Dec 2004

York & District Beekeepers Association

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Combings Magazine
Issue No 12 ~ December 2004

The Combings is the Quarterly Newsletter of the York & District Beekeepers Association offering a good source of information for our local Association.

We welcome contributions. Please submit your ideas to the Editor, John Fuller, e-mail: japlusja@btinternet.com

First Words from the Editor ...

The funeral of Jim Britton and his wife Joan was held at St Mary’s Church, Strensall on the afternoon of Wednesday 25^th August.     Debbie Hattee organised a floral tribute on behalf of York Beekeepers. John Acheson and his wife Joan, Rob Coleman and John Rowbottom where in attendance at the funeral.

There was a lot of the public there to show their sympathy. The media where also there in strength.

You are reminded that your subscription to York Beekeepers was due on the 1^st October. If you have not already paid, then your period of grace will expire on December 31^st. After that you will no longer be a member of the Association

Jim Elliot has won the Alf Race Cup, (presented to the entrant winning the most points in our annual Honey Show) eight times. As space on the base of the cup where winners’ names are recorded is now full, it was decided to present the cup in perpetuity to Jim in recognition of his achievements.

The new cup will be known simply as “The Honey Show Cup”. It is a little larger than the “Alf Race “cup.    It is the classic cup shape - a bowl with a handle on each side, a stem then a base for inscriptions.

I have been a wine maker for many years now. So having taken up beekeeping, mead making was the logical amalgamation of my two hobbies.

During the summer I purchased a book on mead making (American as it turned out) to see what I could glean.

When making mead it necessary to add nutrient salts to help the yeast do its job of converting the sugar in the honey to carbon dioxide and alcohol.   These nutrients contain various permutations of mineral salts and now a days are bought ready made up in packets or tubs.

The author of the book in question suggests as an alternative to nutrient salts, the use of one to five tablespoons of pollen per gallon or crushed bee larvae – no quantity mentioned.

The thought of using bee larvae in my mead does not appeal to me one little bit. The practicalities of getting larvae out of their cells are not mentioned. The use of an uncapping fork to dig them out always results in a mess, for their skins are very thin – that is why they are not used by anglers as bait.

One problem that mead makers face is cloudiness when fermentation has finished. It can be got rid of without too much bother but takes time. If you are making mead on a commercial scale this extra time and expense reduces profitability. The author speaks of using ultra filtration of the honey as a means of preventing cloudiness - the filtering removes the substances in the honey that causes it.

This leads me to an article in the “Guardian Weekly” newspaper in August, entitled “A bitter taste of honey”. The article is about honey contaminated with antibiotics and pesticides.

All this was sparked off when Chinese honey was found to be contaminated with an antibiotic and banned from sale in Europe. Since then contaminated honey has been found in honey from twelve countries including Canada and the USA. It is also thought that Chinese honey is being shipped to nearby countries, relabelled and sold on.

The article then goes on about “another phenomenon has been adding to the turbulence in the global honey market – ultra filtered honey”.   In this process, honey is diluted with water, heated to a high temperature before being passed through ultra fine filters. The water is then evaporated off to produce syrup again. During this process every trace of impurity is removed – including it is thought – any traces of antibiotics.

According to the experts, it is not honey at all. Instead it is “a sweetener derived from honey”.Alan Johnston wrote about the new Honey Regulations in the December 2003 edition of “Combings” which I think has a bearing on the foregoing, which I reproduce here:

There is a new regulation for finely filtered honey which must be labelled as “Filtered Honey”.

The new regulations acknowledge the distinction between coarse and fine filtering, but a letter to the Food Standards Agency brought a reply which refused to specify a particular filter size, which would have helped to define “Fine Filtered”.    So, the regulations state, ….”where fine filters are used such that a significant amount of pollen is removed eg where honey is finely filtered to improve the shelf life and clarity, the product will need to be described as “Filtered Honey” and not simply “honey”.

Is ultra filtered honey what the new regulations are targeting? From what I have read, it should be labelled as such.

While on the topic of the new Honey Labelling Regulations.    You will be aware that we now have to put a “Best Before” date on our jars of honey. This is another grey area with no real guidance from any direction. The best I have heard is “it still has to be wholesome at the end of the period”

In Summer 2004 edition of “The Beekeepers Quarterly” there was a short article on the subject of best before. A lady at a Spanish University ran a series of experiments to ascertain the shelf life of honey. She concluded that honey maintained its quality for twenty months.

