As part of Biodiversity week 19th – 27th May 2018, Members of the Beaufort Beekeepers Club visited a selection of schools in The Beaufort/ Faha / Killarney area. Schools visited were Faha National School, St Olivers National school Killarney, Fossa National School, Killarney Community College and Gaelscoil Faithleann, Cill Airne Students were informed of the vital role Bees play in sustaining the planet’s ecosystems and were encouraged to play their part in supporting pollinators at home by planting flowers etc . As always the stars of the show were the bees themselves. Thanks to 'Tuddy' for supplying us with a glass viewing hive which providing an opportunity for hundreds of students to view the workings of a live honey bee colony.

See All images from Biodiversity Week

In the past few years the Beaufort Beekeepers have put their heart and soul in enlightening the public about the importance of the honey bee. Astellas Pharma Ireland has acknowledged the hard work and made a recognisable donation to the Beaufort Beekeepers Association in May 2018.The money will be used to run beekeeping courses and hold information talks on beekeeping and the honey bee. The Beaufort Beekeepers are grateful for this donation and would like to thank Astellas Pharma Ireland, Killorglin, Co. Kerry.

Picture: Louis Collins Senior Director of Operations for Astellas (Right) presenting the cheque to Tuddy Clifford of BBA (Left)

2 swarms caught by Uli & Conor.

The nice weather had arrived finally so myself and Uli met up to go through 2 of my hives. After a very long winter and very few opportunities to go through the hives at ease, Friday was looking very promising!

All was set up nicely except for the fact that my smoker had gone missing . We had a choice of going without a smoker and proving our manliness or driving all the way out to Uli’s house to get his. We opted for the smoker (Uli’s choice… just saying) and drove out to Faha.

While grabbing the smoker we noticed a bit of commotion with the bees and Uli spotted a swarm hanging from a branch only about 10 meters from his hive.

Earlier in the summer of 2015, a Native Black Honey Bee (Apis melifera melifera) apiary was established in Killarney National Park. It was set up by the Killarney National Park Education Centre with help from Beaufort Beekeeper Tuddy Clifford.
At the moment the apiary has three CBD hives, (built by Tuddy) which are the traditional type of hive to the area. CBD stands for “Congested Districts Boards” and these types of hive were originally manufactured and sold by Abbott Bros. in the 1890s. They were specifically designed to withstand the wind and rain that is associated with west of Ireland.

Swarming is the honey bee’s method of colony reproduction. The old queen and about half of the worker bees leave their former nest and seek a new home. While a swarm of bees may look frightening, bees that are swarming and carrying honey from their old hive are much less defensive or likely to sting. It takes quite a bit of stimulation, such as being hit by sticks and stones or squirted with a hose, to induce defensive behaviour.

Graph showing colony losses for BBA

Based on figures taken from 16 of our members our colony losses for the past years ir roughly 55%. While there has been discussions blaming our cold summer last year and the fact that queens were not mated, it is not known to what extent this played a factor. Other factors to take into consideration are the Varroa Mite and the use of Pesticides which debilitate the bees navigation system. Maybe by keeping a record of our losses and comparing it to records from other parts of the country might give us more of an indication to the source of this proble