A Hertfordshire event not to be missed....the Spring Convention

Many of the exhibitors will be offering special deals on orders made before the show.  If you’d like to hear about these, please send your email address to John Palombo : secretary@hertsbees.org.uk

Venue

Programme

12:30	Doors open
1:00	HBKA AGM
2:00	Doug Brown
3:00	Liz Samuelson
4:00	Wally Thrale
5:00	Close

Speakers

	Doug Brown has been keeping bees in Cambridgeshire for 14 years.  He has long been active in the Cambridgeshire Beekeepers Association, running the newsletter and holding the posts of Vice Chairman and Chairman.  In 2011 Doug was elected to be a Trustee of the BBKA and in the subsequent 4 years went on to hold the posts of Vice Chairman and Chairman.  Doug stood down as Chairman in January of this year but remains a Trustee of BBKA and is the lead Trustee for the Technical and Environment Committee.  Doug will be sharing his thoughts and experiences on the “interesting times” that the BBKA is going through at the moment and where that might lead the Association in the future.
	Liz Samuelson did her undergraduate degree at Sussex, where she worked at the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects under Francis Ratnieks. She then moved to Royal Holloway, University of London to do a Masters and a PhD with supervision from Dr Elli Leadbeater. She will be talking about the Bees in the City project, an ongoing study looking at the effects of urbanisation on honeybee health and behaviour. This talk will present some preliminary findings from pollen and parasite samples that have been collected from several apiaries around the South East, including a number in Hertfordshire.
	Wally Thrale started keeping bees in 1988 on a small scale but gradually increased numbers over the years. When he retired from his ‘day job’ seven years ago he decided to become a semi commercial beekeeper, so beekeeping now takes up a lot of his spare time in the summer months.  Wally will be talking about the EARS project (Eastern Associations Research Studentship) which came out one of the annual Regional Bee Inspector meetings. It allows individual Associations to group together to provide sufficient money to apply for a BBSRC grant. As a result of this, one PhD project is now complete, a second is part way through and a third is now being considered.

BBKA Survey October to December 2015

Please don't forget to complete the BBKA survey.   It is canvassing opinions about the future of your organisation so let your views be heard.  Click here to take you to the BBKA survey login page.

Hertfordshire Beekeepers Association - Spring Show and AGM

28th March 2015 starting at 1.00pm

Tewin Village Hall

AL6 0JX

The show includes:

• Honey Competition – three entries from each division
• Wax exchange – stock-up on foundation
• Woodworking corner – brush up on hive and frame making skills
• Microscopy demonstration
• Bring and Buy stall – chance to pick-up a bargain
• Sale of new frames, hives, jars, fondant, etc.
• Quiz

The AGM will be kept very short and only covers:

• Updates on some of the things going on around the county
• A small amount of formal business (election of officers)

Please come along.  All welcome.

Advert - nucs for sale

Two overwintered nucs for sale:

• Local Herts/Essex mongrel bees!
• 14” x 12” Frames x 6
• Will be ready for collection from Bishop’s Stortford area towards the end of April
• £150 each

Please call John on 07881 504538 if interested.

National Honey Show 2014

As you already know, an enthusiastic team works hard all year round to plan and bring you a bigger and better National Honey Show each year.  You’ll be pleased to know that the postponement of proposed building work at St Georges means the venue is available for both our 2014 and 2015 Shows.

As usual, for 2014 we will have lectures by world class scientific researchers in the bee world.  The provisional programme includes Dr Jamie Ellis University of Florida on the subjects of Research there, Honey Bee Biology, and their diseases and pathogens;  Ann Harman, Vermont, US will talk on the topics of sugars and reducing stress on bees, and Pollination; Giles Budge  on the work of the NBU; Prof Nikolaus Koeniger on honeybee diversity, and preventing re-infestation of varroa  and Gudrun Koeniger on mating strategies to avoid inbreeding.  Professor Stephen Martin will talk about life cycles of wasps and hornets, and Michael Badger MBE on maximising  honey production in the urban environment.

The Friday BeeCraft Lectures provisional programme includes whether bees like the taste of honey by Nicola Simcock from  the Institute of Neuroscience, University of Newcastle and Africanised bees by Ann Harman, Vermont, US.

Saturday lectures for those new to beekeeping, and/or just interested in the subjects will include Yearly Beekeeping Activities, and Products of the Hive for Showing.

On the subject of showing, we have two new classes this year: Class 6 for 2 jars of set honey; and Class 41 one bottle of sweet and one bottle of dry mead .

