Apiary Update
Dave Purchase,
Apiary Manager and Seasonal Bee Inspector
Very disappointingly, only three members, including
me, have attended each of the last three apiary meetings.
That represents just 10% of our membership.
Anything more than an average 30% attendance is
probably unrealistic. Many of us lead busy lives.
Nevertheless, a sequence of three very poorly attended
meetings does call into question the value of maintaining
Association stocks in an Association apiary.
Having got that off my chest, I have some good news to
report. A retiring beekeeper who is not a member of our
Association has donated a range of Langstroth Jumbo
equipment to the Association. It needs a clean but most
of it is in good condition.
Your committee is tentatively planning an introductory
course for prospective beekeepers, probably followed by a
basic course for inexperienced beekeepers. The closure of
Sparsholt nearly ten years ago left a void which is all
too apparent in Hampshire and neighbouring counties. It
behoves beekeepers' associations to run courses to
attract new members and to maintain the interest and
enthusiasm of existing members by improving their
knowledge, skills and confidence.
That brings me back to the Association apiary. The
windfall of equipment would be put to use in St. John's
Copse for the practical sessions of the training courses.
Hopefully that would spark a revival of interest in
apiary meetings generally.
I don't yet know what the honey crop from the
Association colonies will be. Clearer boards and Apistan
strips were inserted yesterday (12th August). In my
garden I have a late spring cast which is building into a
nice colony. It is earmarked for the Association. I have
treated it with Apiguard to see for myself how it
compares with Apistan.
The number of confirmed cases of European Foulbrood in
Hampshire is considerably up on last year. On the other
hand, there has been only one confirmed case of American
Foulbrood.
Almost certainly there are many cases of EFB and a few
AFB which go unreported. I am not suggesting that
beekeepers flout the law (both EFB and AFB are notifiable
diseases), rather that some do not recognise the signs.
It is possible that the demise of infected colonies is
attributed to acarine, nosema, queenlessness, wasps or
waxmoth, depending on the time of year. Unfortunately,
contaminated equipment re-used without sterilization is
likely to result in a recurrence of Foulbrood.
You will probably have read or heard about the
recently introduced DIY Foulbrood test kit. It enables
you to send a sample of suspect larvę to the National Bee
Unit's laboratory, thus speeding up the diagnostic
process in some cases (with a Bee Inspector taking over
in the event of a positive diagnosis). Demand has
exceeded supply. I have some for issue on request but I
will ensure that each of you has one before the start of
next season.
Of course, if you suspect a problem during the
remainder of this season, please call me. Don't believe
the oft-quoted advice that EFB is a spring-time problem.
It can be found throughout the year.
I look forward to seeing many of you at our wonderful
new Study Centre during the winter, making the most of
the excellent facilities now available to us.
Dave.
Annual General Meeting
Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting
of Basingstoke and District Beekeepers' Association will
be held on Thursday 18th January 2001 at 7:30pm in The
Bothy.
As far as I am aware, there are no proposed changes to
either the Constitution or Bye-Laws. However if this
proves incorrect, you will be informed by post of the
proposals.
Gordon
Hampshire Autumn Convention
This year the convention is on 28th October, starting
at 10am and at Crawley Court as usual. Exhibits for the
Honey Show can be placed after 8am and before judging
begins.
Tickets for the event are available in advance from
Christine MacKinnon at £10, or on the day at the door for
£12.50.
The speakers this year are as follows:
- Norman Carrick ``Research at
Rothamstead''
- Celia Davies ``Bees Plants and the
Environment''
- Brian Palmer, ``Improving our Bees''
Trade stands this year comprise Bee Books New and
Old, Freeman and Harding and Stockbridge
Beekeeping Supplies.
Apitherapy
Bees provide relief for MS victims
From the BBC's Website: Tuesday, 2 May, 2000,
15:07 GMT 16:07 UK
Scotland's multiple sclerosis sufferers are turning to
a controversial method of pain relief because they are
unable to get hold of one of the disease's most effective
prescription drugs.