I have seen honey in a shop given a shelf life of four years.    I am giving my honey a shelf life of twelve months at the moment. I change the BBE date every month. The draw back is having to change my labels on a monthly basis. I have overcome this by buying tamper evident labels on a sheet and printing the BBE date on that and running a sheet off through my computer as required.

In September’s “Combings”, Alan Johnston advertised a stainless settling tank and a solar wax extractor for sale. The settling tank was sold to a member within a week. His solar wax extractor went soon after, for the asking price to a gentleman in Birmingham. He had been reading “Combings” on the York BKA web site.

I must admit that when Alan told where his solar extractor had gone, I was pleasantly surprised. It had not occurred to me that things could be sold via our web page in such a manner.

If you have any articles for sale, or anything you want to obtain, then please drop me a line. The service is free to paid up members of York Beekeepers – and your advert will be broadcast all over the Country.

In mid September I was looking through one of those home shopping catalogues that drop on the mat or are tucked inside newspapers and magazines. (For some reason I always feel compelled to look through– although have never bought any thing from them).   One advert caught my eye – “Love Honey. co. uk - some one selling honey on the internet I thought, that’s something new. The next sentence then read – “The UK’s leading sex toy store”.   That brought me back to earth.

Was it my imagination, or did the swallows, swifts and martins leave us early this year. It was mid August when I noticed how quiet it was. Looking about I realised that the birds had stopped singing. The swift that makes such a noise when flying had gone. The song birds were quiet. Is this a foreboding of a bad winter?

Every winter I like to clean all my equipment so that in the spring I do not have to contend with last years brace comb and propolis. Plastic spacers are left overnight in a weak caustic soda solution – propolis dissolves and wax saponifies and is easily brushed off.   I was left with bucket of caustic that had not been used a lot.   I had heard or read that if you immerse your smoker in a caustic solution all the tar that accumulates will dissolve – so in went my smoker. Sure enough the tar did dissolve – with a bit of brushing and scraping, all the gunge had gone in 24 hours leaving me with a nice clean smoker.

My smoker is copper which is not affected by the caustic solution. In bygone days when I used metal spacers, I would clean them in the same caustic solution without any obvious damage, so I think you could clean a tin ware smoker in a caustic solution, but make sure it is well washed in fresh water afterwards.

Speaking to other Members, they tell me what a poor year it has been on the heather moors. If you have any heather honey it is like gold dust.

You will notice that on the front page that there are a lot of positions vacant. These will be filled at the next committee meeting to be held on Monday 22^nd November. By then “Combings” will be at the printers.

If you look back to September 2003 “Combings”, Colin Hattee tells us how he found white eyed drones in one of his colonies. David Aston told him they where genetic freaks.

What follows is from the editorial of the May 2003 edition of “The Beekeepers Quarterly” and confirms what David Aston said.

“I have often read about abnormalities and visible mutations in bees - but it has taken over thirty years of bee- keeping for me to come across a drone with discoloured eyes. This drone, the only one in the hive, had bright yellow compound eyes, and their bright colour making it stand out like a beacon on the comb. Apparently, these "departures from the usual appearance of bees       can be consequences of cytological accidents, unfavourable environment during development, or mutant genes." (Honey Bee Pests, Predators, & Diseases, edited by Roger A Morse and Kim Flottum, page 412). In the case of eye colour there are 20 mutant pheno�types with the colours ranging from “almost white through various shades of yellow, red, and brown; each colour is the characteristic of a particular mutation".     Most of the drones which display this type of mutation cannot fly well enough to mate properly.

I have been told (mid November) that varroa mites resistant to synthetic pyrethroids have been found to the north of Sleaford. They have no connection with resistant mites found in the West Country. Now that beekeepers have started looking for resistant mites, they are being found in many places.

The History of York Beekeepers

In previous editions of “Combings” I gave you Alf Race’s “History of York Beekeepers”.     What follows is information that I have gleaned since – you may think a lot of it is trivial, but it is background information that has made York Beekeepers the thriving organisation that it is today.

Alf Race died on 13^th September 1986. The Alf Race Memorial Cup was bought in October 1987, also the Alf Race Memorial Seat out side the bee pavilion at Murton.

York & District BKA left Yorkshire BKA on 15^th April 1987. I have looked through Committee Meeting minutes to ascertain when we rejoined, but no specific date is given.     I think it wqs towards the end of 2001.

Alf mentioned the ending of sugar rationing in his History.     I had a date for it on my computer, but some how I have deleted it.   It sticks in my mind that it was September 1953.

