GBKA Registered 
Charity Number : 1014600
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GBKA Registered
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Check
your colonies for food. If they need it you can give syrup (2lbs sugar to 1 pint
water) Make
sure you have some foundation, that it has not been spoilt during the winter Get
frames ready, both supers and brood. There could be swarms in April. Make
sure you have enough spare equipment in a decent condition for when you need it. John
Verran asked me to remind you that it is now a legal requirement to record all
treatments on bees and to keep the records for 5 years. We
are classified as Primary Food Producers. Also,
John has provided us with a new DEFRA leaflet on brood disease. In a natural situation a parasite would not kill its
host because that would be tantamount to killing itself. Unfortunately in the
case of varroa we do not have a parasite ‘natural’ to our bees so we cannot
depend on this wisdom. While the totally neglectful beekeepers will lose their
bees, it may be that the least diligent beekeepers will be selecting for those
bees that are most capable of resisting varroa attack. I feel more strongly
every time we do a varroa control manipulation that it is absolutely essential
to be able to monitor the level of infection in a colony. Hearsay informs that
some colonies seem to carry on for years with very little treatment and these
could be the survivors of the future. It is bad practice to treat a colony that
doesn’t need it, (unless it’s in an apiary where all the others are being
treated, I think I would treat them all the same but that’s a matter of
opinion). This is all leading up to the ant problem which I mentioned in the
summer. I have since discovered from Pam that it is common knowledge that ants
mess up varroa mortality counts. Apparently a long time ago when MAFF was just
beginning to get excited about varroa coming to this country a group of eminent
beekeepers,(Pam among them), were taken to Germany to see how they were coping
with it there. They were already using open mesh floors and catch trays. One of
the problems raised was that ants came and removed the dead mites from the catch
trays. Now, I have a precious little red book, published by SPCK in1897 and part
of a series ‘Helpful Hints for
Hard Times’. It is called Bees in a Bar-Frame Hive and in 16 pages tells you
absolutely everything you need to know in order to keep bees. It even mentions
the problem of ants, though it doesn’t say what they do. You keep them away by
rubbing paraffin or turpentine round the legs of the hive. I shall try with
turpentine. This book was given to me by Nick Hunt, who said he knew I would
like it, I don’t know how he is managing without it, maybe he knows it off by
heart. See you at the apiary on 21st March, many hands make
light work. John will show us how we should be getting ready for the
season.
Bridget
The last meeting at Goytre should have been Mike Kilner but unfortunately
had to be cancelled because of the snow. We will try to get him to talk to us
another time.
Fortunately we had another get-together arranged for the month. The
apiary session on the 3rd was very well attended and was a pleasant sunny warm
day with bees flying. John Verran came and demonstrated the use of oxalic acid
for the control of varroa. His method is on the last page so that you can tear
it off and keep it in a safe place until you need it. It only kills mites in the
phoretic stage so has limited application except in the winter. You could use it
on a swarm if you knew they were infected, but it is poisonous and it does
damage the bees so you are advised to use it only once a year. John
used a bottle of ready made 6% oxalic acid in sugar syrup, which is the easiest
thing to use although his method tells you how to make the solution from
crystals (which are available from Thornes). The 6% acid is made by Enolapi in
Verona, who sell it for 6.20 euros plus enormous carriage. Maisemore sell it for
£7.61 + carriage £7.99 and Wynne ones also supplies it. If you read the
Advisory Leaflet from the BBKA in the latest copy of BBKA News they say that you
must use it within 6 months because the oxalic acid in sugar causes the HMF
level (a product of sugar breakdown) to rise to the point where it is toxic to
bees. A litre of the stuff will treat 25 to 50 colonies depending on their size.
If you make up your own you have to be very careful to get the strength right as
you could easily kill the bees, but it seems anywhere between 3% and 6% is all
right. But don’t keep the remainder
for the next year. We
are going to organise an examiner to come and test people for the basic
assessment. All those who have been on our beginners course will be qualified to
take it as soon as they have kept bees for a year. If
you have kept bees for years why not take it just to prove to yourself that you
really can. You can then go on to take all sorts of other exams to stimulate and
improve your beekeeping. I can send you a copy of the syllabus or you can look
at it on the BBKA website. It has nothing on it that we don’t all do all the
time during our every day beekeeping. Please let Janet know if you would like to
do the assessment. Telephone no.
