The Basingstoke Beekeeper

March 1997

The Basingstoke Beekeeper is published in March, June, September and December. Items for submission should reach the editor by the middle of the month prior to publication.

Editor: Gordon Scott (01256)-476547.

www.basingstoke-beekeepers.org.uk

This newsletter is typeset using LaTeX under the Linux operating system.

New Style

Once again I am changing the style of the Basingstoke Beekeeper. And again the change is not just for appearances, this time it's to help me produce the two different published version I now make - the A5 paper booklet that we send to members and a very few selected others, and the World Wide Web version that I put on my Internet page.

The package I'm using from this issue is new to me but actually quite mature. The improvements in personal computers has allowed me to use it on my PC where just a few years ago I'd have needed an expensive minicomputer. It better automates the long process from text to publication, easily incorporates a table of contents, footnoes and cross-reference and also allows me to work with my preferred computer environment as I'm no fan of Microsoft and MS-Windows.

It will be a little while before I'm fully up to speed, but I hope my first effort is encouraging.

Gordon

Committee and Officers for 1997

Please note that our constitution gives voting rights at committee meetings only to members from President to Other Members inclusive.

The new subscriptions were also agreed. If you have not yet renewed your subscription, please do so promptly.

Apiary Update

The long awaited management of the much neglected St. John's Copse has started. Gordon, Sue and I joined several dozen local volunteers on 19th January to widen the ride. A side effect of that is improved access to the apiary. A second working party, on 15th February, started coppicing the area to the left of the entrance. Again there was a good turnout, at which Gordon and I were present. A mid-week working party is planned for 5th March. That could be the last of the current season, although dates have been fixed for similar work in neighbouring Cowdown Copse.

To the initiated, freshly cut coppice is a heartening sight. To the uninitiated, it is environmental vandalism. Hopefully the latter will change their minds as the scars heal and the beauty of an improved ground flora develops. More glades and flowers should attract a greater number and variety of insects, birds and mamals. As for our bees, they have lost some of their hazel catkins, a source of early pollen. There are plenty left, however, and hopefully the loss will be compensated for by the improved flora in spring and summer. The cut coppice, apparently called arisings, is being put to good use by local people for pea and bean sticks, fire wood, garden mulch (after shredding) and even furniture for Guide and Scout camps!

The bees have been active on mild days. On 15th February they were bringing in pollen, some of it from the snowdrops in St. John's. Periodic inspection of floor inserts through the winter has revealed a very low natural mortality of varroa mites. In each case they could be counted quite literally on the fingers of one hand. There is no room for complacency though, as there is still much to be learned about the insidious little creatures. At this point it is appropriate to mention the Foulbroods again, particularly EFB, which is widespread in Hampshire. Please remember, If in doubt, call me out!

Although attendances at some of last year's apiary meetings were very poor, my soundings suggest that Saturday afternoons are still preferred. Therefore, this year's have again been fixed for Saturdays at 2:30pm, weather permitting as always. We will meet at St. John's Copse but may sometimes move on to Breach Farm or to my own apiary at the Manor, according to particulart points of interest at the time. I have made no formal attempt at a theme for each meeting (it was not too succesful when tried two years ago), except for the meetings in August and September, which are six weeks apart to allow for the insertion and removal of Apistan or Bayvarol strips.

Anyone, including prospective beekeepers, is welcome to join me in routine inspections at other times by arrangement. Please contact me on Basingstoke 781288.

Visits to members' own apiaries would be very welcome. Chris Mounty kindly hosted one last year. Any offers to Gordon please, to enable dates to be published in the newsletter.

Best wishes for the coming season. I hope to see you all at some time.

Dave Purchase, Apiary Manager.
2 Feb. 1997

Quality Cakes

A Cake Cooking Assessment Evening

It wasn't too many years ago that my idea of a [piece of] good cake equated to one of more than two mouthfuls. In this context but taken further, I suppose a prize-winning cake would be one that Jo Brand struggled to consume. It's a philosophy which I imagine most Americans can relate to; if it's bigger it must be better. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree with this view, if you wish to know more about how to make a prize-winning cake then you cannot afford to miss our April speaker, Mrs. Christine Fletcher.

A Women's Institute National Cake Judge, Mrs. Fletcher will be telling us what she looks for in a cake in show classes. The idea for this particular meeting is for members and/or their family to bake to one or both of the recipes in this newsletter and bring the finished product along to the meeting as if it were for a show entry, and have your efforts assessed by an expert who will give her views on our opportunities to further improve.

This isn't a competition and there will be no prizes on offer other than the opportunity of learning from the experience, so please make an effort, get your mixing bowls and pinnies out and bring your cakes (remember to bake to the recipe(s)) along on 17th April. It doesn't matter how good or bad a cook you may think you are, if you let me have a sample of more than two mouthfuls of your cake I will pronounce it A Good Cake.

John Cain

Save Your Back

Here's something I like to stress when I talk to new beekeepers.

I like to ask beginners to name the beekeeper's most important asset. They never give the answer I am looking for. I tell the that beekeeper's back is the most important asset and they should look after it properly.

Some of you may dispute that your back is more import than the rest. However my reasoning is close enough to the truth to make people think more carefully about their lifting technique.

Regards, Chris Allen in Oz

Coppicing at St. John's

Initial coppicing work at St. John's Copse has started. Sue Forster from Hampshire Wildlife Trust led our first day's work on a misty Saturday morning in January. Though the morning was a little cold, we soon warmed up as we worked.

