tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57783873488990132562024-03-01T05:39:04.728+00:00Derby and District Beekeeping Project - DaDBeePDaDBeeP is attempting to use a sustainable approach to protect and increase the local bee population. Our interests are in all types of bees (honey, bumble and solitary) and the use of bee-friendly methods to help not exploit them.Boyd Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08443490283864265549noreply@blogger.comBlogger137125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-77089915180396734002015-05-16T18:42:00.001+01:002015-05-16T18:42:40.975+01:00Gardeners WorldHello all<br />
Just been watching this week's Gardeners World to see Monty Don talking about concern re bee numbers, good bee planting etc & then went on to introduce & explain the new addition to his garden - a Top Bar Hive. Thought it worth a mention! Hope everyone well.<br />
AlisonAli Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15885781416445990378noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-81489036973657941842015-03-20T13:33:00.002+00:002015-03-20T13:33:31.767+00:00Anyone want a hive?We're going to be moving house in the near future and the garden there will not be suitable for bee keeping. So, if anyone wants my hive they're more than welcome to it.<br />
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It doesn't look as though the bees have survived the winter. There's no sign of any activity around the hive and, having had a quick peep inside, there seems to be loads on honey still in the combs.<br />
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Unfortunately I can't get the hive in the car so if you do want it you'll have to sort out transport.<br />
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Please get in touch if you or anyone you know is interested.<br />
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Hope to see you at the next meeting<br />
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PetePeterThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10315652891813168203noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-53964589838296091782014-08-11T14:52:00.001+01:002014-08-11T14:53:45.213+01:00Star Wars and beekeeping do go together.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cleaning beehives usually involves a wire brush and maybe a blowtorch. But some beekeepers are taking a more vigorous approach to hive hygiene. Check out this novel method ....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iotron-industries-electron-beam-irradiation-130000435.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">http://finance.yahoo.com/news/iotron-industries-electron-beam-irradiation-130000435.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hoping the summer is being good to you all,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tim.</span>WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-25188789547204180122014-06-24T11:17:00.002+01:002014-06-24T11:17:44.067+01:00Weston on Trent Bee Keeping (scarecrow style)Hi :Last weekend was our village scarecrow trail and being off according to Monique I had plenty of time to make a scarecrow - we decided on a Bee theme - As you can see we had quite a bit of info and a few live bees as part of our display . <br />
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The beekeeper was modelled on Tim ! <br />
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TTFN <br />
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M&M<br />
Mikmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17489792490129336869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-21456731132302639452014-04-22T11:12:00.003+01:002014-04-22T11:12:47.686+01:00How to Save The World and create a ‘nuc’.<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
This year my personal focus is on creating nucleus colonies to build up the number of local queens that I can then pass on to others later in the year. To do this I need to build up my current colonies with suitably tempered bees so that they can withstand me stealing some of their comb and brood. When I judge that a colony has begun to build up strongly, and a pollen flow has begun in the area, I can begin to make nucleii.</div>
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To build up the colonies I want to use I have to encourage them to make bees. To do this I use a process called ‘checker boarding’ when I add bars during the spring buildup. As the colony builds from its winter cluster the brood area of the nest begins to expand. To encourage this I add new bars between the existing bars in the nest area. This ‘one old, one new’ pattern forces the bees to build new comb and, crucially, encourages them to fill the comb with brood so that the nest doesn’t get segmented. I am usually able to start this around the end of April and, at the same time, take the first combs for a nuc colony.</div>
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The weakest part of a bee colony is the single point of failure represented by having only one queen. To counter this bees are able to create a new queen at any time they wish <span style="text-decoration: underline;">provided</span> they have eggs in the colony that are less than 2-3 days old, the newer the better. So if a queen isn’t laying well, gets injured or dies, it can be replaced. Bee wranglers can use this talent to expand the number of colonies they have by creating a nucleus colony, also known as nuc, which is a mini version of a colony that grows to fill a new hive. In essence the aim is to create a mini colony knowing that some of the usual elements won’t be included. Flying bees are unlikely to be involved as they will fly back to the queen they know and, obviously, a queen won’t be there. So a few compromises have to be made to take account of this to ensure some success.</div>
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When choosing comb to use it is crucial to find comb with freshly laid eggs. When you hold up brood comb there should be some cells with very tiny white grains, like little grains of rice, sticking upright in the bottom centre of the cells; the smaller they are the fresher they are. Counter intuitively this will be most likely on comb with the oldest sealed cells where bees are just about to emerge. They will be surrounded by cells that have just hatched, cleaned out and propillised by nurse bees, and seeded by the queen who is desperately searching for cells to use as she is trying to lay up to 1000 eggs a day. Most of the bees on these combs will be non-flying nurse bees. The biggest danger to these eggs is dehydration which, because they are so small, can happen in minutes. So when you find a suitable comb slot it straight into you nuc box to get it out of the wind. From these eggs the bees will choose one to build into a queen cell. Always make sure you have not moved the queen accidentally as she may still be on this comb.</div>
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The next comb you are looking for is one with cells that have worker bees about to hatch. The nurse bees that you transfer now will become your flying bees over the next 2 weeks so the hatching ones will be your next generation of nurse bees. You need to find comb where most of the cells have a flatter wax seal, are darker brown and slightly crusty - you may be lucky and find a cluster of cells in the process of hatching. Again, slot that into your nuc box swiftly to keep as many nurse bees on the comb as possible. Once more, make sure you haven’t transferred the queen as well as she may also be on this comb.</div>
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The final component is stores to help the colony survive without bees to forage. You need to find a comb with, ideally, sealed honey or more likely stored pollen and nectar. When you’ve found one put that into you nuc box. The queen is unlikely to be on a stores comb provided it doesn’t contain any eggs or brood as well.</div>