York BKA was formed in 1921 and joined Yorkshire in 1924.    New Earswick was founded in the early 20’s but did not join Yorkshire until 1944.

Two beekeeping organisations merged with York in 1959. Ousedale and New Earswick.

In 1946 New Earswick had 76 members, Ousedale had 120 , while York had only 70.

The Weekend School had been held in Leeds prior to 1943 when it was reorganised in to the format we know to day, and run at New Earswick until it moved to Askham Bryan in the late 50’s.

In December 1946 Mr J.S.Rowntree of New Earswick BKA was elected President of Yorkshire. (Was he a member of the chocolate family does any one know?)

My information on New Earswick I obtained from “The Yorkshire Beekeepers Association, 1882 – 1982” written by Mr A.G.Higgins who was their General Secretary from 1955 until 1967.

Some information on Ousedale came from the same source but I have been able to find more by talking to local people and visiting Goole reference library.

There was a Goole BKA listed in reference books between 1907 and 1910, then nothing until 1930 when Ousdale appeared . It must have been founded in the late twenties. The founder and leading light for the whole of Ousedale’s existence was Colin P. Wadsworth of Goole. He was Secretary and Treasurer of Ousedale. He was “Bee Craft “ Secretary. ( “Bee Craft” was the title of Yorkshire BKA’s magazine at that time and probably nothing to do with the “Beecraft” we know today). He held the BBKA’s Senior Certificate. In 1936 he took over as Chairman of Yorkshire BKA which he held until he retired in 1959. He was also one of Yorkshires delegates to the BBKA.

Of his non beekeeping activities - he was a Goole Town Councillor; he was a Justice of the Peace and on the Pilotage Committee from 1930 to at least 1940.    His full time job was a ship owner, but at the moment my information on that is sketchy and really has no bearing on his beekeeping activities.

Ousedale was a thriving Association with, as I said, 120 members in 1946. I am indebted to Bill Lockwood who supplied me with a list of Ousedale members taken from the Yorkshire BKA Handbook of 1945. A couple of names of note in that list:-    A.F.Abbot of Brough who was the founder of Mountain Grey Apiaries – now defunct, and C.E. and C.L. Wetherell of Wetherell’s department store in Selby. (Wetherell’s did at one time sell beekeeping equipment from the hardware department of their store. Bees where also kept on the store roof in the middle of Selby.)

Mr Wadsworth died in 1970 at the age of 80. He was obviously a hard worker and I suspect rather autocratic. To be secretary of Ousedale for 30 years makes one wonder if he was extremely efficient or nobody dare challenge him!

At the end of his report the Yorkshire BKA Handbook of 1945 he says : - “I am still seeking a new Secretary to take my place as I have not sufficient time to devote to doing the job as it should be done and if any member will volunteer to take over the job I will do my best to help him or her to get into the routine”. In 1959 he merged Ousedale BKA with York!

I would like one of you to try and find out a little more about New Earswick BKA – any takers?

Healthcheck ... by David Aston

By the time this Healthcheck is read our bees will have made their preparations for winter and we should just make sure of a few things that will help them.

By now all treatments using Bayvoral and Apistan should be completed and the strips removed from the colonies and correctly disposed of.

Space

Even though bees cluster in winter they still need space. Double brood systems need no further space provision but single broods, especially with BS brood frames are probably inadequate and a super of comb, preferably filled with sealed honey should be given. This can be placed either above or below the brood box. Brood boxes with 14x12 frames are probably big enough and don't require extra space.

Mouse Guards

In recent years I have used entrance blocks with small entrances through out the year. Most of my colonies are also on mesh floors and I leave these on all year. The depth of the entrance in the block is very small and my experience so far has been that mice and shrews have not got into the hives. I also keep the hives on hive stands. I have stopped using mouse guards because of lack of need, but also because much pollen collected early in the season can be lost as the pollen loads are stripped off by the mouse guards as the bees scramble through them.

Comb Storage

If you have brood comb to store take a critical look at it and ask yourself is it past its best and should be destroyed. Combs to be stored should be subjected to an atmosphere of acetic acid vapour. This can be achieved by placing a Petri dish of glacial acetic acid on top of the box of frames and seal the box to retain the fumes. Treated combs should be stored in sealed boxes to prevent wax moth damage. Glacial acetic acid can be obtained from pharmacists and do take care when using it. Observe the handling instructions.