Around thirty people including Dave Purchase, Sue and I turned up for this first day. We were supplied with bowsaws or loppers and briefly instructed how to cut the areas on which we were to work. This entailed cutting the hazel and bramble either side of the ride to allow sunlight in. The Trust obviously underestimated our initial enthusiasm as our 10am until 1pm work was finished by about 11:30. Large piles of branches and trimmings lined the drive, which was already transformed into a brighter area.

Come February 15th and we are back for our second day's work. It was clear, warm and sunny - a really nice spring day that was not for missing. By now more planning of the work has been done and a blanket cut no trees order has been lifted. We start by coppicing an area to the left of the entrance, cutting all the hazel to ground level for about 30 yards or so in and across, leaving just a narrow screen by the roadside. Several substantial oaks now dominate a modest glade with a few birch trees, the latter soon to be removed by contractors as they are quite deeply invasive. The hazel stools are covered with brush to protect them from the attentions of deer and some more large piles of cuttings dominate the ride.

Already we can see the multitude of spring flowers poking their leading growth up from the soil. It will be interesting to see just how much does appear as St. John's Copse is very rich in plant life.

It's nice to see a significant number of people who are interested in the future of both St. John's Copse and Cowdown Copse and who are prepared to put their back into supporting them. Quite a few people were interested in the bees and we spent a while chatting about our charges during our tea breaks.

At the time of writing I don't have any further dates for work at St. John's (it may even be over for this winter), but there is work planned for Cowdown Copse (at the junction between Pack Lane and Fox Lane) on 16th March from 10am to 1pm and volunteers will be welcome.

Gordon

A Letter From France

by Malcolm (Tom) Sanford
Florida Extension Apiculturist email@omitted.anti.spam

February 11, 1997, Aix-en-Provence, France

Yesterday, I attended a full day's beekeepers' meeting in Les Moyens, a village in the Department of Var that is next to the Department of Bouche du Rhone, where Aix-en-Provence is located. Departments in France are equivalent to provinces or states in other countries. The setting was in a grove of cork oaks; one of the most majestic trees there was quite old and marked by having much of its bark removed over the years to make wine-corks. The grove looked ill managed and probably is not used that way any more. Cork oaks exist here because their thick bark protects them from the frequent forest fires of this region.

The setting was at a local community house; about 60 French beekeepers were present. This was the annual meeting of the SAPP (Professional Beekeepers Association of Provence). Professionals are separated here from hobbyists and form their own associations. I also met an organizer who was there to represent the agriculture association of many professional associations which includes all branches of agriculture, rather like American Farm Bureau. Topics brought up were not surprising; they were much like one might expect at other beekeeper meetings. There was discussion of the financial situation of the Association; the SAPP apparently puts on several honey promotional days and much of the money is spent on these events. There was also the annual vote to determine the yearly dues. Quite animated; I believe the price set was ff1300 or about $260/ or £150.

Another topic included the presence of honey in the market place that purported to be of a certain variety and was not. The President of the SAPP brought a bottle of very dark, strong-tasting honey labeled as lavender, which is the premium honey of this region. Real lavender honey is water-white and mild tasting. There is a certification program of some kind for this honey (a red label can be affixed to ensure source), but the consumer apparently is not well aware of this. The honey market was analyzed by various beekeepers present. Lavender honey has dropped almost 50 percent in value since the mid-1980s; higher world honey prices, however, rather like elsewhere in the world is cause for optimism here.

We discussed the pesticide spraying of lavender, grown primarily as an ingredient in perfumes and secondarily as a honey source. Also the spraying of grape vines, which in the process poisons bees foraging on the understory plants found between the vine rows. There is a national insurance plan to protect beekeepers against pesticide application, but that is not a solution to the problem. Beekeepers also complained about the high rent charged by the state-run forest service to put hives on public lands. The European Economic Community's regulations or lack of them (presence of Italian, Hungarian and Italian honey in the markets) was also analyzed.

M. Pascal Jourdan of ADAPI (Association for Apiculture Development in Provence), which coordinates four beekeeping education centers, two professional beekeepers associations, an association of honey packers and two GRAPPs which are involved primarily in pollination, discussed at length research by ADAPI on formic acid, rotenone, amitraz , and the Italian product Apilife Var for Varroa control. All these products provide some control, but are labor intensive. Take-away news from the meeting for U.S. beekeepers is that the problem of resistance by Varroa to Apistan has come to France via Italy.. The product simply no longer provides mite control.

Tom Sanford

Silver Bullets?

The following information was posted on Bee-L by Dr. Pedro Rodriguez and Aaron Morris. Some early reactions were cries of dissent, but there's more than a little evidence that this may be a significant advance. Read and consider for yourself. Ed.

from Beekeepers at Norfolk - email@omitted.anti.spam

Dr. Rodriguez spoke at the ABF Convention last night at about 5PM.

He described his technique for varroa control to a small, but interested group of listeners.

He will be publishing his article in several magazines over the next few months, and we expect to present his results on the net for interested observers to examine.

Essentially his method involves using strips of common waxed paper coated with food grade mineral oil. The strips are inserted into the hive and left for two weeks at which time new strips are inserted.

In his tests which are as of yet limited, he had hives go from 54 capped cells per 100 showing varroa to virtually none.

He used a number of untreated controls for comparison. They died.