As last year, there will be lectures at 9.30am and 11am on the Thursday morning.  The trade hall will open earlier, at 12 noon on Thursday.  The main show opening ceremony is at 2pm, followed by exhibition of classes which opens after the judging has finished.

We want to encourage more competitive entries, and give our old hands a run for the prizes.  Many of our experts are happy to both talk to newcomers at the show, and share their ‘secrets’ in the ‘how to’ workshops. We appreciate that many people are interested in how the judges arrive at their decisions.  Judges have followed a long path of showing themselves, stewarding, and study to become judges and many are happy to share their knowledge and expertise.  Time constraints prevent detailed comments for every entry, but two of the Gift Classes: Class 5: Two jars of liquid honey and Class 6: Two jars of set honey will have judges’ feedback for every entry.  Many of the judges stay at the show during Thursday afternoon, some for Friday and/or Saturday, and would be happy to answer interested enquiries about the classes they have judged. Any exhibitor is free to approach any judges who are around after judging is complete.

As ever, the National Honey Show relies on a large team of volunteers, and all offers of help are welcome.   Do contact us – you can e-mail the Show Secretary at showsec@zbee.com and he will pass your offer to the right person, if you can spare some time at the Show to help.

In 2013 we were successful in winning National Lottery funding towards the video project, and for the first time, were able to video some of the lectures, the first of which are available for all to view on YouTube.  These have been expertly produced, and have been very well received, with large numbers of people viewing them.  If you haven’t seen them yet and would like to, the simplest way is to put ‘National Honey Show YouTube Channel’ into Google and you’ll get there straightaway.  If you don’t have a computer, your local (UK) library almost certainly offers free internet access and will help you find the videos.  Check out whether they provide headphones and if not, take some along as the lectures are well worth listening to.

We would like to be able to offer this expensive, luxury, but very popular service again in the future and hope to attract National Lottery funding again.  However this is not a reliable or complete source of funding, so we would welcome sponsorship.  In addition, we would also like to expand the National Honey Show raffle to facilitate the funding of future videos.  To this end we plan to increase the ticket circulation and also… (for 2015) the prizes.  We hope you will support this venture and – of course continue to support the National Honey Show itself.

Our spring leaflets, and raffle tickets will be available at the Thornes and Northern Bee Books stands at the Spring Convention, or you can e-mail us (nationalhoneyshownews@gmail.com) with orders.  If you or a member of your association is coming to Harper Adams, do come along and collect some for distribution to your local associations and at your local and county shows.  This will be much appreciated, not just by us, but by the thousands who are enjoying the lecture videos.

We have a unique collection of displays, lectures and networking opportunities at the National Honey Show, and look forward to seeing you at the Show this autumn:  Thursday 30th October to Saturday 1st November 2014 once more at St Georges College, Weybridge.

Bee World at the Bishops Stortford Carnival

by Paul Cooper

The weekend started with rain and
ended with rain. There was also a lot of rain in between. But the Bishops Stortford Carnival on Saturday and the Manuden Open Gardens on Sunday were both a huge success. The new marquee and graphics drew the crowds and we certainly were highly visible despite the overcast weather.

We sold 56 jars of honey and could have sold more if we had some smaller jars. Everyone asked for the most locally produced honey in the Bishops Stortford area.

The candle rolling kept Phil and Tamara plus many children entertained all afternoon, and trying on the small bee suits was very popular with the children. But the central attractions were the two observations hives that John Palombo brought along. Sharp-eyed children were rewarded with "I've seen the Queen" stickers.

We were ably assisted during the day by David and Anne Wingate, Peter Mathews and Tamara Leslie, and we are very grateful that they took the time to come and help out.

The next day we decamped a few miles down the road to the Manuden Open Gardens where we did a repeat performance in Alan Gardiner's garden, but this time with very welcome refreshments. Learning about bees seemed to be very popular for Manuden's green-fingered visitors.

It was a long, tiring but enjoyable weekend with a constant stream of visitors. We are looking forward to doing it all again very soon.

Herts County Show

by Peter Mathews
We once again gathered at Redbourn, the show ground of our County Show. Freak weather for Redbourn - the skies were blue and the sun was shining. This year was also unusual in that the event was not adopted by the county as part of Bee World. Instead the show was organised by St Albans, Welwyn, North Herts and Hertford & Ware. Finances could have been complicated had it not been for some smart negotiations by Phil Jepson in securing our pitch free of charge for this year only.

