gwenynwyr cymru the welsh beekeeper - wbka · the booklet “making increase” provoked a letter...

Gwenynwyr CymruThe Welsh Beekeeper

www.wbka.com Rhif/No:186 Hydref/Autumn 2014

2 Autumn 2014The Welsh Beekeeper #186

Welsh Beekeepers’ AssociationCymdeithas Gwenynwyr Cymru

Llywydd/President

David Culshaw : Tel: 01978 854593

[email protected]

Cadeirydd/ Chair-person

Jenny Shaw : Tel: 01248 430811

[email protected]

Is-gadeirydd/Vice-chairperson

Sue Townsend : Tel: 01341 430262

[email protected]

Ysgrifennydd/Secretary

John Page : The Old TanneryPontsian, LlandysulSA44 4UDTel: 01545 590515

[email protected]

Trysorydd/Treasurer

Margaret Jones:Tel: 01267 231763

[email protected]

Golygyddion/Editor

Sue Closs : Tel: 01792 429217

[email protected]

Is-olgydd/Sub-editor

(Erythglau Cymraeg)

Dewi Morris JonesLlwynderw, Bronant, Aberystwyth SY23 4TG Tel: 01974 251264

Ysgrifennydd aelo-daeth/Membership Secretary

Ian Hubbuck : White Cottage, Manafon Road, Berriew, SY21 8BB Tel:01686 640205

[email protected]

3Gwenynwyr Cymru #186 Hydref 2014

Contents/Cynnwys

Pictures:All pictures are copyright to the author of the article to

which they refer, unless otherwise stated.Front cover: Training a new bee keeper at PBK Centre

Editorial 4

Chairman’s Report 6

Message from the President 9

Preparing for the season ahead - winter - Frank Gellatly 10

Book Review: The Bee - A natural history 14

Some afterthoughts about swarming (and other matters) Wally Shaw 16 “Lliwiau” gan “Buzz” - Geraint Morse 21

Bees in the Wood - Adam Thorogood 23

Successful opening weekend of Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre - Paul Eades 24

Notes from a Grumpy Old Beekeeper 26

DigiBees - Barry Griffiths 29

BIBBA “ Improvement for All” Days 2014/15 36

WBKA Examination Report 2014 - Lynfa Davies 37

Book Review: Wisdom for Beekeepers ( 500 tips for successful

beekeeping) 41

Letters 42

Obituary 44

List of Advertisers 45

Local Association Representatives 46

4The Welsh Beekeeper #186 Autumn 2014

EditorialSue Closs

The seasons seem to rush past especially preparing the magazine for the season ahead. Everyone seems to be having a very productive and often frantic time with their bees – scrounging or borrowing equipment as the honey has kept flowing and from the number of alerts for local beekeepers to assist with swarms over the passed weeks, I think everyone must have more colonies than they started with in the spring.

Apart from all the hands-on activity there has been an extraordinary amount of interest in making contributions to the magazine for which I am extremely grateful. You will see that we have a wide diversity of topics and I am glad to tell you that almost every offering has found a place in this busy edition even though it is a little cramped for space and we will all need to don reading spectacles.

Frank Gellatly has written an article to remind us about preparing the hives for winter. Wally Shaw continues his theme on swarming and prepares the way for his next magazine articles on swarm control in time for next May. The booklet “Making Increase” provoked a letter to which Wally has responded (page 42). Letters “To the Editor” are very welcome.

Paul Eades has updated us on the progress of the Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre which is going from strength to strength.

An article on bee photography from Barry Griffith shows how to make use of the digital camera settings to get the best out of photographing bees. I hope this inspires more people to have a go and if possible send me photos as home-grown are always better and if I have to resort to photographic libraries, not only do I have to pay, but also most of the archives are American.

Lynfa Davies has provided us with a comprehensive list of successful entrants to examinations and importantly changes to the examination system which have been accepted by WBKA Council and will affect examination entrants from March 2015.

Working with other organisations is exemplified by the signing of the concordat with Natural Resources Wales to facilitate beekeepers using land managed by NRW. Adam Thorogood of Llais y Goedwig introduces the Startree Project in “Bees in the Wood” which outlines work being undertaken to explore honey and other bee products as non-wood forest products in a European project involving universities, small businesses and rural development organisations.

Finally, due to pressure of multiple commitments, I am starting to look for a successor to the role of Editor of The Welsh Beekeeper so if you think you could have the time and skills and would like to explore the details of the post, please contact me.


The Welsh Beekeeper No. 186 Autumn 2014

www.wbka.com

All copy should reach the Editor on or before the last day of January, April, July and October.

Views expressed in ‘The Welsh Beekeeper’ are not necessarily held by the Editor or the Publishers, but remain the opinion of the author of the article.

Edited, and compiled by Sue Closs.

Proof read by Dewi Morris Jones

Published by Welsh Beekeeper Association

Printed by Pensord, Pontllanfraith, South Wales

Great care is taken to ensure advertisements are correct but no liability is taken for errors or omissions.


Chairman’s Report * Adroddiad y cadeirydd Jenny Shaw

What a glorious summer we have had so far. I trust that your bees are in as good condition as ours and that all your supers are gainfully employed.

The weather was great for the Royal Welsh Show and I enjoyed meeting so many of you in the Honey Show section in Glamorgan Hall. During the Show the WBKA signed a concordat with Natural Resources Wales to facilitate beekeepers wanting to keep bees on land that they manage. Over the next few months the details of the agree-ment will be finalised and posted on our website. The presence of hives on land encourages the creation of more flower rich areas to support the bees. The more wild flower rich areas we create in Wales the better the forage for not only honey bees but for all insect pollinators. We hope that this collaboration will be beneficial to beekeepers and their bees.

In June the WBKA was asked to report on what it had done to support the Welsh Governments Action Plan for Pollinators since it was launched a year ago. Our re-sponse can be found on the WBKA website. However we are aware that the Bee-keeping Associations around Wales are involved in many and diverse projects that benefit pollinators. We would be interested to hear of these projects so that we can ensure that the Welsh Government is aware of just how active the beekeepers of Wales are.

********************************************

Mae wedi bod yn haf bendigedig hyd yma ac rwy’n mawr obeithio bod eich gwenyn chi mewn cystal cyflwr â’n rhai ni a bod eich supers yn gweithio’n galed.

Roedd y tywydd yn wych ar gyfer y Sioe Frenhinol ac roedd yn bleser cwrdd â chy-maint ohonoch chi yn ardal y Sioe Fêl yn Neuadd Morgannwg. Arwyddwyd concordat yn ystod y Sioe gyda Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru fydd yn hwyluso pethau i wenynwyr sydd am gadw gwenyn ar y tir maent yn ei reoli. Dros y misoedd nesa’ bydd manylion y cytundeb yn cael eu gwireddu cyn eu cyhoeddi ar ein gwefan.

Mae cychod gwenyn ar dir yn hybu creu ardaloedd llawn blodau fydd, yn eu tro, yn cynnal a chadw’r gwenyn. Y mwyaf o ardaloedd llawn blodau byddwn yn creu yng Nghymru›r mwyaf o borthiant fydd, nid yn unig ar gyfer gwenyn mêl ond hefyd ar gyfer yr holl beillwyr eraill. Rydym yn gobeithio y bydd y cydweithio yma o fudd i wenynwyr a’u gwenyn.

