Hon. Newsletter Editor:
Mike Osborne
New E-mail: M.Osborne@care4free.net

Peter Edwards has reported further finds of EFB in his colonies - three in Snitterfield, four at Aston Cantlow and one at Ailstone, so we must all be on the look out when we go through our colonies for larvae that look unusual. Infected larvae are discoloured yellow-brown and lie in abnormal positions, not pearly white and neatly coiled, as they should be. EFB is caused by bacteria in the gut of the larva, which robs it of its food so that the larva in fact dies of starvation. Being a notifiable disease MAFF has to be called in (ring Robin Hall, our Regional Bee Inspector on 01594 560089) or if you are not too sure give Peter a ring on 01789 295169. Treatment may only carried out the local Seasonal Bee Inspector and depends on how severe the outbreak is; weak and severely infected colonies are destroyed but others may be treated. This is normally done by feeding antibiotics in sugar syrup. More recently this has been applied in combination with a 'shook swarm' - that is the bees are shaken off their old brood combs on to fresh foundation and then fed the antibiotic; the old brood combs are destroyed. According to Peter this proved very effective last year with his colonies and hopefully will enable the destruction of colonies to be avoided except in the most severe cases of infection. The four colonies at Aston Cantlow have been destroyed, the rest 'shook swarmed'. Standstill orders are placed on the apiaries and a follow-up visit arranged eight weeks later; if all is clear then the orders are lifted.

Unfortunately, there can be a delay from finding the problem until treatment. The Bee Inspector has to be contacted and a visit arranged. He then has to send a sample of bees to the National Bee Unit at CSL in York for microscopic examination because other problems may have caused starvation. They diagnose the problem, notify the Bee Inspector and he then arranges to return to treat the infected colonies. How much simpler and quicker if we could just apply the treatment ourselves. The intention, of course, is to avoid the over-use of antibiotics, otherwise we become increasingly dependant on them and resistant bacteria can develop, which according to Peter is happening in many parts of the States. Routine use of antibiotics can also mask the symptoms of American Foulbrood.

The meeting on 20th May was notable for three reasons.

Firstly, we were able to see and appreciate the results of all the hard work put in by Brian and Jim in clearing a considerable amount of the surrounding undergrowth. We now have a most impressive clearing in the woods, with plenty of space around the hives for large numbers of members (and prospective members) - so make sure that you attend the next meeting!

Secondly, we were able to make arrangements to transport our life member, John Cook, right up to the apiary in the Land Rover. Although unable to walk the distance from the car park, John was able to negotiate the path into the apiary and, complete with folding garden chair, spent a pleasant afternoon watching everyone working.

Thirdly, we had some interesting work to do with the bees. The apiary has recently been strengthened with the addition of two hives - one from the old site on the Stratford Road at Hampton Lucy and one from Mick Love's old apiary on the Loxley Road - so, with the one Association colony left alive, there were three hives needing our attention. We will call them 1,2 and 3 respectively for ease of describing what we found and did. We tackled no.1 first as we were assured that it had the best temper (which turned out to be true). The colony was doing well with, perhaps, a super of honey - but the brood box was a disaster! A mouse had chewed through the six middle combs and the bees had built new combs through the holes and at right angles to the existing comb. Even worse, there were sealed queen cells - so doing nothing was not really an option. We debated the various ways to tackle it and eventually concluded that we should dismantle the box and perform an artificial swarm even if we could not find the queen. We moved the brood box to one side and set up a new brood box on the site, added a frame or two of brood (without queen cells) and filled up with foundation; the queen excluder and supers went on top. A queen excluder was then placed on the supers and an empty brood box added. We then dismantled the original brood box, shook or brushed the bees down in front so that they ran into the new bottom box and placed the remains of the frames and combs with queen cells in the top box; bits of broken comb with honey and brood were placed above the combs so that the brood could hatch and the honey be taken down. The top box was then propped up slightly to provide an entrance so that any new queen would be able to fly to mate (and drones would not be trapped). We did not find the queen, but if she was there then she should have ended up in the bottom box! The theory of all this is that:

If the queen was there we should have a good colony downstairs and will get a new colony upstairs (which can then be moved to a new site). If the queen had gone, then we get a new colony upstairs and the whole thing can then be combined back into one hive and the old combs removed when the brood has hatched.

No.2 was easier! There were unsealed queen cells - but we found the queen, and were able to do an artificial swarm and make a new colony.

No.3 was a disaster. Very little brood or bees and Brian then found the queen dead on the floor. Although at first we could have been forgiven for suspecting that Brian's handling might have had something to do with her demise, a little detective work (sorry Brian!) revealed that there were no eggs and the youngest brood were several days old - she had clearly stopped laying six or seven days previously. We used a queen cell from no.1 to try and rescue the colony.

