SPG - beekeeping Workshop

Post date: Nov 13, 2016

Yesterday was the 2nd beekeeping workshop for 2016 and again Denise led the day with Tom adding from his wealth of experience. Thanks to Denise for offering to organise this important event. The day started by talking about re-queening a hive and then some other topics until morning tea. After the break, everyone donned their protection and headed out to the hives for some practical fieldwork:

Tom demonstrated merging 2 hives and then worked in fast forward mode (retrieving a box of honey frames) to beat the rain deluge by mere minutes! In the shed, we extracted some combs of honey using a couple of different extractors. This finger licking good task is perhaps why so many people become hobby beekeepers!!?

Uncapping comb with a steam knife (with electric extractor in foreground):

Having a go at extracting honey with a manual extractor (necessary on these new frames):

After lunch, we talked about some more topics - pests and disease control, hive insulation and ventilation (different styles of hives), and so on. Again, similar topics to the first workshop arose. In light of this, an excellent recent documentary about bees to find and watch is called "More than Honey" - it has absolutely superb videography and covers the same global issues.

Anyone, everyone left inspired to either get their first hive, restart their hobby, or apply what they learnt to their current hive(s). It was great to see more people so interested in bees and their welfare.

Neither Denise nor Tom wanted remuneration for sharing their knowledge, so the workshop was by 'make a donation'. I am sure this will be gratefully received by Permafund:

Thanks again for hosting us all Tom (and wife Rosemarie) and Denise for sharing her passion once again.