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www.wnklba.co.uk

West Norfolk & Kings Lynn Beekeepers Association Bee AwareBee Aware

The Friendly Beekeepers of Norfolk

WNKLBA, Bee Aware—April 2015

European and American Foul Brood Diseases always affects someone else's bees

……….right…………………………….you couldn’t be more wrong.

Just like when you were at school with the cleanest head of hair in the class you still got nits didn’t you?!!!

You do not have to be a bad beekeeper or do anything wrong for your bees to contract a foulbrood disease, it is highly contagious. But if you do not know how to identify disease or minimise the risk of spreading it then what should be a containable event can turn into destruction of yours and your neighbours bees and equipment.

At the latter end of the 2014 season AFB (most fatal of honeybee brood diseases) was detected in some apiaries in our area of West & North Norfolk. As a result there were a large number of colonies where bees, brood and honey in frames had to be burned.

We are told with a high degree of certainty that THERE WILL BE FURTHER INCIDENCES OF AFB in the spring in hives where it has developed over the winter period. One of those hives could be yours and without attention it could spread to your other hives or those of your neighbour. The Bee Inspectors are planning to get on top of any outbreak very quickly.

Every year the association runs a Bee Health Day for all members. This year we consider it to be so important that anybody that keeps bees is invited, member or not, we want to spread the word and educate as many people as possible, so if you know of anyone who keeps bees and is not a member please encourage them to come along—it’s free. We will also be giving free of charge disease recognition cards that you can carry with you to your apiary.

We are changing the format this year with the Education Team taking the lead. The day will be in two sessions, theory in the morning at Tottenhill Village Hall and after a picnic lunch (bring your own but tea and coffee provided) we all move to the Blackborough End Apiary for the afternoon.

The morning session will cover all the major and minor bee diseases, how you can recognise them and actions to take. There will be real frames with EFB and AFB for you to examine under controlled conditions. One of the beekeepers who was seriously affected by AFB last year has kindly offered to come along and talk to us in the hope that they can prevent anyone else suffering the same experience.

For the afternoon session at the apiary we will split into groups roughly inline with your beekeeping abilities/experience for practical demonstrations at beginner, intermediate and advanced level.

AFB

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 2

I am a true Norfolk man, born on a small farmstead between West Rudham and Bircham. After pursuing a 30+ year career in the Norfolk Constabulary I took up a post as lecturer at the College of West Anglia in 1994. Whilst there I obtained various teaching qualifications together with a Master of Science Degree from Leicester University, which ultimately led to a 6 year period of lecturing with The Open University.

I took up beekeeping in the late 1960’s, well before Varroa, six WBC’s, all second-hand and mostly begged or borrowed from the back of sheds belonging to people who had ‘kept’ bees many years earlier in order to obtain the government sugar allowance during rationing. Life and career intruded after some five years or so and I left the craft only to return again some ten years ago when Lorraine and I decided that we would have two hives in the garden; we were mentored in this by that wonderful gentleman the late Bill Disdle.

I was a member of the Association in the 1960’s and re-joined immediately upon my return to beekeeping. Like Topsy however the number of colonies we had quickly grew as did our involvement with the Association. I became Education Coordinator whilst Lorraine took on the role of Secretary for a time and together with Jill Tinsey formed the Education sub-committee. Lorraine and I presented and ran the Beginners Course for six years. Also during this time we set up and ran the Taster Sessions for three seasons.

I played a role in establishing our first Association Apiary at the site we shared with Keith Morgan at Flitcham and then along with Brian Gemmell was instrumental in obtaining and equipping our club apiary at Blackborough End. I finally retired from the committee two years ago.

I have also played a part in beekeeping at a national level, initially as part of the original ‘think tank’ for formalising education with BBKA, even giving a lecture on presentation skills as part of the Teach the Teacher forum at the Spring Convention at Stoneleigh, proudly wearing my WNKLBA sweater. I was also a member of the Healthy Bee Project with FERA for two years and secretary for the Council of National Beekeeping Associations in the United Kingdom and Ireland (CONBA) for a similar period. I remain a Trustee for the EARS Research Project.

