4. Spring Is Sprung; The Grass Is Ris....

Robin Hall. (Regional Bee Inspector: Western Region)

Is spring really here? Looking out of my window I think I have to admit that it is. We have had at least three weeks of exceptional weather with warm sunny days and cool to cold nights. Daytime temperatures have risen to the high teens but at night plummeting to as low as minus three. What of the bees. With all the warm weather hives have really sprung into life, even to the extent that I have heard of swarms already, the first one about two weeks ago. Have you placed supers on your hives? Have you examined the brood? Have you changed the floorboards? Or even thought of putting the frames into a clean brood box either to repair any damage to the existing box or just to clean the 'old' box?

I have seen hives with 6,7 and even eight frames of brood, which must be a good start to the season. Now is a good time to find and mark the queen, so have all the kit ready to do this operation when you look in the brood chamber for the first time. Look at the brood carefully. Do you see 'dinner plates' of healthy brood? What is the general pattern like? If you see any perforated cells, investigate these. It may be that the bees haven't finished capping that cell, it could be you see a chalk brood 'mummy' in the cell, it could be AFB particularly if the cell appears dark and sunken and the perforation is irregular around the edges. The same symptoms could be EFB although most usually EFB is a disease of the open cell. In the last two examples you must call us, even if it turns out to be a false- alarm. Our first cases of EFB have already been found in Warwickshire.

Are you prepared for swarms? Do you have a preferred method of dealing with Queen cells when you see them? Don't cut cells out without first looking to see that there are eggs otherwise you might find yourself (eventually) with a queenless hive. It would be better to get the bees to work for you using a swarm control method instead of you chasing swarms around the countryside. Have you got enough equipment to deal with any swarms or increases you may make? With the Stoneleigh Convention only two weeks away this is an excellent time to stock up. If one of your hives does swarm, remember Corporal Jones in Dads Army - don't panic!

Happy beekeeping

5. Queen Rearing For The Beekeeper Who Has Difficulty In Finding The Queen

By Gordon Hartshorn

It is often difficult for new beekeepers to find the queen and consequently they fail to develop the habit of raising new queens. The system described below overcomes this problem by using an easily prepared board that was developed in the 1950s by a Yorkshire beekeeper named Wilson. The Wilson Board (see Fig. 1) is a sheet of exterior plywood, the same dimensions as the brood box, i.e. National 18 1/8 in. x 18 1/8 in. into which a hole is cut to allow warmth and colony odour to pass between the boxes, but without allowing the bees tongue to tongue contact. To achieve this both sides of the hole are covered with perforated zinc or wire gauze with at least eight wires to the inch (1/8in. gaps). A small entrance of about ¾in. - 1in. maximum is made in one of the sides. (I would use at least 7/8in square timber for the Framing as this allows for some of the comb that is always built along the bottom bars of the frame.) A normal crown board can easily be adapted for the purpose by cutting the entrance on one side and covering both feed holes with the mesh - remember on both sides.



Using the Board
In the spring, when drones are present, take from the Brood Box ('A') the following, having first shaken or brushed all the bees back into the brood box:-

• 2 frames of eggs and unsealed brood
• 2 frames of sealed brood
• 2 frames of food and pollen.

The removed frames are placed into an empty brood box ('B') and the spare spaces filled, preferably with drawn comb but if necessary with frames of foundation. Similarly, replace frames removed from Brood Box 'A' with drawn comb, or alternatively frames of foundation. Place the queen excluder on top of Brood Box 'A' and onto this place Brood Box 'B', and leave for two hours (Fig. 2). During this time the nurse bees from the lower box will pass through the queen excluder to continue to nurture the developing brood in the box above.







After two hours reverse the positions, that is Brood Box 'B' is placed on the floor and 'A' above, but this time with the Wilson Board between them, - the entrance facing the opposite direction to the normal floor (Fig. 3). The flying bees from Brood Box 'A' leave from the entrance of the Wilson Board and return to the original entrance below, now a queenless colony. This brood box will soon contain bees of all ages, the young to prepare and develop a young larva into a new queen and the older flying bees to continue to forage for the colony. Leave For 10 Days















After 10 days, again reverse the boxes, adding, over a queen excluder, a super if required to Brood Box 'A', then the Wilson Board and Brood Box 'B'. This time the flying bees will leave Brood Box 'B' to return to Brood Box 'A'. There will be a sealed queen cell in Brood Box 'B', from which the new queen will emerge and mate (Fig. 4). After another 15 days Brood Box 'B' can be examined and a mated and laying queen should be present. For the beginner, examination of this box should be easy as the majority of the older flying bees should be back in Brood Box 'A'

 

6. What Kind Of Gloves Should I Use?

From Steve Watkins

Do not be afraid to use what you feel comfortable in. At the beginning you will not want to get stung because that could make your beekeeping an unpleasant pastime. If you are not confident in your protection you are likely to turn into a twitching wreck and not inspect your bees efficiently. I have tried several types of glove and here follows a brief outline on the pros and cons of two kinds.

Leather Bee Farmers Gauntlets: These are the ultimate in protection - you will very rarely get stung through these and if by chance, you do, it will be a very shallow sting as the gloves thickness takes most of the sting.

Pros: Virtually sting-proof so instil confidence; You don't burn your hand on your smoker due to the thickness.

Cons: Thickness can be awkward and offers less sensitivity and so may cause unnecessary roughness in handling; Propolis is difficult to clean off and if you get the gloves wet, they can become very stiff and also apt to shrink; If you sweat a lot, the wrists can get quite wet in the summer and the bees take exception to this and you may find the wrist area of your gloves covered in stings and so lost bees. If they are not stored in a dry place through the winter, they can go mouldy. They are not easy to clean and so can be a vehicle for spreading disease. They are quite expensive
Marigold Gloves:These offer some protection but you can get them in many different thicknesses. You may also wear a pair of thin cotton gloves inside. You can get these from sports stores (wicket keepers glove inners). Some have a cotton line inside the glove, which gives extra comfort and a bit more protection.

Pros: Any aroma produced by sweat is kept inside the glove and so reduces the number of stings; Keeps sensitivity so you can feel what you are doing and avoid bumps and knocks to the hive; They are easily cleaned with a solution of water and soda crystals; They are cheap and so can be disposed of; Much more hygienic than leather; There is a broad range to choose from.

Cons: If you are not careful you may get bees going down the sleeve of the glove and stinging you on the wrist which I find particularly painful; The concern of getting stung can be a distraction; They do rot in time; They may get trapped between frames and can tear quite easily in time; Hands can become uncomfortable after time with sweat.
Of course, you may prefer no gloves at all. I only do this with very docile nucs. There is something quite special about handling bees with your bare hands but this needs to be practised in the light of much common sense. I have tried it with a full hive and found it a less than enjoyable experience. I have no great desire to keep bees gloveless but maybe beekeeping without gloves ought to be an eventual goal of us all - not for the bravado of it but maybe we would aim for keeping better-behaved bees. For me, I know that this is still a long way off!

 

7. Postscript

If you have had problems with woodpeckers this winter, spare a thought for the Beekeeper in the USA who recently sent the following plea for help to an Internet Newsgroup:

"I live in what is almost a suburban area in west central Connecticut. So even though I heard reports of bears around my area, I scoffed at them being a threat to me. But all that changed when late October, two of my three hives were tossed around the yard. Claw marks were found in the comb and a couple of frames were missing. At that time, I was relieved to see that both queens survived. Forward to this week. I had thought that the bear attack was a one time deal but twice this week, my weakest hives have been turned over and ransacked. I'm curious of what my options are to prevent such activity."

 

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