MAY/JUNE 2013 NEWSLETTER

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Adam Garrett
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We have an ambitious program here in NZ aimed at eradicating the disease, and I hope it is successful.

1 Franklin Beekeepers Club MAY/JUNE 2013 NEWSLETTER President: Graham Dyche Secretary: Graham Wheeler 1 Northvale Place, Pukekohe 2120 PO Box 1082, Pukekohe graham@thewheelers.co.nz Editor: John Burns Website: editor@franklinbees.co.nz President s Report Hello Club Members, Hearing of AFB (American Foul Brood) is always unsettling for us beekeepers, none of us wants to have to burn our hives. We have an ambitious program here in NZ aimed at eradicating the disease, and I hope it is successful. FBC has just run another successful DECA course to train beekeepers to be able to recognize AFB in the hive (with thanks to Graham and Matt). Checking hives for AFB is time consuming work; it would be useful if there was a quicker reliable method. I was looking through a copy of the Australian Beekeeper magazine when I came across an article on Elroy, a springer spaniel trained by Martin Dominick in Australia to sniff out honey bee hives with American Foulbrood (AFB) disease. The training is sponsored by the Australian government and Elroy is able to check hives many times quicker than beekeepers and without the need to open them. Elroy has his own bee suit to protect him from stings. AFB sniffer dogs have also been used in the USA for several years. A black Labrador called Klinker is being used by the Maryland Dept. of Agriculture. Klinker can check hives in winter when it would be too cold to open the hives. It seems AFB has a very distinctive odour and the dogs can detect the disease when it is still at low levels. In NZ we have sniffer dogs at the airports to try and keep pests out of the country, perhaps we could use Image from the Australian Government RIRDC. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 1/7

2 them to help eliminate one that is already here. More info: Sadly I have to report that Peter Smith has resigned as FBC Apiary Manager after many years of loyal service. A big thank you to Peter for all work he has done as Apiary Manager and for sharing his great knowledge and expertise with the club over the years. I am happy to say Peter remains a life member of the club and has kindly offered to donate 2 nucs to FBC for the club day on 8th December. Cheers Dr Graham Dyche Hivemasters Report Hive masters report. May 13. Unfortunately, we lost a few hives this month and need to learn from this. At the last committee meeting we decided to check the hives fortnightly instead of monthly. Committee members will be split into groups of three to check the club hives, hopefully to get the upper hand on keeping our club hives healthy. Hive one- was completely taken over by wax moths - it was weak due to a heavy Varroa infestation, so was unable to repel the wax moths and larvae. Hive two was robbed out with very few bees in hive, no brood seen. Hive three was in average condition - eggs and larvae were seen, good amount of stores, but a few bees were seen with deformed wings. Strips were inserted to combat the Varroa. Hive four was empty, a few frames that were containing dead larvae were tested for A.F.B, Peter Biland took one of these frames for a second opinion, and luckily it was a negative result. Hive five- this was a very strong hive a few months ago, now the wax moth have struck, compromising the bees health, and stores. Graham and crew removed as many wax moths and larvae as they could and reduced the hive down to two boxes for winter - strips added. Top bar hives reported to be in better condition than the Langstroth hives. Good luck with your bees and keep a close eye on them. Cheers Mark Robinson. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 2/7

3 Wax Moth Here are some photos of Wax moth found in one of the club hives. Both photos are courtesy of and copyright Greg Young Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 3/7

4 From the Secretary Not a lot happening at the moment, still waiting for a few papers to submit the building consent. All my bees are tucked in for the winter, entrance reducers on, empty boxes stored, no wax moths so far. Daily mite counts are really low, zero in the 2 top bar hives, still a few wasps bothering them, but the reducers seem to have done the trick. Thanks to all that have paid their subs, 38 of us so far, good effort. On May 11 th we had 19 people take the DECA course and test, and 3 took the refresher, thanks to everyone that helped. You should have your results back by now, I hope you all passed. It s looking pretty positive that we will be holding the Beginners Beekeeping course night school in August, more details as soon as we know. Welcome to new members, Ali & Kelvin Meade. Cheers Graham Wheeler Your help wanted : Unitec Bee and Ant research project Urvashi Lallu, a student at Auckland Unitec is conducting a research project and needs your help for their third year thesis on behalf of Key Industries and Unitec. The research project is being conducted through a survey which looks at the perceptions of apiarists on the impact of ant presence in beehives and how ants affect hives. There are currently no studies in New Zealand that look at bee/ant interactions, and little is known about how apiarists perceive ants as a threat to their bee colonies. Your participation in this study will help inform the New Zealand beekeeping community on how best to manage invasive ant species in our beehives. With your permission, Urvashi will send you a short survey together with collection vials (if needed) along with a postage paid return envelope. If you re interested in helping, please contact Urvashi by urvashi.lallu@gmail.com or by phone on Did you know? Varroa was discovered in New Zealand on the 11 th April 2000 in South Auckland. An intensive seven week long survey of 2874 Apiaries (55305 hives) followed, which revealed 284 infested apiaries in the wider Auckland area. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 4/7