Food Reserves

There is little benefit in feeding syrup very late in the season as the bees don't take it down and even if they do it might ferment in the comb. Honey in the comb is the best food to give at this stage in the year.

Finally ...

Check the hives are stable with the floors sloping slightly forward to aid any condensation run off; the roofs are secured and weighted down with a brick or stone. Keep your eyes open for any drones. A small proportion of colonies will keep a few drones over winter but usually a colony retaining drones is a sign of a failing queen. This may be an early indication of a potential problem with the colony in the coming months.

Plants and Honeybees - their relationships ... by David Aston & Sally Bucknall

Published October 2004

This book is about the honey bee and the flowers and plants it utilises in the British Isles. It is principally intended as an introduction to beekeepers to provide an insight into the relationships between bees and flowers. However gardeners, naturalists, entomologists, biologists, agriculturalists, horticulturalists and those interested in conservation will all find something of relevance to their interests.

Published by and available from Northern Bee Books priced �19.95 post paid, or signed copies from David Aston @�18.50.

David tells me that he will bring copies of his book to meetings for you to purchase. A ‘phone call before hand will reserve you a copy.

David Aston has asked me to include the following e-mail in “Combings”. It is self explanatory. It is an ideal opportunity for one or more of you to get an out apiary.

Dear David

We have just moved to a farmhouse outside Stillingfleet and wondered whether any of your members might like to keep some hives on our land. If you know of anyone, maybe they could get in touch with us on York 720 750.

Thank you, best wishes

Nicky

e-mail: nI5@york.ac.uk

Management of a brood and a half ... by Bill Bell

I recently picked up a copy of Beecraft and read an article in Dr Drone's column on the management of 'Brood-and-a-half'. In sixty years of beekeeping, I have experimented with many systems of bee management and, like most people, have had my share of swarming problems. We must realize that swarming is natural for the bees as it is their means of expanding. Therefore; as beekeepers, we must learn to live with it and use the swarming impulse to our advantage.

Like the beekeeper in the article, I found that the standard B.S. Brood chamber with 11 combs was inadequate for my queens. The colony very quickly became congested since the outer two combs on both sides were frequently full of honey and pollen, leaving only seven combs for brood rearing during a nectar flow, hence congestion and swarms.

I found larger boxes and combs unsuitable for my methods and found that they were almost unusable for making up nuclei and so on.

Also, I disliked double brood chamber systems (which I used for many years) because of the weight. If the top box became full of honey due to being left untended during a flow, they weighed as much as 50 lb. Handling 100 colonies on my own could be very hard on the back!

Hence, some 30 years ago, I decided to try brood-and-a-half. I found this had many advantages even though I always got my leg pulled by my old friends Bill Reynolds, Dennis Jesper and many others.

This method did not stop swarming but I found suited me well in the following ways:

Checking for swarming is easier. With a hive tool, crack the seal between the brood chamber and the permanent super, slide back � an inch or so then tilt forward. Queen cells built on the bottom of the shallow frames could easily be checked for advancement and a decision made on further action.

Also, during examination of the colonies, if it was found that combs in the permanent super were full of honey, these could be moved up into the super above the queen excluder and replaced with foundation or drawn comb as desired, easing congestion.

I find the permanent super very suitable for my method of queen rearing as it easy to insert or remove shallow combs in the permanent super.

My method of converting a colony to brood-and-a-half is very simple. First, select a sound, suitable 6" deep box, ensuring a close fit to the brood chamber. Next, choose 11 good drawn worker combs on narrow spacers. (I use WBC metal and plastic spacers mainly because I have hundreds of them).

If the colony is a new swarm or newly raised from a nucleus placed into a BS brood chamber, ensure the combs are in good condition and correctly spaced when all combs are in use e.g. brood and larvae, pollen and nectar/honey. Before all cells are full and congestion ensues, place on your prepared permanent super, ensuring that the combs in it align with those below.

If you have only shallow frames with foundation, sometimes the bees will not move up, become congested in the brood chamber and then swarm. I find that in two or three days if they have not moved up, take one of the frames fitted with foundation from the outer side of the box and place on the flank of the brood in the brood chamber. Check the whole colony after another four or five days. Normally you will find that the shallow comb has been drawn out and is full of eggs. (If not, leave for another two days). Remove it and place it into the centre of the permanent super over the brood in the brood chamber.

