Autumn 2014 - Welsh Beekeepers Association

www.wbka.com
Rhif/No:186
Hydref/Autumn 2014
Gwenynwyr Cymru
The Welsh Beekeeper
Welsh Beekeepers’ Association
Cymdeithas Gwenynwyr Cymru
Llywydd/
President
David Culshaw :
Tel: 01978 854593
president@wbka.com
Cadeirydd/ Chairperson
Jenny Shaw :
Tel: 01248 430811
chair@wbka.com
Is-gadeirydd/
Vice-chairperson
Sue Townsend :
Tel: 01341 430262
depchair@wbka.com
Ysgrifennydd/
Secretary
John Page :
The Old Tannery
Pontsian, Llandysul
SA44 4UD
secretary@wbka.com
Tel: 01545 590515
Trysorydd/
Treasurer
Margaret Jones:
Tel: 01267 231763
treasurer@wbka.com
Golygyddion/
Editor
Sue Closs :
Tel: 01792 429217
editor@wbka.com
Is-olgydd/
Sub-editor
(Erythglau Cymraeg)
Dewi Morris Jones
Llwynderw,
Bronant,
Aberystwyth
SY23 4TG
Tel: 01974 251264
Ysgrifennydd aelodaeth/Membership
Secretary
Ian Hubbuck :
White Cottage,
Manafon Road,
Berriew, SY21 8BB
Tel:01686 640205
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membership@wbka.
com
Autumn 2014
Contents/Cynnwys
Editorial4
Chairman’s Report6
Message from the President9
Preparing for the season ahead - winter - Frank Gellatly
10
Book Review: The Bee - A natural history
14
Some afterthoughts about swarming (and other matters)
Wally Shaw
“Lliwiau” gan “Buzz” - Geraint Morse
16
21
Bees in the Wood - Adam Thorogood
23
Successful opening weekend of Pembrokeshire Beekeeping
Centre - Paul Eades24
Notes from a Grumpy Old Beekeeper
26
DigiBees - Barry Griffiths
29
BIBBA “ Improvement for All” Days 2014/15
36
WBKA Examination Report 2014 - Lynfa Davies
37
Book Review: Wisdom for Beekeepers ( 500 tips for successful
beekeeping) 41
Letters
42
Obituary
44
List of Advertisers
45
Local Association Representatives
46
Pictures:
All pictures are copyright to the author of the article to
which they refer, unless otherwise stated.
Front cover: Training a new bee keeper at PBK Centre
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Editorial
Sue Closs
The seasons seem to rush past especially preparing the magazine for the season
ahead. Everyone seems to be having a very productive and often frantic time with
their bees – scrounging or borrowing equipment as the honey has kept flowing and
from the number of alerts for local beekeepers to assist with swarms over the passed
weeks, I think everyone must have more colonies than they started with in the spring.
Apart from all the hands-on activity there has been an extraordinary amount of
interest in making contributions to the magazine for which I am extremely grateful.
You will see that we have a wide diversity of topics and I am glad to tell you that
almost every offering has found a place in this busy edition even though it is a little
cramped for space and we will all need to don reading spectacles.
Frank Gellatly has written an article to remind us about preparing the hives for
winter. Wally Shaw continues his theme on swarming and prepares the way for his
next magazine articles on swarm control in time for next May. The booklet “Making
Increase” provoked a letter to which Wally has responded (page 42). Letters “To the
Editor” are very welcome.
Paul Eades has updated us on the progress of the Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre
which is going from strength to strength.
An article on bee photography from Barry Griffith shows how to make use of the
digital camera settings to get the best out of photographing bees. I hope this inspires
more people to have a go and if possible send me photos as home-grown are always
better and if I have to resort to photographic libraries, not only do I have to pay, but
also most of the archives are American.
Lynfa Davies has provided us with a comprehensive list of successful entrants to
examinations and importantly changes to the examination system which have been
accepted by WBKA Council and will affect examination entrants from March 2015.
Working with other organisations is exemplified by the signing of the concordat with
Natural Resources Wales to facilitate beekeepers using land managed by NRW. Adam
Thorogood of Llais y Goedwig introduces the Startree Project in “Bees in the Wood”
which outlines work being undertaken to explore honey and other bee products
as non-wood forest products in a European project involving universities, small
businesses and rural development organisations.
Finally, due to pressure of multiple commitments, I am starting to look for a successor
to the role of Editor of The Welsh Beekeeper so if you think you could have the time
and skills and would like to explore the details of the post, please contact me.
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The Welsh Beekeeper
No. 186
Autumn 2014
www.wbka.com
All copy should reach the Editor on or before the last day of January,
April, July and October.
Views expressed in ‘The Welsh Beekeeper’ are not necessarily held by the
Editor or the Publishers, but remain the opinion of the author of the article.
Edited, and compiled by Sue Closs.
Proof read by Dewi Morris Jones
Published by Welsh Beekeeper Association
Printed by Pensord, Pontllanfraith, South Wales
Great care is taken to ensure advertisements are correct but no liability
is taken for errors or omissions.
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Chairman’s Report * Adroddiad y cadeirydd
Jenny Shaw
What a glorious summer we have had so far. I trust that your bees are in as good
condition as ours and that all your supers are gainfully employed.
The weather was great for the Royal Welsh Show and I enjoyed meeting so many of
you in the Honey Show section in Glamorgan Hall. During the Show the WBKA signed
a concordat with Natural Resources Wales to facilitate beekeepers wanting to keep
bees on land that they manage. Over the next few months the details of the agreement will be finalised and posted on our website. The presence of hives on land
encourages the creation of more flower rich areas to support the bees. The more
wild flower rich areas we create in Wales the better the forage for not only honey
bees but for all insect pollinators. We hope that this collaboration will be beneficial
to beekeepers and their bees.
In June the WBKA was asked to report on what it had done to support the Welsh
Governments Action Plan for Pollinators since it was launched a year ago. Our response can be found on the WBKA website. However we are aware that the Beekeeping Associations around Wales are involved in many and diverse projects that
benefit pollinators. We would be interested to hear of these projects so that we can
ensure that the Welsh Government is aware of just how active the beekeepers of
Wales are.
********************************************
Mae wedi bod yn haf bendigedig hyd yma ac rwy’n mawr obeithio bod eich gwenyn
chi mewn cystal cyflwr â’n rhai ni a bod eich supers yn gweithio’n galed.
Roedd y tywydd yn wych ar gyfer y Sioe Frenhinol ac roedd yn bleser cwrdd â chymaint ohonoch chi yn ardal y Sioe Fêl yn Neuadd Morgannwg. Arwyddwyd concordat
yn ystod y Sioe gyda Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru fydd yn hwyluso pethau i wenynwyr
sydd am gadw gwenyn ar y tir maent yn ei reoli. Dros y misoedd nesa’ bydd manylion
y cytundeb yn cael eu gwireddu cyn eu cyhoeddi ar ein gwefan.
Mae cychod gwenyn ar dir yn hybu creu ardaloedd llawn blodau fydd, yn eu tro, yn
cynnal a chadw’r gwenyn. Y mwyaf o ardaloedd llawn blodau byddwn yn creu yng
Nghymru›r mwyaf o borthiant fydd, nid yn unig ar gyfer gwenyn mêl ond hefyd ar
gyfer yr holl beillwyr eraill. Rydym yn gobeithio y bydd y cydweithio yma o fudd i
wenynwyr a’u gwenyn.
