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

Happy New Year Everyone!

ANNUAL DINNER ARRANGEMENTS

The cost for the three-course dinner will be £22.50 per person (the same price as last year).  Bookings must be made by sending a cheque to Will Spencer (address above) by 19 January at the latest.

If you require any vegetarian options then please include a note of the number of vegetarian meals with your cheque.
Terry Hitchman

THE WEATHER (It seems to be an appropriate topic at the moment!)

Is it not odd that we British are so obsessed with the weather?  It has been claimed that this obsession stems from the fact that we ‘get a lot of weather’ - but is that true?

Certainly, the position of the British Isles can give us very varied and often unpredictable weather, but we rarely experience the really severe conditions met elsewhere in the world.  My thoughts turned to this subject after seeing photographs in the December 2005 issue of the American Bee Journal of some of the damage caused in Louisiana by the hurricanes last year.  One beekeeper lost 1283 colonies and, judging from the pictures, not only were the bees lost but most of the equipment was reduced to firewood.

Whilst hurricanes are very dramatic, beekeepers in many parts of the world regularly have to cope with other hazards that are far worse than those that we face: temperatures of -30ºC last winter in Moscow contrasted with over 45ºC in Portugal and Spain in 2005 (causing some colonies to melt down), monsoon rains and blistering sunshine in the tropics, regular droughts in Australia and harsh conditions throughout much of the year in many mountainous regions.

It all makes our weather look quite tame, but we should not be complacent.  There is now no doubt that global warming is affecting the climate everywhere and we would do well to learn from those who have found ways of coping with difficult conditions.  Much of this is common sense and a few minutes spent on a risk assessment to consider the vulnerability of your colonies to extremes of weather could be time well spent.  I think that there are five main threats:

Extreme heat.  It is unlikely that we will see the sort of temperatures that will melt down colonies, but we can do a great deal to make life more bearable for them in very hot weather; this will also improve our crop, as bees trying to keep a hive from meltdown will not be gathering nectar!  Obviously, shading the hives from direct sun in the middle of the day will make a big difference (in a garden apiary, planting tall crops like runner beans on the south side of hives can be useful as they reach maximum height and density at just the right time); reflective metal roofs will also help.  Open mesh floors provide much more ventilation than standard entrances and boxes can be staggered, or roofs raised, to provide additional ventilation.  The provision of water nearby (but not so close that it becomes soiled) is perhaps the best way of helping our bees in these circumstances, as it will enable them to cool the hives.  Prolonged hot weather can also cause drought conditions and forage plants may stop producing nectar or even wither and die; under these circumstances we may have to feed, even though the calendar would suggest otherwise.

Fire.  After his trip to Australia, Keith Davies kindly sent me a cutting from one of the local papers in which there was a report of the devastation caused by bushfires.  In Victoria one fire alone destroyed 3000 hives, with at least two beekeepers losing at least 500 each.  As though this was not bad enough, the habitat was so badly damaged that it is expected to take 10 years before the area is usable again.  Closer to home, we have seen serious fires affecting Portugal in recent times.

We are again fortunate that the risk of serious fires in places where we keep our hives is quite low for most beekeepers, particularly since stubble-burning was stopped.  Nevertheless, with the increasing pace of climate change, prolonged dry spells seem to have become the norm and these increase the danger, not only in the ‘traditional’ high-risk areas of forestry and moorland, but also where colonies are sited adjacent to crops such as cereals.  Here it is worth thinking ’what if’ before placing hives, e.g. when taking hives to the heather it may be possible, and safer, to place hives on a grass field adjacent to the moor, rather than on the moor itself.

We also have to be increasingly aware of the danger that we ourselves present to our colonies - and crops - in using smokers, particularly when lighting or emptying them.

Extreme cold.  Very low winter temperatures are, perhaps, the least of our problems, as colonies in sound hives and with plenty of food should have little difficulty surviving the sort of temperatures that we are likely to experience in the near future.  The greatest danger here comes from colonies eating their way across to one side of the box and then being unable to return to food on the other side, but this can be avoided by ensuring that food is provided above the cluster.  However, climate change is likely to produce much greater variation in conditions at all times of the year and this can pose a threat.  This is especially true when a relatively mild winter, which encourages early brood rearing (and therefore food consumption), is followed by a prolonged cold spring such as the one in 2005.  Again, it may be necessary to feed at a time when we might expect the bees to be able to feed themselves - I have seen colonies short of food even with fields of rape in full flower all around them.