Since these are limited tests, they need to be repeated by other beekeepers and by scientists in order to verify that this technique does indeed work under all the various possible situations that beekeepers encounter.

For one thing mite drop counts would be very appropriate in subsequent tests to establish the rate of mite attrition.

It will be interesting to see how well these results can be duplicated in various locations over the coming months.

from Dr. Rodriguez

Dear Fellow beekeepers:

I have made arrangements for a magazine article where you will have complete details of my work. It is solid, well thought out and tested both in the lab and in the field. I am very happy because not only will my findings be beneficial immediately for the war against Varroa but because I am sure that many other investigation projects will spring from it! Contrary to past trials with oils, none used mineral oil.

Food grade mineral oil does not have a single negative action or reaction to the bees if applied with care (one can drown the bees too if one wants; like one can kill the bees with Apistan or any other miticide if applied in excess) and will be readily accepted by government regulators because it is a standard item approved for use in food manufacturing. It is economic and easy to apply. AND IT WORKS without harming the bees. I risked 27 colonies. Twenty are still strong and thriving (five were controls, and two died because they were weak and were robbed) with one of them giving off a swarm yesterday with the first break in the cold weather! Unfortunately, that swarm will starve to death wherever it landed!

I know that many others will claim that they have used an oil and paper method as a miticide, but do they have a patent to prove it? It might be a poor man's patent, but I have one!

As stated before, I seek neither wealth nor glory. My work will be available to all shortly in order that it may be put to work where it will be most beneficial: to the honey bees!

By the way, I got the best results by coating lots of strips with a thin smear of the oil and replacing those strips every two weeks.

Dr. Pedro Rodriguez, Virginia Beach, Virginia USA

from Aaron Morris

I've been most interested in following the thread on the `silver bullet' announced by Dr. Rodriguez, and I want to add just a bit.

First, and most importantly, Dr. R. was very careful to note that his proposal calls for food grade mineral oil. being of sound constitution, I have no personal experience with mineral oil and will make no claim that I know the difference between food grade mineral oil and other mineral oil, but Dr. R. was very clear to make the distinction that his studies used food grade mineral oil.

His procedure calls for a very little smear of FGMO on wax paper strips. He cautions that too much FGMO will be detrimental to the bees as well as the mites. His hypothesis regarding how the FGMO is effective is that the FGMO gets into the spiracles of the mites (both tracheal and varroa), thereby suffocating them. The spiracles of the mites are much smaller than those of the bees, which is why a small quantity of FGMO is recommended - copious amounts of FGMO would also clog up the bees' spiracles.

Regarding credits for this idea, to my knowledge this is the first recommendation of mineral oil (food grade or otherwise) that I have seen, and frankly Dr. R. expressed very little regard for `credit' beyond a thank you for sharing his findings. He struck me as a very sincere man whose main concern was his bees, discovering a means to defend them against the mites, and sharing with the beekeeping public that which he found to be the demise of both tracheal and varroa mites!

I am aware of Diana's work, and was quick to start with vegetable oil patties in my hives, long before I had the opportunity to read her published work or hear her speak. I have followed closely the work of Dr. Calderone and James Armine (and others) regarding essential oils, although I haven't personally experimented with them. The reason I have tried vegetable oil but not essential oils is one of concern over putting the latter in my hives whereas in my mind vegetable oil is less `threatening'.

And now I hear a claim that yet another oil may have positive results in the war against mites. Dr. Rodriguez's claims are not far fetched and call for substantiation or debunking. I hope to see Dr. R's claims substantiated in a scientifically acceptable manner, whatever that may be - I'm not an experiment designer. And in the meantime I suspect that I will try moderate treatments in some hives to see what I can see.

I don't find Dr. R's claims to be beyond reason, neither do I see them as earth shattering as had been foreshadowed. I left his presentation thinking that he may be on to something here. Whose sig is

Test everything, hold on to the good!

Aaron Morris

from Dr. Rodriguez

Dear Aaron:

Thanks for your kind words.

I use Food Grade Mineral Oil because it is totally safe and already approved for use in food processing in the USA; for that matter it might be in Canada also. I also use waxed paper (the kind sold at the stores for food wrapping) for the same reason: To keep honey and the beehive environment free of contaminants.

You may have missed my point about the FGMO being effective in two ways: one because it blocks the spiracles (induces suffocation) and the other because it blocks the body pores through which the mites take in moisture from the environment (causing dehydration) So, as I indicated, there are two physiological avenues for it to be effective against the mites. Another important point that I mentioned at my short dissertation is that I make my applications every 15 days to interrupt the life cycle of the mites. If they are stopped as soon as they emerge from the cells not only won't they be available to penetrate the larvae again to breed but also they will die before they have the chance to parasitize the bees and render their debilitating effect.

I have made my findings known to everyone because I hoped that the scientific community would jump on my idea and try to duplicate my findings (or disprove them).

I must emphasize that I never called my work magical silver bullet. Someone else did. I never made any claim that I have not tested out or that I can not substantiate. Perhaps because someone else gave it adjectives of whatever other description, some people got the wrong idea.

Sincerely, Pedro

from Dave Scranton email@omitted.anti.spam

When I mentioned the grease patty idea to my wife, she wasn't surprised by it. As a kid, she raised rabbits and they used to smear Vaseline in the rabbits ears to kill the mites. One wonders why FGMO works over the Crisco patties other than the FGMO might be smaller in size than a huge glob of vegetable oil and better suited to get into the mites?

from Dr. Rodriguez

Dear Dave:

(You might say that this is an advance (synopsis) on my impending publication).