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And that’s it. Easy peasy. We aren’t interested in flying bees so you can even have the nuc near your current hives without a problem. It takes 2 months for a new queen to be created, mated and get laying so if you get started now you should have viable colonies to house or pass on at the start of July.</div>
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So have a go. If you need a suitable nuc box let me know and I’ll make one for you. Making local queens from local well tempered colonies ensures the survival of bees that are ideal for this area and doesn’t risk introducing more diseases, parasites, etc.</div>
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Tim.</div>
WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-82249492825142849282014-04-22T09:57:00.002+01:002014-04-22T10:01:11.602+01:00Weston Bees Take Flight (part II)<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
Mike’s phone call caught me taking a car full of kids to the cinema, but I was able to offer to pick up the cardboard container of bees from him and foster them whilst they are waiting onward deployment. After getting everyone home, and supper, I set off to Sarah’s to collect a suitable 10 bar box that I’d left at hers. She is now custodian of a late split I made in June last year, that had survived the winter in the box, and it had been left at hers to allow stragglers to move out at the end of their transfer to her hive. Once home with the box it was dark and the transfer could begin.</div>
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I got everything I would need together next to the box. I found a broken piece of comb from an exercise earlier in the week (another post I think) and tied it onto a bar with garden string poked through the comb with a pencil. I found enough spare bars to cover the top of the box (another lesson learned the hard way), secateurs to cut away any hedge clippings that might be in the container, and a knife to open the container with. I set the garage light to stay on and off we went.</div>
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I set half the bars onto the box, including the one with the tied on piece of comb. The bees now had a dark area to settle into, with comb ready for the queen to start laying into straight away, that smelled of ‘bee’ - all ways to encourage the colony to decide that this would be their new home and make them less inclined to abscond. Then I opened the cardboard container to see what surprises Mike had passed on. There was very little vegetation in the container so I was able to tip the bees straight onto the box and let them begin to find their way inside. The benefit to doing this in the dark is that the bees are less inclined to fly as they can’t see. However the downside is that it makes it more difficult for me to see them when they do. At this point, as I was bending down to check on progress, I hadn’t noticed a bee caught in a fold of suit material on my leg which I then leant on and got a sting for my trouble - another lesson learnt. With the bulk of the bees now working their way into the box, and many signs of fanning that shows ‘this is home’, the long wait could begin. I opened up the other end of the container and tapped out the last stragglers onto the box and then went inside to find a good film and a cup of tea for an hour.</div>
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At a suitable point in the film I went back out to check on progress. The bees were mostly in the box or sheltering in a small cluster under the end of the bars. I fitted all but the last bar onto the box. I then scooped a handful of bees onto the top and waited whilst they made their way in. Once the last ones were in I fitted the last bar and cleared the tools away. I know that some bees will be sheltering under the hive as it has a screened bottom. When I move it into place in the morning I will remember to be suited up so that these loose bees won’t do any harm and can be moved safely with the box to their new location here for their fostering.</div>
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If you already have bees yourself please consider splitting them over the next few weeks so we can pass viable colonies on to others later in the year. You can always ask for help if you are not sure what to do and, with a little notice, I can build suitable boxes ready for you. If you have need of bees and don’t already have any to work with, please make sure you have added your details to the comments on the ‘Bees Wanted’ page with this years date.</div>
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Tim.</div>
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WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-12466582101275149042014-04-21T18:51:00.001+01:002014-04-21T18:51:19.530+01:00Weston Bees take flight Hi all <br />
I'd just come back from my customary cappuccino and bacon cob ride , when my neighbour let me know that our bees were going mad in the back garden . <br />
They had swarmed into the hedge between us , I phoned Tim who would pick them up later for onward delivery. <br />
So Set about how to get them into our box . They had managed to lodge themselves into the hawthorn hedge by the side of a black birds next ! <br />
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I managed to shake them into the box with a little pruning and then set about getting the stragglers in with a goose feather and dustpan ! </div>
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Tim has picked them up and it'll bee good for the recipient to continue the blog on the Weston Bees . <br />
See you at the next meeting in May <br />
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Mike <br />
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Mikmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17489792490129336869noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-76680701022767664112014-02-20T21:44:00.001+00:002014-02-20T21:44:16.375+00:00Spring is nearly here.Yippee!! Hords of bees on the wing ...<br />
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Overcast with sunny spells but, crucially, temp over 10 deg C for the first time this year. Lots of orientation and 'cleansing' flights.<br />
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Tim.WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-25062294322478195162014-02-18T17:35:00.000+00:002014-02-18T17:35:11.543+00:00Top Bars, Hives and Nuc Boxes.I saw my first bee of the year yesterday. It popped out of a 10 bar nuc box for a cleansing flight. The weather was calm, overcast and around 9 deg C, just balmy enough for a bee to make it out and back without freezing. This sign of life from my late split last year reminded me that I have to get a move on with a full hive for them. But it made me think; as I've got to make top bars for this hive I can easily make bars for anyone else who might need them. As I'm building and assembling a hive I can easily build the components for, and assemble if requested, a hive for others. I'm also soon to be building a couple more nuc boxes this year to house more splits to spread bees amongst the group so I could easily build some for others as well.<br />
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So if you are interested in taking me up on this offer then please let me know and I'll price something up for you; it won't set you back as much as the competition from here:<br />
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2559934/Prince-Charles-causes-buzz-putting-handcrafted-bee-hive-sale-1-250-price-tag-sting-tail.html<br />
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Best as always,<br />
