Michael Young introduced Robert Brewer & Keith Fielder to a packed auditorium of members of RVBKA and guests from a wide area. Robert gave an overview of the current knowledge base on Colony Collapse Disorder, including the current lines of research. Amongst those that have already been discarded are alien abduction and the laundry basket of the fourth dimension where stray socks also disappear!  He appeared confident that the current strands of coordinated research would find a cause, but suggested that in the meanwhile, the secret of avoidance of CCD lay in good beekeeping husbandry, nurturing bee colonies and avoiding risks including chemical toxins, infection and infestation.
Keith Fielder followed with a presentation on the Small Hive Beetle which is not yet present in Europe but which has spread quickly across USA. The beetle can withstand poor conditions, extremes of temperature and can decimate weak and small bee colonies in a matter of days. The combination of Acute paralysis viruses, Varroa, small Hive Beetles and Colony Collapse Disorder makes American Beekeeping interestingly challenging, and that's before you ring fence the apiary with electric fences to keep the bears out!





Pictured at the RVBKA Summer lecture are (L to R)
Michael Young; J.Keith Fielder,

Pictured with the guest speakers are members of the RVBKA committee:

Billy McBride, Secretary, Arthur Rainey, treasurer, Leo McGuinness Apiary Manager, Michael Young,

New this month

• Check out Dave's honey temperature tables now in our science section
• The Zomba project, supported by RVBKA provides beekeeping equipment and training to remote rural communities in Malawi. Read about our connection on the Zomba page
• Sam's analyis of winter loss is now posted on the winter loss sub page of the science section.

Bee watch 2008

A Master class in building your colonies;
Follow RVBKA build bee colonies starting with a 4 frame nuc in April

By mid May, the club nuc had expanded  from brood covering 4 frames to eight. At that time the decision was made to add an additional brood box. By the end of the first week in June the second box was almost filled, and in mid June both boxes were full and ready to begin the process. The Apiary Manager found the queen (no small task in a double borod chamber with new beekeepers watching over his shoulder), and she and several frames and a couple of 'shakes' of bees were placed in a nuc box and removed to 2-3 miles away. The remainder of the hive was reassembled. We now have a hive with plenty of eggs larvae and brood at various stages, but no queen. The emergency queen cells created will initially be sealed around older larvae, and these should be removed after 5 days so that the younger larvae fed from the beginning on royal jelly, will form the source of our new queens.

Rev. Sam Miller lead a discussion on the abnormally high winter losses, and his analysis of the causes. We intend to perform an annual colony loss audit (See science section for a summary of 2008)

Notably in this year's audit almost half of the respondents colonies had died out (45% loss) in the winter or early spring. Sam linked this to the fact that no-one had treated for Nosema as Nosema Apis has until recently been seen as a minor problem. The emergence of the more virulent Nosema Cerana, a varroa vectored gut fungal/spore disease could account for the heavy loss, which seems to coincide with varroa increase. As this pathogen is dispatched along with Nosema Apis using standard treatments, it is clear that this should be recommended this year during the autumn feeding regime. Interestingly Sam's conclusions are supported by National Bee Unit research available via their website and just published in Beecraft (July 08)

Billy entertained everyone with his tale of a recent swarm that he assisted with. He may have turned out with a little more equipment than he actually needed, but the moral of the story was it's always best for an old boy scout (or young beekeeper) to bee prepared.

There was an excellent turnout including some new members, and a decision to expand our clubhouse brood box rather than risk beekeeper swarming was taken. You may need a spade or saw before the summer is out.

There are many new beekeepers in RVBKA, who might benefit from the advice & expertise of the more established members. Some of the established members might too.  If you would like to be paired with a mentor from the club, get in contact. We know where you live!

Highland bee numbers plummet

 

We are affiliated to the Ulster Beekeepers Association. Click on their logo to visit the UKBA website