Combings Magazine   
Issue No 23 ~ September 2007

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

Should you require any further information about any events shown in this Newsletter, please contact sec_ydbka@hotmail.co.uk

Association news ... from the Editor

Annual Auction

Our auction in May went without a hitch - the only thing to blight the day was a downpour just after bidding began.  Some of the best buys were: two colonies of bees that went for £90 and £105; an MG heather press for £45 (to the best of my knowledge they are no longer made - they originated with Mountain Grey Apiaries at Brough, then the Eade family and finally were produced by Thornes - they are all steel and very robust); some long dated Bayvarol for £7; 10 new national supers in deal averaged £10 each over six lots; a nice four frame extractor with a plastic outer and stainless cage hand driven fetched £72 and 55 pieces BSW shallow foundation for £31.

We had 136 lots in total, putting £290 into the Association's kitty.  Thanks must go to our auctioneer Colin Hatee and all those of you that assisted on the day.

If we are to have an auction next year, then a new team will be required to run it.  The present team of Rob Cleman, Alan Johnston and myself - after doing the job for the last 6 years, decided to call it a day.  We believe we have stagnated and that new blood with new ideas will breathe new life into the auction.  The task is not an onerous one - a couple of meetings beforehand, the day itself and an inquest meeting afterwards.

BBKA Basic Assessment

On Tuesday 17 June (between heavy showers) and Friday 20 June (with prolonged heavy rain forecast for the morning) ten members took their BBKA Basic Assessment.  Alan Johnston kindly let us use his home apiary for the assessment.  His hives and bees were to the highest standards.  Alan also laid on tea, coffee and biscuits for all.   The assessor on both days was Gerald Moxon from Hull.

I am pleased to tell you that all ten have passed.  They are: David Bough, John Finch, Bob Hirst, Mark Pennington, Barrie Young, Rob Coleman, Robert Franklin, Peter Hunt, Kate Wallace and Sue Young.

Congratulations and well done to all.

Yorkshire Beekeepers Spring Field Day - 10 June 2007

Colin Hattee who chaired the organising committee for the Spring Field Day tells us how it went.

The culmination of 18 months' work resulted in YDBKA hosting the Yorkshire Beekeepers Spring Field Day on Sunday 10 June 2007 at the All Saint's RC School, Nunnery Lane, York.   Credit must be given to all those members who participated in the organisation during, before and after the event.

The theme for the day was 'Bee Health & Bee Products' which proved to be very relevant, bearing in mind the recent outbreaks of EFB in the York area.  The venue was more than adequate and provided superb groupwork and conference facilities for the 116 delegates who bought tickets.  The Association very much appreciated the vast amount of co-operation received from the school via the Headmaster, Bill Scriven.

Delegates were welcomed by the Chair of Yorkshire Beekeepers Association, Sue Chatfield, and the day was facilitated by our own Dr David Aston who introduced and thanked all four speakers.

The day commenced with coffee and biscuits followed by an interesting talk by Richard Ball, the National Bee Inspector on Future Disease Control as well as Norman Carreck, formerly of Rothamsted Research, whose topic was Research in Bee Diseases.  Delegates then had the opportunity to go to their various pre-chosen groups.

All Saint's RC School catering staff provided an excellent buffet style lunch, which was much appreciated by all present.  The afternoon was spent listening to two further distinguished speakers, namely, Paul Metcalfe whose topic was Products from the Hive and Dr David Aston on Integrated Bee Health Management.  Again, these were interspaced with an opportunity to undertake the various group sessions.

The Association cannot thank CSL enough for their major contribution to the success of the day.  They were efficient, time conscious and very pleasant to deal with as a group.   Without their professionalism, the day would not have been the same.   Appreciation must also go to the main speakers as well as the group leaders.

A financial loss was anticipated with this event but due to the support and careful control of expenses a very small profit was achieved.  This was in no small part due to the profits from the Raffle which was held at lunchtime.