The country has the highest incidence of MS in the
world but it has the lowest prescription rates for the
expensive beta-interferon.
The scarcity of the drug has lead some sufferers to
turn to a drastic measure - making bees deliberately
sting them.
Although the drug is known to slow down the disease in
some patients, only 1.5% of sufferers receive it in
Scotland.
The lack of availability is believed to be linked to
where people live.
Post-code prescribing has for years meant medicines in
many areas never see the light of day.
Scotsman George Henderson was told he had MS 10 years
ago, but for all of that time he has been refused
beta-interferon.
The 48-year-old is so desperate for treatment he is
about to embark on the controversial bee sting
therapy.
Bee sting treatment
It is common in the United States and involves
sufferers stinging themselves up to 30 times a day with
the bee's venom which is said to slow down the disease,
in a way similar to that of using beta interferon.
Kelly Ames has been stinging herself with bees for a
few years.
Before she began using the therapy her eyesight was
deteriorating and she struggled to walk. Now she can see
normally and can ride a bike.
She said: ``The first thing I felt was energy in the
first three months. Then my eyesight improved and after
that my legs started to get stronger. But I still have
MS, this is not a cure.''
Stinging yourself with bees is drastic, but many use
the therapy because they are unable to get hold of beta
interferon.
A poll commissioned by the MS Society suggested that
nine out of 10 neurologists wanted to be able to
prescribe the drug.
Respite care
At the beginning of March more than 1,000 MS sufferers
lobbied their MPs to demand access to the best
treatments.
Organisers said the protest was meant to expose the
failure of the NHS to give them both the drugs and other
therapies they need.
Sufferers complain about having to struggle to receive
specialist nursing care, physiotherapy, pain control
treatment and respite care.
MS is a complex disease of the nervous system which
impairs the brain's ability to transmit instructions to
the muscles.
One person may partially lose their sight while
another the use of their legs. As the disease progresses,
the symptoms increase both in number and become more
severe.
Around 10,000 Scots suffer from the debilitating
condition, however, it is not understood why the figure
is so high.
The Multiple Sclerosis Society Scotland is currently
funding a £ 1m research project to try and come up with
some answers.
Honey Show 2000
The show will be held in our Study Centre, in
conjunction with Basingstoke Council's Nature's
Harvest day on Saturday 21st October 2000.
Unfortunately I have not yet received the details of
the Honey Show schedule for this year and I have run out
of time before the ``presses roll'' (o.k., it's a
photocopier and an inkjet printer).
I have to presume therefore that the schedule, rules
and so on are similar to last year's show.
I presume that Tony Bamberger is the show secretary as
usual and that you should contact him to register your
entries. We really would like you to do this in advance
if you can, as it greatly helps our organisation and
confidence. I also presume that Tony will have the
finalised details shortly. Telephone Tony on 01256-850254
or Norman on 01256-464280 for late details.
Gordon.
Swarming -- Why?
OK -- Bees Swarm. But just Why do they do
it?
This is something I'm working on
for a flyer, however a couple of discussions that I've
recently had suggest I should release it early to
members. Feedback welcome!
A blooming nuisance, isn't it? You just want a quiet
life and the little mischief-makers seem determined to
ruin it for you. Why?
Unfortunately, it's what they do. They have good
reasons, though, and we can help ourselves gain the
upper hand if we understand them.
A honeybee colony comprises many thousands of
individuals, all working together. We know they're making
honey because that's the crop that most of us collect. To
make honey they need lots of bees, so they're also busy
raising lots of young. That famous one and only
queen lays the eggs for the workers to raise to
adulthood.
That's fine -- the honey feeds the bees through winter
and come the next spring, they'll do it all again. If
that's all they did, maybe we'd be happy, but
many times in spring they do something else, too -- they
swarm -- or try to!
The bees are reproducing. Not reproducing individual
worker bees, but reproducing the whole colony, almost as
though that colony was a creature in its own right!
Swarms are really a method of making `baby'
colonies!