Our new flyers proved so popular. Whatever did we ever do without them ? But, not as popular as the observation hive which gathered a small crowd throughout the day. If you didn't find the queen in the observation hive, then you might find her in the virtual hive. Other attractions included a honey extractor and a microscope for observing varroa mites. Placing the microscope next to a collection box for the BBKA Research Fund resulted in a steady chink of donations. A bee garden display of bee friendly plants set out by St Albans, together with a collection of plants for sale helped us blend in well into the Horticultural Marquee.

Honey sales were went well with Derrick Richardson topping sales with 95 jars sold. Well done Derrick! Last year the show took place in torrential rain, with many outdoor events being called off. Added to this the event was moved to the Queen's Jubilee Weekend and Thames Pageant. It was so quiet, exhibitors outnumbered visitors. So it is hard to believe with sun and the crowds we saw this year that honey sales were actually down on 2012 - 220lbs sold in 2012, 200 lbs this year.

Next time around, we should think about having a second observation hive, name badges and the new display. Best memory of the show? Think all us old hands were so very impressed by the support and enthusiasm from our newer members. I really think they did such a good job on the observation and virtual hives.

Photos by Richard Peterson & Peter Mathews

Welwyn news - May 2013

by Peter Mathews

Hertfordshire BKA President

We are very pleased to welcome David Wingate of St Albans as our President for 2013-14. And, wish him a highly successful and enjoyable year in office.

On the Trail of the American Honeybee

BBC Radio 4 broadcast on Tues, 26th March at 11.00am—some of the problems confronting American beefarmers pollinating the almond crops in California, still on iplayer:- http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rg226/On_the_Trail_of_the_American_Honeybee/

Welwyn Shop

Unlike last year, there are no excuses for not preparing for the year ahead. The shop has a good stock of all BS frames and foundation. Prices have largely remained unchanged for the past 3 years. There is one small price ‘rise’, we are replacing DN4 frames with DN5—this is the same thing but with the full width top bar. DN5s are less prone to brace comb. A few DN4s are still available at £8 / 10; DN5s are £9 / 10.
We do not stock anything other than BS. But, please contact me if you use Langstroth, Commercial etc as I can include you in our foundation order, passing on any discount. Some members have also asked about drone foundation. Although, we have a little in stock, there seems little demand. Again, please let me know if you are likely to want this in any quantity.

Prices are approx 10% below list with no p&p. Email; petermathews@gmx.com or Call 01707 321018.

Honey Jars

If you ordered an attic full of honey jars last time round, and had precious little honey last year, then you may well still have a good stock of jars. On the other hand, if your stock is getting low then you may be interested in stocking up, I have a quotation from Freeman & Harding based on one pallet. Price works out at £44 to £50 /gross including VAT and delivery (reflecting full or part pallet). The on line price is £58 /gross including BBKA discount and delivery. A number of local suppliers also have jars for sale, and so we will only place a bulk order if there is sufficient demand.

The jars we use are from Freeman & Harding. These are the best and the only jars designed for a 1lb fill. They also come with fitted lids to avoid contamination. There are cheaper versions eg Wynne Jones currently has jars on special offer at £31 / gross plus £12 carriage. These are from the Bristol Bottle Co – but, were the poorest quality jar when we last did a comparison.

Please let me know if you want jars this summer. I would like to know :- 1) What you want and 2) the Maximum Number you are prepared to take to help make up an order. It’s okay if you are short on space and 1) and 2) are the same thing.

Preparing for The Modules

Following on from our successful Preparing for The Basic, we are now offering a workshop over 2 evenings Preparing for Module 1. This is based upon the workshop run at The Spring Convention by Margaret Murdin and will use her material. The first evening will look at the syllabus, dealing with FAQ, reading list, sources of information etc. The second evening will deal with exam technique, past papers and what the examiner is looking for. The workshop is intended for those wanting to take Module 1 in the Autumn or next Spring.

In other associations prospective candidates form study groups to get best value out of the BBKA correspondence course. Our aim is to do something similar.

Please register your interest with our Training Officer, Mike Goodhew, email :- mike.goodhew@ntlworld.com

General Husbandry

Christine Phillips is still collecting names for people interested in attending a General Husbandry Course. This is to be covered in 10 sessions, which may be run over at weekends. Cost is likely to be £35, although there may be a subsidy on this. Contact Christine:- christineyallop.phillips@gmail.com

Neonicotinoids

The European Food Safety Standards Committee will be voting on Monday 29th for a moratorium involving a 2 year ban on select pesticides. Nature posted a pre-vote review last week -

http://www.nature.com/news/europe-debates-risk-to-bees-1.12857

The real question is ‘What is going to replace them?’ Organophosphates would seem a worse option.