I was particularly delighted and proud to have been elected as President of our Association and look forward to supporting the Committee in their efforts to continue the progress already made in its programme to develop and improve the standards of its members, particularly in the recognition and treatment of disease. I am also thrilled to be able to have an input into the planned leasing and development of the Blackborough End Apiary . I also hope to see further efforts being made to include more of our membership in both bee related and social events and the encouragement of beekeepers that are not yet members to attend some of our events so that standards of care and abilities can constantly be reviewed and improved. Exciting times.

Terry Gibson

Our President

Terry Gibson

After six years service, Don

Cooper hands over the reigns

of President to Terry Gibson at

the WNKLBA AGM

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 3

Much can be learned by the beekeeper through observation, often far more than a open hive inspection.

It is not in the best interest of the bees or beekeeper to examine combs to see if all is well in the late Autumn or early Spring period.

Just by standing back from the hives, but close enough to watch the bees activities, with a minimum temperature of around 10-11º C (50º F), observe if bees of all hives are flying more or less equally, some will always be more active than others, but if one has little or no activity, make a note to inspect asap. Are all hives bringing in pollen? Generally it is a good sign, but a stock with a drone-laying queen will also bring in pollen – again make a note.

Inactive colonies may need attention, whereas active ones can usually be left alone for awhile, providing a 'heft' is given to ascertain that each hive has adequate stores. Lack of activity may be due to starvation, queenlessness, a blocked entrance or just a stock that is staying in cluster longer than it's neighbours, (a condition know as teenageitis). A closer check may be needed. Often some stocks will be busy while others are 'loitering' at the entrance, this is a sign of possible queenlessness.

If an evening observation is possible, check to see if all is quiet – no quantity of bees flying, if two are very active, watch their flight path. It is highly likely that one is robbing the other. This is often very difficult to stop - it may be best to let nature take its course, then sort it out when things calm down and no bees remain, have a clean up and put the robbed out combs on top of the robber hive, (providing there is no history of Foul Brood disease,) to be split later during May.

Is the area around the hive entrance clean or 'messy' with faeces plastered around? This is a sign of a distressed colony, perhaps queenless, possibly being, or has been, robbed out by its neighbours, or it may well be a sign of dysentry and/or Nosema disease. Again, make a note, followed up by a quick inspection as soon as possible. It is very common for the hive roofs (and local washing on the lines) to be dotted with dark yellow or brown spots in early Spring, the result of the bees having been on a cleansing flight, perhaps after some days or weeks of confinement due to cold or wet weather.

Are there any dead or dying bees or pupae on the alighting board? Or any on the ground? How many? A few dead adult bees may just be the result of a 'clear-out' of dead bees from over-wintering, but if large numbers of adult bees are seen starvation or possibly poisoning may be the cause. Check if the bees tongues are protruding. If yes, collect two samples of around 50 bees (a matchbox full) – one for your freezer and the other with full details to be sent to the NBU for analysis. If there are several pupae, some of which maybe deformed or shrunken, then Varroa and its associated Viruses are likely to be the cause. Action will be required soon.

Black and shiny bees may be seen at the entrance (or on top bars in the brood box), often trembling, and the cause may well be Bee Paralysis.

Do any bees have distorted wings, usually described as 'K Wing'? This may indicate either Virus problems or Acarine disease.

And finally, before you open any hive, what else is on the alighting board? Small particles of whitish or brown wax, usually indicate that the bees have had a clear-out (good housekeeping). If much larger lumps are seen, 5-8mm (¼”) in size, then it is likely that a mouse is in residence and needs to be evicted before more damage is done.

