November 6th 2012 – Tuesday night
Committee Meeting: 7.30pm
Club Monthly Meeting: 8.00pm
API BIOXAL AS A WINTER TREATMENT FOR VARROA CONTROL
We are honoured to have Dr Mary Coffey to give a talk and practical demonstration on how to apply API BIOXAL product as an alternative treatment for varroa, and it to work alongside APIGUARD.
Dr Mary has gained vast experience through working closely with bees, she works anything from 100 to 150 hives and that makes her a very busy beekeeper!
Dr Mary will talk and give a few useful tips to us on how to take care of the welfare of our bees. Write down any questions you wish to ask her beforehand and she will answer them for you.
DON’T MISS THIS DEMONSTRATION AS IT WILL NOT BE REPEATED!!
OTHER CLUB’S IMPORTANT BUSINESS ON THE NIGHT
1) Please put your nominations for the A.G.M in an envelope, this is taking place at the December meeting.
2) Any motions for the A.G.M in another envelope.
3) Nominations for club person of the year in another envelope, P.S. all envelopes must be sealed please.
There are a number of candidates who will qualify for this, so everyone please nominate only one (1) person, this will show your appreciation for their help during the past year.
Thanks to our clubs bees in our two apiaries and the lads for looking after them, Padraig, Willie, Justin and Martin, the club is privileged to have a small amount of honey available for sale! (Approx 140 jars, priced at €6.00 per jar).
The honey has been extracted but due to the cold and mixtures of honey’s (adding to the flavour) it will need to be put in warm water to clarify it if you want it to run easily, but its fine as it is! The money is for our club funds to help offset the cost of feeding the bees all year, so if you want a jar of our ‘first time club honey’ be at the meeting, have the right amount of money ready (€6.00 per jar, don’t expect us to have the change of €10.00 etc., PLEASE have the exact price ready on the night!!)
Padraig and Willie will have it on sale.
Club Membership 2013.
I will be taking the club membership on the night for our coming year which is€50.00. Put it in a sealed envelope and write your name on it please, it makes it easier for me to document it later! I will then know who has paid by the envelope which I keep; it also speeds up the process on the night. €30.00 of this goes to the Federation which has increased since last year; this is due to the new amount of the capitation fee, agreed at Congress in Gormanston. The membership now covers the federation fee, the insurance for the year and also each member will get a copy of‘An Beachaire’ for 11 months of the year. (Some very interesting articles published in it are very useful to us all beginners and improvers!!)This is a saving of €13.00 on last year, as ‘An Beachaire’ was not included in last year membership.
Associate membership is fixed at €20.00; there is no insurance cover with this for husband/wife in the same household.
Wax Demonstration 24th – 25th November 2012
Mary O Riordian from Cork will give a practical demonstration of making Wax products on the 24th – 25th of this month. On Saturday the 24th in the Teagasc Centre, Newport Road, Westport she will show those taking part how to make; Lip Balm, Skin cream, soap’s and furniture polish. She will be making the soap on Saturday and will have to return on Sunday for an hour or so to cut the soap. Mary is very unique in Ireland because she has insurance which covers her to sell the products. Mary’s products are beautifully made and she will have some of her pre made product on sale both days.
Everybody on the course will take home a sample of each product so really it will not cost anything at the end of the day. The numbers on the course is limited to twenty(20) people, so the first twenty to give me their name – either by return e-mail, phone call: 098 26585 / 087 2464045 or their name at the next meeting, will be taking part!
Mary makes some beautiful products but makes them with different ingredients to Jim’s.
There is a charge per head for this demonstration similar to last year with Jim Ryan.
Also please look at the program of events for the upcoming year on our website! There are two (2) other events taking place, one on the 17th, there is a skep making demo in the Museum of Country Life, Castlebar.
On the 20th November we have our second beginners meeting or whoever wishes to come along. Our last beginners meeting was very well attended, it was a great help to everybody there. We encourage beginners to ask whatever questions you wish on the night, write down your questions beforehand, don’t be shy to ask a question as somebody else will be experiencing the same problem and it will get the discussion going!!
Beginners Course Saturday 23rd – Sunday 24th March 2013
We can confirm that we are holding our beginners course on these dates; as places are limited we are now taking names for the course. If you already have the course done and have a hive and more experience than last year, to re-do the course will help you to understand better and practice and learn from these excellent lecturers Gerry, Mary and Jim Ryan.
Please contact me and give me your name for the course.
Study group for the Intermediate Exam
We are starting a study group for the Intermediate Exam next year. There is a lot of study to be done for this exam and it’s not simple!
We are looking for a group of approx 10 –12 beekeepers (that has a minimum of two years experience) who are willing to meet up weekly to study the syllabus for the exam. This will entail approx two hour study session per week.
For further information of the syllabus for the exam check out the Federations website. http://www.irishbeekeeping.ie/education/intersyl.html
We may be meeting on Wednesday evening with Mary and Gerry Ryan to hear what’s involved!
Please e-mail me back with your name if interested in taking part in the study group.
See you Tuesday night
Dermot
