The New Season –
Some Key Points for New Beekeepers
A talk by Alan Iacopi of Upper Apperley, Gloucestershire
Date: Thursday
1 March 2001
Venue: Church Rooms, Stow on the
Wold
Alan identified 8 key points for consideration
1. Time
Make time for what the bees need. Bees require attention. They are a
responsibility to be taken seriously.
2. Consider Double Brood Chambers
The single brood box is satisfactory for the British Black Bee. Most
others enjoy more space.
3. Consider the type of bee
There are many different sorts of bee. Those provided by the Gloucestershire Beekeepers Association as part of the Freebees scheme are Carniola bees.
The 4 main types of bee in Britain are
·
The British Black (A Northern European bee)
·
The Italian Bee – gentle and prolific
·
The Carniola Bee
·
The Caucasian Black Bee. Produces lots of propolis. Propolis means “before
the city”.
These are all gentle bees when pure but in the 1920s the British Black was killed by Acarine disease. Re-introductions have led to inter-breeding. These interbred bees are more aggressive.
The Carniola comes from Slovenia. It is used to a continental climate
where it is colder than Gloucestershire in the winter then spring comes on more
quickly. They therefore breed very quickly once spring has sprung and quickly
fill the brood box. This can result in congestion and subsequently swarming
4. Swarming
Expect bees to swarm ! Their natural function is to increase.
Bees will only supercede if they want to get rid of an old Queen.
Remember the sequence of days & swarming:
3 days Egg
5 days Larvae
8 days Capped
16 days Swarm will emerge
If working with a double brood box, can check for queen cells by
splitting between the two brood boxes and looking on lower bar sections of the
upper box.
If the beekeeper can stop swarming and keep the colony together, this
bigger foraging force will produce more honey.
The start point for control is to clip and mark the Queen.
In a colony which is starting to produce Queen Cells, the bees all know
it and the Queen slims down and is more difficult to find. If clipped, the
old queen is lost when the bees swarm and the bees will return to the hive.
Then…
Go though the brood chamber and find the Queen Cells. Find one good
cell with lots of Royal Jelly in it at the centre of a frame. Then remove all
the other cells.
If all the cells are already capped so cannot see if jelly present,
select one cell at the centre of a frame.
Please see Alan’s Handout giving full details of the two most common methods of swarm control.
5. Enable comparison
Always have at least two colonies (though collection of someone elses
swarm or making increase). Need to be
able to compare between two colonies. Having just one leaves the beekeeper
vulnerable.
If at any time you think you have lost your Queen, see if the bees are
bringing in pollen. If they are, don’t worry. Bees only bring in pollen if
there is a Queen present.
6. Re-queening
If you have a problem and need to re-queen, ask for help.
One of the main purposes of beekeeping groups such as NCBKA
is to encourage mutual support and advice.
7. Summary
·
Make Time !
·
Consider a double brood system
·
Work out your swarm control method in advance. When you go to your bees, know what you are going
to do.
8. Consider taking the BBKA
Basic Exam
This is good fun and details are available from Examinations Secretary
Mrs Sheila Allan. Tel: 01453-751431
Many thanks to Alan for his enthusiastic and entertaining talk and for his work in developing the Freebees Scheme which has so enriched our Branch.
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