Newsletter : October 2007
Newsletter : October 2007
1. Editor's Notes
It’s the time of year when beekeepers ask each other how their harvest has been. I have to say that for me it has been very disappointing - though not surprising given the incessant summer rain, which turned the ‘June gap’ into a ‘June-July-August’ gap. The stores that the bees had collected in the fine spring spell were consumed and since then only one of my colonies has accumulated a significant surplus. I think that the migratory beekeepers may have done better. Robert Swallow, who manages the Association Apiary, had a productive time taking his bees to borage in the north of the country and I understand that the Shropshire heather has given some members a welcome lift in production.
Earlier this year Peter Woodcock, the former editor of this Newsletter, volunteered to take over the Association library. He has been busy cataloguing the books and will announce new arrangements for loans and returns in the near future. As part of the process he intend to issue a list of what is available, which will be circulated to members as they renew their subscriptions. I will also be putting the list on the members’ pages of the website. Meanwhile, if you think you may have an Association book lingering on your shelves, or if you have any surplus bee-books that you could donate to the library, or if you have suggestions for new books/videos/DVDs, please contact the editor as soon as possible.
2. October Meeting
Our next meeting, on October 10th is the AGM. This is your opportunity to comment on the way the Association is working and make suggestions for how it can improve its service to members. In particular it is the time to consider that further step of putting yourself forward for the Committee. Meetings are held in Shrewsbury about every 8 weeks and we need a steady flow of fresh thinking, energy and enthusiasm to support the Associations activities. If you are not already standing for election please give it serious thought. It is not too late to send in a nomination to the secretary. You can use the nomination paper or just speak to the secretary on the phone. She has asked for a deadline of 3rd of October so as to have time to produce the necessary paperwork so please do it now before you forget. 3. Report of September Meeting
The first meeting of the new indoor season was attended by about 25 members. It was a particular delight to see Mrs. Hodgson back again and also to welcome Jo Schup, the secretary of the North Shropshire BKA as a visitor. We were privileged to have a presentation from Ivor Davies, the President of the BBKA on the work of the national Association. 4. SBKA Committee Meeting: 26th June 2007
John Perkins, Programme Organiser, reported the arrangements he had put in hand for the indoor meetings for the coming season. Details have been put on the website and a calendar will be issued to members as they renew their subscriptions for 2007/8
5. A German Point of View
A book entitled “Step by Step Beekeeping” picked up on a visit to Austria contained some ideas with which we in Britain may not be familiar:
6. Report on Shrewsbury Flower Show 2007. Bees Honey & Wine Section.
(a) From Ray Green : SBKA Chair
7. News on Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)
Some welcome progress is being reported into the causes of CCD, which has devastated beekeeping in parts of the USA this year. A virus has been identified as the possible cause of the collapse of up to 90 per cent of commercial hives in the United States as a mysterious and deadly bee disorder continues its spread worldwide. Now a comparison of healthy and unhealthy bee colonies in America points to Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) contributing to or even causing CCD, according to a report published today in the journal Science. One of the authors of today's paper, Prof Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, Columbia University, New York, said. "Our next step is to ascertain whether this virus, alone or in concert with other factors such as microbes, toxins and stressors, can induce CCD. If the virus does turn out to be a key cause, there may be opportunities to develop vaccines or drugs. Bees with immunity against the disease have been identified in Israel by the scientists who first found the virus. The bees have taken up some genetic elements of the virus, which has the same effect as a vaccination"
8. Floating Apiaries
In ancient Egypt the practice of transporting beehives by barge was followed. The hives were collected from different villages and arranged in pyramidal piles on the barges, which floated down river. The boats would be halted for various periods according to the local flora.
9. Round & About
The Central Association of Beekeepers is organising a weekend of lectures and social activities in Stratford-on-Avon from November 23rd - 25th. Further details here.
After the excitement of the AGM has concluded we will be hearing a review of the past season from our RBI, Dave Sutton. This is always one of the highlights of the year because Dave brings a national perspective to the issues that we experience here in Shropshire. He is also a mine of information about the latest scientific and political moves afoot that will be influencing beekeeping over the next twelve months. Bee prepared!
BBKA now represents about 60 local Associations with, collectively more than 11,000 members. The organisation is growing and now has an annual turnover of £160,000, 60% of which comes from members’ capitation subscriptions. The aims of the Association are to promote the craft of Beekeeping and also to promote the importance of bees in the environment.
Responding to the question of what were the benefits of membership for individual beekeepers, Ivor Davies’ list included:
He went on to give examples of some of BBKA’s successes, e.g.. delaying the government’s intended cuts to the Bee Inspectorate service; arguing for the need to have strong ‘biosecurity’ to prevent the accidental importation of such dangers as small-hive beetle; allowing the use of oxalic acid as a hive-cleansing chemical to help protect bees from varroa; maintaining our ability to use Fumidol as a treatment against nosema (not allowed in continental Europe) and so on. “Ultimately”, Ivor Davies pointed out, “the BBKA is a charity and your support is a sign of your concern for bees and their environment.”
