announce their annual bee event - the Bee Community Open Day - on Saturday 12 September It will be held in new premises this year - in the spacious auditorium at the Mary Valley College (Imbil School) situated opposite the showgrounds. Plenty of parking is available. It s a fund-raising and awareness-raising day, so all are welcome. Please spread the word. A full speaker list and schedule/time-frame for the day can be found at They have a wonderful collection of top researchers, beekeepers, experts, sellers, community groups, displays, presentations, talks and events for the day, so it will be well worth the effort of heading along! Page 4

5 Club Matters cont Next Monthly Meeting Thurs 17 September 2015 at Indigiscapes, commencing 7.30 pm LOCATION: Redlands Indigiscapes 17 Runnymede Road, CAPALABA (All Welcome) The September meeting will be the AGM. Prior to the AGM there will be a brief general meeting and an opportunity for question time. The AGM will then be held immediately following. I hope to see you there. AGM 2015 Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) is scheduled to be held this month. In accordance with Bayside Beekeepers Association articles of association, at the AGM all the members of the Management Committee shall retire from office, but are eligible upon nomination for re-election if they so desire. Office Bearer and Committee Positions are: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and two committee officers Some existing committee members have stated that they will not be re-nominating for the position they currently hold, so please give some serious thought to taking on a role to benefit your club. Please feel free to contact any of the office bearers or committee members to seek information on any of the roles. All nominees must be must be financial to nominate, second, vote and accept at the time of the AGM being held. The process for nominating for a Committee position is: any two members may nominate any other member. Nominations shall be in writing and signed by the member and his/her proposer and seconder and lodged with the Secretary at least fourteen days before the AGM. A list of the candidates' names shall be advised to all members seven days immediately preceding the AGM. Voting forms shall be prepared (if necessary) containing the names of the candidates and each member present at the annual general meeting shall be entitled to vote for the candidates nominated. If, at the commencement of the AGM, there is insufficient candidates nominated, nominations may be taken from the floor of the meeting. NEXT CLUB FIELD DAY WILL BE HELD ON SUNDAY 13 AUGUST Earlier starting time now that the weather is warmer commencing 8.00 AM ALL WELCOME Members and Guests are able to have hands on experience working the club s hives. Many hands make light work!! Start time of 8.00am. Gates locked at 9:00am. Be there, Rain Hail or Shine. WHERE: Redlands Research Station DPI&F via Delancey St, Cleveland. Front gate accessed via Delancey Street, Cleveland. Spare Bee hats and gloves are provided for non-members so don't be shy. Activities will include inspection of Club hives for Brood Disease and Honey Extraction. Members and Guests will be provided with tea and coffee at the end of the session (approx Noon). PLEASE NOTE: All members are to wear veils at the field day, this sets a good example to all, regardless of experience. Personal gloves are NOT to be worn unless they are disposable. This rule is enforced to avoid possible disease threat in the club s and your own hives. ALL members must supply their own protective clothing ( if they have some) in clean condition. Page 5

6 Club Matters Nucleus Hives Members who have placed their name on the list to acquire a nucleus should attend the next field day as we will be splitting off several hives and placing into 4 frame boxes and introducing a queen. These will be kept at the club site until they are strong enough for collection. A condition of the sale is that you attend field days to take an active role in this operation so you can gain knowledge and experience. You will be advised when it is time for collection and you will need to provide a suitable hive (box, bottom board and lid with a strap!) to transport the nucleus. Ask at the field day for advice on how best to prepare. Col & Marion Samuels have 10 frames of bees, Queen and brood for sale. You will need to bring your own full depth box with base, lid and strap. $80. Please call Col or Marion on The club has been contacted by Ken & Michelle Simpson of Sheldon (Ph: please leave a message on answerphone if not answered) with a list of beekeeping equipment for sale. Note that it is being sold as a whole and will not be sold separately. The lot for $650 2 x 10 frame boxes (new unassembled) 7 x 10 frame boxes 3 x 10 frame bases 86 x frames 5 x 10 frame excluders 4 x 8 frame boxes 2 x 8 frame bases 2 x 8 frame excluders 1 x 4 frame nucleus box 10 x lids 3 metal stands Round veil including hat Gloves Smoker Frame wire crimper Bee brush Uncapping knife 10 x disposable overalls Frame wire Spur wheel embedder Hive tool Capping scratcher 2 Frame extractor 3 x 20 litre gated honey buckets and lids 2 x hive lock (rack & lever & strap) 1 x 20 litre bucket and lid Looking for somewhere to put some hives?? The club has been contacted by someone wanting bees on their property to help pollinate his avocado trees. His details are: John Sheppard, 168 Pioneer Road, Sheldon. phone Harold Sanders had hives there when he had bees, Col and Marion Samuels have been there when they were helping Harold. Feel free to chat to Col or Marion about the location. Page 6

7 Bayside Beekeepers Association Inc. PO BOX 576 CAPALABA QLD 4157 YOUR COMMITTEE CONTACT DETAILS President: Ray Goldsworthy Phone: or Vice President: Barry Fanning Secretary: Marion Samuels Phone: Treasurer: Sue Campbell Phone: Newsletter Editor: Sue Campbell Phone: Club Hives Officer: Tony Gallagher Phone: Equipment Officer: Colin Samuels Phone: CLUB EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE FOR HIRE: 2 Frame Honey Extractor Wax Melter Electric DeCapping Knife Frame Display Unit Ten Frame Jig ( Holds frames in place for faster nailing) $2.00 per hire APPLICATION FOR MEMBERSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Surname... Given name... Address... Address.. Postcode. Home Phone. Mobile Ph .. I hereby apply for membership to Bayside Beekeepers Assoc. Inc. Signature:... Date:. Please return this form together with your payment of $25.00(direct deposit, cheque or money order) to: Treasurer, Bayside Beekeepers Assoc Inc PO Box 576 CAPALABA, QLD 4157 Direct Deposit details: Heritage Building Society BSB Account Number Account name: Bayside Beekeepers Assn Inc Please put your surname in as reference details. Newsletter articles If anyone has an articles that they would like to share in the newsletter or would like to write about their month in the apiary, I would be grateful to receive them. If you think you might have difficulty writing the article, I am more than happy to provide a list of questions that you can just answer, and then I will write the article based on that. Feel free to me if you are interested.