Newsletter : December 2005
Newsletter : December 2005
1. Editors' Notes
Many of you will know that Robin Hall, our Regional Bee Inspector, has been off work throughout this year through ill health. He has now decided to take early retirement. Below is part of a letter he has written to the Association: 2. Next Meeting
At the next meeting on December 14th (7.30p.m.), Chris Angel will give a talk, "Forever Wild Seeds" on a new method of growing wild flowers in the garden using 'encapsulated' wild flower seeds in order to attract wild life such as birds, insects and butterflies etc. They are easy to grow, provide a wonderful display throughout the summer and are obviously beneficial to our bees. The talk will cover how to use, when to plant, where to plant, types available etc. Chris's company has just won an international award in San Francisco, U.S.A. 3. November Meeting Report
The November meeting featured a talk by Jim Crundwell on the topic of "Bee boles, shelters and houses". Drawing on much original material that he has collected over the years he took us through the development of simple boles, designed to protect fragile skeps from the weather, through to more and more elaborate and decorative shelters culminating in grand designs for multiple occupancy, like the bee house at Attingham Park (typically advertised as 'Rustic Adornments for Houses of Taste')! He then went on to discuss the modern equivalent of bee 'sheds', some of which might be mobile so as to allow migratory beekeeping. One example he mentioned was situated on a barge, making it possible to move from one forage area to another with minimal difficulty. In the discussion that followed many other issues were covered, for example how skep-beekeepers drove out the sitting bees so that the honeycombs could be recovered, and how painting the fronts of individual hives in a collective house helps bees to navigate home more efficiently. Members were also interested to see some of Jim's collection of artefacts - especially 'drawn' aluminium brood frames!clean on my colonies for fear of getting them chilled.
4. January 2006 Meeting : Advance Notice
The January meeting will take the form of a 'Mini Honey Show' and will be an ideal opportunity for all members who have thought about entering the main show in August but never quite had the courage to do it. Everyone is invited to bring samples of honey, and wax which will be judged and commented on by Gordon Hartshorn who is a well-known and respected Honey Judge and one of our members. This is an ideal opportunity to see your honey judged sympathetically so that we can all learn the finer points of preparation for showing and find out what judges looking for. It is hoped that this will help to increase the number of entries in our Show at The Flower Show next August.The 'classes' are given below: 5. Report of Integrated Pest Management Training Day at Ruthin
The day began with a survey by Mike Brown (Head of the National Bee Unit) of the spread of varroa over the last 100 years (yes, really!) and the expected (and inevitable) trend of appearance of the resistant version. Richard Ball (RBI for the South Western Region) then spoke about how resistant varroa was first found in Cornwall (probably caused by abuse of pyrethroid impregnated strips) and what beekeepers there have been doing to cope since. He suggested that there ought to be a beekeeping 'ethic' to ensure the continuing health of beekeeping, built around the following points:
6. Round and About
Ludlow & District BKA:Thursday 19th January 2006: Brains Trust, Bishop Mascall Centre, 7.30 p.m. 7. Secret Of Bees' Flight Revealed
Most flying insects flap their wings using long, sweeping strokes, but honeybees take a less efficient approach. Even though it is a less stable way to fly, honeybees flap their wings more furiously and with a shorter stroke than other insects, producing just enough force to lift their bodies. The scientists believe bees developed the unusual style to cope with the varying demands they face during flight. When foraging for nectar, they are at their lightest, but when laden with pollen, or carrying larvae, they can weigh twice as much. By switching from rapid, short wingbeats to longer beats, bees can vary their lifting power considerably. 8. Subscriptions Reminder
Members are reminded that annual subscriptions were due on the 1st. October last. If you have not yet renewed for the current year, please do so as soon as possible. Further details here.
"I am always pleased to receive the Shropshire Beekeepers newsletter with all the news and views of the Association and the latest edition arrived with me a few weeks ago. As you will know I have been off work through illness since the beginning of December 2004 ...(so)... have sought to apply for early retirement on medical grounds. This has now just been granted so I am now able to hang up my inspectors' smoker.
This does evoke a certain amount of sadness as I have enjoyed meeting your members at various functions and inspecting their bees whilst on more official business. I am full of admiration at the way your Association has grown over the years and attracted so many new members, a real credit to all those involved in this. The honey stall that the Association has staged at the Flower Show have always attracted a lot of attention from the general public which is a credit again to all those involved. As you know Dave Sutton has been deputising for me this last summer. I don't know what will happen next year but I am sure Dave will keep you updated on this.
So with sadness, I bid farewell to all. I wish the Association all success in its many activities and hope it will continue to expand and encourage many others to engage in the ancient craft of beekeeping. I am sure that I will meet members at the Flower Show in the future."
The talk will be followed by the usual festive refreshments. Feel free to bring along a contribution!!!!!
Basic rule :- Do not label jars - numbered labels will be provided just prior to judging. We have kept the rules and regulations simple so that everyone will enter!! There will be prizes for exhibits!!!
John Verran (RBI for Wales) then demonstrated the Beltsville test for screening for resistant mites. The main part of the day was taken up with four workshops devoted to aspects of IPM.