Incidentally, when removing the frame from the permanent super, do take it from the outer side of the box. Do not leave a space in the middle as if the bees move up they will build wild comb-in the space. In-addition, the comb you remove from the brood chamber initially should be a flank comb with no brood but possibly full of honey. Wrap this in newspaper and store somewhere bee-proof for replacing later.

When the permanent super is two-thirds full, place on a queen excluder and a further super for honey.

I have scores of supers of drawn combs built up over the years. Therefore, I am able to select good quality drawn worker combs and fit them with narrow spacers for permanent supers of 11 frames. All my supers for honey in contrast are on wide spacers, 9 combs to a box.

I find it very simple to convert a colony to brood-and-a-half as described. I do not believe in placing a shallow box beneath the brood chamber. If empty, the bees will extend the brood combs into the cavity. If full of combs, they become unnecessarily travel strained, in my opinion.

For over-wintering, I always ensure all colonies have a permanent super full of honey together with stores in the brood chamber. I remove all queen excluders for winter and any Porter bee escapes from crown boards. Occasionally, if I have any supers of unripe stores or the odd super spare full of sealed honey, I will place that on the hives as a bonus for the bees, so sometimes I will end up with two supers full of brood in spring and an empty brood chamber. Advantage can be taken of this to replace any aged combs or frames with new drawn out combs. I always place at least one brood chamber full of foundation on a very strong colony as a super to get such drawn combs.

Finally, allow me to pass on one word of advice. Always remember the four� letter word FOOD. Do not be a robber; ensure the colonies have food all year round. Dead bees do not gather honey.

The "S" Beekeepers

This series of articles was given to Barkston Ash members by Robin Tomlinson. Robin is a beekeeper of 30 years standing and runs between 40 and 50 colonies. He is past Secretary of Barkston Ash BKA, he is past Chairman and Secretary of Leeds Beekeepers, he is a visiting Advisor and a Leeds delegate to Yorkshire BKA.

What Robin says here is a good lesson to newcomers to the craft and should also make old timers think if they fall into these categories.

I write this not as criticism of my fellow beekeepers and their skills or even lack of it, having over the last thirty years done much of what is written here and, come to the conclusion that most of it is unnecessary, or false economy. Beekeeping should not be a battle, confrontation or something to be feared by beekeepers and those associated with the craft i.e, family, neighbours and friends etc., or indeed a health hazard. It should be a relaxed sedate experience, most importantly for the bees and the beekeeper alike. So stop and think, do I really need to continue doing what I do or could I manage and manipulate my bees with or without these actions? (Have a go and good luck with your beekeeping.)

The Smokers

They smoke the bees every time they manipulate a colony or swarm, WHY?

We are told that when we smoke our bees they will be preoccupied gorging themselves on honey as their instinct makes them become anxious that a forest or savannah fire may overwhelm them and they may have to move on; this is true. We are also told that their abdomens become distended because they are so full of honey that they will not sting, or would find it hard to sting, partly true, except the bees that are likely to set about you are the guard bees, who will not be gorging themselves on honey! We are told that smoking bees causes docility; this is nonsense and were it true there would be no testy bees and of course the problems associated with them!

Why are my bees testy?

There are many reasons and some of the points I raise in this and subsequent paragraphs may be attributed to this.

I was taught to always light a smoker, good advice. Then smoke the entrance to the hive, this will start the hive bees gorging. It will also drive a lot of bees upstairs into the super where most will remain so that when you lift the super/s off many bees will be in them thus minimising the number of bees that could cause a nuisance when manipulating the rest of the colony! You then remove any remaining super/s and smoke the rest of the colony to calm them down! Then remove the Queen excluder, if fitted, this is when trouble can start, the bees know it and so does the beekeeper.

Cover cloths should then be placed over the brood box and the necessary manipulation carried out, unfortunately some beekeepers do not use cover cloths, (more about them later under Sun lighters and Sharers) and so they try and control the bees by what amounts to continuous smoking! So what is the alternative way?

Always light your smoker and keep it to hand.

Do not smoke the colony, especially if you want to find the Queen.

Do not touch the crown board.

Gently remove the first super, the bees will react but soon settle down; you may see them gorging honey. Do not use the smoker. Place the super in an upturned roof. Cover exposed supers or brood area with a cover cloth and any subsequent supers do likewise.

Gently ease the Queen excluder off and cover the brood chamber.

Do what you have to do keeping the brood box covered by using two cloths rolling one back and one forward.

When you have completed what you had to do remove the cover cloth. DO NOT SHAKE THE BEES OFF IT. Start reassembling the hive.

Mildly smoke the bees off the top bars and replace Queen excluder.