Diary Dates

Social Evening at The Waggoner’s, Ayot Green
We resume our informal social evenings at the Waggoners on Tuesday, 7th May from 8pm. Just show up. Please let me know if you want me to bring along foundation or frames.

Herts County Show
Sat. 25th & Sun 26th May—Redbourn, County Show Ground. This year the event is not part of BeeWorld, but is a joint event between St Albans, North Herts and Welwyn. As usual we need honey and other hive produce and helpers. This is now the top country show, after losing that at Hatfield House. Participants enjoy an excellent day out with free entry to the rest of the show. Please contact Phill Jepson to secure your ticket tel 01707 881095 email p.jepson@ntlworld.com

Hatfield House
Garden Show Friday 31st May—Sunday 2nd June

Welwyn Street Market - Saturday, 22nd June
We have been participating in the Welwyn Festival longer than any other event. It has proved to be one of the best for honey sales typically 100+ sales in the space of the morning. Offers of help and produce for sale to Peter Folge: tel 01438 816211, email the_beekeeper@hotmail.com

Rain didn't stop play

THIRTY members of St Albans Beekeepers’ Association attended the first apiary meeting of the year at Prae Wood on Saturday, April 27. Unfortunately the weather proved to be a little inclement, so the planned talk had to be given in the apiary shed and with this number of members present it became a little crowded inside.

It fell to Richard Peterson to open the meeting and he started by welcoming all members, old and new, to Prae Wood and then introduced David Wingate as the new HBKA president. He explained for the benefit of the newcomers that the HBKA’s president was appointed annually on a rota basis around the branches within the Association and this year the honour fell to St Albans to provide a candidate. David was invited to fill the post, as one of our most experienced beekeepers, and this has proved to be a popular choice.

David’s first duty as president was to present Peter Tomkins with the BBKA’s certificate for achieving fifty years of beekeeping and, as he interjected, he was not due to retire until next year. He started beekeeping at the age of fourteen and is now an octogenarian, he had passed that milepost many years ago.

After the formalities Anne Wingate gave a very well received talk on artificial swarm control which was aimed primarily at the new beekeepers and demonstrated with the aid of a couple of new brood chambers and frames, as visual aids, the procedures to be gone through to complete the procedure. Anne also explained, that persistent tearing down of swarm cells in order to prevent swarming, as many beginners mistakenly think they can do if they are really careful, is not an option as they will inevitably miss a cell and the bees will swarm anyhow, She then spoke about the virtues of leaving a couple of queen cells in the original box to hatch as sometimes the bees can encapsulate a worker inside a queen cell and the bees are fooled into thinking that the cell is viable and do not raise an emergency queen. Therefore if only one cell was left the colony would be left queenless and so cannot recover.

The members were then invited to partake of tea and cake and continued with an informal discussion outside as the rain had by then abated.

Some of the new beekeepers were anxious to do some beekeeping and open their hives but were advised against it as the weather had turned too cold to sensibly open up. The meeting finally closed around 5 pm

The next apiary meeting at Prae Wood will be on Saturday, May 18 when the subject will be ‘Questions & Answers Discussion’, hosted by Luke Adams and Eric Margrave. Everyone is welcome at these meetings so please do come and join in. You never know you may just learn something!

Meet your President 2013/2014 – David Wingate (St.Albans)

My son would only eat honey on his bread or toast, so I bought honey from a chap at work who kept bees in Welwyn Garden City. He had had a bad year though with none for sale so I took up beekeeping in 1975. My father kept bees during WWII so I had some idea of what to do. I joined St.Albans BKA then and bought a WBC hive from Arthur Samphier (Treasurer?).

In the first year I spent around £125 and got 25lbs of honey. I kept the hive on an allotment but a number of old chaps got stung by bees collecting sweat off their naked backs, so had to move them. Anne helped but in 1977/78 I started doing a lot of travelling for work so she took over and became very keen. Since then we have done it together or separately depending on who was around.

I was a flight engineer on Comet and Trident and then a pilot on the DH125 business jet at DHs which became Hawker Siddley then British Aerospace. I retired in 1993 and as Anne and I have both got older we need each other for the lifting. Currently we have 5 hives, WBC’s and Nationals but have had as many as 15.