As the Spring buildup hits its peak and the colony is
large, the queen that heads it decides it's time to raise
those baby colonies. [Well, strictly it's actually
the workers that make the decision, but we'll skip that
for the sake of simplicity.] She does this by
starting to raise some new queen bees. But there's a
problem with honeybees -- queens definitely don't
like sharing colonies and these new queens would kill the
old one. Her solution is to take around half the bees
(and honey) in the colony -- and leave! She leaves in a
swarm and the swarm looks for a new home.
Meanwhile in the old colony, the new queens are
growing towards adulthood. In a few days time, the first
to get there will normally gauge the size of the colony
and if she thinks its big and strong enough to stand it,
will take about half the remaining bees & honey and
will also look for a new home. She leaves in the first
cast or afterswarm. The next few queens
may also try this. Just occasionally, the parent colony
can become so depleted that it actually dies out -- but
the bees don't much mind because they've already raised
several of those baby colonies. Mission accomplished --
tough luck beekeeper.
How do they choose when to swarm?
I don't think anyone is really 100% sure about this.
It seems to involve the balance of bees, brood and
pheremones in the brood nest. My own feeling is that the
ratio of adult bees to brood is the primary trigger, but
that really is just a feeling. Certainly the age
of the queen is important -- this year's queens rarely
swarm, last year's may well try, the year before lasts
almost certainly will. They're less likely to swarm if
the season has a poor honey flow as they can neither
build up the colony or it's stores high enough.
They need plenty of bees if their swarming is to be
successful, so a weak colony probably won't try --
neither are they likely to do well as a honey gatherer --
Honey needs bees. But if you have lots of bees then
they're going to swarm, aren't they?
How do bees and we work together?
When a swarm selects a new home it naturally looks for
and prefers a cavity that's `just right' at around 45
litres. It should come as no surprise, therefore, to find
that our brood boxes are around that size. That's what
bees prefer and one possible reason for that is that it's
the right size for their primary desire after survival --
raising those new colonies.
Bees also prefer small entrances -- around 30mm in
diameter. That's a nice size to defend and it also keeps
the nest nice and cosy for them. That nest is also big
enough to hold sufficient honey for both their swarming
needs and their overwintering needs.
So bees like a 45 litre cavity with a 30mm diameter
entrance and they like to swarm. I think that they are
also naturally geared to make their swarm decision based
substantially around those preferred conditions.
As beekeepers, our desires are rather different. We
don't normally want them to to swarm. We also want to get
a honey crop from them.
We can get a relatively large surplus of honey by
giving them lots of room to store it. They're judging
their needs partly on that 45 litres and they will want
to fill that pretty full. They keep filling and filling
but they still have empty storage cells. We fool them by
raising the bar on the size of their cavity. If
they still had a 30mm entrance, they might notice the
rather large number of workers they have, but by opening
the entrance wider we fool them here, too. This cavity
still has too little honey, too little brood and too much
fresh air for swarming.
That's pretty good news for the beekeeper. It works!
We'd never get crops the size we expect if they were
still in that 45 litre box, and they'd be swarming like
crazy.
Unfortunately, just that doesn't necessarily stop them
completely.
Swarming -- Avoiding it
If Only I Was An Expert
The section on why bees swarm gives us some good clues
about things we can do to reduce the likelihood of them
doing so. There are also some steps we can take that are
more than just subterfuge.
Firstly, there's a useful insurance policy -- clipping
the queens wings. This is said not to hurt her and I have
to say that they certainly don't appear hurt by it. It's
effect though will almost certainly result in her death
if we fail to stop her trying to swarm.
First let's clarify something -- clipping the queens
wing will not stop her trying to swarm. Clipped
properly it should stop her succeeding, though I've seen
quite a few photographs of colonies established beneath
the parent hive -- the only moderately suitable place the
flightless queen could reach.
Also on our first queen rearing project here, several
of us are convinced that we clipped to half length, the
wings of a virgin queen. She still flew and she even
managed to mate. Half length wings will not stop a
queen from flying, though her chances of survival
certainly are reduced. When you clip, make sure it
works.