Ym mis Mehefin gofynnwyd i’r Gymdeithas adrodd ar y cyfraniad rydym wedi
gwneud, ers ei lawns blwddyn yn ôl, i gefnogi Cynllun Gweithredu ar gyfer Pryfed Peillio
Llywodraeth Cymru. Mae’n hymateb ar wefan Cymdeithas Gwenynwyr Cymru. Rydym
yn ymwybodol fod llawer o’r cymdeithasau cadw gwenyn lleol ledled y wlad hefyd yn
ymwneud â llawer o brosiectau gwahanol sy’n fuddiol i beillwyr. Byddai’n braf clywed
am y prosiectau hyn fel y gallwn sicrhau fod Llywodraeth Cymru yn ymwybodol o ba mor
weithgar mae gwenynwyr ein gwlad.
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Signing the Concordat: Professor Peter Matthews, Chairman of Natural Resources Wales and
Jenny Shaw, Chairman of WBKA
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Message from the President
David Culshaw
I am writing this on my return from a scorching hot week at the Royal Welsh
Show at Llanelwedd, and I was delighted to see that there was a considerable
increase in the entries for the Welsh National Honey Show. My congratulations to the winners, and my thanks to all who took part.
I am loath to quote names as someone always gets left out, but many thanks
to the members who erected the W.B.K.A. stand and those who manned it
throughout the Show. There was considerable interest by the public in all
things related to ‘Honeybees’ and brisk sales of Welsh Honey.
Congratulations to Brecon and Radnor B.K.A., who were featured county, for
their very eye catching and informative stand which attracted many visitors.
On Wednesday we visited the Natural Resources Wales stand, when Jenny
Shaw on behalf of W.B.K.A signed a concordat with N.R.W. who were eager to
sign up the W.B.K.A in their plan for pollinators. Good to see that pollination
is a hot topic, and honey bees are high on the list.
I was proved wrong when I said in my last message that swarming was coming to an end this year, as most beekeepers I am sure are tired of phone
calls requesting help with swarms. I was still getting calls in the second week
in July, as I packed up for the Show. The swarms I have taken have been very
considerate as they have clustered within easy reach.
Speaking to members from various parts of the Principality it should be a
bumper honey harvest this year. Let us not forget Welsh honey is a premium
product, and it deserves to sell at a premium price.
I shall let you get on with extracting, and thank all the friends that I meet at
the Show for their ever pleasant company and companionship, may it ever
continue.
Conwy Honey Fair,
Saturday 13th September 2014, 9am to 4pm
Conwy has a very long association with honey and beekeeping. The Conwy Honey
Fair takes place in the High Street and Lancaster Square every 13th September (or
14th September if the 13th is a Sunday). The Honey Fair is an opportunity for beekeepers to sell their honey, and for the public to meet beekeepers, talk about bees,
and buy local honey and hive products, including beeswax candles, beeswax polish
and honey soaps. Plus… plant stalls, home produce, and local bee-related crafts.
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Preparing for the season ahead - winter
Frank Gellatly
It has been an extraordinary year for beekeeping. The season, forage and colonies
have constantly been ahead, as we beekeepers have struggled to keep up, running
out of hives, supers and equipment in the process! Main honey crops produced a
flow early, with clover, blackberry, rosebay willowherb and Himalayan Balsam all
on stream in the hot June and July. It just shows what can happen if you get warm
weather at the right time.
The honey harvest
Unless you have hives on heather or are gathering a late Himalayan balsam crop, it
makes sense to take the main honey crop as early as possible in August. Make sure
your honey frames are suitable for harvesting. They should, for the most part, be
sealed, ensuring that the honey is ripe i.e. below 18.5% water content. Frames which
emit liquid nectar when shaken are not suitable.
A small crop can be taken by simply shaking the bees off the frames, otherwise use
a rapid clearer board. If you use a clearer board with porter bee escapes, make sure
that the escapes are clear, the board is put on the right way up and the supers are
well sealed to prevent re-entry. Whichever method you use, clearing the bees should
be a quick overnight process. Extracting is best done while conditions are warm and
the honey still nice and liquid.
Super storage
Once extracted, the supers and frames can be put back on the hive over the crown
board. There, they will be cleaned up by the bees passing through the open feed
hole. You can then store the supers ‘dry’, making sure they are neatly stacked in order
to guard against mice and waxmoth. Waxmoth should not be a problem in supers
that are stored ‘wet’ i.e. not cleaned up by the bees, and in use every year. Those of
you with more than a single apiary must also have biosecurity in mind: it makes for
good disease control to have a system of labelling in place so that you return supers
to the same apiary in the coming year and don’t, inadvertantly, spread undetected
disease between them.
Varroa
Now, you can move on to your varroa control - as soon as possible, if you have
not already done so. Mid to late August is the ideal time for the most important
treatment of the year. Varroa levels are at their highest and brood rearing is naturally
tailing off. This coincidence of circumstances allows for more widespread and more
multiple infestations of bee pupae, putting them at far greater risk of virus infections,
immune suppression, growth retardation and shortened lifespans. Not only that but
these pupae are your all-important ‘winter bees’ which must be present in sufficient
quantity and of sufficient quality to last through the entire winter.
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Treatment with licensed thymol products (Apiguard, Apilife Var, Thymovar) during
August/early September allows the brood of your future winter bees to be reared in
a low varroa and, hence, low virus infested environment. Make sure you follow the
manufacturer’s guidance carefully, adjusting the dosage according to colony size.
Treatment needs to be done while ambient temperatures are high enough to make it
effective. Remember to heft and leave sufficient stores on, or feed syrup beforehand,
to prevent starvation during thymol treatment. Bees will often ignore syrup when
thymol is used, hang on the front of the hive, and the queen may go off lay. Finally,
remember that you are required to make a note of any treatment in your Veterinary
Medicine Administration Record.
Feeding – and robbing
If your varroa treatment is sufficiently prompt, you will have time to ensure your
winter feeding is complete by early October. That then gives the bees sufficient time
to take feed down, drive off excess moisture and cap over the sugar syrup to stop it
fermenting. Remember that your own
stronger colonies may rob out weaker
ones with the possibility of spreading
disease, and that wasps become a
threat at this time of year. You should
watch the hive entrances carefully,
monitoring comings and goings and
keeping an eye out for any wax capping
remains that have been ripped off.
Feeding your bees and removing honey
supers in late evening when the bees
are in the hive, helps to minimise the
potential for robbing. You may need
to reduce entrances down to one
beespace by fitting a mouseguard and taping it over to leave a single hole and fill any
hive cracks with sponge or similar. A pane of glass placed in front of the entrance can
also confuse wasps. If all else fails and you have the option, the threatened hive could
be moved to another apiary, bearing in mind the three mile rule.
Setting up for the winter
Many beekeepers have increased hive numbers this year to a greater extent than
they may desire to be going into next season, so now is the time to rationalise before
the winter. Following varroa treatment, it is possible to turn the contraction in colony
size caused by reduced queen laying, less forage and the inhibiting thymol treatment,
to beekeeping advantage and unite those smaller colonies using the newspaper
method.
Each colony should be carefully assessed for size strength and health: every one must
be queen right and disease free going into the winter. Smaller colonies can be united
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and the best of the queens selected in the process - generally the younger, more
prolific queens, and those which do not produce much chalkbrood. It is far better to
go into the winter with fewer strong colonies and some spare hives in storage ready
for next season, than enter spring having to clean out small, dead colonies and be
short of ready hives.
Once you have united as necessary, rationalised the frames and boxes of colonies,
you can be round feeding those that need it. Ideally, each should have 40lb of stores
available for the winter which, when you heft, will feel like the hive is nailed to the
floor as you struggle to lift it. I feed inverted syrup, which the bees seem to do very
well on, using miller feeders in the main and contact feeders for those not requiring
too much.