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Tim.WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-65694221440512611752014-02-02T11:27:00.002+00:002014-02-04T22:47:16.691+00:00Should I sell my honey?<div style="font-family: Helvetica;">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Sustainable beekeeping is all about the bees and not about the honey at all. However, a chance conversation with a farming couple who are setting up an on-farm shop to supplement their raw milk business, got me thinking about the issues I might have around passing on any surplus stocks of honey I might accumulate. They mentioned that they had a client who would jump at the chance to access raw honey as I was describing it as it would be a perfect complement to what he was already buying from them. So here’s the problem; at the moment I’m not eating honey. I gave up two years ago as part of a dietary experiment to try and avoid arteriosclerosis and heart attack events rather than be prescribed statins (long story, check out <a href="http://marksdailyapple.com/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">marksdailyapple.com</span></a> or <a href="http://robbwolf.com/"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">robbwolf.com</span></a> as a starting point for more details as I’m sure I get very boring very quickly on the subject). And it works; I got the all clear inside 4 months. [Note: I’m now questioning the removal of raw honey from my diet. I have since become aware that raw honey has a glycemic index (GI) of around 30. Green grapes can have a GI of 46. What this means is that raw honey generates a 50% less insulin response than grapes and so maybe I should be eating raw honey in preference to the small amount of fruit I allow myself - more experimentation and research required on this.] So what happens to the surplus honey?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">My son gets two teaspoons a day from February to September in an effort to try anything that might relieve his hay fever. Wifey puts some in yogurt most days to have with fruit. The rest I provide in recycled jam jars that I rent to my mother-in-law at £5 a time for 340 grams. This year I will probably have just enough for these uses. But a number of establishments have expressed an interest in taking on the product for sale, so what to do?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">When considering selling honey to offset our meagre costs my immediate concern is appearing on the radar of government authorities. These include DEFRA for the bee inspectors and the Food Safety and Trading Standards people. I’ve nothing against the individuals concerned, they are probably all wonderful people with delightfully well-behaved offspring, it’s the unnecessary intrusion they represent that I resent. There is no requirement for me to notify any authority that I look after bees (or my small flock of egg laying chickens for that matter). Obviously, if I come across anything I don’t recognise in a colony, like small hive beetle, or suspect the bees are afflicted with something like AFB or EFB, then I would immediately contact the inspectors, as these are notifiable conditions. They will arrive in their large black unmarked vans, take samples and insist that all known colonies within 5 miles will be destroyed - don’t get me started on the pointlessness of this one. If anyone in my family suffers from a massive reaction to the honey then we will deal with it using the normal services.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Putting a product ‘out there’ increases the chances that I might slip into the purview of an Agency. No-one cares if the only person affected by my hobbies is me but, quite rightly, everyone will care if I, inadvertently or knowingly, put risk in front of someone else. A little googling shows that my product may be described as a ‘raw pressed honey’ - the gold standard for those looking for the most nutritious edible honey. It must be made from broodless and insect free comb and bottled at less than 40</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px; vertical-align: 1px;"><sup>o</sup></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">C so as not to destroy the enzymes that make raw honey so beneficial, and there are well over 400 of them apparently!!</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">But the very thing that makes it such a sought after product by those in the know also increases its risk to susceptible folks. Raw honey is by definition unprocessed - the production method I use is called ‘crush and strain’ because, once any dead bees are removed from comb where any brood has been cut out, it is crushed, or mashed in my case, and then strained through a corse gauze - and that’s it, what you see is what you get. Everything in the hive will be represented in the honey. It is unfiltered - all of the big bits are removed by the straining but it is not passed through a fine filtering process so it retains a very high pollen content. Nothing is heated, except the jam jars and lids to sterilise them, so all the enzymatic properties of the propolis and the honey are intact. (A few people can have an anaphylactic reaction to some or all of this and as a consequence raw honey should not be given to children under the age of three.) My product is unadulterated. No heating is used to speed up the process; nothing is added or removed, other than what stays in the gauze; it is stored in glass so no out-gassing can taint or pollute the honey. It is as safe as I need it to be for my family without ruining it’s considerable benefits. So why must I pay the price of oversight for the failings of others to look after their clients in a responsible fashion?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">A product needs a label to say what the client is getting. Based on my limited research so far the labels used by a producer of low volume hobbyist raw honey need to have a product name that describes the contents using officially prescribed words, as they have formal definitions and standards associated with them; a ‘use by’ date (2 years after production is acceptable for honey, as its a potentially perishable food, although egyptian honey over 3000 years old was said to be perfectly edible but a little sharp); and a note of the country of origin. Although regulations are less rigorously applied for direct hobbyist sales ‘from the door’ it helps to get it mostly right from day 1 for the benefit of everyone. There are notes on some websites that say that the producer needs to be identifiable from the label (that can easily be detached from the jar - go figure). But because I have such small volumes of honey on offer all my clients will know me personally so I don’t feel that I need to put out any more information. People will know where to find me if they have a problem with my product. So why do I need to add yet another way for appearing on a radar screen?</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I can offer you no answers on this question. For me the issues are: labelling; regulatory oversight; food safety standards and regulatory oversight. I admit, I’m uncomfortable with what I see as the unnecessary oversight of what I do - if my customers don’t like my product, or the risk it might represent to them, they don’t have to choose it and it can stay in my cupboard for the next 3000 years.</span></div>
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Here's to the upcoming new season and the vitality of our bees.</div>
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Tim.</div>
WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-61644162176471470002014-01-05T10:03:00.000+00:002014-01-05T10:04:37.113+00:00When will the autumn end?<div style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin-right: 6px;">
Bees tend to stop flying when the environmental temperature drops below around 8 deg C but they still remain active in the hive. Normally this is a 'good thing'. However, a busy bee is a hungry bee, and a hungry bee needs food. In winter, when a colony's stashed away food has to last through to March, hungry bees can be the undoing of an otherwise successful hive as they chomp their way through the precious honey and have no way of replacing it as its too cold to fly.</div>