In conclusion an expression of appreciation must also be made to the young people involved in the lunchtime musical entertainment.

The day was closed by our President, Ian Kibble, expressing thanks to all concerned.

Election of Committee Members 2007

Prior to the 2006 AGM, it had been traditionally difficult to get members to put themselves forward for election to the York BKA Committee.  Broadly speaking, the previous year's committee were cajoled into standing again and were elected unopposed.  Last year, 2006, however was different.  There were significantly more volunteers than Committee vacancies, but the use of the old system meant that those who spoke up first got elected and those who were a little hesitant didn't get the opportunity to join the Committee.

As a result of this, the present Committee has proposed a revised system and those present at the 2007 half year meeting (Wednesday 16 May) agreed that it should be used for the October 2007 elections, although it may well require some modification after that.

This year's system - rather than declare oneself available for election on the evening of the AGM as previously, eligible candidates (ie any full member wishing to join the committee) are reuqired to make themselves known to the Secretary, Alan Johnston, by means of the proforma included with your Combings.  The Secretary will compile a list of those prepared to stand for election; this will be designed inthe form of a ballot paper and issued to those who attend the October AGM.

At an appropriate point in the evening's proceedings, members will be given the opportunity to vote for the required number of candidates from those listed on the form.  The forms will be collected, the votes counted and the results declared later in the meeting.

If you have any queries about the process, please contact the magazine editor or the Secretary.

Honey Show

Our Annual Honey Show will be held on Wednesday 21 November at the Yorkshire Museum of Farming, Murton commencing a little earlier than previous years.  Entries will be accepted from 1815 hours and judging from 1915 hours.  The schedule is attached.

Removing Honey from Wet Cappings

In June's Combings I suggested that those of you that have your first honey crop to extract, yet do not have any equipment, that you hang your cappings in a net inside a plstic bag then hang the lot in a greenhouse.  This was an idea that I had picked up on.  So, when I did some extracting, I did just that - and it worked.  The cappings were still wet but I was able to retrieve saleable honey from it.

That leads me onto another topic - the use of Pratley trays to melt honey and wax when uncapping.  The temperature of the tray has to be high enough to melt wax, yet this temperature is far higher than the recommended temperatures for heating honey.  As a consequence, any honey that passes over the tray became darkened or even caramelised, making it unfit for sale.  It can be used as spring feed, but I would not use it for autumn feed.

Pyrethroid Resistance

Last autumn I treated my bees with Apistan in the usual way.  The spring I noticed high levels of varroa in some colonies, so put more Apistan in.  After three weeks there was still a lot of varroa about.  This prompted me to run the test for pyrethroid resistance.  I tested three colonies in three apiaries - all showed pyrethroid resistance.

Uncapping drone brood, I found multiple mites in some cells both mature and immature.   Sacrificing drone brood is probably the simplest and easiest way of reducing varroa populations.  The downside is it only being usable until the end of July when the queen stops laying in drone cells.

Honey Prices

John Bowes sent me an article out of the Yorkshire Post Farming Section dated 12 May 2007 under the heading "Honey of an opportunity exists out in the fields".   The article is about farmers diversifying and suggesting they go into beekeeping.   The Yorkshire Post reporter interviewed Bill Spence of South Riding BKA who states that "farmers could produce 120 lbs of honey per hive at an average price of £4.00 per pound".  A farmer, he said, could build up to 50 hives after starting with two or three in order to build up experience.  This would produce an income of £20,000 a year provided the hives were moved around onto different crops - oilseed rape, followed by borage and then heather.

