A short communication this month. Our next meeting is this Thursday, October 10th, Central Saanich Senior’s Centre, 1229 Clarke Rd, Brentwood Bay. BUT: This month there will be no Beginners/Intermediate corners. The main meeting will start at 6:30.
Agenda
- 6:30-7:10: Winterizing your hives by Don L. NB: This will be for both the Beginners’ and Intermediate groups
- 7:15-8:15: The Tropilaelaps Mite – A coming nightmare? By Paul vW, Head Apiarist for BC
- 8:15-9:00: Social time with fellow beekeepers over coffee/tea and cookies. Bring your own mug!
November’s meeting on November 14th will be our annual winter social; more on that later! Ongoing invitation: If you would like us to present on a certain subject, just email me at president@capitalregionbeekeers.ca and I will do what I can!
AFB
A member has reported to us that they suspect they have a hive with AFB, not yet confirmed, hive located in the Victoria General Hospital area. If it IS determined to be AFB, the Ministry of Agriculture will be advising those beekeepers whose hives are located within foraging range of the infective site. This brings to mind two important points:
- Always, always, always pay attention while in your hive to any sign of infection of any sort. Sometimes it’s easy on a hot day in a hot suit to just get in and out, but do take the extra time to monitor the status of your bees.
- REGISTER YOUR APIARY! Not only is this a legal requirement, but also if you haven’t registered your apiary location, the Ministry of Agriculture will not be able to advise you of disease outbreaks. You can easily do this through this web link: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/farming-natural-resources-and-industry/agriculture-and-seafood/food-safety/bcpid_-_beekeepers_faq.pdf
If that’s too much to copy and print out, simply Google “register an apiary in BC”.
Happy Beekeeping!
Ps: I’m recovering from a knee replacement, have been restricted to bed for the last 10 days, and have been getting bored outta my mind. So I asked ChatGPT to write a haiku about beekeeping:
Veil on, calm and still
Gentle hands with hive’s secrets
Nature’s dance unfolds
Not bad!! I fear that AI is showing more intelligence than some of our political candidates…