CBKA

NEWSLETTER Year 30/1

September 2015

Available online at www.teesbees.co.u

k CBKA NEWSLETTER Year 30/1 September 2015

Available online at www.teesbees.co.uk

So here we are at the end of another Beekeeping Season. Varroa treatments will be just about complete and we will be pouring 2:1 syrup into our hives until the girls stop taking it. At this time of year I start looking back at the season to try and assess where

it all went wrong and at the moment I’m thinking it’s been verging pretty disastrous.

Where did it all go wrong? I managed to raise eight Queen Cells using the Jenter method and placed all the sealed cells into mating nucs but only one hatched and she never managed to get mated and started laying Drones. I had one colony come out of the winter with the Queen laying drones and even after euthanasing her and giving them frame after frame of eggs they refused to raise Queen Cells. I’ve had multiple hives where the virgin Queen has taken weeks to get mated, only lain well for a few weeks and then started laying drone. What I have notice though is four of my really strong colonies that have been wall to wall brood all season have made no attempt to swarm, so these will be used for the mating program next year.

I’m writing this mid-August so I’ve still got a few supers to come off but it looks like my Honey Crop will match my 2014 Crop, the downside being I’ve doubled the amount of Colonies I have.

I think the biggest factor this year has been the weather. The cold spring stopped the Bees getting out to the Oil Seed Rape, which greatly impacted the Honey Crop, and the weather has not really warmed up much since, because of this the virgin Queens haven’t been able to get out and get mated. I think we could see a lot of queens failing over the winter and the colonies either not making it or the Queen laying Drones come the spring. Steve Jacklin, Chair CBKA

CHAIRMAN’S RAMBLE

Some members recently

bought Belfast style observation hives from the same manufacturer. When we had these at the Cleveland show someone noticed that their bees were not passing through the queen excluder from the

observation space to the body of the nucleus.

We all then looked and came to the same conclusion - they were trying but not succeeding.

When I measured the

gap in the plastic queen excluder it was 3.94 mm. The wire excluders that I now use had a measured gap of 4.25 (Thornes quote these as 4.3) and my old slotted steel excluders a gap of 4.4. The EC (they get everywhere) quote a gap of 4.3. So here is an example of beekeeping equipment needing to be made to an accuracy of tenths of a millimetre. If you have old or second hand (particularly plastic) queen excluders maybe you should check the gap.

The same precision is needed to successfully use Porter bee escapes where the springs should be set exactly 3mm apart, closer and the bees will not go through them, further apart and they can get back (you should check this setting even from new). Graham Clarke

PRECISION BEEKEEPING I have always found moving bees a bit of a trial. It's lock-ing them in. I'm not a morn-ing person and in mid sum-mer they have often not all returned to the hive till 10.00 pm or later.

To make things easier I have made a one-way entrance from a Porter bee escape. You can put this on the hive at any time and come back a couple of hours later to lock your bees in - simple and it works.

It is quite easy to make. First cut a porter bee escape in half. Do the plastic first and then the springs which will need a small kink at the cut end to hold them in place. Next cut a T shaped slot in a blank entrance block and slide the reassembled

half bee escape in.

I have then added a simple hinged flap to make it secure for transport. The springs must be accurately set to 3mm (see the article on Precision Beekeeping).

Finally the whole thing must be clean. Graham Clarke

EASIER

MOVEMENTS

Ulster Observation hives

at the Cleveland Show

BeeBase Are you registered with BeeBase?

BeeBase is designed to help protect and sustain bee stocks and provides leaflets as well as warning emails when disease or pests are found in your area

If not why not sign up at: www.nationalbeeunit.com

Cleveland Beekeepers Association Secretary: Iain Makinson Tel 01287 634995

Winter meetings (September to April) are held on the 3rd Monday of the month at 7:15pm in the

Middlesbrough Bowling Club, Cornfield Rd, Middlesbrough TS5 5QL (Near the Little Theatre). Visitors and new members welcome.

General Husbandry Assessment Training George Eames from County Durham intends to run a course for Bee-keepers wishing to re-

ceive training for the General Husbandry Assessment again this year.