If you are fortunate and all looks OK, check all hive weights every two weeks and feed fondant, or at the end of March if the weather is warm enough, sugar syrup (2 to1mix). Remember, a dead colony is no use to man nor beast, and certainly won't get you any honey. Don Cooper

Don Cooper

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 4

Welcome to another issue of our ‘Bee Aware’ newsletter and another season of beekeeping. Of course the season never really stops but I refer to the more active season. As yet I have not been able to look inside any of my hives as it has been too cool, I have been eager to but unusually for me I have remained patient. That said do I really need to just yet. I have checked stores by hefting and then feeding fondant if I felt they needed it, I have watched the entrances and seen pollen going in, young bees on orientation flights, no drones and amongst the dead thrown out nothing untoward. I have put in the monitoring boards under the floors and found debris to show me where the colony is, cappings of stores and brood, pollen and the odd mouse dropping ! Plenty of flying bees when the sun shines for an hour or so and I hope a young queen in full lay ready to take advantage of the oil seed rape around the village which is now coming to life again after its dormant period. We have had a good start to the year, our AGM was well attended and Ged Marshall gave an excellent talk and an insight into the world of commercial bee farming and queen rearing. Our joint event with Norfolk beekeepers was a sell out with over a hundred beekeepers coming along for an interesting day at a good venue with good food and company. Your feedback for these events helps us plan the next one so please if you haven’t done so already drop Venetia a line or fill in her feedback form or chat to any committee member. At the AGM Don Cooper stood down as President after 6 years and Terry Gibson was elected as our new president. Les Flack stood down as our website manager and Kevin Winks took on the role and Andy Davies was confirmed as our new secretary after informally filling the role for the last 6 months. My thanks go to Don, Les and Rose for their past efforts and contributions. Welcome and thank you to Terry, Kevin and Andy for putting your hands up. It is always important to do a good disease check on your colonies early in the season, it is easier with less bees on the combs and there will be less brood to look at. This year I would say it is even more important to take time to do this, we are in an area where foul brood has a bit of a foothold so it is important to check that it has not been incubating amongst your colonies during the quieter months. We are all taught what good looks like, if you have any doubt about what you are looking at then please ask someone else for a second opinion, beekeeping friend, mentor, committee member, bee inspector, please don’t keep it to yourself. We are having a disease day in May which the committee have told me will be better and more informative than any of the previous, it will be interesting, informative and hands on. If you have never been to one then please come along. If you have been in the past and felt you didn’t really learn anything new or that it was a long session with little reward then please give it another try. If you learnt about disease and recognition years ago then make this year the year you pop back for a refresher and in addition learn about small hive beetle and the Asian hornet. We have a full calendar of events again this year it would be nice to meet some more of our near 200 members at any of them. Have a good start to a great season. Pete

Chairman

Peter Davies

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 5

An excellent turnout of just over 50 members came to the Association AGM. The committee are aware that the very words ‘Attending the AGM’ can drive people to drink or at best lose the will to carry on living with some AGMs being boringly long mundane affairs. However the event was moved along speedily whilst paying due reverence to all the important items. Most importantly of all was giving thanks to those people now retiring from active duty and welcoming those who took up the gauntlet in their place. Peter has itemised the changes in his article above.

Following a break for tea, coffee and a chat we then moved onto the Dunkley Memorial Talk. Last year you may remember we had the lady that talked about the waggle dance. If you missed it you were unlucky because you missed one of the most interesting talks I’ve ever been to on beekeeping.

This year, not to be outdone, we had Ged Marshall talking about his beekeeping year as a bee farmer.

Before Ged started he made a point of sharing an observation with us and I think it went something like this ‘It’s obvious that you are a friendly association, from what I’ve seen everyone is enjoying the day and talking to each other, it can only bode well for the future of your association. I don’t see this in many associations and believe me I do visit a lot’ .

If you think you’ve not got enough time to look after your 2 colonies, spare a thought for Ged who to make a living runs 200 hives, produces 10 tonnes of honey per year and if that isn’t enough he is a commercial

queen breeder and runs 600 Apidea mini nucs during the season and overwinters 60 poly nucs. He also runs queen rearing courses throughout the summer which I can personally recommend.

