Taunton & District Beekeepers Newsletter reported that their Bee Inspector had provided the following figures for the KNOWN import of queens to this country in 2009.

From Europe
Greece 2085
Cyprus 778
Slovenia 2034
Italy 375
Austria 8
Poland 128
Denmark 44
Germany 113
Total 5565

From the Rest of World
Australia 30
Hawaii 4182
New Zealand 740
Total 5222

This produces a grand total of 10,787

The editor commented: I find this figure quite staggering when we are warned of the possibility of exotic species coming into the UK.
(Item courtesy eBees)

4.      New Farming Protocol Includes Beehives

Bird populations will enjoy a 33% boost in food supplies on some British farms next winter following a revision of Conservation Grade’s farming protocol, which enhances a range of animal and plant life by turning 10% of viable farming area into wildlife habitats. The protocol, which is the only one in the UK specifically designed to increase critical biodiverse species while focusing on efficient crop production in the other 90% of the land, is increasing the areas required to be sown with wild bird seed mixes such as cereals, quinoa, sunflower and millet, from 1.5% to 2%. It is also newly supporting the introduction of beehives on all its farms as a ’desirable option’, to go with the existing requirement for owl and bat boxes.

The wild bird mixes produce seed during the winter to provide food for birds such as the yellowhammer, linnet and corn bunting. Brin Hughes, agri-environment advisor with Conservation Grade, explained that "The new recommendation to include beehives is simply providing further opportunities for bees to utilise the food supplies from the wild flower and legume habitats required by the protocol."

From Nottingham BKA April 2010 Courtesy eBEES

5.     The Bailey Comb Change - replacing old brood comb

We are advised that old brood combs should be changed regularly as they become damaged, contain excessive amounts of drone comb, but mainly because they may contain the causative organisms of bee diseases, especially foul brood and Nosema. No brood comb should be used for more than 3 years and used comb should be rendered or burnt. Ideally these frames should be replaced with drawn comb but, if foundation is used, the bees will need to be fed with syrup in the absence of a nectar flow at this time of year. However, it seems more sensible to me to do a complete change so that all (possibly) diseased, deformed and grotty frames are changed at the same time. This can be achieved by doing a shook swarm, but this seems unnecessarily disruptive in the absence of proven European Foul Brood. An alternative is the Bailey Comb Exchange.

How to do it? There is an account in February BBKA News p 4, but it is unnecessarily complicated. Here is a simpler version which works. It can be performed between March and June, but the earlier the better. Prepare a clean brood chamber filled with frames of foundation, using narrow spacing, and place it over the existing brood chamber. Unless there is a strong nectar flow on, feed with thick syrup (1kg of white sugar to half litre water). When the bees have drawn some of the foundation, find the queen and place her on this comb, putting a queen excluder between the old and new brood chambers, thus trapping the queen in the top new one. Keep feeding, so that the bees continue to draw the foundation. After three weeks, when all the brood in the old brood chamber will have emerged, the old chamber is removed and the new one is placed on the floor with the queen excluder above ready for supering The old comb should be rendered or burnt.

NB Foundation should be fresh as, when old it becomes brittle and the bees are reluctant to draw it out, preferring to chew holes in it! Old foundation can be restored in part by warming, in the airing cupboard for instance, which releases the oils.

Combs at the ends of the brood box tend not to be well drawn especially on the outer face, as the bees cannot cluster there to make wax. Turn it around and/or move it nearer to the brood nest.

Anne McQuade: (An Hes [West Cornwall Newsletter] March 2010; Courtesy eBEES)

6.     "Explosive" Honey

Authorities shut down a California airport on Tuesday after a suspicious amber liquid in a passenger's bag tested positive for explosives -- only to ultimately determine that the substance was honey. Francisco Ramirez, a 31-year-old gardener who had been visiting family in the central California city of Bakersfield, was allowed to return home to Milwaukee. "The substances in the bottles did turn out to be honey. They tested negative for all explosives and narcotics. It is nothing but honey," FBI spokesman Steve Dupre told Reuters. The security scare came as jitters gripped the U.S. travel industry in the aftermath of an unsuccessful Christmas Day attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound commercial flight.

Meadows Field Airport in Bakersfield, about 100 miles north of Los Angeles, was shut down and evacuated for hours and flights diverted after the incident, which began when Ramirez' bag set off an alarm in a luggage screening machine. U.S. Transportation and Security administration screeners turned up five Gatorade bottles full of what they called a "suspicious-looking liquid." Swabs of the bag and bottles tested positive for the explosives TNT and TATP. When the bottles were opened, two of the screeners smelled a strong chemical odour, complained of nausea and were rushed to a local hospital, where they were treated and released, Kern County Sheriff's spokesman Michael Whorf said. Kern County Sheriffs’ deputies, fire crews, FBI agents and members of a "joint terrorism task force" responded to the scene and spent the day questioning Ramirez before further tests showed that the liquid was honey.

After the all clear was given, officials said they were trying to determine why the honey tested positive for explosives and made the screeners so ill that they would need medical attention. "There are some questions I think are going to have to be followed up on," Dupre said.

From Nottingham BKA April 2010 (Courtesy eBEES)

7.      TED HOOPER MBE NDB. (1918 – 2010)

A message from Geoff Mills, Hon. Life Member, Essex BKA

It is with great sadness that I have to inform you that Ted passed away in hospital last Friday. Ted was born in Devon over 90 years ago and spent most of his lifetime working with bees and instructing others in the art of beekeeping. He was the County Beekeeping Instructor for Essex for over twenty years, was Chairman of the National Diploma in Beekeeping and Chairman of the BBKA Examination board for many years. In 1976 his book “A Guide to Bees and Honey” was published and it became the “Bible” of many beekeepers throughout Britain and the world. It has been translated into over twelve languages and has sold over 100,000 copies worldwide.

Ted will be sorely missed and our condolences and good wishes go to his wife Joy and their family.

8.      News Items