Shropshire Beekeepers' Association

 

 

Newsletter : March 2009

 

1.      Editor's Notes

Last week we had some very spring-like sunny days. The hum of bees on the nearby hazel catkins was very loud and there were clouds of bees in front of the hives waiting their turn to take their pollen goodies in. By contrast, today as I write, there is a sudden flurry of sleet outside the window. Any bee caught out in this will be in trouble. All of which only goes to underline what a dangerous time of year this is for our colonies. They are becoming more active so food stocks are diminishing quite quickly. On many days, however, they will not be able to get out to make up the deficiency so they are dependant on us to help them. Unless you have bakers’ fondant available, emergency feeding is easiest done by one of the following two methods:

  1. Make an egg sized slit in the side of a 1 kilo bag of sugar and pour into it half a cup of water.

  2. Produce your own candy by the ‘12345’ method; i.e. make a thick syrup of 5 parts of sugar in 1 part hot water (e.g. 5lbs/1 pint). Bring to the boil while stirring regularly, then simmer for 3 minutes (target temperature 234°F). Cool rapidly by standing the pan in cold water - and keep stirring. As soon as the mixture begins to look like a watery condensed milk, pour it into clean margarine tubs or foil freezer containers and leave to cool to room temperature.
Put your prepared food on top of the open hole in the crown board. The bees will find it and take it from there. Be ready to renew the supply if necessary.

Many thanks to members who responded to the request for additional names for our swarm-removal list. I am currently updating the relevant web-page and will then notify our Local Authorities of its existence.

 

2.      Report of the February Meeting

Last month Celia Davis came to urge us to ‘Do Things Better’ - a plea to think through our objectives in keeping bees and then to plan for how that we can accomplish them. The kind of questions we should aim to answer included:

Celia then went on to consider some of the details about how we can keep our colonies healthy (e.g. keeping hives & combs clean, ensuring adequate stores throughout the year, learning to recognise disease and managing varroa). She urged us to avoid stress - both to ourselves (e.g. by having gentle bees) and our colonies (by keeping interference to a minimum) and followed this up by advice about how to improve our stocks through planned queen rearing. Making efforts to mark queens pays big dividends in terms of good colony management. Celia’s final point was that while planning like this is important, implementation is essential.

 

3.      Dave Sutton: Regional Bee Inspector’s Report for 2008 : Part 2

Many beekeepers were trying to obtain bees from any source whatsoever during 2008 and will be doing so again this year. It is important that everyone is vigilant when obtaining bees and second hand equipment. Sterilise all such equipment thoroughly before use. Remember, never buy or reuse any old brood combs. Please give me, or your local Inspector, a call if you need advice on areas that might have a high disease risk. You can also visit our website (http://beebase.csl.gov.uk) where you can find information on the levels of disease in particular areas. Bee Inspectors can also inspect colonies of bees for sale – but they can only confirm for you that the bees are free from any of the notifiable diseases and conditions (at the time of inspection!) – they cannot give an opinion as to the value of any bees or equipment.

During 2008 queen bees were imported into the Western Region from Slovenia, Cyprus, Greece, and Italy, plus 333 queens from Hawaii. My Inspectors carried out import checks on a proportion of these as required by the regulations. Additionally, several hundreds of package bees and nuclei came into our region, principally from Spain (quite legally), a trend that I fully expect to continue and increase – already I am aware of proposals to import packaged bees from Italy, Spain and Sicily and from New Zealand, during 2009.

As in previous seasons Western Bee Inspectors were involved in collecting honey samples on behalf of The Food Standards Agency(FSA) and The Veterinary Medicines Directorate(VMD). 105 individual samples were obtained and each was tested many times for 9 groups of suspect chemicals (and their many derivatives) that should not be present in honey. Unfortunately some traces of paradichlorobenzene (PDB), which used to be used control wax moth in stored comb, were again pinpointed in a sample. PDB is highly volatile and easily soluble in fat and wax. Beeswax can take up this material readily and some of this chemical will later migrate into honey. Please do not use PDB. Residues of PDB in honey are not permitted and are bad news for home produced honey and beekeeping.

The threat of the exotic pests Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida) and the tropilaelaps mite have not gone away. It still regarded as inevitable that they will appear in this country one day. My Inspectors carried out searches in 159 colonies at 52 apiaries in some of those the areas that we have identified as ‘at risk points’ in the vicinity of shipping ports, airfields, fruit importers etc. We also teamed up with colleagues in the South Western Region to undertake another extensive exercise to practice and reinforce our techniques to deal with these contingencies. In 2009, as part of this plan, we are going to try and revive the Disease Liaison Contacts (DLC) initiative. This is principally to involve willing and interested beekeepers in Small Hive Beetle (SHB) Contingency Planning as well as in Disease Recognition – if you are interested, please make yourself known, initially to your local Bee Inspector.