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So far, this winter has all the halmarks of being one of those annoying mild and wet ones; no snow, few frosts and interminable showers and longer spells of rain with a glimmer of sun every few days. This is far from ideal for our bees. As temperatures remain relatively high the colony has no need to form the tight cluster that they need to retain heat. When tightly clustered the bees are able to dramatically reduce the amount they eat and so ecke out their stored supplies until well into springtime. Without this tight clustering it is entirely possible that a colony can starve itself by consuming everything it has kept before the first of the new year's nectar appears and the weather is good enough to fly.</div>
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As usual, this places the bee wrangler in a quandary - to feed or not to feed. And, as with every other year it seems, the answer depends on your view of the impact of intervention. Some bee herders take the view that they should feed irrespective of the weather, a prophilactic intervention 'just in case'. Others take the view that they should never intervene as this would weaken the evolutionary strain of bees - 'they will survive if they are meant to survive' and so they don't want to do anything that will mean that next year the colony will have a greater dependancy on human intervention as they will have started to loose their genetic trigger to cluster and conserve food.</div>
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It is 'well known' that certain sub-species of bee have different food consumption rates in winter. The original british black bee is said to be very frugal, probably because it is used to having to deal with our unpredictable weather patterns. The italian bees tend to be more exuberant in many aspects of their lives, and will gannet through a colony's stores in very short order, probably as a result of surviving the relatively short mediterranean winters, and then starve long before Christmas. All our colony's are hybrid bees - mongrels if you will - so their performance over winter will vary according to the story of their origins. However, as I've been watching bees for a few seasons now, it appears to me that the average winter bee in some colonies seems to have a darker countenance than their summer relatives. Its almost like a genetic switch is thrown and the winter bee has more of the british black's characteristics than its more italian summer bee version. Please note that I've not yet found any empirical evidence for this observation so don't hold me to any of my theorising. But I do know that we humans exhibit the ability to switch genes on and off (an emerging aspect of genetic science called epigenetics) by doing simple things like changing what we eat, so why shouldn't bees be able to switch 'frugality' genes on and off using environmental factors as a trigger. It may be that these frugality genes also bring about changes in physical appearance, hence the apparent colour change as well.</div>
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A flip side to this idea is that the italian bees have the 'well known' propensity to build a colony's numbers up quickly when the nectar flow begins in spring; larger numbers of bees can more quickly replenish much depleated stores. Whilst this sounds great in principle for a mediterranean climate it may also bring about the demise of a colony here in the UK as lots of energy is required to grow bees and if the timing is out, or the weather turns wet or cold for a spell, the colony can quickly starve before its able to begin feeding again (as happened to some of mine with the cold snap in March last year). Darwinian selection must the favour colonies that get this timing right in most years so bringing on a genetic line of bees suited to that local climate. This would explain why the way bees procreate, effective hybridisation, has allowed them as a species, to survive extremes of climate change and to be found surviving in most habitable areas of the world. So, as I've discussed before, there is a strong argument in favour of limited intervention if we want bees that are aclimatised to our locality - letting the less suitable colonies die off and allowing the more suitable ones to show themselves as survivors (and using these to split from in the spring to make our new colonies).</div>
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It is also a very strong argument to support the request for a ban on the importation of queens to the UK; the imact of these alien genetics from stranger climes disrupts the natural hybridisation of our local bees to create strong genetic lines that can more easily survive in our UK climate (see the Natural Beekeeing Forum for more on this).</div>
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Food for thought as I face digging out the mulch in the chicken run (many thanks Richard and Mandy for the replacement chippings). May I wish you all a Happy New Year of beeness.</div>
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Tim.</div>
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WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-2837835287558483142013-12-07T21:49:00.001+00:002013-12-07T21:49:46.475+00:00Bee's go bump in the nightWoke the morning after the winds to find one of my hives had blown over. Whoever said top bars are more stable obviously needs to re think (that would be me then). To be fair the one that went was my small hive thats up on the bank and subject to the full blast of the wind. The full size hives survived without problem.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPcSY2eFpepVm7MeLeE2uzZE_-Q0DqimQ6mPIpp6aq8J1y8LlQRFVjaQw17KtrzMKjBM4tc-zO62ygmoFj9LbL0EesgMbIspv5TYkXYjuRzxhcQWE1rERk7qy_sstuoWL7bNA2RqKrBU/s1600/IMGP4954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyPcSY2eFpepVm7MeLeE2uzZE_-Q0DqimQ6mPIpp6aq8J1y8LlQRFVjaQw17KtrzMKjBM4tc-zO62ygmoFj9LbL0EesgMbIspv5TYkXYjuRzxhcQWE1rERk7qy_sstuoWL7bNA2RqKrBU/s320/IMGP4954.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the view you want to see out the bedroom window.</td></tr>
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So quickly on with the bee suit to see what the damage was.</div>
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Luckily the hive had fallen and ended up partially on its bottom with the lid still on some way, which helped to keep the rain out(very lucky it didn't roll down the bank) . After untangling the stand and removing the lid it didn't look to bad.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pjWKBfy1pBOq3DfBWZAa7zJX90M_5SI6t4aLqTHqR7Azku-gIhRMKpR6M4FINrdJSRkwIjJhPU_GZReskcqWwx9tc7M_Qge7wrXvJbAmxDvJ0trs1Zz6FBVh2d_aMq_tzQdeB-5NXZQ/s1600/IMGP4955.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1pjWKBfy1pBOq3DfBWZAa7zJX90M_5SI6t4aLqTHqR7Azku-gIhRMKpR6M4FINrdJSRkwIjJhPU_GZReskcqWwx9tc7M_Qge7wrXvJbAmxDvJ0trs1Zz6FBVh2d_aMq_tzQdeB-5NXZQ/s320/IMGP4955.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Very cautious look inside half expecting total carnage<br /></td></tr>
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Having picked the hive up and onto a level surface I could then better see what had gone on. All in all it had survived quite well. The end few bars had become dislodged and broken the comb, but all of this was empty.The main sections still had the bars intact and looking in through the window I could see they were still attached at the side, also the bees were still in situ.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR4tcpwTTmMTWqMcyI3Po3TNQGY_dydq1XjPHEoY9QeJ-Tz9GJAFV9A7PzOkgeYWq07YghhC_FmHHNyJXtQ4DjRbxBEgtP4HDQOyW8ByiSg5ox8Wx2D-If5V4jbEoIx-tW8v1MEADWwg/s1600/IMGP4958.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgR4tcpwTTmMTWqMcyI3Po3TNQGY_dydq1XjPHEoY9QeJ-Tz9GJAFV9A7PzOkgeYWq07YghhC_FmHHNyJXtQ4DjRbxBEgtP4HDQOyW8ByiSg5ox8Wx2D-If5V4jbEoIx-tW8v1MEADWwg/s320/IMGP4958.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Final assessment and close up. As can be seen a fair bit of damaged comb. </td></tr>