01291 690331 As
you may or may not have gathered from reading your BBKA newsletters, BBKA have
been going through a bit of restructuring, have moved premises at Stoneleigh and
have rewritten their constitution. This is all over now and they find their
funds considerably reduced. The new building has cost them quite a lot of their
reserves but reading between the lines I rather think it goes like this.
Membership has been increasing satisfactorily over the last few years. They now
have over 10,000 members. This increases the amount of administration to the
point where no-one is prepared to do it on a voluntary level. Staff have to be
employed full time just to run the membership, and honoraria have to be given to
experts who are called in to organise the special bee events, exams etc.
Personally I think it is important to pay for work if you want it well done and
no-one should begrudge either full time salaries or honoraria where they are
deserved. The end result is that
after a great deal of argument capitation is
going to increase by £2 next year, 2007-8.
You
are invited to a day out at Mumbleys Farmhouse in the rural hamlet
of Mumbleys, South Gloucestershire Catering
by top chef, Michael Young 19th May 2007, 12.30pm Tickets
£20 per person Events
include: A talk about our projects in
developing countries Meet the Project Managers A chance to see a Kenyan Top
Bar Hive A
raffle: prizes include the “Committee’s Dozen” – a selection of honey
chosen by Bees Abroad A plant stall A
tour of this 12 acre smallholding with lambs, chickens, ducks, a small apiary
and a wildlife area And
a great many other fun activities!.. Michael
Young will personally cook you
a choice of Aberdeen Angus Sirloin Steak, Baked Salmon in white wine & herbs
or BBQ Yams with Corn on the Cob. All
served with baked potatoes with chive dressing, mixed french salad and herb
pesto and a glass of good wine. Followed
by Deep American Apple Pie with fresh local cream For
more information, please contact: Mrs
J Moore, Bees Abroad, PO Box 2058, Bristol BS35 9AF (Tel: 01454 415296
e-mail: info@beesabroad.org.uk) or
send a cheque made payable to Bees Abroad Trading Ltd with details of
your menu choice by 1st April 2007.
Maps will be sent out with tickets. Varroa
Control using a combination of Apiguard and Oxalic Acid Equipment required. 1.
It is recommended that the hive is fitted with an ‘open mesh ‘ Varroa floor
with a catch tray for estimating mite numbers. 2.
A hive with an open mesh floor MUST also have some sort of top insulation and
the means of closing off all top ventilation. An insulated cover board using
25mm polystyrene insulation is a good solution. NB. Polystyrene insulation must
be protected from the bees, which will quickly chew holes in it. 3.
Some sort of spacer to provide clearance over the Apiguard tray is essential.
Either a deep crown board or a 25mm eke. The eke can also be used where double
brood or brood and a half is used. 4.
A 50ml. graduated plastic syringe with a wide bore needle to deliver the Oxalic
solution. Treatment with Apiguard
Apiguard can in an emergency be used more or less any time of year. A
daytime temperature of 15˚C is necessary for the treatment to be fully
effective. Treatment with honey
supers in place should be avoided to prevent ‘tainting’ of the honey. Autumn treatment with Apiguard
Apiguard is usually used as an early autumn treatment and correct timing
is even more important than with Pyrethroid strips. a)
If there is a high population of mites in the hive (1500-2000) then
treatment must commence as early as possible in August. It may even be necessary
to take a premature honey harvest. b)
If the number of mites is reasonably well under control (Less than 1000)
then treatment can be delayed until the end of August or the beginning of
September. c)
If the hives are going to the heather it is safest to give a half
treatment i.e. 1X50g tray of Apiguard in late July after removal of the honey
crop. The second treatment should then be given after the return from the
heather, around about mid September. Two staggered Apiguard treatments will be
less effective than two consecutive ones but winter treatment with oxalic acid
will deal with any mites that have escaped by being in the brood. But
how do you know how many mites are in the hive in order to make these informed
decisions? Uncapping drone brood earlier in the season will give you some idea of
how many mites are present. But it is much more accurate to estimate the number
of mites through counting natural mortality. Put the catch tray under the
mesh floor for 5-7 days in mid July. The number of fallen mites are counted and
divided by the number of days to give the daily mite drop. The daily drop is
multiplied by 30 (at this time of year) to give a good estimate of the total
number of mites in the hive. Using Apiguard
The
instructions for the use of Apiguard are given on the packaging. The 50g foil
tray is opened and placed directly on the top bars of the brood box. If a double
brood or brood and a half is in use it should be positioned on the top bars of
the bottom brood box with the second brood or super above it. A space will be
provided by the mini eke. The aim is to get the bees to completely clear the tray in the 2-week
treatment period.
