Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Peter Edwards
E-mail: beekeepers@stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk

SUMMER WALK

It would have been difficult to have chosen a worse day for our summer walk and we really had no alternative other than to postpone it.  The new date is 10 August and all other details remain the same as in last month’s newsletter; we gather at the Fish Inn, Wixford at 6.15pm.  Unless he hears to the contrary from those who booked up last time, Denis will assume that they can come on the 10^th.  Anyone who was unable to come last month, but would like to join us on 10^th, should ring Denis immediately on 01564 792872.
Peter Edwards

EXAMINATION SUCCESS

Many congratulations to John Beaumont who has passed the BBKA Basic Examination.

It is far too long since any of our members entered for an examination, so let us hope that John’s example will encourage a few more to have a go.   In order to tempt you, the committee has agreed that the Association will refund the £10 entry fee for the Basic Examination to any member who enters - and passes!
Peter Edwards

2002 REVISITED - OR A TALE OF RAGS AND RICHES AGAIN

This year has had much in common with 2002 so far - an unusually fine early spring followed by a return to winter in May; but there are important differences.

In 2002 we had a wonderful March and April with huge crops (many hives had 150lbs) by 1 May when the weather deteriorated for 9 weeks.  Although large quantities of this honey disappeared, consumed by the equally large colonies during the bad weather, those colonies that were queenright did well in July and August.

This year crops such as oilseed rape again flowered early following the mild winter, but low temperatures generally in March and at night in April meant a poor crop with colonies unable to build.  Then the lack of rainfall and the subsequent drought brought the flow to a complete halt long before the weather turned bad in May - so colonies went into the bad weather in much poorer condition than in 2002.  The bad weather has, of course, continued through most of June and July and this, together with the considerable number of colonies that have been unable to mate a new queen after swarming, has had a considerable impact on the total crop.  The bad weather also stopped many queens laying at times, presumably because of low temperatures and the lack of fresh pollen; this caused beekeepers to wonder if their colonies were queenless.

Now we have a rags and riches situation.  The riches come from those colonies that either did not swarm, or swarmed early and then managed to rear a new queen before the weather turned; these have in many cases done quite well - in some cases exceptionally well (I put a tenth super on one colony recently), but the average will be kept down by the rags - colonies that failed to mate a new queen and consequently dwindled to nothing. However, we must count ourselves lucky that we have not suffered levels of flooding seen just a few miles to the west of us - I dread to think how many hives were under all that water.  So far I have heard of just two hives affected locally, although we had a very close call with one apiary that had water flowing through it. What does the future hold?  I have to tell you that statistics show that August is the joint wettest month with December - but are previous statistics relevant anymore? Peter Edwards

Putting the roof on a hive with 10 supers - but the one in front was queenless and had to be united.

DENIS KEYTE’S APIARY MEETINGS - LAST ONE FOR THIS YEAR

Attendance at Denis’ meetings this year have been disappointing to say the least, particularly so given that they are especially suitable for those who are new to beekeeping.  His last meeting for this season will be held on 5 August at 3pm, so do come along if you can.

Denis writes: nearly all the hives are now on a mowed area of the paddock rather than scattered about the garden and, although it is hardly a model apiary, the bees are generally friendly - even if they are a bit yellow.  The car park is signed from the Alcester Road.  Another selling point might be that Keith Davies also has his hives nearby, and Shirley usually provides the refreshments afterwards!
Peter Edwards

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

A very warm welcome to Ken Holway from Alcester, who joined us recently.  We wish you ‘full supers’ - but I suspect that it will not be this year!
Peter Edwards

A DIFFICULT YEAR FOR OUR ASSOCIATION APIARY

Those of you who have attended apiary meetings this year will be well aware of the problems that we have had with bad temper, queenless colonies and nucs, and a much reduced honey crop.  This has been a great disappointment to committee members who spent a considerable amount of time last winter debating how we could improve both the quality of the bees and the teaching provided, especially for new members.  We started well by clipping and marking all the queens, and assessing all the colonies both visually and using wing morphometry.  We had planned a breeding and re-queening programme, fully expecting to have improved the quality of the colonies and to have produced nucs headed by quality queens for members.  Unfortunately, the weather has defeated us so far and most apiary meetings have not been the most pleasant experiences.  Now we have just a couple of months left in which to try to raise some decent queens and ensure that the apiary goes into winter in a good condition.

The committee is also reconsidering the format of meetings in order to accommodate the training needs of members with varying levels of knowledge, skills and experience.
Peter Edwards

HONEY AT LAST IN FRANCE

Having lost my one remaining colony in 2005 I had given up hope of having any more bees, but in June 2006 a stray swarm put itself into an empty hive which I had left with some brood combs in.  The summer of 2006 was very hot and dry so nectar yields were not good, but the swarm set to work and by September the brood chamber had about three full combs of honey.  I put anti varroa strips into the hive brood chamber for the six week autumn period.  No extra food was given to the bees and the hive was fitted with a mouse guard in October and a rock put on top of the hive roof for the winter.

Our next visit to our house would be in April 2007; would we find the bees had survived the winter?  Winter temperatures can be as low as minus 15ºC and often there is snow.  As we drove up the orchard track to the back of the house I could see that the bees were flying strongly from the hive.

Next day was sunny and warm so I was able to open up the hive and inspect the brood combs.  As usual I was not able to find the queen! On the second comb there was one perfect queen cell in the middle of the comb.  This comb was put to one side of the hive and the rest of the combs inspected.  There was plenty of sealed brood together with unsealed larvae.  No more queen cells were found.  The comb with the queen cell was put back.

After about 7 days I looked at the brood combs again but could not find the queen!  The queen cell had been taken down so I assumed that either a new queen was present or the old queen was still in place.  Either way the bees did not exhibit signs of being queenless.  A super was put in place and I returned home to England.

On returning in June I found the super was nearly full of honey and a further super was put on the hive.  The lime trees in the orchard were in full bloom and the bees were working in the trees until dusk.  Lavender is now in full bloom and the bees are now busy.  The next job will be to extract the honey from the supers.

Was the single queen cell a supersedure?  Any tips on finding the queen on inspection of the brood combs will be gratefully received!

[Looks like a good topic for a future article.  Many thanks for your contribution John.  PE]
John Sheppard

FONDANT - URGENT!

This is the final reminder for ordering fondant for winter feeding.  If you have not yet contacted me then you need to let me know now!  I do not carry spare stock and only order once a year.
Peter Edwards

WASPBANE - A VERY EFFECTIVE WASP TRAP

We are again working with Waspbane Ltd. in a trial to test whether their traps can protect hives from wasps - without catching bees.  This is our third season of the trials and results so far are excellent.

The traps are well-constructed and come pre-baited with a secret formula lure.  They should be set out before wasps become a serious problem and are ideally placed downwind of the hives so that scout wasps are caught before they arrive at the hives.  Wasps enter the vapour chamber and drop into the bait chamber where they drown.  None escape - and this is important because if you remove the scouts, they are not able to recruit others.  So many other traps (especially home-made ones) allow some wasps to escape and these then bring all their friends, making the problem much worse.

The trap started catching wasps immediately!

Trap on hive.

At the end of the season.

Waspbane traps are now available from most good garden centres and, although not cheap at just under £20, cost less than the damage caused by a serious wasp attack.  In our experience they have been very effective in controlling wasps and they also catch large numbers of wax moths and flies.

Waspbane are currently analysing the insects caught in our traps last year and I hope to be able to publish the data next month.
Peter Edwards