Introduction to Beekeeping European Honey Bee

Transcription

1 Introduction to Beekeeping European Honey Bee Presenter: Paul Wood, Brisbane Backyard Bees Bees have two main purposes to fertilise flowers and collect nectar What s going on in the world? Problems for bees in the world include; o Monoculture farming (planting large areas of a single crop) o Removal of a diversity of forage o Unhealthy soils, so chemicals are added to improve the soil but it confuses the bees and they take the poison back to the hives o Transporting bees around the world to pollinate crops because of the shortages Almonds are an example of this and need bees to be pollinated, 60% of all US bees shipped to California to pollinate the almonds. This method stresses the bees and spreads disease through colonies and during this time 30% of bees die during the winter. Thankfully awareness is growing generally. The UK is a great example as more hives are becoming prominent across London, there is also a diversity of forage in London and so fewer bees are dying. Double the typical amount of honey is being harvested where parks are not mowed and have not had chemicals used, this encourages growth in the bee populations What s going on in Australia? Things are not too bad in Australia yet, however there are only finite places for bees to live and they won t battle for habitat although, Australian native bees and European honey bees will happily live together. Because we have European foods in Australia, we need European bees to pollinate them Bees are shipped into Victoria, in the same way as California, for their almonds Australia is the only country that does not have Varroa mite yet Varroa mite is a blood sucking parasite/insect that causes bee deaths and has hit the industry hard Varroa mite cannot be transported in honey

2 What s going on in Brisbane? It is appropriate to have bees in suburban backyards o For honey o For wax o For pollination o Adds to the resilience of bees to help withstand the onslaught of Varroa mite when it arrives in Australia o Assists in creating a larger harvest for neighbours gardens o Pollinating creates extra pumpkins for the neighbours, which is less pumpkins needed to be purchased from big grocery suppliers Honey Brisbane would generally be classified as wildflower honey Grey Gum honey would originate from a hive that was among Grey Gums predominately Can t guarantee 100% of one type as bees are foragers Colony Approximately 60,000 bees 80-99% are workers which are female bees Remainder are drones which are male bees Then there is the queen 3 weeks gestation for bees Worker Female bees Comes from a fertilised egg They are the cleaners, feeders, produce wax and guard entrance to hive for first two weeks of life Leave hive after two weeks and bring nectar into hive Forage for four weeks Die from exhaustion after six weeks Drones Male bees Come from unfertilised egg Loaf around Visits drone congregation area (approx. 30metres above ground) Looks for queen bee Mates and then killed Queen Bee Gestation of queen bees is 2 weeks After few days goes to drone congregation area and mates with various drones Can lay 2,000 eggs a day for 4-6 years

3 Swarming Just before new queen egg hatches, the queen and workers gorge themselves with honey and create a swarm for 2-3 days Send out scouts to look for new home Find the best one and then build Top Bar Hive Best place for a hive is in a tree Next best place is a top bar hive which is like a horizontal log Top bar hive rarely upsets the brood and temperature as the honey is taken from the ends (Inspection of Langstroth hives upset brood and temperature) Provides a space for bees Bars of wood across top of hive with twine soaked in beeswax this is where honeycomb can hang Harvest honey from the ends to maintain the temperature in the hive Don t have to open unnecessarily as can see through window Metal beetle trap at bottom o Small hive beetle can collapse a hive in a week o Destroys 12% of hive

