December 2025
Alan Riach
There have been touches of winter intermingled with much milder days. Meteorologically, winter starts on the 1 st of December, but we’ve already had some early experiences.
For those of you who have peeked under the roof, don’t be alarmed if you can’t see bees through the feedhole. The bees will be down at the bottom of the hive. They start using stores from the lower parts of the broodbox and gradually work their way up throughout the winter.
The bees should still have plenty of stores, but keep a block of fondant or a moistened bag of sugar over the feed hole as insurance. Bakers’ fondant or sugar (sucrose) is quite adequate; it doesn’t have to be inverted sugar – bees are the best inverters in the business and nectar is mainly sucrose and bees have evolved to deal with that.
Should we have windy weather, keep a check on the hives. We recommend that you secure your hives with lever ratchet straps, if possible, tied to or encircling the stand. Lever ratchet straps can be tightened more securely than hand-pulled straps. Even if a strapped hive is blown over, the bees will survive a tumble, provided the hive is securely strapped and does not split open.
Check your colonies for varroa drop. Use the online calculator at https://www.varroaresistant.uk/mite-calculator/, and if the calculator recommends treatment, then treat with an oxalic acid treatment either by trickle treatment or vapor. If using a vaporiser, do be sure to wear a suitable acid gas mask. Use approved materials and keep a veterinary record sheet of treatments. Don’t treat if the calculator recommends not.
There are now colonies which seem to be resistant to varroa but do not assume that your colonies are resistant. Varroa still kills more bee colonies than any other pest. Professor Stephen Martin and his team at the University of Salford have been researching varroa-resistant bees and have concluded that over a 10-year period varroa-resistant queens can appear.
After 16 years at the present site, the EMBA apiary is being moved due to SASA’s decision to sell Overgogar House and paddocks. However, SASA has provided an alternative site beside their grain store, some little distance along Gogarbank Road. Carrie Gooch our apiary leader, is organising the move. The new site has good parking and access to water, electricity and toilets.
I hope those of you who participated in the SBA module exams on 15th November found them not too hard. The scripts are now with the markers and hopefully, the moderator will have results back by early January. The modules are now offered in Written exam-centre form and in Online form on your home laptop. There are now two supplementary modules being offered – Plants and Pollinators and Beekeeping History. These are only offered in the November diet. The next diet of normal modules will be held on 21st March 2026.
The next EMBA event is the EMBA Quiz night at Eric Liddle Centre on Wednesday, December 10th. Do come along and join one of the quiz answering teams. Our president may even have inserted some bee questions. If you have SBA Exam certificates to receive, these will be presented at this meeting.
EMBA has been successful in obtaining one of the SBA Touring Speaker talks, which will take place in mid-February, at the Eric Liddle Centre. This is being held in conjunction with Newbattle, East Lothian and West Linton. The speaker is Bob Binnie and the EMBA talk will be on the importance of nutrition for honeybees. As we believe this event will be in high demand, the event will be free but ticketed, so please watch out for the opportunity to book your place coming soon.
Now is the time for dropping hints to family members about useful beekeeping tools/equipment/books. There are innumerable books on bees, but one interesting new one, albeit quite expensive (£55), is Beekeeping in Harmony with Nature – The Evolutionary Solution to the Varroa Problem by the Polish beekeeper Bartlomiej Maleta (translated by Stephen Martin).
Season’s greetings to all and do have a good break and enjoy the festive season.
Alan Riach
