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Keep
on feeding your nucs. If
your bees are near heather clear down onto an empty super so that you don’t
get heather mixed with flower honey. Watch
entrances for signs of robbing. During
dry warm weather make sure there is water around. At
the end of the month think about extracting. When
you take the supers off remember to put varroa strips in if necessary. I
really do not know where our expert editress obtained the vintage(not quite
veteran!) picture on the back of last months issue. However I do remember the
occasion well, firstly how cold it was, and I do not usually notice the cold,
standing in the square at Cwmbran with an exhibition hive talking about bees,
and secondly the polarisation of views on our bees, some people fascinated by
the creatures and eager to learn more, and then others who crossed to the far
side of the square to be as far away as possible. I
think it was agreed at the time that it was a useful exercise held in
conjunction with a honey show, but there was no pressing reason to repeat it.
For some reason that escapes me Gwent seems to have little interest in Honey
Shows. But I believe there is good reason to show what the Association does to
the general public. Graham does stirling work taking our stand to local shows,
but there is a case for hitting the centre of a town where there will be people
who will never go to a show of any sort. I have seen Gill with their sales stand
at the Monmouth Farmers Market and I wondered if that might be the sort of event
where the Association could occasionally take an exhibition hive and general
information about bees and the Association. The
Charity Commissioners have been muttering over the years about some of the
anomalies with "member controlled" organisations, typically GBKA, and
whether they really merited Charity status, a status which is very valuable to
GBKA. I am sure that educational demonstrations such as mentioned above, would
be a powerful argument to retain that status. I do
not understand the economics of the Computer industry. My cheap, less than £100
Epsom printer, was feeding badly, creasing nearly every sheet, so I rang the
Help Line. The next thing I knew a man in a van turned up at 8 am(?), made a
small adjustment and was gone. How can that be justified on that sale value? It has
been suggested to me that one way to assess the efficiency of the tradesmen who
do household repairs is to look in their van. If it is a tip, forget that one,
if it is tidy, but not too tidy he is probably a reasonable workman, if it is
super tidy, beware he may find fault with everything and take impossible times. I
wonder if this applies to beekeepers? As one
who struggled with Latin at school many years ago, I do wonder if the Virgil
that has been mentioned in the last issues, was read in the original or in
translation. One does not necessarily get the finer meaning in translation. Dick Sadler, Apiary Meetings If you can help at the work parties please would you
phone Eric 01633 412617 Lord Raglan is opening his garden to the public at the end of August and it is important that we have everything shipshape for him before that. Further MAFF
Experiments Last month I told you about my experiences when undertaking the ‘Ruth Spinks hygienic bee assay’. I am very pleased to have had some feedback from Peter Hayward, see p 7 . Has anyone else any comments? This month I volunteered my colonies for two further experiments which were conducted by our bees officer for MAFF. These are both epidemiological tests, the results for the country as a whole will eventually be known to us, the individual results being meaningless on their own. One test is trying to find out whether EFB is present all the time, even in apparently unaffected colonies. We chose a colony and John went through the brood very carefully to make sure that there was no sign of disease. Then he took a swab from a sterile container, wiped it round the inside of an empty cell that had been prepared for the queen to lay and reploacd it in its container. He did this four times. The other test was in fact a test of my varroa not my bees.
This is designed to establish the extent of varroa resistance to pyrethroids in
GB. A strongish colony was opened
and the queen was found and put in a nuc box.
A sample of bees (about 300 which actually at this time of year is not
very many) was removed and subjected to a pyrethroid strip. Any varroa falling
off the bees were collected. After 4 hours the bees were drowned and washed to
remove any varroa that had not been killed by the pyrethroid and were still
adhering to the bees. A percentage resistance is worked out and submitted for
the final analysis. 5 of my varroa were killed by the strip, 3 were washed off
afterwards ? resistant.
