A Thank You to Fred

Fred Millwood was recently called out to deal with a swarm in a tree near Cameron Youth Centre. Below is the email we got from them to thank Fred.

Dear All

Just a quick note to say 'Thank You' to Fred from the Inverness-shire Bee Keepers Association for removing a swarm so promptly yesterday afternoon (14/05/19) from by the car park at Cameron Youth Centre - Inverness.
There were user groups in, including children and his prompt attendance meant that the swarm was removed safely with no harm done to either them OR the Bees!
Our steward Kenny also learned a lot from Fred about bees during his visit.

We hope that the bees enjoy their new home.

Once again - thank you!

Honey Show

The annual honey show is just a few weeks away.
The show will be held at Simpsons Garden Centre during their Highland Honey Weekend on Saturday 29th – Sunday 30th September.
Simpsons will have plenty of bee friendly plants in store and honey products as well as bulbs, seeds and books. Meanwhile, Inverness-shire Beekeepers Association members will be on hand to talk about beekeeping along with our display hive.

The Honey Show will be open to all beekeepers while any members who enter can bring along honey for sale at the show. There are lots of different classes and all members are encouraged to enter as many as they can, even if it's just one jar of honey, a cake, or tablet.
If you're interested in entering have a look at the schedule below for class descriptions and rules.
Inverness Honey Show Schedule

Thoughts of a Newbie (Newbee?) Beekeeper

I've had my bees for about a month now and thought I'd share a few thoughts on how it's going.

• You wouldn't know they're there.
  Basically, the hive can't be seen easily from anywhere in the garden because it's down a small hill.  
  Spot the beehive.
  At the same time the bees just get on with it and don't bother anybody in the garden (unlike the wasps who are more like attention seeking teenagers in many ways). That might be because most of the plants are on the hill as well though.
• I had no idea how desperate people are for local honey.
  I've already got orders for honey and I won't have any 'till next year at the earliest.
• Books only get you so far.
  I read loads about beekeeping before actually getting bees but the day I got them I felt totally under prepared, and probably still am. The bees seem to know what they're doing though even if I don't.
• Beekeeping is straightforward. As long as you're prepared.
  I won't list them here but I kept (who am I kidding - keep) forgetting things. Lots of things.
• I have 'nice' bees.
  It may be a weird rose tinted spectacle thing but I seem to have 'nice' bees. I've done a couple of inspections and they never seem overly fussed by it. If anything they just want to get on with their own work. So much so that I can get fairly close to my hive and they just ignore me. (I'm probably tempting fate by writing that down)
• My bees are taunting me.
  I still haven't found the queen. I'm not worried by that fact since I've found plenty of developing brood. I've definitely found larvae and I'm pretty sure eggs but still haven't found the queen. The annoying thing is that during my inspections, when I return the frame I'm pretty sure the queen is hiding on, a group of bees always perch themselves on that frame and start fanning. This could just be to let the other bees milling about know where the queen is but it definitely feels more like "She's right here. Haha."

It's still early but the weather's been good, my bees seem really active and the colony is slowly expanding. Hopefully they'll have no issues over winter and we'll get more good weather next year.
If I can find the queen at least once before then I'll be happy!