Any honey that the bees collect during the autumn will also boost their winter
stores. The nectar flow from Himalayan Balsam should continue but can be variable
according to temperature and ground moisture. If we get a good spell of weather in
September/October, the ivy will give a final boost of pollen and nectar to produce
plentiful brood, with minimal varroa, and those precious winter bees.
Frank Gellatly
Regional Bee Inspector Wales
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BEEFEED
Fondabee: beefeed fondant paste
* in 2.5 kg sealed plastic bags
& 15 kg cartons
Invertbee: liquid beefeed
* from 14 kg jerry-cans
& IBC containers (from 800 kg upwards)
Beefeed in bulk 6-24 T deliveries
Mainland UK distributor:
Peter & Marian Guthrie
Wyefield Apiaries, Tygwyn, Boughrood Brest,
Llyswen, Brecon, Powys LD3 0BQ
Tel: 01874 754412 Mobile: 07976 510366
Email: marian@pdguthrie.idps.co.uk
Producer:
Industriepark 20
8730 Beernem - Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)50 79 11 80
Email: info@belgosuc.be
www.belgosuc.be
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Book Review
The Bee: A Natural History
Noah Wilson-Rich
Ivy Press
Available: September 2014
ISBN: 978-1-78240-107-0
RRP: £19.99
Now if your thoughts are turning towards Christmas and folk are beginning
to ask you “What do you want for Christmas?”, or you have to find a gift for a
beekeeper or even a person who has no bees – this is a very good suggestion.
The presentation, cover, paper and art work are lovely and the photographs
are fantastic.
The story of the bee dates back 100 million years to when flowers evolved
and the important relationship developed – bees receiving nectar in exchange
for services as pollinators. The author describes the history of honey hunting and beekeeping, starting with the Ancient Egyptians. The anatomy and
physiology of the bee is beautifully illustrated as its society and behaviour
and today’s challenges intertwined with the human factor with pesticides and
deadly diseases which pose a threat not only to the bees but potentially all of
human life.
This book is a valuable addition the bookshelves of anyone with an interest
and love of the bee.
Sue Closs
2015 Welsh National Honey Show Schedule
If members wish to have a copy of the Schedule for the 2015 honey show
please contact Mrs Bethan Davies, RWAS Ltd, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, LD2
3SY; Tel 01982553563; email bethan@rwas.co.uk.
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Some Afterthoughts about Swarming
(and related matters)
Wally Shaw
This article follows on from the article ‘What we know (and don’t know) about
swarming’ that appeared in Welsh Beekeeper in Spring 2014 which had to be cut short
because of space considerations. It covers Part 4 (and more) of the lecture delivered
at the WBKA Convention in 2013 - the year of the Big Snow. Quite early on in my
beekeeping career I became fascinated in how the honey bee colony worked. Some
of the most interesting and difficult to understand aspects arise in the context of the
swarming process. So forgive me if this end-of-season article is not as practical as some;
it is a bit of an ‘anorak’ pre-occupation of mine and may not appeal to everybody.
Queen Mating
As we all know, when the queen at the beginning of her life goes out on her mating
flights she seeks to mate with between 10 and 20 drones with as much genetic diversity
as possible. How much the queen herself calls the shots is an open question because
the workers seem to control much of the process; they hassle her out of the hive under
suitable weather conditions, they probably determine how many flights she makes and
the latest studies indicate that she is accompanied by a posse of workers who guide
her to and from the mating venue (drone congregation area).
This reproductive strategy of mating with multiple males is called polyandry and the
honey bee is the most polyandrous insect known to science. It is inherently a very
risky strategy because if the queen does not make it back to her colony there is no
backup queen - her loss means curtains for the colony. An attentive beekeeper, noting
that re-queening has failed, can of course introduce a frame containing eggs and/or
young larvae thus giving the colony a second chance at raising a queen – something
that could never occur naturally. Most beekeepers see this as a way of saving a colony
which, from their point of view, is true. However, for the colony itself this is (genetically)
the final nail in the coffin because they are now tending a non-related queen (a sort of
cuckoo if you like) and as soon as she comes into lay they will quickly be replaced by
her progeny and their genetic line will be terminated.
The Advantages of Polyandry
The advantages of the queen mating with numerous drones are many and seem to
cover virtually all aspects of colony fitness. Compared with a colony where the queen
has mated with a limited number of drones, one with high genetic diversity produces
more comb, more brood and collects more honey – it does everything better! It is also
less prone to disease, better at thermoregulation and has a higher chance of long-term
survival. Exactly how this all works is another matter and some things are quite well
understood but others not.
The Downside of Polyandry
Every living organism wants to maximise the chance of passing its genes on to the
next generation – and on into the future. This means that individuals are inevitably in
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competition with each other. In the case of the honey bee colony, the majority of the
bees (the workers) are sterile females and have lost the individual ability to reproduce.
Their chance of passing on their genes is solely vested in their queen.
The queen is the only individual who can pass on her genes and, by proxy, those of her
workers. She can do this two ways; through her daughters (new queens) or/and her
sons (the drones). We always think of the queen as female (she lays eggs doesn’t she?)
but in reality she (it?) is hermaphrodite (both male and female) – but of course I will
continue to refer to the queen as she or her because it is easier. At first sight this may
seem a rather bizarre idea but, because the drone develops from an unfertilised egg, all
his genes come directly from the queen. Each drone does has a different genetic makeup resulting from the usual gene mixing (so called cross-overs) that take place during
egg production but all the millions of sperm he produces are genetically identical. In
biological terms the drone is the queen’s flying male sex organ (I could put it more
graphically) whose role is to replicate and deliver her genes. This means that all the
(genetic) competition revolves around the queen.
This is why virgin queens fight and kill each other until there is only one left. Some ant
species have evolved to have several queens at the same time but these operate as
sub-colonies (with spatial isolation) within a sort of super-colony but in the end one
queen often comes to dominate. Not so the honey bee colony which can only operate
with one queen, the one exception being during a perfect supercedure.
[As a side issue it is interesting to note that our Welsh (near-native A.m.m) bees seem to
be particularly intolerant of having two queens. In my experience, most supercedures
tend to be imperfect, ie. the old queen is dead and gone before the new queen (her
daughter) comes into lay and there is a significant brood gap. With Italian bees in
New Zealand I am assured that two queens in a colony for extended periods is quite
common. Recently in the USA there is a well-authenticated record of a colony with
three queens (grandma, mother and daughter) all happily living and laying together.]
So how does polyandry affect competition between individuals? A potential problem
arises because honey bee drones are haploid and all the sperm that an individual
drone produces have identical genetic composition. This means that the population of
workers in a colony consists of a series of sisterships (the technical name is patrilines,
- pater being the Latin word for father). Unlike most siblings who have 50% of their
genetic make-up in common, the individuals of a patriline (full-sisters) share 75% of
their genes (50% from their drone father and 25% from their queen mother), whereas
they only share 25% of their genes with their half-sisters (the half that came from their
common mother). The family relationships may be further complicated by the fact that
a queen is likely to mate with drones who are brothers (sons of the same queen) and
this creates intermediate relationships in which patilines share 50% of their genes. It
is important to understand that if a virgin queen mates with a drone produced by her
own mother (it does happen by pure chance) this is a genetic disaster because 50%
of the eggs that are laid as result of this union are non-viable. This is one of causes
of pepper-pot brood but providing this mating is one of many it does not significantly
affect the colony.
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As you can see, the honey bee has a rather odd sort of family according to our human
way of looking at things - but what’s the problem? The problem arises because the
workers are well aware of these genetic relationships; when interacting with the other
bees in the colony they can discriminate between full and half-sisters and this ability
to discriminate extends to larvae and pupae of both workers and queens! The means
of identification is thought to be through subtle differences in cuticular chemistry.
