EDITORIAL Back
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Many will know, or at least suspect, we share
many of our genes with chimpanzees. After all we sort of look alike;
but I was horrified to read that we also share around 25% of our
genes with bananas! How this can be I can only imagine, but I do
recognise that genetics is an incredibly complex subject, and one
that increasingly intrudes into the lives of many beekeepers whether
they be commercial bee farmers after a better crop of honey/royal
jelly/pollen and so on, or bee breeders hoping to make a living
selling ‘super
bees,’ or just the average beekeeper engaged in his fight
against varroa and AFB. Bee genetics, to me at any rate, are more
confusing than most for the simple reason that drone bees don’t
have a father, thus making the whole matter far more complex in
my mind and I’m sure in the minds of others. In this issue
therefore, we include several bee genetic themes including part
one of a basic guide to bee genetics which we hope will brush away
much of the confusion surrounding the subject. It may even encourage
beekeepers to try and develop their very own super bee; if that’s
possible.
In one of the most searching investigations into
the genetics of the honey bee, the bee genome project, scientists
have literally mapped out its entire genetic code. But what can
we do with this information? Well, we are just now starting to
see some practical results in this instance in the fight against
that most feared of brood diseases: AFB. This is further explained
in our research articles section. Another of our wars is against
varroa and again the study of genetics and the application of our
knowledge arising from those studies are assisting us in this war
with scientists developing a bee that displays the trait that leads
to varroa mites being unable to reproduce, again we bring you
news of this interesting development.
Even though the tiny hummingbird seems to be a sort
of feathered bee in many ways, it is not a creature that
would normally feature in Apis-UK and nor is the butterfly which
with its loopy and apparently aimless flight patterns is far from
being bee-like despite the fact that it is an insect. Well you
will be surprised to know that the hummingbird is less ‘bee-like’ than
we thought and the butterfly more so. Intrigued? Well read on below.
Infection in hospitals is an increasing problem in many European
hospitals. Last year in the UK alone, 100,000 people attracted
infection and of these 5000 people died. Simple statistics of course
can distort true facts but MSRA is of increasing concern and more
than a concern when so many deaths may result. Yet for many of
these cases, there is a solution cheaply available on the NHS in
the UK. So why aren’t more doctors using it? We take a look
in this issue.
Since I have been editing Apis-UK and therefore looking
more at the internet, I see more and more ‘bee sites’ popping
up and this includes many from the local beekeeping associations
from Wales to Australia and all places in between. This can only
be a good thing in the spread of the knowledge amongst the general
public of bees around the world. From this, I get a host of enquiries
about bees and bee matters which would never have arisen in the
pre net days when much of the general public imagined all beekeepers
to be either half wits or eccentric old men with beards, pipes
and veils. In Apis-UK we will publish the address of any new bee
site, so do let us know if you are setting one up.
It is always a pleasure to hear that a creature we
thought extinct in an area is not so after all and we report on
an example of this below. I read recently that another rare insect,
a digger wasp, had appeared in Suffolk and forced an enlightened
council to completely change its building plans. Good reading.
A Digger wasp at work
Finally in this issue we learn that bees are in one
way are like pigeons and monkeys; Ian Rumsey continues with his
fascinating series of articles and Chad gives you the inside knowledge
to enable you to get what you want, dirt cheap, in bee auctions.
So greetings from the far side of the world (I’m still here),
don’t
forget the poem, the recipe and the quote and I hope and think
that you will enjoy this mid summer edition of Apis-UK.
David
Cramp. Editor.
NEWS Back
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NEW BEEKEEPER WEBSITE
This new website is
designed to enable the amateur beekeeper to have a personal
web page on the internet. The database holding this information
is search enabled for location, meaning that people looking
for their nearest beekeeper, maybe to catch a swarm or buy
local honey, will find an informative web page quickly. The
words and images on the page are provided by the beekeeper, and
must be “bee” related. Key personal address
details are not published and each beekeeper will be provided
with a standard format English Honey email address that will
forward email to the registrant. Go to: http://www.englishhoney.co.uk.
Under the main menu ‘Beekeeper’ button, you can
view a few sample pages and registration details. There is
an initial minimal registration fee to cover the set-up web
page administration cost. * The first 50 registrants will receive
a 25% discount * comments and queries to Caroline Guthrie at:
editor@englishhoney.co.uk
THE NATIONAL WELCOMES NEW BEEKEEPERS
To all Secretaries of Beekeeping Associations,
Once again we offer free admission to the National Honey Show
for all those who join your Association during 2005. To take
advantage of this offer, all you have to do is to send the
Hon General Secretary a list of their names. http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/contacts.shtml To
save unnecessary expense, we do not send out individually
named admission tickets: instead, the list that you send
me will be on the admission desk at the entrance to the Show.
Please tell your new members to identify themselves and their
Association at the desk, and, if their names are on the list
you have sent me, they will be admitted free of charge. NB.
Applications for free admission must be
made by Association Secretaries. See events listing below
Ed.
THE NATIONAL HONEY SHOW WEBSITE
The New 2005 National Honey Show website has been officially
launched, the new site features:
1. Helpful downloads and articles on how to prepare honey and wax for showing.
2.
Membership payment & renewal using PayPal.
3. View the lecture programme,
and other contents of the show schedule.
4. New exhibitors can download the show
schedule and extra entry forms.
http://www.honeyshow.co.uk
HOLY BEES
For some time now a colony of bees has occupied a medieval
church in Worcester which is now showing signs of damage due
to the ever expanding size of the nest. The colony, which set
up home in the roof of St Cassians in Chaddesley Corbett, has
grown so large the ceiling is starting to crack above the altar.
Reverend John Cox said dead bees and honey were coming through
the crack. He told reporters that dead bees have been known
to drop on to him during a service as well as frightening the
odd bride and groom. He added that he had been at the church
for 20 years and even though the bees were there when he arrived
they had never been a problem until now. The church dates back
to the 1300s and the nest are difficult to get to. He explained
that matters would soon come to a head when stonework is done
in the Autumn but hopes to get the problem sorted then. “I just
hope the ceiling holds out,” he finished.
WANT TO BOOST YOUR ENDURANCE 'WANT TO SUSTAIN
ENERGY' TRY HONEY
It won’t come as a surprise to most beekeepers that honey
is a health food or that it gives and sustains energy, but now
studies have proven that athletes who eat honey before and after
competition recover more quickly than those who don’t.
And it doesn’t just help the pros; activity aficionados
everywhere can tap honey’s energy boosting and post-exercise
recovery powers. ‘Honey contains B-complex vitamins, amino
acids and enzymes. It can be the perfect food to fuel exercise
and recoup from a vigorous workout,’ says Jennifer Seyler,
M.S., R.D. at Bally Total Fitness Nutrition department. Besides,
the fructose in honey provides sustained energy so you don’t ‘crash’ after
eating it.’
FORUM FOR PRIVATE BUSINESS (FPB) BACKS EFFORTS TO PREVENT
GOVERNMENT CUTS
The FPB is backing a campaign to safeguard the British honeybee
population whose future is threatened by Government cuts despite
the huge contribution they make to the agriculture industry
by spreading pollen. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) which
represents 25,000 small businesses including many in the agricultural
sector, says that the Government has got a bee in its bonnet
about cutting costs.
In three years time the Government is reducing the amount of
money spent on the Honeybee Health Programme by a quarter of
million pounds to an annual overall cost of £1m. This
will mean the loss of half its 40 strong staff of bee inspectors.
However beekeepers say the inspectors are frontline experts
who play a vital role in helping them fight diseases which could
decimate the bee population such as American Foul Brood, European
Foul Brood and Varroasis. There is also the looming threat of
the small hive beetle spreading from Europe or the USA.
Most of England’s 20,000 beekeepers do not make money
from keeping bees and the sales of honey only totals £12½m
a year. However a Government survey showed that honeybees contribute
at least £120m to the agricultural economy by spreading
pollen.
Nick Goulding, chief executive of the FPB, said that although
small businesses had welcomed recent Government commitments
to reduce regulation and red tape, we have always argued that
good regulation can have positive effects. Beekeepers were small
businesses that needed help because of their vital contribution
to our agricultural industry. Bees are highly productive workers.
Many small businesses in the countryside, including our members,
benefit hugely from the work done by people whose hobby is looking
after bees, said Mr Goulding. If the Government is serious about
wanting to trim regulation and red tape we would be happy to
provide ministers with a hit list that will help small businesses
and at the same time maintain a large population of busy honey
bees working for all of us.
The small hive beetle is not the only threat to British bees posed
by Europe. An EU directive stipulates that remedies to fight
bee diseases must be prescribed by vets, who will also have to
make regular inspections of all hives, even though most of them
know nothing about bees. The cost of these regulations on beekeepers
would be considerable. However the Government can argue that beekeeping
is a special case and can ‘opt out’ of this directive.
Nick Goulding said that the European Commission should be told
to buzz off. It would indeed be ironic if the Government accepted
damaging European regulation while chopping effective British
regulation, he said. “A quarter of a million pounds is nothing
for a country that can spend billions on hosting the Olympics.
The FPB urges its members to support the British Beekeepers Association’s
campaign. There is still time for the Government to think again.”
A WELCOME FIND
A rare bee which burrows underground to hide its honey has
been found on an RSPB Scotland reserve on North Uist. Two colonies
of the northern colletes bees were discovered on the Balranald
reserve by the RSPB warden for the Uists, Jamie Boyle.
It is believed to be the furthest north that the variety of
the "mining" bee, which is mainly found in the Outer
Hebrides, has been seen. Mr Boyle said the discovery was "really
encouraging". The bee favours sandy banks and dunes, covered
in herb-rich meadows.
It is one of the species listed on the UK's Biodiversity Action
Plan (BAP) and one that environmentalists are working hard to
conserve. "Three years ago Jamie was delighted to find
a colony at the south end of North Uist, but that was obliterated
by the storms earlier this year when the habitat of the bees
was just washed away. "To find another colony this far
north on the island is really encouraging." He admitted
it was hard to say why the colony of bees had been discovered
so far north." And claims that it could be linked to climate
change would be pure speculation and it's probably got nothing
to do with it. "But I think we can conclude that the presence
of such rare bees - along with the other rarities we've seen
this year on the reserve - is a testament to the biodiversity
of the area and the unspoilt nature of this magnificent part
of Scotland."
A
Colletes bee
Although relatively undocumented,
their life cycle is likely to be similar to other types
of solitary mining bee. So what is their life style? Declines
in Colletes floralis are generally due to agricultural intensification
and loss of herb-rich grasslands. Female colletes are often
mistaken for small honey bees as they can be more hairy
than other related bees. The northern colletes is quite rare
within the UK, but Scotland and Ireland hold a large part of
the world’s
population of this bee. Work to identify colonies and
suitable habitats has been carried out by the Bumblebee Working
Group. Priority actions have been identified to halt and reverse
the declines.
PREVENT MRSA WITH MANUKA HONEY
In just
about every newspaper that I read, there is some story about
superbugs in hospitals and the dreaded acronym MSRA is bandied
about. Millions of pounds are thrown at the problem by the taxpayer
i.e. you, but for many cases, the problem can be overcome comparatively
cheaply and very effectively with something that is already available
on the National Health Service in the UK .