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The only thing left was to re-assemble and put back on the stand. All thats left is to see if they survive, the major worry is they became over chilled but only time will tell. </div>
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So what to do for the future, well this winter I'm building a stronger base for the location and plan to run a Warre style hive as an experiment this will give me the option to strap it all down so hopefully the problem should not arise again.<br />
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Have fun at the Christmas meal catch up next year.<br />
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David</div>
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Lord Tedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16020578982687050201noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-1861355299342348522013-12-04T13:58:00.001+00:002013-12-04T13:58:36.749+00:00December meetingInstead of our usual meet the first Wednesday of the month in the Harrington (which would normally be tonight), we are having a pre-Christmas meal next Monday 9th December - meet at 7-7.30pm in the Shakespeare, Shardlow - either eating there or go across the road to the Indian, whatever the consensus. All welcome!Ali Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15885781416445990378noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-67084442381222061892013-10-21T10:07:00.001+01:002013-10-21T10:07:32.054+01:00Winter preparations Winter preparations in top bar hives?<br />
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Yes its a question that we all need to be thinking about. Firstly do we do any at all. Well this depends on how 'natural' your natural bee keeping is going to be. Does nature do anything for the bee's? The very simple answer is nothing more than the bees do for themselves. So if your being really true to nature you will have taken no honey during the summer and will leave them to last out the winter on their own.<br />
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When would you consider assisting them by feeding?<br />
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This summer has been a pretty good one for the bee's lots of nice weather so plenty of forage time. What this has also meant is an increase in swarming and most importantly the production of casts (small swarm with virgin queen). Usually these are produced slightly later in the season and don't always have time to build up sufficient winter stores. Also wasps and in my case hornets have been more of an issue this year, and a weak colony can have all its honey taken by persistent wasp attacks(hornets also kill the bee's).<br />
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How and when to feed?<br />
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Liquid feeding is probably coming to an end around now, the bees are still collecting from the ivy so its obviously not to late but I wouldn't leave it much longer. If you do liquid feed make it a 2Kg sugar to 1Ltr water mix. Several feeder types are available I now use inverted honey jars on a adapted follower board as the bulk feeds in my mind drown to many bees.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqA_T8riGfd-AjoLUMFRpdjXTciCzO1zYlGHFhi4dEKDKPpCMrtzLTIxtzkt5G-_inAa5VFkH1s1suuanxyVIpjNc4FBrT5QClbHNVPPvEGTjG3oIrAp6ETdul6R31oYE6GAJyvIGPuU/s1600/feeder-in-hive2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZqA_T8riGfd-AjoLUMFRpdjXTciCzO1zYlGHFhi4dEKDKPpCMrtzLTIxtzkt5G-_inAa5VFkH1s1suuanxyVIpjNc4FBrT5QClbHNVPPvEGTjG3oIrAp6ETdul6R31oYE6GAJyvIGPuU/s320/feeder-in-hive2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inverted Jar Feeder bees access bottom of jar lid has several small holes in the lid.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDch77jKK4DO3BBcrwrplkY-aL5dH8qx26QKXqDnqu-a70dpZY5m6AQL_V8GDfFe4pyu7qfeTzBSEQ1FyFTk0opWtzPykJGR9TfZMvGp-aUoQD4qtZn4TpkFlJnALsdwSMq88LdQhEvY/s1600/feeder3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicDch77jKK4DO3BBcrwrplkY-aL5dH8qx26QKXqDnqu-a70dpZY5m6AQL_V8GDfFe4pyu7qfeTzBSEQ1FyFTk0opWtzPykJGR9TfZMvGp-aUoQD4qtZn4TpkFlJnALsdwSMq88LdQhEvY/s320/feeder3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bulk feeder larger capacity with float (tends to drown bees)</td></tr>
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Later in the year/early next year feeding has to be by fondant (I buy it as I cannot seem to make it) the bee's have no way to evaporate liquid feeds during winter. Fondant is a slight problem since it has to placed over the winter cluster of bees. Tim and myself both came up with the same solution, drill 8-10mm holes in the joints of the bars above the brood area and place the fondant above this in a inverted takeaway container.<br />
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Two of my four hives are being fed as we speak, one has been constantly bothered by wasps(sorted it finally by closing down entrance to half a hole). The other looks like it repelled a hornet attack at a cost(decapitated bees in abundance). Both had very little in the way of stores and I don't want to lose them.<br />
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The other hives have plenty so I've left them.<br />
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So things to do :-<br />
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<li>Nothing at all if you think they can manage by themselves.</li>
<li>Feed them if they look like being short on stores.</li>
<li>Close your entrances down to one hole to help maintain heat and avoid drafts.</li>
<li>Prepare for fondant feeding now as a winter cluster objects to drills coming thru the roof.</li>
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Things not to do</div>
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<li>Don't go out of your way to keep them warm, no wrapping them in quilts and bubble wrap. A warm colony will consume much more honey than a cold one.</li>
<li>Don't completely seal them in they need to get out once in a while to spend a penny.</li>
<li>Don't liquid feed in winter months, chances are they will ignore it anyway. </li>
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Are we all prepared, only time will tell.</div>
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See you at the next meeting, where I beleive discussions will be had regarding christmas feasting.</div>
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Cheers </div>
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Dave.</div>
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<br />Lord Tedrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16020578982687050201noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-60492246929847144422013-07-31T11:57:00.003+01:002013-07-31T11:58:35.628+01:00The Honey Harvest (Part 2) …<br />
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When we left it, you had a box of comb, mostly honey and probably with live and dead bees in it as well, and a kitchen prepared for a little extraction. The following is a description of what I do but your mileage may vary. Please have a go and find your own methods - then let us know what you do.</div>
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I take my box to a quiet corner of the garden with a flat surface, ideally a table but I use the bonnet of my old Series 2 Land Rover (yet another project). I put the box gently down and then, using a handy piece of wood, quickly prop open the lid and run. Any flying bees, and there may well not be many, will have gorged themselves on honey and should slowly emerge from the box and attempt to find their hive. They should not be in a mood to sting but you never know - although I've never had a problem I prefer to run and then come back.</div>
