Blog

Vita is proud to announce the launch of ApiTonin, a unique and iconic new product.

The temperatures rose to 15C yesterday in Hampshire, so I took the opportunity to open my hives for the first time this season. And the news is good.

Video of Dr Max Watkins, Technical Director of Vita, talking about ApiShield, the Asian hornet trap. It will be available through Vita’s distributors.

Video of Dr Max Watkins, Technical Director of Vita (Europe) Ltd, talking about the spread Asian hornet and the threat it poses to honeybees in a growing number of countries in Europe.

The Asian Hornet, first seen in in Galicia in NW Spain in 2012, now appears to be active in winter, according to this report in Vida Apicola.

Vita Feed Gold has a very beneficial effect in reducing spores of Nosema ceranae, an increasingly important disease of honeybees. Dr Max Watkins of Vita explains on video.

Here’s a welcome sight. This little nucleus is taking full advantage of the January sun right now. It’s only 10 degrees Celsius, but it’s the best day they have seen for some time.

You can speak in person to Vita personnel at two events in Britain this spring. At Stoneleigh, Warwickshire on 1 March and at the BBKA Spring Convention at Harper Adams University in Shropshire on 4-5 April.

Lots of people use the resource to learn more about beekeeping. How do you use the Vita Gallery? What would you like to see included? Please tell us!

Tanging doesn’t work according to the latest research published by IBRA. No amount of bashing pots and pans will make a swarm settle. But beekeepers shouldn’t despair. Put away the kitchen utensils and use the Vita swarm wipes!

An insight into European beekeeping. PLOS ONE provides some fascinating statistics about beekeepers, honey production, frequency of diseases and more in the European Union.

In the end I decided not to attempt to overwinter the bees in the observation hive and they were moved to a nucleus in an out-apiary to see out the winter without prying eyes.