Seen yesterday at the fast developing Training Apiary at St Johns is Keith Osborn, Chairman of the Bee Improvement Group, a committee of the Isle of Man Beekeepers Federation. The target is to have ten National hives with bees for training purposes; thanks to various donations of hive and bees, we are nearly there. Any further donations will be gladly accepted.
The next phase of the development is to erect a shed to keep beekeeping and training equipment; that should happen before Easter.
As discussed elsewhere, at the end of April, Roger Patterson from the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association will return to the Isle of Man, hoping to visit as many apiaries on the island as possible over a four day period to assess the state of the island’s bees, establish benchmarks and determine the best colonies from which to breed to improve the island’s bee stock.
With further land having been made available by DEFA in St Johns for queen rearing, Bee Improvement is getting going in the Isle of Man!
