APRIL / MAY 2015 NEWSLETTER

Transcription

1 Franklin Beekeepers Club APRIL / MAY 2015 NEWSLETTER President: Graham Dyche Treasurer: Graham Wheeler 1 Northvale Place, Pukekohe 2120 PO Box 1082, Pukekohe treasurer@franklinbees.co.nz Editor: John Burns Secretary: Joan secretary@franklinbees.co.nz Website: President s Report To every thing there is a season Turn, Turn, Turn sung by Aoife O'Donovan. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven To be in step with nature, to anticipate and be a proactive beekeeper, we must follow the seasons. We need to be aware of where we are on our annual trip around the sun. Spring, summer, autumn and winter are but a broad brush guide. The four pillars of the circuit are the summer and winter solstice and the two equinoxes. On the 21st March we passed through the autumn equinox, when the time between sunrise and sunset was an equal 12 hours. As the days become shorter than the nights, in the hive the queen further reduces egg laying in preparation for winter. It is an important time for beekeepers to be active in managing their hives. Summertime is easy with lots of busy bees and the nectar flowing in. Winter is a quiet time around the shortest day on the 21 st June. Autumn, the transition between the two can be a turbulent dangerous time for the hive. Downsizing is never easy. Robbing, wasps, wax moth and varroa threaten your hives. When there are many older worker bees finding too little nectar they can take to robbing weaker hives. A beekeeper should strive to prevent robbing as it not only destroys hives it spreads diseases such as AFB. Reduce the hive entrances so they are more easily defended. This also helps to keep out wasps who have no winter provisions of their own and look to steal the life from your hives. If your hive is being robbed by other bees or wasps the only way to save it may be to move the hive for a while to another location a few kms away. Doing nothing will result in the hive being robbed out and killed. This is also the season for wax moths. It is a mistake to keep too many boxes on your hive over winter, with full depths it is best to winter with just 2 boxes. If there is too much space then the bees cannot keep out invaders like the wax moth. Check regularly, cut out any wax moth grubs found with your hive Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 1/10

2 tool. Also remember to treat for varroa, bee numbers decrease as varroa numbers continue to rise and the burden is crippling. For the Franklin beekeepers club, April is the season of the AGM and the annual honey competition. It is a time to take stock of the past year and renew ourselves and the committee for the year to come. We have had a good year, but we want to go forward with strength. We need to renew and have some new and active members on the committee, so please consider what you can contribute. After the long dry summer it has been a relief to get some rain and some cooler weather. We have a long way to go until the days are again longer than the nights after the spring equinox on 23 rd of September. I wonder what next summer will be like? Remember that beekeeping can be expensive in terms of time and equipment, but it does include a free trip around the sun! Dr Graham Dyche President FBC Hivemasters Report Mark treated the six langstroth hives with oxalic acid vapour on the 18th of March. The two top bar hives were not treated. The hives were further inspected on 29th March by Joan, Graham D and Martin Brown. We started at 2pm and were finished in time to watch the cricket. Our aim was to remove any empty boxes to reduce the hives for winter. We also moved the brood and queens into the bottom one or two boxes and added a queen excluder to make further varroa treatments easier. At the same time the hive entrances were reduced. Hive Status: Hive 1 Hive 2 Hive 3 Hive 4 Hive 5 Hive 6 Five boxes, two with plenty of brood on bottom then QE and three supers above. Two boxes with brood on bottom then QE and one super above. Moved brood into bottom box, then QE and two supers above. Two boxes with brood on bottom then QE and one super above. Moved brood into bottom box, only 2 frames of brood, saw queen and succession cells. added QE above bottom box, three supers above. Two boxes with brood on bottom then QE and two supers above. Top bar Hives White lid top bar hive: Saw Queen, plenty of stores. Green lid top bar hive: Saw capped queen (succession) cells. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 2/10