The problem is well publicised. The solution is not. So if
you are worried about MRSA? Ask for honey dressings, now
available on the NHS. Ed.
“MRSA is basically an antibiotic-resistant form
of a very common bacteria that lives on your skin and normally,
doesn’t
cause you any harm. Certainly, if it lands on an open wound
it can cause an infection; but generally, your body can fight
the infection itself.”
“This antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria has bred
itself to be so in response to our over-use of antibiotics.
Some strains are resistant to all but one antibiotic and that
has to be taken intravenously. In some cases, MRSA can even
be resistant to that which is why it is potentially dangerous
for people whose immune system isn’t at it’s strongest,
such as the elderly, infirm or those who have major surgery.
In cases where they have stopped using antibiotics in hospitals,
the infection rate decreases so when hospitals frequently use
antibiotics, they are just left with these resistant strains
of bacteria.”
National audit data from last year shows that 100,000 people
contracted an infection whilst being treated in hospital, and
of those, 5,000 people died. The risks of MRSA
are well publicised, but the same cannot be said for a preventative
measure, now available on the NHS and over-the-counter. UMF® Manuka
Honey dressings kill MRSA,
something many of our strongest antibiotics cannot do.
“This medical wound dressing is now a registered product
on the NHS, so it’s just a matter of asking or persuading
the hospital to use them.
This is the message I am trying to get through. If hospitals
have a problem and routinely cover all surgical wounds with
honey dressing, they are not going to be infected with MRSA.
If honey is actually used on fresh surgical wounds they will
also heal faster and be scar less because honey enables wounds
to heal much more easily
Professor Molan is one of the world’s leading authorities
on the use of Manuka honey in wound care. He has conducted numerous
clinical trials that document the success of Manuka Honey in
killing MRSA and treating various other bacterial infections
associated with open wounds and ulcers at New Zealands Waikato
Hospital .
We spoke to Professor Molan to find out how these honey dressings
work and what action patients can take to prevent Dr Molan has
been conducting numerous clinical studies on the effectiveness
of UMF® Manuka Honey against MRSA and its additional health
benefits. UMF stands for ‘Unique Manuka Factor,’ an
acronym chosen because of it’s similarity to SPF (Sun
Protection Factor) on sunscreen. Although any honey can help
treat burns or minor wounds, Manuka honey is the only honey
with the ability to kill antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria
because it contains a unique type of antibacterial activity.
“All honey, including Manuka honey, contains hydrogen
peroxide which is produced when the bees add an enzyme to the
nectar. Hydrogen peroxide is an acid, but because of the enzyme,
it’s produced continuously in the honey and at fairly
low levels. This means the hydrogen peroxide can be effective
against bacteria, but is not at high enough levels to cause
harm to the tissues of the body.”
“Manuka honey is special because it contains something
that we still haven’t identified, but which must come
from the plant because it’s in no other honey, anywhere
in New Zealand or Australia , or in any closely related species
in the ‘Jelly Bush’, as we call it.”
“What we do know is that different plants have different
components in the nectar and some of these stabilise and destabilise
that enzyme, so bees add different amounts of the enzyme to
different nectars depending on how watery they are when harvested
from the plant. They add more enzymes to the more watery nectars
and that is why honey can vary one hundred fold in antibacterial
qualities.”
Dr Molan and his team have been amazed at the scope of bacteria
Manuka honey is effective against, and its ability to heal ulcerated
open wounds.
“First we conducted lots of laboratory tests which have
shown it has such a broad spectrum of activity as an anti-microbial
agent. It is effective on many different types of bacteria which
antibiotics generally don’t cover. There has also been
work in New Zealand hospitals where people have had MRSA infections,
and they’ve cleared up after treatment with Manuka honey
dressings.”
“Currently, there’s a big trial running in New
Zealand at the Waikato Hospital with open wounds and varicose
ulcers on the lower leg. Usually, if wounds or ulcers do not
heal after six weeks then they probably won’t heal for
many years, but once the Manuka Honey dressings were used, the
ulcers healed in a period of six to eight weeks even though
some people had them many years, and they didn’t require
any antibiotics. Even people who had needed them every couple
of weeks before over a period of several years.”
Professor
Molan wants to make sure that patients know they can ask for
Manuka honey dressing on the NHS so that knowledge spreads
about this potentially life-saving option.
“There are now honey products being sold as registered
medicines so they can be proven by the Health Regulatory Division
as medical products. This means the honey has to go through
a sterilisation process so it can be safely used in hospital
wards. The honey is heated to a high temperature for a matt
er of seconds and then pushed through a very fine filter, and
cooled seconds later so it is completely free from any particles
that can embed themselves in the wound, and so there is no chance
of the honey carrying bacterium spores.”
“The medical wound dressing is now a registered product
on the NHS, so it’s just a matter of asking or persuading
the hospital to use them. This is the message I am trying to
get through. If hospitals have a problem and routinely cover
all surgical wounds with honey dressings, they will not be infected
with MRSA. If honey is actually used on fresh surgical wounds
they will also heal faster and heal scar less, because honey
enables wounds to heal much more easily which is an important
added benefit.”
MORE ON MANUKA HONEY
Following the news item on MRSA, we can report that an
even more effective wound dressing has been developed by the British
medical products company Brightwake in conjunction with Comvita
of new Zealand. Based in Nottingham, Brightwake currently supplies
ApiNate dressings for markets in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The dressings, which combine absorbent alginate (seaweed) fibres
and active manuka honey, are sold to hospitals, rest homes, doctors'
surgeries and pharmacies. Now, Paengaroa ( North Island) based
Comvita wants to increase its product range with a longer-lasting
dressing, which it is in the process of having trademarked.
Comvita say that they have improved the handling and release
of honey to the wounds. The dressing would be applied to the
hardest-to-heal wounds and could be left on longer. Comvita
chief executive, Graeme Boyd, said the agreement with Brightwake
means "we have the necessary manufacturing capability to
progress in the global wound care market. The early acceptance
and sales of medical honey products mean we can accelerate the
development of next generation products," he said. A clinical
trial being undertaken in New Zealand is measuring - against
standard treatment - the healing effect of manuka honey on leg
ulcers in the elderly. The "Honey as Adjuvant Leg Ulcer
Therapy" or
HALT trial is recruiting patients through district nurses from
the central Auckland, Counties Manukau and Waikato District
Health Boards and Christchurch's Nurse Maude Association.
LONDON BEEKEEPERS HONEY SHOW RESULTS
Our
inaugural Honey Show is now over. The trophies have gone to
the engraver and our thanks go to all the entrants. The winners
were:
Class 1 - 2 Jars of Clear Honey
1st Prize - Simon Wilks, 2nd
Prize - John Chapple, 3rd Prize - John Ritblat.
Class 2 - 2 Jars of Naturally Crystallized Honey
1st Prize
- John Ritblat, 2nd Prize - Simon Wilks, 3rd Prize - Charlie
Millar.
Especial thanks go to the Judge, Peter Cannon, our hosts,
Frances MacKay and the Kennington Gardens Society and to Charlie
Millar and Julian Lush for their pre-eminent legwork and diplomacy!
As our membership continues to increase apace, we're planning
for a bigger event next year. So, even if this is your first
year as a beekeeper, remember to keep a few jars aside for next
year's show!
Roots and Shoots Update
The New Building
at Roots and Shoots was open for viewing at our last monthly
meeting, and very impressive it is, with planted roofs, solar
panels, plenty of rooms and a hall to hold forty. It's nice
to look at, too. If you haven't seen it yet, then there's an
Open Evening on Wednesday (July 20th, 6pm ), or our next Monthly
Meeting (August 14th). What the new building doesn't have is
a Wind Generator. This seemed like a good idea, so the LBKA
Committee have decided to buy them one as a housewarming gift.
The London Beekeepers’ Association website URL: http://www.lbka.org.uk/
NEW GENERAL SECRETARY
Martin Tovey took up his appointment as General Secretary
to the BBKA on 11th July 2005.
In 1970 Martin was a keen amateur winemaker, but that all changed
when Frank Vernon gave a talk on making mead from the washings
after extraction. Over the next two years Martin learnt the
craft of beekeeping at Sparsholt College of Agriculture in Hampshire
with fellow classmates, Mary and Bill Dartnall, under the tuition
of Captain Tredwell, Frank Vernon and John Cossburn.
On moving to Somerset, Martin was invited by Rex Sawyer to
become Secretary and Treasurer of Somerset BKA, a position he
held for two years before his work took him to Durham. Here
he restarted the Durham BKA after an eight year lapse and acted
as Chairman and ADM representative.
In 1980 work took Martin back to Hampshire, where he served
as County Secretary. This appointment coincided with the Hampshire
BKA Centenary. Martin also acted as Heather Site Liaison Officer
with the New Forest Park.
In the late eighties Martin owned Honeyfields Books, trading
in antiquarian and new bee books. This business still continues,
but now under the ownership of Karl and Betty Showler, operating
as B & K Books.
Martin has kept bees in eleven English counties, engaging in
migratory beekeeping as well as helping George Vickery for a
brief spell in commercial beekeeping. Though he has managed
up to twenty colonies he currently has just one hive. Martin
has been a member of Kendal and South Westmorland BKA since
1988 when he first moved to the Lakes and continues membership
of the association since moving to Lancaster in 1996
Martin retired from commercial life four years ago, having
been involved in such diverse concerns as shoe retailing, metals
and plastics distribution and operating a nursing home.
Martin is married with four children and the youngest flees
the nest this September. He has been living in Lancaster for
nine years, having previously lived in the Lake District for
eight years.
He is currently an Executive Committee Member of the local
Abbeyfield Society, a national charitable trust providing supported
housing for older people and helps to run the annual Hawkshead
Agricultural Show. Martin’s hobbies are sailing, ski-ing,
fell-walking and, of course, collecting bee books.
Martin looks forward to promoting the craft of beekeeping and
serving the Executive and fellow beekeepers in the challenging
times ahead. BBKA Web site URL: http://www.bbka.org.uk
BBKA NEWSLETTER JULY 2005
I have written this
open letter to you all to keep you informed of the latest activities
in the BBKA. I hope you find it useful, as it is an opportunity
to go into more depth on some items that are published in BBKA
news.
General Secretary
I am pleased to inform you that we have offered the General
Secretary post to Mr Martin Tovey from Lancaster. He has been
keeping bees for about 35 years and in many counties. We hope
he will start on 11th July and I am sure he will be in touch
with you soon afterwards. I am very pleased that after five
months we have a General Secretary with a job description that
is appropriate for the work of operating the BBKA for the benefit
of its members under the supervision of the Trustees.
Stop the Cuts Campaign
You may have seen some
of the articles in the press and on television in recent weeks
about our concern over the Government’s
proposed cuts. We have worked hard to keep the issue in the
public eye and are getting support from many sides. I would
urge you to take every opportunity to talk to local radio and
television stations about the Government’s intentions
and show that these proposed cuts do not make any sense. We
have had some good news recently, following our discussions
with DEFRA, they have agreed that EFB will not be de-regulated
until the science has shown that shook swarm is an effective
means of control and the results have been peer reviewed. I
think our concerns that EFB could become endemic once de-regulated
have been recognised.