Annual Honey Show

Our Annual Honey Show was held at Murton on the evening of Wednesday 22 November last year (too late to be reported in your December “Combings”).  This year was good with 19 competitors entering 111 exhibits. It makes the organisers’ job worthwhile when such interest is shown.Sue Hesp continued her winning form.  She took both the Honey Show Cup and the “John Fuller” trophy for class 12, “A block of beeswax more than 1lb”.  The classes that give scope to ones imagination, are 14 a “Honey cake to your own recipe” and 16 a “Beeswax candle, any shape or size”.   Both classes produced some interesting exhibits.  The most striking of which was a cake made by Sue Hesp, with a big “Wow” factor.  It was a fruit cake made in a pudding bowl which is the shape of a skep. It was piped all round with yellow icing to represent straw, It won first prize in its class.  Sue amassed 29 points, second was John Bowes with 12 points, closely followed by Jenny Smith with 11points. One point behind Jenny was Alan Johnston.  I spent all Wednesday afternoon preparing for the Honey Show, all evening (with others) presenting it and all night dreaming of it!

There is much talk these days of global warming.  Most years birds stop twittering from about the end of October ‘till February.  This year they have not stopped at all. On the day of the solstice they where singing their hearts out, on Boxing Day I heard a great tit singing – they have a most distinctive call and on the 2 January there was a hedgehog in my garden  - no doubt brought out of hibernation by the relatively warm winter we have so far.

Not being well up on hedgehogs I do not know whether they can go back into hibernation or not.  Other beekeepers tell me they have seen wasps and bumblebees flying in early January.

During the winter Steve Hudson had two cedar hives of bees with supers and feeders including the stand (This is one he got from Bob Hirst. They are good substantial pieces of kit) stolen from his apiary at Copmanthorpe. There were eight hives on the same site.

Unfortunately the hives are not marked in any way.  If you are approached to purchase any beekeeping equipment- then give Steve a ring first.

I think the moral of the story is – have your hives and equipment indelibly marked – for wood work, branding is best on the out side, inside, on the ends and on the frames also. It may not stop hives being stolen but it will make it much more difficult for the thief to sell them on.

Thorne’s did sell branding irons at one time, but having looked through their catalogue, cannot find them. Nor are they in the National Bee Supplies catalogue.  If any of you know where they can be got from, then let me know and I will spread the word round.

I would like to know if any of you are able to get £4.00 per pound for your honey (not who pays you that price).

More on Honey Prices

I thought that getting £4.00 per pound for honey was a lot until I read a small piece in this August's Bee Craft.

Fortnum & Mason of London are selling their own honey from their own "architecturally imposing hives" (Nationals with gabled roofs!) for £10.00 for 227 grms - or £20.00 per lb!  Their bees are Italians in four hives and production is strictly limited to 900 jars.

Why am I so sceptical about such claims?

Bee Parasites

Kate Wallace sent me this page out of a book she had been reading called "Fungi" by Spooner and Roberts.  This is what it said about parasides on bees, although I would not call them parasites!

There are no less than 124 species of fungi known to occur in association with the nests of bees (Apoidea), including parasides as well as saprotrophic and mutualistic species.   Some of the parasides are of economic importance since they attack honey bees (Apis mellifera) and pollinating species, such as the leaf-cutting bees (Megachilidae) and bumble-bees (Bombidae), but almost every kind of bee can be affectged.   Mould species in the genera Aspergillus and Rhizopus as well as the ascomycete Bettsia alvei - a common hive fungus, have even been blamed for the decline of some bee species by infecting and destroying the provisions stored in the hive cells, hence killing the larvae that feed on them.  Other parasides, including Saccharomyces and Torulopsis yeasts, Trichothecium roseum and some species of Aspergillus, Penicillium and Mucor, directly and sometimes obligately infect and kill both larvae and adults.

The yeast-like Melanosella mors-apis also infects honeybee queens, apparently causing 'melanosis', melanised patches of tissue around egg cells in the ovaries.

