Diary of an Incompetent Beekeeper

Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen

2012-01-20T21:35:00.003Z

Elementary beekeeping. For reasons beyond me, this book is listed on Amazon at £470.36.

Balkanların gözbebeği Kosova'da arıcılık

2012-01-11T22:41:00.000Z

How about this for some serious beekeeping: http://fatihmazrek.blogspot.com/

Christmas Comment

2012-01-03T10:02:00.000Z

Kelly Jacobs commented on this blog: "I recieved 9 Bee books for Christmas 2011. I plan on being a Bee Keeper in 2012. The Complete Idiot's Guide for Beekeepers is my favorite of the pile. I also enjoyed a video where Dean spoke for an hour...with constant interuptions. I like the no chemical direction of the book and educational materials. It's better for planet earth."

Remember, you only have to read 50 books on any subject to become an expert.

Travels in Blood and Honey

2011-12-22T17:25:00.001Z

This looks interesting - more the Kosovo part than the beekeeping. Any reviews?

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosovo

Herbie Quirk and Peter Gadge

2011-12-13T09:52:00.000Z

The Isle of Man Beekeepers' Federation (see article at http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/district-news/honey_monsters_1_4006283) glories in the Herbie Quirk Memorial Trophy.

The Wimbledon Beekeeper's Association has the Peter Gadge Memorial Cup. None of us can remember what it is for.

Is it me?

2011-12-12T21:26:00.000Z

This site, http://www.surreybeekeeper.co.uk/, looks really interesting, but somehow isn't.

Have I been a curmudgeon all my life? Not yet.

It's not always about the bees

2011-11-26T22:47:00.001Z

Esox Lucius, 19lbs

Cheeky chappie

2011-11-17T21:00:00.000Z

Should this be on Photoshop Disasters?

Fearless hack Daisy Wallage (daisy.wallage@archant.co.uk) writes on EDP 24, the Region's Daily Morning Newspaper of the Year (eh?). She reports television personality (eh?) and beekeeper Bill Turnbull as saying “I don’t really do it for the honey – I do it more to commune with the bees and get closer to nature."

Bill has written a book, The Bad Beekeepers' Club, published in the US as Confessions of a Bad Beekeeper.

Reviews anyone?

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/broadcaster_bill_turnbull_on_honey_hives_and_the_canaries_1_1127730

Old habits die hard

2011-11-16T13:49:00.001Z

Home for retired beekeepers?

My least favourite task, extracting, is complete. The settling tank contains about 50lbs of honey. About twice as much again decorates the interior of the shed plus implements, my clothing and me. I tried using a paint stripper heat gun to pop the cappings. Fun, but ineffective, I found, and I resorted to knife-wielding violence. Old habits die hard.

Is it April Fools' Day?

2011-11-09T16:42:00.001Z

Here is what Philips says: "The design of the beehive is unconventional, appealing, and respects the natural behavior of the bees. It consists of two parts: entry passage and flower pot outside, and glass vessel containing an array of honeycomb frames, inside. The glass shell filters light to let through the orange wavelength which bees use for sight. The frames are provided with a honeycomb texture for bees to build their wax cells on. Smoke can be released into the hive to calm the bees before it is opened, in keeping with established practice."

This urinal-shaped hive is intended to be hung on a wall or pane of glass, with the white bit on the outside and the orange blob on the inside. Seems like an invitation to disaster. A few tugs of the cord from my enthusiastic children would test the hive well beyond destruction, emptying bees into my luxurious boudoir, to the dismay of all. And I wouldn’t wear that dress when beekeeping.

http://www.design.philips.com/philips/sites/philipsdesign/about/design/designportfolio/design_futures/design_probes/projects/microbial_home/urban_beehive.page

PS. What is an 'orange wavelength,' exactly?

Bad glove day

2011-10-30T21:24:00.002Z

Gardening gloves are poor substitutes for the real thing (Marigolds). Bees get stuck in the elasticated wrist thingies, and can wiggle underneath inside the glove, as my fat fingers now testify.

Note to self: at twenty yards away, the shed is not too far for a quick trip to pick up the correct equipment...

Scully and Mulder

2011-10-25T23:42:00.000+01:00

First I saw http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15439754

This links to http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/07/12/137798639/truck-crash-released-14-million-angry-bees-and-honey-on-highway

Which led me to http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Bee

I must get out more.

Crowded House

2011-10-04T13:30:00.000+01:00

Fascinating presentation from the regional bee inspector, Alan Byham. He mentioned that around 15 colonies at one location was a sensible maximum (we have double that), and that London generally is over-crowded with bees.

http://www.crowdedhouse.com/

Clearing supers

2011-09-29T12:32:00.000+01:00

In the past, prior to removing supers, I have used either Canadian or Porter bee escapes, with varying lack of success.

This year, in haste I simply shook and brushed as many bees off as possible, and sealed the remainder into the super. Not great.

