The final indoor meeting of the winter season was a talk by John Home on ‘Beekeeping for a Living.’ While we hobby beekeepers can be free with our time when preparing, examining or manipulating our colonies, the professional has to develop more economical methods. John, who used to run some 350 colonies with only limited help, gave us several illustrations of this. For example, in terms of organisation, extraction was carried out during the winter period when outside work was less pressing, thus spreading the work flow more evenly throughout the year. He also told us how he obtained cheap sugar for winter feed from unlikely sources and put great effort into running as wide a range of products as possible so as to maximise his profits. At the practical beekeeping level John described how he would prepare supers by using split top-bars frames, into which he was quickly able to slide a piece of unwired foundation, bending the top of the wax over to hold it in place. One piece of unwired foundation would ‘seed’ three frames, with the bees taking on the task of extending and anchoring it to the bottom and sides (which they clearly did very well as we could see from samples John had with him). Other techniques touched upon included swarm avoidance tactics and the creation of nucleii to maintain a ready supply of queens. He also emphasised that a beekeeper is a livestock farmer and must lay considerable emphasis on keeping his bees happy and healthy - a lesson for us all.

4.      Disease Recognition Day

As reported in the last Newsletter, SBKA is hosting a ‘Disease Recognition Day on Saturday 13th June at the Shirehall in Shrewsbury. It will run from 9.45 am through till 5.00 pm and will consist of various presentations and discussion led by members of the Western Region Bee Inspectorate team. The programme is now published and a copy is available here.

This is a wonderful opportunity to arm ourselves with the latest facts, figures and skills in the constant battle to keep our bees healthy and productive. Robert Swallow has put the programme together and he asks that anyone wanting to reserve a place should contact him (Tel: 01691 682020) as soon as possible. The fee for the day is only £5 (to cover expenses) and priority will be given to SBKA members in the first instance. However, accommodation is limited so if you want to be sure of your place, ring that number now.

5.      Thymol Shows Promise For Treating Nosema

Currently we have only one treatment that can be used against nosema - the anti-biotic Fumidil-B - and it seems likely that this will be withdrawn in the near future. So it was interesting to read that research in Italy has been testing acceptable alternative natural compounds for their effect on bees and nosema. Thymol has been used by beekeepers for many years - perhaps a century - to prevent the spoilage of sugar syrup for winter feed and it now seems likely that this may also have helped control nosema. The full paper is published in the journal Apidologie and the following is an abstract:

Screening of natural compounds for the control of nosema disease
The potential of some natural compounds (thymol, vetiver essential oil, lysozyme, resveratrol) for the control of nosema infection in honeybees was evaluated. A first trial aimed at screening substances, in candy preparations, on the basis of their toxicity to honeybees and bees' dietary preferences. None of the tested substances showed increased bee mortality or decreased bee preference, and were therefore considered suitable for further testing. In the second trial the effects of the natural compounds on nosema diseased honeybees were evaluated: bees were individually dosed with nosema spores and fed candies prepared with the screened substances. The results showed that bees fed with thymol and resveratrol candies had significantly lower infection rates, and bees supplied with resveratrol prepared candy also lived significantly longer. We suggest that thymol and resveratrol could be useful in alternative strategies for the control of nosema disease.
Reported by Peter Edwards (Stratford-upon-Avon Newsletter, May 2009 (Courtesy eBEES)

6.      A tale of sex and money! (Julian Little: Public & Government Affairs Manager Bayer CropScience Ltd)

Having spoken at many beekeeper meetings around the country, I have often been asked whether plant breeders have been actively discouraging bee foraging by reducing the amount of nectar in oilseed rape. My answer has always been in the "negative with caveats" - I was not aware of any differences between the attractiveness of oilseed rape of the 1970s to that grown today. More recently, the editor of Devon Beekeepers’ Magazine was talking to me on the same subject and I rashly committed to doing some research in this area. Initially, my research was problematic but, with the help of UK scientists, Canadian GM oilseed rape breeders and French non-GM breeders, and especially the British Society of Plant Breeders, I have pieced together a view on this subject, and like a lot of detective stories, sex and money lie at the core...

Oil seed rape is grown for vegetable oil - the seed is crushed and extracted for that basic cooking and processing commodity - what is left (the meal) is used as a highly nutritious animal feed. Some oilseed rape is cold pressed for "extra-virgin" oil, other oilseed rape is being converted into biodiesel - in all cases, oilseed rape is grown for...money!

Farmers traditionally grow wheat as their major crop but cannot (in all but a few cases) grow wheat year in year out in the same field - they therefore have to choose "break crops" in those years that they are not growing wheat. Oilseed rape is usually the least bad option and farmers are prepared to pay for high yielding varieties - and this is where sex comes into the story.

Normally, oilseed rape varieties are produced from inbred lines - ie, the genetics are improved under carefully controlled conditions using closely related plant lines. The alternative is the development of hybrid varieties of oilseed rape in which two very different lines of oilseed rape are crossed in the hope of finding super-yielding varieties. The problem with this is that normally an oilseed rape pollinates itself - most scientists suggest that 90-95% of pollination in oilseed rape is self-pollination. The way that plant breeders get around this problem is to male-sterilise one of the lines and pollinate them with donor (male-fertile) plants.

The first attempts to generate such hybrids produced the so called "Varietal Association" strains of oilseed rape; however, from a nectar perspective, these initial varieties often had deformed nectaries; normal varieties invariably have four large juicy nectar sacs in the flower; but some of the new varieties only had two small ones. It was these varieties in the late 1990's which I believe gave credence to the idea that oilseed rape was deteriorating as a good forage crop for bees. When these problems were discovered, varieties were quickly developed which had dramatically improved nectaries.

