Venue change for Beginners Session

Transcription

1 Next meeting Wednesday 7th February 2018 Where Main Hall, Johnsonville Community Centre, Moorefield Rd Venue change for Beginners Session February 2018 Newsletter All members are advised that the Beekeepers Beginners Session scheduled at 6:45pm on Wed 7 Feb (normally held in the upstairs Trust Room next to the Main Hall at the Johnsonville Community Centre) will this month be held in Room 1 (small meeting room closest to the swimming pool) with access off JCC main for entrance on Frankmoore Ave. Topics for February s meeting Beginners session 6.45pm Topic: extracting and creaming honey. Varroa control. Main session: 7:30pm Topic: Re-queening and queen rearing Contents 2 Frank Lindsay a note from the President 6 Club Profile - Martin Toland 8 Annual mead competition results 9 Alwyn s winning mead recipe 10 Lorenzo L Langsthroth 11 Sweet start for the NZ honey sector 13 For sale - nucs 14 Things to do this month 15 New information leads to a small change in mānuka honey definition 16 Apiculture NZ Update 17 Camp Rangi Buzz weekend 18 Chance discovery could tackle the honeybee's worst enemy 19 Interesting websites 20 Who can I speak to?

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3 Frank Lindsay a note from the President About the Apiary It's been a most unusual honey season. The drought in December affected lots of trees and shrubs. Some completely lost their leaves while some wilted and then recovered after rain. It was interesting to see blackberry which flowered well but then the fruit all dried up through stress. Pohutukawa in the bottom of the valleys where their roots could reach water produced well, while those on the hills (basically on rock), flowered, but didn't secrete any nectar. Normally you can shake the nectar into your hand, but these were dry. I only saw the odd bee visiting them for pollen. Since the rain, the lawns and paddocks have started regrowing and flowering. Clover, catsear and lotus major and now penny royal have started flowering. Koromiko and eucalyptu, normally the last nectar sources, are also flowering on time. What's interesting is that some of the spring sources like whitey wood are also flowering again. What has this done to your hives? An abundance of nectar and pollen after a dearth has stimulated the bees to start building brood again. The bees must be expecting another honey crop so I would advise that you get the surplus honey off your hives (leaving a box for winter stores), extracted and then put the wets back on as we may get another late flow. If you don't wish to do this, just add another honey super. 3 P a g e

4 Note from the President (cont) Further north I have noticed in paddocks cut for hay earlier that clover is flowering again. Some paddocks are two weeks away from being cut again so I'm expecting it to regrow after this if we continue to get rain once a week. It's at least 17 years since we have had a season like this. Will we get another flush of honey, I don't know but bees respond to what's around them and we are just going along for the ride. Varroa mites are showing themselves and some hives have started collapsing with small bees that have deformed wings spreading out over the lawn. Monitor your hives and do a varroa wash to accurately know the percentage of mites in your hives. Treat when its 3% or higher. I rely on varroa dropping on to the slide below my mesh bottom boards to give me an indication of varroa mite levels. I had two that were very high and would have died without intervention. Part of this is due to the drought last month. Queens reduced their laying and so there were more mites in the pupa and now a month later, has caused a partial collapse of the hive. Hives with severe varroa are likely to be robbed of their honey as they have few defenders. Close down the entrances and put on a robbing screen if you have it. If a hive is being robbed, close the entrance down to one bee width and move it a few metres away. Leave an empty box in its place so the robbers soon learn there is nothing else to steal. It's sometimes difficult to tell if a hives is being robbed. Easy if there are masses of flying bees around and you can see bits of wax on the bottom board. In this case close the entrance with grass and turn on the sprinkler to discourage the robber bees. They soon go home or get wet. However, some robbing is sneaky. Just a few bees at a time going in an out. The difference is that the robbingbees leaving have distended abdomens and usually crawl half way up the face of the bottom super to take off while normal exiting bees are empty and take off from the landing board. 4 P a g e