Ym mis Mehefin gofynnwyd i’r Gymdeithas adrodd ar y cyfraniad rydym wedi gwneud, ers ei lawns blwddyn yn ôl, i gefnogi Cynllun Gweithredu ar gyfer Pryfed Peillio Llywodraeth Cymru. Mae’n hymateb ar wefan Cymdeithas Gwenynwyr Cymru. Rydym yn ymwybodol fod llawer o’r cymdeithasau cadw gwenyn lleol ledled y wlad hefyd yn ymwneud â llawer o brosiectau gwahanol sy’n fuddiol i beillwyr. Byddai’n braf clywed am y prosiectau hyn fel y gallwn sicrhau fod Llywodraeth Cymru yn ymwybodol o ba mor weithgar mae gwenynwyr ein gwlad.


Signing the Concordat: Professor Peter Matthews, Chairman of Natural Resources Wales and Jenny Shaw, Chairman of WBKA


Message from the President

David CulshawI am writing this on my return from a scorching hot week at the Royal Welsh Show at Llanelwedd, and I was delighted to see that there was a considerable increase in the entries for the Welsh National Honey Show. My congratula-tions to the winners, and my thanks to all who took part. I am loath to quote names as someone always gets left out, but many thanks to the members who erected the W.B.K.A. stand and those who manned it throughout the Show. There was considerable interest by the public in all things related to ‘Honeybees’ and brisk sales of Welsh Honey.Congratulations to Brecon and Radnor B.K.A., who were featured county, for their very eye catching and informative stand which attracted many visitors.On Wednesday we visited the Natural Resources Wales stand, when Jenny Shaw on behalf of W.B.K.A signed a concordat with N.R.W. who were eager to sign up the W.B.K.A in their plan for pollinators. Good to see that pollination is a hot topic, and honey bees are high on the list.I was proved wrong when I said in my last message that swarming was com-ing to an end this year, as most beekeepers I am sure are tired of phone calls requesting help with swarms. I was still getting calls in the second week in July, as I packed up for the Show. The swarms I have taken have been very considerate as they have clustered within easy reach. Speaking to members from various parts of the Principality it should be a bumper honey harvest this year. Let us not forget Welsh honey is a premium product, and it deserves to sell at a premium price.I shall let you get on with extracting, and thank all the friends that I meet at the Show for their ever pleasant company and companionship, may it ever continue.

Conwy Honey Fair, Saturday 13th September 2014, 9am to 4pm

Conwy has a very long association with honey and beekeeping. The Conwy Honey Fair takes place in the High Street and Lancaster Square every 13th September (or 14th September if the 13th is a Sunday). The Honey Fair is an opportunity for bee-keepers to sell their honey, and for the public to meet beekeepers, talk about bees, and buy local honey and hive products, including beeswax candles, beeswax polish

and honey soaps. Plus… plant stalls, home produce, and local bee-related crafts.


Preparing for the season ahead - winterFrank Gellatly

It has been an extraordinary year for beekeeping. The season, forage and colonies have constantly been ahead, as we beekeepers have struggled to keep up, running out of hives, supers and equipment in the process! Main honey crops produced a flow early, with clover, blackberry, rosebay willowherb and Himalayan Balsam all on stream in the hot June and July. It just shows what can happen if you get warm weather at the right time.

The honey harvestUnless you have hives on heather or are gathering a late Himalayan balsam crop, it makes sense to take the main honey crop as early as possible in August. Make sure your honey frames are suitable for harvesting. They should, for the most part, be sealed, ensuring that the honey is ripe i.e. below 18.5% water content. Frames which emit liquid nectar when shaken are not suitable.

A small crop can be taken by simply shaking the bees off the frames, otherwise use a rapid clearer board. If you use a clearer board with porter bee escapes, make sure that the escapes are clear, the board is put on the right way up and the supers are well sealed to prevent re-entry. Whichever method you use, clearing the bees should be a quick overnight process. Extracting is best done while conditions are warm and the honey still nice and liquid.

Super storageOnce extracted, the supers and frames can be put back on the hive over the crown board. There, they will be cleaned up by the bees passing through the open feed hole. You can then store the supers ‘dry’, making sure they are neatly stacked in order to guard against mice and waxmoth. Waxmoth should not be a problem in supers that are stored ‘wet’ i.e. not cleaned up by the bees, and in use every year. Those of you with more than a single apiary must also have biosecurity in mind: it makes for good disease control to have a system of labelling in place so that you return supers to the same apiary in the coming year and don’t, inadvertantly, spread undetected disease between them.

VarroaNow, you can move on to your varroa control - as soon as possible, if you have not already done so. Mid to late August is the ideal time for the most important treatment of the year. Varroa levels are at their highest and brood rearing is naturally tailing off. This coincidence of circumstances allows for more widespread and more multiple infestations of bee pupae, putting them at far greater risk of virus infections, immune suppression, growth retardation and shortened lifespans. Not only that but these pupae are your all-important ‘winter bees’ which must be present in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality to last through the entire winter.


Treatment with licensed thymol products (Apiguard, Apilife Var, Thymovar) during August/early September allows the brood of your future winter bees to be reared in a low varroa and, hence, low virus infested environment. Make sure you follow the manufacturer’s guidance carefully, adjusting the dosage according to colony size. Treatment needs to be done while ambient temperatures are high enough to make it effective. Remember to heft and leave sufficient stores on, or feed syrup beforehand, to prevent starvation during thymol treatment. Bees will often ignore syrup when thymol is used, hang on the front of the hive, and the queen may go off lay. Finally, remember that you are required to make a note of any treatment in your Veterinary Medicine Administration Record.

Feeding – and robbingIf your varroa treatment is sufficiently prompt, you will have time to ensure your winter feeding is complete by early October. That then gives the bees sufficient time to take feed down, drive off excess moisture and cap over the sugar syrup to stop it fermenting. Remember that your own stronger colonies may rob out weaker ones with the possibility of spreading disease, and that wasps become a threat at this time of year. You should watch the hive entrances carefully, monitoring comings and goings and keeping an eye out for any wax capping remains that have been ripped off.

Feeding your bees and removing honey supers in late evening when the bees are in the hive, helps to minimise the potential for robbing. You may need to reduce entrances down to one beespace by fitting a mouseguard and taping it over to leave a single hole and fill any hive cracks with sponge or similar. A pane of glass placed in front of the entrance can also confuse wasps. If all else fails and you have the option, the threatened hive could be moved to another apiary, bearing in mind the three mile rule.

Setting up for the winterMany beekeepers have increased hive numbers this year to a greater extent than they may desire to be going into next season, so now is the time to rationalise before the winter. Following varroa treatment, it is possible to turn the contraction in colony size caused by reduced queen laying, less forage and the inhibiting thymol treatment, to beekeeping advantage and unite those smaller colonies using the newspaper method.

Each colony should be carefully assessed for size strength and health: every one must be queen right and disease free going into the winter. Smaller colonies can be united


and the best of the queens selected in the process - generally the younger, more prolific queens, and those which do not produce much chalkbrood. It is far better to go into the winter with fewer strong colonies and some spare hives in storage ready for next season, than enter spring having to clean out small, dead colonies and be short of ready hives.