The reason we clip is that if we fail in our attempts
to control swarming by our manipulations, that we have a
back stop that gives us a few more days before
we lose the workers that should have gone with her. If we
fail again, they'll surely go with the first emerged
virgin! Time is all it buys us, but it's a valuable
all.
Thinking back to the the Why section, we can
see several things that we might do to reduce their
desire to swarm. Giving them more room and more
ventilation are useful techniques, though they should not
be carried to excess.
Give them room! If you're not sure whether you should
add a super, it's probably safer to add one too many than
one too few. Add it! Even if you're 90% sure they won't
need it, why not put the next super ready over the
cover-board? It will pick up the colony scent and if the
bees want the space, they'll go up there and use it. If
you were wrong, you have another insurance.
Ventilate well. It actually does help them to ripen
the honey quicker and it helps to fool them into thinking
they're not yet quite big enough to swarm.
This is perhaps not obvious, but a colony that thinks
it doesn't yet fill that 45 litres can also be fooled by
having room to build comb. Giving the wax builders
``something to do'' keeps their attentions away
from leaving home. Building super comb may work, building
brood comb certainly does. Maybe if things are getting
too big, you should make a split and divide the
colony into two half-sized colonies. That will certainly
slow them down, but may also cost some honey. (An
effective variation is to remove a couple of brood combs
from the congested central area of the brood nest and
substitute foundation).
Once the queenless half has made their new queen,
consider removing the old queen and uniting the two back
into a single colony, headed by the new queen. If you're
heading towards swarming and they still have stores in
the brood area, it might be a good idea to take it out
and give them foundation! Even if they don't have stores,
it may be worth sacrificing some brood and replacing it
with foundation. You could transfer removed brood to
another under-strength colony, but don't forget about
diseases if you do that.
Here are a couple of other ideas that work for many
people: Put a super full of empty frames (no comb or
foundation) beneath the brood box. Again, I
think this fools the bees into thinking they still have a
way to go before they're ready to swarm, but I've also
heard it suggested that the extra walk from entrance to
brood next gives them time to `cool off' a little. Also,
people working with double-brood hives may consider
swapping the boxes over. The modest disruption to the
brood nest shape seems to distract them for a while.
Once they actually start raising new queen cells,
we're getting close to Take Action time. If you
see cells (rather than just cups), you can knock them
down to stop their immediate efforts, however you really
must do something more. Probably one of the
above actions -- more space, more foundation, etc. I've
heard it said that beginners always miss a cell
the first time they try this. I was certainly no
exception and I've done it since, too. And don't fool
yourself that you'll find all the cells without shaking
the bees off the combs -- you won't!
Don't knock down queen cells more than twice in
succession. If they're that sure they want to swarm,
either you'll fail to find all the cells or the bees will
become despondent. If they're that sure they want to go,
you have to work with them to make them work for
you.
Swarming -- Dealing with it
Ways to push them in the right direction
So they're determined they want to go, eh? Well we can
make them go (or think they have) when and where
we want, or we can lose them.
One option is to remove all the queen cells and the
queen, leave them a further week, remove any further
queen cells and requeen them with a nice new queen.
They'll forgive us that they didn't notice the virgin
stage and with no further queen cells they can't produce
any casts. Also with that nice new queen, they should
settle. We've fooled them into thinking they've
swarmed.
Another option is to produce an artificial
swarm. There are several methods of doing this and
most are minor variations of the same thing. They all
work on the principle of separating parts of the swarmy
colony into combinations for which swarming is
unreasonable. Usually this means taking the old queen and
many of the adult bees, removing them from the brood and
putting them on foundation.
For the classic artificial swarm method, you
need a spare hive full of foundation and it works like
this:
- Find the queen and place her on a comb containing
mostly eggs.
- Move the old colony to one side and replace it with
the spare box of foundation.
- Put the old queen on her single comb in the centre
of the new box,. replace the queen excluder and all the
supers. This colony will keep all the flying bees and
the colony will `think' it's swarmed.
