The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association will hold its biennial conference during 6-9 September 2018 at the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
The three lecture streams are themed as follows:-

1. "Bee Improvement". Queen rearing, bee breeding, genetics, queen mating, mini nucs and their management, overwintering queens, etc.
2. "General beekeeping". Management techniques, overwintering nucs, comb honey, marketing, bee communication, treatment free beekeeping, etc.
3. "Beginner and beyond". Forage and feeding, wintering, swarming, bee space, nutrition, mystery of mating, colony cycle, simple management techniques, colony health, etc.

If you are fairly new to beekeeping stream 3 is just for you.

​Check the programme https://bibba.com/event/bibba-conference-2018/, tell your local beekeeping friends and why not fill a car for an enjoyable break where you can mix with beekeepers from other areas?

Booking is open, with early bird discounts. Don't miss it.

BBC Somerset’s Emily Brown called round this week to discuss whether the heatwave is making our bees aggressive. She was looking into reports from beekeepers “that bees are this summer becoming very protective and aggressive over their honey. One beekeeper has said he’s been stung multiple times this season, which never normally happens.”
Now that isn’t my experience – I have one lively lot but they haven’t stung me (yet!) – and suggested the colony either need requeening or it was being opened up when the conditions were thundery etc.
Emily was keen to see the bees for herself so visited one of my apiaries to take a look. I steered her towards a small colony (created as part of swarm control measures in May) but which is busy filling a couple of supers.
Fortunately the bees carried on working and didn’t take any notice of us even when she asked me to get them to buzz louder (we’re talking radio!). Hopefully the bees and I dispelled the notion that the heat and honey is sending our bees wild. And that seems to be the experience of our members – the comments on Somerset’s Facebook page suggests the sunshine and heat is making our bees happy.
Anne Pike, SBKA Chairman