Meon Valley Beekeepers

Winter Meeting (Itchen Abbas)
2025-02-11 19:30 - 21:00 (Europe/London) | Itchen Abbs Village Hall, Main Road, Itchen Abbas, Winchester SO21 1BQ, SO21 1BQ, United Kingdom
Professor Lars Chittka will be talking in-person about The Mind of a Bee. This is a joint event with Winchester BKA so we hope you will be able to join us.

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2025-01-09 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Lynne Ingram will be talking about Honey Fraud and what we can do to look out for it. This talk will be online, and you can find joining details on our members area.

Christmas Party and AGM
2024-12-05 19:30 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
We look forward to seeing you at our annual Christmas party. Come along and catch up with beekeeping friends! Bring a plate of food to share.

BBKA Modular Exams
2024-11-16 09:00 - 12:00

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2024-11-14 19:30 - 21:00
Join us online to hear Stewart Spinks from Norfolk Honey Company who will be talking about Beekeeping fails. Joining details found in our members area.

Winter Meeting (Itchen Abbas)
2024-10-08 19:30 - 21:00 | Itchen Abbs Village Hall, Main Road, Itchen Abbas, Winchester SO21 1BQ, SO21 1BQ, United Kingdom
The Dancing Bees – a Zoom talk by Jim Vivian-Griffiths.
Itchen Abbas Village Hall, Tuesday 8th October 19.30

Jim will be looking at the story of Karl von Frisch who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for discovering the waggle dance back in the late 20’s and discussing more recent work on this from other big honeybee observers including Martin Lindauer and Tom Seeley.

Jim qualified as a Master Beekeeper in 2014, winning the Wax Chandlers Award and then becoming a Certified FIBKA Lecturer in 2015. He is also a BBKA assessor for Basic and General Husbandry. Living in Monmouth, running some 30 colonies with his wife, Val (also a Master Beekeeper) he is now in his 10th year as trainer for Dean Forest BKA, running courses for the Basic Assessment, Microscopy and Module Examinations.

HBA Autumn Convention and Honey Show
2024-10-06 | Sparsholt College, Sparsholt College Hampshire, Westley Ln, Sparsholt, Winchester SO21 2NF, SO21 2NF, United Kingdom
Tickets and more information can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hampshire-beekeepers-association-honey-show-convention-2024-tickets-859750596177

Winter Meeting (Zoom)
2024-10-03 19:30 - 21:00 | Zoom
Join us online for a talk by Master Beekeeper Margaret Murdin who will be talking about prepping your bees for winter. Joining details can be found in the members area of the website.

Alresford Show
2024-09-07
If you are able to volunteer at this show at our stand please get in touch.

Seasonal Skill Saturday: Winter Preperations
2024-08-24 11:00 - 13:30 | MVBKA Apiary
Join us at our training apiary for a session covering all things overwintering. We will talk about what colonies require to successfully overwinter, methods to prepare a colony for the best survival chances, and also cover certain manipulations to set up a hive correctly. After a bit of discussion and dry run-throughs, you will go into the colonies to assess them for overwintering suitability before deciding what needs to be done with each of these. Specific things to be covered include:

Feeding
Uniting
Disease inspections
Varroa control
Pests such as wasps and mice

Apiary Day
2024-08-08 10:00 - 15:00, 2024-07-11 10:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-09 10:00 - 15:00 | MVBKA Apiary
Join us for a day at the apiary. These comprise of a morning of maintenance, a social lunch, and then hive inspections in the afternoon. You can come for the entire day (10am-3pm) or choose just one of these parts to join us for. All members are welcome and we really appreciate the time you can spare to help out at the association. These sessions are also great to meet other members.

Honey Bee Health Assessment Weekend
2024-07-20 10:00 - 2024-07-21 16:00 | MVBKA Apiary

Bentworth Fete
2024-07-06

SSS Day: Chemical Free Varroa treatment
2024-06-29 11:00 - 14:00 | MVBKA Apiary
Chemical resistance is an important point to remember when treating for varroa, but often forgotten is the plethora of ways to treat varroa without the need for chemicals. Come along to this training session for members and learn about biotechnical control methods for varroa control. Bring your bee suit as we will be inspecting colonies afterwards.

Honey Bee Health Refresher
2024-06-25 19:00 - 21:00, 2024-06-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
Come along to this theoretical refresher session for the Honey Bee Health Assessment. You do not need to be planning to take the assessment to join in, continual learning is always welcome. There will be tea/cake/coffee to power you through this evening session.

Medstead Fete
2024-06-23

Basic Assessment: Day 1
2024-06-16 10:00 - 17:00 | MVBKA Apiary

Apiary Day
2024-06-13 10:00 - 15:00 | MVBKA Apiary
Join us for a day at the apiary. These comprise of a morning of maintenance, a social lunch, and then hive inspections in the afternoon. You can come for the entire day (10am-3pm) or choose just one of these parts to join us for. All members are welcome and we really appreciate the time you can spare to help out at the association. These sessions are also great to meet other members.

Note: we may not be inspecting hives to avoid them being disturbed before the Basic Assessment the coming weekend.

Basic Refresher Session
2024-06-08 10:00 - 13:00 | MVBKA Apiary
Come along to this practical refresher session for the Basic Assessment. You do not need to be planning to take the basic assessment to join in, continual learning is always welcome. There will be tea/cake/coffee to power you through this morning session.

Bishop's Waltham Show
2024-06-08

Basic Assessment Refresher
2024-06-03 19:00 - 21:00, 2024-05-20 19:00 - 21:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
Come along to this theoretical refresher session for the Basic Assessment. You do not need to be planning to take the basic assessment to join in, continual learning is always welcome. There will be tea/cake/coffee to power you through this evening session.

Seasonal Skill Saturday: Queen Rearing
2024-06-02 11:00 - 13:30 | MVBKA Apiary
Come and learn the basics of queen rearing with an introduction to theory, resources and a practical session to give you the tools you need to start exploring this important and rewarding element of beekeeping

Droxford Village Fete
2024-06-01 10:00 - 17:00
If you can lend a hand at the apiary stand during the day, or can just spare 1/2 hours we would really appreciate this.

Swarming Session
2024-05-26 10:00 - 15:00 | MVBKA Apiary
As the swarming season starts, it is best to know how to prepare for any situation. This training event will be run by a master beekeeper and will have two demonstrations in the morning, followed by two more after lunch. These include the Artifical Swarm with Hebden variation, the Demareee method, the snelgrove board and the nucleus method. Bring your own lunch but we will supply tea/coffee/cake.

MVBKA Auction
2024-05-04 | Greatham Village Hall, Petersfield Road, Greatham, Hampshire, GU33 6EY., United Kingdom
View the catalogue of lots here

Bee Health Day
2024-04-27 10:00 - 14:00 | Warnford Village Hall, Lippen Lane, Warnford, Hampshire, SO32 3LB, United Kingdom
We will have microscopes for you to come and test your bees for nosema, as well as demonstrations by Master Beekeepers. This is a great day to check your colony for diseases. The event is from 10 am – 2 pm so come along whenever you feel like and spend as little or as long dissecting bees and checking for Nosema. If you don’t currently have bees and want to learn more do still come along, there will be enough samples to go around. Refreshments will be provided.

Whilst this is a drop-in style event, we will organize two times when demonstrations are made for those of you who have never done this before. These will be at 10:30 and 12:30.