5 Note from the President (cont) More drones are now flying and while the bees are gathering pollen and nectar it's time to think about requeening hives or making up spare nucs to take through the winter. These are handy to replace winter losses or if not required can be sold or given away to a new beekeeper in October/November. It s easier to purchase queens now than in the spring. A lot of beekeepers are asking others to extract their honey. Part of the fun of beekeeping is extracting your own honey crop. If you haven't the gear, I'll show you a few methods to extract at the meeting. The club has extractors for loan or you can hire a kitchen facility with and extractor for $15.00 plus GST an hour. (Contact John Burnet our Treasurer). Get together with a few fellow beekeepers and have an extraction party. One uncapping, one on the extractor and one filtering and looking after the empty (sticky) boxes. Don't leave any honey exposed for more than a few minutes and for those with pohutukawa, have it extracted within three days of removal from the hive or else it will crystallise in the frames making it extremely difficult to extract. Few rules when extracting. The frame is positioned with the bottom bar towards the direction of the spin, (facing forward). Extract half of one side, turn the frames, then used a longer spin for the second side (until all honey is removed) and then finish with the first side again. The speed should be about 300 revolutions per minute and balance the frames of honey so frames opposite each other in the baskets are the same weight. If you are using new wax foundation frames for the first time, reduce the spinning speed so the frames do not break under the pressure of the weight of the honey on the other side of the frame. You have to be more careful with new frames. An older beekeeper with a reversible extractor would bring the frames up to speed, hold it there for 30 seconds, reverse and spin fast for 1 minute and then 5 P a g e

6 Note from the President (cont) reverse again and spin for another minute. This would get 80% of the honey out it doesn't have to take a long time to extract. Filtering is what takes time. Out of the extractor is easy with a bag or strainers but cappings take hours to clear. I have made a simple bin - a 60 litre plastic bin which allows a 30 litre plastic bin to fit inside it. Drill lots of holes in the 30 litre bin and uncap into this. The cappings can be left overnight to drain so the honey clears the wax. Don't leave honey exposed to the atmosphere for a long time as it takes in moisture which causes it to ferment if the moisture level gets over 20%. Put the lid on the container as soon as you can. Leave pails for a day for the fine wax particles to raise to the surface and skim off. Remember to check the brood for American Foul brood before you remove any honey. If you are not sure, ask another club member to assist you. If you want to sell or barter honey, it has to be extracted in a registered kitchen licensed under the Food Act. The honey will also have to be tutin tested to check that it complies with these regulations. Frank Lindsay After the honey is removed start treating your hives for varroa mites. February 18th is the time we all should start treating our hives for varroa mites. I already have the odd hive with crawling death - bees effected by deformed wing virus. If everybody in a 5km area treats at the same time, well and good. If some delay a month or two, all your money spent on mite treatments is wasted as you'll soon get mite re-invasion from untreated hives. 6 P a g e

7 Club Profile - Martin Toland December 2016 newsl Schools and making stuff have always gone hand in hand with me and beekeeping. I made my first hive 20 years ago in the Kalahri Desert while teaching at a school in Botswana. It was a long flat box not unlike a TopBar, common through sub-saharan Africa. It did not go well - my first swarm of aggressive African honeybees attacked the school caretaker stinging him so badly around the head he spent a week in hospital. Ten years later, teaching Design Technology at Wellington s Onslow College, I found a design for a WBC Carr hive, a double-walled hive popular in England. Only after making it and siting it in the front garden did I hear about the ubiquitous Langstroth and the WBA. Frank called me one evening to collect a swarm which went into the Carr hive. The next year I decided to get one of my woodwork classes making four Langstroths floor boards, boxes, frame components and a jig to assemble the frames, transparent acrylic inner covers, galv steel lids we made everything. Hive tools we made from broken wood plane cutting irons. Sponsorship was obtained for some student bee suits and the Onslow College Bee Club was born, the first school I 7 P a g e

8 Martin Toland Profile (cont) apiary in New Zealand. Several other Wellington schools now have hives, including Te Aro Junior School where I run weekly hive inspections, teaching the next generation of beekeepers. It s not just the kids who love pulling their suits on and getting amongst the bees, teachers are getting onboard too, seeing it as a useful learning tool. Mentoring other teachers is now part of my role in schools, as it is at Zealandia where I assist a staff member with their hives in return for siting two of my own hives there. December 2016 newsl WBA members have always been a vital source of support, inspiration and information to me. Club member Trisha Laing and I have mentored each other for a long time, and she kindly allowed me to keep hives at her skyline Karori property. Trisha has a genuine passion for bees and has had a lot of success with Top Bar hives for which she is an authority. I believe we both learned much about beekeeping during many discussions and from beekeeping together over the years. Beekeeping friends are important. Also worth a mention is Stewart Turner who inspires me with his knowledge, inventions and home-made devices. Stewart is a great advocate for the practical and inventive approach to creative beekeeping. And Wayne Wilde, who has a wicked sense of humour and makes me laugh. WBA members, too many to mention are so diverse and often a little odd (a prerequisite for being a beekeeper). We have much to learn from each other. 8 P a g e