Bridget Comment It
would be very nice if those of you who are surf
‘the web’ could make a point of signing on to our website and leaving a
comment, favourable or critical, for
either the webmaster or for me, so that we can have an idea of how many people
are actually interested in using the site. It is a very convenient place for me
to place urgent items of news, such as when the apiary tea party was planned at
rather short notice and when the Usk show was cancelled. That
field of clover whose virtues I was extolling last month was cut the day after
for a second crop of silage. These farmers just don’t understand about
flowers. It is flowering again now and if I go and peer
I do indeed see honey bees. It is very noticeable that of all the flowers
around only some attract honey bees. In my garden they are on wild marjoram,
borage and lavender but before these were flowering one would have thought there
were no bees in the vicinity at all. Which
flowers do you find they like best?
Bridget I felt that the emptying of the cells near the edge told us nothing about the hygienic behaviour of my colony - only that they had to do a certain amount of cell wall destruction in order to reattach the comb. In my view, a better measure of the bees’ hygienic behaviour could be obtained by discounting all the peripheral cells and simply looking at what happened to a marked out rectangle of cells in the middle of the piece of comb. On my sample, if I included all the brood cells that were still intact when I had first cut out the piece of comb, by the end of the experiment the bees had emptied or uncapped 33%. However, if I excluded peripheral cells from the counts, they had emptied or uncapped only 8%. That makes my bees nearly as unhygienic as yours! I have written to Ruth Spinks to make these points. If she replies, I will let you know. I have to say I felt the experiment had been poorly thought out in other respects too, and I therefore fear it will not produce any reliable results. You have drawn attention to the failure to mention what you should do about the second side of the comb, but the instructions also failed to say whether or not you should count any cells that may have been partially damaged as a result of the cutting. These could make a big difference to the results. The report form was badly designed too, with two tables to record exactly the same information and no place to record other information that was requested. If CSL want to encourage beekeepers to participate in this sort of experiment, they really need to take a bit more care in preparing the instructions. Peter Value for
money. Until recently I have used creosote to coat my hives. It’s cheap and does not harm the bees. So it was with some surprise that I found that it is not as cheap as I had thought. I compared the prices in B&Q Cwmbran of their creosote to the price of Timbercare by Cuprinol.
Swarm Control
Beekeeeping in the Springtime means pleasure is the Norm The
problems come in summer, when the bees begin to swarm. The bees determination can only be admired
A single brood or double, one and a half I've tried
But at every combination, they've laughed until I've cried!
With years of such experience, the only way I know
Of dealing with this interest is to let the monkeys GO.
Just watch where they have clustered and fetch a cardboard box.
Put on a proper beesuit, and tuck it in your socks.
Your friends will always welcome, an extra swarm or two,
Or maybe a beginner will take the bees off you
One year I chose to keep them and put them in a hive
A second swarm was added in, to help the others thrive.
Perhaps that made them crowded, perhaps a bit too warm,
What happened? Yes, you guessed it, they threw another swarm.
At last I am relaxing, a book upon my knees,
This is a carefree lifestyle: I've given up my bees. From "The Scottish Beekeeper" (My
sister sent me this item. Having kept bees for 20 years, she gave up a few years
ago ... ... .That was until this year when she succumbed again!)
Janet. (I hope no one gets the idea that our secretary has this sort of trouble with her beekeeping—or that she is thinking of giving them up. B.)