We are asking all members to write again to their MPs. There
is a new parliament and new Ministers. They should be made aware
of our concerns so please ask all your members to write again
and ask fresh and focused questions about the cuts. In the meantime,
with the help of a number of MPs, we are putting more questions
down in the House to ensure that the Ministers face the House
with the recklessness of reducing the Bee Health Programme.
This campaign is going well but we must ask you and your members
to double your efforts to get the petition signed by as many
people as possible. We are nearly up to 10,000 signatures but
need to get well over 100,000. Please use every opportunity
to get signatures. The public are behind us and will sign if
asked. The summer shows are an excellent opportunity but do
not forget coffee mornings and other social events. I am sure
all your non-beekeeping friends will be happy to sign. The leaflets,
stickers and petition forms are available from our office in
Stoneleigh and also can be downloaded from the BBKA web site.
Send all the completed petition forms to the NBC and Tim Lovett
will compile them ready for a significant publicity event in
the future.
http://www.bbka.org.uk/news/news/bbka/petition-against-cuts.shtml
BBKA Enterprises Ltd.
The AGM of BBKA Enterprises was held on 27 th June. We will
have a new Board of Directors with a new Managing Director.
Our hope is that the new energy will result in a business plan
that includes more trading and fund raising for the BBKA. We
must thank Michael Badger for conceiving Enterprises and managing
it through difficult times in the past.
Pesticide Endorsement
The media has picked up this policy and they have tried to
make it sensational. It seems that now the ADM has endorsed
the policy there have been one or two individuals who have claimed
the BBKA is breaking up. When questioned we cannot find any
group that is actively leaving the BBKA. Indeed, one group outside
the BBKA has written to us saying that they are not interested
in any breakaway group, even though they were highlighted in
one of the reports. I hope we can move on now and concentrate
on the big fight retaining the Bee Health Programme.
VMD
We have had another useful meeting with the VMD and they
have assured us that ‘bee medicines’ are still being
considered as a special case. When the new legislation takes
force in October 2005, bee medicines will be exempt for a further
12 months (until October 2006). This gives us all time to come
to a sensible conclusion. We hope that in the end Beekeeping
Suppliers and Associations will be able to continue to supply
treatments albeit with some formal accreditation.
ADM & Forum
The Forum will be held again at the NBC on
Saturday 1 st October. This is your opportunity to raise subjects
that you consider need some debate. Can you please send agenda
items to the office and we will compile a programme for the
day.
The ADM is on 14 th January 2006. You should receive the formal
notice of the meeting with this letter. Please note that Glyn
Davies, our President, retires after two years and we need to
elect a new President. We also have 4 Trustee vacancies for
three years and one for 1 year on the Executive Committee and
the Examinations Board has three vacancies for three years and
one for two years. Can you please encourage members to have
their names put forward? We have a very good and active Executive
Committee at present but this only occurs when there are good
people being nominated and the ADM has a choice of whom to elect.
It is important that every person elected recognises that they
have a responsibility to meet their national obligations even
when these conflict with local activities. Nomination must be
in to the NBC by 8 th October.
Queens
At the last ADM the BBKA was asked to investigate the
possibility of establishing a register of queen producers. This
work is progressing but in the meantime a small group is looking
into the possibility of breeding Varroa tolerant bees. Ron Hoskins
from Swindon has a project running for this purpose and we are
hoping to be able to support another project based on the Scilly
Isles for establishing a pure mating area once a Varroa tolerant
strain is developed.
We have learnt that there are some considerable difficulties
in getting viable mated queens in some areas of the country.
Roger Patterson ( West Sussex) has written about this in BBKA
News. This and some of the problems with bees on the continent
may be yet another consequence on Varroosis. We are not sure
but have suggested that these problems be investigated. We will
be talking to the NBU and Rothamsted to see if there is any
evidence from other countries and to try to find how widespread
the problem is in this country.
Happy beekeeping and I hope we have a good month to fill our
supers. Honey is in very short supply in my part of the country,
maybe this is true in your area as well!
MICHAEL BADGER RADIO 4
Have a listen to a couple of interviews that were on Radio 4 recently - Michael
Badger initially, and more relevant from our point of view the reply from
Lord Bach. This in the BBKA Executive Committee's point of view is a significant
change in emphasis from DEFRA. http://www.bbka.org.uk/news/news/bbka/michael-badger-discusses-.shtml
CZECH BEE-KEEPERS WOULD LIKE TO VISIT YOU IN AUGUST
A party of bee-keepers from the Czech Republic will be
going to Apimondia, and they would like to visit British bee-keepers
en route. The days available are 22nd.and/or 23rd August. They
will be leaving home for the UK on the 20th August. On the 21st
after arrival in Dover they will be staying in London. On 22nd
they will be visiting Windsor and Kew Gardens. Then on 23rd they
will leave for Oxford and Stratford, spending the night in Chester.
Then Dublin for 2 days, and on 26th after breakfast, they leave
for Holyhead and Dover again. Please contact directly. If would
also be helpful if you could send a copy of your message to, who
is their contact in England. Czech bee-keepers are very friendly
and hospitable: no doubt this is helped by beer, their famous
national drink, at 50p a pint and council tax at £50 a year.
Add to this the wonderful Bohemian scenery and lifestyle, and
you may want to go back with them! Ray Williamson. No
more contact details given Sorry E.d.
RISE IN ASTHMA PROBLEMS IN THE UK
Pollen is featured in our Fact File this month where
we see that it is a vital ingredient of life on earth, but of
course for some, it is a curse.
Hospital admissions for breathing problems soared this summer
as pollen counts peaked, the Met Office reports. Admissions
were six times higher than normal. Most were people with hay
fever who had never before experienced such breathing problems,
it said. This year, pollen counts across the country have been
particularly high, contributing to the problem. The Met Office
said that storms may have exacerbated people’s
asthma, with London taking the brunt. The figures are provisional,
but suggest that North West London was the worst hit, with most
A&E departments seeing a significant
increase in attendances with asthma or difficulty breathing
symptoms. People with asthma should be aware that thunderstorms
could trigger their asthma. Conditions that can cause an increase
in problems for hay fever sufferers are as follows:
High pollen counts
High levels of air pollution
High temperatures
Preceding dry spell of 5-7 days
Significant thunderstorms
Source: Met Office
The Pollen effect
The air includes pollen,
and if it has been dry for a while there will be a lot of pollen
lying around on surfaces which may also be drawn up into the cloud
along with the air. Once in the cloud, ice forms on the pollen
and the internal currents mean that the ice particles containing
the pollen circulate in the cloud, going through several cycles
of freezing, thawing and shattering. This shattering process
breaks the pollen down into small particles. Then it starts
to rain releasing the pollen with it in a narrow concentrated
down-draught. Effectively the pollen has been made smaller
and is now more concentrated.
Smaller pollen is thought to be more allergenic. If
you combine this with high levels of ozone or nitrogen dioxide,
which appear to make the lungs more sensitive to allergens and
may themselves also be an irritant, then you get significant
increases in breathing difficulty problems. A father of two
from London had to take his 14-month- old daughter to hospital
recently when she developed breathing difficulties for the first
time in her life. The nurse on this case said they had been
snowed under over with asthma attacks and that they were close
to calling an emergency situation because they had so many people
coming in with breathing problems. An asthma nurse specialist
at Asthma UK said that people with asthma should be aware that
thunderstorms could trigger their asthma. They should keep their
reliever inhaler with them at all times and consider increasing
their preventive treatment in advance of expected thunderstorms,
in consultation with their doctor or nurse. If you are worried
about their asthma, they should contact their doctor or call
the Asthma UK Adviceline
on 08457 01 02 03.
RESEARCH
NEWS Back
to top
RESEARCH INTO POOR QUEEN MATING AND LAYING PROBLEMS
Roger Patterson has started some research into poor queen
mating and laying problems. A brief outline was given in the recent
BBKA news. You can read the full article on the BBKA Website
from the URL: http://www.bbka.org.uk/news/news/bbka/queens-research-in-to-poor-mating.shtml There
is a message forum for you to add your comments (you
may need to register for the forum) http://www.bbka.org.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=630 Please
add your thoughts. Martin Smith BBKA Executive
member.
CAN WE BREED AN AFB RESISTANT BEE
There may be some hope now that the research into the honey
bee genome has taken place. Scientists believe that many improvements
can be made to bees and that many exciting research opportunities
are opening up which will lead to definite improvements in our
livestock.
With this map of the honeybee’s entire genetic code in
hand, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in the
USA are pursuing new ways to manage the welfare and productivity
of the honey bee. We all have a vested interest in Apis mellifera;
the honeybee’s pollination of 90-plus kinds of flowering
crops each year results in yield and quality improvements valued
at more than $14 billion in the United States alone. And that’s
not counting honey, which is essentially a by-product of such
pollination. Recently a team led by scientists at Baylor College
of Medicine in Houston, Texas announced the completion of the
first rough draft of the honeybee genome, which is about one-tenth
the length of that for humans. Jay Evans and Katherine Aronstein,
ARS members on the team, are now using information from the
advance to identify immune system genes that keep honeybees
healthy. Their efforts come at a time when insect pests, parasites
and diseases of honeybees cause an estimated $5 million annually
in the US in crop-pollination losses. Of particular interest
is characterizing genes involved in potential resistance to
the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae, which causes foulbrood disease
in the insect’s larvae. One tantalizing lead is abaecin,
a small protein that may be part of a resistance response in
some bees to foulbrood infection.
Mapping the honeybee genome opens up other exciting research
avenues as well: Identifying genetic markers to speed breeding
of bees, such as for better winter survival; modelling host-pathogen
interactions to better control honeybee disease organisms; and
conducting genome-driven studies to fine-tune honey bee nutrition
and pollination.
BEES WASTING TIME
In this interesting piece of research from Bristol,
we hear that far from being ‘as busy as a bee’,
in fact bees are idle creatures which could be working far
more efficiently. I will try to get more information on this
research for the next edition. Ed.
In some recently released research by scientists at Bristol
University, it seems that Bees, ants and other insects should
stop waggle-dancing and laying chemical trails to tell each
other about where food is found and just get on with searching
for it, scientists have discovered.
The biologists discovered there were many instances where insects
would be better off searching randomly for food rather than
relying on a network of scouts. “In honey bee colonies,
worker inactivity is surprisingly common,” they said in
a Royal Society publication. “[But] conditions may change
quickly from a nectar famine to a feast.” Their study
shows that under particular circumstances, the cost in energy
or time incurred by a division and the necessary information
transfer can be counterproductive and independent foraging should
be favoured.”
HUMMINGBIRDS AND BEES. HOW DO THEY FLY?
Some hummingbirds might resemble insects in their flight patterns
and some are so tiny that they are not much bigger than the
larger insects, and up until very recently, scientists and bird
watchers thought that hummingbirds used the same techniques
for flying and hovering as those used by insects such as bees,
but recent research reported in Nature magazine has shown that
in fact the hummingbirds appear to be half way between insects
and birds.
