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Put
in your varroa strips if they are not in already, but not until all honey supers
are off. Prepare
to settle the hives for winter. Think about feeding at the end of the month. Don’t start feeding too soon or the queen will start laying again. The long range weather forecast is indicating an Indian summer so there should be plenty of nectar coming in to fill the brood boxes for the winter Recently passing through Llansoy, we came upon one of the latest, brand
new, four wheel drive tractors, with all four wheels as tall as our car. Four
wheel drive is easily identifiable as the front wheels are a similar size to the
rear wheels. Incidentally an interesting engineering problem to get the drive
through wheels that steer with the sort of power to make a four wheel drive
sensible. But it makes one think of the enormous changes, a
fundamental revolution in fact, that have occurred since my father put me on the
saddle of a cart horse, with its grooved slot to hold the chain supporting the
shafts of the cart. The pair of horses were called Captain & Tiger if my
memory of over 60 years serves me right. The changes fall right across the agricultural area, in
those balmy days, before any subsidies, 50 acres supported 2 families, now we
are told that the minimum viable unit is 2,000 acres, though these are now
reclassified in hectares. Much more specialisation too, with the old mixed
farming with a few sheep, a few milking cows, and the odd field of potatoes and
cereals gone forever. Even then there was quite a lot of stock movement, father
used to buy his sheep from the Cheviots, but what the means of transport was I
cannot remember. A strong case can be made out that many of the troubles in farming today
arise from the subsidies that were first paid in the 1939 war to solve the
depredations of the U boats. Since then there has never been a fundamental
review of these policies to see if they were still in the interest of the
farming industry and the country as a whole. These policies have encouraged
production that will compete with imported food by means of specialisation and
industrialisation with the resulting reduction in labour force, increase in unit
size and the use of large amounts of fertiliser and pesticide. Are the problems facing the farming industry really
different from those that have been faced by the "old" industries such
as coal, iron & steel, shipbuilding and textiles to mention a few. Whilst
there have been subsidies of various sorts, such as orders for three frigates,
in these industries, in the end hard and brutal economics have won, whatever the
colour of the government. Significant capital assets have been wasted and many
workers have had to find new jobs, and on the whole have found them due to full
employment. Is farming really any different? Rural Jobs are harder to find. New Zealand has solved the problem, scrapped the
subsidies, the rest of the public could not afford it, there has been some rationalisation, a proper marketing
system set up(? Anchor butter), and productivity and quality have improved. But what of the future and how will it affect the beekeeper? There will
have to be a complete rethink on the subsidies, both internal to the UK and the
Common Agricultural Policy, the taxpayer will demand it! Food prices will
probably rise especially for quality products with a strong marketing image,
something the farming industry in the UK has singularly failed to produce. Is
the same true for bee products? I can not see the very small units, perhaps less than 30 acres,
disappearing, often working as a second occupation where the interest is perhaps
more important than the profit, though it is difficult to see how they will cope
with the increasing regulation. These should be good for our bees. The bigger units may have areas where their machines cannot cope, or
areas where they just cannot be bothered to operate due to adverse conditions,
perhaps allowing beekeepers to use these areas. It seems probable that some hill
land will cease to be farmed in the sense that we know it, perhaps reverting to
some form of scrubland, or perhaps being taken over by bracken, the latter not a
lot of use for bees. One interesting point however is that there has been little
change in the cost of agricultural land. However pollination will still be
required, perhaps one of the biggest guns in our armoury. What is dear is that the farming industry is changing and will continue
to change, perhaps at an even faster rate, and the beekeeper must be prepared to
adapt his methods to suit. Dick Sadler, 18/8/01 Apiary
Bees for Sale Eric says there are two 6-frame nucs ‘surplus to requirements’. He would like to sell them for £45 each, that is the frames and bees but not the nuc boxes If you are interested please phone him. 01633 412617.