Once you have united as necessary, rationalised the frames and boxes of colonies, you can be round feeding those that need it. Ideally, each should have 40lb of stores available for the winter which, when you heft, will feel like the hive is nailed to the floor as you struggle to lift it. I feed inverted syrup, which the bees seem to do very well on, using miller feeders in the main and contact feeders for those not requiring too much. Any honey that the bees collect during the autumn will also boost their winter stores. The nectar flow from Himalayan Balsam should continue but can be variable according to temperature and ground moisture. If we get a good spell of weather in September/October, the ivy will give a final boost of pollen and nectar to produce plentiful brood, with minimal varroa, and those precious winter bees.

Frank GellatlyRegional Bee Inspector Wales


Fondabee: beefeed fondant paste

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Beefeed in bulk 6-24 T deliveries Mainland UK distributor: Peter & Marian Guthrie Wyefield Apiaries, Tygwyn, Boughrood Brest, Llyswen, Brecon, Powys LD3 0BQ Tel: 01874 754412 Mobile: 07976 510366

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BEEFEED


Book Review

The Bee: A Natural HistoryNoah Wilson-Rich

Ivy Press

Available: September 2014

ISBN: 978-1-78240-107-0

RRP: £19.99

Now if your thoughts are turning towards Christmas and folk are beginning to ask you “What do you want for Christmas?”, or you have to find a gift for a beekeeper or even a person who has no bees – this is a very good suggestion.

The presentation, cover, paper and art work are lovely and the photographs are fantastic.

The story of the bee dates back 100 million years to when flowers evolved and the important relationship developed – bees receiving nectar in exchange for services as pollinators. The author describes the history of honey hunt-ing and beekeeping, starting with the Ancient Egyptians. The anatomy and physiology of the bee is beautifully illustrated as its society and behaviour and today’s challenges intertwined with the human factor with pesticides and deadly diseases which pose a threat not only to the bees but potentially all of human life.

This book is a valuable addition the bookshelves of anyone with an interest and love of the bee.

Sue Closs

2015 Welsh National Honey Show ScheduleIf members wish to have a copy of the Schedule for the 2015 honey show

please contact Mrs Bethan Davies, RWAS Ltd, Llanelwedd, Builth Wells, LD2 3SY; Tel 01982553563; email [email protected].


This article follows on from the article ‘What we know (and don’t know) about swarming’ that appeared in Welsh Beekeeper in Spring 2014 which had to be cut short because of space considerations. It covers Part 4 (and more) of the lecture delivered at the WBKA Convention in 2013 - the year of the Big Snow. Quite early on in my beekeeping career I became fascinated in how the honey bee colony worked. Some of the most interesting and difficult to understand aspects arise in the context of the swarming process. So forgive me if this end-of-season article is not as practical as some; it is a bit of an ‘anorak’ pre-occupation of mine and may not appeal to everybody.

Queen MatingAs we all know, when the queen at the beginning of her life goes out on her mating flights she seeks to mate with between 10 and 20 drones with as much genetic diversity as possible. How much the queen herself calls the shots is an open question because the workers seem to control much of the process; they hassle her out of the hive under suitable weather conditions, they probably determine how many flights she makes and the latest studies indicate that she is accompanied by a posse of workers who guide her to and from the mating venue (drone congregation area).This reproductive strategy of mating with multiple males is called polyandry and the honey bee is the most polyandrous insect known to science. It is inherently a very risky strategy because if the queen does not make it back to her colony there is no backup queen - her loss means curtains for the colony. An attentive beekeeper, noting that re-queening has failed, can of course introduce a frame containing eggs and/or young larvae thus giving the colony a second chance at raising a queen – something that could never occur naturally. Most beekeepers see this as a way of saving a colony which, from their point of view, is true. However, for the colony itself this is (genetically) the final nail in the coffin because they are now tending a non-related queen (a sort of cuckoo if you like) and as soon as she comes into lay they will quickly be replaced by her progeny and their genetic line will be terminated.

The Advantages of PolyandryThe advantages of the queen mating with numerous drones are many and seem to cover virtually all aspects of colony fitness. Compared with a colony where the queen has mated with a limited number of drones, one with high genetic diversity produces more comb, more brood and collects more honey – it does everything better! It is also less prone to disease, better at thermoregulation and has a higher chance of long-term survival. Exactly how this all works is another matter and some things are quite well understood but others not.

The Downside of PolyandryEvery living organism wants to maximise the chance of passing its genes on to the next generation – and on into the future. This means that individuals are inevitably in

Some Afterthoughts about Swarming (and related matters) Wally Shaw


competition with each other. In the case of the honey bee colony, the majority of the bees (the workers) are sterile females and have lost the individual ability to reproduce. Their chance of passing on their genes is solely vested in their queen.

The queen is the only individual who can pass on her genes and, by proxy, those of her workers. She can do this two ways; through her daughters (new queens) or/and her sons (the drones). We always think of the queen as female (she lays eggs doesn’t she?) but in reality she (it?) is hermaphrodite (both male and female) – but of course I will continue to refer to the queen as she or her because it is easier. At first sight this may seem a rather bizarre idea but, because the drone develops from an unfertilised egg, all his genes come directly from the queen. Each drone does has a different genetic make-up resulting from the usual gene mixing (so called cross-overs) that take place during egg production but all the millions of sperm he produces are genetically identical. In biological terms the drone is the queen’s flying male sex organ (I could put it more graphically) whose role is to replicate and deliver her genes. This means that all the (genetic) competition revolves around the queen.

This is why virgin queens fight and kill each other until there is only one left. Some ant species have evolved to have several queens at the same time but these operate as sub-colonies (with spatial isolation) within a sort of super-colony but in the end one queen often comes to dominate. Not so the honey bee colony which can only operate with one queen, the one exception being during a perfect supercedure.

[As a side issue it is interesting to note that our Welsh (near-native A.m.m) bees seem to be particularly intolerant of having two queens. In my experience, most supercedures tend to be imperfect, ie. the old queen is dead and gone before the new queen (her daughter) comes into lay and there is a significant brood gap. With Italian bees in New Zealand I am assured that two queens in a colony for extended periods is quite common. Recently in the USA there is a well-authenticated record of a colony with three queens (grandma, mother and daughter) all happily living and laying together.]

So how does polyandry affect competition between individuals? A potential problem arises because honey bee drones are haploid and all the sperm that an individual drone produces have identical genetic composition. This means that the population of workers in a colony consists of a series of sisterships (the technical name is patrilines, - pater being the Latin word for father). Unlike most siblings who have 50% of their genetic make-up in common, the individuals of a patriline (full-sisters) share 75% of their genes (50% from their drone father and 25% from their queen mother), whereas they only share 25% of their genes with their half-sisters (the half that came from their common mother). The family relationships may be further complicated by the fact that a queen is likely to mate with drones who are brothers (sons of the same queen) and this creates intermediate relationships in which patilines share 50% of their genes. It is important to understand that if a virgin queen mates with a drone produced by her own mother (it does happen by pure chance) this is a genetic disaster because 50% of the eggs that are laid as result of this union are non-viable. This is one of causes of pepper-pot brood but providing this mating is one of many it does not significantly affect the colony.