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10 2007 Mead competition results December 2016 newsl At the December meeting, Jacob De Ruiter judged our annual Mead competition. Alwyn Courtenay was a surprised winner, as this was his first entry. Congratulations too, to Richard Braczek who won second place with his dry style mead, as per Jacob's recipe which Richard says was published in the newsletter a couple of years ago. Alwyn Courtenay Richard Braczek Mead making demonstration Jacob De Ruiter will host a mead making demonstration for interested club members at his Haewai Honey Meadery in Haughton Bay. The last demonstration was very well attended so come along to learn the science and what to do with all those cappings left after the honey harvest. Haewai Honey Meadery 236 Houghton Bay Road Thursday 15th February at 7pm 10 P a g e

11 Alwyn s winning mead recipe This recipe produced the winning mead entry for 2017 December 2016 newsl Water 5 litres water (non chlorine). I used Waiwhetu stream water collected above humans and their dogs 1.5 to 2.3 kilos of honey The more honey the sweeter and stronger the alcohol up to 14%. Dissolve the honey in a small amount of warm water Add all the water and dissolved honey into a 10 litre food grade bucket A pinch of tannin powder. Sprinkle Mangrove Jacks mead yeast on top Put into a glass fermenting container You can add fruit. I added sliced fejoia Put the bubbler on. Put into a cool place. Rack at 30 days Comments. The Internet has a lot of information. I looked at them and used what I wanted. Hygiene is important. I used no rinse steriliser including the surface I worked on. The yeast is cold Wx so start in autumn. It will start fermenting again as the Wx heats so keep racking at 30 day intervals leaving it in the bubbler. The internet recipes use less honey and you end up with something like Merlot or Shiras. I wanted botrytis so used more honey. 11 P a g e

12 Lorenzo L Langstroth December 2016 newsl Born here, Langstroth revolutionized the beekeeping fraternity with his 1852 patented moveable frame hive and his manual, The Hive and the Honey-Bee. Both remain in use today. His innovations advanced beekeeping, pollination and honey production worldwide. This plaque was erected by the Pennsylvania and Historical Museaum Commission Thanks to Janet Toland came across this commemoration plaque on a street in Philadelphia while attending a conference last year.. 12 P a g e

13 Sweet start for the NZ honey sector Manuka Health's chief executive, John Kippenberger, is positive about this year. The $5 billion-a-year honey New Zealand industry is on its way to recovery after one of its poorest seasons in decades last year. The 2017 harvest was hit hard by cold, wet and windy weather over the optimal nectar-flow period, resulting in a sharp fall in production. Karin Kos, chief executive of Apiculture New Zealand, said it was early days but that the fine weather over the important November and December months had seen the season get off to a strong start. "It's looking like a relatively good season, but it still has a couple of months to run," she said. The season typically runs from November through to February-March, starting first in the north and then moving south as the summer wears on. Apiculture NZ has 1000 beekeepers, honey packers, exporters and related supply companies from across the industry - from manuka honey to standard honey - as members. UMF Honey Association spokesman John Rawcliffe said feedback from manuka honey producers suggested the season had been "positive to patchy" so far. For honey producers, 2017 was a year that most would rather forget. NZX-listed Comvita, New Zealand's biggest manuka honey producer, was hit with the double whammy of a sharp, weather-driven drop in production alongside trouble in the informal "daigou" trade channels into China last year. Comvita was one of the share market's top performers in 2016, its shares hitting a record high of $12.85 in June of that year. A year later, the stock had dropped to $5.18, reflecting the slump in honey production and the company's China trading issues. Comvita's share price has since recovered ground, trading yesterday at $8.65. The company is expected to provide a seasonal update this month. 13 P a g e