Mildly smoke again and replace super.

As you remove covers and replace supers, mildly smoke the bees off the top bars. This is the only time you should need to smoke the bees.

Shake the bees off the cover cloth away from and to one side of the hive, not in front of the hive entrance. Never forget that when you expose a colony up to 80% of the colony bees may not have been exposed to daylight.

Who's Who ... John Bowes

John joined York Beekeepers in 1986 . He has been on the Committee and is currently our librarian. John’s other interests are walking and gardening.

I have always been interested in the countryside with its natural and varied wildlife, but my knowledge of bees and wasps at that time was very limited, to me the difference between bees and wasps was, one being brown the other yellow, both should be avoided.

My introduction to bees was unintentional. It was in the afternoon of Boxing Day 1985, it had been snowing, there was a slight covering. As there was nothing on television to interest me and feeling fed up of being indoors my Son and I decided to get some fresh air and take a walk around the lanes near home.

So far into our walk, half a mile or so, we came across a pile of brown wood which resembled trays or boxes. They were strewn about in the snow. Amongst this tangle of wood were some bees, some crawling about, many others not moving.

We assumed they must be dead. However our thoughts were "we can not leave the rest to perish like this, but what can we do?"

We knew the farmer whose land the bees were on and thought, he must know who they belonged to, so we decided to contact him. He gave us the details of the owner and off we went to report to him.

We were sure we were doing the beekeeper a good turn informing him of his misfortune with his bees. It is by now late afternoon. We knocked on his door with the news and to our surprise this was his response: "Bl**dy" Hell not again, its them bl**dy kids again, they just won't leave them alone. They put ropes around them and pull the bl**dy things over. I'm sick of it, I feel like getting rid of them."

After some fifteen minutes of his moaning and groaning about all the problems he had been having with the bees and his neighbours, he admitted he had lost interest and had semi abandoned them in the fields.

Apparently he had previously kept the hive at home, discretely he thought, on top of his garage roof, which was however, in full view of his neighbours. He consequently got complaints and was forced to move it to its present location.

I don't know how but suddenly I found myself the new owner of this pile of "wooden trays/boxes”, it was called a WBC Beehive. The chap was absolutely delighted; his ongoing problem had suddenly disappeared.

He then proceeded to load me down with his knowledge of what I needed to know to successfully master the art of beekeeping. He was so delighted as he waved us off almost as if he had just received another Christmas present.

Going through the bits and pieces he had given me including the bees and bee hive I had started my new hobby with an assortment of beekeeping equipment a smoker, a Miller feeder, a veil, a pair of gloves and a beginners book on beekeeping.

I got home, told my wife what had happened and then suddenly the thought came to me” what have I done, what had I let myself in for?"

I decided the first thing to do was to go and bring the hive home, so with wheelbarrow tape and ropes, away we went to reassemble and recover the bees and hive. This method of transporting bees is not to be recommended. Thinking about it now it seems almost impossible. What we had was a WBC floor, two brood chambers, three supers (each full of frames) a glass crown board surrounded by seven lifts and a roof �not forgetting the bees all lashed together on a wheelbarrow! We got home, set it up in the corner of the garden and waited. I was hooked.

Spring came and bees started to fly from the hive and come back again, not very many but I thought it was a start. In due course the bees became less and less. There was something not quite right here I thought! What should I do? Have a look? I got out the book and found "Spring Inspection". I got kitted out in all the gear, overalls, wellies, and veil, gloves, lit up Drax Power Station (the Smoker"). To the hive I went and off with the roof, I went down and down and still further down not a bee in sight. Disaster, the colony had died out.

Knowing that Deans Garden Centre sold equipment for beekeeping I contacted Richard Dean who got me started again with a small nucleus hive. I nurtured my bees for the rest of the year and did eventually get them back into the WBC, mainly because Richard wanted his hive back. I didn't get any honey that year - I wonder why!

Over winter I decided to get myself organised and better informed for the following season. What proved to be one of the best things I did was join Bill Bell's beekeeping classes. This and with the help of beekeeping friends, who had become known to me, gave me a good understanding of how to successfully keep bees and also perhaps get some honey.

I have kept bees ever since. I have had some bad bees, some very bad bees (which nearly gave me cause to give up) and even kept Italian bees. I was introduced to the morphometric method of checking the strain of bees by Tom Robinson about eight years ago, since then I have tried to keep this strain of local bee.