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After a tea break I can then come back to the box knowing that those bees left are either too gummed up with honey, drowned or squashed to be of any danger to me. It now becomes a rescue and cleanup process. I use cutlery to go through the folds and pieces of comb in the box as carefully as I can. I fish out any bee I find and flick them onto the table/bonnet; I think that most become sweets and delicacies for the robins and others that nest nearby. Having gone through the comb and removed the bees you then come to a difficult decision. If you have taken comb that is purely honey or pollen then please skip this next bit. However, some comb may have brood in it is well. Now, I don't differentiate in any way and, callously, regard brood as a beneficial protein source. Whilst I don't deliberately seek comb that has brood in it I won't mind if a small amount of brood are in the comb I take. This often happens with a first year colony as the bees struggle to work out how to organise themselves. Why does this matter? Well the next stage could be difficult for some if you have brood present - although it is too late to put it back. If the thought of your honey including cells from squashed brood that make it through the filtering then you should seek those bits of comb, cut them out and remove them from the box. You will need to find a way to destroy them that suits you. Some freeze them and then crush them; worth thinking about carefully.</div>
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The honey extraction process I use is called 'crush and strain' and the first stage of the process is the 'crush'. With all bees, and brood if necessary, removed I set to with a metal potato masher and turn the comb into a runny, slightly lumpy, paste. After 5 minutes or so I then carefully pour the paste into the open end of the stocking which sits in a suitable bowl. It helps if you can persuade someone to help with this bit but it is possible to organise things so that you can pour into an open stocking. I do recommend having both hands free to hold the container with the mash in it - call it experience. I then hook the stocking over a number of pins nailed to a piece of wood held over a work surface - it works for me but you need to have thought about this before the mashing; the mash can weigh five or six pounds or more if you are processing a couple of combs at once.</div>
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Then its cleanup and a cuppa. Most of the honey will filter out over the first hour or so. During this time I sterilise my first set of jam jars, usually enough for five pounds of honey or so. Then I juggle containers so that I can remove the honey that has filtered and pour it into the jars - I try to avoid pouring into warm jars as I'm conscious that any heat will destroy the enzymes that make the honey you are extracting so unique. Then its a waiting game. I leave the suspended mash in the warmer air of my kitchen to slowly continue dripping gently for a couple of days. Once I'm happy I've got most of the honey out/another batch is waiting to go/wifey is fed up of getting her hair stuck to the suspended column, I peel out the remains from the stocking into a container and dispose of the stocking. The container is then gently warmed so the wax/remains/honey separate and I can peel or pour the wax from the slurry. The cold slurry is then added to the wormery or compost and the wax collected to be made into candles for presents over christmas.</div>
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Now you have the enviable problem of how to use the honey you have processed. I have seen small jars for sale for as much as £5 but I tend to give jars away to friends and people who have helped with the honey creating process; hive neighbours, swarm sources, and so on. Some people I know want to experiment with using natural local honey to help with hay fever - however there is a far more effective dietary way of doing this - another post if folks are interested in that. Please be aware that there are regulations regarding the sale of food items and you should do your research carefully so you don't get stung. I don't produce enough honey for my own and friends' needs yet so I've not had this problem to explore.</div>
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Hope this helps. Please use the comments to let me know if you want me to further expand on any of this.</div>
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Tim.</div>
WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-75110702000198144612013-07-28T15:04:00.002+01:002013-07-28T15:11:12.529+01:00The Honey Harvest (Part 1) ...<br />
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The end of July is my last harvest deadline. Its a personal thing. I'm happy to take the occasional comb from a hive during the flush of summer; it gives the bees space in a rapidly expanding colony and stops the queen from getting herself restrained in her egg laying by lack of available empty space (becoming honey bound). But the end of July is, for me, my personal limit as I want my bees to have their own honey available to them throughout the winter and spring months. The much maligned himalayan balsam is the botanical marker for me. As the first flowers of balsam light up the rougher areas of my garden I know that my harvest limit is upon me.</div>
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The summers for the last two years have been too poor for me to collect any honey so I had to brush off a significant build up of cobwebs from some of my honey straining system that has been hibernating outside the back door. Once the filter suspension system (a piece of wood with a row of tacks hammered into one end of it - it wedges between a roof beam and the top of a wall cupboard in the kitchen) is in place and a suitable clean filter stolen (one of my wife's best plain stockings) all is ready.</div>
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I choose a warm, windless day with no threat of rain. Then I take an old plastic bread bin (any large clean container with a well fitted lid will do - this bread box is handy as it will only take a maximum of two combs so I can't be too greedy). I choose the most active, and usually largest, colony and assemble all the necessary bee wrangling equipment next to the hive. For this task it is important to have a clean bee brush to hand - I use a large goose feather and I make sure I have at least two of them available. Please note - the bees will get stroppy when you do this raid. Dress appropriately!! I then start at the end of the colony furthest from the brood area and sort through the comb until I find the edge of the brood, keeping in mind those combs I come across with the most capped honey cells on them. Then, working back from the brood area, I take out those combs I've found with the most capped honey. Each chosen comb is carefuly removed, brushed clear of bees as best I can, and then folded into the bread box. Then I scrape off the wax from the top bar and put it back into the hive from the place it came from. If I'm removing two bars next to each other I make sure I slide a full comb in between them so there is less risk of cross combing. A second bar, if available and the bees have at least two or more others for themselves, gets removed, brushed and folded onto of the first in the bread box. You have to work fairly fast as bees will try to collect onto the comb you are removing to rescue their honey and you don't want to trap too many bees in the folds of comb - see later. Get a lid onto the box you are using as soon as you can. I always try to make sure I limit myself to two bars per raid as I would rather they had the honey they need to get through the bad times ahead. If necessary put in one or two extra bars as you think fit whilst you are there and the bees are already getting stressed.</div>