14 Sweet start for NZ honey sector (cont) New Zealand s second biggest manuka honey produce, Manuka Health, is looking forward to an improved season, chief executive John Kippenberger said. "This season was very important for the industry, but we are pleased to say that that warm weather over most of New Zealand in November and December set us up very nicely for a good manuka honey harvest this year," he said. "Certainly, across most of the North Island, possibly with the exception of Northland, we have seen very nice manuka honey flowering and nectar flows over these important couple of months. We are certainly very positive that at least this will be an average season, so it will meet average volumes, but in some areas such as the Wairarapa we are looking even better than that," he said. Manuka Health is owned by the private equity company Pacific Equity Partners. The industry has been plagued with "counterfeit" manuka honey turning up in key markets such as the UK, so the sector has taken some confidence from last year's announcement from the Ministry for Primary Industries giving a tighter definition of what constitutes manuka honey. 14 P a g e

15 Sweet start for NZ honey sector (cont) The Government last December announced that all exports of New Zealand manuka honey would have to be tested as authentic against a new definition set by the ministry before they can be exported. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor said the testing regime was set up to safeguard the industry from "cowboy" operators and to protect New Zealand's trade reputation. Around the same time, a landmark decision came from the UK Trade Mark Registry to accept the term "Mānuka" honey as a certification mark. UMF Honey's John Rawcliffe said the two developments were big milestones for the sector. "It does provide the foundation stones for investment, protection for the consumer, and for the future growth of the industry," Rawcliffe said. "We could not have asked for anything more at the end of the year." For Sale One 10 frame, 3/4 nuc for sale As well as two x 3 box hives, all 3/4 frames. All laying well and a box of honey stores. (2 brood boxes and one box of honey). All ready to overwinter and produce honey next season. For more information, call Viv Harris on or P a g e

16 Things to do this month December 2016 newsl February checklist, by Frank Lindsay Check for AFB before removing any honey. Extract honey and if you are in a built-up area, place the wet supers back on the hives after dark so you don't create a nuisance. Remove comb honey (as soon as it capped to prevent travel stain bees have dirty feet), rear autumn queens, introduce purchased queens, and produce replacement nuclei. You are setting your hives up for the next season. Put on entrance closures to make the hive easier to defend. Don t allow robbing to start when the flow finishes by leaving honey exposed for more than a minute. Treat for varroa with an alternative to your spring treatment. Flash treat to reduce mite numbers if you are going to do a full treatment later. Put on propolis mats for extra income. Change when 70% fill so the bees keep gathering propolis. Keep an eye out for wasps. I haven't seen many yet but they are out there. Nests are found in ditches and in banks. They only range about 500 metres so they tend to be close by. Kill them with a little insecticide powder down the entrance before they start producing new queens. It's also a good idea to put out mice baits in a plastic bottle under hives. Rats and mice can do a lot of damage in a hive during the winter so keep their numbers around the apiaries low. Tutin test all honey removed after the 31 st December before its sold or bartered. 16 P a g e

17 New information leads to a small change in mānuka honey definition The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has reissued the General Requirements for Bee Products Export Notice. Date: 30 Jan 2018 The revised Notice adjusts the level of a chemical marker known as 2'-MAP from greater than or equal to 5 mg/kg, to greater than or equal to 1 mg/kg for the definition for multifloral mānuka honey. There is no change to the definition for monofloral mānuka honey, which remains at equal or greater than 5mg/kg for 2'-MAP. The implementation date of the notice remains 5 February The change means that the legal claim challenging the definition by New Zealand Beekeeping has been resolved. "Late last week, as part of its legal claim, New Zealand Beekeeping provided additional information about the impact of the definition on multifloral honey. Also, we were presented with a summary of new analysed test results from an industry science group. "This information showed that the definition for identifying multifloral mānuka honey was initially set too conservatively and would exclude legitimate multifloral honey," says Bryan Wilson, MPI's deputy director-general regulation and assurance. "We hope the industry will see this as a signal of MPI's ongoing commitment to a collaborative science programme focused on continuous improvement to the science that supports the definition of mānuka honey." 17 P a g e