You got it my friend! It took me a long time studying the characteristics of mites and what would affect them biologically. Then I remembered that as a veterinarian I used to treat ear mites in cats and rabbits with nothing but mineral oil and the same thing for scale mites on the legs of birds. And bingo! Through study, I learned that mites have two types of pores on their bodies. One type for breathing (respiration) and one type for taking in moisture (hydration). I thought that if I could block these pores, the mites should die.

By combining my veterinary medicine experience and my knowledge about mite biology, I arrived at mineral oil. The beauty of my system is that the mineral oil can be made readily available for exposure to the mites (contrary to patties from which the bees must eat; or walk on Crisco smeared sticky sheets placed on the bottom boards). MO is much more fluid and thus, as you surmised, it penetrates the pores of the mites more readily blocking the pores and killing the mites through suffocation and dehydration.

From my food service experience in the Army and USDA, I know that Food Grade Mineral Oil does not contaminate the food or the environment and is approved by the government for use in food service industries. Hence we have a substance that is lethal to mites, it is not a pesticide, it is bee friendly (used in proper amounts) and environment friendly.

And it is working like a charm on my own bees! Soon I will publish a full report on my findings.

Many regards, Dr. Rodriguez

from David Eyre - email@omitted.anti.spam

Why is it necessary to use waxed paper? Which would not absorb much material! I would assume that regular paper towels would hold more mineral oil, and would therefore require fewer treatments.

Is this treatment applied to the top of the hive? If so it is then dependent on the bees removing the paper and discarding it out the front entrance.

Or, is it placed on the bottom board, in which case it is the traffic across the paper, before it is removed?

Clarification please!

from Andy Nachbaur - email@omitted.anti.spam

I also reared rabbits commercially when I was a young man and I purchased rabbits for slaughter from my neighbors for 50 miles around.

I got to see real bad cases of ear mites in rabbits. At the time there were vet preparations that you could buy at considerable costs to control the mites. They worked according to the directions and promotions that came with the small bottle of magic potion.

But then came along some smart beekeeper-like rabbit raiser and he choose to ignore the best vet advice and would not spend another nickel on his rabbits that were eating him out of house and home anyway. He told everyone how he used old motor oil to kill the mites the same as he used on his chickens who also got leg mites.

I had used old motor oil to control the mites on chicken legs with no problems, but chose to use 3in1 Oil for my rabbits. Both worked and soon mite problems became the exception and not the rule for my rabbits.

ttul Andy

Good Management and Swarm Prevention

from Laura A. Downey email@omitted.anti.spam

Some comments were made about good management and swarm prevention. I'd like to post a few questions regarding this subject.

I have noted that some people here are convinced that cutting queen cells is useless since the bees already have it in mind to swarm and nothing will stop them. If this is true, then how effective is it to cut swarm cells? Is it even worth doing? Does anyone have success with cutting swarm cells and preventing swarms?

Despite the fact that I was not physically able to tend to my hives over a two week period during the swarm season I think that either I averted the swarm impulse or otherwise the bees had no intentions of swarming, but only planned to supercede their queen. Under normal circumstances, I make it a point to get out to the hives at least once per week during swarm season. Not all of us are fortunate to have someone else do it for us. My husband has nothing to do with my bees other than to eat the honey they produce. I hold no grudge because of this. Some people just don't want to deal with bees. I'd rather not have someone out in my hives who doesn't want to be there.

As to what may have happened in one of my hives, do you think my bees were more likely to be superceding their queen or did they really have the impulse to swarm? I thought there was a way to tell by the location of the queen cells -- if the cells are in the center of the frames, it is a supercedure, if the cells are on the bottom of the frames, then it is a swarm impulse.

Laura, Anne Arundel Co., Maryland

from Roy Nettlebeck email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Laura,

It's like a dam filling up with water. If the dam has no way of relieving the water when it gets to the top, it will go over the top. Cutting queen cell is like taking out some of the water with buckets and not changing the source or controlling the way the water can be relieved thru the dam. Cutting queen cells is using a bucket, getting in and rearranging the hive and frames is changing the dam. You put in some fresh foundation and break up the congestion of the brood nest. Yes it will upset the hive. That is better that a swarm in a tree.

I have been watching hive manipulation for a long time. My two cents is, it will stimulate activity in the hive. They will spend time rearranging stores and by the time they are done and you have given them more room. They may not swarm -- I have had good luck with this approach. It sounds simple, but you have to use your head. Make sure the bees can cover the brood and remove ALL the queen cells if you want to keep the old queen. Hope for a nice day to do it, bees that are in a good mood seem to go along with the program much better.

Beekeepers need to pay attention to the weather, when they work bees. It is one factor that has a lot of impact on the bees' overall behavior. Try to load the deck in your favor, good weather if possible, open up the brood nest so the queen has room to lay. The pros can't do all of what you do. They know what works for them and they do more preplanning, so they are ahead of the bees. They know what to expect, because of their knowledge of bee behavior. Then we have a big change in weather and school is out for everyone. I'm 2 weeks behind and slipping fast. We have sun this morning. The first time in over a month. This will be a long day, but I'm looking forward to it, so I can get some work done with the hives.