The BBKA feel that some candidates may be put off, thinking this assessment is too daunting. The idea of the course is to coach potential candidates for the Gen-eral Bee Husbandry Assessment and to give them ad-vice and confidence to go on and succeed in this assess-ment.

If you have been awarded the Basic Assessment certifi-cate and have managed bees for at least three years then you meet the Conditions of Entry for this assess-ment.

Anyone interested please contact George as he intends to hold an open day on Wednesday 7th October 2015 at the Botanic Gardens Durham 19-00 hrs start, to sort out the venue and details of the course.

This course is open to all beekeepers in the North East. George's contact details are E: beeseames@btinternet.com T:07970926250

BBKA Modules The BBKA operates a system of assessments and qualifi-cations, both practical and theoretical.

Details are violable on the BBKA website http://www.bbka.org.uk/learn/

BBKA Modules examinations November 2015 All entries for the November modules must be received by 30 September. Late entries are not possible. Tom Rettig t.rettig@btinternet.com

BeeBase — eLearning for Beekeepers BeeBase have launched a new eLearning programme for beekeepers.

The first module ‘Honey Bee Pests, Diseases and Virus-es’ covers six main topics; Exotic Threats, Foul brood, Varroa, Adult Bee Diseases and Viruses, Other Brood Disorders and Other Pests.

This is an easy to use on line site and provides a good opportunity for all beekeepers to aid their own person-al development.

To access the eLearning, log into BeeBase and follow the navigation index on the left-hand side of the page.

BEEKEEPING

EDUCATION Cleveland BKA

The Association’s AGM

will be held at 7.15 pm on

Monday 19 October at

Middlesbrough Bowling Club The Officers and Committee will be elected at his

meeting and volunteers for Committee places are wel-

come. If you want to know what may be involved

please contact any of the committee.

Adrian Wilford has taken over as the Bee Inspector for our area.

Adrian has visited a number of local apiaries and hopes

to be at our September meeting to meet more of the local beekeeping community.

Those who have had visits found him friendly and help-ful. Although we are fortunately largely free of the no-tifiable diseases in this area the presence of the port a large plant importer does mean that vigilance is needed for the exotic posts that now threaten bees.

BEE

INSPECTOR

Apiaries in many areas are being plagued by wasps. This problem is likely to

continue through to October and without action, could lead to colony losses.

Be on your guard and take preventative measures. The three elements of control that beekeepers can use:

Trapping wasps in the apiary with wasp traps such as jars holding a mixture of water, and jam and some wine or beer dregs. Cover the jar aperture with a lid or paper cap and punch a hole in it about the diame-ter of a pencil. Commercial traps are available.

Assisting the bee colony by reducing the hive en-trance to make it easier for the bees to defend. With severe problems cut the entrance to a single bee-way. A small tube entrance can be easier to defend. Closing mesh floors using the floor insert will also help.

Controlling wasp nests in the environment. Although destroying nests in the spring and summer clearly of reduces the wasp population widescale destruction of nests is disadvantageous to the environment. Adapted from NBU advice

WASP ALERT

C L E V E L A N D B E E K E E P E R S

S H O W R E P O RT S Year 30/1.1

Available online at www.teesbees.co.uk

A really successful day. We had nearly 100 entries, an increase of 17% on last year. Although we started with rather cooler weather than last year, the day improved

gradually. There was a great deal of interest shown in the stand, both in the exhibits and in the four observation hives which had been presented. We were kept really busy all day talking to the public and answering questions. The candle-making and honey tasting, as always, were extremely popular and those with honey for sale nearly sold out! Well done to everyone who entered the show, it is really heartening to see so many new names having a go. You may not have been successful this year but keep trying, it’s all about experience and attention to detail. Below is a list of winners, hopefully we will see your name on there next year. Julie Saxton, Show Secretary