The thing I enjoy I most is swarm catching. The one I remember most was a swarm in a tree in St.Peter’s Street, St.Albans at a bus stop. The council was very worried so they sent a man with a truck and a large step ladder so that I could reach. The truck was parked half on the pavement, tilted and Anne held the rather rickety stepladder. I had a nice email from the council thanking me and saying that in the event of a blue moon and another swarm, they would try and get a Cherry Picker. My car was parked next to the truck at the bus stop and a traffic warden was about to write a ticket until he was told where to go by the council truck driver.

About 2 weeks later there was a blue moon with another swarm in a tree outside the Town Hall in St.Albans - it was much easier and more fun using a Cherry Picker!!

Bee deaths: EU to ban neonicotinoid pesticides

From BBC News

A vote in the EU has paved the way for the European Commission to restrict the use of pesticides linked to bee deaths in scientific studies.

Neonicotinoid chemicals in pesticides are believed to harm bees and the European Commission says they should be restricted to crops not attractive to bees and other pollinators.  But many farmers and crop experts argue that there is insufficient data.

Fifteen countries voted in favour of a ban - not enough to form a qualified majority. According to EU rules the Commission will now impose a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids - and the UK cannot opt out.

The UK did not support a ban - it argues that the science behind the proposal is inconclusive. It was among eight countries that voted against, while four abstained.

The Commission says it wants the moratorium to begin no later than 1 July this year.

Click here for the full article.

Starvation Risk update

by National Bee Unit

Following our post about bee starvation and what looks to be another few weeks of terrible weather, it is advisable to start thinking about feeding your colonies some form of pollen substitute. By now the winter bees will have started to die off and the production of brood to replace these loses are important. However, without suitable protein and nectar, the development of brood will be damaged and in some instances may not happen at all.

It is always better to source a pollen substitute from a commercial/ equipment supplier because the consistency of the product will always be assured and they are specifically designed to help boost a colony. However, if you cannot source a pollen substitute it can be made up by mixing 3 parts (by weight) soybean flour, 1 part dried brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and 1 part dry skimmed milk. Prepare a solution of 2 parts by volume of sugar to 1 part hot water.

Let the solution cool and mix one litre of this solution with 400 grams of the substitute. Form it into a cake and wrap in grease proof paper, if necessary they can be stored in a freezer. When using cut a small hole in the paper and place the package hole side down on the top bars over the cluster and preferably over open brood. The bees will tear the paper away and feed on the cake. It is important that the cake remains moist or bees will ignore it, so maintain the paper cover over the top or wrap it in several layers of cling film and pierce a hole big enough for the bees to get in and feed on it.

The amount fed is variable depending on the strength of the colony and external conditions. A small colony on three frames may only need 50 grams a week whilst a very strong colony may require more.
Maintain feeding substitutes until there is an adequate natural pollen crop as it may be detrimental to the colonies development to stop beforehand. This is because brood food production may be affected leading to the starvation of larvae.

Remember homemade pollen substitutes can be very variable in nutritional value due to the different ingredient brands. Generally it is better to obtain a commercial honeybee pollen substitute as the quality is assured.

Pollen substitutes must not be used if the colony is starving because it is more important to get feed into the colony rather than protein. One your hives have suitable food stores, you may then place a pollen pate on the top bars, if there isn’t already a natural source coming in.

Finally it is also worth noting that in some parts of the country, bees are still reluctant to take liquid syrup but will use invert syrups such as ambrosia. If you find that your bees are taking neither then stick to fondant until the weather warms up.

Starvation Risk – Important Information about Colony Food Level

by National Bee Unit

With the continued poor weather looking to persist through to the end of March, colonies may be starting to run out of food (if they haven’t already). It would be advisable to check the food levels by opening the hive and making a very quick observation on their store levels. Key points to remember are:

• The colony may still have stores available which are at the other end of the brood chamber to the cluster of bees. If there are ‘empty’ frames between the two then the bees could still starve, despite food being in the chamber. Move the frames of food directly next to the outer frame where the cluster resides, ensuring that you score each frame of food (not excessively, but enough to stimulate feeding). Be sure not to knock or roll the bees when doing this and to be as quick as possible.

• If the colony has little or no frames of food then give them a block of candy or fondant. You want to aim for about 2.5 kg per hive and although this may seem to be a great expense, it is far less than the money you will have wasted should the bees die.