Best of Luck, Roy

from P-O Gustafsson email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Laura,

I have noted that some people here are convinced that cutting queen cells is useless since the bees already have it in mind to swarm and nothing will stop them. If this is true, then how effective is it to cut swarm cells? Is it even worth doing? Does anyone have success with cutting swarm cells and preventing swarms?

Well, there is not a simple answer to that is there ever in beekeeping? If I get swarm cells because I'm not quick enough adding boxes, yes it might help to cut cells and give the bees more space. On the other hand, if I have bees that really have decided to swarm, I have to split the hive and reduce the number of bees to below swarming point.

I thought there was a way to tell by the location of the queen cells -- if the cells are in the center of the frames, it is a supercedure, if the cells are on the bottom of the frames, then it is a swarm impulse.

My experience is that the bees make a few cells in the center of the round brood area when they want to supercede. If they go swarming they start with cells above the brood area, and then the queen lay in cells further and further down with some days difference. At the same time she will slow down on egg laying to get prepared to fly with the swarm. The reason for the queen to lay in swarm cells with some days difference is that there should be new queens hatching out if the first virgin gets lost during mating flight.

One way to get around the problem with swarming is to put an excluder under the bottom box. When the swarm season is over there will be only one virgin left. She will fly out to mate when the excluder is removed. It's not fun with all the dead drones on the excluder, but it's a way to prevent swarming if there is no time for normal checking. Be careful not to leave the excluder too long under the hive!

Regards, P-O Gustafsson, Sweden

from David Eyre email@omitted.anti.spam

While we are discussing swarm control in all its facets nobody has mentioned what I consider to be the easiest check. On the hive examination look for eggs a hive will not swarm leaving open brood.

So...subject to timing i.e. how old the open brood or eggs are helps to determine if and when that hive will swarm.

If you don't find eggs, then you're probably too late. In that case, make a false swarm and split, unless of course you want to give your bees to a neighbour!!

from Franklin D. Humphrey Sr. email@omitted.anti.spam

I have to disagree that bees will not swarm leaving open brood. Here, we use single hive bodies and that may be the difference, but I have seen colonies swarm leaving open brood. The case may be made that they were under stress and swarmed. I used to try cutting swarm cells and found out the hard way that if the urge is strong enough, they will swarm leaving open brood and open queen cells.

Frank Humphrey

from Roy Nettlebeck email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi David,

You're completely right about the slim part, before the old queen leaves with the swarm. Think about queen weight and egg production in one day. I have read that a queen will lay her own weight in eggs in one day. It looks possible sometimes in the spring and early summer. If she would turn off the switch for egg laying, it should not take long to drop in weight. I have seen larva in a hive that just swarmed and did not think to much about it at the time. Some races swarm at a drop of a hat. The old carni's were known for their swarming in the spring. I used to count on splitting them in the spring. I had one hive in 1980 that was in 5 deep brood boxes. It was mean and I split it into 5 parts to find the queen. You would lift the lid on that hive and the lights would go out. The veil would be covered in a second. She was an egg layer!.

Best Regards, Roy

from Ed Levi email@omitted.anti.spam

David,

Nothing to brag about, but I've seen my share of swarms over the past 25 years. From my experience, it not uncommon to find a abundance of freshly laid brood from a departing queen in the days (or daze) just prior to swarming. I have also seen, but less frequently, a lack of young brood in the mother colony of a swarm. When I attended a beekeeping course in France, we were taught that the departing queen will lay a large number of eggs before departing to assure the survival of the remaining colony.

Ed

from Joel Govostes email@omitted.anti.spam

During swarming season I do the quickie swarm cell check once every 7-10 days or so. That is, just crack the brood boxes apart, tip up the upper one, apply some smoke gently to its underside, and scan for queen cups/cells. If they have lots of cups I can remove a couple frames of brood to a weak hive and replace them with empties. Often this will do the trick. I realize you can't see ALL the potential queen cells, but I'm just looking for an indication of colony status.

If I see actual queen cells, with eggs or small larvae in them (sometimes its very easy to notice the presence of royal jelly without looking too hard), I remove 3 frames capped brood from the upper box plus a comb of food and replace them with empties, also do a quick spot check of the remaining brood frames in the upper chamber. The pulled combs, with queen cells, go into weak hives or nuclei, or get combined 9 to a chamber and form new colonies. This has helped in keeping up with mite/winter losses.

After a few rounds of inspections, the swarm season is past, and the bees are occupied with foraging. Now comes the more easy-going routine of just adding supers all around as necessary, and anticipating a bumper crop...

Joel

from Ted Fischer Ted_Fischer.ANATOMY email@omitted.anti.spam

If I see swarm cells during a late spring inspection, I will often cut them and search for the rest as well, but I realize that this hive will probably swarm anyway. If the colony has been a good one, I save the queen cells and make a lot of splits from it, giving each split a frame with one or more good queen cells. Then I put the queen in a hive body with maybe only one frame of brood, the rest empty or with stores. That way I don't have to worry about looking for a swarm and I end up with several new colonies from a good parent queen. (I take the splits out of the original yard, or the bees would drift back to the original hive location.)

To prevent all this fuss in the first place, every colony should be requeened once a year. Probably the best time to do this is in the late summer, but I have so much going on with honey harvest, etc., at this time that my practice is to requeen in the spring. A requeened colony rarely swarms.

