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MERIDIAN BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
MEMBERS HANDBOOK
2019
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History:
Meridian was set up just over twenty years ago by a group of enthusiasts to encourage new beekeepers into the craft and to encourage New and Existing Beekeepers alike to look after their bees well by means of good husbandry and increased knowledge. In addition, a great deal of time and effort has been put in by many members educating the public and in particular school children. The mentoring scheme and help line have been very popular and normally problems can be sorted out and if the association doesn’t know then we know someone who should.
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THE CURRENT COMMITTEE
Chairman: John Hammond: Old Dairy House, Mayhill Lane, Swanmore, Hampshire SO32 2QW. Tel: 07886086922
Email: [email protected]
Secretary: Nicky Kakkar Tel 07983 549551
Email: [email protected]
Treasurer: Philip Smith Tel: 07966674610
Email: [email protected]
Membership Secretary: Howard Towl. Tel:
Email: [email protected]
HBA Representatives: Anthony Raymer, Tel: 01329 834384.
Email: [email protected]
Webmaster – Peter Clark Tel: 07867557964
Email: [email protected]
Committee Members
Denise Smith
Peter Clark
Apiary manager: John Hammond
Assistant apiary managers: Louise Evans
WEB SITE: www.meridianbeekeepers.co.uk
SHOP: Denise Smith
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Mentoring: What you can expect?
Welcome to Meridian. We hope that you enjoyed the course and found it informative: now comes the fun!
Getting your bees
If you are getting bees through the association, you may not get them immediately. The weather has to be ‘right’ to produce queens and drones. But Association members will be doing their best to get you started. In the meantime, attend Apiary meetings, and practice on other people’s bees!
Your mentor will:-
Invite you to look at and handle their bees on a number of occasions. This may be at short notice, this is a weather dependent hobby, and many beekeepers also have paid jobs or family commitments. It is one of the many perverse laws that one is always in the office or babysitting grandchildren when the weather is warm and fine.
Encourage you to attend apiary meetings and lectures in order to broaden your experi-ence and network of beekeepers.
Contact you, for the first year, to remind you when to feed, add supers, put on queen excluders, mouse guards, woodpecker protection or treat for varroa
Visit you, or advise you to call the bee inspector or the helpline if you describe some-thing of concern
When to call your mentor
Like any ‘new ‘thing, becoming a confident and proficient beekeeper can be a steep learning curve! There are few problems in beekeeping which have to be resolved immediately; you have time to think them through methodically. The bees usually know what they are doing, the task is to work out whether this is what we want them to do, or whether we wish or need to make an intervention
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Use the resources that you have available
Try to be clear about what the problem is- How many frames of bees do you have? Did you see larvae? Did you see eggs? Were the bees taking in pollen? Were the larvae laid in a ‘good’ pattern? Was there capped honey, or stores? Were there more than 10 bees with damaged, deformed wings?
Go home, have a cup of tea, read your course notes, consult Hoopers ‘Guide to Bees and honey’, try to identify the options.
If you have access to the internet, try British Beekeepers Association, (www.bbka.org) the Scottish Beekeepers Association (www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk)
or county and local association sites. Register on BeeBase, a national Bee Unit website that provides a wide range of free beekeeping information for UK beekeepers, their website is: (www.nationalbeeunit.com)
If you are still confused, please do call your mentor, or if they are unavailable one of the committee members, they will be happy to help when they can.
Offering to help other bee keepers with tasks will widen your knowledge and experience quickly, and offer free labour or muscle power in return for the help they are giving you.
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THE MERIDIAN SHOP
Meridian shop has British wax foundation purchased by the association from www.kemble-bees.com/ This is high quality bees wax. Buying in bulk we are able to offer wax for sale to members at a reduced cost.
British Standard National brood Foundation wired is £1.20 per sheet and British Standard National Foundation unwired (this can be used for super frames; one sheet can fill two frames) £1.10 per sheet.
Most members purchase their other supplies personally online, however, if you are unable to do this yourself, Meridian will be happy to order on your behalf, or could look into discounts where appropriate.