There were lots of little treasures of information that you could take away and build into your beekeeping routines. I particularly liked his novel idea to get an early season check on the state of his colonies. He gets his daughter to drive around the apiaries when frost is covering the hives; if the frost has melted on the roof then the bees are generating heat and if not then he could have a problem with that hive.

Ged was an excellent and interesting speaker, kept on topic and to time, leaving plenty of time for questions. He has a portfolio of several different topics that he can present—I’m sure we will see him back in the future. Martin Brandish

A Hockey Stick ????

Maybe it’s used for

culling queens!!

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 6

30 brave people turned up to a chilly and very windy apiary for the hive opening day. Needless to say opening the hives was the last thing we could do. Once again having the portacabin and toilet facility on site saved the day.

However Jill our education co-ordinator made sure that the afternoon was not wasted; far from it. Jill had previously taken home an association hive which had died out over winter from isolation starvation and used this to demonstrate what we should do in a similar situation. We were able to see how the hive had been scraped clean and scorched and also see (and smell) how acetic acid had been used to sterilise the hive and combs.

Using the magnetic teaching board along with the virtual hive and other hive components, Jill demonstrated the various stages of doing a Bailey comb change, a method used to change out all the brood combs at once using new foundation. It helps to improve colony health as a measure to fight against disease such as nosema, viruses and chalk brood. The procedure can be carried out from late March.

After an extensive question and answer session we retired to the shelter of the portacabin for tea / coffee cakes, sausage rolls and a good natter.

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 7

The BIBBA Bee Improvement Day was held at Dereham Salvation Army Hall, as a joint initiative

between WNKLBA and the Norfolk Bee-keepers Association. The general feeling was that it

was a complete success, due to 3 key points; an accomplished speaker, a good lunch and an

opportunity to socialise with like minded people.

Roger Patterson was the visiting speaker accompanied by his collie dog Nell, whom he had

trained to bark on order when he was about to start speaking. Roger spoke from 0900 until

1630 with tea and lunch breaks in between. Roger opened the lecture by stating that there are

many different kinds of bee-keeper, with a variety of aspirations and needs, this led on to him

laying out his bee improvement philosophy; the background theme being that there is no

established right way and perceived wisdom is always challengeable. He encouraged his

audience to work things out for themselves, rather than giving them the answers. To the

delight of most of the audience he would throw in the occasional wildly controversial

statement in order to test the strength of opinion, argue his point strongly with any opposition

and then quietly acquiesce; leaving the audience with the view that established teachings are a

good guide, but can and should always be questioned and every opinion is valuable and worth

listening to. For example he proposed that, if you have ever made a decision to reject one

queen cell in favour of another, then you are making judgements in the genetic make-up of

your colonies and have already started the business of queen breeding.

In the afternoon, he covered the details of various methods of queen rearing and the general

feeling was that he had saved the best until last. Nevertheless, even whilst he was discussing

the more esoteric technical details, he consistently returned to his theme of there being no

completely right way. He encouraged experimentation as a tool for learning and concluded

that if bees behave one way in trials, this is only a guide and they will always surprise you, no

matter how long you keep bees for. His final point was that he had been keeping bees for over

40 years and was still learning. This was a very entertaining and enjoyable day with an

innovative speaker who very much promoted a sideways train of thought.

Kev Winks

Some of the many other comments received good and bad!

…….. the speaker was very good and thought provoking….I would not expect everyone to hold

the same opinion I think he ruffled a few feathers.

……..the food was probably the best I have ever had at a training event.

…….Although Roger’s ideas can be controversial, there were several ideas that gave food for

thought regarding grading bees for temperament and calmness.

…...Mr Patterson is clearly not a professional speaker/presenter, but he evidently knows what he talks about [has a lot of experience], he holds strong opinions and did annoy quite a lot of people by airing them. But it was not that bad and looking beyond these issues I still really enjoyed the day.