As you can see, the honey bee has a rather odd sort of family according to our human way of looking at things - but what’s the problem? The problem arises because the workers are well aware of these genetic relationships; when interacting with the other bees in the colony they can discriminate between full and half-sisters and this ability to discriminate extends to larvae and pupae of both workers and queens! The means of identification is thought to be through subtle differences in cuticular chemistry. Indeed, some of the advantages of genetic diversity, eg. recruitment for specialised tasks, may stem from the ability to differentiate but under some circumstances it also presents potential problems.

The Normal ColonyIn a normal (mature) colony where the queen has been present for several weeks, all the worker bees are her daughters and have an equal 50% gene stake in her success and there is no basis for competition or any conflict of interest. The same is true with the prime swarm; all the bees in the swarm are equally related to queen and have a common interest in her success. In a normal colony there is evidence that nurse bees have a slight tendency to feed larvae who are their full-sisters in preference to those who are half-sisters – but that is all. In practical terms this level of nepotism (favouring members of your own family) is not significant and all the larvae get properly fed.

When bees set up to swarm there is evidence in some colonies (but not others) that some patrilines are numerically over-represented in the queen cells that are started – again this is a form of nepotism. Why some colonies and not others? This may simply be due to the fact that some patrilines are more numerous (number of workers) than others. This presumably arises as the queen stocking her spermotheca when she in unable to store equal contributions from every drone. According to scientific studies the queen homogenises her store of sperm so paternity is a random process. However, many beekeepers have observed changes in colony colour balance over time which suggests there is some clumping of sperm. This difference of opinion is unresolved at present.It is after the prime swarm has departed that potential conflicts of interest arise. ‘Potential’ is really the wrong word because conflicts must exist and how the colony overcomes this situation without fighting between patrilines (equivalent to civil war) is where the interest lies. At the present time there are no clear answers.

After the Prime Swarm If the prime swarm has left on time as the first queen cells were being sealed, there are about 8 days to run before the first virgin queen emerges. Most books say that she immediately starts to pipe and that mature queens still in the cells pipe back (the sound is muffled by the cell wall so it is sometimes referred to as ‘quacking’). This enables the emerged queen to locate her rivals, chew through the wall of the queen cell and kill the occupant by stinging. This is clearly an over-simplification and what you usually see in a hive at this point in the process is several emerged queen cells and a lot more queen cells still intact. Often un-emerged queen cells have a line round the tip where the queen has tried to chew her way out but is presumably being held in by the worker bees (warders?).


Within 2-3 days of the first virgin emerging the colony will issue a cast swarm but that will probably only be after the emerged queens have fought and the swarm will be headed by the winner – most first cast swarms seem to have only one virgin queen in them. If it is quite a large colony, a few days later it will issue a second cast swarm and experience shows that these often contain two or more virgin queens. This suggests that with later cast swarms the queens do not (or are not permitted to) fight within the colony. This implies a different game plan but one can only speculate as to why the difference. This process may be repeated for a third time (the swarms getting smaller each time) and this too may/usually contains multiple virgins. So what is going on here? There must be competition between the virgin queens and the workers are now in a position where they can be nepotistic, ie. favour virgin queens to whom they are full sisters or more closely related.

Probability of SurvivalCompetition is all about increasing your odds of survival. So what are the odds when it comes to swarming? Studies of prime swarms show that in the wild they have a 20-30% probability of being alive a year later. At first sight this may sound a poor outcome but this level of survival probably represents population stability. Survival of cast swarms has never been studied but given the fact that they are smaller, issue later in the season (10-12days) and have a virgin queen who has to be mated before she can start to lay (another 10-14 days perhaps) their chance of survival must be minimal. On the other hand, the virgin queen who inherits the parental home has by far the best chance of survival. She has a ready-made home and plenty of other resources in terms of bees, the remains of her mother’s brood and stores and all she has to do is mate and start laying. This queen has 90% plus chance of survival and to still be heading the colony a year hence. So it is this queen that is the true winner!

So How is all this Resolved?This is not just some airy-fairy theory, this how it is in the real world – ‘nature red in blood and claw’ as they say. But with a bee colony, apart from a few fights between queens (and workers also kill some queens early on the swarming process), the whole issue seems to be resolved peacefully and, to outward appearance anyway, the colony continues to function normally throughout. The most likely strategy is that the colony has a favourite queen (or at more likely a short list of queens) who they hold back in their cell(s) and protect from marauding emerged virgins until cast swarming is over. If the colony has held-back multiple queens then they are probably allowed to fight and winner takes all. There is observational evidence that the workers do not just stand idly by during queen fighting and may play some part in determining the winner. In other words a fixed fight – but I don’t think there are any betting syndicates involved here!

The question remains how are these queens chosen? Is it based on some measure of their fitness? Or is it the result of nepotism, eg. does a dominant patriline contrive to favour a queen who is their full sister? The answer is we do not really know. There is a great deal of interaction between worker bees and the maturing queen cells which involves both vibration signals and pheromones. The bees presumably know what it’s all about but we don’t and, as always with honey bees, we must assume that they


know best and let them get on with it their way.Cast SwarmsCast swarms often reveal what appears to be a fleeting glimpse of nepotism. When hived by the beekeeper, cast swarms with multiple queens will often segregate and occupy different parts of the hive - and this despite having been well homogenised (tipped out in a heap) during the hiving process. This segregation is presumably based on queen preference and, if left alone, one of these sub-swarms may re-swarm, presumably to gain independence from the other and preserve their choice of queen. However, if the beekeeper intervenes and shakes the two parts together (again) this seems to resolve the issue – they are forced to choose one queen and they seem to do it without any obvious display of antagonism.

ConclusionsWell there really are no conclusions except that this aspect of colony life is very complicated and it is just as well they know what they are doing because we the hell don’t.

O’r fath lawenydd pur pan welais i chi gynta’, yn hongian yn y berllan, fel barf llwyd henwr,dan gysgod gwyrddni ifanc Mai!

Pwy a’ch dysgodd i gasglu paill – coch, pinc, a phiws a’i gario yn sachau sidan eich pengliniau, yn feddw gaib ar neithdar ir?

Pwy blannodd ynoch allu dwfn i gofio’r llwybrau cudd o gaeau melyn Crug Glas, Tŷ Llwyd a Rhyd-ddu yn ddiogel nôl i’r ydlan wen?

Pwy drefnodd i’r perlau arian dyfu yn y dirgel

mewn celloedd gwêr, cyn torri trwodd i fwrlwm byw amryliw’r cwch?

Pwy a’ch anogodd i gyd-ganu anthemau’r greadigaeth wrth hofran fry uwch drothwy’r drwsgan hymian hymn mewn harmoni?

Pa alcemydd fu’n cymysgu’r cynhwysion craidd i greu o’ch llafur diflino eli i wella clwy’, a moddion rhad mewn hylif aur?

Geraint Morse

“Lliwiau” gan “Buzz”


The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) defines non-wood forest products as, “goods of biological origin other than wood derived from forests, other wooded land and trees outside forests”. Non-wood forest products or NWFP can be gathered from the wild or grown in plantation or agroforestry systems, they are vital to rural livelihoods internationally and many have a high export value. NWFP have received a lot of attention in rural development contexts but those products harvested and produced in Europe have escaped attention. Until now!