3 Secretary s Report AGM The April club day will be the annual AGM, the draft agenda for the meeting is included at the end of this newsletter. The AGM includes election of the following club Officers: President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Hive Master Editor Committee Members If you are interested in putting yourself for any of these positions please contact the secretary Joan in person at the AGM, or by secretary@franklinbees.co.nz Honey Competition Also at the April club day we will be holding a honey competition. Please join in and share your produce. You can find the Honey Competition rules on our website, and at the end of this document: Membership dues are now payable! $40 per family, for the financial year 1 April 2015 to 31 March Payment can be made by: Internet banking to Franklin Beekeepers Club (surname as ref) Cheque to Franklin Beekeepers Club, PO Box 1082 Pukekohe 2340 In person at club days Please note that to vote at our AGM in April, you must be a current financial member Tutin testing: There s still time to get your honey tested for Tutin. The cost of testing can be reduced by sending multiple samples at the same time. You will still get your own results. Bring your sample along on club day. Cost is $40 each we will wait until we have enough samples before sending away. New Members We welcome the following new members to our club. Hassan Aiyub Lyn and Jim Peacock Emily Ryburn and Nick Toenders Owen Young We look forward to seeing you at the next club day. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 3/10

4 Flying Turtles Turn Onto Bees Joan Leitch Keen to encourage an understanding of bees in the community, our club sent a member to the local Flying Turtles daycare in Pukekohe recently. The 37 children there had been learning about bees, even to the point of naming body parts like proboscis and abdomen! So we took a demonstration hive (enclosed behind glass) for the children to observe, some bee suits to try on, an unlit smoker (still smelt smoky), and some honey to try. The questions from the 4-6 year-olds were varied and insightful, and the teachers were also intrigued by it all and had their own topics of enquiries, such as drones and mating. Spotting the Queen was a favourite exercise, but even more interesting was the squished bee who had become trapped between the frame and the box! We now have more well-informed bee ambassadors out there. 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 4/10

5 Kevin Ecroyd - Obituary Some of our members may like to know of the passing of Kevin Ecroyd, one of the stalwarts of the beekeeping industry, on February 20th. Kevin took over his father s company, Ecroyd Beekeeping Supplies, in 1958 and handed it on to his son Stuart in His working life was focussed on the supply of beekeeping equipment, beeswax processing, woodware manufacture and a governance role on the Board of the NZ Honey Producers Co-op. FBC beekeepers and their free bees In the last newsletter FBC offered hive nuclei to interested members who were new to beekeeping in exchange for reports on their progress. Here is the first instalment from the three lucky beekeepers. Noeline Ashe I have lived on a small lifestyle block in Puni for the last 12 months, and have been a member of the Franklin Bee Club for 2 years. I realised quite quickly that there is a lot to learn about bee keeping. Over the time I have attended a top bar course, planted a bee friendly flower garden and purchased a bee hive. On 14th February I received my bees from the club which was very exciting. I fed the bees for 2 weeks and now they seem to be self-sufficient and working well. My family and I are looking forward to tasting our first batch of Puni honey. I feel I have been very well supported and encouraged by the members of the club and look forward to many more meetings and discussions. Our Bee Story Nick and Emily RYBURN Before we begin, let us introduce ourselves. We are a young couple, from Bombay. Nick's an IT whizz and I work in Business Administration. We have always been interested in natural health, wellbeing and the environment and are enjoying growing, brewing, fermenting and culturing our food and beverages. For some time we have thought about bees. I would think back to Bee Movie and wonder what we could do to help the bee population. Nick would get a kick out of eradicating wasp nest as he came across them, but I guess beekeeping seemed so daunting as we really didn t know anything about it. Then one day we spent a day with some family, one of which just so happened to have their own hives. He was so passionate but also so relaxed about it, keeping them as a hobby but so full of information, and for the first time we thought, Hey, we could actually do this- We could get some bees. After beginning to read our 'Bee Bible' (Practical Beekeeping in New Zealand, Murray Reid & Andrew Matheson) and building our knowledge and confidence, we decided we needed to meet people and talk to people and try to find some bees. That is when we decided to come along to the Franklin Beekeepers Club - And on that day, we got the wonderful opportunity to acquire our first wee bundles of bee joy. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 5/10