Back home, I undid the supers to release the trapped bees... And lo and behold, they all, without exception, flew off (back to the hive?) leaving me with bee-free combs.

https://secure.thorne.co.uk/popup/hhard31.htm

Winter of our content

2011-09-28T23:23:00.000+01:00

Both hives now tucked up for the winter. Apiguard is on, and each hive has a deep brood box with a full super above it (and one hive has another partially full super above that). All that remains is finishing the Apiguard treatment, and wrapping with chicken wire against woodpeckers.

HAPPY coincidence?

2011-09-26T21:53:00.002+01:00

Google picked up this bizarre juxtaposition of theatre listings, from http://www.flintshirechronicle.co.uk/entertainment-flintshire/2011/09/26/theatres-november-18-onwards-59067-29489103/:

LIMELIGHT Productions present this moving play by Charlotte Jones. Felix Humble, bumbling Cambridge astrophysicist and cricket enthusiast, returns to the family home following the sudden death of his father. This touching comedy looks at broken vows, failed hopes and the joys of beekeeping. Call 01244 341296 or visit www.chestertheatre.co.uk.
JUST ONE DAY (The Lowry, Salford Quays, September 29-October 1)
HAPPY Collective Theatre present a play about sexual violence and the F-word. When Girl 29 is drug-raped, the friendship between Shona, Sheldon and Janet is stretched. This authentic and beautifully told account of female solidarity depicts women who refuse to be defined by victimhood and whose intelligence and wit are not decoration or bravado, but won through courage and love. Call 0843 208 6000 or visit www.thelowry.com.

Why would a group called 'HAPPY Collective Theatre' choose such a play? I shall stick with beekeeping.

Three full supers

2011-09-24T23:15:00.000+01:00

Finally, finally, late in the season (see pic) and with the usual comedy of errors, I have taken the honey off the hives. Notes to self are:

- Paintbrush handles, toothbrushes and pruning saws make poor substitutes for a forgotten hive tool
- Bees can sting through just about anything if they are angry enough
- Driving home is a bad time to learn that there are bees in the car

Despite or because of my lack of intervention, yield this year is good: three full WBC supers from each hive.

Over the coming winter I am running one hive 'warm way,' the other 'cold way,' both with open mesh floors. In terms of honey yield, there is no difference.

Killer bees

2011-09-18T22:41:00.001+01:00

After avoiding it for aaaaages, I managed to get stung putting an empty super back in the shed.

When asked why he accepted the role in the truly awful "The Swarm," Michael Caine replied "Coz the wife wanted a new swimming pool." What was Katherine Ross' excuse?

Honey Laundering

2011-09-18T13:14:00.000+01:00

The Food Programme, on BBC Radio Four at 12:30 UK time:

The highest court in the EU has just issued a ruling concerning GM pollen and honey, which will have far-reaching implications both for the honey trade and beyond. As global demand grows year on year, could the EU be facing a honey shortage?

Back ache

2011-09-17T22:38:00.000+01:00

I can assure you it is a very poor idea to lift three full supers at one time.

Do bees tweet?

2011-09-13T20:00:00.000+01:00

http://twitter.com/#!/alhunter

Better late than never...

2011-09-12T20:29:00.000+01:00

Mayor launches ‘Capital Bee’ campaign to boost bee numbers in London

16 DECEMBER 2010

http://www.london.gov.uk/media/press_releases_mayoral/mayor-launches-%E2%80%98capital-bee%E2%80%99-campaign-boost-bee-numbers-london

Readers' hives

2011-09-05T14:48:00.002+01:00

Beautiful pics showing a hive move, from a blog entitled "LOVE COOK CREATE KNIT."

http://sandstone-sandstone.blogspot.com/2010/06/moving-bee-hive.html

You cannot be serious!

2011-09-02T11:30:00.000+01:00

"Bees are the most fascinating creatures on the planet. They collect tree resins and gums to make propolis, which is the greatest antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal system in the world. They use it to plug every crack in the hive, but Florence Nightingale used it in the Crimea for its healing properties. I’ve been asked by a major airline to look into making a propolis mist to spray into the cabins. The beehive — a totally sterile environment — is nature’s pharmacy."

On what evidence is propolis the greatest antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal system on earth? Is the beehive is a totally sterile environment? (No nosema, acarine, IPV, AFB or EFB should just about do it. And no bees, either.)

The author runs a bee medical products web site, medibee.

See http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article5039587.ece and http://www.medibee.co.uk/

Attention Deficit Disorder

2011-09-01T21:28:00.000+01:00

One pupil was a regular visitor to the school's behavioural support house because of his violent outbursts of kicking, punching and throwing furniture around. While he struggled with academic work, he discovered that he excelled at the the practical side of beekeeping: making the wooden frames that go into the hive, and dismantling the hive to access the honey. When the Guardian's bees expert, Alison Benjamin, visited the school, the pupil told her: "The bees made me peaceful and calm."