By assessing and selecting the most acceptable colony to me, then producing queens each season using a modified version of the Orosi Pal method I have been able to keep this local strain of dark bee which I find to be quite prolific, flies and produces honey in most weathers, disinclined to swarm and overall not too bad to handle.

Website Update (October 2004) ... by Linda Carey (YDBKA Webmaster)

It is now almost 16 months since the website was set up and so far we have had 1,227 visitors to the site. It is the combination of my constant checking and updating the website together with an excellent web hosting company XCalibre that has ensured our site runs glitch-free.

Apart from keeping the website regularly updated, the past year has gone by without anything of significance to report. That is, apart from earlier this year when I was approached by Pam Todd and asked whether I would be willing a write an article for Beecraft on "Setting up on Association website". Putting pen to paper with an "aide memoir" of my experiences in setting up our website resulted in a two page spread in the June 2004 edition of Beecraft. Since going to press. I have been approached by a few organisations seeking my help and advice in setting up their own website, so not only has the article inspired others to do the same, hopefully it has put the Y+DBKA on the map, so to speak !

Continually on the look out for new ideas to try and brighten up the site and to make it more interesting and attract more members - I‘m hoping the recent addition of a scanner (to replace our worn out printer) and a digital camera, will open up all sorts of possibilities! Now all that's needed is to master the art of digital photography and add a few interesting graphics to the site.

Meantime, I'm presently looking into revamping the website. With this in mind, therefore, I would like to request more feedback from members so get your thinking caps on and think of fresh and exciting new ideas that you would like including on the website. I would be more than happy to accommodate your ideas!

What you all wanted to know!

You have all used a plastic pail type feeder. Filling it with syrup, upending it until the syrup stops flowing before putting it over your bees.

Did you know that the void space at the top of your upturned pail is known as a Torricellian vacuum? It is named after the Italian physicist who invented the mercury barometer in 1643. The length of mercury supported by atmospheric pressure was called a bar – which is still used today to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure of any description is sometimes measured in bars. 1 bar = 14.7 lbs per square inch.

For Sale

1lb squat honey jars with screw lids are available from Colin Hattee at �28.00 per gross. Lids are available separately at �4.50 per gross. Colin will bring them to meetings or they can be collected from his home by prior arrangement. Contact him on 01 430 860 972.

Past Events

Wednesday 15 September

There was a good turnout at the first of our winter meetings.

Peter Sanderson – a prospective new member was made welcome.

Our speaker was Lester Quayle from Dunswell speaking on “Beekeeping my Way”.

Lester illustrated his talk with slides, which allowed him show clearly some of the finer points of beekeeping – using starter strips in ekes on the heather was one such point.

He has been keeping bees for 18 years; His main apiary is in his one acre garden that he planted lots of trees in to make a wind break. He has used Italian bees and found them gentle and prolific breeders, but need tropical conditions to start working. He the tried Greek bees that are popular just now and found they have similar characteristics to Italians. He now raises his own queens using Apideas.

Lester showed us a slide of his spin drier in action spinning out heather honey. It had been modified to allow it to run with the lid open so that more comb could be added a bit at a time. The main draw back with spin driers used in this way was the amount of air it introduced into the honey, necessitating a long period of time to allow the air to settle out. He runs between 30 and 40 colonies on single Nationals, takes bees to borage and heather and this year produced 3,500 lbs of honey. He is also an agent for Thornes, Secretary of Beverley Beekeepers and has a full time job!

Monday 4 October

The Honey Show sub committee Messrs Coleman, Fuller and Johnston met at Murton to make final preparations for the show on 20 October.

Monday 11 October

A full Committee meeting was held at the Farming Museum, Murton. Among the topics discussed where :- our web site – it is doing well, Bee Disease Insurance , Awards For All, amendments to the Constitution, Russell Carey has offered to make five NUC boxes for sale to the beginners class at cost, subscriptions.

Other points: - Treasurer William wishes to stand down at the AGM. Pam Todd has offered a 12 months subscription to Beecraft to the runner up in this years honey show. Ken Barran has been looking after Mike Ellsworth’s bees . (you will remember that Mike tragically lost his life in a road accident in July). As a token of their appreciation, Mike’s sons are donating two stocks of bees to Murton.

Wednesday 20th October.

The meeting started by holding one minutes silence in memory of Jim Britton and Mike Elsworth who died so tragically earlier in the year.

Being tied up with the Honey Show taking place next door, John Acheson wrote down the salient points of the AGM for me.