Indeed, some of the advantages of genetic diversity, eg. recruitment for specialised
tasks, may stem from the ability to differentiate but under some circumstances it also
presents potential problems.
The Normal Colony
In a normal (mature) colony where the queen has been present for several weeks, all
the worker bees are her daughters and have an equal 50% gene stake in her success
and there is no basis for competition or any conflict of interest. The same is true with
the prime swarm; all the bees in the swarm are equally related to queen and have a
common interest in her success. In a normal colony there is evidence that nurse bees
have a slight tendency to feed larvae who are their full-sisters in preference to those
who are half-sisters – but that is all. In practical terms this level of nepotism (favouring
members of your own family) is not significant and all the larvae get properly fed.
When bees set up to swarm there is evidence in some colonies (but not others) that
some patrilines are numerically over-represented in the queen cells that are started –
again this is a form of nepotism. Why some colonies and not others? This may simply
be due to the fact that some patrilines are more numerous (number of workers) than
others. This presumably arises as the queen stocking her spermotheca when she in
unable to store equal contributions from every drone. According to scientific studies
the queen homogenises her store of sperm so paternity is a random process. However,
many beekeepers have observed changes in colony colour balance over time which
suggests there is some clumping of sperm. This difference of opinion is unresolved at
present.
It is after the prime swarm has departed that potential conflicts of interest arise.
‘Potential’ is really the wrong word because conflicts must exist and how the colony
overcomes this situation without fighting between patrilines (equivalent to civil war) is
where the interest lies. At the present time there are no clear answers.
After the Prime Swarm
If the prime swarm has left on time as the first queen cells were being sealed, there
are about 8 days to run before the first virgin queen emerges. Most books say that
she immediately starts to pipe and that mature queens still in the cells pipe back (the
sound is muffled by the cell wall so it is sometimes referred to as ‘quacking’). This
enables the emerged queen to locate her rivals, chew through the wall of the queen
cell and kill the occupant by stinging. This is clearly an over-simplification and what you
usually see in a hive at this point in the process is several emerged queen cells and a
lot more queen cells still intact. Often un-emerged queen cells have a line round the
tip where the queen has tried to chew her way out but is presumably being held in by
the worker bees (warders?).
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Within 2-3 days of the first virgin emerging the colony will issue a cast swarm but that
will probably only be after the emerged queens have fought and the swarm will be
headed by the winner – most first cast swarms seem to have only one virgin queen in
them. If it is quite a large colony, a few days later it will issue a second cast swarm and
experience shows that these often contain two or more virgin queens. This suggests
that with later cast swarms the queens do not (or are not permitted to) fight within
the colony. This implies a different game plan but one can only speculate as to why the
difference. This process may be repeated for a third time (the swarms getting smaller
each time) and this too may/usually contains multiple virgins. So what is going on
here? There must be competition between the virgin queens and the workers are now
in a position where they can be nepotistic, ie. favour virgin queens to whom they are
full sisters or more closely related.
Probability of Survival
Competition is all about increasing your odds of survival. So what are the odds when it
comes to swarming? Studies of prime swarms show that in the wild they have a 20-30%
probability of being alive a year later. At first sight this may sound a poor outcome but
this level of survival probably represents population stability. Survival of cast swarms
has never been studied but given the fact that they are smaller, issue later in the season
(10-12days) and have a virgin queen who has to be mated before she can start to lay
(another 10-14 days perhaps) their chance of survival must be minimal. On the other
hand, the virgin queen who inherits the parental home has by far the best chance of
survival. She has a ready-made home and plenty of other resources in terms of bees,
the remains of her mother’s brood and stores and all she has to do is mate and start
laying. This queen has 90% plus chance of survival and to still be heading the colony a
year hence. So it is this queen that is the true winner!
So How is all this Resolved?
This is not just some airy-fairy theory, this how it is in the real world – ‘nature red in
blood and claw’ as they say. But with a bee colony, apart from a few fights between
queens (and workers also kill some queens early on the swarming process), the whole
issue seems to be resolved peacefully and, to outward appearance anyway, the colony
continues to function normally throughout. The most likely strategy is that the colony
has a favourite queen (or at more likely a short list of queens) who they hold back in
their cell(s) and protect from marauding emerged virgins until cast swarming is over. If
the colony has held-back multiple queens then they are probably allowed to fight and
winner takes all. There is observational evidence that the workers do not just stand idly
by during queen fighting and may play some part in determining the winner. In other
words a fixed fight – but I don’t think there are any betting syndicates involved here!
The question remains how are these queens chosen? Is it based on some measure of
their fitness? Or is it the result of nepotism, eg. does a dominant patriline contrive to
favour a queen who is their full sister? The answer is we do not really know. There is
a great deal of interaction between worker bees and the maturing queen cells which
involves both vibration signals and pheromones. The bees presumably know what it’s
all about but we don’t and, as always with honey bees, we must assume that they
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know best and let them get on with it their way.
Cast Swarms
Cast swarms often reveal what appears to be a fleeting glimpse of nepotism. When
hived by the beekeeper, cast swarms with multiple queens will often segregate and
occupy different parts of the hive - and this despite having been well homogenised
(tipped out in a heap) during the hiving process. This segregation is presumably based
on queen preference and, if left alone, one of these sub-swarms may re-swarm,
presumably to gain independence from the other and preserve their choice of queen.
However, if the beekeeper intervenes and shakes the two parts together (again) this
seems to resolve the issue – they are forced to choose one queen and they seem to do
it without any obvious display of antagonism.
Conclusions
Well there really are no conclusions except that this aspect of colony life is very
complicated and it is just as well they know what they are doing because we the hell
don’t.
“Lliwiau” gan “Buzz”
O’r fath lawenydd pur pan welais i chi gynta’,
yn hongian yn y berllan, fel barf llwyd henwr,
dan gysgod gwyrddni ifanc Mai!
Pwy a’ch dysgodd i gasglu paill – coch, pinc, a phiws
a’i gario yn sachau sidan eich pengliniau,
yn feddw gaib ar neithdar ir?
Pwy blannodd ynoch allu dwfn i gofio’r llwybrau cudd
o gaeau melyn Crug Glas, Tŷ Llwyd a Rhyd-ddu
yn ddiogel nôl i’r ydlan wen?
Pwy drefnodd i’r perlau arian dyfu yn y dirgel
mewn celloedd gwêr, cyn torri trwodd
i fwrlwm byw amryliw’r cwch?
Pwy a’ch anogodd i gyd-ganu anthemau’r greadigaeth
wrth hofran fry uwch drothwy’r drws
gan hymian hymn mewn harmoni?
Pa alcemydd fu’n cymysgu’r cynhwysion craidd
i greu o’ch llafur diflino eli i wella clwy’,
a moddion rhad mewn hylif aur?
Geraint Morse
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Bees in the Wood
Adam Thorogood of Llais y Goedwig introduces the Startree Project
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines non-wood
forest products as, “goods of biological origin other than wood derived from forests,
other wooded land and trees outside forests”. Non-wood forest products or NWFP
can be gathered from the wild or grown in plantation or agroforestry systems, they
are vital to rural livelihoods internationally and many have a high export value. NWFP
have received a lot of attention in rural development contexts but those products
harvested and produced in Europe have escaped attention. Until now!