Please contact Denise Smith at
or phone 07525753025
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EQUIPMENT LOAN
The Association has some essential equipment for loan. It is important that members obey the terms of the loan and return the equipment in a clean and fully working state. A deposit may be required for each piece of equipment that is borrowed which is returnable on completion of the loan. If the item borrowed is returned defective, dirty or late then the deposit is forfeit.
Item
1. Extractor 1
2. Extractor 2
3. Warming Cabinet
4. Heather Press
5. Display Boards
6. Display Hive
7. Dissecting Microscope £25 deposit
8. Dissecting Microscope £50 deposit
9. Hp Microscope 1 £50 deposit
10. HP Microscope 2 £50 deposit
Before borrowing a microscope, members should have a good knowledge of their use and preferably attended the BBKA course and hold the Microscopy Certificate.
USB Computer Mini Microscope Cameras are also available with soft ware to record microscope images.
Pestle and Mortars can be provided free when borrowed with the high power microscope. Slides and coverslips can be provided.
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RULES OF ASSOCIATION
1.TITLE
The Association shall be called the "MERIDIAN Beekeepers Association" hereinafter referred to as the MBA or the Association.
2. OBJECTIVES.
a. The Objectives of the MBA are to promote and encourage the craft of beekeeping in the community by whatever means the Association is able to provide by education, information and co-operation
b. To encourage and foster high standards of beekeeping aimed at providing good pollination for not only crops but for garden and wild plants as well, best honey production with healthy bees and with disease control and swarm control.c. To encourage the young to take up the craft and offer assistance to all new beekeepers.
d. Members will be encouraged to increase their knowledge by studying for and taking the BBKA Examinations.
3. RELATIONSHIP
The Association shall be affiliated to the Hampshire Beekeepers Association (HBA) as a corperate associate and of the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA). ALL the rules of the HBA and the BBKA shall be observed by the members of the MBA.
4. MEMBERSHIP
Membership of the MBA is open to any person willing to accept the rules of the Association and whose membership is approved by the Management Committee
The classes of membership shall be:
4.1 Full Members (registered)
4.2 Partner Members
4.2 Associates
4.3 Honorary Members
4.4 Junior Member
4.5 Corporate Member
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Full Members have the right to speak and vote at any meeting and to attend any general meetings. They can only attend a committee meeting at the express invitation of the committee. A member need not be a current beekeeper.
Partner Members are those who live in the same house as the ordinary member and who might have to look after the bees in the absence of the Full member or have bees of their own.
Associates - Beekeepers who are full members of another Association can be registered as Associates of the MBA. Members of the family of an MBA ordinary Member are entitled to become associates of the MBA (Family). Non-beekeepers who wish to become associates may do so, on the understanding that if and when they acquire stocks of bees they apply for Ordinary membership. Associates may speak at any formal meetings but cannot vote. Corporate members are individual members or Businesses/Other Associations who are keen to support the association and research.
Honorary Membership - This may be awarded for conspicuous service to the Association. The recipient has free membership together with all the rights and privileges of Ordinary Membership. The Association will be responsible for paying their capitation to BBKA.
Junior Members are any person who is still in full time education and/or is under 18 on 31st December preceding the year of membership, has no more than two hives and pays the required capitation to the Association for sending on to BBKA through the Treasurer of MBA.
5. - SUBSCRIPTIONS
The Annual subscription for the following year will be fixed at the AGM which takes place in February. Every member will be insured through Bee Disease Insurance within the limits of that insurance.
6. MANAGEMENT
The Management of the Association will be vested in the following Officers:6.1 The Chairman6.2 up to 6 elected committee from the membership6.3 The Secretary6.4 The Treasurer6.5 The Membership SecretaryAll the Officers of the Association will be elected at the Annual General Meeting. No person whilst an undischarged bankrupt may serve on the committee or hold any other office or appointment within the association.The Committee has the power to co-opt additional members for special purposes.The membership are able to pass a vote of no confidence in the Committee by calling a special General meeting with at least 65% of the membership present. A simple majority is sufficient. The Secretary and Treasurer would remain until the new committee had been elected.
7. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
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The Annual General meeting will be convened in February/March each year. Business will consist of the following:7.1 Reports from the Chairman, Secretary and the audited accounts from the Treasurer7.2 Report from the HBA Delegate
7.3 Election of Officers and committee members for the following year.7.4 Changes to Rules of Association notified to members 6 weeks in advance.7.5 Appointment of Auditor
7.6 Any items agreed by the Chairman and notified to the membership on the Agenda at least one week in advance of the meeting. ALL members are entitled to address the meeting through the chair.
8. ALTERATIONS TO RULES OF THE ASSOCIATION
A proposal by any member to alter the rules of the Association must be with the Secretary at least 8 weeks before the AGM so that the Management Committee can be informed. The proposed amendment will then go on the MBA website or be posted as required at least 6 weeks before the AGM. Discussion will take place at the AGM and a decision decided by a vote.
9. QUORUMA Quorum will be a minimum of 4 (four) of the elected members of the committee, A Quorum for the AGM will be no less than two fifths of the current Ordinary Members.
10. MONTHLY MEETINGSThe Secretary in conjunction with the Management committee will arrange regular meetings which will be held indoors from October until April and in members Apiaries throughout the rest of the year. Lectures will be presented on aspects of beekeeping.
11. WEBSITE
The webmaster shall at the request of the secretary and management committee keep an up to date MBA website. This shall be the main source of information for all members and non-members to include, but not limited to: items for sale, regular meeting times and venues, information from other associations, articles of interest local, national and international and announcements and information for members.
12. EXTRA-ORDINARY GENERAL MEETINGS - The Association shall hold an Extra-Ordinary General meeting at the request of five ordinary members of the Association or at the request of the Management Committee. The nature of the business to be discussed must accompany any such request. No other business will be discussed. Two week notice of the meeting must be given to members.
13. ENROLMENT
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Applications for enrolment in the MBA are to be made to the Membership Secretary on the appropriate form and be accompanied by the appropriate membership fee.
14. TERMINATION OF MEMBERSHIP
Any member giving notice of resignation or being in arrears on 28 th February in any year will be deemed to have resigned and the Secretary will remove his/her name from the register of members.
15. VOTING RIGHTS.
Only current ordinary members may vote. Voting at all meetings will be by a show of hands. Tellers will be nominated by the Chairman should the need arise. The Chairman will have a casting vote if a tie is declared.
16. NOTICE OF MEETINGS
Not less than seven days notice in writing shall be given for the Annual General Meeting and not less than seven days notice for any Extra-ordinary General meeting. Committee members shall be given a calling notice for a committee meeting at least seven days in advance.ALL details of regular meetings and the AGM are published in the MBA Handbook and on the website
17. FINANCE
The Treasurer is responsible for all financial transactions in the Association. There are to be two signatories on all cheques, one must always be the Treasurer and the other can be an elected member of the management committee. The financial year will run from 1st January to 31st December. The Treasurer is responsible for presenting the audited accounts at the Annual General Meeting.
18. BEE DISEASE INSURANCE
All members who hold stocks of bees must pay annually the BDI premiums. The premiums will be collected by the Treasurer with the payment of the subscription for the minimum number of stocks. Additional premiums can be paid up to a maximum of 40 stocks. The cost of additional premiums will appear on the Enrolment form.
19. WINDING UPA proposal for the winding up of the MBA must be put to an Extra-Ordinary General Meeting of the membership. To be effective such a proposal must be carried by a minimum of 75% of Ordinary members present and written proxy votes. If upon winding up of the MBA there remains after the satisfaction of all debts and liabilities any property or funds these are to be transferred to HBA for use by the Executive in any way they see to benefit beekeeping in the County.
ASSOCIATION APIARY RULES1. The Association Apiary is run by an Apiary Manager and two Assistants. Anyone
wishing to use the apiary must first seek permission from the Apiary Manager before 11
moving hives onto the Association Apiary. There is not unlimited space on the site and the Manager’s decision is final.