5 Cooking with Honey This recipe was provided by Greg Young. If you have a yummy recipe that involves honey, we would love to share it with other members. Honey Fudge Adapted from the Edmonds Cookbook (Russian Fudge using Honey instead of Golden Syrup). Ingredients: 675g Sugar ½ Cup of Milk ½ Tin of sweetened condensed milk 125g Butter ¼ tsp Salt 1 Tbsp of your best honey Method: 1. Put sugar and milk in a saucepan and bring it to the boil. 2. Add the Condensed Milk, Butter, Salt and Honey. 3. Boil for half an hour stirring frequently. 4. Beat until thick (about 5 minutes) and pour into greased tins. 5. Mark and cut when set. 6. Enjoy. Bees in the News Fipronil named as fourth insecticide to pose risk to honeybees A widely used insect nerve agent has been labelled a "high acute risk" to honeybees by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A similar assessment by the EFSA on three other insecticides preceded the suspension of their use in the European Union. Full Story (The Guardian): Honeybees trained in Croatia to find land mines Unlikely heroes may be coming to the rescue to prevent land mine tragedies: sugar-craving honeybees. Croatian researchers are training them to find unexploded mines by training them to identify food containing traces of TNT. Full Story: Apiarists get buzz off honey season Wanganui beekeepers are enjoying one of the best honey seasons in decades. John Brandon and wife Janice, who run Canaan Honey in Mosston Rd, said that in 31 years of beekeeping this season was one of the best and the honey produced this year was more "clovery" than usual. Full Story: Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 5/7

6 Honey Bee Healthline We have an amazing garden at our beeclub thanks to Steve and Peter et al. I noticed there a pineapple sage plant. I know from my garden that the bees love this plant and it flowers right at the end of summer when they are looking for some good food. Bees are also really attracted to herbs with blue flowers and many of these also have a strong scent to further attract them. Some herbs therefore to plant in your gardens to feed your bees and to provide you with a natural medicine chest could be among the following. Borage: Self sows freely in a sunny situation. Bees love it and its leaves can be used as a poultice for inflammation Chives: Bees can find a nice supply of pollen in these flowers. Chop chives up with scrambled egg to add zing to your breakfast. Comfrey: is well known as an excellent herb for bees, as a poultice for any swelling, sprains, broken bones. - both comfrey and bees supply highly nutritious food and incredibly effective medicine. This website also has a recipe for comfrey garden tea. Hyssop: is really easy to grow, has lovely stems of blue flowers, feeds the bees and a tea made from 1tspn of dried leaf 3 times a day helps get rid of colds Lavender: is an old friend of many a garden. When have you seen a lavender bush without a bee on it as long as there is a flower visible? The scent of lavender helps you to relax and sleep. Lemon balm: has a white flower, grows in a lovely clump, makes a relaxing tea (dry leaves, crumble them & infuse a teaspoon of dried leaf in a cup of boiling water). It is said that in the past beekeepers would rub a handful of lemon balm inside a hive after hiving a new swarm to keep it calm and get it to settle. Rosemary: is another great bee plant. Strip the leaves off sticks and create veggie kebabs for the BBQ. Drink 3 cups of rosemary tea daily (break off a stalk a couple of inches long and infuse in a cup of boiled water and steep for 10mins) after a few weeks your memory will improve, I have done this for myself with great success. What plants have you had success with for your bees? More Info: Sue Tetley B.A. Dip Med Herb MNZAMH Ph: Mob: Visit my website: Sue is a member of the Franklin Bee club, a registered Medical Herbalist and a regular contributor to the Newsletter. If you would like to contribute articles, recipes, photos or any other content for the newsletter or website, please get in touch we would love to hear from you. John editor@franklinbees.co.nz Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 6/7

7 Dates to Remember Annual Disease Returns (ADR) due Date: Saturday, 1 st June 2013 Club Day Date: Sunday, 9 th June 2013 Venue: At the club hives. Program: 10:00 am Cuppa and discussion 10:30 am Open the hives Club Day Date: Sunday, 14 th July 2013 Venue: At the club hives. Program: 10:00 am Cuppa and discussion 10:30 am Open the hives AFB Hive Inspections (For non-deca holders) Date: Thursday, 1 st August 2013 to Saturday, 30 th November Certificates of Inspection must be returned within 14 days View our online calendar at Venue Directions The club address is 733 Paerata Road (State Highway 22), Paerata 2676, New Zealand. Traveling on SH22 towards Pukekohe, the club house is on the left hand side. Traveling towards Drury, it s on the right. At 733 there is a red letterbox and a driveway that forks left goes to a house, take the right that travels 100m past old sheds and terminates at a turntable by a disused concrete-block cow-shed. This is the apiary site. When visiting the site, please ensure you park on the old turntable, taking care that the driveway is kept clear. When leaving the site, please take great care joining the traffic. Vehicles approaching from the right are not very easy to see. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 7/7

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER

Franklin Beekeepers Club OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2015 NEWSLETTER President: Graham Dyche Treasurer: Graham Wheeler 1 Northvale Place, Pukekohe 2120 PO Box 1082, Pukekohe 2340 092389854 092391177 @ president@franklinbees.co.nz