……...A well-organised day in an exceptionally good venue

Our thanks must go to Venetia Rist and her team from both West Norfolk and Norfolk

Beekeepers for organising the event. We all know that you cannot please all of the people all of

the time but from feed back provided by delegates the day overall was a resounding success.

We will take the lessons learnt and build upon this success for further joint association events.

The day which we expected to subsidise, actually made a small profit of £120 for each

association—not bad when the food cost £6 a head!! M. Brandish

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 8

Sunday 3rd May 10am to 12:30pm, Walpole Cross Keys

109 Sutton Road, look for the signs in the village, park on

the field, no dogs please.

A chance to buy and sell a range of new and used

beekeeping equipment including hives without bees,

Nucs of bees, hive parts, tools, clothing and

associated equipment.

Note: All bees will be checked prior to being offered for

sale and all equipment will have been cleaned and

priced. Bees for sale can be inspected from 11am. You

will need your suit and clean gloves. Bees purchased on the day will be available to

collect later that evening or by arrangement.

Weather permitting there will also be a beekeeping demonstration that

you can participate in, please bring your suit and clean gloves. Why not

have a cup of tea while you catch up with fellow members.

Who needs one of

those newfangled

‘Flow Hives’ when

you can have one

of these??

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 9

Taster Sessions In Beekeeping

As many of you know, we run four beekeeping ‘Taster Sessions’ during the season for members of the public who are interested in taking up beekeeping.

The ‘Taster Sessions’ take place at one of WNKLBA’s apiaries on Sunday afternoons 2.00-4.00pm. The places are pre-booked, cost £10.00 per head, and we accept ten people per session. I give them a talk about bees and beekeeping in general, then we put them in bee suits and open a couple of hives, showing bees, the brood box with eggs, larva, and sealed brood, plus supers and stores.

Having completely inexperienced members of the public in the apiary means I need two extra helpers at each session, to ensure safety. Generally people are so fascinated by the bees they want to ask many questions. Any members who have passed their BBKA Basic Assessments are eligible to help on these sessions, and I would much appreciate participation from these members.

The dates for 2015 we require help for are as follows:

Sunday 19th April at Blackborough End

Sunday 21st June and Sunday 19th July at Blackborough End

Please get in touch with me if you would like to help at one of these sessions.

Many thanks.

Judy Heal (01263) 862569 judyheal@dsl.pipex.com

Friday 6th & Saturday 7th June—Bee Aware @ Oxborough Hall. 11:00am

to 4:00pm.

Members helping in our marquee get in free, other persons pay normal NT entrance

fee—email Jill Tinsey at jandk.tinsey@tiscali.co.uk and indicate if you could do

morning / afternoon or if you would be available to help set up Friday pm / take down

Saturday pm.

Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th July—Holkham Game & Country Fair

Members who do at least a 2 hour slot in the marquee will either be given a free ticket or their

entrance fee refunded—email Jill Tinsey at jandk.tinsey@tiscali.co.uk and indicate if you could

do morning / afternoon or if you would be available to help set up Friday pm / take down

Sunday pm.

Wednesday 29th July—Sandringham Flower Show. 9:00am to 6:00pm. Members who do at least a 2 hour slot in the marquee will either be given a free ticket or their

entrance fee refunded - email Stuart Grant at stuartbgrant1@tiscali.co.uk and indicate if you

could do morning / afternoon or if you would be available to help set up Tuesday pm/ take

down Wednesday pm.

Wednesday 26th August—Felbrigg Honey Show. 11:00am to 5:00pm. Free entry and car parking for all —email Martin at m.j.brandish@talk21.com and indicate if

you could do morning / afternoon or if you would be available to help set up from about

9:00am and take down after the show.

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 10

What about taking your Basic Assessment in Beekeeping in 2015?

This could be the year for you to take your Basic Assessment in Beekeeping. If you have managed at least one colony of bees for a minimum of 12 months you are eligible. In the West Norfolk and Kings Lynn Beekeepers Association we recommend you to have kept bees for two years, to have done the Introductory Beekeeping Course followed by the Improvers Course. However, this is not set in stone. Many members have come into beekeeping via different routes. As the spring progresses and you start to open your colonies, try to assess how far your beekeeping knowledge has progressed.