Details of disease incidence, research, and news updates are regularly placed on the NBU website, as are the contact details of your local Bee Inspector. If you register, you can maintain and access your own apiary record. Some Associations have even appointed one of their members to visit these web sites regularly so that they can pass-on any interesting or ‘newsy’ items to their members at meetings or via newsletters. [Any offers?- Ed.] As well as our statutory disease work during 2008, the Western Region team of Inspectors delivered 48 individual lectures and presentations and gave 83 practical apiary demonstrations to Associations and Beekeeper Groups throughout the region. We also arranged and conducted 8 ‘Bee Safaris’ and attended and contributed to debate at 25 sundry liaison meetings with the region’s principal Regional Beekeeping Bodies as well as providing information points and displays at several of the premier County Shows and at local events.

Now back to Varroa, which is still the number one problem for beekeepers and their bees throughout this country and indeed throughout the world. Do please take constant care of your colonies by employing as many of the recognised and proven Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques as possible continually throughout the season in order to keep the numbers of ‘those pesky mites ‘well below an Economic Damage Threshold (EDT) at all times. This level is generally accepted as being below 1000 mites per strong colony – pro rata for smaller units. Among these techniques are such things as open mesh floors, which should be in place all the year round, icing sugar dusting, drone brood culling, etc. all of which need to be undertaken regularly throughout the season.

These need to be coupled with a registered and authorised proprietary treatment, which should be properly applied in a timely manner. Colonies which are trying to cope with heavy mite burdens are under continual stress, and as such they are so much more vulnerable to any virus or disease pathogen which is present, even at sub clinical levels – manage your Varroa and all these other problems will become so much less acute!

Lastly, but most importantly of all, the entire team of Western Inspectors send their very best regards to all individual beekeepers and to your Associations and Branches, for all the co-operation, support and friendship that we receive from you. We in our turn will endeavour to continue to deliver to you all a comprehensive disease inspection and management service aligned with a wide range of educational events and information.
Thank you.
[N.B. A full version of this Inspector's Report is available here.]

 

4.      NBU Record of Winter Colony Losses (Message from the Seasonal Bee Inspector)

This year the NBU would like to try to capture the true situation regarding colony losses more accurately, especially winter and spring Losses. We want to get a more robust dataset and to do so we are requesting your help by asking that beekeepers report any colony losses to us by 'phone or email as soon as possible after they are discovered.

Historically, most of these losses have only been recorded when a Bee Inspector visits your apiary and this may be several months after the losses have occurred. Often accurate details can then no longer be recalled and usually the dead colonies and equipment have been cleaned up at that stage. So, if you are unfortunate enough to have one or more colonies that haven't survived the winter please help us by closing it/them up by blocking the entrances, making the hives bee proof and calling or emailing your local Bee Inspector with the following details:

If you are not not certain a very good diagnosis can often be obtained by describing and discussing the visual evidence and symptoms with your Bee Inspector. Your Inspector may wish to come and look at any colonies that have died in order to obtain first hand information about the situation on the ground, and possibly to obtain samples, as we are also trying to record and separate explainable losses from unexplainable ones. Your Inspector will call you to discuss this and to arrange a mutually convenient time to visit.

Many thanks for your help.
Jo Schup, Seasonal Bee Inspector, Western Region.
Tel: 01948 710941. email: j.schup@csl.gov.uk

 

5.      Next Meeting

Our next meeting is on March 11th when Geoff Critchley RBI will help us to ‘Start the Season Well.’ As usual, the meeting will be at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury and will begin at 7.30 p.m.

 

6.      Threat to Supply of Fumidil B

Fumidil B for the treatment of Nosemosis in bees, was withdrawn from most European countries several years ago. The supply within the UK has been causing concern for some time. On Thursday 26th February 2009, the Committee on Mutagenicity met to consider the future of this product and advise the Veterinary Medicines Directorate accordingly. At the moment I have been unable to track down the results of that meeting but at least it does not yet seem to have been withdrawn with immediate effect, since Thorne’s are still advertising it in their online catalogue. Representations have been made by the British Beekeepers Association and others to try and ensure its continued use. Meanwhile, Thorne’s comment that the manufacturers will not be making any more of this product until the committee have made their decision. So, even if the license is renewed, supply could be a problem for the remainder of 2009.

 

7.      National Science and Engineering Week 2009 (6-15 March)

Spread the word to non-beekeepers: As part of the celebrations of the NSEW, the British Science Association, supported by the BBKA, want everyone to help save our UK bees! They are asking everyone across the UK to find a space, whether in a window box, a garden or an unused piece of ground and plant a few bee-friendly plants! Register your interest on www.saveourbees.org.uk, and receive a free pack of seeds and an activity pack that you could use at home or at school. This project is sponsored by Rowse Honey.

 

8.      Round & About

Oswestry BKA: The programme of meetings for 2009 begins in May. Details on their website: www.oswestrybees.co.uk

British Beekeepers Association: Saturday 18th April: Annual Convention at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire. Advance Tickets £13 members, £17 non-members from Christine Hayward, 19 Kings Road, LEISTON, IP16 4DA Tel: 01728 832487. Further details here.

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