Robert Swallow reported that he had purchased some qood quality queens to help rebuild stocks in the Association Apiary from the one colony that survived the winter. These have been used to create several nucs using Association stocks, supplemented with bees from his own apiary. Ray Green has helped with the supply of nuc boxes. Other management tasks have included: repairing frames, reorganising the positioning of hives to make better use of available light, and eliminating trip hazards.
A further draft of proposals for change to the Association Constitution was circulated to all Committee Members. In view of the time this would take up this item to be rescheduled for discussion at the next meeting.
The Treasurer expressed his concern regarding the increasing charges payable by the Association to BBKA and suggested that the Committee ought to consider if there are any savings to be made by approaching say, the NFU for insurance cover. It would be necessary to weigh up the pros and cons of any move and this could not be taken lightly. John Perkins suggested that a meeting be set up with our BBKA representative in the autumn to come and talk to the Association on the running of BBKA justifying its charges to the Associations.
Association Apiary: the Chairman advised the meeting that a preliminary visit was being made to Attingham Park next week by Brian Goodwin, Robert Swallow and himself with a view to the Association relocating the Apiary to Attingham Park.
When preparing a hive for overwintering, frames should where possible be of a uniform colour. Single light or dark frames are an insuperable barrier for the bees.
Drone laying workers should be thrown out at least 10 metres from other colonies. They are poor fliers but because of their aggressiveness they can be dangerous to the queens of hives they may penetrate.
Feeding should be completed by the middle of September so that the summer bees predominantly have the task of processing the food, sparing the bulk of the winter bees from doing this work.
German beekeepers use a sheet of transparent plastic rather than a crown board on top of the colony. (The reasons are not given in the book but a German beekeeper once explained to me that condensation provides water for diluting honey and saves the bees having to go out to collect it.)
Selby Martin
The week preceding the Show seemed to be very hectic again but with the help of a good number of members and friends, the displays were all in place by the Thursday evening. This year there were no 'trade stands' and additional displays were found. I think that at this point special mention should be made of the display put on by the Wine Circle and also the Associations stand manned mainly by the North Shropshire Association. Next year I believe we need to have a very prominent Associations stand to promote beekeeping throughout Shropshire.
The demonstrations in the bee cage and also the good number of observation hives, were good ways to introduce members of the public to bees. I noticed that several children were quite knowledgeable on bees and I can only think that this is due to beekeepers going in to schools as part of the 'Mini beasts' section of the curriculum.
As usual, the honey tasting and sales stand proved to be a focal point. Unfortunately a number of beekeepers who had supplied honey in previous years were unable to do so this year due to a poor harvest. However a number of others rose to the challenge and we had sufficient. Approximately 8000 tasting sticks were used over the 2 days.
I heard several comments that the whole section looked good and it was appreciated that HRH Princess Alexandra visited the Show on the first day and spent time in the Bees, Honey & Wine Section. She was presented with a selection of honey from North, Mid and South Shropshire.
I would like to thank all those involved in the organising of the Show and in any other way, such as setting up, stewarding and taking down. Mention should also be made of those who took time to enter exhibits. I will not name individuals, as I will more than likely leave someone out!! Suffice to say that all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes is shown in the final display, which I thought looked very good this year.
(b) From Graham Roberson: Chief Steward 2007.
Can I also take this opportunity to thank the members who volunteered to act as stewards at the Flower Show, especially our colleagues from North Shropshire B.K.A and members from the Wine Circle.
It was noticeable that it is the same people who year after year give up some of their time to ensure that the paying public go away with some appreciation of bee keeping and perhaps a desire to become beekeepers. The members who have never given a couple of hours either on a Friday or Saturday to talk to the public about their craft do not know just what they are missing!
The sense of wonderment in the eyes of a child at being so close to bees in an observation hive, being able to answer their questions and watch them taste honey for the first time, these things are beyond price. But! Stewards want to go around the show with their families as well, and with a few more members willing to give up a little of their time everyone can enjoy the day. Next year please come and join us.
"This research gives us a very good lead to follow, but we do not believe IAPV is acting alone," said co-author Jeffery Pettis of the Bee Research Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture. "Other stressors to the colony are likely involved."
Those stressors could include intensive migratory beekeeping practices, poor nutrition, pesticide exposure and parasitic varoa mites, the latter being responsible for false alarms in Britain. So far reports of CCD reaching Britain have turned out to be false alarms, a spokesman for the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs said yesterday, though she acknowledged that there is widespread concern among beekeepers. Mike Brown of the National Bee Unit, Central Science Laboratory, said yesterday that testing is under way for the virus in Britain, though so far the results had been negative.
Adapted from an article appearing in the Daily Telegraph on 6th September
The journey took about three months and the delicious honey collected included jasmine and orange blossom. The custom continued into modern times as a traveller once recorded how he saw on the Nile between Cairo and Damietta a convoy of 4000 hives in transit between Upper Egypt to the coast.
From Curiosities of Beekeeping by L.R.Croft (Courtesy of BEES)
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