4 Location of hive Balance of sun & shade Access to water Under a deciduous tree best, such as a Mulberry tree which provides shade in summer and sun in winter Make sure flight path of bees is not in way of humans (e.g. neighbours pool) Department of Agriculture website suggests ideas of where to locate Need something in water bodies for the bees to stand on to get water otherwise they will drown e.g. water lillies, rocks Bees need water to cool hive in hot weather Extraction of honey Gently lift up follower bar in a rocking motion to keep honeycomb intact Remove next bar Looking for honeycomb that has been capped if not capped then not ready for harvesting Capping comes about when moisture in the honey is reduced to 17% Gently shake or brush bees off the comb with a sprig of grass Take whole bar which includes honey and wax and put into extraction container Leave about 2mm of honeycomb after harvesting When extracting honey, think about the season and how many bars the bees might need When replacing or adding bars, always put them in between two existing bars so that the bees build vertically down In spring extract honey every 3 weeks In winter extract honey every 6-8 weeks Try not to use smoke Harvest approximately 60kg of honey per year in a top bar (which is about 20% less than a Langstroth hive) Obligations of bee keepers $15 per year membership Have to register with Department of Agriculture

5 Maintenance Should check whole hive twice a year for health Don t open beehive at night cling to suits Four maintenance tasks that should be performed 1. Adding new bars 2. Harvesting honey 3. Correcting cross comb that isn t in a straight line 4. Check for presence of a queen Brood Recycle brood bars (not drone brood) every 2 years Darker the brood, the older it is put these on the ends when recycling Add new bars on the outside of the brood not into the brood (unless you re trying to split the brood) Brood won t stick to the hive like the other bars Queen egg cups are always built on the side of the brood (unless there is a queen emergency) Egg cups become about 1 inch long if the queen egg is fertilised Queen cell doesn t fit in a usual cell Worker brood is in smaller cells with flat caps

6 Drone brood is in larger cells with domed caps References Honey Bee Democracy Thomas D Seeley The Barefoot Beekeeper P.J. Chandler Top Bar Beekeeping Les Crowder The Buzz about Bees Jurgen Tautz The Thinking Bee Keeper: A guide to natural beekeeping in top bar hives Christy Hemenway Beekeeping - Nine Lectures On Bees Rudolf Steiner The Practical Beekeeper Beekeeper Naturally Michael Bush Backyard Hive DVD from Nature s Gifts Athol Craig, Skaidra Craig The Bee-friendly Beekeeper: A sustainable approach David Heaf These notes have been taken by a volunteer from Millen Farm and, to the best of our knowledge, are an accurate representation of the workshop.

7 Introduction to Beekeeping: Native Bees Presenter: Dr Tobias Smith Believe it or not, it is estimated that there are up to species of bees worldwide. That is more than the number of bird and mammal species combined! The best known bee - and for some people, the only bee they know about - is the Honey Bee. Bees in Australia In Australia, we have the European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera). This bee was introduced in the early 1800s specifically to produce honey for people to eat. Today, the honey you buy at the supermarket and mostly through local apiarists, at markets and community events is produced by European Honey Bees. But many of us are not aware that we also have around 2000 species of Native Bees in Australia 11 of these species are stingless (Meliponine bees). Six of these species form the genus Tetragonula and five of these species form the genus Austroplebeia. For most of us, it s difficult to tell the difference between these little critters either at the genus or species level as they are all tiny, black bees and if your eyesight is really good, you ll see that they have greyish faces! Interestingly, these 11 species also produce honey. But it is unlikely you would come across it for sale unless you knew where to buy it. If you did stumble across it, you may well ask, what makes this honey so special because it is very, very expensive! Australian Stingless Bees do not produce anywhere near the quantity of honey as European Honey Bees. That said, there are people who farm it and you can buy it if you know where to go. Australian Stingless Bees Like the other 500+ species of stingless bees around the world, our Aussie Stingless Bees live in tropical and sub-tropical areas. These stingless bees are social in nature. This means that they live in colonies, just like Honey Bees. It s not just that they live together, but that they all have a role in ensuring the production, growth and survival of the colony and therefore, each other. There are different roles undertaken by groups of individuals depending on their sex and their age. What are the roles of Stingless Bees within their colonies?