Flooding.  The floods that occurred in April 1998 provided a sharp reminder of the care needed in choosing apiary sites.  I shall never forget the feeling of helplessness that I had standing in my apiary at Aston Cantlow.  The whole area was one large lake, with the water a quarter of an inch below the top of my boots and lapping in the entrances of the dozen or so hives; had they not been on stands the colonies would have certainly perished.  A number of local beekeepers were less fortunate and lost colonies.  The solution is simple – avoid placing colonies where there is any risk of flooding.  Have a look at the Environment Agency’s website: http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/ to find out if you are at risk.

High winds.  Whilst hurricanes may be rare in the UK, gales and storm force winds are not and they can be devastating for our colonies, especially in the winter.  Hives which simply topple over often survive, as the bees still have some shelter from the side of the brood box now acting as a roof.  Their chances are much improved if the floor stays attached – either because it is propolised or fastened to the brood box.  They are less likely to survive if the roof is blown off and they are exposed to heavy rain, although they may even survive in this situation if the crown board stays attached and they can shelter away from the feed-hole.  Falling trees also present a serious hazard – both to the bees and their keepers.  So what can we do?  Traditionally, a house-brick on each roof is the answer, but in very high winds one brick may not be enough; a piece of string (baler-twine) around the hive is perhaps a better option as it will keep the roof on and help to hold the boxes together if the hive topples.  But the best solution is to place colonies in a sheltered position away from trees; near a hawthorn hedge is ideal as this will break the force of the wind without causing turbulence.  For hurricanes and tornados, hive straps and pegging the hive to the ground may help – but few of us will want to go to those lengths!
Peter Edwards

US STATISTICS

The American beekeeping magazines sometimes reveal some surprising statistics.  Despite keeping very large colonies by UK standards - two or even three Langstroth boxes for brood seems to be the norm - average crops are little or no higher than many of us get here from a single National, e.g. in 2005 their national average was just 72.5lbs.  The best states were Hawaii and Louisiana with 131lbs and 97lbs respectively; Maine was the worst with just 26lbs.  To make things worse, honey prices are much lower than here in the UK and those who complain about £1.10 - £1.20 per pound for bulk honey would do well to compare it with the average of 90.4cents (around 48p) obtained in the US.  I sometimes wonder how anyone over there makes a living from beekeeping.
Peter Edwards

DUMMY OR DIVISION?

Over the years, I seem to have collected a rather motley assortment of what are usually referred to as ‘dummy’ boards, i.e. a board which sits at the side of the brood box and which provides a movable wall in order to keep frame spacing correct and make it easier to remove the first frame.  A dummy board should be the same width and depth as a frame so that it has a bee space around it.  Unfortunately, many of mine were in fact ‘division’ boards (tight fitting with no bee space) and most were somewhere in between the two!  Unless the board has a proper bee space around it, the bees will propolise it to the side walls, making it almost impossible to move.  This is one of the many problems that occur when hives are purchased second-hand!  I also had many boxes with no dummy board and that is even worse, as the outside combs are then built out to fill the gap.

This year I had fifty new boards made - they are very cheap - and replaced the worst of the old ones.  Another fifty have just been completed, so by next spring all boxes will have a proper board.  At the same time I am replacing all my old brood frames that do not have Hoffman spacing, so inspections next year will be so much quicker and easier.
Peter Edwards

ADVANCE NOTICE

Worcestershire is the host County for the Midlands and South Western Counties Convention of Beekeepers in 2007.  It is a series of lectures and workshops running from Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September.  It will be held at the University of Worcester and will be available on a residential or a ‘day visitor’ basis.  We are currently finalising the programme and confirming the speakers and we hope to have full details early in the New Year.
Martyn Cracknell

FOR SALE

We have now virtually finished converting all of our hives to Open Mesh Floors with 7mm high entrances, so have a large number of solid floors and mouseguards spare.  Floors vary in condition from ‘excellent’ to ‘a bit rough’.  No sensible offers refused.
Peter Edwards