Look after the health of your bees!

General

• ​Parasites of the Honeybee, by Dr. Mary Coffey - a comprehensive description of the various infections that can affect bees

• There are some excellent sources of information about AFB on the internet, e.g.here and here.  Remember also that you may send samples of bees and comb for disease diagnosis to Dr. Mary Coffey at no cost - full details can be found here. 

Invaders - new enemies that haven't arrived here ... yet!

• ​Small Hive Beetle (SHB) - an excellent document from DAFM
• The Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, also known as the Yellow-legged Hornet is probably on its way to Ireland - a single specimen was found in Dublin in May 2021. It was first discovered in the UK in 2018, first on Guernsey and then in Gloucester. Over the winter, one was found in a warehouse in Scotland, and two were spotted in Jersey a couple of weeks ago. This is a real danger to our bees - they can wipe out an entire colony in a couple of hours. There is good information about this pest from Beebase, and any sightings should be reported to the Dept. of Agriculture. More information available on the non-native species website.​