• Mini plastic bags that are used to store loose fruit in from the supermarket are perfectly acceptable for holding the fondant and cost nothing. Pack the candy in the bag and then pierce holes in the appropriate place once you get to the hive. If the bag seems fragile then you can double bag it (just be sure to pierce both bags).

• At this time of the year we would usually start feeding sugar syrup but with these temperatures it is still too cold. Place the fondant directly above the bees, turning the crownboard if necessary so that one of the porter bee escape holes is above the cluster.

Please be aware that this should be done as quickly and carefully as possible and although it may seem too cold to open the hive now, it is far better to do so knowing the bees are ok than not to and find later that they have died.

For more information please refer to Best Practice Guideline Number 7 – ‘Emergency Feeding’ (https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/downloadNews.cfm?id=121).

Annual General Meeting

Hertfordshire Beekeepers Association

Annual General Meeting

11.00 am on Saturday, 23rd March 2013

Tewin Village Hall, Lower Green, Tewin, AL6 0JX

AGENDA

1. Apologies for absence
2. Minutes of the previous Meeting and Matters arising
3. Officers' Reports
4. Election of Officers
5. Bee World 2013
6. Training
7. Swarm Collection
8. Pesticides
9. Any Other Business
10. Date of Next Meeting - 15th March 2014

The afternoon speakers are:

• 2.00 pm: Dr Stephen Wolf, Rothampstead Research – Radar Tracking of Honey Bees

• 3.00 pm: Caroline Luxford, Buckinghamshire BKA – A Beekeeping Gap Year in New Zealand

This year Hertford and Ware BKA will be providing the teas at the County BKA's AGM and as in previous years, donations of cakes for the 'refreshment breaks' would be gratefully received.

Welwyn News - November 2012

by Peter Mathews

SUBSCRIPTIONS DUE !
You should have received your letter reminding you to renew your subscription. If you wish to benefit from a discount on ‘Bee Craft’ then you should make payment without delay as the cut off date is 22nd Nov.

Please note the additional Bee Diseases Insurance. The number of colonies insured should be the maximum    number of colonies you expect to have next summer, and not the number you have now.

You are strongly urged to tick the Swarm Collectors box. The more members we have covering our area, then the fewer calls any one person will have and the shorter their journey to collect a swarm.  If you keep bees, then you should be prepared to collect swarms. But, please do not sign up if you are work away from home much of the time.  If you are already paid up, but didn’t tick the box, you can always change your mind.

Many thanks to everyone making prompt payment. This makes life so much easier all the way down the line.

FURTHER BEEKEEPING
Most of our new members have been asking for further training. Here it is!  Our first session is on Tuesday, 27th November, at Woolmer Green Village Hall at 7.30pm. We don’t have anyone to call upon to deliver this, so we will follow the old maxim……. ‘the best way to learn is to teach’. We can only start from where we are, unlike some parts of the country we don’t have anyone with the National Diploma or Master Beekeeper on the door step. The plan is to teach ourselves.  Many other associations have been doing just this for some years and it appears to work.  Bucks run study groups based on these lines. Three of their branches have got together and each is responsible for delivering two of the BBKA Modules. Material is prepared and delivered by group members.

These evenings are aimed at all members not just beginners. The plan is to follow the syllabus for the various modules, starting with Module 1. This Module is also an excellent preparation for anyone wanting to take the   ‘Basic’ next year. Although the evenings will follow the structure of the syllabus they are not intended solely for those taking the Module exams. In Bucks, only about a quarter of those attending the meetings are interested in  taking the exams. But, by following the syllabus we should cover everything in a logical fashion at the same time giving  preparation for those who do want to take the exam.

We intend opening the sessions to other branches, hoping that they will, in turn, pick up on this and  run similar sessions covering other Modules.

Programme

• Introduction
• Outline of the BBKA training scheme

followed by 2 short talks from the Module 1 Syllabus

More details to follow……..

TRAINING OFFICER
After organising our highly successful beginners’ courses for two years, Rachel is stepping down from the job.  Would you like to take this role on? You do not need to have any great knowledge of beekeeping, just the ability to set up meetings, enrol candidates etc. We are all involved with publicity.

SECRETARY
If you would like to help run our association, but are not happy as Training Officer then you may prefer to take over as Secretary ?  Tamara is prepared to move to training if we can find her a replacement. Secretary is our prime contact with the public as well as looking after our regular committee meetings.

SWARM COLLECTORS
We need more members to act swarm collectors— just tick the box on your subscription form or let us know.