A new project called Startree is a partnership of universities, rural development organisations and small businesses across Europe which aims to find out more about European NWFP with the aim of developing the sector and supporting sustainable rural livelihoods and good practice in natural resource management. Please visit the Startree website for more information on the project: www.startree.eu

Wales is one of 14 countries involved in Startree and the project here is being hosted by Llais y Goedwig, Wales’ community woodland association. Llais y Goedwig is a network of grassroots community woodland projects across the country. The network has been building in strength since 2010 and now has over 50 member groups from across Wales. The network recognises the potential that NWFP offer for their member groups and other businesses in creating a sustainable income from woodland management activities. Llais y Goedwig’s website has loads of resources and advice for community woodland groups: www.llaisygoedwig.org.uk

So far, the Startree team within Llais y Goedwig have studied Wales’ NWFP sector to find out what is going on here at home. There are hundreds of businesses and individuals who make a living from harvesting, processing and selling NWFP whether they know it or not! The sector here in Wales is not as developed as some other European countries, but NWFP are of vital importance to many across the country. One of the products the project will be looking at in depth is honey.

The link between bees and woodlands is an ancient and intrinsic one. From woodland edge forage plants to tree sap harvested for propolis, bees need woodlands and vice versa. We want to find out more about bee keeping in Wales and the connection with Welsh forests and woodlands. How can we support bee keepers and community woodland groups or small woodland owner managers to work together? We know that Natural Resources Wales offer permits for bee keepers to keep hives on the Welsh Government Woodland estate. One of our member groups is working on a project to encourage bees to build natural hives within veteran trees within their woodland. There is lots of scope for bringing bees keepers and woodland managers together. If you are interested in the Startree project and would like to help us to explore honey and other bee products as non-wood forest products then please get in contact with the Startree project team: [email protected] or 01654 700061

Bees in the WoodAdam Thorogood of Llais y Goedwig introduces the Startree Project


Friday 18th July 2014, marked the beginning of a very successful weekend for the Pembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association, with the official opening of the ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’ at Scolton Manor by Edwina Hart AM, Minister for Economy, Science and Transport.Regular readers, who have been following progress of this project, may recall that the PBKA were fortunate to receive funding from the Prince’s Countryside Fund (PCF) and Environment Wales. Planning for the project commenced four years ago

and the official opening was the culmination of a lot of hard work by all those involved, together with some inevitable frustrations from time to time.

The end result has been worth the effort however and now Pembrokeshire has a beekeeping facility to be proud of, which all the family can enjoy.

The ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’, at Scolton Manor includes:1. The ‘Pine Tree Apiary’ – for training beekeepers, public viewing via an 8 foot high

bee proof fence and interpretation boards for education and information. 2. The ‘Victorian Walled Garden’ – with exhibition WBC hives and locally made

straw skeps in bee boles. 3. The indoor ‘Bee Hive’ exhibition, which includes a live ‘hive cam’ from one of the

apiary hives, audio visual displays and interpretation boards, etc. 4. The ‘Honey Kitchen’, adjacent to the ‘Bee Hive’, for the extraction and bottling of

honey, which includes a large viewing window for honey extracting demonstra-tions to the public.

5. The ‘Paddock Apiary’ – to provide additional training facilities, honey production and a queen rearing project using local bees to ensure the sustainability of the project.

Saturday 19th July featured an ‘Open Day’ as part of the PCF’s National Countryside Week and the ‘Bee Hive’ exhibition was overflowing all afternoon with members of the public coming in droves to watch the honey extracting demonstration in the ‘Honey Kitchen’ and live pictures of our bees from the ‘hive cam’! So successful was the honey extracting demonstration that the Scolton Manor shop sold out of honey that afternoon! Members of the PBKA were also present to talk to the public and give

Successful opening weekend of Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre

Paul Eades


hive inspection demonstrations at the nearby ‘Pine Tree Apiary’.On Sunday, we held another of our regular beekeeping training sessions at the apiary, which included members of the public whose interest had been stimulated the day before. We have noted a greater interest in beekeeping by younger people and some of our ‘regulars’ whilst only just tall enough to look into the brood box, have beekeeping knowledge that would put many an experienced beekeeper to shame. Certainly our beekeepers of the future and a very encouraging trend!

We have had a great deal of interest shown by other organisations, including the National Botanic Garden of Wales, which recently revamped their own beekeeping display and we hope to work with them more closely in the future.

In order to maintain and develop interest in bees and beekeeping, we have to be able to adapt to change and the development of the ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’ proves that it can be done with a bit of imagination and perseverance!

The ‘Pembrokeshire Beekeeping Centre’ is open every day at Scolton Manor near Haverfordwest during the season, free of charge from 10am until 5pm.

http://pbka.info/ Paul Eades, Apiary ManagerPembrokeshire Beekeepers’ Association


The Eisteddfod had a class for young bees, They danced with the greatest of ease. As they came near the chair, All they could hear, Was, look at their poor sore knees!

There must now be more bees in Wales than there has ever been since beekeep-ing in this country began. Never has there been such a flow of nectar over such a long period or so many swarms, or so many new people wanting to keep bees. The hobby beekeeper, the bee farmer and the suppliers have all had a bumper year and everyone seems to have run out of frames foundation and boxes. Now what could be better than that? With an enormous harvest to follow not only are the bees in clover so are we!

It has been the best year ever for those called ‘Let alone beekeepers’ The beekeep-ers whose time is limited, they go through their bees in April with great care and set everything to rights, give them plenty of room, and leave well alone, adding more supers as and when necessary to the top of the hive, where it’s the hottest and the easiest place for the bees to make wax. Those hives will be on 4 or 5 supers by now, especially if you live in the Aeron valley. That’s where Tom Collins lived if you re-member him. He used to put match sticks across each corner of the super under the crown board to let the heat out in this weather. The mindset of bees is firstly gather-ing stores to survive the winter and as the nectar flow began in early May and hasn’t stopped since, with no June gap this year. The bees left alone to get on with their own ideas with plenty of room will be less inclined to swarm, only about 20%. The downside of it all is stress; bees on 5 or more supers often fade away in the winter. Time will tell. Bees short of space, in trees and other confined spaces will swarm and beekeepers who meddle, fuss and flap will upset the ‘status quo’ and cause swarm-ing but does it matter as they will have left one or two supers behind and should be re-queened before winter

This is great for people starting out as there are enough bees for all this year, and there are many tales of swarms in extraordinary places and it is such fun getting them home!

A friend with a Warre hive, where you are supposed to add new boxes to the bottom of the stack, allowed me to persuade her to add one to the top instead, she took off the roof to find the bees had eaten through the top cover for air and to start building comb in the roof. That top box will be pure golden cut comb, what joy!

Notes from a Grumpy Old Beekeeper.