Ted Fischer

from Peter Bray email@omitted.anti.spam

That's one way of selectively breeding good swarming stock! If you don't want swarming vigour in your stock, it's not a good idea to raise queens from swarming hives. (some people do want swarming stock, linking it to increased honey production -- if you can keep them out of the trees).

We rely on using bee-stock (our own) that does not show swarming tendency as one of our swarm control management methods. Others include young queens (less than 18 months), 2 queen hives, brood nest reversal and aiming to keep brood nest congestion to a minimum. A couple of frames of brood pulled and put above a queen excluder can help reduce brood nest congestion if all else fails. Just make sure it's not young brood or they might do a swarm/supercedure cell on it.

Regards, Peter Bray, Airborne Honey Ltd. Leeston, New Zealand

from Ted Wout email@omitted.anti.spam

This is my second year as a beekeeper and I saw swarming activity in my one over-wintered hive. My beekeeping mentor gave me advice, cutting queen cells and adding a super. This hive was jammed with bees and looked better than any of his hives. He marveled at how prolific my queen was and how well my first hive was doing. Said it was one of the best he had seen in a long time. I followed his advice and eventually my bees swarmed anyway, leaving many more queen cells than I had just removed.

If I could take it all back now, I wish that I had just split the hive. I'd have my original hive plus another with her genetics. Now I have a hive that is stunted waiting for a new queen to mate and then lay eggs. This is a tremendous setback in the heat of the Texas honeyflow.

Every experienced beekeeper that I've met has told me not to fight the bees instinct but use it to my advantage. The bees are driven by their instinct to swarm and contradictory to their advice, beekeepers fight the swarming instinct. Why not just swarm for them by splitting the hive and not losing your bees? Do split hives still regularly swarm? Next year, after this year's experience, I'm going to split any hive that shows an inclination to swarm. I'd rather have my bees and an extra hive than to have them swarm and risk losing them.

Ted Wout, Red Oak, TX

from Michael Haberl email@omitted.anti.spam-muenchen.de

My standard management is to inspect colony status weekly and look for queen cells. The time when I begin inspections depends on climate (here about the last week in April). By the time the first Q cell contains an egg or a larva (after 7 days Q cell could be just capped in the worst case) I cut out all cells that contain larvae and take out the old queen (I kill her when I do not need her otherwise, with valuable queens, of course, I make splits). I put in 5 grafted larvae in Q cups (larvae from qualified queens). Usually all colonies will accept at least one of the grafted larvae. Otherwise, I compensate between colonies. (For security reasons, I take away all combs with open brood cell from one colony and use this colony for breeding additional grafted larvae.) After 9 days (all female brood capped) I take away all queen cells except the grafted one. This queen will hatch, mate.

PRO: The colonies will hardly try to swarm again this year. Very strong colonies, high honey yield (many workers, gap in brood feeding!) Varroa reproduction gap (when no honey flows -- an opportunity for varroa treatment!), every year a young queen, which give excellent spring starts Usually only one or two inspections before they have occupied Q cups.

CONTRA: two times Q cup cutting, searching of the old queen, mating risk (make some nucs with surplus q cells, reduce mating risk by some landmarks in front of the hives, do not align them regularly).

Michael Haberl, Zoologisches Institut der Uni Muenchen

from Mauricio Montes-Castillo email@omitted.anti.spam

Hi Bee people:

I have been reading all this good ideas about how to control/prevent a colony from swarming. All of them are excellent, but I think the back-bone of the problem has not been discussed yet. This is genetics. We first have to recall that most apis mellifera behaviour is not learnt, but rather have a very high genetic component. And swarming behaviour is not the exception, I believe that swarming in European bees and absconding behaviour in African bees are controlled by highly correlated genes (if not the same genes!)

Therefore we must be aware that we are responsible for the continuation of the swarming problem in our bees. This is, we usually make our splits from colonies that are about to swarm or already did. Some of us increase the number of colonies from feral colonies who may have a high tendency to swarm (otherwise they were not feral).

How many of us bother to replace the queens from those swarms?

How many of us rear queens from colonies that didn't show a tendency to swarm the past season?

We should be fair then, and not blame the poor creatures of a behaviour we are encouraging somehow.

Open to feedback or comments...

Mauricio Montes, Brisbane, Australia

from Bill Miller email@omitted.anti.spam

On the recent subject of swarm prevention and splits, I am a fan of making nucs (small splits) early in the spring (first week of April for us in Maryland). These small splits are given four medium frames of brood (I run an all medium operation), and a new queen. These nucs are later sold for $40 each, with a good market.

The main colonies benefit from the nuc as a swarm prevention measure, local beekeepers get new colonies, and I get some cash for my efforts.

W. G. Miller, Gaithersburg, MD

Formic Acid

by email@omitted.anti.spam

Re. Formic Acid Tolerance Exemption

Roy Nettlebeck submitted an e-mail opposing the use of Formic Acid (FA) in beehives. Your opposition is well taken but your reasons are somewhat unreasonable. I should point out that I prefer no use of any drugs or chemicals in beehives and surely FA is among the least attractive. So why would I still be in support of its availability and use?

Well, here in Canada we traveled through the whole gamut of getting the product scheduled (a slight variation from a full registration that proprietary products enjoy). We had no love for FA but it is a product that proved effective against varroa and that it would be a badly needed addition to the extremely limited arsenal of products currently available to combat the mite.