THE SUN HIVE
This hive is illustrated in Bee Craft ( Oct 2012, p13—The Future Of Bee Keeping) . The egg shaped hives are a favourite of Heidi Herrmann of the Natural Beekeepers Association. Heidi demonstrated the hive on Country File, shown on BBC on 21st October (and available on i-Player for 12 days). Talking to the programme presenter, Julia Bradbury, Heidi described the Sun as a bee friendly hive. Ordinary beekeepers (eg Welwyn members) do not care for their bees, and as a result of years of poor practice their bees are now sick. Heidi is working towards healthy bees. Her hives are encircled by crystals which provide  natural energy to the bees helping their well being.    Ordinary beekeepers (Welwyn members again) have to dress up in toxic waste suits in order to inspect their bees. This just demonstrates how badly they are looking after their bees. The great advantage of the Sun hive is that no protective clothing is quite unnecessary…….at this point a distressed Julia asked Heidi for help with sting just  below her right eye. Hmmm, I will think about it especially covering my hive with cow dung.

DIARY DATES

• 25, 26, 27th October  - National Honey Show in Weybridge. I can give you a lift, or take orders for equipment etc. Planning to go down on the Friday.
• Tuesday 6th November  - Social Evening, Meeting at The Waggoner's, Ayot Green at 8.00pm
• Saturday, 17th November—Winter Bazaar, Applecroft School, 11am—3pm    contact Phill Jepson
• Tuesday 27th November—  ‘Further Beekeeping’ at Woolmer Green Village Hall, at 7.30pm

Further Ahead :-

• Tuesday 5th March 2013 -  Welwyn BKA, Annual General Meeting at Woolmer Green Village Hall

Honeybees bite too

by Vita (Europe) Ltd

Vita researchers have just revealed startling findings about the bite of the honeybee in the prestigious scientific journal, PLOS ONE. The researchers have discovered that honeybees can bite as well as sting and that the bite contains a natural anaesthetic. The anaesthetic may help honeybees fend off pests such as wax moth and the parasitic varroa mite, and it also has great potential for use in human medicine.

Read more about this news here and the detailed scientific paper is here.

Bee wary

Person Posing as Bee Inspector

The National Bee Unit has received reports that a gentleman in his mid-fifties and claiming to be a Bee Inspector recently attempted to gain access to an out apiary in Nottinghamshire.

The NBU would like to remind beekeepers that the Seasonal Bee Inspectors have now finished for the year and all contact with the Inspectorate until 1st April 2013 should be through the NBU office, National Bee Inspector or Regional Bee Inspector - see contacts page on BeeBase for details.

All Authorised Bee Inspectors carry photographic i.d. from the NBU and beekeepers and land owners should ask to see this if there is any doubt. The Inspector would not normally approach the landowner of an out apiary to inspect the bees unless the beekeeper couldn’t be traced and the apiary was in a disease risk area.

Welwyn News - October 2012

by Peter Mathews

NEXT MEETING
Tuesday,  2nd October at The Waggoners, Ayot Green 8.00pm.  Let me know if you want me to bring frames, foundation etc. I also have a small supply of Fumidil if you suspect nosema in your bees.

HATFIELD HOUSE 2012 – JOINT EVENT WITH NORTH HERTS BKA
In spite of a very wet summer, the sun shone again on the Hatfield House Country Show. The Friday was busy with a lot of families taking advantage of the free entry for children. Saturday was okay, with sales going well. Our stock of honey was beginning to look low by the end of the day. Remembering an absolute manic Sunday last year, would our stock last out?  Nic and Sue came to the rescue with last minute supplies.  Sunday came……and, the weather was fantastic……perhaps a little too fantastic……think most people either flaked out in the garden or went to the seaside. They certainly didn’t come to the show. The Sunday was very quiet, and sales flat.

Although the number of visitors to the show were well down on last year our sales were exactly the same. Well the sales were slightly up, takings slightly down with a rare discrepancy accounting for the difference. Most of our sales were made on the first two days. A big reverse of last year when most sales were on the last day.  This was much better than Knebworth where takings were barely half those of last year.

Our display of stock was taken down each evening and put up the next morning by the new team. Note – I must take photos of each display another time. The new set up should avoid any honey having a favoured spot on the bench.

Candle sales were poor, but they did help provide a nice decorative feature to the display. These should sell better at Christmas Fairs.