A new project called Startree is a partnership of universities, rural development
organisations and small businesses across Europe which aims to find out more about
European NWFP with the aim of developing the sector and supporting sustainable
rural livelihoods and good practice in natural resource management. Please visit the
Startree website for more information on the project: www.startree.eu
Wales is one of 14 countries involved in Startree and the project here is being hosted
by Llais y Goedwig, Wales’ community woodland association. Llais y Goedwig is
a network of grassroots community woodland projects across the country. The
network has been building in strength since 2010 and now has over 50 member
groups from across Wales. The network recognises the potential that NWFP offer
for their member groups and other businesses in creating a sustainable income from
woodland management activities. Llais y Goedwig’s website has loads of resources
and advice for community woodland groups: www.llaisygoedwig.org.uk
So far, the Startree team within Llais y Goedwig have studied Wales’ NWFP sector
to find out what is going on here at home. There are hundreds of businesses and
individuals who make a living from harvesting, processing and selling NWFP whether
they know it or not! The sector here in Wales is not as developed as some other
European countries, but NWFP are of vital importance to many across the country.
One of the products the project will be looking at in depth is honey.
The link between bees and woodlands is an ancient and intrinsic one. From woodland
edge forage plants to tree sap harvested for propolis, bees need woodlands and vice
versa. We want to find out more about bee keeping in Wales and the connection
with Welsh forests and woodlands. How can we support bee keepers and community
woodland groups or small woodland owner managers to work together? We know
that Natural Resources Wales offer permits for bee keepers to keep hives on the
Welsh Government Woodland estate. One of our member groups is working on a
project to encourage bees to build natural hives within veteran trees within their
woodland. There is lots of scope for bringing bees keepers and woodland managers
together.
If you are interested in the Startree project and would like to help us to explore honey
and other bee products as non-wood forest products then please get in contact with
the Startree project team: maria.wilding@llaisygoedwig.org.uk or 01654 700061
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Successful opening weekend of Pembrokeshire
Beekeeping Centre
Paul Eades
Friday 18th July 2014, marked the beginning of a very successful weekend for
the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association, with the official opening of the
‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’ at Scolton Manor by Edwina Hart AM, Minister
for Economy, Science and Transport.
Regular readers, who have been following progress of this project, may recall that
the PBKA were fortunate to receive funding from the Prince’s Countryside Fund
(PCF) and Environment Wales. Planning for the project commenced four years ago
and the official opening
was the culmination of a lot
of hard work by all those
involved, together with some
inevitable frustrations from
time to time.
The end result has been
worth the effort however
and now Pembrokeshire has
a beekeeping facility to be
proud of, which all the family
can enjoy.
The ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’, at Scolton Manor includes:
1. The ‘Pine Tree Apiary’ – for training beekeepers, public viewing via an 8 foot high
bee proof fence and interpretation boards for education and information.
2. The ‘Victorian Walled Garden’ – with exhibition WBC hives and locally made
straw skeps in bee boles.
3. The indoor ‘Bee Hive’ exhibition, which includes a live ‘hive cam’ from one of the
apiary hives, audio visual displays and interpretation boards, etc.
4. The ‘Honey Kitchen’, adjacent to the ‘Bee Hive’, for the extraction and bottling of
honey, which includes a large viewing window for honey extracting demonstrations to the public.
5. The ‘Paddock Apiary’ – to provide additional training facilities, honey production
and a queen rearing project using local bees to ensure the sustainability of the
project.
Saturday 19th July featured an ‘Open Day’ as part of the PCF’s National Countryside
Week and the ‘Bee Hive’ exhibition was overflowing all afternoon with members
of the public coming in droves to watch the honey extracting demonstration in the
‘Honey Kitchen’ and live pictures of our bees from the ‘hive cam’! So successful was
the honey extracting demonstration that the Scolton Manor shop sold out of honey
that afternoon! Members of the PBKA were also present to talk to the public and give
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hive inspection demonstrations at the nearby ‘Pine Tree Apiary’.
On Sunday, we held another of our regular beekeeping training sessions at the apiary,
which included members of the public whose interest had been stimulated the
day before. We have noted a greater interest in beekeeping by younger people and
some of our ‘regulars’ whilst only just tall enough to look into the brood box, have
beekeeping knowledge that would put many an experienced beekeeper to shame.
Certainly our beekeepers of the future and a very encouraging trend!
We have had a great deal of interest shown by other organisations, including the
National Botanic Garden of Wales, which recently revamped their own beekeeping
display and we hope to work with them more closely in the future.
In order to maintain and develop interest in bees and beekeeping, we have to be able
to adapt to change and the development of the ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’
proves that it can be done with a bit of imagination and perseverance!
The ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’ is open every day at Scolton Manor near
Haverfordwest during the season, free of charge from 10am until 5pm.
Paul Eades, Apiary Manager
Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association
http://pbka.info/
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Notes from a Grumpy Old Beekeeper.
The Eisteddfod had a class for young bees,
They danced with the greatest of ease.
As they came near the chair,
All they could hear,
Was, look at their poor sore knees!
There must now be more bees in Wales than there has ever been since beekeeping in this country began. Never has there been such a flow of nectar over such a
long period or so many swarms, or so many new people wanting to keep bees. The
hobby beekeeper, the bee farmer and the suppliers have all had a bumper year and
everyone seems to have run out of frames foundation and boxes. Now what could be
better than that? With an enormous harvest to follow not only are the bees in clover
so are we!
It has been the best year ever for those called ‘Let alone beekeepers’ The beekeepers whose time is limited, they go through their bees in April with great care and set
everything to rights, give them plenty of room, and leave well alone, adding more
supers as and when necessary to the top of the hive, where it’s the hottest and the
easiest place for the bees to make wax. Those hives will be on 4 or 5 supers by now,
especially if you live in the Aeron valley. That’s where Tom Collins lived if you remember him. He used to put match sticks across each corner of the super under the
crown board to let the heat out in this weather. The mindset of bees is firstly gathering stores to survive the winter and as the nectar flow began in early May and hasn’t
stopped since, with no June gap this year. The bees left alone to get on with their
own ideas with plenty of room will be less inclined to swarm, only about 20%. The
downside of it all is stress; bees on 5 or more supers often fade away in the winter.
Time will tell. Bees short of space, in trees and other confined spaces will swarm and
beekeepers who meddle, fuss and flap will upset the ‘status quo’ and cause swarming but does it matter as they will have left one or two supers behind and should be
re-queened before winter
This is great for people starting out as there are enough bees for all this year, and
there are many tales of swarms in extraordinary places and it is such fun getting them
home!
A friend with a Warre hive, where you are supposed to add new boxes to the bottom
of the stack, allowed me to persuade her to add one to the top instead, she took off
the roof to find the bees had eaten through the top cover for air and to start building
comb in the roof. That top box will be pure golden cut comb, what joy!
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Having had bees for over 30 years, a call this summer beats everything that has gone
before. A man who moved to Wales over two years ago, and had been on a beekeeping course before he came, was planning to start next year. He had bought 2 second
hand hives with him, not very good quality and parked them on a pallet beside his
shed. The grass was well grown up through the wood of course but that didn’t stop
a swarm of bees moving into one of them, he didn’t notice it at first but then I had
the call for help; he had taken the hive apart to see what was going on before he
phoned, no bee-suit and no fear. We sorted out the hives, put the occupied hive
up on a milk crate and opened it up.It was full of old mixed up empty frames but
they had built wild comb exactly within the frames, four across from the west side
(the warmest) and I could lift them out to show him brood pollen and stores. I felt
somewhat over dressed in a bee-suit! We replaced the rest of the frames with new
ones plus foundation. Another day he moved it again took away the pallet, laid slabs
and replaced it onto the hive stand I had taken him. Complete empathy between that
man and his bees. When I went again there was a garden bench in front of the hive
where he sat in the evening after work watching the bees, and asked me about the
colours of pollens
Another member who had lost all his bees last year and had two empty hives lent
one out to another member who had an amazing experience. On the brink of giving
up beekeeping, she had hung a box in a tree and in moved a swarm which she kindly
sold to a beginner. He is a star, as he took the box back the next day (how many of us
have sold nucs and never had the boxes back) Anyway she put it back in the tree and
the next day a bigger swarm moved in. She was not meant to give up she decided
and put 14x12 frames in 2 supers with floor and a WBC roof on top. Back went the
box into the tree and an even bigger swarm moved in! This lovely member then lent
her a hive on the understanding she would order more equipment, give it back and if
she caught another swarm perhaps give it to him. She had just given him his box back
when I had a call to say there was a swarm of bees not half a mile from his house and
could I please send some-one to collect it. The reward for his kindness.