Finally, we decided to put one of the spare queen cells from no.1 into the parent colony section of no.2 (which you will remember had unsealed queen cells). With any luck, this will give us a better-tempered colony. Why not come to the next meeting to see what happened next?

Peter Edwards

It must be well over 50 years since my first encounter with the Association's bee tent - an 11 ft. square open-topped net screen in which a hive can be opened, with the onlookers safely behind the screen. In those days, the walls were of white canvas below and black gauze above, but both materials have rotted away and were replaced by green garden-type plastic mesh. For extra security, the hive being used should be moved a few hours before the demonstration from its permanent site, within flying distance. The flying bees will return there, leaving a nice docile colony to examine. Things don't always go to plan, as we found on what was probably the last occasion when the 'tent' was used for a public demonstration by the Association. It was at KES and the colony imported from, I think, the College apiary proved not to be queenright, so its behaviour was not conductive to an audience-friendly demonstration! It seems that storing and using the enclosure has become a perk of the secretary's job, as for several years now, two parties of 11-year olds from Solihull School have visited my apiary in successive weeks in May, as part of a 'monastic experience' at the parish church. Although the habits in which they are dressed provide some protection, this is cancelled out by the youngsters' tendency to run around and not keep close to the netting, and there have been a few casualties! This year there was a third party of adult visitors; they, and the bees behaved impeccably, and as it was a small colony the queen was easy to find. Of course, the gear is not for the sole use of the secretary, and any member who wants to give a public or private demonstration is welcome to collect it from Wootton. There are four 11 ft. long metal supports for the netting, four 6 ft. uprights, the 44 ft. x 6 ft. net, guy-ropes, etc., and some suggestions for erecting it single-handedly.

Denis Keyte

This mini-headline in the Time's of April 21st quoted BIBBA (the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association) as stating that a lot of British bees are bad-tempered and are growing more so every year. Many of us already have problems convincing our neighbours that they have nothing to worry about without such comments appearing in the papers. The cause is quoted as the importation of Italian bees, brought to this country in the mid-1800s because they were supposed to be more productive. Although the bees were originally friendly enough, interbreeding caused the bad temper. According to the article 'hybrid bees rarely have a happy disposition'. Well, my bees must be as mixed as they possibly could be considering that, apart from the first hive that I obtained, I have never bought a bee in my life - they have mostly come from swarms, and I have not noticed them getting any worse over about 20 years of beekeeping. BIBBA is apparently now using DNA analysis in an attempt to revive the British bee, similar to the work done in Germany where 'you can throw your veils away, and handle the bees in shorts and a T-shirt'.

Peter Edwards, our Internet guru (not so sure about that! PE), has set up a very professional looking website at: www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk. You really must have a look at it if you are on the Internet; Peter has obviously put a lot of time and effort into it and the newsletter is now included. The site is listed under links to beekeeping associations on www.beedata.com and has also been submitted to a number of search engines for their inclusion, although this can take some time. Also, don't forget to let Peter have your e-mail address.

The committee has had a lot of discussion about the web site and use of the Internet for communicating with members, and would be interested to hear your views. What should be the purpose of our own web site, and how do we ensure that paying members still get value for money if this information, including the newsletter, becomes freely available to any internet user? Would members with Internet facilities be happy to receive the newsletter via the Internet, or since they can see it on the website do we need to send it to them at all?

About this time of the year the committee discuss what events, talks, etc. to organise for the winter months. Many of our members must know of interesting speakers or have ideas for social activities. Please contact us with your thoughts. Generally speakers should have some connection with beekeeping, but talks on any aspects of the natural world are of interest. Those that do attend the meetings always enjoy them, but it would be nice to get a few more people coming. We are anxious that our members feel that they are getting value for money from their annual subscriptions.

Sunday, 10th June. Get-together at Denis Keyte's apiary. Join with Denis to see how his bees are getting on. Contact him on 01564 792872 for directions.

Saturday & Sunday, 16th & 17th June. Sutton Coldfield & North Birmingham Biennial Meeting, at which there will be some very interesting speakers, particularly on the Sunday (see details in last month's Newsletter). Contact us for details and car sharing.

Sunday, 17th June. Hampton Woods, apiary meeting at 3.00pm. See above report on the last meeting. There really is something of interest for everybody and the 'experts' are on hand to be quizzed about what's going on.

Saturday, 30th June. "Beekeeping for Beginners", Pershore College, at 10.00am. Cost £7.00 for the day. Contact Jill Pearson on 01386 554609/552443.

Friday, July 20th. Committee meeting, 7.30 p.m. at Peter Edwards' house.

Wednesday, July 25th. Annual summer walk in Austy Wood, Wootton Wawen. Be sure to reserve the date for this popular event which starts at 7.0 p.m. at the Navigation Inn and finishes there at about 8.30 p.m. for a bite to eat.