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/09/teaching-beekeeping-children-behavior.php

I Have Got To Get Me One Of These

2011-08-31T20:35:00.001+01:00

larger image

Bee Venom Mask

Starting at:

Nature's Botox A natural alternative to botox and the first product of its kind. It's sure to create a buzz within your beauty routine. This unique product has been specially created using natural and organic ingredients, combined to work in synergy for an instant anti-ageing effect

Containing Manuka Honey, renowned for its soothing and healing properties, it also contains the magic Bee Venom ingredient that works to control the facial muscles for immediate lifting, tightening and firming, whilst getting to work on frown lines and wrinkles

Bee Venom Mask also contains ingredients of softening and calming Shea Butter, Rose and Lavender essential oils - leaving you looking your youthful best. Apply Heaven Bee Venom mask daily and leave on the skin for 20 minutes before washing off and your skin will look and feel instantly younger and smoother

Apply morning/evening on top of moisturiser and leave on.

Patch test recommended.

I promise you, I am not making this up! It really is for sale...
http://www.skincareorganics.co.uk/bee-venom-mask-p-206.html?zenid=22771673429e458723f239d68e5d10a1

Pin Stripes

2011-08-30T20:28:00.002+01:00

The CEO of the London Stock Exchange, one Xavier Rolet, keeps bees.

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/stripesuited-workers-create-a-new-buzz-at--stock-exchange-2345866.html

Other plans

2011-08-28T09:49:00.000+01:00

The master plan to take the supers off and stick in the Apiguard have gone to pot. The bees are still doing their stuff, and the hives are full to overflowing.

Is there any particular reason to rush?

Invitation to view Halil Bilen's Gallery

2011-08-23T11:37:00.000+01:00

You are invited to view Halil Bilen's photo gallery.

Deja vu

2011-08-20T21:02:00.002+01:00

Nice pic. Haven't I seen this feller before, though? Come to think of it, do I detect some recycling going on here at The Grauniad? http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2011/aug/02/urban-bees

Premier cru

2011-08-20T20:54:00.003+01:00

The Grauniad, 7 August 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/07/urban-beekeeping

Nice pic. Mind you, I would be seriously hacked off carrying full supers down that ladder.

See you in court

2011-08-19T19:47:00.000+01:00

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14586359

London offices offered bee hives to 'boost work morale'

Law firm Olswang is hosting two bee hives

Businesses in central London are being offered free bee hives to see if they will enhance office morale.

InMidtown, a group representing firms in Holborn, Bloomsbury and St Giles, said it has offered hives to 560 businesses in a pilot scheme.
The scheme hopes hosting apiaries will aid team building in firms and add to the urban food production.
Five businesses who have signed up are hosting 40,000 bees in eight hives on their roofs and terraces.
Employees of the host businesses will be trained to assist professional beekeepers to care for the hives and harvest honey.
Dr Susan Parham, head of urbanism at the University of Hertfordshire, will monitor the impact of hosting hives in a working environment.
Bee-friendly flowers Law firm Olswang has signed up to the project and has a bee hive on its roof and another on a terrace in Holborn. It said the bees were a "very docile" variety.
"It just seemed like a great project and staff absolutely love it," said Sam Hudson, corporate responsibility executive at the firm.

Up to 560 firms are being offered free bee hives

Once a week 20 staff members don bee suits to check on the hives with a professional, and the firm hopes to harvest its first batch of honey this autumn.
"We are going to sell it off to our staff and raise money for our charity partner Coram. Hopefully give some to our clients as well," Ms Hudson said.
Tass Mavrogordato, chief executive of InMidtown, said the pilot scheme aimed to tap into the business benefits of hosting apiaries.
She said: "To ensure there is enough food from the off we've been filling five bike-lock planters with bee-friendly flowers since last autumn, with a further 20 planters installed along with the new hives."

Beekeeping would be just dandy without the bees

2011-07-08T23:48:00.000+01:00

At the start of this year, I thought it wise [uh-oh] to swap from a brood-and-a-half to a single deep brood box. To do so, I added the deep brood on top of the existing brood boxes, the idea being that the bees would move up.

Let me give you the picture: starting from the bottom, this hive has a brood box, super-as-brood box, and a new deep brood box, then the queen excluder, and four supers above for stores. The thing is taller than I am.

Later in the season [now, in fact] I planned to take the old lower brood boxes away, and the girls would be on nice new frames in the deep brood box.

The sisterhood, of course, had other plans [beekeeping would be just dandy without the bees].

The brood was, and has been all season, across almost all the frames in all three boxes. The colony is positively heaving with bees. They show no sign of abandoning their comfy old accommo, and have simply expanded into the penthouse flat above, as well.

One of the main reasons I tried to shift the bees onto new frames by stealth was the desire to avoid the brute force of a Bailey comb change (http://www.wimbledonbeekeepers.co.uk/Bailey%20Comb%20Change.pdf) or shook swarm (http://www.northdevonbees.org/member_pages/advice_sub2.htm).

Even though this colony is a towering [literally] monument to incompetence, the good news is that the four supers are almost full and capped.

EFB

2011-07-05T21:49:00.000+01:00

Checked hive Alpha. No sign of EFB.

Fear glitters in my eyes

2011-06-23T21:00:00.003+01:00

From our newsletter: "So now for the bad news, it has been reported that EFB (European Foul Brood) has been found in a colony just outside our radius of concern. We don’t have an exact location but the Bee Inspectors are on the case."