Last year several people took their Basic Assessments, some experienced beekeepers who should have taken it some time back, and some new beekeepers. As an Association we have many experienced beekeepers who are happy to help the more novice members improve their beekeeping skills. Don’t be shy to ask for help.

The Assessment is an oral and practical test help at the Blackborough End apiary conducted by a BBKA Assessor. Applications need to be made via the Exam Secretary at least one month before the date proposed to take the Assessment. All assessments should be completed by 31st August. The Assessment Fee is £15.00, and if you pass you get a certificate and a badge, which we like to present at our Bekeepers Quiz and Presentation Evening in the Autumn. This means you become eligible to help at Association practical days at the apiary, and, above all, you have taken your first step to becoming a more proficient beekeeper.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me if you need any more help of information.

Judy Heal

EXAM SECRETARY

judyheal@dsl.pipex.com Melton Constable (01263) 862569

For Sale

Green Bee Apiaries offer for sale;

Full production colonies in National hives.- overwintered colonies with a 2014 queen.

5 frame Nuc's- overwintered, 2014 queen.

Available now, call Brian Gemmell on 01945 880837, email greenbee@Hotmail.com

Wanted

Large and small quantities of beeswax, any amount and any condition considered.

APIDEA mating nuc’s

Pete Davies 01553 827008 or bebes109@aol.com

Judy Heal

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 11

Ambrosia Syrup

New lower price negotiated . Ideal for Spring build up and building up NUCs —

now only £14 per 12.5kg drum contact Pete Davies, wnklba.chair@gmail.com

1lb Round Glass Jars & Gold Lids

Last two boxes. Box of 72 with lids is now only £20.35

Contact Pete Davies for availability, wnklba.chair@gmail.com

12.5kg Ambrosia Fondant (5 * 2.5kg)

For winter feeding (long shelf life so ok for next year as well

Contact Pete Davies for availability, wnklba.chair@gmail.com

Sweat Shirts £20 and Polo Shirts £16

Good quality by ‘Fruit of the Loom’

Colours, Forest Green, Navy, Red and Black

The WNKBLA logo is embroided on the left chest

Sizes are Small, Medium, Large. X Large, XX Large.

Fleeces £26

Good quality by ‘Grizzly’

Colours navy or black

The WNKBLA logo is embroided on the left chest

Sizes are Small, Medium, Large. X Large, XX Large.

Phone your order to Pat Duhig on 01553 828651.

Payment would appreciated at time of order by cheque, or bank details can be given

for you to transfer payment into the WNKLBA account.

Collection of your order is by arrangement or can be posted to you direct for £2.60 per.

item.

WNKLBA, Bee Aware— April 2015 Page 12

Contact Don for sales of full colonies, nucs,

30lb buckets of honey & advice on all things bees!

Pipiriki, Chapel Road, Roughton NR11 8QP

01263 761517

don@pipiriki.co.uk

Good Stock of Thorne's & Maisemore equipment.

Hives, Frames, Smokers, Veils, Foundation,

Extractors, Honey Jars, Varroa Mesh Floors Etc.

Both Economy and Top Quality Items- It’s nice to have a choice!

Alby Craft Centre, Cromer Road, Erpingham, NR11 7QE.

07947 880163

helen@worldofbees.co.uk

Open Wednesday to Sunday inclusive. 10.30am to 5pm

West Norfolk and King’s Lynn Beekeepers’ Association carries the

following advertisements for Beekeeping and related products. The

Association make no representation, expressed or implied as to the

suitability of any such products and accepts no liability for any products

supplied as a result of any such advertisement.

We would like you to contribute any articles, stories or funny observations related to

beekeeping you may have to share with your fellow members.

Please submit them to Martin email: wnklba.editor@gmail.com