Bromley
Bee News Monthly Update
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Welcome to the June 2004 issue of Bromley News.
I increased my hives from three to four by splitting
my strongest stock and letting them raise a new queen. The parent
stock has been a consistent producer and a joy to handle for many
years, so with luck I’ll get the same qualities/genes
passed on to the newly mated queen.
If you destroy the old brood you remove/trap a huge number of varroa mites. This is my preferred method on a sunny day:
Internet Resources Pyrethroid Resistance Found in Kent So far resistance surveillance elsewhere in Kent has
shown normal susceptibility of varroa to pyrethroids. However, we will
be carrying out further resistance testing over the next few months
to attempt to establish the scale of the new outbreak. This development
makes it essential that beekeepers in or near to the affected area
should now start to look for signs of resistance in their own colonies.
Further details on resistance testing and management are available
from the National Bee Unit website: www.nationalbeeunit.com or
from Alan Byham, South East Regional Bee Inspector Tel: 01737 230846
Email: a.byham @ csl.gov.uk. If you have any questions or comments
please feel free to get in touch. James Morton National Bee Inspector,
Central Science Laboratory - National Bee Unit Tel/fax: 020 8571 6450
Mobile: 07719 924 418 E-mail: j.morton @ csl.gov.uk At last I am going ahead with the Queen Rearing Programme. I admit it is a slow start but at least a start has been made. I only hope my breeder queen will have the energy of her predecessor and that her offspring produce the docile characteristics we have got used to over the past few years. Members have brought nuke boxes with bees but without queens along in the hope that the good temper comes from the drones around the apiary, but the more of you who take part in this exercise the better the chance of reaching our goal. Clive is gradually working through the request list for swarms and if you still want one and have not put in your request do it now. As I have said before, always change the queen after the swarm has settled down, as there is no point in propagating a swarming strain after all the work that has been done to slow down the swarming instinct. The South of England Show at Ardingly takes place on the 10th, 11th and 12th this month. If you decide to go John Henman and I will be manning the observation hive on the first two days and we will be pleased to see you. On Saturday the 12th we are staging a display at St Christopher’s School Beckenham which is always a most pleasant event. Our new tent will no doubt raise a few eyebrows. Don't forget National Insect Week starts on the 14th. The best contribution we can make is to sit down quietly in the garden and carry out a count of the different species of Bumble Bee we can see and send the results to Rothamstead. There will be the usual third Sunday Meeting the 20th June. On Wednesday the 23rd several of us will be departing on Beetour for the South of France and return late on Tuesday 29th so we will be back in good time for the display at Hayes Common, not an event I would like to miss. Remember that there is no apiary meeting on the first Sunday of July or August. The so called June Gap has been quite noticeable this year, let us hope the good weather holds out. Peter Springall A Home-bred Queen I had a three-frame nuc box with me, so I took one frame with two good sealed queen cells and some brood, a second frame with plenty of brood and a third frame, which was very heavy with stores. I shook in bees from two more frames and closed it up for the night.
The following day, Bank Holiday
Monday, I got up early and went to my apiary site at 6am, collected
the nuc box and took it to the Club Apiary so that I could take advantage
of the docile drones prevalent in Peter Springall’s hives,
if I was lucky enough to hatch a queen. I unfastened the nuc entrance
and left the box there to await the course of nature. At the Club apiary meeting on Sunday 6 th June – under Peter’s eagle eye and shoulder to shoulder with at least a dozen members we “opened the box!” We were delighted to see eggs and larvae in cells, which could only be very recent and some sealed brood. There was also a marked increase in the population. So much so, that Peter advised that the nuc should be expanded to a colony as soon as possible. At this stage I had been rudely bundled to the back of the crowd by eager and determined onlookers (I’m used to it by now) but by standing on somebody’s shoulders, (I think it was Claire,) I could just see the queen as it was found by somebody with better eyesight than I have. Peter marked her with Tippex in the customary Bromley Beekeeper’s ad hoc manner and we restored the nuc to quiet tranquillity. I always smile when Peter is pontificating about colour of the year – Green, Blue, White, Yellow, Red, because I know it will always end up being Tippex-white. For 2007 I am going to buy him a tube of yellow Tippex – I don’t think they do any other colour.
As usual it was quite remarkable to witness the docility of the bees. Peter’s smoker having proved unwilling to be ignited, we had opened it and manipulated without smoke. It made the queen easier to find, of course, but the calm, unhurried manner of the bees was a delight to see. The cloud of bees trying to find flying space around the unprotected heads of the crowd of members without stinging them is a familiar sight at our apiary but very encouraging if I can promote the same attitude on my own site.
The game-plan to get my queen hatched and then mated with the placid drones of Kenthouse Road was a success. There is something very satisfying in starting up a new colony from a queen cell in this manner. I intend to move the nucleus during the evening on Tuesday 8th June and hive it in a full brood box at my apiary in Addiscombe (about 3 miles away.) Mike Oliver Diary Dates Sunday 20th June 3:00pm - The branch afternoon apiary meeting. Beekeeping demonstrations and hive management if the weather permits. Tea and biscuits provided. Sunday 18th July 3:00pm - The branch afternoon apiary meeting. Beekeeping demonstrations and hive management if the weather permits. Tea and biscuits provided. The Kent County Bees and Honey Show New Forest & Hampshire County Show Nucs for Sale Bumble Gear |
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