One of the best-known parasites is Ascosphaera apis, an ascomycete which attacks honey bee larvae causing a lethal disease known as 'chalk brood', characterised by the chalky-white appearance of the dead, mummified larvae. Although widespread and quite common especially in parts of Europe (including Britain) and in North America, the disease usually only infects part of a colony and can be kept under control by appropriate ventilation of the hive and avoidance of damp conditions. The bees are apparently capable doing this themselves, deliberately increasing the temperature of infected hives to a level too high for fungal growth. Chalk brood nevertheless weakens the colony and may significantly reduce honey production.

Three other species, Ascosphaera  aggrenata, A. major, and A. proliperda cause similar diseases ,in leaf cutting bees (Menachile spp) and mason bees (Osmia spp). Another fungal disease, 'stone brood', is caused by species of Aspergillus, especially A flavus and A fumigatus. The fungus kills the larvae before pupation, transforming them into hard, stone-like objects, and is also able to attack the adults. Fortunately, although widespread, this disease is less common and of less commercial importance than chalk brood.

Finding Queens - Again

In “Combings” No.21 of March this year I mentioned the “Tomes Queen Detector” as a means of readily finding queens.  (Which you all know can be a difficult job, particularly with a populous colony).

I was most surprised and thrilled to receive an e.mail from Mr Tomes – the inventor of the device – which I copy below:

“I have been sent your reference to Snelgrove in the latest issue of Comings Magazine, which awoke nostalgic memories for me. In 1945 I co-founded a company 20th Century Electronics manufacturing radiation sensing devices based on my Queen Detector.

The firm thrived and still operates today, playing an important role in the Trident Nuclear programme.    See Google - History of CENTRONIC.

The original Tomes Queen Detector was presented by Rothampstead Bee Research Institute to the Reading Museum of Rural Science, where it is exhibited. If you would like a photo of the instrument I would be very pleased to send you one.

My first experiments involved attaching a minute magnet to the back of the Queen so that as she emerged through a tunnel to swarm, she would be detected by electronic circuitry and automatically diverted into a new prepared hive. The magnetic idea was unsuccessful so I tried luminous paint, detecting the emitted light by photo-multipliers. This worked well except that extraneous light tended to enter the tunnel setting off the detection system prematurely.

The luminous paint was slightly radio-active and I developed an 18" electronic discharge tube which instantly detected Queens marked with radio-active paint or radio-active discs when in close proximity. The detectors I developed were modified high current Geiger Counters.

S.W. Gadge the famous Sussex Bee-keeper had set me up with hives and colonies and I told him about my invention. He was not very impressed with the automatic swarm rehiver, but he was fascinated with the idea of finding marked Queens with what he called the divining rod. Gadge was Beekeeper to the London Zoo and one Bank Holiday he gave the story to the Press Association. The effect was astonishing all the papers carried the report, with headlines like "Find the Lady", "Divining rod finds Queen Bee", "Spotted Queen" etc. The BBC ran the story and so did Punch with an amusing article about wives marking errant husbands. The story literally went round the world.

I was inundated with requests to mark birds, fish, beetles, field voles and golf balls! I gave demonstrations to many Bee-keeping Associations including one memorable gathering at Stanmore Park to the combined meeting of Middlesex Beekeepers, when 300 were present”.

I found Mr Tomes email most interesting. Do go to the web site and see how a small company became a world leader in its field.

Frame Sizes

I found these frame sizes in “The Beekeeping Annual 1950”.

This beekeeping annual has nothing what so ever to do with the present day “The Beekeepers Annual” published by Northern Bee Books.

I have never heard of some of them, but obviously where designed to fit a hive of probably the same name.

Can any of you shed any light on them?

Adair - 133/8" x 11¼"
American - 12" x 12"
British Standard - 14" x 8½"
British Deep - 14” x 12"
British Shallow - 14" x 5½"
Commercial - 16" x 10"
Commercial - 14” x  10”
Danzenbaker - 17" x 7½"
Gallup - 11¼" x11¼"
Heddon - 18½" x 5.3/8"
Indian - 11¼" x 8½"
Jumbo - 17.5/8" x 11¼”
Langstroth - 175/8" x 91/8"
Modified Dadant - 175/8" x 11¼"
Quinbyn - 191/8" x 11”

In another book that I have the 16" × 10" Commercial is also referred to as Simmins or Commercial.  Another book tells me that S. Simmins was an English queen breeder.