- Every couple of days for the next week, move the
original brood box to a different location and
orientation near the new brood box. This will cause yet
more worker bees to return to the original location and
build that colony, while simultaneously depleting the
old colony to the stage where it has too few worker
bees to sustain a swarm and just settles for its first
new queen.
An interesting variation on the above says don't even
bother to find the queen! Just put that single comb with
eggs on the old site and do the manipulations. If the
queen was on that comb you were lucky, if she wasn't, her
retinue of workers will deplete drastically and she'll
give up. It works! There is a caveat, though: If the
queen cells are close to or actually capped, moving the
queen aside will probably cause them to swarm.
Fortunately they'll usually do so within a few tens of
minutes and you'll probably be there to see it and catch
them.
A slightly different method is the Taranov.
This requires that you catch the queen and cage her. You
then place the caged queen under a board sloped upwards
towards the colony entrance, but sufficiently far away
that the bees don't just walk back in. Four or five
inches, 100-125cm is sufficient. The caged queen is now
in a dark cosy place where the majority of flying bees
will find her and they will form a cluster under the
board. If the colony was very close to swarming, the
other bees that were already planning to go may well come
out and join them. We now have the `flyers' and the queen
nicely settled outside the hive and they'll stay there
until we move them. Now we can go through the hive at
relative leisure and remove all the queen cells, or we
could leave just one cell and raise a single new
queen.
We can now house our ready-captured swarm in the usual
way. Curiously though, I'm told on good authority that
once they've `swarmed' like this and you've knocked down
all of the queen cells in the parent colony,
that they seem happy to be reunited and still `think'
they've swarmed.
Another method to consider is dequeening the colony
and reducing it to a single queen cell. This works well
and leaves you with only the one colony, however it has a
few difficulties. First you must find the queen and
having done so, trap her in a queen cage. Then go through
the colony looking for queen cells and knocking them
down, keeping just one cell intact for your replacement
queen. Pick a cell which has yet to be capped and ensure
there's a nice big clean larva in it. Having completed
that and returned all the brood frames, you can now
remove the old queen. Many experts believe you should
kill the queen now and drop the corpse into the brood
nest. Certainly, if you don't, it's highly likely that
your colony will try to swarm almost immediately their
queen leaves (but they'll return when they can't find
her).
Around five days later, you will need to go through
the colony again, checking that your selected cell is
o.k. and knocking down any new or emergency cells.
Note that this strong and queenless colony may now
be quite pugnatious, as last time you visited you wreaked
havoc on them! If you don't do this check, your selected
queen will probably head a really impressive `cast' and
you will have failed.
A week or so later you should have an emerged cell and
a new virgin queen. A further three weeks later you
should find eggs and maybe young larvę. If you can't see
any, give it another week before worrying -- its probable
that you just didn't see them. If you still
can't find any, maybe you should give them a test frame
of brood all stages. Don't give them a new queen unless
you're certain they're queenless as the workers
will simply kill her.
One further option, for a softer but more labour
intensive method, look up Snelgrove.
Gordon.
Single vs Multiple Gene Resistance
by Adony Melathopoulos
Apiculture Biotechnologist; Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada
Beaverlodge Research Farm.
Obviously, Apis cerana has some form of defense
that it uses against the varroa. Perhaps this could be
transferred to Apis mellifera?
The idea that any such trait is based on only one
gene, or on some very small package of genes, is
implausible.
In fact there are many behavioral honey bee traits
that can be traced back to a handful of genes, among the
most famous are the 2-3 recessive loci (or discrete
non-segregating chunks of DNA) that impart hygienic
behavior, whereby workers abort brood cells before
foulbrood can sporulate or varroa have offspring.
Nonetheless, intuitively I am drawn to Robert[ Mann]'s
argument, there is a big difference between taking
discreet genes within a species and shuffling them around
compared to moving genes among species. Genes work in the
context of other genes, and putting a bacterial gene in a
honey bee is at a much higher risk to fail than just
moving honey bee genes around; IMHO it is too foreign a
context to expect things to be in balance.