Chairman David Aston gave a resume of activities during the past year, and the work of the Committee on behalf of the Association. In particular he mentioned Sue Hesp for her work on the training programme, myself for producing “Combings”, John Bowes for running the library, Rob Coleman for deputising as Chairman and Colin Hattee and William Johnson as Secretary and Treasurer.

Treasurer William Johnson reported the Associations expenditure was not covered by the income from subscriptions, due to the present Capitation fee payable to Yorkshire BKA of �13.00 plus �1.50 per member payable to Bee Diseases Insurance. It was agreed to give notice that the subscription be raised by �5.00 in October 2005 and Members are encouraged to pay by cash or cheque rather than by bank mandate.

Copies of the Constitution with proposed amendments relating to Associate Members and voting decisions were circulated for discussion. These amendments to be put to a future meeting.

David Aston reported on the proposed reduction of expenditure by DEFRA of 20% on Bee Health Programme. Current thoughts include de regulation of varroa and EFB. Beekeeping organisations have registered strong opposition to these proposals. In the same breath he reported that the Small Hive Beetle has been found in Portugal.

Bee Diseases Insurance. It was noted that the cover provided by BDI in the majority of cases was inadequate. Members agreed to withdraw from the scheme and provide their own cover.

A training course for beginners will commence in May 2005.

Election of Officers. Colin Hattee who had given notice of his intention to stand down, has agreed to stay on but to be shadowed by Bill Scriven with a view to him taking over in future.

Treasurer William Johnson will carry on but wishes a volunteer to be found soon – are you interested?

A new Committee was elected. The Members are :- David Aston, Ken Barran, John Bowes, Russell Carey, Rob Coleman, John Fuller, Sue Hesp and Bob Hirst, Margaret Langstaff and Jenny Smith.

There was a very good turnout for the Honey Show/ AGM.

While the AGM was being held in the cafeteria, our annual Honey Show was being held in the adjacent room.

The first winner of our new cup was Sue Hesp with 17 points

Second with 14 points and winner of one year’s subscription to Beecraft - Colin Hattee.

Third with 13 points was Ron Waite.

Fourth with 11 points was John Bowes.

The “John Fuller” trophy for the winner of the class “Block of Beeswax over 1lb in weight” went to Sue Hesp.

The score sheets for the show are available for scrutiny. Give me a call and I will bring them to our next meeting for you.

The Honey Show is going from strength to strength. In 2002 we had 14 competitors with 70 exhibits. In 2003 we had 14 exhibitors with 89 exhibits and this year we had 16 competitors with 127 exhibits. If you have never entered before, give it a go. You may not win the cup but it will help raise the standards and make it that much more difficult for other competitors. A prize card always looks good along side your honey on sale in your local shop.

The Honey Show is primarily a bit of fun.

Forthcoming Events

It is anticipated that we will hold our annual dinner again in the New Year. More details later.

Saturday 9th April 2005

Yorkshire BKA Bishop Burton Conference. On the A1079 some five miles west of Beverley

Speakers include Dewey Caron from the U.S.A. and Ian Craig. Details later

Saturday 16th April 05

The Buckles Hotel, on the east bound side of the A64 between Tadcaster and York. YBKA Spring Conference. Lecturer David Aston

Saturday 16^th April

BBKA Spring Lecture, Convention and Exhibition at Stoneleigh near Coventry. 09.00 to 17.00. Entrance fee �14, but �12 to BBKA members.

The lecturers and demonstrators are: - Michael Badger, Brenda Ball, Dr Dewey Caron from the USA, David Charles, Philip Cunningham, Glyn Davies, Francis Farnsworth, David Friel, June Hughes, Margaret Johnson, David Lishman, Paul Metcalf, Gerald Moxon and Margaret Thomas.

Their subjects are :- Beeswax candle making, making wax blocks for show, mead, working holidays for bees, pollination – why and how, practical equipment assembly, painting with beeswax and others.

A weekend hands on course at Foxglove Covet in May 2005. Probably Fri 20th.Sat 21st and Sun 22nd

Details from David Gray 01748 850791

Saturday 4th June

BBKA Spring Conference the National Agricultural Centre Stoneleigh

Sunday 3^rd July to Wednesday 6^th July 2005

The Royal Show at Stoneleigh where the British Beekeepers Association have their headquarters.

Sunday 21^st August to Friday 26^th August.

Apimondia meeting in Dublin.

All that remains now is to wish you all the best for Christmas and the New Year. May all your supers be full ones.