While on the subject of frames. I came across the name Piers Edgecumbe Martin – the designer of the “Sailors” hive, the fore runner of the National.  Reading the article, he was around at the end of the 1800’s or early 1900’s.  Again, can any of you shed any light on this hive or the original National hive?  I have heard that Mountain Grey Apiaries had a lot to do with the introduction of the National hive.

Ragwort

There was a lot of ragwort about this year – much more than in previous years. As you know it is toxic to grazing animals. It is common on waste land and meadows.

Ragwort is attractive to bees for nectar and pollen, producing a strong flavoured honey and liable to spoil other honey if present in any quantity.

Ragwort is one of the feeding plants of the cinnabar moth caterpillar – you cannot mistake it, being yellow with black banding.  The cinnabar moth itself is also quite distinctive. It is red and black and about one inch long.

Pollen Analysis

You will often have wondered exactly what nectar sources your bees go to. Peter Martin put this short piece in the August 2006 BBKA News.

It is too expensive for every day use, but it could be worthwhile if you think your bees have been working something unusual and wish to sell it as a special honey at a premium!

“A number of laboratories offer this service, in particular the public analyst for each county or metropolitan area. There are also commercial laboratories. However, it is uneconomic for a laboratory to build up the extensive experience necessary for this work and it was in fact because of dissatisfaction in the industry with the services available that I started doing the job myself ten years ago. I have analysed many hundreds of samples for the members of the Honey Association also known as the British Honey Importers and Packers Association, of which I was the technical adviser. I am by no means wishing to promote the service I provide in a commercial way but I suggest members are entitled to know that they can get this examination done if they wish”.

I have said before that I get news letters from East Riding Trading Standards. The following regarding the registration of food businesses came out in their spring 2007 issue. I think it will apply to us as we “transport, prepare and sell food (honey) to consumers.

Registration of Food Businesses

New regulations came into force in January of this year changing the existing requirements in relation to food business registration

Who it applies to – Registration applies to all businesses that are transporting or preparing food or selling food to consumers. Many of the old exemptions no longer exist; therefore businesses that were previously exempt from registration may now need to register with the relevant authority. This will include any business that may be independently operating inside another premises and businesses that may trade infrequently.

Exemptions – The only exception from completing a Food Registration form is for businesses that are offering a vending machine drinks service only. The persons that may be filling the vending machine will be required to register if they have a number of businesses that they offer this service to.

How to register – You must register your business at least 28 days prior to the food business commencing. You can do this by contacting your local Food Services Team on the following numbers:

Beverley 01482 396308
Bridlington  01482 396316
Goole 01482 396321

Already registered under the old regulations – If you are already registered under the old regulations you do not need to re-register but you do have to notify us of any changes to the operation of the businesses, for example if you are to cease trading, if you change any of your operations that you may undertake within your business or if your business changes hands.

What we do with the information – On registering with the local authority we do not issue a certificate for registration but you can find a current list of food businesses on our website that are registered with the authority.

Require any further advice or help – You can phone your local Food Services Team or contact through the East Riding of Yorkshire website or contact me on the number below.

Melanie Simpson-Tobin, Environmental Health Officer, Tel: 01482 396263, email: melanie.simpson-tobin@eastriding.gov.uk

Prescribed Nutritional Labelling

This piece also appeared in the same Spring 2007 of East Riding Trading Standards Bulletin.

You see nutritional information on supermarket honey, but as yet it is not compulsory for us to show it on our jars.   If you wish to put such information on your jars, then below is the way such information should be presented.

