Published: Thursday, 18th February, 2010 10:08am

Beekeepers should be aware of latest disease threat

The annual meeting of Fermanagh Beekeepers' Association was held recently when the following officers were elected: Chairman: Andrew Elliott; Vice Chairman: Paul Dale; Secretary: Brian Richardson; Treasurer: Ethel Irvine; Assistant Treasurer: Lorna Parkinson; Apiary Manager: Hugh Mannix; Assistant Apiary Manager: Raymond Beattie; Honey Show Secretary: Graham Farthing; Assistant: Mervyn Mulligan.

After the long spell with temperatures below freezing , beekeepers should 'heft' their hives to check that bees have enough stores to last until the first good nectar flows. While bees consume less food at the low temperatures we usually experience, when the temperature falls to - 4°C, they need more to produce the heat energy necessary to stay alive. If in any doubt about the quantity of stores, beekeepers should give the bees about 0.25kg fondant at the feed hole in the crown board. There is no need to lift the crown board or disturb the bees.

Beekeepers have had a lot to contend with over the past years with poor foraging weather, Varroa mites, American Foul Brood and the threat of colony collapse. Now news has just broken from AFBI that a new disease, nosema ceranae has been diagnosed in samples of bees from Counties Antrim, Down and Londonderry. It was also found in the attendant workers of a queen being imported from the Republic of Ireland. The bees do not show the same symptoms as with nosema apis but nosema ceranae will kill them quickly. The first signs will be a dwindling in their numbers.

The next meeting of Fermanagh Beekeepers will be on Thursday, February 25 2010 in the Railway Hotel Enniskillen at 8.00pm. Jim Fletcher of Belfast Beekeepers' Association will be the speaker. His topic will be 'Preparing Bees for Summer'. Members who have not yet paid their annual subscription are reminded that it is now due. Everybody interested will be welcome at our next meeting which has a cover charge for refreshments.