People are extracting honey already, such a shame as it won’t be ripe or mature or
have the flavour or keep so well. Maybe they ran out of supers and had no choice,
but the quality and supreme excellence of this fabulous Welsh product will be lost
in the race to make money. And without any discerning new honey judges coming
forward how will anyone ever know the difference. How those of us who remember,
mourn the loss of Henry Ferguson Thomas, he would have had a fit at what’s going
on. But with the modern diet no-one has what used to be called ‘a palate’ any- more,
so does it really matter!
Two things now bother me, will we have 4 feet of snow in October and how will
all these bees manage over winter? There is enough honey this year so that every
beekeeper can leave plenty of stores for those who have worked so hard. No replacement feed will do as well this year, because of the stress. And if the balance of nature
works out as it does so often many losses will occur, I so very much hope I’m wrong.
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DIGI-BEES
Barry Griffiths
Bees present great photo opportunities and often combine the photo-call with an intriguing nature insight but we need to be ready to capture those moments. We all have
those great shots that are just out of focus, too dark, too much light, the subject is lost
in a busy background, the subject has moved, the photo is too big to email, too small
to print etc etc and we will continue to get those but maybe we can raise our average
a bit? This is an amateur article on photography from a beekeeping perspective, you
won’t become a BBC wildlife photographer by reading it but it may contribute a few
ideas that enhance our photos and in the process expand our enjoyment and help
spread the word.
A picture says a thousand words – see the nectar, see the pollen, when the bee feeds
she leaves a scent trail that decays at the rate the plant replenishes the nectar so the
next bee does not waste time finding out and only a few dwell for the photo. A frame
held to sunlight so the comb is backlit.
Prep: Digital cameras tend to apply similar functions and part of the challenge is presetting the camera so we are ready to grab that photo at short notice.
When taking photos in the Conwy BKA Apiary I have the camera in my bee suite pocket
ready for those regular surprises, beekeepers from 8 to 80+ attend the apiary sessions
and sometimes we have a surprise like hiving wild comb.
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With my camera it’s difficult to switch to flash when wearing bee gloves so if you intend
to capture some brood verification images I suggest that you pre-select flash on. Bees
appear to be attracted to the black box; maybe it is saturated with pheromone and
certainly gets a bit sticky with propolis so I have fitted a protective clear and cleanable
screen to protect the display. Taking apiary photos can help to verify the presence of
eggs and the health of brood and comb when viewed at leisure and enlarged on a
monitor.
I always have the camera handy, usually I use a zip camera bag on a neck strap so the
camera is effectively in a pouch even / especially when walking round the garden; I
keep a 2nd battery charged and a spare 8 GB chip – it’s surprising how soon we fill a
memory chip with high resolution images especially when running the burst exposure
feature.
Image size: I select the largest image size as default setting, for my 4 year old Sony
Cyber-Shot this is 10 megabytes and we can get thousands on one 8 GB chip. Selecting
the largest image enables us to more closely crop and examine small bees in a forage
environment and to edit and crop comb shots from the initial image without loss of
resolution.
Photos taken at Conwy BKA Diseases workshop held in conjunction with DEFRA Left image as taken at full size then cropped and enhanced to show detail of the AFB Rope Test
reducing the image to 75k; small enough to email yet big enough to see quite clearly.
Composition: The disciplines that apply to portraits and landscapes are combined
when we snap bees so balance, scale, content and the technical issues of focus, exposure and resolution are just as important and if anything more challenging than a
seascape or still life. There are times when natural light enables us to capture photos
of foraging bees and with patience we can get those mid-air shots and photos where
the bee is not obscuring the plant and where the bee can be seen in context of its behaviour across the season foraging various feed sources. I don’t know why but a touch
of red in a photo seams to enliven the image.
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Photographing bees also informs us of the flowers available across the foraging season
and those times when there is not much available forage as a prompt to plug that June
gap.
Capturing photos of bees with full pollen sacs usually requires a photo composition
where the bee is edge-on, above or beside the flower and so both can be seen without
one obscuring the other.
Taking photographs of foraging bees can also build our knowledge, for example the
colour of pollen from plants in your garden, the blue Ceanothus has yellow pollen while
Pink hydrangea has pale pink pollen and Conference pear is grey.
Flying bee is profiled against a petal background and there is just a few seconds to snap
her drinking.
Flash: Even in strong sunlight a fill-in flash can be helpful if the sun is above or in front
of us.
Photo flash reflected from a red vase when this bee landed outside the window. Foraging on flowering current is pulled out of shadow by the flash
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Burst Setting: Using my programme Auto I can override flash and I can select burst
settings where multiple photos are taken in quick succession, a really useful feature
for bees on the move. The burst setting enables us to grab a sequence of high-res
shots at close time intervals. We can then select the optimum shot from the sequence.
The bees evict a wasp, in burst shots above the wasp is obscured but in the selected
shot the wasp is revealed in a strong sunlight opportunity photo.
Specials: Another feature of many digital cameras is a panoramic image as used in
the header image of the Conwy Beekeepers Association website http://www.conwybeekeepers.org.uk/
Editing: I use MS Power Point as my main photo editor; create a folder and insert
your photo from the memory stick it’s easy to crop and enhance using the standard
tools; click on the image and select the format setting to edit then save as a JPEG.
If you have difficulty seeing eggs in cells then a digital photo solves the problem and
may also reveal things that were missed during the inspection. I occasionally demonstrate beekeeping to schools and by attaching photos to frames we can simulate an
inspection and pass these around the class.
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You can see the eggs and look closely for signs of disease in an expanded photo and
printed bee photos are great in presentations on bees and beekeeping.
Non-Bee Keepers: You don’t have to be a beekeeper to join an association and attend apiary meetings here you can experience bee photography up close and apply
photography as an aid to the better understanding of pollinators; with 250 species of
bee in the UK and loads of other fascinating insects all requiring the same observation
and patience to capture and process digital images. Photos in the hive usually involve
presenting the frame to be photographed square to the camera or intentionally angled
to capture the target area of content.
Queen cell and new queen bee
Holiday Bees: On holiday we see bees in a different context adapted to alternative
foraging.
Foraging on Florida Palm
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Your bee photos can be applied to digital self-adhesive labels; this process is more
economically viable where you have a range of designs. In this example a clear selfadhesive material is used on versions of label with different images with white and
black text to arrive at a final range printed to rolls. If say 3 beekeepers get together to
have digital labels printed of a single size on a single material means it is just one press
run that could involve 3 different addresses each across 2 different jar sizes and 2 different honeys showing 2 different images per person so some 24 variants and in most
cases there is no set-up cost with digital. These labels do not have thermal overprint
that can rub off, the printed content can be a full description and is durable and applied under a varnish or gloss laminate; the labels are die cut to easy-peel off the rolls;
it takes some thought to put together but press proofs can be produced for us to test
cut and apply before committing to any production quantities; an opportunity from
taking bee photos.