6 So on Sat Feb 14th, Graham arrived with the Nuc of bees, which were placed into our brand new box. (It is important to note here that Nick had put a lot of time and effort into digging two flat platforms into the hillside for the hives, large enough to work around the hives comfortably. AND prior to this, we obtained permission from the neighbour as it borders on their farm). While we were standing around our new hive our neighbour approached us, which on first appearance seemed like friendly neighbourhood nosey-ness. As it turned out, he wasn t there for a friendly chat, instead he abruptly requested to know why the bees were placed near HIS fence line (this property s house section (not including the 5 acres of bush) wouldn t even be an acre, and 3 of 4 fence lines border on his farm...). He said, he found it convenient that the bees 'just so happened' to face HIS bush (they were facing North..), towards HIS Manuka trees and implied that somehow by placing our bees on this side of the section, they were going to nick his pollen. He was not particularly happy and certainly not interested in hearing any reasonable thoughts from us, and he went on to suggest that we move them to the other side of the property to face OUR bush. Of course, knowing a wee bit about bees at this point, I laughed away inside at his ignorance, thinking to myself, Thanks for the suggestion but we are going to continue anyway, and we did. Of course all of this happened while Graham was still present, so it was an awkward situation to say the least but that is where Grumpy Neighbour left it, and we never did hear another thing from him. Anyway, back to the bees! We ended up giving the bees a feeder half full of sugar syrup to see them through their first day or so. It took them no time at all to a) eat all of their sugar syrup (WOW! That happened fast) and b) get busy foraging, filling their pockets with pollen, which I m not going to lie, probably came from the neighbours thistles! We fed them another lot of sugar syrup but it didn t take long to realise they really didn t need the syrup, there was so much goodness available to them from the neighbours thistles to his bush haha oops I mean OUR bush *rolls eyes*! We were so excited that we opened the hive a couple of times in the first week and as we relaxed (and we had finished feeding them syrup), we got to checking them once a week, and now about once a fortnight. It has been quite interesting to see their growth, both in number of bees but also amount of brood and capped honey. They are still only occupying the initial 5 frames, but I would say they have significantly multiplied in numbers, brood and pollen/honey over the last 6 weeks. Some bees are now beginning to be seen walking through the frames either side the central occupied frames, so it is only a matter of time before they begin to fill the outer frames too. When we opened the hive a few days ago, we were blown away by the amount of brood in their C-shape, more than I have ever seen! It is also interesting to note that we haven t seen many drones, but sometimes I am so busy watching them, heads buried in cells, that I forget to look for drones and sometimes even the queen! So far so good - Until next time! Photos Nick and Emily Ryburn Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 6/10

7 Starting to keep bees Avtar Hans I am a horticulturist by profession, and I have used bumble bees and honey bees for pollination. Horticulturists pay a very high percentage of growing costs for honey bees or bumble bees for pollination. So why did I want to start keeping my own honey bees? The kiwi fruit industry is struggling to recover from Psa. Everyone is spending lots of money to save their orchards. My bee supplier supplies me with bees for g3 kiwifruit, which flower first, and the Hayward green kiwi which flowers 2 weeks later. I asked him to collect all hives at same time (when Hayward kiwi fruit pollination is completed) and I was charged double for the hives that he supplied for g3 pollination ($345 per box). When I asked why, he replied that he will make more money by putting his bees in other orchards. He is a catalyst for the transfer of Psa, which I do not want. That is why I started to keep my own bees. Thanks to Franklin Beekeeping Club. Club Shirts There are some club shirts which have not been returned, and we would like to get them all back in. If you have a club shirt hiding in your closet, could you please return it to Peter Biland. We use these for field days presentations, and would like to have the full complement. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 7/10

8 Bees in the News The dry conditions in the South Island have led to a major shortage of honeycomb. Managing director of a Timaru honey company, Steve Little, said there had been very little clover in pastures, so bees had produced much less honeycomb than usual. Full Story: UK drew wrong conclusion from its neonicotinoids study, scientist says A study on which the UK government bases its position that neonicotinoid pesticides do not threaten bees may actually be the first conclusive evidence that they do, according to a leading bee scientist. Full Story: Beekeeping in London in pictures Full Story: New Beehive Lets Honey Be Harvested Without Disturbing Bees Beehive technology has changed little in centuries, but an Australian father and son believe they have a better way, and it's getting a lot of people excited. Full Story: This metallic blue bee may look pretty, but she's crafty at moving in on other bees' nests The Neon Cuckoo Bee (Thyreus nitidulus) is just stunning, with its metallic blue sheen and slick, black wings. But don't be fooled - this species has no problem doing some pretty disgusting things to get ahead in life. Full Story: Flower-enriched farms boost bee populations Flower strips sown into farmers' fields not only attract bees but increase their numbers, new University of Sussex research has shown. Full Story: Work is beginning on breeding the best Manx bee possible. This follows the EU s decision to allow the island to ban the importation of bees, to protect Manx hives from the deadly varroa virus, which is decimating hives worldwide. Full Story: Did you know that old newsletters are published an issue late on our website at Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 8/10

