BBKA News
BBKA News
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Calendar from National Bee Supplies helps BBKA
19 November 2019 A calendar from National Bee Supplies is raising money for the BBKA and may be the perfect Christmas gift for someone you love. The photos of bees are from a competition run by NBS earlier in the year and like the amazing one above are incredibly detailed and beautiful. Sam Arnold from Suttons Seeds who own NBS said: "We were genuinely blown away by the quality of photographs entered into #nbspoty, which made our job of choosing a winner near-impossible! It was so difficult, in fact, that we have decided to showcase some of the runners-up in our first ever National Bee Supplies Calendar. "Each and every image we’ve included was worthy of the crown, and we hope that you enjoy admiring the tiny details and breath-taking beauty as they take pride of place in your home! Better yet, we are proud to donate £1 from every calendar sold to the BBKA (British Beekeepers Association) to help contribute towards th... -
PhD position in honeybee breeding
Gregor Gorjanc, PhD Chancellor's fellow in Data Driven Innovation for AgriTech We have placement for a fully-funded PhD position in the EASTBio Doctoral Training Programme competition - www.eastscotbiodtp.ac.uk. UK and European students are eligible for this programme. The aim of the PhD is to work on the "Design of breeding programs to improve honeybee health and production" Detailed description: www.findaphd.com/phds/project/eastbio-design-of-breeding-programs-to-improve-honeybee-health-and-production/?p114336 Supervisors: Tom Freeman and Gregor Gorjanc Industry partner: AbacusBio This is a 4-year studentships to start in October 2020. The studentship covers fees, stipend, research training, limited research costs and a small travel/conference allowance. Successful student will join the EASTBIO training programme and undertake enhanced subject-specific, core bioscience and generic skills training and placement (3 to 18-months) with their industrial... -
Spring Convention Feedback
BBKA Spring Convention 2019 - Feedback By Lesley Jacques on behalf of the BBKA Spring Convention Committee The BBKA Spring Convention at Harper Adams University in Shropshire, 12–14 April 2019, saw around 1,400 participants attending a mixture of lectures, workshops and bee-related retail therapy at the trade show. The feedback from the event has been extremely positive, and it is interesting to learn a little more about the convention attendees so that we can build on the successes of the year and try to address any aspects that were less well received. Feedback from convention attendees The aim was to offer a feedback questionnaire to everyone attending the event. This year we had 125 completed questionnaires returned. These included feedback on all aspects of the meeting, some from multiple choice options and some from free-text input. Most of the completed questionnaires (85%) came from those who had full three-day wristbands, either purchased or as stewards/speakers, wit... -
More than 40% of beekeepers say they had a better honey harvest in 2019
Friday 25th October The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) annual survey of how much honey they have harvested from their bees shows the highest yield in 10 years. The average crop was 40.25 pounds of honey. In 2012 they only produced an average of 8 pounds and the previous highest crop was in 2014. Important factors Beekeepers report that the most important factors for producing a good crop are abundant forage throughout the beekeeping season, good colony health and the right weather. And this year the small number of colonies ( 2 %) moved to seasonal forage like heather and those colonies sited near wooded areas or forestry did the best. Most of the 1,039 beekeepers who responded to the survey only had 1 or 2 colonies but next most popular amount was 5-10 colonies. Best region The highest average yield was in the South East followed by East region. 60% of BBKA members keep their honeybees in a rural/countryside landscape, 29% in suburban ga... -
Master of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers
Whoever is the current Master of the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers is patron of the British Beekeepers Association. They are an ancient City of London company governed by a Royal charter granted by King Richard 111 in 1484. The business of a Wax Chandler was the preparation, making and sale of beeswax and beeswax products. Wax Chandlery included torches, images, wax for seals, medical uses and candles. Before the Reformation, acts of devotion to speed souls through Purgatory required vast quantities of beeswax for candles, tapers and images. Medieval trade relied on wax seals to attest contracts and the like and wax coated writing tablets were the BlackBerries of the time. The current Master is Mrs Sue Green. Today the Master of the Wax Chandlers sponsors lectures at the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) Spring Convention, awards a prize and a dinner to the beekeeper getting the highest marks in their Master of Beekeeping exams and has supported the BBKA when...