Digital labels on rolls, jars and as proof sheets with your digital photos
Barry Griffiths, member Conwy Beekeepers Association
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BIBBA “Bee Improvement for All” Days 2014/15
The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) will be repeating their
highly successful “Bee Improvement for All” days during the winter of 2014/15. Last
winter there were 11 events held in venues over a wide geographical area, with excellent feedback from attendees.
The purpose of the events is to help and encourage beekeepers of all abilities to
improve their bees, using simple techniques that don’t necessarily use anything other
than standard equipment that all beekeepers are likely to have.
Colony aggression is a problem that can be easily reduced, with beekeepers often
not knowing how docile some bees can be. Beekeepers with a small number of hives
don’t usually have the opportunity to see many other colonies, so it is difficult for
them to compare their own bees with those of other beekeepers. Some suggestions
on how to achieve this are given.
A COLOSS study has recently been conducted where local strains of bees were compared to “foreign” strains at 21 locations in 11 countries in Europe. In each case the
local strain consistently performed better than “foreign” strains.
Rather than use imported queens, attendees are encouraged to raise queens from
colonies that are suited to their locality, utilising some of the opportunities presented
to them by their bees during the summer, using methods that are little more than
what they are probably already using.
BIBBA work with local BKAs to stage these events, with no cost to the local BKA.
We are seeking BKAs who are keen to help their members improve their bees, so if
you would like a “Bee Improvement for All” day in your area you can find details on
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beeimprovementforallday.html.
Please feel free to contact BIBBA Conference and Workshop Secretary
Roger Patterson roger-patterson@btconnect.com 01403 790 637 to
discuss further.
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WBKA Examination report for 2014
Lynfa Davies
The WBKA has seen a very encouraging year so far with a good number of candidates
taking exams and assessments. Students and assessors have been busy across Wales
with the basic assessment and we’ve not finished yet, as a few more candidates are
due to take their Basic assessment at the time of writing this. Results to date are
passes for;
Aberystwyth: Phil Springham, Ingrid Evans, Ruth Edwards, Tim Pryce, Anna Cole and
Alan Cole
Anglesey: Jenny Shaw, David Bowles, Cathy Davies, Phil Rea, Simon Hunt and Jean
Matthews
Brecon and Radnor: Peter Bustin and Chris Cardew
East Carmarthen: Keith Hall, Paul Davies and John Dray
Montgomeryshire: Eifion Thomas, Nicole Aaron, Dave Yaffey, Keith Rimmer and Tony
Shaw
Mike Lax (Conwy) sat his General Husbandry assessment in July and passed. This is a
practical examination that is taken in your own apiary and the candidate is expected
to display a good practical beekeeping standard.
Back in March six candidates achieved passes in their Module exams and special
mention should go to Stephen Davies and Ade Morris who completed the final paper,
Module 8. A great achievement and both are well on the way to achieving Master
Beekeeper status. The results for the March modules are as follows;
Module 1: Gill Todd - Brecon and Radnor
Module 2: Ruth Stafford – Montgomeryshire
Module 5: Lynfa Davies – Aberystwyth
Module 6: Mike Lax – Conwy
Module 8: Stephen Davies – Swansea and Ade Morris – Cardiff, Vale and Valleys
Well done to everyone! It really is great to see so many students achieving success. A
full round up of this years results will appear in the next edition of the Welsh Beekeeper.
The modules this autumn will take place on the 8 November and applications must
be in by the 30 September. The application form is available on the website.
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You may be aware that the WBKA Examination and Education Committee have
recently being reviewing the exam system and whether it is working effectively for
its members. The Committee identified several problems that it decided should be
brought to the attention of the WBKA Council;
•
•
•
•
•
The Welsh General Husbandry is not accepted by the BBKA for obtaining a
BBKA Master Beekeeper. However, the BBKA will accept the Welsh General
Husbandry for entry to the BBKA Advanced Husbandry. The candidate could
then be awarded a Welsh Master Beekeeper. Candidates currently working
to achieve Master Beekeeper status in Wales were not aware of this and did
not realise there is a difference between the English and Welsh certificates.
There is a serious lack of assessors at all levels in Wales which is limiting
what the WBKA can offer.
WBKA came to an agreement that BBKA would moderate a sample of the
modules taken in Wales so that all candidates could be assured the same
standards were being applied in Wales and England. The original cost for this
service was £5 per paper but this has recently risen to £12.50 per paper.
The low numbers of candidates taking exams and assessments in Wales
mean that it is very hard for the WBKA to cover the costs without subsidising
it.
The Education and Examination Committee have calculated that the approximate cost for each exam that needs to be marked is in excess of £10 when
all the administration and marking fees are taken into account. On top of this
there is an annual charge from the BBKA for setting the paper. This is a fixed
fee and in years with a very low uptake is unlikely to be covered. The costs
incurred in 2014 to date (this does include the November papers but not
marking the papers) are;
◦ Total costs of Modules £400
◦ Hire of venues, marking, photocopying etc for March modules £170
◦ Income from fees £150
As a result of these concerns the following proposal was put to Council on the 21
June.
•
The WBKA is committed to offering the Basic Assessment and will
continue to do so. Actions need to be taken to train more assessors and
engagement from local associations will be required to do this.
•
The WBKA will cease to offer modules in Wales. However, the WBKA will
work with the BBKA to continue offering modules in Wales through the
BBKA system. The WBKA will coordinate applications and examination
centres. Entry fees will be forwarded to the BBKA and all marking will be
undertaken by the BBKA. Candidates wishing to work towards Master
Beekeeper will receive the BBKA award.
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
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Autumn 2014
Council accepted this proposal and the WBKA Examination and Education Committee will now work closely with the BBKA to put in place an examination system that
will benefit our members. The modules sat in November 2014 will still be offered by
the WBKA and all applications should be submitted in the normal way. The proposed
changes will take effect from March 2015.
If you have any queries or suggestions please contact either myself or any of the
WBKA officers and trustees – we will be happy to hear your thoughts.
NortherN
Bee Books
Widest range of English language Bee Books
only a phone call away
01422 882751
www.groovycart.co.uk/beebooks
http://beekeepers.peacockmagazines.com
see a sample copy at
http://beekeepers.peacockmagazines.com
all this, and more at…
Northern Bee Books
Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge HX7 5JS (UK)
Phone: 01422 882751 Fax: 01422 886157
Gwenynwyr Cymru
#186
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Hydref 2014
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
40
Autumn 2014
Book Review
Wally Shaw
Wisdom for Beekeepers (500 tips for successful beekeeping)
by James E. Tew (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014)
ISBN: 978-1-62710-444-9
James Tew’s writings will be familiar to anybody
who has read Bee Culture, one of the oldest
beekeeping magazines in the world. He is a
regular correspondent for this magazine where
his contributions are very similar in style to this
book and I have always found them sensible
and informative. As the title suggests, this not
a book from which you teach yourself beekeeping. Although the opening chapter is entitled
‘Becoming a Beekeeper’ this is not a manual of
beekeeping. It is more a book for people who
have been engaged in the craft for several years,
have tried most things and got some experience
under their belt.
This edition was obviously designed for the UK market and is slightly anglicised
in places but the main emphasis is on beekeeping the North American way.
This produces one or two unexpected surprises the most startling of which is
Tip 367: ‘Small hive beetle may arrive on our shores’. This is a very American
book, written by an American and the reference to ‘our shores’ (meaning the
UK) seems somewhat out of place. References to the National hive are also not
very well-informed and would have best been left out.
American beekeeping and equipment is somewhat different from ours and
hive parts and some beekeeping practices have different names. The translation is usually fairly obvious but it may throw some people. For example, how
many British beekeepers realise that American beekeepers do not use wired
foundation and that the frames themselves are strung with wire? Neither are
they likely to know much about plastic foundation or all-in-one plastic frames.