Many experts had argued that the bird flew just like a big
insect, getting equal lift between down and up strokes. But
the new study shows the hummingbird cannot fly in quite the
same way because its wings are less flexible. In fact, the bird
gains 75% of its lift from the wing’s downstroke, with
the other 25% provided by the upstroke. This makes it different
from other birds which rely solely on the downstroke to stay
airborne.
Douglas Warrick, of Oregon State University in Corvallis, US,
and colleagues trained rufous hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus)
to hover while feeding from a syringe filled with sugar solution.
They used a sheet of laser light to study the air currents
generated by the birds’ wings in a mist of microscopic
oil droplets. They found that hummingbirds have not been able
to evolve the symmetrical hovering achieved by insects, because
their wings, built from feather and bone, are less flexible.
But they are the undisputed exhibitionists of the bird world,
being able to hover for sustained periods, with food, and fly
backwards. Interestingly, the flapping motions they make with
their wings bear a striking resemblance to that of large insects
such as hawkmoths which are of a similar size.
It illustrates how different animals have evolved similar design
plans to cope with the rigours of flight. Birds started off
with bone and feathers - bird wings and bird muscles. As a result
they haven’t converged completely.
Dr Warwick said that the hummingbird could serve as a useful
model for engineers seeking to build small, flapping aeroplanes. “You
can probably learn something about building a machine from the
way nature builds a machine,” he said. “The one
big caveat is that an engineer can start from scratch - biological
evolution doesn’t ever start anew. It’s encumbered
with the trappings of one’s ancestry.”
BIRDS, BEES AND MONKEYS
Australian research shows
that despite the small size of a bee’s brain, it is up there
with monkeys and pigeons as far as working memory is concerned.
A honeybee’s brain is small in size and may even be able
to fit on the head of a match, but a research team says that
the bee’s working memory is almost as effective as that
of a pigeon or a monkey. Working memory is what a person relies
on for those few seconds between reading a number from the phone
book and punching the number into the phone, explains Shaowu
Zhang of the Australian National University in Canberra. He
and his colleagues tested honeybee memory by training bees to
use exit signs in a chamber to find their way to a treat. To
make the correct choice, each bee had to remember a clue it
had flown by on its way into the chamber. “The working
memory in a bee is robust and flexible,” says Zhang. A
short-term memory lasts about the same time in a bee as in a
pigeon, he says. And a honeybee’s memory is flexible enough
to perform a simplified version of a task employed to test memory
in rhesus monkeys.
To look at details of the bee’s working memory, Zhang
and his colleagues used variations of a layout with a wooden
tunnel leading into an upright pipe. The two exit holes from
the pipe were marked with different patterns. The researchers
put a partition in the tunnel with a hole for bees to fly through.
The partition carried a pattern, such as stripes slanting left.
Bees had to remember the pattern and pick the matching pattern
on one of the exit signs to reach the treat. During a bee’s
training, the researchers regularly switched the patterns.
Once a bee was choosing correctly about three times out of
four, the researchers repeatedly lengthened the tunnel beyond
the partition. Thus, the flying bees had a longer and longer
delay between seeing the pattern and matching it to the exit
sign.
The bees’ memory of that pattern remains strong for about
5 seconds, the researchers report in an upcoming Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences. In field tests, bees tend
to choose flowers that resemble the one they visited some 5
seconds earlier. Birds’ short-term memory lasts a similar
time. To test flexibility of memory, Zhang and his colleagues
put two partitions with patterns in the tunnel and taught the
bees to pay attention to only one partition, such as the first
one encountered or the one at a specific distance from the tunnel
mouth. The bees still managed to match patterns even when researchers
marked the partitions and exits with patterns not seen in training.
The bee test was a two-option version of a memory test in which
rhesus monkeys can distinguish more options.
Thomas Collett of the University of Sussex in Brighton, England,
says that the cues used by bees in the study aren’t clear
but their flexibility is interesting. Also, he welcomes the
memory-duration finding as a “valuable contribution, since
measurements haven’t been available before.”
BUTTERFLIES NOT SO AIMLESS AFTER ALL
In a recent (April) report in the Proceedings of the Royal
Society, Juliet Osborne, and Lizzie Cant of Rothamsted Research
show that the apparently aimless, loopy flights of butterflies
that we have all seen and probably wondered about are, like
bees and other insects, quite directive. In research reminiscent
of recent research on bees, the scientists tagged peacock (Inachis
io) and small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) butterflies with
transponders weighing just 12mg. After checking that the devices
did not affect their behaviour, the researchers released 33
insects into a large field being scanned by radar on the Rothamsted
estate.
 The flight paths of individual butterflies were then tracked,
some of them flying up to 1km from their release point. The
researchers successfully recorded the movements of 30 of the
insects they released. The results revealed these butterflies
had two distinct types of flight pattern: fast, straight movement
and slower, non-linear movement. During straight flight, the
butterflies zipped along at about 2.9m/s. During the slower
type of flight, the insects foraged for nectar from flowers
and flew in loops, with a speed averaging 1.6m/s.
Flying in loops seems to perform an orientation function, helping
the insects identify flowers or hibernation spots. The butterflies
were able to identify and avoid unsuitable habitats such as
dense trees from up to 200m away. They seem able to identify
suitable foraging habitats from about 100m away.
BERLIN INSECT CRIMINOLOGISTS INVESTIGATE THE MURKY ‘UNDERWORLD’ LIFE
OF THE ROGUE TREE WASP
(It’s not only honey bees
that do it)!
In a colony of tree wasps, workers on nursemaid
duty crawl this way and that along the bottom of their nest,
tending the youngsters in the comb. Most of the workers dutifully
look after the queen’s offspring, stopping only to spit a runny
meal into the mouth of a pale, lumpy larva in its cell. But one
of these workers is up to no good. This selfish worker stays still
for a minute or two in a suspiciously crouched position. She’s
laying her own egg in an empty cell.
Such rogue egg laying is a crime against insect society. The
wheels of justice, however, don’t require a special caste
of investigators and prosecutors. Punishment among insects is
meted out by ordinary workers - and sometimes the queen
herself - says biologist Tom Wenseleers, who has watched
dozens of hours of black-and-white videos from infrared security
cameras that he’s trained on nests of tree wasps.
In the most dramatic episodes, the egg sneak finds herself
surrounded by a posse of vigilante workers. “They’re
grabbing on to her; they try to sting her,” says Wenseleers
of the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin. Insect criminologists
initially reported punitive action, among honeybees, in 1989,
but researchers have found examples in 15 species since then,
5 of them documented last year. With the recent surge of police
reports in insects, researchers see a broader range of both
crimes and responses. For instance, queens do some of the rough
stuff, such as killing illicitly laid eggs, even though they’re
her kin. What’s more, queen wannabes can end up as police
targets themselves.
Most biologists who have considered insect societies see them
as models for studying altruism, with the workers looking out
for the common good. But according to Wenseleers, the new work
suggests that the more appropriate image is that of oppressed
workers in a police state. In the next issue, we will take a
look at more investigations into this intriguing aspect of social
insect community living.
THE
BEE PRESS Back to top
BEECRAFT
Beecraft July 2005 Volume 87 Number 7
Claire Waring Editor. www.bee-craft.com
Beecraft Subscriptions http://www.bee-craft.com/shop/
Contents: ‘Stop the
cuts’ campaign Tim Lovett; A year in the apiary: going to
the heather David Aston, PhD, NDB; History of bees, honey and wax
Michael J Badger, MBE, MA and Erica Osborn, MA; Mexico the cheerful
Kathleen Chapple; Variations: part 1 Celia Davis, NDB; Moving to
France: part 1 Max Westby; The Bee Craft Photo Competition; In
the Apiary: having fun with bees (part 14) Karl Showler; BBKA Exams
John Hendrie; Obituaries: John Pollard and Fred Richards; Letters
to the Editor; The ‘B’ Kids; Around
the colony; Classified advertisements; Calendar.
Editorial: It’s time for the honey harvest
to begin in earnest. For some, this is what beekeeping is all about,
but for others it is the bees themselves that are the main fascination
of our craft. Observing their behaviour as the season progresses,
it never ceases to amaze me just how much there is to learn every
year. The beekeeper will never be in the position of ‘knowing
it all’. We say that the bees don’t read the books
but maybe it is us who do not understand enough about our bees
and their complex behavioural patterns to predict what they will
do next. This year has not been a good one for honey, by all accounts.
I have heard stories of many colonies going queen-less for no apparent
reason. Queens have failed to mate and there is an abundance of
laying workers. If this has happened to you and you do not know
what to do, get in touch with your local beekeeping association
and ask for advice. There is bound to be somebody there who can,
and no doubt will, help you. My experience of beekeepers is that
they are always ready to go that little bit further to help out
a fellow apiarist. Many are generous beyond calling with gifts
of bees and queens and loans of equipment. That is one of the things
that make being a beekeeper so enjoyable. However, the world is
a changing place and we are going to have to work much more closely
together as new pests arrive, old ones become immune to existing
treatments and new legislation increasingly restricts our activities.
The BBKA is mounting a campaign against the proposed government
cuts in expenditure on the bee health programme. Find out on page
4 how you can support it. May all your supers be full! Claire
Waring
 |
THE BEEKEEPES QUARTERLY
incorporating BeeBiz. No.81 August 2005 (A4 56 Pages)
Editor: John Phipps. www.beedata.com/bbq.htm
 |
Contents:
On the cover: Going with the Flow; NZ Beekeeping, David Cramp;
Bee Beards and Bikinis, Sue Cobey
EDITORIAL- Apimondia, Going with the flow, Migratory beekeeping in
Greece, Honey uncapping machine, The globe-trotting beekeeper, & New
General Secretary for the BBKA.
LETTERS - Kashmir bee virus, Paul van Westendorp; Church candles
Gerald Herrin; & Brother
Adam, Colin Weightman.
NEWSROUND World record challenge kicks off Apimondia 2005; Demonstration
of the Konya rotating hive, Rita Molnar; Bee Safe preservative for
beehives; Drought problems in Spain; Disappearing Bee Syndrome; NZ
wins bee trade dispute with US; Questions to UK ministry about European
Foul Brood disease; EU labelling causes problems in Italy; Fiji bans
honey imports; Australian Honey Report; Best 'value-added export'
prize; Success story for women bee farmers; Vita acquires Swarm SA;
Prevent MRSA with manuka honey; Honey medical dressings to be marketed
in Europe and Australasia; New treatments for chalkbrood and nosema;
International bee photography winners; & Apicultural Events 2005.
BEE
BEARDS AND BIKINIS - Sue Cobey.
TRAVELLERS' TALES - Top bar hives, stingless bees, "killer" bees
and much much more in the tropics Pam Hunter.
ENVIRONMENT - Geoff Hopkinson NDB.
NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPING - Quite a business David Cramp.
PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL - Varroa resistance and the rise of thymol.
SCIENCE REVIEW - David Aston NDB - Apimondia's Apitherapy CD.