Fluvalinate remains a wonderfully safe and effective product (albeit expensive). It is used worldwide and has become the choice control. Because of its widespread and frequent use, beekeepers may take this product for granted and become relaxed about its use. Using the product other than label instructions and over extended periods of time will lead inevitably towards increased tolerance, followed by outright resistance.

Fluvalinate is a synthetic pyrethroid and varroa's reproductive mechanism and life-cycle makes it likely that resistance will develop. Closely related products such as flumethrin (commercially available in Europe) may not offer an alternative because resistant varroa is likely to have resistance to all these closely related compounds. (Perhaps it explains why no other chemical companies have initiated registration of those similar products in North America).

With all our eggs in the fluvalinate-control basket, we have become extremely vulnerable to a sudden and rapid spread of mites resistant to the product. The question is of course, what will the beekeeping industry do when this happens. Out of desperation, beekeepers will just about dump anything into their hives to save their bees (and their livelihood). We believe that FA is an acceptable alternative, even with its negative sides. With careful use of FA as an alternative control product, we may be able to extend the usefulness of fluvalinate for many years.

We have learned over 5 years of use that FA does not pose a risk of residue. FA is the simplest of all organic acids, breaks down readily and occurs naturally in honey. In fact, some honeys especially horse-chestnut, have unusually high levels of naturally occuring FA (up to 600ppm!). A whole group of ants, the formicidae, have been named after the product.

Natural occurrence does not mean it is safe! At 65Canada we have decided against 85nature) this product can be handled effectively and safely, providing one uses common sense and basic safety precautions are taken. (Prescription glasses or basic safety glasses offer sufficient eye protection in the field. Rubber gloves are needed and of course, always stand upwind).

During the initial period, we did have some measurable increases in queen failure following FA treatments. However, since then this has gone down because of improved application methods and by ensuring to have younger queens in the hives. Especially recent developments towards `slow-release' application methods using plastic vegetable bags (perforated with tiny holes) containing a FA-soaked substrate prove effective and reduce the risks of applicator exposure.

Again Roy, I share your distaste of using chemicals in our colonies. For Canadian beekeepers I am only advocating its use when needed and in an overall mite control program that includes fluvalinate. However, in the era of mites it has become a mean world out there and without our help, our beloved bees will not survive.

Paul van Westendorp, Provincial Apiarist, British Columbia

Best Moisturiser?

I don't bother trying to get every bit propolis off my leather gloves. However I do wash them with my hands inside, in plain water to get the honey and most of the stickies off. But repeated washings will dry out the leather. A problem, that I found the ideal solution to: after washing them in plain water I carefully distribute about 1 teaspoon of pure Petroleum Jelly, like Vaseline, on them and rub into leather and let dry naturally without excess heat. This treatment makes the leather feel so nice it's amazing.

I got this idea from a Dr. Dean Edell radio broadcast on KGO-AM,810 in San Francisco. Dr. Edell said that the absolute best skin moisturiser was the above applied to wet skin. Now before you say YAK! that greasy stuff all over my body! Let me be the first to tell you it works great.

Try this: when your skin is wet from the shower, don't towel off, just brush off some of the excess water with your hands, then apply enough Petroleum Jelly to evenly distribute it all over the body. You're right, it does feel greasy going on but as you rub it in, the excess moisture evaporates leaving your skin feeling soft smooth and moisturised so nice, and when it's cold you actually feel warmer too.

This cheap treatment also lasts much longer than regular skin moisturisers. The problem with almost all moisturisers is that they use emulsifiers (like soap) to suspend oil in water. After applying these emulsifiers to your skin the next time you wash, the oils, natural and otherwise strip away leaving your skin drier than ever. If you apply too much Petroleum Jelly you can remain greasy. But I found that if you use just enough to get it on evenly by first smearing into hands then distribute to body parts with a light patting action before beginning the massage it works very well. Enjoy!

Stan Umlauft, A and Bee Honey Farms, 17 Sharon Dr., Bay Point, CA USA. email@omitted.anti.spam

Using Ross Rounds for Section Honey

by Joel W. Govostes - email@omitted.anti.spam

Make sure the supers are the correct depth. The comb honey supers sold by manufacturers are usually a bit too deep (maybe this has already changed). You should have about 1/4 - 3/8 clearance above the frames across the super, and 1/8 inch or so beneath the frames. If you have more, the bees will often build a lot of honey-filled burr-comb between the supers, which can be a mess when you try to harvest the supers.

The bees can construct and fill the combs pretty fast during a good flow. (After all, the super is only going to hold about 16-18 pounds of honey, total.) So keep an eye on them, with weekly checks anyway so you can stay ahead of the bees. I used to produce the rounds exclusively, and it worked out pretty well to add the next super when about half the sections on the hive were becoming capped over.

If you are in the midst of a good nectar flow, and they have made good progress on the first super of sections, you can raise it and put the next one underneath it. This can help reduce travel-staining on the capped sections, and gets the bees to occupy the newly added sections immediately.

There are lots of detailed and somewhat complicated methods for section comb honey, but as a beginner you don't really need to go for them. Here is what will usually work very well:

The first honey super or two added are extracting supers (shallow or medium) with frames. This would usually be in May in the Northeast, for comparison. When the main/major nectar flow begins (here that's June, with its black locust and clover flows) give them a round-section super *underneath* the extracting super(s) which are already becoming filled. In this position, the bees will start work on it quickly.