Go on, 'ave a fag (part deux)

2011-06-23T14:02:00.000+01:00

Nicotinoids

The nicotinoids are a new class of insecticides with a new mode of action. They have been previously referred to as nitro-quanidines, neonicotinyls, neonicotinoids, chloronicotines, and more recently as the chloronicotinyls. Just as the synthetic pyrethroids are similar to and modeled after the natural pyrethrins, so too, are the nicotinoids similar to and modeled after the natural nicotine. Imidacloprid was introduced in Europe and Japan in 1990 and first registered in the U.S. in 1992. It is currently marketed as several proprietary products worldwide, e.g., Admire(r), Confidor(r),Gaucho(r), Merit(r), Premier(r), Premise(r) and Provado(r). Very possibly it is used in the greatest volume globally of all insecticides.

Imidacloprid is a systemic insecticide, having good root-systemic characteristics and notable contact and stomach action. It is used as a soil, seed or foliar treatment in cotton, rice cereals, peanuts, potatoes, vegetables, pome fruits, pecans and turf, for the control of sucking insects, soil insects, whiteflies, termites, turf insects and the Colorado potato beetle, with long residual control. Imidacloprid has no effect on mites or nematodes.

Other nicotinoids include acetamiprid (Mospilan(r)), thiamethoxam (Actara(r), Platinum(r)), and nitenpyram (Bestguard(r)). All are pursuing U.S. registration.

Mode of action--The nicotinoids act on the central nervous system of insects, causing irreversible blockage of postsynaptic nicotinergic acetylcholine receptors (See also Nicotine under the Botanicals).

From http://www-infocris.iaea.org/ididas/w3.exe$SSPage?Show=12&ID=141

Treehugger

2011-06-18T22:08:00.006+01:00

This is from http://www.treehugger.com/. I must get out more...

Drought

2011-06-16T22:15:00.005+01:00

Ever since the weathermen have been cheeping about a drought, it has been raining. Chucked it down. Hissed down. Come down in stair-rods. Cats and Dogs.

Fellow beekeepers report seeing their honey stores dwindling already. I shall leave the supers on until, I think, the Autum Term starts.

Pic from http://eurodogtraining.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-raining-cats-and-dogs.html

New learnings

2011-06-12T22:12:00.000+01:00

Next on the list of top tips is uncapping frames - with our trusty friend the electric paint stripper (see 21 April 2011).

Legend has it that a swift blast from a paint stripper is enough to pop the cappings off prior to centrifugal extraction. No more faffing about with a hot knife, an uncapping fork or endless cursing. Zap 'em, instead.

Wearing an apron is wise.

New learnings

2011-06-11T23:11:00.000+01:00

Sneaking a couple of cigarettes into the smoker is the latest Top Tip. Apparently the nicotine stupefies the bees super-fast.

These New Learnings - research-based, apparently - immediately raise questions. Who on earth thought of trying nicotine as a smoke additive, and which tobacco brand works best?

How long is a piece of string?

2011-06-10T20:42:00.001+01:00

How long can you leave full supers on a hive?

Both hives are heaving with bees - shedloads, to use the technical term - and very defensive. Clearing the supers with Porter or Canadian bee escapes will be a slow process, and even then there will probably be quite a few left behind.

Instead, can I leave the supers on the hives until the number of bee starts to decline? Then, clearing them could be a doddle. How long can I leave them? Until the end of August? Later?

How long is a piece of string?

[Actually, the answer is the cube root of a handful.]

Shedloads

2011-06-09T23:54:00.001+01:00

The bees are going gangbusters - and there are *lots* of them, even now. Shedloads, in fact.

One shedload = heaps and heaps
Heaps = buckets and buckets
Bucket = armfuls
Armful = dozens of handfuls
Handful = about this much, squire

The linear equivalent of a handful is a piece of string, or a fisherman's pike.

Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer

2011-05-26T18:12:00.003+01:00

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Beekeeping, by Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer, available on Amazon. Anyone read it? The review on Amazon is worryingly worthy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1615640118/ref=pe_98741_25196441_snp_dp

Deep and tall

2011-05-24T12:16:00.000+01:00

Much of my beekeeping is not exactly well-planned. I mean, I keep notes for each hive and have a definite objective each time I visit, but that's no substitute for thinking, unfortunately.

The brood box on one hive could do with changing. Scrotty* old foundation, tons of propolis - you get the picture. Reading up on performing a Bailey comb change put me off completely. Instead, I went for the the following: stick a new (deep) brood box on top of the current brood. The idea is that the bees all migrate upwards, and at the end of the season or next spring, I can remove the tatty old brood.

Great.

Except when I opened the hive, I had failed to note in my meticulous planning that this hive has a standard brood and a super acting as a brood. With the new deep brood on top, I how have a hive almost taller than me....

How, exactly, will I manage to lift off full supers?

*Does scrotty" come from "scrotum"? Said of various people (the late Robin Cook being a victim when it was revealed he had had an affair): "If that's what his face looks like, God alone knows what his scrotum looks like."

Going anywhere nice?