Having had bees for over 30 years, a call this summer beats everything that has gone before. A man who moved to Wales over two years ago, and had been on a beekeep-ing course before he came, was planning to start next year. He had bought 2 second hand hives with him, not very good quality and parked them on a pallet beside his shed. The grass was well grown up through the wood of course but that didn’t stop a swarm of bees moving into one of them, he didn’t notice it at first but then I had the call for help; he had taken the hive apart to see what was going on before he phoned, no bee-suit and no fear. We sorted out the hives, put the occupied hive up on a milk crate and opened it up.It was full of old mixed up empty frames but they had built wild comb exactly within the frames, four across from the west side (the warmest) and I could lift them out to show him brood pollen and stores. I felt somewhat over dressed in a bee-suit! We replaced the rest of the frames with new ones plus foundation. Another day he moved it again took away the pallet, laid slabs and replaced it onto the hive stand I had taken him. Complete empathy between that man and his bees. When I went again there was a garden bench in front of the hive where he sat in the evening after work watching the bees, and asked me about the colours of pollens

Another member who had lost all his bees last year and had two empty hives lent one out to another member who had an amazing experience. On the brink of giving up beekeeping, she had hung a box in a tree and in moved a swarm which she kindly sold to a beginner. He is a star, as he took the box back the next day (how many of us have sold nucs and never had the boxes back) Anyway she put it back in the tree and the next day a bigger swarm moved in. She was not meant to give up she decided and put 14x12 frames in 2 supers with floor and a WBC roof on top. Back went the box into the tree and an even bigger swarm moved in! This lovely member then lent her a hive on the understanding she would order more equipment, give it back and if she caught another swarm perhaps give it to him. She had just given him his box back when I had a call to say there was a swarm of bees not half a mile from his house and could I please send some-one to collect it. The reward for his kindness.

People are extracting honey already, such a shame as it won’t be ripe or mature or have the flavour or keep so well. Maybe they ran out of supers and had no choice, but the quality and supreme excellence of this fabulous Welsh product will be lost in the race to make money. And without any discerning new honey judges coming forward how will anyone ever know the difference. How those of us who remember, mourn the loss of Henry Ferguson Thomas, he would have had a fit at what’s going on. But with the modern diet no-one has what used to be called ‘a palate’ any- more, so does it really matter!

Two things now bother me, will we have 4 feet of snow in October and how will all these bees manage over winter? There is enough honey this year so that every beekeeper can leave plenty of stores for those who have worked so hard. No replace-ment feed will do as well this year, because of the stress. And if the balance of nature works out as it does so often many losses will occur, I so very much hope I’m wrong.


DIGI-BEES Barry Griffiths

Bees present great photo opportunities and often combine the photo-call with an in-triguing nature insight but we need to be ready to capture those moments. We all have those great shots that are just out of focus, too dark, too much light, the subject is lost in a busy background, the subject has moved, the photo is too big to email, too small to print etc etc and we will continue to get those but maybe we can raise our average a bit? This is an amateur article on photography from a beekeeping perspective, you won’t become a BBC wildlife photographer by reading it but it may contribute a few ideas that enhance our photos and in the process expand our enjoyment and help spread the word.

A picture says a thousand words – see the nectar, see the pollen, when the bee feeds she leaves a scent trail that decays at the rate the plant replenishes the nectar so the next bee does not waste time finding out and only a few dwell for the photo. A frame held to sunlight so the comb is backlit.Prep: Digital cameras tend to apply similar functions and part of the challenge is pre-setting the camera so we are ready to grab that photo at short notice.

When taking photos in the Conwy BKA Apiary I have the camera in my bee suite pocket ready for those regular surprises, beekeepers from 8 to 80+ attend the apiary sessions and sometimes we have a surprise like hiving wild comb.


With my camera it’s difficult to switch to flash when wearing bee gloves so if you intend to capture some brood verification images I suggest that you pre-select flash on. Bees appear to be attracted to the black box; maybe it is saturated with pheromone and certainly gets a bit sticky with propolis so I have fitted a protective clear and cleanable screen to protect the display. Taking apiary photos can help to verify the presence of eggs and the health of brood and comb when viewed at leisure and enlarged on a monitor.

I always have the camera handy, usually I use a zip camera bag on a neck strap so the camera is effectively in a pouch even / especially when walking round the garden; I keep a 2nd battery charged and a spare 8 GB chip – it’s surprising how soon we fill a memory chip with high resolution images especially when running the burst exposure feature.

Image size: I select the largest image size as default setting, for my 4 year old Sony Cyber-Shot this is 10 megabytes and we can get thousands on one 8 GB chip. Selecting the largest image enables us to more closely crop and examine small bees in a forage environment and to edit and crop comb shots from the initial image without loss of resolution.

Photos taken at Conwy BKA Diseases workshop held in conjunction with DEFRA Left im-age as taken at full size then cropped and enhanced to show detail of the AFB Rope Test reducing the image to 75k; small enough to email yet big enough to see quite clearly.

Composition: The disciplines that apply to portraits and landscapes are combined when we snap bees so balance, scale, content and the technical issues of focus, ex-posure and resolution are just as important and if anything more challenging than a seascape or still life. There are times when natural light enables us to capture photos of foraging bees and with patience we can get those mid-air shots and photos where the bee is not obscuring the plant and where the bee can be seen in context of its be-haviour across the season foraging various feed sources. I don’t know why but a touch of red in a photo seams to enliven the image.


Photographing bees also informs us of the flowers available across the foraging season and those times when there is not much available forage as a prompt to plug that June gap. Capturing photos of bees with full pollen sacs usually requires a photo composition where the bee is edge-on, above or beside the flower and so both can be seen without one obscuring the other.

Taking photographs of foraging bees can also build our knowledge, for example the colour of pollen from plants in your garden, the blue Ceanothus has yellow pollen while Pink hydrangea has pale pink pollen and Conference pear is grey.

Flying bee is profiled against a petal background and there is just a few seconds to snap her drinking.Flash: Even in strong sunlight a fill-in flash can be helpful if the sun is above or in front of us.

Photo flash reflected from a red vase when this bee landed outside the window. Forag-ing on flowering current is pulled out of shadow by the flash


Burst Setting: Using my programme Auto I can override flash and I can select burst settings where multiple photos are taken in quick succession, a really useful feature for bees on the move. The burst setting enables us to grab a sequence of high-res shots at close time intervals. We can then select the optimum shot from the se-quence.

The bees evict a wasp, in burst shots above the wasp is obscured but in the selected shot the wasp is revealed in a strong sunlight opportunity photo.

Specials: Another feature of many digital cameras is a panoramic image as used in the header image of the Conwy Beekeepers Association website http://www.con-wybeekeepers.org.uk/ Editing: I use MS Power Point as my main photo editor; create a folder and insert your photo from the memory stick it’s easy to crop and enhance using the standard tools; click on the image and select the format setting to edit then save as a JPEG.If you have difficulty seeing eggs in cells then a digital photo solves the problem and may also reveal things that were missed during the inspection. I occasionally demon-strate beekeeping to schools and by attaching photos to frames we can simulate an inspection and pass these around the class.


You can see the eggs and look closely for signs of disease in an expanded photo and printed bee photos are great in presentations on bees and beekeeping.Non-Bee Keepers: You don’t have to be a beekeeper to join an association and at-tend apiary meetings here you can experience bee photography up close and apply photography as an aid to the better understanding of pollinators; with 250 species of bee in the UK and loads of other fascinating insects all requiring the same observation and patience to capture and process digital images. Photos in the hive usually involve presenting the frame to be photographed square to the camera or intentionally angled to capture the target area of content.

Queen cell and new queen beeHoliday Bees: On holiday we see bees in a different context adapted to alternative

foraging.

Foraging on Florida Palm


Your bee photos can be applied to digital self-adhesive labels; this process is more economically viable where you have a range of designs. In this example a clear self-adhesive material is used on versions of label with different images with white and black text to arrive at a final range printed to rolls. If say 3 beekeepers get together to have digital labels printed of a single size on a single material means it is just one press run that could involve 3 different addresses each across 2 different jar sizes and 2 dif-ferent honeys showing 2 different images per person so some 24 variants and in most cases there is no set-up cost with digital. These labels do not have thermal overprint that can rub off, the printed content can be a full description and is durable and ap-plied under a varnish or gloss laminate; the labels are die cut to easy-peel off the rolls; it takes some thought to put together but press proofs can be produced for us to test cut and apply before committing to any production quantities; an opportunity from taking bee photos.