Comment I have been pondering
the subject of aggressive bees. It seems to me that at this time of year one
would expect, indeed hope for, the bees to be defensive about their crop which
they have collected in order to survive the dearth months ahead. Even my most
sweet tempered colonies have always made me feel uncomfortable when I am
removing the supers and I have thought enviously about those people who don’t
have this problem. But am I wrong in my assumption that some bees are tolerant
of even this invasion? There are other robbers apart from beekeepers, I think
all of us have suffered from robbing by wasps at one time or other and they can
be very persistent and they can be present in very large numbers and will
totally destroy a weak colony. So I
suggest that we should accept some defensive behaviour from our bees at this
time of year for the sake of our own honey harvest.
If you haven’t very much honey don’t blame your bees, I haven’t
heard from anyone yet who has had a decent crop this year. A beekeeper in Powys
was overheard bewailing the fact that lots of people had left beekeeping in his
vicinity. He thinks that therefore varroa is going to die out. Silver linings. ?
Corrections I have been told off severely because of an error I committed last month. There is no such thing as MAFF anymore. There is now a department of the environment, food and rural affairs, known as DEFRA. This is what is now in charge of our bees officers etc. The trip to Buckfast Abbey was a real treat. Our thanks to David who worked so hard and persistently getting the appointment and ’persuading’ us all that we wanted to go. The bees were docile, the apiary was perfect, the monk was very hot (due to his habits says rattus) and the ambience oozed tranquillity. I think everyone enjoyed the day, we must go on trips more often. We are told that Welsh Beekeepers are very concined at the rampant growth of this plant in Wales. As you know if the nectar from this plant finds its way into our honey it can ruin it with its dreadfull taste, it can in fact be deadly to horses and cattle. If you see it destroy it, now before it seeds. (Bridget)
The coach arrived at 11.50am and the entertainment started at once when a car in the carpark mysteriously rolled down hill into another car. Time allowed us to eat at the restaurant or sit in the grounds with our picnics. Followed by a walk around the abbey and restful gardens. We gathered along with Wadebridge Beekeepers to be met by Brother Daniel Smyth and Peter Donovan who took us a short distance to the apiary consisting of forty Langstroth hives newly painted orange and white. (I have already collected my Dulux paint chart and settled on sunshine yellow and lagoon blue for next season’s colours). The hives were set out in groups of four.
A trip to the queen-rearing hut followed where Brother Daniel Smyth gave a brief outline of their rearing programme and a short history lesson on the development of the Buckfast strain by Brother Adam. This was followed by a visit to the extracting room and honey
storage tanks. The tour lasted two hours and left time to visit the monastic produce shop. Interesting to note that no Buckfast honey was for sale, this was explained by several poor seasons. Before departing donations to Buckfast beekeeping department raised £40.00. This was sent with a letter of our sincere thanks. I thought the trip was so good that I have already started planning GBKA’s next excursion to a brewery that keeps its own bees in order to use the honey in its beer. If you’re interested let me know or if you have any other ideas please shout. David. Photos by Ken Key
There seem to have been a great many bees absconding this year. This is different to swarming as they leave the hive empty and any brood or stores if present are quickly removed by robbers so there is absolutely nothing left except polished cells. This does not indicate ‘bad’ beekeeping. It could be due to a number of things. In fact it would be very useful to know the extent of this occurrence to try to determine any particular reason why it has happened. If you have suffered this phenomenon please would you phone John and tell him. 01495 311007 *************************** to the Chirnsides who had the best heather honey at Shrewsbury Show Beginners
Course continued
(open to any of our members who would like to go) A follow-on course of three sessions at Usk Education Centre covering: 1. Q.&.A. Harvest, seeding honey. 2. Making nucs, basic Queen rearing.
3. Swarm control, Is my
Queen O.K. Cost £5 bring a cup for tea or coffee Dates To be confirmed probably at the September meeting November 26/27, December 3/4 , 10/11, are the most likely. Any queries please ring John Holden 01495 311007 p.s. Pam will be coming
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