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Then close up the hive and move all equipment and your box of spoils well clear before removing gloves and veil. Note that even with the lid on your chosen treasure chest you may have bees crawling around under the edge of the box lid so be careful when picking it up - check first.</div>
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And thats it, raid over. You have the spoils captured securely in a bee tight box. But it is still unusable on your toast or in your smoothie so now what do you do? More to follow ….</div>
WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-37681758646841928052013-07-08T18:26:00.002+01:002013-07-08T18:26:26.169+01:00The Ones That Got Away....In their excitement (at the prospect of the Wimbledon Final obviously) my bees decided to swarm yesterday, the children ran in to tell me that they were 'going mad' & it truly was an impressive site, the whole of the back end of the garden filled with buzzing bees covering a huge area. They eventually settled in the old apple tree & since I've never dealt with a swarm before & the prospect of having to knock them into the box off quite a solid branch while up a ladder, I then called for help.<br />
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Thanks so much to Tim & Mike for responding so quickly. As I shot up to the Co-Op for a larger box than we had, Tim arrived & just as he & Iain walked to the end of the garden, the bees just upped & left in the direction of Thulston!<br />
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I think the temperatures were so hot yesterday, an hour in the tree was all they could manage. Gutted to lose them by a matter of minutes, but will know to be quicker next time!<br />
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Plenty of activity still in & around my hive, so will keep my eyes out in case of a double whammy, as Mike & Monique have experienced!<br />
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AlisonAli Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15885781416445990378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-9591441070163850532013-06-28T18:55:00.001+01:002013-06-28T18:55:47.021+01:00Wheel bees.<br />
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I got a call from a friend in the village asking me to come and help get some bees out from under her car. She had gone out to change a front nearside wheel with a slow puncture to find a swarm had taken up temporary residence in the wheel arch. Would I please come and move them on.</div>
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So I grabbed my wrangling gear and an empty box and whizzed over. The bees had taken up residence in the back of the wheel. To be able to see and get to them I had to start the car so that I could turn the wheels out - the only way to disengage the wheel lock on this nearly new car.</div>
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Anyway, while checking to see just how I was going to be able to get them out, I noticed a flash of movement on some nearby gravel. There was the queen, marching about in the open, and unattended!! I had spotted a flash of yellow paint out of the corner of my eye that some beekeeper had painted her back with to make it easier for them to find the queen in their hive. So I gently allowed her to crawl onto my glove and gently set her on some comb in the transfer box, quickly closed the bars up, opened the front entrance by removing the cork, sat back and watched. The bees in the wheel arch began to stream steadily from the wheel to the box in a thin wriggly line. Over the next 4 hours all the bees crossed into the box and settled in for the night. At dusk I came back, put in the cork and brought all the bees home. Got to be the best and easiest capture yet!!</div>
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Tim.</div>
WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-41371688658861361642013-06-28T18:41:00.001+01:002013-06-28T18:41:30.525+01:00Bee Wrangling Pt2 (cont ...)Well, indeed, they stayed with me for a few days of holiday before being picked up by Jacquie. I picked up the bees from Mike and Monique early evening and took them home, driving very carefully. I always take extra care when driving with bees, as it only takes one careless road user to really spoil everyones day, so I'm extra vigilant and keep loads of distance between myself and the vehicle in front.<br />
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When I got home I then set about transferring them from their cardboard box and into a mini top bar hive (5 bar nucleus box). This was simply a matter of tipping them out and into their new home, trying to be as gentle as possible. Anyone who has ever done this knows that bees' feet can really cling on when they want to and that when they give way a whole lump of bees can tumble into the depths. As it was getting dark I was just hoping that the queen would be somewhere in the middle of such a lump. You can never get all the bees out so I got most of them to drop in and then held the box over the mini-hive and tapped the sides of the box to encourage the last few out. As soon as the box was empty I threw it as far away from me as I could to try to stop any bees flying back in towards any scent that may have been left on the cardboard after their stay in the box. Then it was just a matter of closing the bars and leaving the end hole open and then walking away. After dark I returned and, very gently, carried the box to its resting place, being mindful of any bees that were under the box. I spent a few minutes on the following evening just watching the entrance and they all seemed very settled.<br />
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They seem to be fairly calm bees and the box had put on quite a bit of weight during its stay here. It felt like an excellent colony to begin a new hobby with. I just hope that Jacquie has room enough between the combs to get them and their bees out!!WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-81824410408676155002013-06-27T17:39:00.000+01:002013-06-27T17:39:39.180+01:00Update on Weston Swarm Number OneWell, while Mike & Mon's bees have been busy swarming again, Weston Swarm No 1 have been holidaying in Elvaston, while we holidayed in France!<br />
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Sarah came to collect them last night & move them to their new home near Ticknall & we were both pleased with how heavy the box was, definitely a good sign that they have been productive during their stay.<br />
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Mike - Sarah or I will get your bait box back to you once she has transferred them to her TBH.<br />
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Hope to see you all at the meeting next week.<br />
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AlisonAli Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15885781416445990378noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-15072874353695206692013-06-16T19:01:00.002+01:002013-06-16T19:01:22.483+01:00Bee Wrangling Pt 2Well as Boyd called us (me) bee wranglers here we go ...<br />
Today we were just about to set off on our weekly bike ride to cappuccino land , when Monique called Mike into the back garden and again we had another swarm starting , this 1 week after the last! <br />
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Zoom in for bees ! <br />
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Well they decided not to bother our neighbours thankfully but swarmed in our hedge then settled on hanging from a dogwood . <br />
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We went for our bike ride (cappuccino ) and then Mike was detailed to collect the swarm ably assisted by Monique with a camera from a distance ( Mike suit zip had stuck so used Monique's)<br />
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So we phoned Tim who was coming over to collect them and pass them on to their new beekeeper. <br />
As you can see the only box we had suitable was Mike Guitar amp box so lets hope it doesn't need to go back! <br />