8 Roles within a Stingless Bee colony are determined by a couple of factors. Firstly, it is determined by sex. The Queen of which there is one is obviously female. The Workers are female and there are thousands of them within a colony. The Drones are male. There are hundreds of them within a colony. The second determining factor of the roles is particularly relevant for the Workers. This factor is age. The younger, less experienced workers undertake their duties within the hive. It is only as they are getting toward the end of their life (which is 100 days), that they venture out to undertake the more dangerous roles of collecting nectar, pollen and resin or scouting to start a new colony. If you were a stingless bee worker, here is the lifecycle of roles you would fulfil: At 50 days, you emerge from your cell and begin work. 1. Your first role is to build the comb 2. Next, you provision the brood and store food 3. As you age, you move out of the brood and are promoted to guarding the entrance starting to get a little more risky! 4. After this, you will actually venture out of the hive - removing waste from the hive which actually involves leaving the hive for short trips for the first time 5. Next, you will forage for nectar, pollen and resin 6. Finally, your role will involve scouting which is looking for new locations to establish new hives At around 100 days - assuming you have survived through all of the above roles - you will weaken and die. If you become weak or die within the hive - despite having working 24/7 for your entire adult life - you will be unceremoniously thrown from the entrance! Other Australian Bees The rest of the 2000 Australian Native Bee species are solitary, or semi-social - which means that they do not live in colonies and hives. The females build their own individual nests and undertake all roles themselves -independently (mating of course, does require some cooperation with a male Bee!). They also do not produce and store honey. Some examples of solitary Native Bees include Leaf Cutter Bees. These bees cut discs from leaves to make the cells for their young that are stocked with pollen. Blue Banded Bees are another solitary bee. This is the native bee you are most likely to spot if you are in South-East Queensland. These bees can often be detected by their very loud buzzing sound. They are large bees easy to identify with the blues bands around their abdomens. Blue Banded Bees make their nests in the ground. Do you have Australian Native Bees in your Garden? So how do you know if you have Australian Native Bees in your garden? Well given that most of us know what the Honey Bee looks like, any other bee appearing in your garden that doesn t look like a Honey Bee, will be a native bee.

9 So how do you know if it s a bee and not a wasp or fly? Generally speaking, bees are hairy, so if it s hairy, it s likely to be a bee. Be aware though, like a lot of things, it s not always that simple. Some wasps and flies are hairy. If you are taking a really close look, flies have only two wings whereas bees have four. If the insect is collecting pollen, then it is a bee. A good way to know if it is collecting pollen is to look at its back legs and see if they are covered in yellow powder this is pollen. Though once again, be aware that not all social bees and if we re talking about our natives, the social bees are our Stingless Bees - will be collecting pollen. So even this is not a sure fire way to identify bees. So if you are really keen, grab a field guide and spend some time out in your garden. Do you have Australian Stingless Bees in your Garden? You may have these little critters but because of their small size and their quiet roaming of your garden, you may have never noticed that they are there. You may need to spend some time watching very closely. They are very much the quintessential bee shape but to the naked eye, appear black and are between 3.0mm to 4.5mm long. If you look very closely, many of these little critters visiting your flowers, may have pollen stores on their back legs. How long do Stingless Bees live for? Although their entire life is around 100 days, only 50 of these days are as active workers or drones. The other 50 days are spent within the brood, within a cell, growing from an egg to a fully-fledged bee. Why keep stingless bees? Like other components of biodiversity Stingless Bees experience various human-induced pressures, mostly associated with shrinking habitat. What once was bushland with ample opportunity for making new colonies, is increasingly giving way to our growing need for housing, infrastructure and services. This is putting our little Stingless Bees under pressure. Conservation is one of the reasons that people keep stingless bees. Others keep them for the hours of fascination - watching them come and go and fulfil the multiple roles within their colonies. Others keep them for pollination. It has been found that in Australia, Stingless bees are particularly good at pollinating some crops for example, Macadamia nuts. And there are those who do keep them to collect and use or sell the honey. These notes have been taken by a volunteer from Millen Farm and, to the best of our knowledge, are an accurate representation of the workshop.

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