Digital labels on rolls, jars and as proof sheets with your digital photos

Barry Griffiths, member Conwy Beekeepers Association


The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) will be repeating their highly successful “Bee Improvement for All” days during the winter of 2014/15. Last winter there were 11 events held in venues over a wide geographical area, with excel-lent feedback from attendees.

The purpose of the events is to help and encourage beekeepers of all abilities to improve their bees, using simple techniques that don’t necessarily use anything other than standard equipment that all beekeepers are likely to have.

Colony aggression is a problem that can be easily reduced, with beekeepers often not knowing how docile some bees can be. Beekeepers with a small number of hives don’t usually have the opportunity to see many other colonies, so it is difficult for them to compare their own bees with those of other beekeepers. Some suggestions on how to achieve this are given.

A COLOSS study has recently been conducted where local strains of bees were com-pared to “foreign” strains at 21 locations in 11 countries in Europe. In each case the local strain consistently performed better than “foreign” strains.

Rather than use imported queens, attendees are encouraged to raise queens from colonies that are suited to their locality, utilising some of the opportunities presented to them by their bees during the summer, using methods that are little more than what they are probably already using.

BIBBA work with local BKAs to stage these events, with no cost to the local BKA. We are seeking BKAs who are keen to help their members improve their bees, so if you would like a “Bee Improvement for All” day in your area you can find details on http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/beeimprovementforallday.html.

Please feel free to contact BIBBA Conference and Workshop Secretary Roger Patterson [email protected] 01403 790 637 to

discuss further.

BIBBA “Bee Improvement for All” Days 2014/15


The WBKA has seen a very encouraging year so far with a good number of candidates taking exams and assessments. Students and assessors have been busy across Wales with the basic assessment and we’ve not finished yet, as a few more candidates are due to take their Basic assessment at the time of writing this. Results to date are passes for;

Aberystwyth: Phil Springham, Ingrid Evans, Ruth Edwards, Tim Pryce, Anna Cole and Alan Cole

Anglesey: Jenny Shaw, David Bowles, Cathy Davies, Phil Rea, Simon Hunt and Jean Matthews

Brecon and Radnor: Peter Bustin and Chris Cardew

East Carmarthen: Keith Hall, Paul Davies and John Dray

Montgomeryshire: Eifion Thomas, Nicole Aaron, Dave Yaffey, Keith Rimmer and Tony Shaw

Mike Lax (Conwy) sat his General Husbandry assessment in July and passed. This is a practical examination that is taken in your own apiary and the candidate is expected to display a good practical beekeeping standard.

Back in March six candidates achieved passes in their Module exams and special mention should go to Stephen Davies and Ade Morris who completed the final paper, Module 8. A great achievement and both are well on the way to achieving Master Beekeeper status. The results for the March modules are as follows;

Module 1: Gill Todd - Brecon and Radnor

Module 2: Ruth Stafford – Montgomeryshire

Module 5: Lynfa Davies – Aberystwyth

Module 6: Mike Lax – Conwy

Module 8: Stephen Davies – Swansea and Ade Morris – Cardiff, Vale and Valleys

Well done to everyone! It really is great to see so many students achieving success. A full round up of this years results will appear in the next edition of the Welsh Bee-keeper.

The modules this autumn will take place on the 8 November and applications must be in by the 30 September. The application form is available on the website.

WBKA Examination report for 2014 Lynfa Davies


You may be aware that the WBKA Examination and Education Committee have recently being reviewing the exam system and whether it is working effectively for its members. The Committee identified several problems that it decided should be brought to the attention of the WBKA Council;

• The Welsh General Husbandry is not accepted by the BBKA for obtaining a BBKA Master Beekeeper. However, the BBKA will accept the Welsh General Husbandry for entry to the BBKA Advanced Husbandry. The candidate could then be awarded a Welsh Master Beekeeper. Candidates currently working to achieve Master Beekeeper status in Wales were not aware of this and did not realise there is a difference between the English and Welsh certificates.

• There is a serious lack of assessors at all levels in Wales which is limiting what the WBKA can offer.

• WBKA came to an agreement that BBKA would moderate a sample of the modules taken in Wales so that all candidates could be assured the same standards were being applied in Wales and England. The original cost for this service was £5 per paper but this has recently risen to £12.50 per paper.

• The low numbers of candidates taking exams and assessments in Wales mean that it is very hard for the WBKA to cover the costs without subsidising it.

• The Education and Examination Committee have calculated that the approxi-mate cost for each exam that needs to be marked is in excess of £10 when all the administration and marking fees are taken into account. On top of this there is an annual charge from the BBKA for setting the paper. This is a fixed fee and in years with a very low uptake is unlikely to be covered. The costs incurred in 2014 to date (this does include the November papers but not marking the papers) are;

◦ Total costs of Modules £400

◦ Hire of venues, marking, photocopying etc for March modules £170

◦ Income from fees £150

As a result of these concerns the following proposal was put to Council on the 21 June.

• The WBKA is committed to offering the Basic Assessment and will continue to do so. Actions need to be taken to train more assessors and engagement from local associations will be required to do this.

• The WBKA will cease to offer modules in Wales. However, the WBKA will work with the BBKA to continue offering modules in Wales through the BBKA system. The WBKA will coordinate applications and examination centres. Entry fees will be forwarded to the BBKA and all marking will be undertaken by the BBKA. Candidates wishing to work towards Master Beekeeper will receive the BBKA award.


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01422 882751www.groovycart.co.uk/beebooks

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Council accepted this proposal and the WBKA Examination and Education Commit-tee will now work closely with the BBKA to put in place an examination system that will benefit our members. The modules sat in November 2014 will still be offered by the WBKA and all applications should be submitted in the normal way. The proposed changes will take effect from March 2015.

If you have any queries or suggestions please contact either myself or any of the WBKA officers and trustees – we will be happy to hear your thoughts.


Wisdom for Beekeepers (500 tips for successful beekeeping) by James E. Tew (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014)ISBN: 978-1-62710-444-9

James Tew’s writings will be familiar to anybody who has read Bee Culture, one of the oldest beekeeping magazines in the world. He is a regular correspondent for this magazine where his contributions are very similar in style to this book and I have always found them sensible and informative. As the title suggests, this not a book from which you teach yourself beekeep-ing. Although the opening chapter is entitled ‘Becoming a Beekeeper’ this is not a manual of beekeeping. It is more a book for people who have been engaged in the craft for several years, have tried most things and got some experience under their belt.This edition was obviously designed for the UK market and is slightly anglicised in places but the main emphasis is on beekeeping the North American way. This produces one or two unexpected surprises the most startling of which is Tip 367: ‘Small hive beetle may arrive on our shores’. This is a very American book, written by an American and the reference to ‘our shores’ (meaning the UK) seems somewhat out of place. References to the National hive are also not very well-informed and would have best been left out.American beekeeping and equipment is somewhat different from ours and hive parts and some beekeeping practices have different names. The transla-tion is usually fairly obvious but it may throw some people. For example, how many British beekeepers realise that American beekeepers do not use wired foundation and that the frames themselves are strung with wire? Neither are they likely to know much about plastic foundation or all-in-one plastic frames.There are one or two tips with which I do not entirely agree but when did two beekeepers agree about everything? I did not come across anything that I regarded as seriously misleading. All-in-all the book makes entertaining, bite-sized reading and there are plenty of tips on a wide range of subjects that the reader may find useful. However, don’t try and read all 500 tips in one session as it may cause brain damage. The RRP price of £14.99 (hardback edition) rep-resents good value for money.