9 In the Kitchen Sesame Honey Kisses By Annabel Langbein These super-simple biscuits can be whipped up in a jiffy using storecupboard ingredients. It's the perfect recipe for those moments when you need homebaking in a hurry! Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 10 mins Makes: 36 Ingredients 2¼ cups flour 2 cups sesame seeds, toasted ½ cup desiccated coconut, toasted ½ cup soft brown sugar 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp ground cardamom ½ tsp salt 2 eggs ½ cup neutral oil ½ cup light honey 1 tsp vanilla extract Method Preheat oven to 160 C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Place all ingredients in a bowl or mixer and stir or whizz until evenly combined. Form into small balls, place on prepared tray and flatten with a fork. Bake until golden brown (8-10 minutes). Allow to cool, then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. From: Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 9/10

10 Dates to Remember Club AGM and Honey Competition Date: Sunday 12 th April, 2015 Venue: At the club apiary. Program: All entries to Honey competition presented before 10:00am 10:00 am AGM Honey competition and cuppa follows AGM Hive opening if time permits Reminder : Dues are payable 1st April. You must be a current financial member to vote at the AGM Club Day Date: Sunday 10 th May, 2015 Venue: At the club apiary. Program: 10:00 am Cuppa and discussion 10:30 am Open the hives Annual Disease Returns (ADR) due Date: 1 st June, 2015 On or before 1 June in each year, every beekeeper must, for all beehives owned by that beekeeper, complete and send to the management agency an Annual Disease Return. More Information: 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. Quarantine rules To reduce the risk of spreading disease, the committee decided (20th October 2014) to restrict the bringing of any used bee keeping equipment (including gloves) to club days the only exception is bee suits. Where required, gloves and other equipment will be provided by the club. This rule is not just to protect the club hives, but to also protect you from taking diseases home to your own hives. Franklin Beekeepers Club Page 10/10

11 Franklin Beekeepers Club AGM Sunday 12 th April :00am Agenda 1. Apologies 2. Minutes of last meeting 3. Matters arising 4. President s report 5. Hive Master s report 6. Treasurer s report 7. Election of Officers President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Hive Master Editor Committee Members 8. General Business Meeting close

12 Honey competition rules Who is eligible to enter? The competition is only open to paid-up members of the Franklin Beekeepers Club. How are the points awarded? - You can put in one entry in each of the classes listed. There are six classes for honey in jars, four classes for frames, two for wax and two for alcohol. Each class has a first place with 3 points awarded, second place with 2 points and third place with 1 point. Classes: Extraction Frame Select a frame drawn out evenly on both sides to make for easy uncapping and extraction. Frames should be drawn out wider than both the top and bottom bars. Cut Comb Frame Select a frame for clean appearance with no surface discoloration and no pollen. Comb should be filled right out to the edge. Frame should be of even thickness and not as wide as the extraction frame. Heaviest Frame Encourage the use of fewer frames in the hives and thus, more honey per frame and less work extracting. Don t worry about how the frame looks Section Honey (Two required) - Presented in the small wooden or plastic boxes. Filled out to the edge, of even depth with clean white cappings and no pollen. Granulated Honey - Judged for taste, colour and freedom from froth and impurities. Competitors to classify as LIGHT, MEDIUM or DARK with only one entry in each section. Liquid Honey - Judged for taste, colour and clarity, freedom from froth and impurities. Competitors to classify as LIGHT, MEDIUM or DARK with only one entry in each section. Novelty Wax Something modelled from pure wax. Judged for art form and purity of wax. Use can be made of rubber moulds, candles, carving etc. Wax a 500g block of pure clear wax. Judged for purity and colour. Wine Judged by members tasting Mead Judged as for wine. Tips: Honey (Liquid and Creamed) should be presented in clear 500g jars Frame should be presented in a clean super (with a mat or base and cover to prevent dripping) or Nuc box. When you have chosen the frames you wish to present, you can store them in the freezer to prevent them from losing too much honey and to protect them from wax-moth. Liquid honey can be kept in the freezer to prevent crystallization. Creamed honey is made by seeding liquid honey with 5-10% of creamed honey of your liking. Store at a temperature of 10 degrees and stir twice a day for three days or until it becomes too stiff. Place the honey to be creamed in a chilly-bin along with a frozen 2-litre bottle of water to keep it cool (a refrigerator is probably too cold). Remember, the more classes you enter the higher your possible total score. The entrant with the highest score overall is judged the winner and will win the Big Sting Trophy for the year. Good Luck!!