Taking the recent controversy that has come to the fore in the past few months, the web has been alive with criticisms of the BBKA officials and their stance on agrochemical industry. Their detractors have levelled criticisms at them for their accepting contributions from Bayer and other agrochemical companies and allowing them to use the British Beekeepers Association’s endorsement of certain of their products. The debate suggests that the officers of the BBKA are compromising the association in endorsing these chemicals when they are harmful to bees. The BBKA’s response is that used correctly these insecticides pose only a small risk to bees and the jury is still out on their effects on bees. However the Sierra Club, USA’s oldest environmental group, have written to America’s Environmental Protection Agency asking them to exercise the ‘precautionary principal’ and ban the use of neonicotinoids until their effect on bees is fully researched. They too are worried that low levels of neonicotinoids in the environment, in the order of three parts in a billion, could be destroying the bees ability to navigate and thus they are unable to return to their hives. Another argument forwarded is that the BBKA does not need these contributions, by increasing the annual subscription by £1.00 to £1.50 the amount received from these companies could easily be covered. The next Annual Delegates Meeting looks as though it could be a lively one. As an aside I would add that I do not think the officers of the BBKA have ‘sold their souls to the devil’ in approaching these companies, their motives have been to make sure the concerns of British beekeepers are properly considered by these agrochemical companies and to increase the funds of the association. These officers spend a lot of their spare time and energies promoting beekeeping and I think we should in no way doubt their motives. All these issues only go to make the need to create more funding for research a matter of extreme urgency.
The work the Publicity Group in promoting the issue of funding for research has been a resounding success, Tim has appeared on TV in anything from Farming Today to the 10 o’clock news. Christine Gray, the BBKA’s Press officer, has also made sure the funding issue is in front of news editors and TV newsrooms. The occasional bulletin from the team, which has been published in previous issues of Bee News, has kept us informed on the progress of the campaign. Support has come from all sorts of directions, Pam Ayres who keeps two hives at the bottom of her garden, has on several occasions used TV appearances to talk of our plight. The early Sunday morning Radio 4 show ‘Broadcasting House’ adopted a hive at Twickenham’s apiary and broadcast occasional visits to it, which provided another occasion to promote the issues around beekeeping and bee health. Unfortunately Barack Obama could not be persuaded to wait 24 hours before announcing his election, so it clashed with our march on parliament. Nevertheless the sight of so many white-clad people trailing a cloud of smoke caused quite a stir. We were approached by a French man who, when we explained what we were campaigning for, wished us well and said he was very concerned about the plight of bees in France. It was also good to have the full support of Ed Davey, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, and of his wife, who marched with us. The BBKA can be rightly proud of the day and, although it was not headline news, articles and photographs of the event appeared in newspapers for several days after November 5.
The issue of EFB has dogged our Apiary throughout the year, and the loss of hives in the aftermath of the infection has affected all who have hives at the apiary, especially those who saw their bees killed and their frames burnt. Brian Roet has, as a result of his hive being destroyed, decided to stop keeping bees. We shall miss him, he was always ready to pass on his experience and knowledge and any also any medical advice we needed. Most of us did not have a successful year when it came to the honey yield. The wet summer curtailed the bee’s foraging and most of our honey harvests were less that 50% of normal. The apiary hives, however, went against the trend and produced 300 lbs of honey between the five hives. I suspect that they daren’t put a foot wrong now that Avis has passed her Modules 3 and 4 of the BBKA Written Examinations.
So we look forward to the next season, on April 4. With the help of the bee inspectors, we are going to do a shook swarm procedure on all the hives in the apiary. Every hive will be treated and the procedure is explained in this newsletter (see below). By providing the bees with clean comb and clean brood boxes and then burning the frames and flaming the boxes they wintered on, it is hoped that we will be consigning EFB to the past. Then we can have another season of happy beekeeping. I just hope the bees will agree with us!
Dave Priest. Note, these random jottings are the opinions of the editor and does not represent the views of the Kingston Branch of the SBKA.
This council must bee joking
By John Coles, The Sun, 7 June 2008
A gardener who wanted to keep bees in his allotment was told by a council official – to PAINT them. Ken Jones, 57, says he was told he would have to put a dab of colour on each insect to identify him as the owner if they stung people. He said: “I was incredulous. I told him there was no way I could paint them all. It’s absolutely madness.” But yesterday Caerphilly Borough Council insisted the official’s remark “was made in jest off-the-cuff”. A spokesman said: “He did not think it would be taken seriously.” Ken wants to put in two hives - with 50,000 bees - at the site. He keeps bees at his home nearby in Ystrad Mynach, South Wales. The council are considering Ken’s application.