A few  members print their own designer labels. Some of these have proven to be particularly successful. Last year Nic’s Ayot honey easily outsold everyone else. But, never second guess the customer!  It was quite apparent this year that the designer labels did less well. The best selling label was the traditional ‘cottage garden’. Roman Gorski (N Herts) sells honey in all the local markets and has experimented with all sorts of designs, and had come back to the ‘cottage garden’ as his favourite.

The extra space this year allowed a display of bee diseases (above) which was very popular with visitors and was an excellent introduction to the ‘Help The Honey Bee’ collection for the BBKA Research Fund (right).  Our microscope with varroa had folk reaching for their pockets!

Many thanks to everyone who came along to support the event and especially North Herts members. And, a big thank you to Graham Beesely for providing the observation hive. We had about a dozen people  along each day with 5 or 6 on the stand at any time —2 on sales, 1 or 2 on diseases, 1 on the observation hive (dedicated) and 1 on the BBKA collection, honey tasting etc.

Like Knebworth we attracted the attention of local bees; we have several apiaries on the estate. And, decided it would be tactful to abandon honey tasting on the Sunday. I did notice the sweety stalls and bakers were getting far more attention than us.

All in all a very enjoyable and successful weekend. It was good to share the event with North Herts and to have a visit from our President, John Mumford.

DIARY DATES
25, 26, 27th October  - National Honey Show in Weybridge
I can give you a lift, or take orders for equipment etc. Planning to go down on the Friday.

BBKA Basic Assessment

The following beekeepers have all passed the BBKA Basic Assessment:

• Jeanette Collins
• Helen Cullen
• Marie Anne Beere
• Collette Booth
• Anne Phillips
• Maggie Cartmell
• Paul Craig
• Phil Hughes
• Jon Rogers
• David Seal
• Steve Carter
• Robin Guest

Many congratulations to all.

Anne Wingate

Bee Disease Lecture with a Difference

By Richard Peterson

Eileen Remnant an experienced St.Albans member addressed around 25 members of the Association, mostly new beekeepers, in sunshine on the day after the opening of the London Olympics. Her lecture focussed on how to inspect a colony and what to look for as well as the most likely diseases that might be encountered. She stressed the procedures that would be put in place if a notifiable disease such as EFB or AFB was to be found at an apiary and how best to limit the spread of it to other colonies. A novel visual aid she used was a sheet showing the names of the most common diseases in varying type sizes showing them in order of magnitude depicted by the size of the letters in which they were printed. The most prevalent of them being DWV (Deformed Wing Virus).

She said that we have been very fortunate up until now that we have not suffered a serious outbreak of a notifiable disease and gave the numbers of recorded incidents detected around the country. Again we have been fortunate that most of the symptoms, which had been detected locally in colonies and thought to be of a serious nature, have mostly been caused by sac brood and chalk brood.

Eileen went on to talk about treatments and how they should be used. She said that by the use of some simple procedures like the dusting of the top bars with icing sugar after inspecting the hive in conjunction with mesh floors could reduce the varroa population on the bees by up to 20 per cent. Another item of information given was that when we treat our bees with any of the recognised treatments it was a mandatory requirement that we should keep a record of the serial numbers printed on the packaging and that these records were required to be kept for five years before being discarded.

When we arrived the chairs had been positioned outside the hut in the usual place and on the seats had been placed a photograph of a disease that the occupant was asked to identify, with instructions to look very carefully at them. In my case my sheet was numbered No 22, which was of a small mite sitting upon a larvae. This I quite wrongly identified as a varroa mite so no points for me. It was infact a tropilaelaps but in my defence I can only say that it was very small. It must be said a very high proportion of the diseases illustrated were wrongly identified and this goes to show that we see what we expect to see and not what we are actually looking at. A salutary lesson to us all. This was a very well received lecture given in a novel way and we thank Eileen for the presentation.

After the tea interval which is always used as a discussion forum Eileen gave a demonstration of some of the procedures she had spoken about earlier on how to inspect a colony and how to look for disease after shaking off the bees and removing the queen and placing her in cage and putting her in a safe place.

Finally I must mention that we have had another beekeeper stung at the apiary and having an allergic reaction. Fortunately he was at the time accompanied by his daughter who was able to get him to hospital. This is the second time this month and again I must stress how important it is not to be alone when visiting the apiary. An Emergency Contact Card has been devised which should be filled in and placed in the top pocket of beesuits for future visits to the Association Apiaries. Details provided on this card is sufficient personal information required by the Emergency Services should the need arise.