2011-05-05T21:35:00.000+01:00

Once again, the bees have outwitted me... by swarming, and choosing to do so while I was on holiday. Did they go anywhere nice?

Wax moth

2011-04-30T10:55:00.002+01:00

Hmmm... Saw a few moths in the hive. Not happy.

The Naked Beekeeper

2011-04-28T12:26:00.002+01:00

Phil Chandler, sporting a natty hat, is The Barefoot Beekeeper. Nothing particularly new in his views, as far as I can tell (not very far, probably), but clearly a man of passion.

The Barefoot Beekeeper has a certain ring to it. "The Naked Beekeeper" is even more enticing (if a little worrying, thinking about vulnerable protuberances). And 'naked beekeeper' gets some unpleasant hits on Google...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/beekeeping/8458894/Meet-the-barefoot-beekeeper.html

Polystyrene BS National hives and Germ-Free Adolescents

2011-04-27T22:49:00.008+01:00

Take a look at http://www.wealdplacefarmbees.co.uk/hives.php for a new way to house your bees in polystyrene hives.

On a related note, Poly Styrene, lead singer of X-Ray Spex, died yesterday.

Pssst! Wanna buy a beehive?

2011-04-26T22:49:00.001+01:00

I never quite know how to take stories like this: "Beekeeping enthusiasts stung by thieves as hives in Kent are stolen to order" http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/news/Beekeepers-stung-thieves/article-3469552-detail/article.html , Thursday, April 21

Who is stealing the hives? How do they sell them? How utterly bizarre! There must be easier things to steal...

Taking the pith

2011-04-24T22:27:00.009+01:00

Take a look at this excellent blog: http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/

These guys, Sheri and David Burns, share *tons* of interesting stuff - and a few Bible quotes, to boot.

And if you're interested in a plastic pith helmet, complete with veil, here's the link you have been looking for: http://www.honeybeesonline.com/servlet/Detail?no=52

First degree burns

2011-04-21T21:31:00.008+01:00

At the start of each year, I attempt to sterilise frames, boxes and excluders with a blowtorch. A fair number of frames simply catch fire, and many others are charred beyond recognition. The boxes and excluders never look quite the same again.

Not any more.

Step forward my ancient Bosch heat gun paint stripper, complete with nozzle thingy that could have been purpose-designed for blasting into the nooks and crannies of a hive. The 'high' heat setting is perfect; propolis melts and runs away like water, and wax disappears in a puff of delicious smoke.

No burns, no mess. Nice.

Spotty dotty disease

2011-04-20T19:37:00.002+01:00

As I spring-cleaned one hive, I noticed that the (solid) floor was covered in debris, like very fine sawdust or dark sand. Not sure what's going on here. My second hive has a mesh floor, so I have no comparison.

Tea Urn?

2011-04-14T20:43:00.001+01:00

For some time, I have been trying to figure out how best to combine a settling tank with the bottling process.

Last year, with around 50lbs of honey per hive extracted, I struggled with umpteen 15lb tubs. Using a twin-mesh filter and muslin, it takes aaaaages to bottle. If only I could (a) have one large settling tank that (b) warmed the honey and (c) had a tap for easy pouring.

Tea Urn?

Breeding sheep resistant to wolves

2011-04-07T22:37:00.001+01:00

Neat article here, http://pubs.acs.org/cen/business/89/8913bus1.html, about using integrated pest management and, in effect, trying to breed varroa resistance.

This is from Chemical & Engineering News, C&EN to its friends.

Ziplocks

2011-04-05T20:01:00.001+01:00

Catching and killing bees for a health inspection seems wasteful. After crossing fingers, arms and legs that the colony survives the winter, it seems particularly rough to murder even one bee, let alone the thirty or so needed.

Still, the cull was less than expected.

After turning the house up-side down for the beekeeper's Weapon of Choice (empty matchboxes) to catch the bees, it struck me that ziplock bags would be just the thing.

Wrong. Ziplock bags as bee-catching kit ranks right up there with using mothballs to kill varroa.

Catching the first ten is pretty straightforward, and I'm sure that if I had thought it through it would have worked. But that would mean thinking it through, a foreign country peopled with demons. In essence, every time you open the bag to catch a few more... Well, you can guess the rest.

Note to self: don't be fooled by a Good Idea.

Maiden aunts and hookers

2011-04-04T22:35:00.000+01:00

BBKA News, formerly a somewhat worthy, researchy and politicky newswletter printed on plain paper has gone all glossy. It's like seeing a maiden aunt in hooker's gear.

Oddly, she carries it off rather well. Annoyingly, I cannot find an image of the new woman, so here is her older, dowdier self:

I wonder what the bigger, glossier brother title, Beecraft, will make of it all?

Fondant

2011-04-02T22:09:00.001+01:00

For the first time, the bees are actually taking the fondant.

Each hive has a single packet of Dr Oetker's Regal-Ice Ready to Roll Icing on it. Nicely, the contents are in a plastic foil pack, which can be neatly sliced open to sit on top of the crown board. The bees are chewing through the fondant, making rippled channels as they dig deeper and deeper.