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So Tim has the bees now and its up to some one else to continue this story board. <br />
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So the Vox pop (sorry) will continue hopefully , but we do have some questions. Are we unlucky to get a swarm a week later ? We did think this was a virgin queen flight at first but not the case , what are we likely to get next? <br />
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All the best <br />
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M&M<br />
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Mikmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17489792490129336869noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-64750984739330585212013-06-09T18:30:00.000+01:002013-06-09T18:30:07.546+01:00My first swarm collectedHi All <br />
We were just about to have lunch today and Monique called me to look in the back garden ..<br />
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Zoom in on the picture and you'll see , this despite a large swarm 2 weeks ago whilst we were away on half term. <br />
This swarm settled in next doors apple tree so After messing about with a box above them , and that I didn't have Tim's number there was nothing for it but to try YouTube -. <br />
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It was great and a clip showed me exactly what to do and what to do if it didn't work 1st time , this was from a US top bar supplier so I gave it a go. <br />
Putting my bait box under them , giving them a spray of water as was recommended then giving them a shake they dutifully fell in and leaving it on the ground, the bees that were left in the tree came and joined them all - success. <br />
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Alison popped over and has collected them so hopefully they will be happy in their new home <br />
I wouldn't say I'm ready for the next one , but I moved a bumble bee nest from the shed in the sale garden yesterday. <br />
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All the best <br />
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M&MMikmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17489792490129336869noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-79117206690108091882013-06-03T04:40:00.002+01:002013-06-03T04:40:56.083+01:00Qatari Bees<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
After a few false starts I finally managed to meet up with one of Qatars few beekeepers and get my hands on some bees. I had seen a listing in the archive of the Qatar Natural History Group about a talk given by a local beekeeper some time before I arrived here. It gave his contact details and a few e-mails later I was kindly invited to a farm just outside Doha to see his small apiary.<br />
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Khalid Al-Suwaidi has been keeping bees for the last twelve years in an environment that is totally the reverse of that of the UK. In the Summer, when it's blisteringly hot, everything shuts down, and in the Winter, when it's Spring like and wetter, most things come to life. It is now just coming to the end of the beekeeping season which sees the disappearance of nearly all tender flowering flowers, shrubs and trees, and when standing water is at a premium. There were about twenty hives in three different locations around the farm, mostly with six frames in the brood chamber and six in the Super. Most of the hives seemed busy with lots of very placid bees to be seen. None of the frames we looked at were excessively full of honey but there seemed to be plenty being processed and lots of pollen. I took plenty of pictures! Because there is so little interest in beekeeping in Qatar all of his National hives and equipment, as well as the bees, were imported from Egypt. There is a lot of Arabic honey for sale in the supermarkets but none at all from Qatar. Khalid sells his honey from home as there is not enough to warrant his own shop. There don't seem to be many diseases (Varroa can't tolerate the heat apparently) or many predators (no wasps but lots of ants, and no ground base animals such as bears or badgers). The main problem is comb collapse due to the heat and a very colourful bird called a Bee Eater - can you guess what its main diet is? When we were talking about this bird, from the description, I thought Khalid meant a Woodpecker but checking in my Qatar bird book it was immediately obvious what he meant. Apparently they eat thousands of bees daily and have a very effective way of avoiding being stung - certainly different! Very generously Khalid gave me a selection of the produce from the farm - peppers, french beans, tomatoes, bottle gourds; much of which must have been pollinated by his bees.<br />
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<br />
As the weather cools down later in the year I might approach Khalid to see if I could catch a few swarms and keep them in some Warre hives. I intend to approach a local college to see if I can utilise their facilities to build the hives over the next few months. As I don't have access to any private outside space I intend to look locally for a place to keep the hives. I have heard that there is a gardening club in Doha that has something similar to allotments in the UK and they might be a good place to start.<br />
<br />
Hope all is well back in the UK and <em>Good Luck</em> for the coming season.<br />
<br />
Boyd<br />
<br />
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Boyd Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08443490283864265549noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-68444681425461707712013-05-31T18:56:00.000+01:002013-05-31T18:56:45.560+01:00What was that all about?An odd thing happened this afternoon with the hive that I didn't understand, perhaps someone can shed light upon the incident.<br />
<br />
About 4.15, sun shining brightly, warm and still, thousands of bees boiled out of the hive filling the garden to over 30ft in the air. I wondered if I was witnessing a swarm starting to form. This went for about 20 mins and the the bees started to settle back on and below the hive in a swarm like form. Oh no, I thought, I'll never get underneath to capture them later in the evening.<br />
<br />
I hastily donned the bee suit and wandered up to the hive. To my astonishment they were reentering the hive. Lots of the bees had their bums in the air, I assume spraying pheromones about. By 5 o'clock the colony seemed to be settling down into a fairly normal mode.<br />
<br />
Did I witness the supercession of the old queen - a kind of apian coup d'etat?<br />
<br />
I'd be grateful for your thoughts,<br />
<br />
PetePeterThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10315652891813168203noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5778387348899013256.post-90350290274276972832013-05-12T08:56:00.001+01:002013-05-12T09:08:56.052+01:00Melbourne Area Transition Invitational.With many thanks to Sarah and family who came to our last annual Intro to Beekeeping session, we have been invited to describe our approach to husbandry with the Melbourne Area Transition group, whose website can be found <span id="goog_1539195138"></span><a href="http://www.melbournetransition.org/" target="_blank">here</a><span id="goog_1539195139"></span>.<br />
<br />
Wednesday 15th May, 7:45pm to 9:00pm<br />
Church House (next to Melbourne Parish Church - follow the signs to Melbourne Hall and you can't miss the church)<br />
£2 entry charge (probably to fund the venue and refreshments)<br />
<br />
If you can come along and mingle enthusiastically we would appreciate the support. The format will be similar to our popular 'chat over a hive' style, as I'm told the venue is quite intimate, but we've been asked to kick off with a more formal 10 minute summary of sustainable beekeeping.<br />
<br />
Wish us luck ....<br />
<br />
Tim.WidgetManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06713144997173646844noreply@blogger.com3