In July, members of Fermanagh Beekeepers Association are still examining their colonies for swarm cells and carrying out the procedures which ensure that they do not lose half the bees in the colony with the laying queen. Swarming is a completely natural occurrence as it is the only way in which the bee colonies can increase in numbers. Unfortunately, if a swarm emerges from a hive, the foraging force is greatly reduced and the honey harvest will also be less plentiful.

Neighbours may not be as comfortable with a swarm as the beekeeper and may find it frightening to see large numbers of bees in the air and to hear the accompanying loud buzz. In fact, bees in a swarm are very calm and easy to handle as they fill their honey stomachs with nectar before leaving the hive so that they have adequate resources to start builsding a new nest in whatever location they have chosen.

If you are fortunate enough to lift a swarm from an unknown source, it should be treated with care. It may carry American Foul Brood which will devastate all the colonies in any apiary with which it comes in contact. The sensible method is to ‘hive’ the swarm in a temporary, disposable box, such as a strong cardboard carton with a few sticks across the top to act as starters for comb building, in a location away from the apiary. After about five days, the bees will have used the possibly infected honey from their honey stomachs to build comb. The wax for the comb is produced by wax glands which need both honey and pollen to activate them. The bees can then be shaken into their permanent home on their permanent site and monitored carefully for any signs of disease. The temporary accommodation with its wax should then be burned.

The queen rearing group has made exceptional progress and has produced, from the apideas, a number of mated laying queens which have been placed in nuclei by members of the group and of the Association. These will be nurtured into viable colonies which will be supplied to those who have just done their preliminary course. The production of queens will continue. Teresa, Alan, Thomas and Ronnie are to be congratulated on working on the queen rearing project every Wednesday evening, hail, rain or shine, since the second week in May. It is a huge commitment in time and energy.

Members of the Association travelled to Tipperary for a bee-orientated weekend in June. On the way down, they were hosted by John Somerville of Offaly Beekeepers in his queen rearing apiary outside Tullamore. They were met by John’s wife, Dymphna, and had picnic lunches in their garden.

Afterwards, John and two assistants from the Association took members to the apiary and shown all aspects of his queen rearing operation. He encouraged members to carry out the various procedures so that they had hands on experience of all stages. Many of the queries, which the queen rearing group had, were answered. It was a pleasure to handle John’s docile bees in ideal surroundings on a hot summer day.

“We travelled on to Cahir and on Sunday morning visited the Swiss Cottage just outside the town. The cottage, designed by Nash, has been beautifully restored. It sits in a rustic site and its design aims to mimic nature. It is well worth a visit. n the afternoon we moved to Glengarra Wood where Michael Mac Goilla Coda has his apiary. The Galtee Bee Breeding Group had six different work stations where we were shown how to evaluate our colonies so that the best could be used for propagation, how to prepare the colonies to rear queen cells, how to obtain the larvae and place them in artificial cells and given tips on how to prepare apideas and introduce the first and subsequent queens to be mated. Once again, we saw some techniques which were new to us and the whole weekend served as a preparation for the expansion of our own queen rearing enterprise to include new members to be trained by the existing group next year.

“The Federation of Irish Beekeepers’ Associations (FIBKA) holds its Summer School from Sunday, July 27 to Friday, August 1. It is possible to attend for the complete week or for just one or two days. Details can be found on the website at www. irishbeekeeping.ie “The next meeting of Fermanagh Beekeepers will be on Saturday, August 16 at 10am in the Apiary when various varroa treatments and feeding of bees before winter will be demonstrated and discussed. All are welcome and we would encourage new beekeepers to attend, as this preparation for winter is very important, ensuring that strong healthy colonies go into what can be a very challenging time for bees.

“The Annual Honey Show will be held on August 23 and 24. We hope that as many people as possible will enter the show which serves to promote the quality of the products produced by our members. Fermanagh’s hedgerows, woods, heather and clover provide a much superior, unadulterated and a true wild flower honey, unaffected by many of the pollutants and sprays used elsewhere. Details of the Show and a schedule can be obtained from Avril Campbell at avekevlin@hotmail.co.uk