MIGRATORY BEEKEEPING:
GOING WITH THE FLOW.
Australia, Geoff Manning; UK, John Howat; Nepal,
Bhim Suwal; Russia, Vitaly Petrovsky; Portugal, Antonio Pouseiro;
Serbia, Predrag Cvetovik; USA, Ann Harman; Norway, Erik Osterlund; & The
Netherlands, Ko Zoet.
GUIDELINES FOR MOVING HONEYBEE COLONIES - John and Dawn Yates.
EXTRA MULTIPLE MATING HIVES IN THE QUEEN BREEDING
STATIONS OF UKRAINE - Dr Alexander Komissar.
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENTS Brittany, Job Pichon, & England, Nigel
Payne.
BREEDING MATTERS John Atkinson NDB.
BOOKSHELF - Plants and Honey Bees: their relationship, David Aston
NDB and Sally Bucknall. Bad Beekeeping, Ron Miksha. Following the
Bloom, Douglas Whynott. The Honey Flow, Kylie Tennant. Apicoltura
- Organizzazionne, Strutture & Logistica. Bees Besieged - One
Beekeeper's Bittersweet Journey To Understanding, Bill Mares. Traditional
Irish Honey Recipes, Brigid Barrett.
Cover photo: Off to the Apiary,
First Prize, International Beekeeping Photographic Contest, May 2005,
Spain: John Phipps.
NEW BOOK Back to top
Bees in America - How the honey bees
shaped a nation by Tammy Horn "Horn shows how beekeeping and honey have influenced
so much of our U.S. history and culture. American beekeepers will be
grateful that Horn is sharing the story of their love affair with the
honey bee to the general population. Bees in America is a welcome respite
from our fast-paced, technology-driven society." Joe
Graham Editor
American Bee Journal £23.50 UKPP. Available
from Northern Bee Books online URL: http://www.beedata.com/nbb/horn.htm
ARTICLES Back
to top
Bees and Gravitomagnetism (Part 1 of 4)
Ian Rumsey
Gravitomagnetism is a type of field generated by rotating mass which has
properties that warp time and space. Our awareness of this medium until recently
was confined to theory; in practice the bee may have acted as our compass.
The gravitomagnetic field produced by the Earth’s rotation may, for some
reason, influence comb construction.
Evidence of this possibility would be apparent in our long history of beekeeping,
and it is in this area we must now apply our thoughts.
Those of us who are fortunate to have the time, the space, and the leisure,
to peruse Eva Crane's book "The World History of Beekeeping and Honey
Hunting" will already appreciate the fund of information it contains regarding
early bee management. From these pages we may consider methods practiced in
other countries from the earliest times and see whether any reference is made
to natural comb alignment.
If Skeps are excluded, we find upright hollow constructions in cool/cold
climates and laid down hollow constructions in cool/hot climates. The management
of each did not entail the destruction of the bee, but rather the removal of
the comb. The life of the actual colony would appear to continue forever. Swarms
and surplus brood comb replaced any failures, and the overall number of colonies
increased. When one reads about ancient apiaries containing 400 - 600 hives,
stacked up in horizontally laid pipes, or fashioned out of rock, this number
must have been the result of years of steady increase.
When considering the collection of comb under this type of management, the
orientation of the natural comb would be of some importance. For example, if
one had an upright wooden box, with a door at the back, it would be convenient
if the comb was aligned back to front. Similarly if a horizontal pipe was used,
it would be an advantage for the comb to be across the diameter of the pipe.
The earliest records are preserved as wall paintings in Egypt dating from c
2500 BC, and depict beekeeping in horizontal pipes or jars stacked upon themselves
as illustrated below.
 |
As may be seen the comb when removed from the hive was small and circular
indicating that the comb was built across the diameter of the vessel. This
I would suggest was not obtained by accident, and in Eva Crane's book there
are clues as to how this might have been achieved. For example there is reference
to hive management when using horizontally laid pipes, where the queen cells
are removed by reflecting light along the pipe by the use of a piece of polished
metal. It is stated that the pipes were always orientated North - South.
Let us read further and go to the mountainous regions of Arabia where artificial
caves were made which usually faced South, and were constructed large enough
to accommodate several hives with a working space behind. More North - South
alignment. Perhaps we might now travel to Syria where hives were kept in bee
houses with the pointed hive entrance projecting 8 - 10 cms beyond the South
wall.
From these three examples it seems possible that early beekeepers may have
understood that North - South facing hives produced East - West aligned comb,
and practiced, on a daily bases, this now lost and forgotten art.
Size doesn’t matter
A few weeks ago Peter Bashford had a call-out to a swarm which turned out
to be a colony which had taken possession of the inside of a circular compost
bin. Anticipating something out of the ordinary we were joined by the Editor
himself – complete with camera. Naturally we bowed deeply on his arrival.
It was a pleasant evening and even dressed up in full beekeeping clothes
it was not too hot. I laid out my tools like a brain surgeon preparing for
a lobotomy- large kitchen knife and cutting board, a dozen lengths of string
and six or seven empty brood frames.
Peter and I approached the said compost bin and carefully raised the lid
with bated breath. ST snapped photos of the impending revelation. As we lifted
it we could tell that it wasn’t going to be the biggest colony we had
ever seen. In fact there were four or five wild combs, the biggest about the
size of a saucer and perhaps five or six hundred bees with a young queen and
some sealed brood. We had anticipated something bigger but even the old adage “a
swarm in July is not worth a fly,” did not detract from the pleasure
although we did have a good laugh at the time having anticipated a much bigger
colony.
It took about ten minutes to gently tie the three biggest combs into frames
and put them into a nucleus box with a couple of frames with foundation. What
we had was a cast, so the good news is that with care Peter will have a colony
headed by a 2005 mated queen next year. Beekeeping is not always about the
big colonies, it takes care and attention to detail to nurture a cast until
it can fend for itself over winter. Mike
Oliver
Honey Bee Genetics. Part 1.
In this article we take a look at basic, hopefully
easy to read and understand honey bee genetics. The problem with genetics and
Mendel and peas and all those diagrams rapidly multiplying themselves is that
they are very much like insurance policies. When an insurance agent explains
them they are obvious. Ten minutes after he is out of the door, one is in a
complete fog regarding the situation, frantically looking around for a beer
and wondering what on earth you’ve
just spent your money on. However, even a basic understanding of the situation
can help you look at your bees in another light and you may even be able to
improve them. You will certainly be able to discover what your local queen
supplier is up to and whether he or she is really up to it. It will also become
obvious to you why bees have arranged things the way they have.
The big thing about bees is that drone bees come from an unfertilised egg
and this one fact makes bee genetics very different and as long as you remember
this, the rest of bee genetics becomes easier to understand.
Chromosomes contain the genes that make us up. Humans have two sets of chromosomes,
46 chromosomes in total. 23 from the female egg and 23 from the male sperm.
Queens and worker bees have 32 chromosomes, again two sets, 16 from the queens
egg and 16 from the drone’s sperm. They are diploid. Di means two (sets)
and ploid means chromosome. Drones which result from an unfertilised egg have
16 chromosomes only because they receive only the 16 chromosomes from the queen’s
egg. They are called haploid. One (set) chromosome.
When a queen mates with a drone she will produce eggs. As in humans and most
other animals, each egg will contain half her total chromosomes, in the case
of a bee this is 16. This means that like a human mother she can only ever
pass on to her offspring 50% of her genes. This egg will contain a random selection
of her genes.
The drone will contribute the other 16 chromosomes which are 100% of his total
genes. So each sperm from a drone is identical, i.e. clones. A resulting worker
or queen therefore will receive 50% of her mother’s genes and 100% of
her father’s genes. A sister worker or queen from the same drone and
queen will therefore have a 75% relationship. These sisters are called supersisters
and comprise definite groupings within a hive. In humans and other animals
your offspring will only have a 50% relationship. 50% from the mother’s
genes and 50% from the father’s genes. If a worker had her own offspring,
she too would only have this 50% relationship with her offspring. By helping
the queen raise her supersisters she has raised this relationship to 75%. There
is a principle in biology that an organism will tend to do whatever most efficiently
gets more of its genes into the next generation and by operating in this fashion,
bees have worked out a very efficient system for doing this.
Queens will mate with many drones, possibly up to twenty. The reason for
this is probably to gather up a wide genetic diversity for the colony and to
reduce the possibility of inbreeding. This means that there can be many different
families of supersisters in the hive, each with the same mother but a different
father. A worker in the same family will have a relationship to a sister of
75% and to a sister from the same mother but a different father of 25%. This
difference in relationship has many effects on the life and work of the colony
and we will look at this and other aspects in future articles.
That's Business
We have all read about the annual sales of bee equipment run by local associations
and indeed many of us have been to them Usually they take the form of an auction
and during one of these in Lincoln, I purchased my first two hives, a couple
of WBCs. But how do you get the best bargains? How do you beat off the competition?
Chad tells you how in this illuminating article. Ed.
In my experience the best way to increase stocks of bees and equipment has
been to buy them at farm or collective sales. When an old bee farmer hangs
up his hive tool, it is standard practice for him to hire an auctioneer to
sell off his lifetime's worth of accumulated 'stuff.' These sales pop-up with
some regularity around the countryside and are usually held in a field. All
the equipment is laid out in lots lined up in rows across the field and the
idea is that the auctioneer walks from lot to lot auctioning them one at a
time, the buyers following him in a large gaggle. Everyone knows that bargains
can be had at these sales and they usually draw quite large crowds. A successful
farm sale can transform a man from a hobbyist beekeeper to a commercial outfit
in the course of a morning.
In the following article I look back at some of the techniques that I have
employed in the past to maximise my profit from these sales. Firstly, remember
that this is business, so suitable dress is required. The majority of buyers
will have deliberately dressed-down for the occasion, choosing their oldest
holiest clothes. I recommend that you dress to suppress, turn up to the sale
in a freshly laundered suit with tie. The other punters at the sale are your
enemy, their profit is your loss, I am sorry to be hard-nosed but every endeavour
must be made to crush them from the outset. The sale will start with the ringing
of a hand bell, all buyers who were until then walking amongst the lots working
out how much they were prepared to spend will now flock towards the ringing.
A few pleasantries will be announced; how grateful the auctioneers are to the
farmer for the use of the field and how reluctant the retiring bee farmer is
to be giving up his former passion. Then finally the sale will start and the
first lot will be introduced.
'Do I hear ten pounds ladies and gentlemen?'
'You hear twenty three,' I'll say, starting as I mean to go on.
There will be some amongst the crowd that will think you're mad but bear
with me.
You must never let the auctioneer lead the bidding, once the bidding is in
progress, chose successive random numbers that follow no logical increase and
shout them out before the auctioneer has chance to interject. When a competing
punter bids ten pounds, the auctioneer then asks for fifteen, I therefore bid
twenty two. The auctioneer has to accept your offer and so gradually, slowly
but surely, you gain control of the whole sale. You must never address the
auctioneer. Turn to your rival bidder(s) and look at them like they have just
driven over your cat. They will usually find this most unnerving. Not as unnerving
as the habit of clapping whenever you successfully bid for an item. Whilst
clapping, turn to others and try to encourage them to clap with you to mark
your success. The odd remark of 'well done me' and later the 'well done me
again,' will really drive the point home.