There are one or two tips with which I do not entirely agree but when did
two beekeepers agree about everything? I did not come across anything that I
regarded as seriously misleading. All-in-all the book makes entertaining, bitesized reading and there are plenty of tips on a wide range of subjects that the
reader may find useful. However, don’t try and read all 500 tips in one session
as it may cause brain damage. The RRP price of £14.99 (hardback edition) represents good value for money.
Gwenynwyr Cymru
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Hydref 2014
Letters
Dear Editor,
I received my copy of Wally Shaw’s “making Increase” with pleasure and found it very
interesting. It will require several readings before I have fully digested all of it as my
brain is slower than it used to be!
However one point confused me. Wally states emphatically that a hive with emergency queen cells will not swarm and should be left to choose its own queen to rear. This
seems to be at odds with my own experience last summer when I lost a large swarm
from a hive which my husband and I split before it was making queen cells. We left a
selection of cells rather than thin them to one.
It also seems at odds with Mark Winston’s book, “The Biology of the Honey Bee”
which I bought on Wally’s strong recommendation at the 2013 WBKA Convention. On
Page 124 Winston states “.....the incidence of swarming in emergency queen situations can be up to 100% of colonies”.
The only explanation I can come up with is that Mark Winston is talking about a
colony which loses its queen but is otherwise undisturbed and in the same spot; what
I did was move the split with the old queen to a new site thus also leaving the now
queenless hive in situ. In both cases therefore the original flying bees are still present. Wally on the other hand moves the queenless part so that it is without the flying
bees. Would that explain the discrepancy and if so why?
Perhaps your readers can explain!
Yours Sandra Eckford
Reply to Sandra Eckfords letter:
I am still emphatic that a colony that has started queen cells in an emergency impulse
will not swarm no matter how many cells are produced. It does not matter whether
the emergency has been caused by the beekeeper removing the queen or the queen
has died and it does not matter if the colony is on its original site or it has been moved.
Over the years we have literally split colonies or removed the queen from a colony
many hundreds of times and we have never had the colony with emergency queen
cells go on to swarm.
So why does this view disagree with the much respected Mark Winston? Well, I have
no idea except to say that in this instance I think Winston is wrong. When about 10
years ago he was visiting the UK, he spoke at the BBKA Spring Convetion I tried to question him about this but he made it quite clear he was not interested in discussing the
matter with me (and this was a question in private after the lecture). You will also note
that he also thinks that colonies undergoing queen replacement by supercedure can
swarm. This is more understandable because it is sometimes difficult to correctly to
distinguish supercedure from swarming – that is until it all done and dusted.
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
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Autumn 2014
I am afraid that I think the most likely explanation for your experience last year is that
you missed at least one already started queen cell somewhere in the hive! Bees can
be very sneaky and hide cells (not deliberately of course) corners of frames. To make
absolutely sure you need to shake the bees off every frame and scrutinise them very
carefully. Had you done the split the other way round, with the part of the colony from
which the queen had been removed going to new site (this is the conventional way of
doing it with the flying bees returning to the colony with the old queen) the outcome
would have been different. Now the part making the emergency queen cells would
have lost its flying bees and would not have swarmed. However, the part on the old
site would almost certainly started queen cells and proceeded to swarm with the old
queen.
I do however have one possible ‘let out clause’ for you! If you look at my article about
swarming that was published in the Spring Edition of Welsh Beekeeper (No:184) you
will see that swarming does not necessarily start with the production of queen cells.
There is evidence that it starts about 14 days earlier with changed behaviour towards
the queen – the details are in the article. This may place the colony in a condition of
‘latent’ swarming but, as I have said in the article, splitting the colony usually seems to
prevent this going any further. Well, we did a split this year where the colony with the
old queen almost immediately set up to swarm – something that has never happened
before. Was this due to latent swarming not being aborted or did we miss a queen cell?
I kind of hope it was us who made the mistake!
Wally Shaw, July 2014
Gwenynwyr Cymru
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Hydref 2014
Obituary
It is with great sadness that I write these few totally inadequate words to
express my sadness at the passing of Ian Richards and his wife Shirley.
Ian kept bees for more than sixty-five years, getting his first hive in 1947, the
year of the great snow.
Ian served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was a member of the Old Comrades, a former chairman of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers Association, and a
long time member of the Bee Farmers Association.
I, as well as many others, was lucky to count both he and Shirley as close
friends, we helped each other out in many ways. He would listen and advise
anyone about their bees. Both he and Shirley will be sorely missed for the
kindness and hospitality offered to all.
As a retired police officer, Ian was able to devote his time to expanding his
interest in the bees and ran a successful venture with the West Valley Honey
Farm for many years.
Ian and I shared a mutual interest in salmon and sea trout fishing, and many
were the tales of the one that got away.
His sense of humour, and our joy when things finally went right for a change,
were shared on a weekly basis.
Fy mrawd yr wyf yn gweld eisiau ti.
May I express my sincere condolences to Mark, Yvonne and family on their
tragic loss. All lives that were touched by both Ian and Shirley will remember
them with so many fond memories.
The funeral for them both took place at St. Mary’s Church, Wiston, Haverfordwest on Thursday 22nd May.
Ricky Wilson.
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
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Autumn 2014
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Please note that “Bee Books New and Old”
has been taken over by “Northen Bee Books”
upon the retirement of John Kinross. Welsh
beekeepers wish John well in his retirement.
Apologies for the incorrect spelling of Dr Annie
Newsam’s name in the last edition. Sue.
Gwenynwyr Cymru
#186
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Hydref 2014
Local Association Representatives
Association
Secretary
Telephone
Aberystwyth
Ann Ovens
01970 832359
ann.ovens@btinternet.com
Anglesey
Jim Allen
01248 410338
secretaryabka@gmail.com
Brecknock & Radnor
Gillian Todd
01874 610902
gbtodd@btinternet.com
Bridgend & District
Sue Verran
01656 729699
verran@btinternet.com
Cardiff & Vale
Annie Newsam
Carmarthen
Brian Jones
Conwy
Peter McFadden
01492 650851
peter@honeyfair.freeserve.co.uk
East Carmarthen
Geoff Saunders
01558 685331
secretary@ec-bka.com
Flint & District
Jill and Graham
Wheeler
01745 560557
mertyndowning@btinternet.com
Gwenynwyr Cymraeg Ceredigion
W.I.Griffiths
Lampeter & District
Gordon Lumby
Lleyn ac Eifionydd
Amanda Bristow
Meirionnydd
Sue Townsend
01341 430262
suetownsend@tesco.net
Montgomeryshire
Keith Rimmer
01686 689061
secretary@montybees.org.uk
Pembrokeshire
John Dudman
01437 891892
secretarypbka@hotmail.com
South Clwyd
Carol Keys-Shaw
01490 460592
c.keysshaw@btinternet.com
Swansea
Paul Lyons
Teifiside
Donald RobertsonAdams
West Glamorgan
John Beynon
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
02920 868756 annienewsam@
hotmail.co.uk
01267 267318
beegeejay2003@yahoo.co.uk
01970 623334
wilmair@btinternet.com
01570 480571
g.lumby@btopenworld.com
01286 831328
amanda.bristow@egnitec.com
05602 159235
paullyons@btinternet.com
07939 336076
donald@theoldmill.fsnet.co.uk
01792 232810
jakbeynon@btinternet.com
46
Autumn 2014
Gwenynwyr Cymru
#186
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Hydref 2014
Associations in your area
The Welsh Beekeeper #186
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Autumn 2014