Book Review Wally Shaw


Letters

Dear Editor, I received my copy of Wally Shaw’s “making Increase” with pleasure and found it very interesting. It will require several readings before I have fully digested all of it as my brain is slower than it used to be! However one point confused me. Wally states emphatically that a hive with emergen-cy queen cells will not swarm and should be left to choose its own queen to rear. This seems to be at odds with my own experience last summer when I lost a large swarm from a hive which my husband and I split before it was making queen cells. We left a selection of cells rather than thin them to one. It also seems at odds with Mark Winston’s book, “The Biology of the Honey Bee” which I bought on Wally’s strong recommendation at the 2013 WBKA Convention. On Page 124 Winston states “.....the incidence of swarming in emergency queen situa-tions can be up to 100% of colonies”. The only explanation I can come up with is that Mark Winston is talking about a colony which loses its queen but is otherwise undisturbed and in the same spot; what I did was move the split with the old queen to a new site thus also leaving the now queenless hive in situ. In both cases therefore the original flying bees are still pres-ent. Wally on the other hand moves the queenless part so that it is without the flying bees. Would that explain the discrepancy and if so why? Perhaps your readers can explain! Yours Sandra Eckford

Reply to Sandra Eckfords letter:I am still emphatic that a colony that has started queen cells in an emergency impulse will not swarm no matter how many cells are produced. It does not matter whether the emergency has been caused by the beekeeper removing the queen or the queen has died and it does not matter if the colony is on its original site or it has been moved. Over the years we have literally split colonies or removed the queen from a colony many hundreds of times and we have never had the colony with emergency queen cells go on to swarm.

So why does this view disagree with the much respected Mark Winston? Well, I have no idea except to say that in this instance I think Winston is wrong. When about 10 years ago he was visiting the UK, he spoke at the BBKA Spring Convetion I tried to ques-tion him about this but he made it quite clear he was not interested in discussing the matter with me (and this was a question in private after the lecture). You will also note that he also thinks that colonies undergoing queen replacement by supercedure can swarm. This is more understandable because it is sometimes difficult to correctly to distinguish supercedure from swarming – that is until it all done and dusted.


I am afraid that I think the most likely explanation for your experience last year is that you missed at least one already started queen cell somewhere in the hive! Bees can be very sneaky and hide cells (not deliberately of course) corners of frames. To make absolutely sure you need to shake the bees off every frame and scrutinise them very carefully. Had you done the split the other way round, with the part of the colony from which the queen had been removed going to new site (this is the conventional way of doing it with the flying bees returning to the colony with the old queen) the outcome would have been different. Now the part making the emergency queen cells would have lost its flying bees and would not have swarmed. However, the part on the old site would almost certainly started queen cells and proceeded to swarm with the old queen.I do however have one possible ‘let out clause’ for you! If you look at my article about swarming that was published in the Spring Edition of Welsh Beekeeper (No:184) you will see that swarming does not necessarily start with the production of queen cells. There is evidence that it starts about 14 days earlier with changed behaviour towards the queen – the details are in the article. This may place the colony in a condition of ‘latent’ swarming but, as I have said in the article, splitting the colony usually seems to prevent this going any further. Well, we did a split this year where the colony with the old queen almost immediately set up to swarm – something that has never happened before. Was this due to latent swarming not being aborted or did we miss a queen cell? I kind of hope it was us who made the mistake!

Wally Shaw, July 2014


It is with great sadness that I write these few totally inadequate words to express my sadness at the passing of Ian Richards and his wife Shirley.Ian kept bees for more than sixty-five years, getting his first hive in 1947, the year of the great snow.Ian served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, was a member of the Old Com-rades, a former chairman of Pembrokeshire Beekeepers Association, and a long time member of the Bee Farmers Association.I, as well as many others, was lucky to count both he and Shirley as close friends, we helped each other out in many ways. He would listen and advise anyone about their bees. Both he and Shirley will be sorely missed for the kindness and hospitality offered to all.As a retired police officer, Ian was able to devote his time to expanding his interest in the bees and ran a successful venture with the West Valley Honey Farm for many years.Ian and I shared a mutual interest in salmon and sea trout fishing, and many were the tales of the one that got away.His sense of humour, and our joy when things finally went right for a change, were shared on a weekly basis.Fy mrawd yr wyf yn gweld eisiau ti.May I express my sincere condolences to Mark, Yvonne and family on their tragic loss. All lives that were touched by both Ian and Shirley will remember them with so many fond memories.The funeral for them both took place at St. Mary’s Church, Wiston, Haverford-west on Thursday 22nd May.

Ricky Wilson.

Obituary


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IBRA 45

Maisemore Apiaries Ltd 31

Melindwr Valley Bees 25

Northern Bee Books 39

Rawling and Son (Bristol) Ltd 15

Sherriff 39

The Bee Shop 39

The Scottish Beekeeper 45

Thorne 47

International Bee Research Association

Promoting Bee Science and Beekeeping Worldwide.

Publishers of bee books and award winning Bee World – the thinking beekeeper’s journal of choice and its scientific flagship Journal of Apicultural Research.

Tel: 029 2037 2409 www.ibra.org.uk

IBRA, Unit 6, Centre Court, Main Avenue, Treforest, CF37 5YR

Apologies for the incorrect spelling of Dr Annie Newsam’s name in the last edition. Sue.

Please note that “Bee Books New and Old” has been taken over by “Northen Bee Books” upon the retirement of John Kinross. Welsh beekeepers wish John well in his retirement.


Local Association RepresentativesAssociation Secretary TelephoneAberystwyth Ann Ovens 01970 832359

[email protected]

Anglesey Jim Allen 01248 [email protected]

Brecknock & Radnor Gillian Todd 01874 [email protected]

Bridgend & District Sue Verran 01656 [email protected]

Cardiff & Vale Annie Newsam 02920 868756 [email protected]

Carmarthen Brian Jones 01267 [email protected]

Conwy Peter McFadden 01492 [email protected]

East Carmarthen Geoff Saunders 01558 [email protected]

Flint & District Jill and Graham Wheeler

01745 [email protected]

Gwenynwyr Cym-raeg Ceredigion

W.I.Griffiths 01970 [email protected]

Lampeter & District Gordon Lumby 01570 [email protected]

Lleyn ac Eifionydd Amanda Bristow 01286 [email protected]

Meirionnydd Sue Townsend 01341 [email protected]

Montgomeryshire Keith Rimmer 01686 [email protected]

Pembrokeshire John Dudman 01437 [email protected]

South Clwyd Carol Keys-Shaw 01490 [email protected]

Swansea Paul Lyons 05602 [email protected]

Teifiside Donald Robertson-Adams

07939 [email protected]

West Glamorgan John Beynon 01792 [email protected]


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