The Varietal Association hybrids quite quickly disappeared. By the year 2000 in any case, although in trials they yielded oil very highly, they were not commercially successful. In bad weather, the transfer of pollen from donor plants to hybrids was poor and some cases caused complete crop failure. Breeders therefore switched to fertile hybrids; outside of Europe, such hybrids are normally developed using genetic modification - closer to home, a high degree of technology is used but the resultant plants are not genetically modified. In both cases, the plants self-pollinate as long as the flowers are disturbed - normally by the wind and rain. Insect pollination, including that by bees is not that important for the commercial cultivation of oilseed rape. The exception to this is in seed production.

In hybrid oilseed rape seed production, strips of male and female oilseed rape varieties are grown side by side. Since self-pollination is neither possible nor desirable, there is an ABSOLUTE requirement for insect pollinators to produce the top quality hybrid seed ready for commercial use - and this is where bees and beekeepers come into their own!! These hybrids are just as attractive to bees as their non-hybrid counterparts, and in reality they have to be for hybrid seed production to happen. Incidentally, my colleagues in Canada tell me that thousands of beehives are transported many thousands of miles around Canada to help pollinate these seed crops. The caveat to this story is that 50% of oilseed rape grown in the UK is actually farm-saved - i.e., the farmer has not bought first generation seed from the seed company. Of the 50% that is bought, perhaps 10% is of a hybrid variety.

So perhaps there is a little substance to the story that oilseed rape had its problems with nectar production but I am assured that those days are long gone and, whether you like oilseed rape honey or not, that the present crop remains a good source of nectar.
From Beekeeping, the journal of the Devonshire BKA for Sep 08 [Seen in Suffolk BKA Newsletter for Jan 2009]

7.     International Traffic in Queen Honey Bees : Eric McArthur

According to a report by Klaus Nowottnick, in the January 2009 issue of the Deutsches Bienen Journal, the importation of queen honey bees arriving at the Frankfurt am Main International Airport in Germany (credited with being the major clearing house for imported bees which are then distributed to destinations all over the European Union) is increasing annually at an exponential rate.

In 2005 the number of legally imported queen bees, according to the German authorities, was around 95,500. The number arriving in 2006 increased to 185,735 these queens arriving in 70 consignments. By 2007 the imports increased to 400.000 from 50 consignments. Figures for 2008 are not yet available but by simple extrapolation, if the previous trend is continued and in the absence of any evidence that the demand for queens has attenuated, the 2008 figure could be around 800,000.

These queen bees appear to be coming primarily from Argentina and Chile. Interestingly Argentina has already been colonised by the Brazilian Bee (the euphemism for the ‘Killer Bee’) though legend has it that Chile, located on the west coast of South America has not been badly affected by the Brazilian Bee, due to the geography of the country. These queen bee imports are ‘health checked’ by the German Veterinary Border Control Department.

The Brazilian Bee is by its nature a tropical bee, having in its original form A.m. scutellata, been indigenous to Africa. In the light of the significant honey bee colony losses being reported in recent years in Europe generally, a question that comes to my mind is this: Considering that in its native habitat A.m scutellata absconds rather than form a winter cluster, how well adapted to the winter rigours of the European environment is it? It would be interesting to carry out a survey of the various European destinations of these queens and correlate this information with the loss of colonies in winter/early spring in the target areas.

The above information on the current international traffic in honey bees came as quite a shock to me and demonstrated that there is a hellish amount of ‘low profile’ high activity going on in the apicultural business world, which despite the enormous significance to the well being of beekeeping in general seems not to have been included in the equation in the world wide research into CCD and its associated factors.

The old adage of mushrooms, manure and the dark springs to mind when I try to pull together the current horrendous international movement of bees relative to the current State of the Art research. I would stick my neck out and postulate that the folk who are investigating the current ills of beekeeping world wide are looking in the wrong place.
Edited from am article in the Scottish Beekeeper February 2009 (Courtesy eBees)

8.      Leave the Sugar in the Kitchen!

(At last September’s meeting our speaker, Doug Jones, questioned the efficacy of dusting bees with icing sugar as an element of varroa control. The research reported below seems to support his case. Comments please? Ed.)

Shortly after we first learnt about varroa, it was suggested that a novel and environmentally friendly way of controlling it would be to treat colonies with an inert dust; it was said that this would clog the feet of the mites causing them to lose their grip and fall to the floor. Powdered sugar became the preferred ‘dust’ and combined with an Open Mesh Floor (OMF) it seemed that we might have a very effective control, as it could be shown that the treatment caused reasonably large numbers of mites to fall. Of course, the treatment has no effect on the mites within brood cells, so multiple treatments would be required.

Now, a study by Amanda M. Ellis, Gerry W. Hayes, and James D. Ellis, where colonies were dusted every two weeks for 11 months with 120g powdered sugar per application, has found:

• dusting colonies with powdered sugar did not significantly affect the adult bee population or amount of brood
• no significant differences between the total number of mites per colony

9.      Bees Abroad

The speaker at our April meeting, John Home, is currently the Chair of Bees Abroad, a UK charity dedicated to alleviating poverty in developing countries through the advancement of the craft of beekeeping. Bees Abroad runs, funds and monitors sustainable beekeeping projects. At present they operate such beekeeping projects in Cameroon and Nigeria in West Africa, Malawi, Kenya and Uganda in East Africa and Nepal in Asia. You can read more about the Charity’s activities, and download the latest Newsletter at this website.

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