I suppose the aim is to reduce your rival bidders to a silence of disbelief
or preferably to drive them away completely. Their disdain and disaffection
will grow quickly. After an hour, anyone left at the sale will only be there
to watch, you should have quelled any desire they had for bidding, understanding
that any attempt to bid will be futile. These rivals need to assume that you
have unlimited funds at your disposal which you are only too happy to fritter
away.
Adopt the demeanour of a cream filled cat. Beekeepers are atrociously dour,
the first thing they do is tell you how many colonies they have lost over winter,
or how this dry spell is causing problems, or that spring was either too early,
too late or was completely skipped over in an unusual immediate transition
from winter to summer which was itself too dry, too wet or even too short for
their bees. When I meet other beekeepers at sales I like to be a little more
upbeat. Greet a complete stranger with 'Do you know I actually think I have
more colonies coming out of winter than I did going in, I must have miscounted,
I didn't lose one, that's four years in a row!' If the sale is in early March
a comment such as 'Are you also finding that you're having to add supers already?'
will cause some amount of consternation.
When you feel satisfied that you have crushed any possibility of anyone daring
to bid against you, your tactics should be reversed and any overspend on previous
lots can be recuperated. A suitable time is when a certain look comes over
the auctioneer's face. His eyes should tell you that any hope he had of a large
commission have evaporated. He will be looking at his watch more frequently
and his tone will be dull and lifeless. This is when you change gear. Experience
tells me that having defeated the auctioneer he will look to you to suggest
an opening bid. 'Who will start me at...,' then he will glance at me, I then
smile and suggest a rather low amount, which he will, more often than not,
accept.
Three pounds for a brood box may seem too little and it is possible that
a bidder with a glimmer of hope will be stirred into raising his hand. In seeing
this I will jump in chuckling, 'Did I say three? I meant thirteen!' This only
has to be repeated twice and the threats from others will be buried for good.
If there is a contentious item that you feel may be desired by more than
a few, I like to think 'out loud.' As the lot is being described I announce,
'Oh good, this is the one that I really want,' or 'I've been looking forward
to this lot all morning.' If you find yourself having paid over the odds for
an item it doesn't harm to announce, 'it's a steal', or exclaim 'bargain!'
(not forgetting, of course, to applaud yourself.)
A common tactic among other punters when they really want an item is to move
forward until they are directly in front of the auctioneer. They will set themselves
with a look of solemn resolve, often leaning on a stick, staring at the ground.
In this pose they will attempt to fill the auctioneer's field of vision. They
will usually bid with a slight, almost imperceptible nod, or a twitch of their
bidders' card which they hold at waist level. I admit that this is a good ploy
and one that will cost you dearly unless you know how to combat it. In this
situation I like to contrast their pose with a much more flamboyant performance.
The auctioneer opens bidding. As our man is blocking out the auctioneer's
view, rather than raising my hand in an attempt to catch his attention, I like
to call out, 'Me!' every time I bid. It is then a war of attrition, gradually
wearing my rival down.
I have seen men that have pitted themselves against me crying as they leave
the assembled group and whereas it doesn't make me happy to see this, I must
admit that I do get a warm feeling all over. Also, depending on the item, I
like to display premature ownership of the article; this can be done in certain
circumstances by sitting on, lying on or sprawling over whatever is going under
the hammer. A man may not be so keen to bid for a hive if I am sat astride
it grinning at him cheerily.
By the end of the sale everyone will be sick to the pits of their stomachs
with your arrogance, nerve and guile. It is for this reason that I only attend
farm sales that are beyond my county. In the past I have got so many backs
up that there is a serious risk of the crowd turning into a mob and tempers
have sometimes boiled over. I hope that these tactics will be of use to you,
I do feel though, that should you find yourself at the same sale as me in future,
you will not be inclined to bid against me; that would be most unsporting and,
I dare say, rather unwise. Chad Cryer
Suppressed Mite Reproduction. (Smr) Fighting
Varroa
SMR is
a trait that has been known about for around 10 years now, yet it is surprising
that most beekeepers don’t know about research in this
area or about the tremendous advances that have been made. We all want to reduce
our dependence on chemicals used in the fight against varroa whether hard or
soft; well here is one way in which we can do it. Ed.
SMR is a trait in honey bees keeps mites from multiplying and for some time
now, entomologists with the Agricultural Research Service have discovered that
some bees have a built-in defence against varroa mites, a trait that can be
bred into any bee population. Called SMR, for “suppressed mite reproduction,” this
trait protects bees by keeping harmful varroa mites from reproducing. It’s
hoped that when adequately bred into bee populations, SMR can one day free
beekeepers from their dependence on chemical miticides.
ARS entomologists John R. Harbo and Jeffrey W. Harris, in the agency’s
Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit at Baton Rouge, La.,
discovered the SMR trait while searching for the reason behind reduced mite
populations observed in some bee colonies. While honey bees can fend off mites
through grooming and other hygienic behaviours, a different factor appeared
to be at play in those colonies. John Harbo gave an excellent talk on his research
at the French bee breeders association meeting in Limoges in November 2003
and in this talk he informed us that he and his colleagues found that in some
colonies some mites simply weren’t reproducing. They watched female mites
entering brood cells, but not laying any eggs. Following genetic studies, the
researchers determined that a trait in these honey bees was responsible for
inhibiting the mites’ reproduction.
To help beekeepers whose hives are suffering from varroa infestations, ARS
has provided the SMR trait to Glenn Apiaries, a commercial queen honey bee
producer in Fallbrook, Calif., that sells SMR breeder queens. With selective
breeding, the SMR trait can eliminate mite reproduction in worker brood cells.
Harbo and Harris are studying a second trait in bees linked to mite resistance.
Called P-MIB, for “percentage of mites in brood,” the trait is
an ideal complement to SMR because it curbs mite populations from outside,
rather than inside, the brood cell where SMR comes into play.
USDA ARS scientists Dr.John Harbo and Dr.Jeffrey Harris at the Honey Bee Breeding,
Genetics & Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, have defined
and tested a trait of the honeybee that suppresses the reproduction of the
parasitic mite Varroa destructor. They have enhanced this naturally occurring
trait through selection to produce highly Varroa resistant bees. Recent tests
have shown that SMR queens retain an acceptable level of mite resistance when
they are free mated to unselected drones. SMR is a naturally occurring trait
of the honeybee that suppresses the reproduction of the parasitic mite Varroa
destructor. The SMR trait might be best described as a varroa-specific hygienic
behaviour. Dr. Harbo and Dr. Harris proved the effectiveness of the SMR trait
by exchanging queens between resistant and susceptible colonies. Each time
a resistant queen was put into a susceptible colony, the mite population went
down. On the other hand, every time a susceptible queen was placed in the resistant
colonies, the mite population increased.
In another study by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota, bees
of several strains were compared. The SMR colonies showed the highest degree
of mite resistance, and also had good honey production. Recent studies by Dr.
Spivak and Dr. Harbo have shown that the SMR trait might be best described
as a “varroa-specific hygienic behavior”. SMR bees remove mites
that have started to reproduce. The reproduction of mites triggers their removal
by the bees. The only mites left in the cells are nonreproductive or sterile.
So there is evidence for selective removal of reproductive mites from brood
cells.
A goal of the USDA SMR Project is to distribute the SMR trait for resistance
to Varroa mites to queen breeders around the country. The object is to cross
these bees with beekeeper’s own well adapted stock. This will maintain
the genetic diversity of American bees while enhancing this important trait.
Once in the hives of beekeepers, further selection and improvement can be made
for honey production, other disease resistance mechanisms, and other beneficial
traits.
The research leading up to developing this trait was long and detailed.
Drs. Harbo and Harris have methodically worked on selecting bees for Varroa
resistance since 1995. They first had to develop techniques for measuring populations
of bees and mites and for measuring characteristics that are associated with
resistance. Then they identified specific traits that are related to the growth
of mite populations. These traits were analysed statistically to determine
the degree of heritability they had. The trait for suppressed mite reproduction
SMR was shown to be the most promising, so they began a selective breeding
program to enhance it. Read about the SMR PROJECT at the USDA ARS Honey Bee
Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Laboratory website. Where did SMR bees
come from?
SMR bees were originally selected from diverse domestic honeybee colonies
in Louisiana and Michigan that showed some degree of mite resistance. What’s
special about these bees?
Recent studies by Dr. Spivak and Dr. Harbo have shown that the SMR trait might
be best described as a “varroa-specific hygienic behaviour”. SMR
bees remove mites that have started to reproduce. The reproduction of mites
triggers their removal by the bees. The only mites left in the cells are nonreproductive
or sterile. So there is evidence that bees with the SMR trait selectively remove
reproductive mites from brood cells.
Many beekeepers have asked the question, ‘are SMR bees related to the
USDA Russian bees?’ The answer is that although coming out of the same
USDA ARS research laboratory as the Russians, they are not related. SMR bees
are not imported, they originated from domestic American colonies.
Another frequently asked question by bee breeders is: ‘are the genes
for suppressed mite reproduction dominant or recessive?’ The SMR trait
is thought to be controlled by more than one gene, just how many is uncertain
at this point. These genes are neither dominant nor recessive. They are what
is called “additive” which simply means that the more of them that
are present, the more the trait will be expressed. This works in favor of beekeepers
since a queen with SMR genes can mate to any drones and still have the trait
expressed in her colony enough to reduce the mite population. So naturally
mated queens produced from pure SMR breeders are mite resistant.
For the queen
breeder, pure SMR breeder queens should be used for queen rearing purposes.
The naturally mated daughters of these breeder queens should be used for production
hives. Naturally mated queens containing 50% of the SMR trait can be purchased
from various queen breeders.
Many sceptics ask the question, ‘are SMR bees really mite resistant?
In a recent published study Dr. Harris and Dr. Harbo proved the effectiveness
of the SMR trait by exchanging queens between resistant and susceptible colonies.
Each time a resistant queen was put into a susceptible colony, the mite population
went down. On the other hand, every time a susceptible queen was placed in
the resistant colonies, the mite population increased. In another study by
Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota, bees of several strains were
compared. The SMR colonies showed the highest degree of mite resistance, and
also had good honey production. Where can I find out more about SMR queens?
So how does the average beekeeper find out if any of his bees have this trait?
Varroa mites are large enough to see fairly easily. With a magnifying glass,
a flashlight, and a little time to look, the SMR trait can be observed in any
stock of bees. In unselected bees, the trait normally shows up in 20%-40% of
the mites. In the pure SMR bees, the trait is in nearly all of the mites. Colonies
headed by daughters of pure SMR breeder queens show a significant increase
in non-reproductive varroa mites. Materials needed:
2x-4x Magnification - visor magnifying glass works well or low power stereo
microscope is best. Use a torch as a light source.
Forceps or tweezers- fine
enough to uncap and pull out pupae Record sheet - a simple tally of reproductive
and non-reproductive mites. Brood comb containing mites - from colonies not
recently treated with miticides.
