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Scottish Government Rebuff Black Bee Nature Reserve

April 2, 2010 in ,

Doesn't Alex care about bees?

Doesn't Alex care about bees?

The Scottish Government has rebuffed a reserve for Black bees on Colonsay. The reserve was brain child of Andrew Abraham, Andrew spent years trying to secure the reserve on Colonsay only to have it Squashed by the Scottish Government early this year.

Scotland on Sunday published an article where the Scottish Government said; “the black bee is considered a domesticated creature”. This was the reason they said no to the black bee reserve! The Countryside and Wildlife act 1981 can only be used to protect and secure reserves for wild animals, as it has be used before for Red Deer on the Isles of Rum, Jura and Arran.

I find this completely insane! How can black bees be considered a domestic creature, there must be 1000’s of wild hives of black bees in Scotland!! And of course going by this idiotic thinking the Scottish Government has failed to take pro-active measures in helping our native black bee!

I urge all who disagree with the Scottish Parliments decision to write a letter of complaint and send to:

Alex Salmond MSP,
First Minister,
Scottish Parliment,
St Andrews House,
Regent Road,
Edinburgh,
EH1 3DG

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Why do people import queens?

March 14, 2010 in , ,

I just dont understand it! Why oh why get a queen from abroad? I mean what possible benefit can be gained from doing so, or is it easier to get queens from abroad? Im not sure I mean how difficult is it to phone your local beekeepers association and see what they say? Failing that a chat with local beekeepers should provide fruitful and perhaps queens can be found at no cost.

Not only that if you find a queen locally it gives you a chance to see the hive and discuss with the owner the temperament and other traits.

The Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Associations (BIBBA) are offering to help beekeepers to rear queens that are more suited to their geographical locale. The areas covered are England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

All the National BKA’s advise to source bees locally and NOT to import. The reasoning is that the bees may carry disease and pests but are also unsuited to live in the country’s weather conditions.

There are still experienced beekeepers who think that all bees are the same! This is not the case and bees can be more suited to certain weather conditions or forage availability.

So we are all in agreement that bees and their queens should be sourced locally. So the Local Queen Programme is being setup to encourage beekeepers to raise their own queen from the best thats available in their locale. Your local BKA will hopefully play a big part in this scheme and help you every step of the way.

The aim of the scheme is a pyramid system with member beekeepers in the base with them teamed with a local BKA doing the propogation of queens. It is also hoped that specialised breeding groups will form locally with a more keen interest in this area of beekeeping.

BIBBA has annouced it will help local BKAs. More info can be found on their website and lectures and tuition is available.

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Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) Honeybees

February 27, 2010 in ,

Agricultural Research Services (ARS) are making positive strides in creating a strain of honeybee which is proactive in attacking the Varroa mite head on!

ARS are focusing on creating honeybees with a certain genetic trait; Varroa Sensitive Hygiene. The VSH trait in the bee means it is more likely to find and remove mite infested pupae from the capped brood developing sealed inside the comb cells. This can be obviously difficult for the bees to detect as the mite attacks the brood within the capped cells and so rely on the protective layer of wax to escape the bees natural sanitation tendencies.

ARS scientists at the agency’s Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, LA have developed honey bees with a high expression of this VSH trait. The VSH is a specific trait and form of hive hygeine that not all honeybees possess. The VSH developed bees show an aggressive pursuit of Varroa in the hive.

Varroa on LarvaeThe Bees form groups and chew through an mite infested cell cap, lift out the infected brood and eject them from the broodnest.

This hygiene destroys the mite’s frail offspring preventing the reproductive output of the mites and preventing the usual Varroa mite hive takeover!

The team at ARS conducted field trials using 40 colonies with varying levels of VSH bees contained in each colony. The mite population growth was significantly lower in the VSH and hybrid colonies than in the colonies without VSH developed bees.

Of course if you believe in evolution the bees will eventually develop this trait on their own but would the bee population be too decimated by then to recover. After all bee breeders have been messing around with bee behaviour for years, perhaps to the detriment of the bees themselves; perhaps breeders have been focusing on certain traits like honey production and temperament and not hygiene and disease resistance.

Personally I think the discovery of the VSH trait is good for bees and humankind. I just wonder if fiddling with genetics is ever a good thing to do? What are your thoughts?

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Jonathon Goodwin the escapologist

January 6, 2010 in ,

Jonathon Goodwin the escapologist uses bees to “entertain”. Below is a video of him playing bee roulette and in his new show on the Discovery channel he is covered head to toe in bees while he escapes a locked box. At least he gets stung a lot! Numpty.