18 From the CE Karin Kos January 30th Update You may have seen the media coverage on ApiNZ board member, Ricki Leahy s devastating bee loss, as well another beekeeper nearby, Mystery as millions of bees drop dead near Nelson. Ricki believes the bee deaths were due to an accidental poisoning, possibly due to the use of an incorrect wasp bait. Bee samples have been sent for urgent testing. In all our interviews with media we have reiterated the need for the public and landowners to be aware of the harmful effect of chemicals on bees; to talk to beekeepers first before undertaking any pesticide activity, and if chemicals are being used make sure they read the directions, including advice to minimise the risk to bees. This includes making sure any wasp bait is protein-based, such as meat, but definitely not anything sugar-based. We are also working with the Environmental Protection Agency to update our material on the website for the public, beekeepers and landowners. As part of this we will also provide beekeepers with a how to in responding to a poisoning event. It has been really positive to see the ApiNZ beekeeping community rally round Ricki with many offers of help. On the MPI definition front, discussions and activity are ongoing, including with our wider industry associations. Our Chair, Bruce Wills additionally had a discussion with MPI s Director General, Martyn Dunne earlier this week to reiterate the Board s view that while industry can largely live with the monofloral definition, the multifloral definition was causing considerable concern and pain. And on the basis that MPI relook at the multiflora definition and pause its implementation date. The response was that MPI believes they have the settings about right but acknowledged that they will be closely monitoring the transition to the new definition and that MPI would be open to ongoing review and update of the science around manuka honey. The need for an ongoing review of science was reiterated at the industry/mpi science meeting outlined in last week's update. 18 P a g e

19 Camp Rangi - Buzz Weekend A Reminder December 2016 newsl Ethics, biology, making nucs, queen introduction, practical demonstrations Friday 23 rd, Saturday 24 th and Sunday 25 th February 2018 Camp Rangi Woods is in the Totara Reserve Regional Park, Pohangina Valley. The weekend will include class type seminars along with hands-on activities inside beehives. Each block of sessions will conclude with a question and answer section with a panel of speakers experienced in the relevant topics. Each session will be hosted by experienced beekeepers including keynote speaker Kim Flottum, author, and editor of Bee Culture magazine. There are still some daytime only places available. All resident places have been filled. Registration forms available from lindsays.apiaries@gmail.com 19 P a g e

20 Chance discovery could tackle the honeybee's worst enemy It isn t just pesticides and the destruction of habitat that s making the world s honeybees very unhappy. One of the biggest threats is Varroa destructor, a disease-spreading parasite that is just as villainous as its name suggests. Through a chance discovery, German scientists from the University of Hohenheim have stumbled on a new method of wiping out this parasitic pest without harming the bees. As reported in a recent study published in the journal Scientific Reports, scientists have now discovered that feeding honeybees just 25 millimoles of a water-soluble salt called lithium chloride (LiCl) can kill 90 to 100 percent of the mites within days. Lithium chloride effectively kills the honey bee parasite Varroa destructor by a systemic mode of action 20 P a g e

21 Interesting websites December 2016 newsl Bee amazed at the handiwork of Tetragonula carbonaria, a stingless bee found in northern Australia. Check out the video showcasing their elegant spiraling nests. Each circle can contain hundreds of brood cells containing eggs. According to Tim Heard, an Australian entomologist and the author of The Australian Native Bee Book, the visible spiral is just the topmost layer of the complex, multistoried structure the bees build. A fully developed nest can contain a 10 to 20 continuously spiralling layers. What Is It Like to Be a Bee? You're a honeybee. Despite being around 700,000 times smaller than the average human, you ve got more of almost everything. Instead of four articulated limbs, you have six, each with six segments. (Your bee s knees, sadly, don t exist.) You re exceptionally hairy. A shock of bristly setae covers your body and face to help you keep warm By Natasha Frost 21 P a g e

22 Who can I speak to? December 2016 newsl President Frank Lindsay (04) lindsays.apiaries@clear.net.nz Treasurer John Burnet (04) johnburnet@xtra.co.nz Secretary Jane Harding (04) janeh@xtra.co.nz Best times to Jane by phone are evenings, and Friday/Saturday/Sunday Newsletter editor Eva Durrant (04) or edurrant@xtra.co.nz Committee Members Viv Harris vivharris@xtra.co.nz PK Tan PK Tan pk.propserv@gmail.com John Randall westernbeeline@gmail.com Richard Braczek Meeting location Johnsonville Community Centre, Moorefield Rd, Johnsonville 22 P a g e