Time to look- allow at least an hour per comb What to look
for:
1. Uncap purple eyed pupae with tan body colour
2. Inspect pupae for white
faecal deposit- bright white powder
3. Check pupae for mites
4. Check cell wall for faecal deposit- usually on the
upper wall
5. Check cell interior for mites
6. Identify the reddish brown mother mite
7. Identify lighter or smaller offspring
mites
8. Inspect 20 infested cells containing a single mother mite
9. Record number
of reproducing and non-reproducing mites
10.Compare colonies for best breeders
The USDA maintains a web site on Varroa mite reproduction, which has an excellent
display of pictures and descriptions of mites, both reproductive and non-reproductive.
Your time will be well repaid by studying this site before you begin your own
observations. http://www.ars.usda.gov/main
RECIPE OF THE MONTH Back
to Top
Ensaimadas (Spanish sweet honey rolls)
In this recipe I salute my departure from Spain with
one of my favourite sweets. Try these extremely fattening rolls. You won’t
be disappointed. Ed.
1/2 cup warm milk.
8 tbs sugar.
1 pkt yeast.
3 cups plus flour.
1/2 tsp salt.
1/4 cup warm water.
3 tbs oil.
1 large egg.
1 large egg yolk.
melted butter.
powdered sugar.
Honey.
Mix milk, yeast, and 1 tbs sugar with ½ cup flour and let mixture
rise until double, about 20 minutes. Blend 7 tbs sugar, 2 ½ cups flour
and salt in food processor. Add yeast mixture, ¼ cup water, oil, egg
and yolk and blend smooth. If too firm add a bit of water, one tablespoon
at a time. If too sticky add flour one tablespoon at a time. Texture should
be smooth, elastic and pliable. Divide dough into 3 pieces and each piece
into 6 balls (18 total).
Roll each ball into a thin rope and brush with melted butter. Roll up tightly
spiral style and tuck under end. Place on greased cookie sheets, 2 inches
apart and let rise until double.
Brush with honey and bake 375 till golden, about 12 minutes. Dust with powdered
sugar.
Other ensamaida recipes are filled with cheese and the dough pieces are
rolled into a rectangle, spread with cheese and rolled up jelly roll style
and coiled and placed in small brioche or tins to rise and bake, and sprinkled
with sugar. Basically a sweet dough roll filled with cheese.
FACT
FILE Back
to top
POLLEN
Pollen is possibly one of the best known of natural products and is either
blessed or cursed by people depending on whether it is  providing a living
for them, curing them or killing them. It is of course the male reproductive
cell produced by the anthers of a flower to carry the male gamete to the stigma
of a receptive female flower. It is of extreme importance to bees and they
have been intimately associated with pollen in an evolutionary relationship
for around 90 million years, when the hunting wasp ancestor of the honey bee
went vegetarian. The bee and its young take their floral rewards in the form
of energy from nectar and protein from pollen and the plant receives a pollination
service. This evolutionary relationship has literally shaped the world we
live in and even though man may be doing his utmost to bypass or otherwise
destroy this extraordinary liaison, it seems that even in these days of GMOs,
plastic wrapped chicken and seedless oranges, were pollination to fail, mankind
would suffer.
Because of the very diverse floral sources of bee collected pollen it is
very difficult to determine exactly a typical pollen composition. Generally
however, pollen consists of around 25% protein, 27% carbohydrates (mainly
simple sugars much of which is added by the bee in the form of nectar or honey
used either to bind the pollen pellet together for transport, or to better
store the pollen in a cell); 5% fat and up to 18% starch (especially the grass
pollens).
Pollen supplies the colony with all its nutritional requirements for brood
rearing and many a bee farmer finds himself in difficulties if there is a
dearth. Without sufficient pollen a colony will not thrive and will eventually
cease to exist. Humans too are increasingly taking to consuming this nutritious
food and even though not the ‘perfect’ food as so many claim.
It is a rich source of many vitamins (especially the B vitamins) and minerals,
notably iron, zinc, manganese and copper. Pollen is deficient in the lipid
soluble vitamins but otherwise, in many ways surpasses in nutritive value
almost any other food commonly eaten. Pollen does contain a relatively large
amount of indigestible material. The intine and exine are the hard protective
coverings walls protecting the cytoplasm. The material forming these is mainly
cellulose and sporopollenin a carotenoid polymer and at one time it was thought
that humans could not digest pollen, but in 1983 and 1984, it was shown that
in rats and mice that once pollen is in the digestive system, osmotic shock
ruptures the pollen grains at the germination pores and allows digestion to
take place. This was followed up by tests on humans in 1987.
In data collected by Adams in 1975, the nutritive values per thousand kilocalories
of certain common food were compared to those of pollen with the following
results:
| |
Protein |
Fat |
| Baked beans: |
59.4g |
82.7g |
| Whole wheat bread: |
43.2g |
12.3g |
| Beef Sirloin: |
59.4g |
82.7g |
| Apple: |
3.4g |
10.3g |
| Raw cabbage: |
54.1g |
8.3g |
| POLLEN: |
96.3g |
19.5g |
Bee collected pollen consists of a large blend of pollen
grains from many different sources. Few of these sources have the same nutritional
blends and can vary widely in this respect. Colonies require large amounts
of pollen and by consuming a mixture of different types; bees ensure a better
nutritional balance and are better able to dilute potentially toxic alkaloids
or other toxins. Research carried out on this aspect of bee nutrition shows
that when given a choice, bees prefer mixed pollen diets.
Although pollen is such a vital nutritional resource for honey bees, the
influence of pollen quality on their foraging behaviour is little understood.
For example, in choice-test experiments, bees showed no innate pollen-foraging
preferences, but preferred oilseed rape Brassica napus pollen over field bean
Vicia faba pollen after previous foraging experience of oilseed rape. The
free amino acid content of oilseed rape and field bean pollen was compared
using high-performance liquid chromatography. Oilseed rape pollen contained
a greater proportion of the most essential amino acids required by honey bees
(valine, leucine, and isoleucine) than field bean, suggesting that oilseed
rape pollen is of greater nutritional quality for honey bees than is field
bean pollen.
Honey bee foraging preferences appeared to reflect pollen quality. The hypothesis
that pollen amino acid composition affects the foraging behaviour of honey
bees is a subject that requires further research and discussion. Pollen is
collected from bees returning to the hive by the removal of the corbicular
pellet by pollen traps. Many pollen traps have been designed but probably
the most successful are those placed below and in line with the hive. Many
beekeepers especially in Europe specialise in the collection of pollen as
their major hive crop and world trade in pollen shows that the major producers
are the USA, China, Australia, Spain, Mexico and Argentina. Most of the product
is for human consumption with a secondary role in animal feeds. Other bee
farmers specialise in pollination services usually without taking the pollen
as a crop and taking honey as a secondary crop.
Apart from its uses in bee and human nutrition, other uses for pollen include
forensic evidence; historical analysis (e.g. the Turin Shroud was shown to
be biblical by analysis of the pollen grains contained within it and this
has now been shown to be more likely after it was discovered that the age
of the shroud given by radio active dating was probably incorrect as it was
taken from a patch sewn on during later times); and possibly one of its greatest
uses is in apitherapy.
HISTORICAL
NOTE Back to top
I promised in last month’s edition, to continue to follow
Wildman’s thoughts on wax production by bees in the 1700
and 1800 hundreds. However it may be instructive first to look
at another beemaster’s thoughts before returning to Wildman.
To this end we take a look at how Robert Sydserff of Leigh on Mendip
saw the building of comb in 1792.
In this extract, he describes how the bees make comb by forming
what he terms ladders of bees. We’ve all seen this as
we prise combs apart but it is of course especially noticeable
in newly hived swarms which are disposed to build comb. Like
Wildman he seems to confuse pollen or propolis with wax and
believes that it is collected from flowers.
“The skill with which they build their combs, and
adjust their apartments, is inimitable. Soon after the bees
are hives, after driving or swarming, if they like their
habitation, they will erect ladders for their work in a very
expeditious manner. The manner of making their ladders is
this: at the top of the hive where they intend to begin their
work, several of the bees will fix themselves with their
forelegs…………………………….
The larger the swarms, the greater number of ladders will
be, and the bees that come back loaded run up these ladders
and unload themselves, by taking the wax in their jaws, and
after moistening it with liquor which they distil upon it,
they build their cells in a very rough and uneven manner.
Other bees are appointed to make the angles exact and to
polish the surface; but the bees which form the cells never
polish them, as it is always done by other bees who work
longer than those that build the walls; polishing being not
so laborious a work as building.
As soon as a bee unloads itself, he sets off as fast as
possible for more wax or honey, or both; and he does not
return down the ladder the same way he went up, but on the
other side, so that the bees never hinder each other in their
work.”
POEM OF THE MONTH Back
to top
We return again this month to that superb American Poetess,
Emily Dickinson for our Poem of the Month. Of the hundreds
of poems composed by Emily, the bee featured in many of them.
The Bee
Like trains of cars on tracks of plush
I hear the level bee:
A jar across the flowers goes,
Their velvet masonry
Withstands until the sweet assault
Their chivalry consumes,
While he, victorious, tilts away
To vanquish other blooms.
His feet are shod with gauze,
His helmet is of gold;
His breast, a single onyx
With chrysoprase, inlaid.
His labor is a chant,
His idleness a tune;
Oh, for a bee's experience
Of clovers and of noon!
LETTERS Back
to top
Dear David,
I came across the Apis-UK site on the internet after doing a
search on Google for some information on bee behaviour. With
your knowledge of bees you may be able to help. Recently, every
evening from about 9.20pm loads of bees (about 30+) have appeared
buzzing around the top branches of the cherry tree in our back
garden. They dart about in quite a fast and frantic manner for
about half an hour, and dissipate when it gets dark. At first
I thought we had a nest, but there is no obvious sign of one,
nor are there significant numbers of bees buzzing around during
the day or early evening. However, we noticed that the same phenomenon
was happening in other types of trees in the street at the front
of our house. I have never seen this before and it hasn't occurred
in previous years. Is this normal bee behaviour, and does it
mean that there is a nest in the vicinity? Yours Sincerely, Natasha
Fairbairn Email: Natasha.Fairbairn @ bfi.org.uk Does
anybody have any ideas? Ed.
Hello David,
I am emailing on behalf on James Fearnley author of Bee Propolis:
Nautral Healing from the Hive. He would like you if possible
to add a link http://www.beevitalpropolis.com.
So potential readers can get get a more in depth introduction
to the subject if they are interested. Regards Adam
Triantis
Hi David,
Sir, I am a postgraduate student studying entomology in one of
the best Universities in Nigeria. I am almost through with class
work and now at the verge of writing of my project reports on “The
Construction of Modern Bee Hives for Comparative Production of
Honey and Wax”. In view of this, I will love you to help
write and send some useful and vital information that will assist
me in putting up a very comprehensive proposal on the aforementioned
topic; Apiculture is still at primitive stage in this part of
the universe and there are no much materials for consultation.