Shook Swarm - 4 April 2009
Dear All,
We need to eliminate EFB from the Hampton Court Apiary and hope that carrying out a ‘whole Apiary shook swarm’ will do the trick. It is vital that all members carry out the shook swarm on the same day. Alan Byham would like everyone to be at the Apiary in the morning, we suggest from 10am, as flaming will take a considerable time. Alan Byham and David Rudland will be on hand to help us. Failure to comply will put the hives of your fellow beekeepers at risk.
All members with a hive at the Apiary MUST follow these instructions – this is NOT optional. If anyone has a good reason for not attending, such as illness and can provide the necessary equipment someone else will carry out the shook swarm for them. However, the Apiary Managers must be notified.
Each hive will need:
- Brood box (now might be the time to change to deep brood boxes if you were going to).
- Floor
- Crown board
- Roof
- Queen excluder (frame if possible)
- Full set of 11 frames fitted with new foundation
- Entrance block
- Suitable rapid feeder with eke or super
- Sugar syrup to fill feeder
- Flame gun or blowtorch if possible
The hive must have a mated, laying queen and an adequate number of bees (at least 5 frames well covered with bees).
Method
Any supers should be cleared down into the brood box at the latest the day before the shook swarm is to be done.
The old hive is moved to the side and the clean brood box is placed on the site of the old hive and arranged in the following order.
- Floor, with entrance block if required
- Queen excluder. (The excluder is placed here to prevent the colony absconding)
- Brood box, complete with frames of new foundation
Remove 4 or 5 frames from the middle of the new brood box and place to one side. Lightly smoke the old hive and remove roof, crown board and any supers.
The brood frames from the old hive should be taken out one at a time, carefully inspected for the queen and then shaken into the space made in the new brood box. If the queen is found, then she should either be carefully shaken into the new brood box or placed in a queen cage and released into the new box when all other bees have been shaken in.
When all the bees have been shaken in, the crown board and feeder are placed on the new brood box and the syrup poured into the feeder. Any other holes in the crown board must be covered to stop bees accessing the space in the eke. The roof should now be fitted.
Care should be taken not to let bees from other colonies rob the old brood frames prior to burning by placing them in a brood box and covering with a lid or sealing in plastic bags.
A pit will be dug and the frames removed from the old brood box will be burned on a bonfire in the pit together with frames from any secondary brood box. The pit will be covered in when the fire has burned out in order to avoid bees robbing from anything that may not have been entirely consumed.
Flame all the old equipment thoroughly – base, floor, brood box(es), queen excluder, cover board, roof – EVERYTHING.
Further Management
- The foundation in the new brood nest will generally be drawn out quickly as long ascontinual feeding is carried out & a super
- should be added when nearly all of the brood comb is drawn.
- Any supers placed on the hive must be new foundation or have been treated with Acetic acid & aired.
- The queen excluder placed under the brood box should be removed as soon as brood is present, as bees will not usually abscond from a colony with brood.
- Any supers placed on the hive must be new foundation or have been treated with Acetic acid & aired.
- The queen excluder placed under the brood box should be removed as soon as brood is present, as bees will not usually abscond from a colony with brood.
The Bee Inspectors will be present on the day to help us.
GOOD LUCK!
Buzz off, we’re taking it easy, bees tell scientists
By Ian Johnston, The Independent, 16 November 2008
Research shows some insects belie their reputation and won’t go foraging for food until supplies run out.
We have all been conned. Even the name suggests industry: the worker bumblebee is, we thought, the epitome of effort as it buzzes around, foraging for food. But now research has revealed that, far from striving tirelessly for the good of the colony, bees are as prone to slacking as the rest of us when they can get away with it.
Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London, discovered that some bumblebees have a tendency to ignore promptings to go out to get food, choosing to rest instead if there is even a tiny amount of food in their store.
Read the full article on The Independent Web site
European Foul Brood and bee diseases
The Apiary Management Team has arranged for the Regional Bee Inspectors - Alan Byham and David Rudland - to talk to our members and to answer questions on the above subject.
We will meet at the Lime Tree - High Street - Thames Ditton on March 18th at 7.30 pm