THE MIDLAND AND SOUTH WESTERN COUNTIES CONVENTION OF
BEEKEEPERS 1920 - 2001 The Convention Derbyshire, West Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire,
Leicestershire & Rutland, Gwent, Northamptonshire, South Staffordshire 8
District, Swansea 8 District and Worcestershire Beekeepers' Associations host
these annual weekend conventions in rotation. The convention, which
Northamptonshire BKA hosts this year, will be held at KNUSTON HALL, IRCHESTER, WELLINGBOROUGH Knuston Hall is an elegant 17th century manor house set in 40 acres of
quiet pleasantly landscaped grounds in central Northamptonshire. Its excellent
facilities include ensuite single, double and twin bedrooms ‑ six on the
ground floor with one designed for wheelchair access. Enjoy a friendly and
relaxing weekend break in the convivial company of fellow beekeepers. Learn from
speakers of international repute. Swap experiences, ideas and maybe a few tall
stories[ A great opportunity to make new friends and renew old acquaintances. OUR SPEAKERS Michael
MacGiolla Coda, Breeder of the Dark Galtee Queens, IrelandIan McLean NDB,
Regional Bee Inspector, Northern Region Adrian
Waning NDB, former General Secretary, British Beekeepers' Association.David
Kemp, Regional Bee Inspector, North East Region. Martin
Buckle, Secretary, Buckinghamshire Beekeepers' Association. Claire Waning,
Editor, "Bee Craft". PROGRAMME CONVENTION
THEME ‑ PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING Friday 7 September 2001 15.00‑17.00
Reception and Registration 16.30
Tea 17.15
Welcome and introduction
Northamptonshire BKA Chairman Brian P Dennis 17.30
Lecture: "Beekeeper or Keeper
of Bees?" Speaker: Ian
McLean Chair: Gwent BKA 19.00
Dinner 20.15
Lecture: "Buzzing Around
Nepal" Speaker: Claire Waning
Chair: Derbyshire BKA
Bar open Saturday 8 September Following judging in the morning, the Honey Show entries will be on display. 8.15
Breakfast 09.30
Lecture: "Better Bees by
Design" Speaker: Michael
MacGiolla Coda Chair:
Worcestershire BKA 10.30
Coffee 11.00
Lecture: "Things that
Work"
Speaker: Adrian Waring. Chair:
Leicestershire & Rutland BKA 12.45
Lunch 14.00
Apiary demonstration by Adrian Waring and Michael MacGiolla
Coda or visit to a local Honey Packing Station 18.30
Sherry Reception 19.30
Dinner. Guest Speaker: Michael MacGiolla Coda. 20.30
Entertainment
Bar
open Sunday 9 September 8.15
Breakfast 09.30 Lecture:
"Let Them Fly?"
Speaker: David Kemp Chair:
Gloucestershire BKA9.30
10.30
Coffee 11.00
Lecture:
"Modelling with Wax"
Speaker: Martin Buckle Chair:
Herefordshire BKA 12.45
Lunch
14.00
Lecture: "Honey from Hive to
Jar" Speaker: Ian McLean
Chair: South Staffordshire & District BKA 15.00
Close of Convention: Brian P Dennis, Chairman, NBKA 15.15
Tea and depart LEAMINGTON 2001 CENTRAL
ASSOCIATION OF BEE‑KEEPERS WEEKEND CONFERENCE The
Manor House Hotel, Royal Leamington Spa Friday 12th October 4.00 pm onwards Registration 7.00
pm
Dinner 8.30
pm
Dr Stephen Martin, University of Sheffield: Man
made beekeeping problems: is the capensis problem
a good case in point? Saturday 13th October 9.15
am
Dr Ruth Spinks, Central Science Laboratory: European
foulbrood research at the National Bee Unit. 10.30
am
Coffee 11.00
am
Dr Stephen Martin: Collapse of
Varroa infested colonies explained 12.30
pm
Lunch 2.00
pm
Dr Michael Archer, Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society: British
solitary wasps and bees with special
reference to species assemblages. 3.15
pm
Tea 3.45
pm
The Pavord Memorial Lecture
Tim Kidman, Cheshire: Easier
beekeeping 6.30
pm
Sherry reception 7.00
pm
CABK Annual Dinner 9.30
pm
Entertainment by "Divertimento" Sunday 14th October 9.45
am
Prof Malcolm Edmunds, University of Central Lancashire: Mimicry
of honey bees
and bumble bees. 11.00
am
Coffee 11.30
am
Bob Ogden, Devon: In pursuit of
liquid gold. 1.00
pm
Lunch 3.00
pm
Beekeepers Harvest Thanksgiving service at Stoneleigh Parish Church 4.00 pm
Tea with Warwickshire B.K.A. at Stoneleigh Village Hall If anyone is going to either conference
please make notes at the lectures for me as there are some that look very
interesting and I shall be away and unable to attend.
Bridget
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