2. A maximum of two hives per person will be authorised unless the Apiary Manager agrees to more due to extenuating circumstances. The purpose of the Apiary is to support new members with their first and possibly second hive and to provide supervised supported learning for new members.
3. Members are only to inspect their own colonies and should not interfere with other colonies unless specific permission is given by the owner. However if a member sees a problem then it needs to be reported to the Apiary Manager as soon as possible for remedial action.
4. All hives on the site are to be marked with the members name for identification purposes.
5. The site is to be kept clean at all times. All wax and brace comb is to be removed to avoid vermin contamination. All rubbish is to be taken away and not left on site.
6. If you are going to remove colonies the Apiary Manager should be informed to avoid unnecessary concern about whether they are stolen or not.
7. The Apiary is our show case, is situated on someone else’s land and as such we need to be most particular with its upkeep.
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Preparing our Bees for the Winter
1. Introduction: It is clear that we have to be well prepared for winter this year to try and avoid the losses that some of us had last year. However the losses did not appear to take place during the winter but mainly in the so called spring. We must make sure that the hives go into the winter well fed and treated for varroa. The mites are immune to Apistan and Bayvoral and therefore we need to treat with another control and the one we have in the shop is Thymovar. Like all natural products colonies must have screen floors. I have been asked if you have to remove the screens for the winter after treatment but this is not the case, Bees need well ventilated hives. They do not die of cold but do from damp cold
Colony health is important going into the autumn and winter and hives need checking for pests and diseases. When preparing for the winter look at your colonies and check whether the brood nest is contracting. Telltale signs are nectar stored in amongst the brood and the number of frames of brood contracting. If this is the case now is the time to treat for varroa as most of the mites will be on the adult bees.
In order to keeping healthy and productive colonies, Varroa mite should be controlled. A reminder of symptoms are:
Deformed wings Stunted abdomens General weakening of the colony Patchy/pepperpot brood pattern Colony loss.
Treatment fall into one or two main categories, each have their pros and cons but it is the beekeeper’s choice which to use.
Biotechnical:These avoid the use of chemicals and is based on bee husbandry to reduce the mite population by physical means. Usually by trapping the mites in drone comb then cutting this out and destroying the comb along with the mites trapped in the comb.
Bee Base offer a leaflet ‘Managing Varroa’ which can be found on their website.
Varroacides:There are two classes of varroacides, those that contain synthesized propriety chemical (hard varroacides) and those that contain synthesized chemicals (soft varroacides) which are naturally occurring, e.g. formic acid, both are highly effective at killing and controlling varroa.
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Follow the manufacturers instructions carefully. Only use medicines approved by EU law. For information on products authorised for UK check information on Beebase and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate www.health-ni.gov.uk
Bees not taken to the Forest:Colonies should be inspected to check whether the brood nest is contracting. Telltale signs are nectar stored in amongst the brood and the number of frames of brood less than the last time you inspected your colony. If that is the case now is the time to treat as most of the mites will be on the adult bees. Before doing so remove any honey unless you are leaving it on for feed. Now feed with syrup until the bees don’t take anymore down. Total of sugar and any honey should be about 40lbs. It is recommended that the queen excluders are removed to enable the bees to get to any stores in a super without having to go through a cold QE. Clean the QEs straight away so that they are ready to go back on at the end of February to mid-March to prohibit the queen from laying eggs in the super! On completion of treatment remove trays, shut the entrances down and put on mouse guards. Heft your hives about every three weeks or so throughout the winter to ensure that they still have enough stores.
Bees taken to the Forest or those on the Forest naturally: Colonies should be monitored through September, especially as the heather appears to be going over. When it appears that the flow has stopped and that the brood nest is starting to contract, any honey should be taken off for extracting. One super should be left on and bees returned to their home apiaries. Immediately on return treat and feed as above.
If you need further advice ring your mentor or a committee member.
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Preparing Honey for Show and Sale
CLEAR HONEY
Always have nice clean comb in your supers – use starter strips and about three full sheets per super.
Try and extract honey as soon as possible before it sets. Make sure that the extractor is clean.
