NEXT COMOX VALLEY BEE CLUB MEETING IS TUESDAY APRIL 28th, 7PM AT DOVE CREEKHALL.
EVERYONE WELCOME
Small change to the speaker line up. We will be discussing swarms and splits as well as the VHS queen larva that will be distributed in May to club members. Swarms are happening NOW, so let’s get ready.
ARE YOU QUEEN RIGHT? Sunday April 26, 1pm see Workshop & Field Day tab for information.
- Wolfram & Sybille will be distributing up to 100 queen larva in stick-on cups on May 23, between 13:00 and 15:00 at Home Grown Bee in Merville (6575 Poulton Road). This is part of the initiative to introduce prime genetics in our area and to promote queen rearing skills. The long term objective is to become locally independent from imports and to achieve a community based high level of varroa resistance.
- The larva on May 23 will come from a 2025 Golden West (Randy Oliver) queen which achieved last year the highest UBeeO score (55%) of our 5 hives tested. Tests from April 2026 are at 76%. We will hand out the queen cups in bags of three, which is the recommended amount per care hive. First come first serve and if you have set up 3 care hives you can get 3 bags. Attached is a short guide on how to rear queen cups (max 10) in a queen right hive (the care hive).
- The reason why this announcement is included now is that the care hive needs to be prepared 9 days before receiving the queen cups. That will be May 14!
- There is no guarantees that it will work, but we have to start somewhere and give it a try. If, in the unlikely event, bee keepers end up with successfully drawn queen cells, they need to find a home for them. They need to set up as many queenless hives or nucs as they have queen cells. After the nucs are queenless for a minimum of 2 hours, the queen cells can be introduced. About 2 weeks later the bee keeper can check for eggs, confirming successful mating.
SAVE THE DATE…CLUB PICNIC- JULY 18, 2026 at Cris Pomeroy’s place. 3177 Hellicar Rd. Courtenay BC…details to follow. Bee there or bee square!