How many bees make a summer?

2011-03-21T22:34:00.000Z

Took a look at both hives yesterday... masses of bees flying, bringing in pollen. Good signs, at least, as long as the fair weather persists.

Waxy Beelegs Honey

2010-09-07T18:43:00.005+01:00

Redfish commented, about the 100lbs honey crop from two hives, "sounds great, do you sell your honey?"

No, I do not sell my honey. My incompetent beekeeping is dwarfed by my incompetent extraction and bottling, resulting in honey laced with wax and bees' legs. It may be crunchy, but boy it tastes good.

Thank you for the comment, Redfish.

Image from http://www.fishdeco.com/.

Global warming causes bees

2010-09-06T17:36:00.002+01:00

This article "UK study finds city bees healthier than country bees" http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=70548 is made immeasurably more interesting by a collection of beautifully idiotic comments, such as:

"It's not only their diet but there is a much more diverse culture in city life. It makes you a more rounded bee and your tolerance level to change is much higher. I can imagine a lot of bees would love city life"
and
"And then there is global warming. Cities are warmer due to the urban heat island effect. One can only conclude that global warming causes bees."

Varroa and hubris

2010-08-25T19:58:00.008+01:00

Treated both hives for varroa using Apiguard. The first trays went in two weeks ago, and I felt all smug to have started the treatment while the weather remained warm. Of course, the temperature promply sunk (it's around 16C and pouring with rain as I write).

Pic from http://www.vita-europe.com/

Bees trap Deputy inside car

2010-08-18T11:53:00.002+01:00

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/08/17/north.carolina.bee.swarm/index.html#fbid=M9EJ1bgNG2_&wom=false

Crop

2010-08-16T22:54:00.000+01:00

From two hives, a total of 47kg - slightly more than 100lbs in old money.

Schadenfreude

2010-07-06T19:42:00.003+01:00

A fellow beekeeper, immeasurably more competent than I, accidentally killed his queen. The bees subsequently brought on a few queen cells to create a replacement. When he inspected the hive, he tore down all but one new queen cell... which he then broke as he reassembled the hive.

There but for the guilt of schadenfreude....

Grrrr

2010-06-30T23:12:00.001+01:00

Max, the apiary warden, rang to say that there was a clump of bees dangling on the outside of the hive... The cast I had tried to unite with the colony seems to have decided not to join the fun.

Max has kindly offered to chuck 'em back in.

Swarm capture

2010-06-30T19:00:00.002+01:00

This very small swarm turned out to be a cast, with no queen. Rather than bring them on as a small nuc, I tried to unite the new bees (using the newspaper process) with an existing colony. As I left the apiary, there was an *almighty* fight going on in front of the hive....

Melliferapter

2010-06-22T19:39:00.001+01:00

mellifera=honey-bearing, pter=winged. You Heard It Here First.

Loss of journalist could be a boost to UK economy

2010-06-22T10:42:00.006+01:00

In my highly scientific double-blind* numeric bumblebee survey, my garden is absolutely infested with the hairy buzzers, and I don't believe a word of this PANIC NOW journalism.

*both eyes closed - what do you expect, competence?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10371300.stm

A Practical Manual of Beekeeping

2010-06-20T13:27:00.000+01:00

My best bee-reading to-date is A Practical Manual of Beekeeping: How to Keep Bees and Develop Your Full Potential as an Apiarist, by David Cramp.

Genuinely outstanding, and in parts very funny, too. Hugely recommended.

Budget Cuts Affect Beekeeping Shock

2010-06-18T19:40:00.001+01:00

The wordy "When you earnestly believe you can compensate for a lack of skill by doubling your efforts, there's no end to what you can't do" has become the economical "Confusing effort with results."

Daily Telegraph

2010-06-16T19:31:00.001+01:00

Middle class fad for bee keeping sees doubling in number of hives

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/7808793/Middle-class-fad-for-bee-keeping-sees-doubling-in-number-of-hives.html

"The British British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said there are now more than 80,000 hives registered in Britain, compared to 40,000 in 2007.

"The organisation said there has been an increase in the number of honey bees in Britain over the last two years from 23 billion to 48 billion."

Heater bees

2010-06-14T19:43:00.002+01:00

Edited extract from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007vrx7

Seen in the visible spectrum, all bees may look the same. In the infra-red spectrum, it is clear that some bees are warmer than others. Some glow bright orange like hot coals, radiating heat to their surroundings. Others are dark and cool.

Heat is concentrated in one central area of the hive, the brood nest, where young bee pupae are growing. A bee that may appear relatively still, when looked at in infra-red is glowing bright orange, revealing its role as a specialist heater bee.

The bee warms itself up by vibrating its flight muscles - vibrations that allow it to warm up to 44 degrees centigrade, previously thought to be high enough to kill it. Others that seem to be grabbing a quiet snooze are actually tight little balls of fire that are acting to keep the brood warm.

More than two thirds of the hive's honey goes on the central heating of the colony. A rarely seen moment is caught on camera when an exhausted heater bee is topped up by a refuelling bee just returned from foraging.