Im unsure if I agree with what he is doing as his over reaction to bee stings in the below video teaches people nothing about how they should react (which is dont flap your hands and arms around like an idiot). It also increases peoples fear of bees as they scream and dance around in pain from a sting!! Come on guys its really not that bad, for me a wasp sting hurts so much more!

Anyway watch the video below and keep a look out for his big bee stunt on Discovery channel and let me know what you think and if hes doing the plight of bees any favours!

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Feeding Bees over the Winter – Using Fondant or Feed Paste

October 7, 2009 in , , ,

Well its getting to that time of year again when liquid feeds are no longer an option, by the end of October the cold weather should have taken hold rendering the bees unable to cope with syrup feed.

Depending on how much honey has been harvested or the strength of the hive will depend on the required feeding. If you have a strong hive and you have not taken any honey it would be fairly safe to say the bees have stored enough honey to get them through the Winter. Although checks should be made throughout the season to make sure (generally done by lifting the hive to determine weight, if its light feeding must be done).

However lets assume you want to feed your bees anyway. Using fondant or feed paste is the suggested feeding strategy in Winter, however its not, as a lot of people think just ordinary cake fondant (Im sure a lot of people use this successfully though). The fondant can be made up at home or can be purchased from somewhere like Thornes. Thornes supply fondant called Apifonda and it contains extra sugars like fructose and glucose. What you will notice about this fondant mixture is that it is in no way as hard as ordinary cake fondant, its much more malleable and will actually absorb a little moisture when placed in the hive.

This is why I would suggest either making your own fondant or buying something ready made like Apifonda, plus it has extra sugars that will help the bees. Ordinary cake fondant tends to go to hard when left in the air.

So now we have our fondant what exactly do we do with it? Well it is advised to place it on top of the brood frames (if the super is to remain on with honey you could place the fondant on top of these), spread it out and push it down between the frames slightly, so the bees dont need to move far to get it. A pack of Apifonda combined with their honey stores should tide them through until Spring but remember to do the weight check just in case.

When adding the fondant to the hive you should notice the bees hightened aggression, this is to ensure the safety of their stores, so make sure you have all your gear on to prevent stings.

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Do Bee Stings Reduce Arthritis Symptoms?

August 27, 2009 in , , ,

Apitherapy or BVT

Apitherapy or BVT

Bee stings or apitherapy (The term comes from the Latin apis, which means “bee”) as it is known or BVT (Bee Venom Therapy) is thought by many to reduce the effects of arthritis. The bee venom is administered either by needle or actual bee sting. The theory has been banded around for years, with the main concept being the bee venom reduces inflamation. This is of course true as South Korean found that the principle peptide in bee venom (melittin) blocks the expression of inflammatory genes that can cause painful tissue swelling in rheumatoid arthritis patients. Another anti inflamatory subtance found in the venom is adolapin. Melittin stimulates the body’s production of cortisol, a natural steroid that also acts as an anti-inflammatory.

BVT is also used to treat a number of other ailments such as tendonitis, bursitis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms, and even pevent and treat cancer.

Of course with anything there is a risk involved, an allergic reaction to the stings could result in Anaphylaxis (anaphylatic shock). This can lead to death in extreme cases.

The history of apitherapy reaches back to ancient China, Egypt and Greece. Hippocrates, the Greek physician known as the “father of medicine”, used bee venom to treat arthritis and other joint problems. The Austrian physician Phillip Terc initiated the modern study of bee venom and intentional bee stings when he published his article “Report about a Peculiar Connection Between the Beestings and Rheumatism” in 1888. The late beekeeper Charles Mraz of Middlebury, Vermont is credited with popularising bee venom therapy over the past 60 years in the United States. Today, thousands of medical professionals and lay practitioners use apitherapy acroos the globe.

I realise this infoi isnt anything new but I think its very interesting and wondered if any of my readers have tried it? Or perhaps you get stung regularly while beekeeping and you notice the health benefits? Please let us know by using the comment form below:

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A Buzz About Beekeeping…

August 15, 2009 in ,

BeesThere definitely seems to be more of a buzz about keeping honey bees! Perhaps its the economic downturn and the upsurge of people interested in allotments and growing their own food.

Obviously the honey bees plight has had a lot of publicity across the globe on TV, radio and in the press. So Im glad to see an upsurge of beekeepers especially the ones that really care for their bees, regarding them almost as pets (I wouldnt try petting them though).

