Dun Aonghusa Apiary	Dun Aonghusa Apiary Report 2003

WEATHER

The start of the year was cold and wet, but the weather improved from mid-March through April. This, with the help of feeding gave an early spring build up to cell raising colonies and drone producers. May was unsettled, being wet and windy necessitating the continuation of feeding. Queen rearing began as usual in early June and weather conditions for mating were excellent during the month of July and into August.

QUEEN REARING

About 75 queens were produced in the GBBG mating apiary. Most of these were distributed to members for breeding and the rest were used to re queen cell raising colonies and replace old queens which were brought in from out-apiaries for breeding. Unfortunately I have not received any feed-back so far on these queens and I have had very little feed-back from queens supplied in former years. Feed-back would be very much appreciated, whether good or bad, even if to say that the queens have been successfully introduced. Queen rearing is an exacting and time consuming task and sometimes one wonders is it worth the trouble. Fortunately there are the faithful few who take the trouble to keep the records of colony assessments and send the colony appraisals to James Power. Some orders had to be postponed again this year for areas where Varroa has not yet been found. These queens will be supplied to those members as soon as they inform me that they have found Varroa.

HONEY PRODUCTION

About mid-June with the onset of warm humid weather the honey flow began... It was decided to try and produce some surplus honey to generate some funds to purchase extra equipment. Fortunately I had some spare brood chambers of my own that I used for supers as required. Accordingly as colonies raised queen cells, artificial swarms were made or the old queen was taken out and the colony requeened with a young mated queen. This resulted in an increase to twenty full size colonies at the end of the season. These were fed and also availed of the heavy ivy flow so that they all appear to be in excellent condition at present. Varroa was found at the end of the season, but the mite numbers did not warrant treatment so far. Most hives have Varroa floors and natural mite drop is being monitored on an ongoing basis. A total of 400 lbs of honey was harvested and extracted. I am willing to purchase this honey at a price of €1.00 per lb. if members agree.

BREEDING

A number of selected queens were used for breeding in 2003. I tended to concentrate on rearing queens from two breeder queens whose ancestors have proved most reliable over a number of generations i.e. DR22 (DOCILITY) and DR35 (PRODUCTIVITY). I would be glad if members who got queens from these breeders would pay particular attention to evaluating and recording the behaviour of their progeny during the coming season. I will be using these two mother queens again next year (if they survive) as well as some others selected as a result of my own colony appraisals. I will of course be paying particular attention to queens which have not attempted to swarm this past season which seems to be regarded by most beekeepers I met as a particularly swarmy season. I have already brought in three old queens which did not swarm despite being somewhat restricted as regards room.

This was the first year for some time that we did not inseminate any queens. Neither Redmond nor I had time as between Gormanston, Apimondia, summer holidays and a particularly demanding beekeeping season we just could not manage it. However in recent years we did inseminate many queens and Redmond deserves much credit for that as it was necessary to set aside one day a week during the summer months for I.I. alone. We hope to make up some ground next year and cross a few new combinations. The fact that the queens and drones have been left to their own devices for a year may even prove beneficial as more out-breeding should have taken place.

WORK PARTY

This year again we had a work day and we are extremely grateful to those members who turned up to carry out some very essential works. The roof of the I.I. hut was repaired and covered with felt. A sheet of Perspex was installed in the equipment shed to provide light. Apideas were dismantled, cleaned and got ready for sterilization and final assembly. A wide variety of bee plants were propagated for the bee garden. The deer-fence was renewed. Shrubs were pruned and over hanging branches of trees lopped off. The members who take part in this annual work-day seem to enjoy it and it appears to have a bonding effect which helps to unite members for the year ahead.

Next month we will have another work-day as there is still much work to be done in the apiary and bee garden. It is important to start getting ready to have the place looking its best for the visiting delegates of Apimondia in 2005. We would like to have as many members as possible present and a full programme of work will be prepared for the day.

VISITORS

One of the highlights of the past year was the visit to Dun Aonghusa of the South Kildare and Dunamace BKA's. Queen rearing colonies and Apidea mating nuclei were inspected and our breeding system explained in detail to the visitors. Many thanks to those members who turned up and assisted at the event. The refreshments and musical entertainment was also much appreciated by our guests.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that another garden shed be purchased and converted into a bee house where a few colonies could be housed so that they could be used for queen rearing during inclement weather. One of the greatest drawbacks to queen rearing in our climate is the fact that drones are not available in sufficient numbers reasonably early in the season. It is recommended that two polystyrene National hives be purchased in an effort to improve this situation also.

Micheál Mac Giolla Coda. (Apiary Manager) 31st December 2003.

Originated... 28 February 2004, Upgraded... 15 June 2005,