Open Mesh floors are now widely used and serve both to monitor mite drop by inspection of a tray slid under the floor and to reduce the population by removing the tray which means that the mites then drop right out of the hive. Wally Shaw (a member of the CSU's Bee Health Advisory Panel) showed us a number of different designs for these floors. He talked us through the advantages/disadvantages of the various kinds and also provided a design sheet for anyone who wanted to have a go at building her/his own. There was considerable discussion about how much of a 'drop' was needed to prevent the mites from climbing back into the hive. The definitive answer is about 3 inches (75mm), so hives need to be at least that far above ground. If you keep your hives on stands anyway then there is no problem.
Drone Brood Removal relies on the fact that varroa has a preference for drone cells. There are two methods of capitalising on this. One is to fit a brood frame with drone foundation and place it next to the brood nest. Once it has been drawn out, laid up and the cells sealed the frame can be removed, the comb cut out and the contents put out for the birds. The frame can then be re-used in the same way. The alternative approach is to replace a normal brood frame with a shallow one. If this is already drawn (with worker comb) it can be placed in the centre of the existing brood nest. If it is undrawn it should be placed next to the nest. The bees will build drone comb onto the bottom of the frame until it is the same depth of a full-sized one. Once sealed, this 'extra' comb can be cut off and discarded. It was suggested that about three frames-worth of drone brood should be removed in this way during the breeding season. It is essential to remove the sealed drone brood before it begins to hatch - otherwise you have created an excellent incubator for varroa! It is recognised that this method reduces the pool of drones for queen mating but the bees seem to cope with it.
The 'shook swarm' technique was demonstrated by Geoff Critchley (beekeeping tutor at Lysfasi College). It has recently been in the news as the preferred treatment for foulbrood but it is equally effective for reducing varroa infestation. It is preferable to catch and remove the queen before starting this operation. She should be confined in a travelling cage until everything is finished. The colony to be treated is then moved a few feet away from its original site and a new brood box, half full of frames, is put in its place. Each frame of bees from the original brood box is now shaken, in turn, into the gap between the new frames. Once all the bees have been shaken down into the new box, further frames of new foundation are carefully added until the brood chamber is complete. The queen, still in her cage, is lodged between two of the frames, and a crown board and feeder with syrup is placed on top. Having nothing else to do, and an easy supply of food, the workers will very rapidly draw out the new frames. After 3-4 days the queen can be released when she will immediately start laying. Most of the varroa will have been left behind on the old frames, which should be destroyed. Any supers that may have been on the original colony can be given to other colonies in the apiary. N.B. if you cannot find your queen it is still possible to perform this manipulation. A queen excluder is first placed on the floor of the 'new' hive before the brood chamber is set up. The queen will be shaken into the box along with all the other bees. However, since she cannot fly out the colony will not abscond. Obviously there is more of a risk of the queen being damaged/lost in this method, but with care, that is unlikely to happen. The breeding cycle is inevitably set back by the use of this technique but experience suggests that this is very quickly overcome and the colony reinvigorated.
The most labour intensive technique is Queen caging. Pam Gregory (past RBI for Wales) showed us how it is done. The queen is found and confined on a freshly drawn comb inside a special 'cage' (ฃ18 from Thorne's). When fully laid up and sealed (about 9 days) the whole comb is removed and destroyed (along with the mites that have invaded the cells). This whole process has to be done at least three times in succession throughout June to be sure of removing most of the breeding mites. Although it also means a significant loss of young bees, the workers that remain can get on with foraging since they do not have nursing duties to perform. The stock apparently quickly recovers once the queen is released back into the full brood box. The method is about 95% efficient in terms of varroa removal.
The day concluded with a question/answer session. Much of this focused on chemical methods of control. Max Watkins spoke about Apiguard, which is thymol based and therefore not impeded by pyrethroid resistance. Reference was also made to what Richard Ball referred to as 'curative substances', which include essential oils, formic acid, lactic acid and oxalic acid. Of these, oxalic acid is known to be very effective in killing varroa mites when used in the right way at the right time of year i.e. in the winter when there is no brood. (Members can read a description of how this can be done in last April's edition of this Newsletter). However it was stressed that since no official approval has been given for the use of any of these chemicals in the hive then they are, strictly speaking, illegal.
Finally it was stressed that, whatever method of control beekeepers use to control varroa, there is a price to be paid in terms of interference with natural colony development- but the price of not controlling it is much higher.
Stafford Bee Group:Thursday January 12th 2006: Mary Croxton's talk about Wax Production, part 2. at 7.45 p.m. in the County Staff Club, Eastgate Street, Stafford
The scientists unravelled the bees' flying tactics by diverting them into a clear plastic box fitted with three high-speed video cameras which took 3D snapshots of the hovering insects 6,000 times a second. They found that a honeybee typically flaps its one-centimetre-long wings 240 times a second, each beat covering an arc of only 90 degrees. Other insects flap at no more than 200 times a second, with each stroke beating over a 165-degree arc. Using a scale model winged robot, the scientists measured how the different wingbeats produce lift. Instead of producing a steady, powerful upward thrust, the bees' flying style generates peaks of lift at the beginning, middle and end of each beat.
To test the bees the researchers, led by Michael Dickinson at the California Institute of Technology, pumped a mixture of helium and oxygen into the box, making the air as thin as at 9,200 metres above sea level. The bees responded by opening out their stroke to around 140 degrees, in effect switching their flight behaviour to that used by other insects, they report in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences today.
Ian Sample, science correspondent, The Guardian, November 29, 2005
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