After 2 weeks a second tray of Apiguard should be used. If the first tray is
substantially cleared all is well. If it is not you should consider
repositioning the trays for the second part of the treatment period. The first
tray can be left in place or its remaining contents emptied into the second
tray. At the end of the 4-week treatment period it is good practice to remove
the trays, smearing any remaining jell over the top bars of the brood box and
remove the min-eke. The catch tray and an insulated crown board with no top ventilation
should be in place throughout the treatment period. This
is to keep the hive warm and encourage bee activity. It will also help to
maintain a high concentration of thymol vapour. Fitting an entrance block is
recommended to discourage robbing, as thymol will mask the hive scent. The presence of Apiguard in a hive inhibits the taking of sugar syrup
from the feeders at the top of the hive.
The best strategy is to feed after treatments are completed. When the treatments are carried out correctly Apiguard should kill 90-95%
of the mites in the colony, this is significantly less than the 99% achieved with Pyrethroid strips
(provided you have not got resistant mites) hence the necessity to carry out a
follow –up treatment with oxalic acid. Check the mite numbers in early spring. This
is best done by counting the natural mite drop but at this time of year you will
need to multiply the average drop by a factor of 100. If
you decide the treatment is necessary then one tray of Apiguard should suffice
unless you get a large fall of mites when it would be necessary to use a second
tray. This must be completed before supers are put on the hive. TREATMENT
WITH OXALIC ACID
Oxalic
acid is a treatment that only kills mites that are living on the bees (those in
the phoretic stage). It does not kill mites in the brood. When there is brood in
the hive normally only about 15% of the mites are found on the bees (the rest,
85% are in the brood). It follows that oxalic acid works best on colonies that
are broodless at the time of treatment. In addition oxalic acid will kill open
brood. Oxalic acid can be used on both natural and artificial swarms that offer
a broodless period. Treatment
should be delayed until colonies are in a broodless state; most likely this is
found late December to early January. Removing the catch tray to ensure good
ventilation will encourage the bees to have a broodless period. The treatment material is 3.2% Oxalic acid in 1:1 sugar solution. The
recipe for making this is: 1.
Make a sugar syrup consisting of 1Kg sugar in 1 litre of water. 2.
Add 75grams of Oxalic acid dihydrate and mix well. This will make 1.76 litres of oxalic acid solution. Accurate weighing of
the oxalic acid is essential as under strength will give a poor mite kill and
over strength will kill the bees. This
solution is poisonous and should be stored safely. Oxalic
acid crystals are deadly poisonous and every care must be taken when handling
including use of a protective mask, eye protection and gloves. Treating with oxalic acid
Fill
the 50ml syringe with oxalic acid solution. Open
the hive to expose the clustered bees. Trickle
5ml of solution along each seam of bees. Close
Hive. This procedure is best carried out when the weather is cold and dry and
the bees will be well clustered. The
efficacy of oxalic acid is about 90% and will mop up mites that escaped the
Apiguard treatment and will also kill mites that have been bred since that time
and those that have come into the hive from external sources. After
the oxalic acid treatment has been completed any top ventilation should be
closed and the catch tray repositioned. Mites will continue to fall for about 2
weeks after which the catch tray can be removed.
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Whilst the domains gbka.co.uk & gbka .org .uk are owned by G Cole. The web pages under these domains are published for the Gwent Beekeepers association and its members , in order to publicise our association's news, aims, activities, and the art of beekeeping.
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