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Vita bee health initiatives award 2017
Groups of beekeepers are invited to apply for Vita’s 2017 award for honey bee health initiatives. The Vita Bee Health Initiatives Award highlights the vital work of voluntary beekeeping groups to combat the ongoing health threats to honeybees. Vita will help publicise their work for the benefit of other beekeepers.
Anyone can nominate a group. The entry form is short and straight-forward, the closing date is 31 July 2017 and results will be announced at Apimondia in September 2017.
The overall winner of the inaugural competition in 2015 was the Devon Apicultural Research Group in the UK. The group is researching the apparently increasing number of drone-laying queens. The project is ongoing and the drones are being examined with the help of a high quality microscope provided by Vita.
Planifiez votre saison d’apiculture avec l’infographie gratuite de Vita
« Mon année d’apiculture » est un calendrier graphique format A4 destiné aux apiculteurs pour noter des événements marquants de leur année d’apiculture. Télécharger le fichier PDF taille réelle (7MB) ici ou petite taille (1MB) ici
Une infographie customisable pour les apiculteurs servant à inscrire les détails de leur saison d’apiculture est maintenant disponible sur le site web de Vita (Europe) Ltd, le spécialiste de santé de l’abeille.
« Lorsque nous parcourons le monde, nous entendons fréquemment des apiculteurs parler de la saison (l’année) la plus étrange ou la plus grande récolte ou la plus petite récolte qu’ils n’aient jamais vécues. Mais les saisons se confondent les unes et les autres et il est difficile de garder une trace de ce qui s’est passé » dit Sébastien Owen, directeur du service développement commercial de Vita. « Donc nous fournissons une méthode simple et ludique pour les apiculteurs afin qu’ils annotent les détails de chaque année et puissent ainsi retracer les événements intervenus à chaque saison ».
Sébastien Owen continue : « Chaque personne a ses propres indicateurs de saison, cela peut être la date de floraison de la première plante productrice de nectar, la première date où ils osent ouvrir leurs ruches, ou encore quand ils voient les premiers essaimages se préparer. L’infographie est assez flexible pour que chacun puisse y inscrire ce qu’il veut chaque année. »
À la fin de chaque saison, pour chaque hémisphère Vita invite les apiculteurs à partager leurs infographies sur le site web Vita ; ainsi les apiculteurs du monde entier pourront comparer leurs saisons à celles de leurs voisins et également observer comment les saisons d’apiculture varient à travers le monde.
Retrouvez également en libre téléchargement le calendrier de Vita Europe 2017. Un calendrier version Anglaise regroupant les photos des lauréats du concours 2016.
Free Asian Hornet Infographic
Asian hornet infographic – go to Vita Gallery to download
The latest threat to honeybees, the Asian hornet (Vespa velutina) is the focus of the latest in series of free and downloadable infographics from Vita (Europe) Ltd.
This third infographic from Vita gives at-a-glance information about the Asian hornet, a growing threat as it expands across western Europe.
Sebastian Owen of Vita (Europe) Ltd said, “The aim of the infographic is to inform beekeepers about the Asian hornet’s life cycle, what to look out for and how to help honey bees defend against it. It’s a free resource for beekeepers and others to download and disseminate.”
Previous Vita infographics have focused on swarming and varroa. These can also be downloaded for free from the Vita gallery which also has lots of other useful images, videos and tips. See www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/gallery
Go to the Vita Gallery to download the Asian Hornet Infographic
Vita 2016 Photo Competition Winners
Credit: Lester Quayle
The overall winner of Vita’s 2016 international photo competition is Lester Quayle with his image of industrious housekeeping honey bees. May Smith is the under-16 winner for her striking photograph of a pollen-carrying honey bee just landed on a brood frame.
Entries will appear in the limited edition 2016 Vita Calendar distributed to Vita’s global network and the winners. Some of the photos are below and a pdf file of the full calendar is available for free download to users of the Vita Gallery www.vita-europe.com/beehealth/gallery.
The 2017 Vita Calendar monthly line-up is:
Continue reading →
Vita donates eight sentinel hornet traps to Stroud beekeepers
The Stroud beekeepers’ association apiary with Apishield Asian hornet trap in place.
Vita has donated eight ApiShield Asian hornet traps to a group of Gloucestershire beekeepers to help establish how far the latest threat to honey bees has spread in Britain.
Vita’s ApiShield traps replace existing hive floors and attract hornets, wasps and even robber bees in by side entrances where they become trapped under a wire mesh and cannot exit through the cone entrances. Meanwhile, the honeybee colony uses and protects the front entrance to the hive. Beekeepers can periodically inspect the traps to see if any Asian hornets have been caught.
Peter Lead of the Stroud Beekeepers’ Association said: “We have installed two ApiShield traps in our Association apiary and are distributing the others for use in the area. Last year, our Association apiary was plagued by a lot of wasps and, even after a few days, the ApiShields have already trapped a substantial number. There is no sign of the Asian hornet yet, but we are inspecting regularly. I particularly like the Vita hornet trap because, unlike bait lures, it is not adding an additional enticement for wasps and hornets to enter the apiary.”