I will make a case, however, that even if single gene
resistance to varroa is available, through classical
breeding or transgenics, it cannot expect to hold up for
very long. Throughout agriculture there are numerous
examples of single gene solutions to keep a crop
protected by a pest or disease which do not last long.
Take the numerous varieties of wheat with single gene
resistance to Hessian fly or Bt-transgenic lines of corn
resistant to corn borer; it does not take long for
resistance to break down. Resistance of this kind is no
better than applying a pesticide in terms of resistance
management.
The most successful cases of resistance are those
which involve many many genes working in concert.
Resistance of this kind is not easy to breed for, and
maintaining lines once established can be a nightmare,
but once established pests and diseases are hard pressed
to overcome them. Returning to the case of honey bee
hygienic behavior, the character was first discovered by
investigating a beekeeper's line, the Brown line, came
about by repeatedly selecting for bees that survived on
comb with AFB scale, NOT by selecting for hygienic
behavior. Further investigation into the Brown line found
that not only was hygienic behavior at work, but
resistant characteristic carried by the developing larva
was also at play. Many characters at work rather than one
leads to more robust resistance... it only stands to
reason.
But single-gene resistance varieties of crops are far
more common than varieties in which multiple genes confer
resistance. Why? It is easier and faster to screen and
maintain lines based on a few genes than on many
genes.
What does this mean?
Lines incorporating a few genes that confer resistance
will give immediate relief and the quickest results,
which of course is what the industry needs today. If,
however, we also consider the long term health of bee
stocks, large breeding programs to select for lines with
multiple gene resistance to pests must also be
considered.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
Kosher Honey
by Curtis Crowell
For many Jews honey is inherently kosher, much like
fruits and vegetables. However, there are groups
(particularly the Orthodox Jews) who prefer that most
processed foods have kosher certification, meaning that
the processing of the food has undergone a degree of
supervision to ensure that the result is kosher. Honey is
intrinsically parve, meaning neutral, not part
of the meat or dairy groups.
You must use utensils that are not used for any other
foods, especially non-kosher foods (e.g., shellfish,
lobster, or pork), because honey would lose its
parve status if combined with meat or dairy
products. It also causes problems if you are not Jewish
yourself and use these items to produce things with
grapes (jelly or wine). It's easier to buy a set of pots
and spoons and mark them for honey only. If you
warm your honey before filtering make sure your stove is
immaculately clean. Contrary to popular misconception,
there are no ``special prayers''.
Most people, Jews and otherwise, really have no idea
of how honey is processed and thus they are ignorant of
these sorts of problems. Dead bees for example, are
rather rare and in most cases can be pulled out before
coming into the extractor. To suggest that the strainer
is used mostly to separate the ``dead bee parts'' instead
of the stray cappings and bits of comb is flirting with
disaster.
You can be aware of all of these rules, but it still
is best if you ask a rabbi to ``supervise'', who is
willing to produce a certificate that the resulting
product is kosher. Your best bet is to find a local rabbi
and customer who will do this for a modest fee. Make him
an expert on bees and honey and it will work out well for
you both. If you contact the major organizations that
supervise food processors for kosher certification, such
as Kosher Overseers of America, or the Conservative
Union, they will want very substantial fees up front and
well as in some cases, the signing of a non-disclosure
agreement. Unless you are moving tons of honey to a very
narrow market it's not worth it (not for me).
I found a local rabbi who was interested in bees. Even
even though his temple bought from me the prior year
without kosher supervision, he was quite pleased when I
asked him to act as mashigach and inspect my
production. Although he declined to set a fee I gave him
a token payment of $30 US. It takes only a few minutes to
show him how the honey gets from the comb to the jar.
I also drove him out to a local farm where I showed
him the bees at work. He put on a bee suit, and
I took a picture of him holding a frame of comb with bees
and honey - great PR for both of us (his temple web-guy
put the picture up on their web site).
I don't believe comb honey can be considered kosher
because of the wax worm treatments, but that is another
story. The bottom line for me was that I considered the
honey a pretty special kind of thing, the Jews do as
well, and with a few simple steps to enhance its status
it has worked out to be a good partnership. I also go to
some temples to talk to their Hebrew students about bees.