I shall be eternally grateful if this information could reach
me soonest. Thanks and God bless. Tunde Fimihan [tundefim@yahoo.com] Can
anyone can help this post grad student with information. I'm sure
there must be some expert out there! Ed.
Dear David,
The National Honey Show has prepared an attractive flyer
advertising this years show and allowing people to join. Do you
think you could mention this in the next Apis - asking if anybody
out there would like multiple copies to pass to their beekeeping
friends or society members? They can be obtained in bulk from NBB
Best wishes Jerry phone: +44 (0) 1422 882751 jerry@recordermail.demon.co.uk I
am sure that there are many beekeepers out there who can help this
very worthy cause. If you can help, please do. Ed.
Dear David,
I found your mail-address in HP Apiservices. I am a beekeeper from Austria and
I am working at a project to make a picture book about bees. Please
Download PDF Can you help me? Or can you send this mail to some beekeepers
in your country who make good pictures? Best regards and many thanks for helping,
Heinrich Gritsch www.tirolerhonig.at If
anyone has some useful photos, please end them direct to heinrich. Ed.
Dear David,
Thanks for the July Issue, though I have to register some disagreement
with one item. The item on AFB is timely, but misleading. It
suggests that AFB can be treated with antibiotics. This is simply
not the case. Apart from being ineffective as it treats the symptoms
only, not the cause, in the UK it is not permitted. I have just
been unfortunate enough to have a case of AFB in one colony.
Following an outbreak of the disease two miles from my colony
in an out apiary the Bee Inspector was carrying out inspections
within the regulation 5km radius and, eagle eyed, he found one
infected cell on one comb in a good stock. CSL confirmed his
diagnosis and the colony was destroyed together with the combs,
honey and equipment not capable of sterilization by scorching.
I did not like it, but I do agree with the policy. My equipment
was all brand new and so far as we can tell there was nothing
more we could have done to prevent the infection. So far the
Bee Inspector has not been able to determine the origin of the
outbreak in this area. In the nature of things I believe that
it is unlikely that any definite origin could be proved.
Please do not allow the impression to persist that AFB is treatable
or curable - it is not. I agree absolutely with your article’s
proposals on apiary hygiene and on the longevity of the spores.
I also agree with the implication of your Quote of the month.
The most important and effective means of reducing the scourge
of AFB is education of beekeepers - and not just new beekeepers.
It has become apparent to me that many beekeepers of many years
experience simply do not believe that there is any problem. They
do not believe that it can happen to them; they do not see the
point in frequent washing of bee suits and do not see any problem
with using the same leather gloves for seasons on end. As one
person concerned with the local outbreak said “If you take
a swarm, do you quarantine it until you can confirm that it is
healthy?” I certainly will try to do so in future. If there
is one thing that will make any decent beekeeper take precautions
against AFB, however stupid he might have thought them to be
in the past, it is the sound that comes from a hive of bees when
you seal it up and pour a pint of petrol in the top! Chris
Clarke
Thanks for the letter Chris and the valuable information
contained in it. Having re-read the article again I can’t actually
see where it said that AFB can be cured with antibiotics, but
if anyone did get this impression then please read Chris’s
letter again. I do however think that most people regard the
use of antibiotics whether illegally or not as ‘a treatment’ whether
it is effective or not. In some countries, a distinction between
causes and symptoms of a disease is not often thought about.
Here in NZ antibiotic use for AFB is illegal as well and it has
been found that the only effective course of action is in this
matter is education. Of course AFB still exists but at much lower
levels. In Spain, there was much greater use of antibiotics by
beekeepers both legally and illegally and there is a higher incidence
of the disease. Ed.
DATES
FOR YOUR DIARY Back
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Event
organisers are
welcome to forward
dates and details
of their events
to the editor (by
e-mail) for incorporation
on this page.
12th - 13th August
2005 - Shrewsbury Flower
Show Large Bees, Honey and Wine section invites exhibitors
to come to a friendly show of national repute. Cash prizes
and trophies. Beginners especially welcomed. For schedule contact Tony
Davis Show committee secretary 01743-884524.
21st - 26th August 2005 - Apimondia held
in Dublin, Ireland.
Further details from http://www.apimondia2005.com/
September 2005 - Invitation to the International Honey
Competition. Dear
beekeepers, with ending of this beekeeping season we again offer
you an opportunity to compare the quality of your honey with
the honey of your colleagues at »The Seventh International
Honey Competition Semič 2005«, which will be organized
by the Slovenian Beekeeping Association. This competition will
give you a broader perspective of the quality of your honey and
of your work since the largest number of beekeepers from Slovenia
and from abroad enter the competition. The evaluation will be
carried out according to the Statute for the evaluation of honey
issued by the Slovenian Beekeeping Association, and will be performed
by an international expert committee. The head of the committee
will be Anamarija Plestenjak Phd. Full details from http://users.volja.net/cd_semic/drustvo/ocenjevanje/Ocenjevanje_ang.html
Tuesday 13th September 2005 - Conwy Honey Fair,
High Street, Conwy, North Wales, 9am - 4pm. 700 year old Charter
Fair, founded by King Edward 1st. Local beekeepers sell more than
a tonne of honey by lunchtime. Stall space is free of charge. Honey
and hive products, plus crafts, plants and local produce stalls.
Many other attractions in the walled town of Conwy, which is a World
Heritage Site. Contact Peter McFadden, Secretary, Conwy BKA, Tel
01492 650851, email peter @ honeyfair.freeserve.co.uk. For the history
of the Honey Fair visit:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/nfa/history/invited_articles/conwy.php
Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th September 2005 -
Midland and South Western Counties Convention and Conference.
It will be held on the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District at
the Hayes Conference Centre near Alfreton. It will be packed with
hot topics from shook swarming and small hive beetle to breeding
strategies to meet current challenges. We have an excellent list
of speakers which currently includes: Pat Mills, David Kemp, Norman
Carreck, Adam Hart, Graham Law, Bernard Diaper, Albert Knight,
Claire Waring, and Alistair Battersby. Full 2 1/2 day attendance
including all meals and overnight en suite accommodation will cost £180.
Day visitors will be welcome at £30 to £40 depending
on the day. A full programme and booking form can be obtained by
post from Peter Cash e-mail: peter @ cash42.freeserve.co.uk or in
pdf format from me email: steverose @ tiscali.co.uk. Everyone is
welcome; not just members of the 10 counties directly involved. Steve
Rose
24th & 25th September 2005 - West
Sussex BKA Honey Festival. The West
Sussex Honey Festival will be held on Sat/Sun 24-25th September
at Manor Nursery, Runcton, Chichester. This has now become an
annual event to publicise bees and honey, and this year the theme
is Bees in Your Garden. The venue is a well laid out garden centre
with a restaurant, and last year attracted around 1400 visitors
from far and wide. It has become a major beekeeping event. There
will be displays and demonstrations as well as 40 competitive
classes, many of which are innovative including a Black jar,
presentation gift pack, limerick, speciality honey, honey mustard,
art, and children’s classes. There will of course be the
usual traditional honey show classes. For those travelling some
distance there are other places to visit in the area including
The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Fishbourne Roman Palace,
and Uppark. For details log on to www.wsbka.bravehost.com and
click Honey Festival. For a schedule contact Graham Wells
01403 700317 or download from the website. For other details
contact Steve Kennett 01798 831 010 steve@profact.co.uk or Roger
Patterson 01403 790 637 r.patterson@pattersonpressings.co.uk
Thursday, Friday, Saturday 20th-23rd October 2005 - The
2005 National Honey Show will be held at the Royal Air Force Museum,
Hendon, London, UK. Judging of more than 200 classes of
honey, beeswax, candles, mead, art-work, essays etc begins at 09.00
on Thursday 20th and the Show is open to the public from 14.00
until 18.45 that day. On Friday 21st it is open 09.30-18.45, and
on Saturday 09.30-16.50. Admission for members is free, but for
non-members it is £7.00 payable at the door. In addition
to the competitive classes, there is a full programme of lectures,
given by speakers of world renown, There are also many trade and
educational stands. For the latest news see our website: http://www.honeyshow.co.uk
Sunday 13th November 2005 - Integrated Varroa Management
Workshop. Hosted
by Melksham & District Beekeepers Association at Cooper-Avon
Sports & Social Club, Melksham House, Market Place, Melksham,
Wiltshire. Entrance Ticket £6.00. For more details Download
Leaflet and Download
Programme (Both PDF
files which need Acrobat Reader 4+ to open).
13th - 18th November 2005 - International
Beekeeping Congress 2005 India. Le Meridien
Bangalore, India (Organized by: Century Foundation, Bangalore). On
behalf of the Organizing committee of the International Beekeeping
Congress, it is our privilege and honour to extend a warm invitation
to you to participate in the deliberations of the scheduled congress
to be held from November 13-18, 2005. The main aim of the congress
is to bring together the beekeepers, honey traders and International
Scientific Community involved in research and development of beekeeping
for sustainable livelihoods and rural development. The proposed congress
will disseminate advanced information on beekeeping for further improvement.
Bangalore is a beautiful city, the capital of Karnataka in India. Karnataka
has unique flora and fauna including important honeybee species.
This congress will be an opportunity for the delegates to visit various
biodiversity hotspots in the country. We are sure; the congress will
present a unique opportunity to share the recent trends in beekeeping
and development. Also, you can enjoy the wonderful hospitality of
Indian people. The local organizing committee and Century Foundation
will try their best to make your stay comfortable and enjoyable during the
congress. We are looking forward to meeting you during the Congress.
Organizing Secretary Chairperson – Scientific Committee Dr.
V. Sivaram Email: info@cenfound.org Web: www.cenfound.org/IBC-2005/indexpage.html
**** EVENT CANCELLED **** Saturday 26 November 2005 -
Kent Education Group Guest Lecture Albert Knight: Insight
into Queen Rearing at West Kent College, Tonbridge. Albert Knight
is a leading expert in the selective breeding of honey bees with
a particular interest in the Native race. His vast knowledge covers
all practical and theoretical aspects, and this lecture will concentrate
on choosing mating sites, raising good queen cells, using mating
nucs and how to ensure that your hard work is rewarded. If you
have ever wanted to start raising your own queens or need some
tips for improving your success rate, then put the date in your
diary now. There will be a question and answer session so delegates
will have the opportunity to draw on Albert’s vast experience
of breeding groups, grafting techniques, morphometry, DNA surveys
and more. Albert is a recognised authority who willingly shares
his knowledge and experience. The lecture starts at 3pm and there
will be refreshments, a stand from Northern Bee Books, displays
by BIBBA and more. Doors open at 2pm. There are excellent parking
facilities, good links to the motorway and is only a 10 minute
walk to the mainline station. The venue has disabled access. Tickets £3.00
available in advance and further information from Terry Hardy telephone
01622 832066 or email: theresa.hardy @ virgin.net
Editor: David Cramp Submissions
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH Back
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Quote last month
Last month’s quote on AFB comes from one of New Zealand’s
best known research scientists, Dr mark Goodwin.
Quote of this month
This month’s quote offers us some philosophic guidance
in our busy and often stretched lives.
“Other peoples faults are like bees – if
we don’t see them, they don’t harm us.”
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