When all but perhaps the 4 sections at the corners are completely capped, try to harvest them ASAP, so the cappings will be nice and light, for the most attractive package. Then you can place any unfinished sections into the next, newly fitted-out super, towards the center, and they will be completed for harvesting next time around.

It is much better to use clear covers on both sides (IMO), when it comes time to pack and label them. Some comb-honey producers put a clear cover on the best side, and an opaque one on the other side (bottom). To me this isn't nearly as interesting and attractive than a section packaged so that the customer can see both sides clearly.

Any sections which are only partially filled or finished can be dealt with thusly: Cut the parts containing honey out of the combs. Put these cuts in a wide-mouth jar, and pour liquid honey around them. This chunk honey usually sells well. If you warm the liquid honey to about 140 degrees first, and let it cool before pouring it in, this will help retard granulation.

Finally, when fitting out the super, make sure the rings go in the frames the right way. I'm not sure about the Ross rings, but some of the rings from another manufacturer had little dimples on one edge, which had to be oriented right or the ring would not go into the frame right.

Good luck with this - people seem to really like the round sections; they also make great gifts. I have sold them to people making gift-baskets as a Business, and they are an ideal regional product for such uses.

JWG

Walled Garden

A number of wildlife related events at the Walled Garden may be of interest to members.

1 April, 10am to 12:30pm,Working party planting long borders. Free, just turn up.

5th April, 10am to 4pm, Day Course Organic gardening. Book, £3

6th April, 10am to, 12:30pm Painting and Printing Workshop. Book, free.

12th April, 10am to 4pm Day Course

1 May, 7pm to 9:30pm Evening Talk Plants and Mayday customs. Free, just turn up.

11 May, 10am to 12:30pm Working party including a talk Enjoying your weeds. Free, just turn up.

13 May, 10am to 12:30pm Working party Planting to increase pond diversity. Free, just turn up.

30th May, 9:30pm on, Moth lamp evening A chance to discover - with David Green. Free, just turn up.

1 June, 10am to 12:30pm Working party Tree identification tips and techniques. Free, just turn up.

3 June, as above.

7 June, 10am to 4pm Day Course Organic Gardening 2 - pest control without poisons, seasonal tips. Book, £3

Recipes

Honey Cake

• 4oz Butter or Margarine.
• 6oz Honey.
• 8oz Self-raising flour.
• 6oz Sultanas.
• 2 Size-3 eggs.

1. Cream together the fat and honey, beat the eggs well and add to the creamed mixture along with the flour.
2. Beat well and lightly. Add a little milk if necessary
3. Fold in the sultanas and mix well.
4. Bake in a 6 - 7 inch diameter round tin for approximately 1 hours at Gas-3/325F/180C.

Honey Biscuits

• 8oz Self-raising flour.
• 2tsp bicarbonate of soda.
• 4oz Butter.
• 2oz caster sugar.
• 2oz Glace cherries, chopped.
• 4tbs Honey.

1. Pre-heat an oven to Gas-6/200C/400F, lightly grease two baking sheets and line them with baking parchment.
2. Sift the flour and bicarb. into a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and cherries.
3. Heat the honey in a small saucepan until it is runny but not boiling. Stir into the cherry mixture to form a firm dough.
4. Divide the dough into walnut sized pieces and roll each into a ball. Place on baking sheets, spaced well apart to allow for expansion.
5. Bake for 5 to 6 minutes until golden. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 1 to 2 minutes then place on a wire rack to cool completely.

DIARY

Unless otherwise stated, evening meetings are at 7:30pm in The Bothy, The Walled Garden, Down Grange, Basingstoke and apiary meetings are 2:30pm at St. John's Copse, Oakley.

14 March Hector Albery Memorial Lecture with Adrian Waring -- Swarms and Swarming 7:30pm at Basingstoke's Anvil concert hall in The Forge lecture theatre.

16 March 10am, Coppicing at Cowdown Copse.

20 March Margaret Johnson - Candle making.

12 April Apiary Meeting.

April 17th Christine Fletcher National Womens' Institute cookery judge. A Competition Cooking Seminar with honey shows particularly in mind.

April 26th BBKA Spring Convention at Stoneleigh.

May 2nd Professor Keith Delaplane -- Hot and Cold Bees At Brighton Hill School as this is a joint meeting held in conjunction with Andover, Fleet and Winchester and we anticipate a large attendance. We are delighted to be able to welcome Professor Delaplane here during his visit from Georgia, USA.

3 May Meon Valley Auction at Lupin Farm.

10 May Apiary Meeting.

15 May Discussion and tutorial evening.

7 June Apiary Meeting.

19 June Discussion and tutorial evening.

12 July Apiary Meeting.

17 July Discussion and tutorial evening.

16 August Apiary Meeting.

21 August Discussion and tutorial evening.

18 September Evening meeting - To Be advised

27 September Apiary Meeting.

September (sometime, somewhere) Clive de Bruyn. We forewarn you as this is the peak beekeepers' holiday period and we know you'd hate to miss him.

Committee Tuesdays, 7:30pm at The Bothy in Down Grange walled garden:
11 March; 8 April; 13 May; 10 June; 8 July; 12 August; 9 September; 14 October; 11 November; 9 December.

...(FGMO)

In the UK, we are more familiar with the term liquid paraffin

...Diana's

Dr. Diana Sammataro; extensive research into acarapis woodi infestation devised treatment against acarine, comprising `Crisco' patties like our pollen ones, but incorporating vegetable oil, originally of the Crisco brand.