Peeblesshire Beekeepers Association

Apiary Visit Report

Sat 7th September

We had a good visit to the association apiary. A few regulars and some welcome guests turned up including some junior bee enthusiasts. Scroll down for the photos.

Thanks to Janet for the notes.

Inspection Notes from Apiary visit 7th September 2019

Hive 4

  • Queen not seen.
  • Brood box – three frames with small amount of sealed brood.
  • Lots of bees.
  • One super with lots of sealed honey, another super with a smaller amount of sealed and unsealed honey.

Action taken:

  • Super with smaller amount of honey moved to below the brood box.
  • Clearing board put in between brood box and super with sealed honey (super above brood box).
  • Queen excluder removed.

Next visit:

  • Take top super off.
  • Feed with syrup.

Hive 2

Queen, eggs and brood seen.

Actions taken:

  • Frames with sealed honey moved to the sides, and unsealed frames moved towards middle.

Hive 3

Two supers, both partially filled. Third, empty super on top to accommodate fondant feed.

Actions taken:

  • Fondant feed (almost all gone) removed.
  • Best frames from both supers transferred to one super. This was left above brood box with excluder removed and replaced with a clearing board.
  • Less filled frames put in the other super which was then placed under the brood box.
  • The empty spare super (from the fondant feed) left on top of the clearing board).

Hive 5

No super. Queen seen. Some sealed brood – no eggs or unsealed brood. Frames very full of stores.

Nuc 3

Queen seen – still laying.

Actions taken:

  • Syrup added.

Black Queen Nuc

Lots of sealed brood, larvae and eggs. Queen seen.

Action taken:

  • Reservoir at the side of the nuc filled with syrup and stick added for bees to climb on.

Update Sun 8th

Richard and Peter removed the cleared supers from Hives 3 and 4 and replaced with feeders in an empty super as eke. Feeders were filled with syrup.

A swarm has taken up residence rather near the storage sheds
Tabitha and Daisy enjoyed their visit to the bees.
These are building up from a native bee mating nuc.
A native dark bee queen courtesy of Kate Atchley laying well in the nuc.
Feeding syrup.

Association Apiary Visit

7th Sept 2019 1.30pm

(Confirmed)

Leader: Wilma and Peter

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.

Dark Bee Queen Rearing

Here are some photos from Wilma showing some the action from this seasons attempts at raising native dark queens from the associations native bee stock. The hard work here has mainly been done by Wilma, Linda and David.

These were taken when they were moving the black amm queen that was mated at Kate Atchleys apiary from an apidea into a  nuc box.

Kate delivering the Apideas with the mated queens
Making up the nuc
Ready for the new queen
The queen was mated in the Apidea box.
Dark bees on the comb
The native amm queen
The queen being attended to
Building up the stocks in nuc boxes

Pub Meeting Wed 4th Sept


The local beekeepers will be meeting in the back bar of the Neidpath Inn Peebles on Wednesday 4th September at 7.30pm.

September already and its time to think about honey harvest (if you’re lucky), winter preparations and varroa treatments.

Come along for the usual association news, tips, advice and gossip.



Honey Picnic Photos

We enjoyed the afternoon at Wilma and Jocks heather honey site. The weather was mixed as the photos will show. The bees looked good and had produced some really nice frames of heather honey. The picnic got rained on but since its Scotland so we carried on regardless.

Heather Apiary Site
Hives at the Heather
Inspecting the bees at the heather
A Good Frame of Heather Honey
A damp but successful picnic
Honey Picnic in the Rain

Honey Picnic

Sunday 1st September 1.30pm

The annual honey picnic will take place this Sunday at Wilma and Jocks apiary in the Manor Valley.

If you need directions to the site contact Mandy.

This is great chance to see how bees are managed to collect heather honey.

Weather permitting we will do an inspection and then have a picnic.

Contributions to the picnic will be very welcome and come prepared for any weather.

Association Apiary Visit

28th August 2019 1.30pm

(Provisional)

Leader: To be confirmed

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.

Meet The Beekeepers

Venue: St Ronans Wells Innerleithen

25th August 2019

Meet the local beekeepers and discover all about the fascinating honeybee.

Local beekeepers will be on hand to explain all about bees and beekeeping as part of the permanent summer exhibition at St Ronans Wells to celebrate 100 years of the local beekeeping association.

Association Apiary Visit

18th August 2019 1.30pm

(Provisional)

Leader: Peter Stevenson

Exact date and time will be confirmed by email.

Please contact Mandy Tel: 01721 720563 Mob: 07563 185993 beforehand for details so you can be notified of any changes to the schedule due to weather or other circumstances.

Our regular visit to inspect the association colonies.

All welcome, particularly beginners.

Clean beesuits, gloves and footwear are required. Suits are available to borrow on request.