By controlling the temperature, heater bees control the destiny of the young. Incubated at 34 degress, the newly born bees are likely to become humble housekeepers, but kept just one and a half degrees warmer, they may instead turn into intelligent and high-ranking foragers, living up to 10 times longer.

Something Turkish in Israel

2010-06-13T16:39:00.000+01:00

Roots & Shoots

2010-06-11T19:54:00.000+01:00

If you want to take people to see beehives, here's a wonderful organisation in South London: http://www.rootsandshoots.org.uk/wildlife-garden/school-visits.php

Exeter Express & Echo - bumbling picture editor

2010-06-09T19:12:00.000+01:00

http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/best-bees/article-2280301-detail/article.html

Article from The Telegraph: Calcutta

2010-06-08T19:46:00.001+01:00

New Delhi, May 26: Concerns that cellphones pose a threat to honeybees, articulated by Shah Rukh Khan's character in My Name Is Khan, have now been bolstered by Panjab University zoologist Neelima Kumar's experiments. Read

Page url: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100527/jsp/frontpage/story_12492728.jsp

© The Telegraph.

PS I promise I did not make this up!

Bee swarm in Wall Street

2010-06-07T19:39:00.001+01:00

Check out the Bee Vacuum!

Belfast Telegraph - bumbling picture editor...

2010-06-04T17:11:00.002+01:00

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/public-urged-to-revive-beekeeping-as-northern-ireland-honey-runs-out-14812047.html

Bad Beekeeping

2010-06-01T19:02:00.001+01:00

Bad Beekeeping

Looks like Ron Miksha beat Bill Turnbull to the punch.

Going Up!

2010-05-29T18:25:00.001+01:00

The existing colony has finally started to increase in numbers, and is drawing out fresh new brood comb. The plan had been (and still is) to replace the current brood box with an all-new deep box.

Replacing the current brood box with the deeper version adds about four inches (about 0.1016m, which shows you how useless SI units are for the real world) to the stack height. This being a WBC hive, to allow for the increase, I need one more lift.

Guess who forgot to bring the extra lift? See blog title for a clue.

Ground floor: perfumery
stationery and leather goods
wigs and haberdashery
kitchenware and food. Going up!

First floor: telephones
gents ready-made suits
shirts, socks, ties, hats
underwear and shoes. Going up!

Second floor: carpets
travel goods and bedding
material, soft furnishings,
restaurant and teas. Going down!

When to add supers...

2010-05-29T18:17:00.001+01:00

The new swarm colony is going great guns. Clearly there are no new bees yet, so in theory the numbers are declining, but it doesn't look that way!

I put the swarm into a hive with a deep brood box and two supers. Naturally, after the event I discovered that you should not add supers until the brood box is fully drawn and filled with brood, honey and pollen. This ensures that the bees actually keep the stores below the excluder, where they will need them for winter.

Bugger.

See blog title for further information.

Bill Turnbull: the bad beekeeper - Times Online

2010-05-28T08:37:00.002+01:00

Bill Turnbull: the bad beekeeper - Times Online

And I understand he has written a book, "The Bad Beekeepers' Club."

'Bad' is a strong word; how about 'naughty' or - let's say it - 'incompetent'?

Jus' checkin'

2010-05-22T18:41:00.002+01:00

Looked in on the new swarm today. The good news is that they have settled into their new home, rather than simply buggered off.

These new bees are *very* busy, and *very* aggressive. The slightest shake or knock, and a great swirl of bees pours up at me! Right now, they are building up the comb in the brood box, and already storing honey and pollen in half-built cells.

The first brood will be due to emerge in 24 days. I will check again on or around 12 June, which allows a few extra days for the comb to be completed.

By the look of them, these are Carnolian rather than black bees.

Swarm

2010-05-20T10:09:00.003+01:00

Phil kindly gave me a *huge* swarm he captured last night. At a rough guess, at least 1kg, which means around 10,000 bees.

The swarm is now in a WBC hive with deep brood box, and one super (drawn) above the queen excluder. I fed them with one litre of 1:1 syrup.

Marie Celeste

2010-05-19T17:54:00.000+01:00

Page 184, Guide to Bees and Honey, 1997, by Ted Hooper...

"Often, this [robbing] will go on until the robbed colony is devoid of all stores, when they will starve or possibly all go home to the robbers' hive. I always think that this must be the way in which 'Marie Celeste' hives are produced - a hive in which a hive is completely empty of bees, stores and brood, but in which every cell is cleaned up and in perfect condition."

You heard it here last, naturally.

Springwatch

2010-05-17T09:11:00.000+01:00

Q&A - bees in the birdbath

2010-05-14T22:50:00.001+01:00

I was asked:

"[We] have a birdbath, large water-filled patio tubs and small saucer of water on our patio. Last year, and now this, we have found lots of bees trying to drink from these places, but have found a significant number drowning. We try to keep the water levels high, and have tried floating things in the water to help them get out if they fall in, but are concerned about the numbers drowning. We have lots of bees drinking on warm days and it can be a bit hard to get into the garden – and we don’t want to disturb them.