Having extracted you may need to warm the honey to about 40 0C for about 4 hours before fine filtering. Then allow it to stand in a settling tank for 24 hours at least to allow all air to come to the top. You may speed this up with a small heat source under the settling tank (about 60 watts – no more)
All the air will reach the top and you may use a plastic scraper to smooth the air off the top because as the honey is bottled the air will converge just above the tap and the last two or three jars will have all the froth with them. Another way is to skim off the froth and use it for family use on toast.
When bottling keep the jar as close to the tap as possible so that no more air is added as the honey falls into the jar. Before labelling for sale, make sure that the jar is not sticky.
To keep honey clear, warm it for 10 hours in a cabinet at 40 0C so that it will remain clear for about six weeks. DO NOT OVERHEAT as the honey will be spoilt and should only be used for cooking.
Another way is to put your jars in a water bath on a piece of wood (to save the jars breaking): bring up to 70 o C, turn off the heat, cover with a lid or newspaper and leave for 25 minutes.
Now if you are entering that honey for show, shortly before the show open the jar and blot off any dust, or froth from the top of the jar. Honey for show should be slightly over filled to allow for the cleaning prior to the show.
Clean the outside of the jars with some form of glass cleaner or meths and rub off with a soft cloth. Handle carefully so as not to put smears on the jar or the lid.
SOFT SET HONEY
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This is probably the most difficult to prepare and is probably the least rewarding. Creamed honey which will always stay pliable is made by warming and then creaming with a creamer of some sort. It is also a way of blending two different types of honey. The creamer should never break the surface of the honey to avoid excess air getting into the honey.
Place your warmed set honey (40 oC) in a settling tank, add any other honey you want to blend and mix together using the creamer until an even consistency is achieved. Allow to settle for 12 hours. Then bottle the honey you want as soft set. This needs to be set aside for jar cleaning etc. as for the clear.
The remainder in the tank should be creamed again and allowed to settle for another 12 hours. Then bottle. This method keeps the air to a minimum and will minimise any frosting. This can then be sold as creamed honey and should be good for a considerable time.
CUT COMB HONEY
When selecting your comb for cut comb honey for show, make sure that the cappings are even and preferably as white as possible. Of course, this also applies to comb for sale but in this case you don’t need a matching pair. Avoid having honey on the surface of the wax and around the container. It looks unsightly and detracts from the appearance of a first-class product.
For combs with clear honey for show put the comb on a wire grid, wiping the cutter between each piece cut. For show always cut in the same direction. You can be disqualified for failing to do that.
Allow the comb to stand on the wire grid to let the surplus honey drain out. Then put in the container. Of course, you do not need to do this with heather honey as it is thixotropic.
GENERAL1. Always have clean utensils
2. Cover your honey or comb immediately as you would be surprised how much dust lands when you open a jar. Sometimes fiddling to improve the appearance of your honey is not productive as you put more dust in than you take out.
3. Most shows require a matching pair of jars. This means jars of identical shape, mould numbers on the bottom and lids
4. Follow the show labelling instructions – if it says half an inch from the bottom of the jar – put them there.
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5. Labelling for sale – make sure that your labels obey the latest instructions.
6. Always read the schedule.
LABELLING:
Below is simple advice on honey labelling.
For more detailed information – go to the website of the Food Standards Agency.
1. The word Honey is required.
2. The weight must be on the label
3. You can specify the area where the honey is produced. For example, Hampshire
4. You can specify the type of honey. For example, Heather, Borage. The honey must be at least 75% of that particular type.
5. If you are selling the honey, you must have your name and address on the label. It does not need to be complete but you should be able to be found from the information.
6. If you are selling the honey through a third party, you must have a lot number.
7. You must have a best before date on the jar. We suggest 2-5 years from now.
8. You must have a country of origin on the jar. Adding the country to the end of your address is not acceptable
Example:
Fred Bloggs Honey
HAMPSHIRE HONEY454g, 1lb.
Honey Cottage, Botley.
Tel: 01489 892390
Best Before end Dec 2020, Lot No 0454
Product of the United Kingdom
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