CLEVELAND SHOW

Class Description 1st 2nd 3rd

1 Observation Hive Steve Jacklin Mike McCartney Graham Clarke

2 Light Honey Mike McCartney Sal Mancina John Baines

3 Medium/Dark Honey Unal Metti Steve Jacklin Chris Wase

4 Heather Honey Steve Jacklin Mike McCartney Rob Andrews

5 Granulated/Soft Set Steve Jacklin Unal Metti Lynn Taylor

6 Chunk Honey Mike McCartney Steve Jacklin Unal Metti

7 Frame of Honey Sal Mancina Ada Newman Steve Jacklin

8 Sections of Honey Steve Jacklin

9 Cut Comb Not awarded Rob Andrews Chris Wase

10 Cake of Beeswax Sal Mancina Steve Jacklin John Canning

11 Sweet Mead Julie Saxton Steve Jacklin Mike McCartney

12 Dry Mead Steve Jacklin Mike McCartney Unal Metti

13 Honey Cake Jan Lewis Tricia Mancina John Baines

14 Honey as for Sale Steve Jacklin John Baines Chris Wase

15 Photograph John Canning Steve Jacklin Sal Mancina

16 Novice- non-granulated John Baines Jan Lewis

17 Novice- Granulated/ Soft Set

John Baines

Judging the Honey Section at Cleveland Show

Cleveland Show 2016

save the date

Saturday 23 July

Help us to make it an even

Bigger and Better

Honey Show

Stokesley show is the other main opportunity for Cleveland Beekeepers to exhibit their honey and wax. For many it is better

timed, coming as it does near the end of the honey harvest. Although there are fewer classes at this show there were 87 entries, mostly from Cleveland BKA Members and the weather was remarkably good considering the recent rain. The Association had a busy stand near the honey section and attracted many members of the public fascinated by the Observation hive, wanting to taste, or buy, local honey, or make candles.. The Judge this year was Peter Schollick from Richmond. Peter is a keen honey show entrant and was keen to share his experience as a competitor and gave some informal feedback to entrants about how to succeed in honey shows. The list of winners is shown below. Congratulations to all those who took part; next year it could be you...

STOKESLEY SHOW

Class Description 1st 2nd 3rd

1 One cake of Beeswax C&L Smailes Steve Jacklin C&L Smailes

2 One frame of comb honey C&L Smailes C&L Smailes Sal Mancina

3 2 x 1 Lb jars light honey Steve Jacklin Best in Honey section

Diane Swales Unal Metti

4 2 x 1 Lb jars heather honey C&L Smailes Diane Swales Unal Metti

5 2 x 1 Lb jars granulated honey Unal Metti Chris Wase C&L Smailes

6 2 x 1 Lb jars medium/dark honey Steve Jacklin Unal Metti John Canning

7 2 x 1Lb sections of comb honey – heather or flower honey

C&L Smailes C&L Smailes Steve Jacklin

8 1 x ½ Lb cut comb of honey C&L Smailes Unal Metti Unal Metti

The two local shows are not the only opportunity to show honey

or hive products. Some of our members have entered other shows. These are great opportunities for Cleveland Beekeepers Association to be noticed at a regional and even national level. The Countryside Live show will take place at the great Yorkshire Showground on 17 and 18 October. http://countrysidelive.co.uk/ This includes the Yorkshire Beekeepers Honey Show into which residents of Cleveland are eligible to enter. Entries closed on 11 September and at least two Cleveland BKA members are entering exhibits. The National Honey Show is held in Surrey at the end of October each year. Entries can be made up to 9 October. http://www.honeyshow.co.uk/ Two CBKA members are attending and may be able to deliver some entries for those wanting to enter but not able to attend. The Great Yorkshire Show was held in July and has a large Honey and Hives section. Two members attended and one members won two third prizes

More Shows Stokesley

Show

Saturday

17

September

2016

Candle rolling and Honey tasting

Some of the exhibits including the Best in Section

Never exhibited honey? Why not give it a go next year?

Even if you can’t get to the show early enough to stage your

exhibits there is usually another member who can help.

Published as a supplement to the Cleveland Beekeepers Association Newsletter. Cleveland Beekeepers Association: Secretary: Iain Makinson Tel 01287 634995; Editor J Canning jtcanning@gmail.com