What can we do to help more bees survive?"

I answered:

"The best thing to stop bees drowning is to provide what I might best describe as a shallow ramp down into the water, like a very gentle beach. The bees will then walk forwards and drink from the damp edge, without drowning. Floaty things generally don't work.

If they are honey bees in your garden, they should not really bother you, but if there is a large colony (wild or kept) near-by, I can understand how it might be a bit of a pain. To stop the bees arriving, I suggest that from time to time you leave the bird bath dry for a while; the bees will soon (give it three days) learn to go elsewhere. You can then refill the birdbath, and repeat the trick if the bees rediscover it."

Any good?

Best bad bee pun (-ish)

2010-05-14T12:47:00.001+01:00

Readers' hives

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/beekeeping/7714885/Beekeeping-diary-queen-bee-finds-a-home.html

Why are bees stripey?

2010-05-11T19:46:00.001+01:00

I was asked this by some schoolchildren. Here's my best shot.

The gene that expresses stripeyness in tigers is the same gene that expresses spottiness in leopards. All big cats carry very similar gene pools, and the individual genes are expressed differently in each species. (In the case of stripeyness in the big cats, it is governed by the genes controlling the size of the animal.)

If the same applies to hymenoptera, then hornets, wasps, bees, hoverflies etc will all (?) carry the stripeyness gene, expressed differently in each species. For example, apis and bombis express very different degrees of stripeyness.

Honeybees are mildly stripey because there is some mild survival value to carrying and mildly expressing the gene. Hornets are very stripey because there is big survival value to strongly expressing the gene. That's why bees are stripey - a bit obvious, really.

Is that right?

How and why did the gene arise, and what did it originally code?

Los zánganos en la colmena

2010-05-05T20:15:00.003+01:00

Norman Chapman (one of our Wimbledon beekeepers) has, with his daughter Valerie Rhenius and granddaughter Nina Asquith-Rhenius, published an elegant little book: Inside a Beehive.

Thirty-six pages are adorned with excellent photographs show every aspect of a hive. The text is in English, French and Spanish.

Recommended.

ISBN 978-1-907092-04-6.

PS The Spanish for "drones" is "los zánganos."

keeping bees

2010-04-23T13:17:00.002+01:00

"keeping bees" by Paul Peacock is a longish (120pp+) attempt at a practical guide...

Not particularly well-organised or written, "keeping bees" is easily eclipsed by "Hive Management" by Richard E Bonney.

Next on my reading list is "Guide to Bees and Honey" by Ted Hooper.

Covetousness

2010-04-14T23:04:00.002+01:00

Every time I visit www.peak-hives.co.uk, I covet their beautiful, beautiful hives.

Remind me, which sin is that?

Hive Management: A Seasonal Guide for Beekeepers

2010-04-12T23:39:00.001+01:00

Recommended. Richard E Bonney

Diary of a competent beekeeper

2010-04-08T23:29:00.002+01:00

Take a look at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/beekeeping/

"Jericho" not the best inspection method

2010-04-06T08:54:00.004+01:00

Finally, finally managed to find time to inspect the hives fully rather than the previous Jericho efforts.

As I thought, one hive failed to make it through the winter - except, of course, it was not the hive I was expecting...

Judging from the remains of the cluster, the colony that died was not large enough to keep warm. There were stores near-by, the comb etc looked healthy. The surviving colony already has many, many more bees.

Bailey Comb Change

2010-03-23T19:32:00.000Z

The current thinking is a Bailey Comb Change.

See http://www.wimbledonbeekeepers.co.uk/Bailey%20Comb%20Change.pdf

Bailey Comb Change

2010-03-23T16:27:00.003Z

Nipped up to the apiary to take a look at the hives, as today was warm-ish.

Took the anti-woodpecker chicken wire off the hives, and took a peek in each. The hive nearest the gate looks pretty much dead. A mouse had somehow managed to lever the mouseguards open (you can see the nibble marks!) and ended up trapped above the crown board. The hive furthest from the gate looks busy, but I think it's robbery, not activity, as I could see no bees in the hive itself.

Prognosis: not good. One definitely dead, the other probably dead.

Jericho

2010-03-16T19:04:00.001Z

Trying to find time to inspect the hives is proving tricky. The weather is so cold and wet that I dare not open the hives, and on the odd warmish day I have not had the time to take a look.

Instead, today was a Jericho inspection. Of the two hives, one seems to be busy in a suspicious kind of way, with lots of bees buzzing around, but not at the entrance (is it being robbed?), and the other seems fine, with a few bees milling around at the entrance.

The anti-woodpecker mesh seems to have done its job this year, at least.

Bees fight back against CCD: some honey bees toss out varroa mites

2009-10-16T09:44:00.002+01:00

News like this and other updates from The Beekeepers Connection, a group on Linked In

Apis Mellifera

2009-10-14T10:25:00.002+01:00

Beautiful site, http://www.apis.me/blog/, with fascinating info on different hive types.

Diary of an Incompetent Beekeeper

Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen

Balkanların gözbebeği Kosova'da arıcılık

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