My observation of new beekeepers though is that the majority are 40-50+ in age, not a bad thing at all but it would be great to see more people with young kids taking up beekeeping and getting their children involved. I think its very important to get kids involved in beekeeping and would love it if primary schools asked local beekeeping experts to come and talk about beekeeping, maybe even arrange a field trip to an apiary (would require a lot of small suits though). At worst teachers could use beekeeping as a class project.

Overall Im very happy to see so many people interested in keeping bees and perhaps pursuing a more self sufficient and less wasteful lifestyle. We just have to make sure to get young people involved and interested in bees and beekeeping.

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American Foulbrood Hits Scotland

August 2, 2009 in

American Foul Brood

American Foul Brood

Whilst searching for European Foul Brood (EFB) which was discovered in over sixty hives in the Perthshire and Angus area (forty of which have been destroyed), the American strain has also been found in Perthshire apiaries and hives. American Foul Brood (AFB) has been found in atleast four hives and three apiaries.

European Foul Brood

European Foul Brood

EFB infected colonies can fortunately be treated and normally saved, those with AFB however must be destroyed by burning the infected hive. The disease itself is caused by a bacterium that infiltrates the bee larvae, consuming their food supply starving the larvae to death. It can be recognised by the strong rotten fish smell (not always present) created in infected hives and the discolouration of cells (see pic), sunken/perforated cappings with brownish meltings inside. The advice of experts is to check your hives regularly and if any signs are present to contact your local beekeeping association to seek advice and to inform the government body DEFRA. Or if in Scotland you can notify these contacts:

SGRPID, Broxden Business Park, Lamberkine Drive, Perth, PH1 1RX. Tel: 01738 602000. Fax: 01738 60200. Email: SGRPID.Perth@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Gavin Ramsay, SBA Diseases Convener, Park View, Station Rd, Errol, Perth, PH1 1RX. Tel: 01821 642385 / 07751 142155. Email: gavinramsay@btinternet.com

EFB was discovered in Perthshire and Angus last month.

Gavin Ramsay from the Scottish Beekeepers Association said: “It’s the worst problem in beekeeping in Scotland for very many years.

“It’s going to be very disruptive to beekeeping probably for a few years.

“It’s a notifiable disease, so that means if you have a suspicion that you have it in your bees you have to tell the authorities and the bee inspectors will come and have a look and test it.

“It’s a new problem, it’s something that we’re not used to dealing with here, so it means people are going to have to learn how to identify it in the early stages so it can be treated, and also how to change our beekeeping to minimise the likelihood it’s going to appear.”

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Native black British bee could be key to population survival

July 7, 2009 in ,

Native Black Bee

Native Black Bee

The Co-operative Group which launched a 10 point programme to help save the honey be called ‘Plan Bee’ has announced funding for Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders (BIBBA) to find and map the locations of native black honey bees and their hybrids.

The native black British bee has evolved to cope with the seasons here and developed a thick black hair covering its body. There is talk that the decline of bees in Britain is partly due to beekeepers using foreign queens producing bees that are unsuited to our climate. This has happened because the native black bees doesnt produce as much honey as its foreign counterparts but if you take the honey production over the lifespan of the hives the native black bee should win because CCD is not as common.

Our advice is dont buy foreign queens and bees, seek out native, black honey bees and queens to populate your hives. Its our native bee, we should be proud of it and try to preserve it. Greed will be the death of us all!!

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Broadcasting Masts Causing Colony Collapse Disorder?

July 7, 2009 in ,

Radio Mast

Radio Mast

Ive just read a very interesting article written by Marion Lang in the Scottish Beekeeper magazine. She explains that the multitude of masts close by her apiary in Angus seems to be affecting hives and causing CCD.

In the article she explains the masts and the broadcasting radiation produced and states that in 2008 Mr Orjan Hallberg and Dr Olle Johanasson produced a paper showing that there is a marked increase with immunity problems in humans when exposed to electrical currents at 100MHz. In the West we broadcast between 87-107 MHz band.

Marion explains that the broadcasting radiation affects her when she lies down and that it affects people across the globe.

Surely if we are affected by these electromagnetic radations then it could also be affecting the bees? More research must be done to discover if these masts are having a detrimental effect on bee health and ours too!

Has anybody else got any information on this, perhaps you think masts are affecting your hives? Please let us know here!

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