A few schools even offered to pay a small fee for this
but I declined, it builds a lot of good will. Besides,
now I have my own rabbi!
I'm not Jewish but have made an effort to get to know
more about this since for the Jews honey is a special
gift - for me also. It is in fact a rare kosher food that
is produced by a non-kosher insect (you can't eat the
bees themselves - only their honey).
Trading Standards
We have been sent the following letter from Jean
Powell of Fareham:
Dear Christine,
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL - TRADING STANDARDS
SERVICE.
I have been contacted by the County Trading
Standards Service asking for details of HBA members. I
discussed the situation with Graham Rowden, HBA Chairman,
and it was decided that I contacted BBKA for advice and
the enquirers to ask for further details.
BBKA suggested we give them every cooperation as
they have legal rights to inspect our products.
The Trading Standards Officer said their aim is to
give a comprehensive service and in order to do that they
choose a project each year. This year's project is honey
- ``To carry out a survey to see the levels of compliance
with the honey regulations 1996''. Therefore, they will
be looking at honey produced in Hampshire and the
labelling of honey will also be checked to ensure this is
done correctly.
The standards officers see themselves in a helping
capacity, to enable honey producers to comply with the
regulations.
The Chairman suggested, and the standards officers
have agreed, that they will contact the Secretary of each
Association so that they can supply a list of producers
in their Association. Alternatively they can supply a
full list of members indicating which beekeepers supply
honey for sale, as it is recognised that many beekeepers
produce enough honey just for their own and their
family's use.
We hope your Association will co-operate with this
request.
Yours sincerely
Jean Powell.
cc G Rowden, Chairman HBA
I know that all members who have been with us for some
years should know and comfortably comply with the
regulations, however newcomers might be a little
under-informed or just need the assurance that they're
``doing it right''. I don't expect that anyone
will get any awkward surprises, but now might be a good
time to review your produce.
If you use standard jars and standard labels, you
won't go far wrong on that count. Your labelling must
include some means to locate you (e.g., in case of a
problem -- or indeed a repeat order) and a lot number.
Provided you fill your jars appropriately, you should be
fine on weight/quantity.
More difficult is the water content rule, which for
most small producers must be handled by ``skill and
judgment'' as they say in competitions. Large scale
producers should use a hydrometer, but smaller scale
producers typically cannot justify the cost. A good
guideline alternative is to extract only when combs are
greater than 80% capped.
If you produce any ``speciality'' products, you may
well want to check with Trading Standards that you are
taking the correct steps to ensure the compliance of your
products.
Gordon
Hunting Wasps
I saw a flutter on the lawn whilst mowing the grass
and stopped for a closer look. Down on the ground was a
quite large green and yellow dragonfly, flapping quite
vigorously. On closer inspection I realised that there
was a wasp on the back of the dragonfly, stinging it.
This it did several times, despite quite violent
movements of the dragonfly. I noticed that the latter's
wings were badly frayed and suspect that this allowed to
wasp to bring it down.
I quickly fetched a camera and took a few photographs
`press' style (shoot first for a record, then worry about
composition). As the wasp was taking a while to subdue
the dragonfly, I decided I had time to get together a
better set of camera tools. I first using a 135mm
telephoto on a 14mm extension tube, which I find a
reasonable combination if I don't want to go too
close (60mm-ish). Later I changed to the standard 50mm
lens on the same extension tube, which allowed me to get
in to around 150mm and more than fill the frame.
I continued photographing with this combination until
the light began to fade, finishing the last few frames on
the film the following day. The final frame is of the
completely empty dragonfly shell, which I collected. If
things go to plan, I should have one of the photographs
as this issue's cover picture.
When I related this to a work-mate, he mentioned that
he had recently seen a yet more impressive demonstration
of wasp power. In his case he saw a blue tit drop from a
tree, closely followed by a hornet, presumed to be the
assassin. The hornet proceeded to butcher the blue
tit.
I have to admit that really hadn't realised the power
of these insects until now.
Gordon.
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