I think the biggest problem would be getting the information in the first place and would probably require laboratory testing to be accurate.  As no two honeys are the same would we need to have every batch tested? It would not be economically viable if we did have to.

As an increasing number of people are becoming more health conscious it is important that the labelling at products is accurate and clear, thus allowing consumers to make an informed choice. An area where this is particularly relevant concerns the nutritional labelling indicated on food products.

Under current legislation, nutritional labelling is only required when a nutritional claim is made, i.e. "high in fibre" / "low in fat". However, it is recommended that information should be provided on all products on a voluntary basis. Where nutritional labelling is provided, either on a compulsory or voluntary basis, it must be done so in a prescribed format.

This prescribed nutritional labelling must be presented together in one place on the label and can be in either tabular or linear form. The information must be provided in one of the following formats:

Option 1

energy (kj and kcal)
protein (g)
carbohydrate (g)
fat (g)

Option 2

energy (kj and kcal)
protein (g)
carbohydrate (g) of which sugars (g)
fat (g) of which saturates (g)
fibre (g)
sodium (g)

If a nutritional claim is made in relation to a nutrient, not included in the lists above (e.g. high in vitamins/minerals), the amounts for these vitamins/minerals must also be declared. The amounts for each nutrient must be declared per 100g or 100ml of the food. It is also optional to include the amounts per quantified serving of the food.

It is important that manufacturers are aware of requirements in relation to nutritional labelling. The Food Services team also recommends that retailers consider the requirements detailed above, thus allowing them to ensure that products sold within their premises contain the necessary nutritional labelling.

Should you have any queries in relation to any aspect of nutritional labelling, please contact the Food Service team who will be pleased to help.

Joby Wilson, Food Standards Officer, Tel: 01482 396234, email: joby.Wilson@eastriding.gov.uk

Varroa and Small Cells

This is part of an article the Yorkshire News Letter of June 2007. It is of Canadian origin. The author is an organic beekeeper who is rearing bees in smaller cells and claims to have virtually eliminated varroa.

Thorne’s are selling foundation with a smaller cell size and quote Wedmore. National Bee Supplies do not mention it.

I was going to copy what Wedmore says about cell size, but it is a rather long passage. But he does mention how cell size affects the size of the bee.

Read what he says. I am using his book printed in 1946. Hamilton, Hooper, Morse or Mace make no mention of how different cell sizes affect the size of bee.  Remember that when Wedmore wrote his book, varroa had not been invented.

“This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day.

This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells”.

We are always taught that worker bees emerge from their cells after 21 days – no mention is ever made of smaller cells or the consequential shorter emergence time.  Have any of you ever used small cell foundation?  If you have I would like to hear your views.

I have not read any where that smaller cells can be used as a means of reducing varroa.  If it works, it will be an easy and cheap to adopt, as we are being urged to change foundation frequently, partly for hygiene reasons and partly to reduce varroa numbers, then changing cell size will be easy.

What you all wantged to know

Plants that are insect pollinated are referred to as being ENTOMOPHILOUS.  Think of entomology – the study of insects.

Plants that are wind pollinated are referred to as being ANEMOPHILOUS.   Think of anemometer- a device for measuring wind speed.

A storey I heard recently appealed to me. A canny Yorkshire beekeeper put a tub of honey into his warming cabinet. Forgot about it and went on holiday. When he returned the honey had caramelised.   Being a thrifty person he did not want to throw it away, so he bottled it and sold it as “Caramelised Honey” and was happy when it was all gone without a visit from Trading Standards. His only problem was - his customers liked it and came back for more!

I found this question in a trivia quiz:

What were dredge, maslin, berevechicorn and bollymog used for?

Answer – they were all crops grown in medieval England.

At first I thought they must be types of grain, but what information I have been able to glean seems to indicate they are types of flour.

I have looked on web sites, the Oxford English Dictionary in Goole library. I have asked farmers with no results.

All I have been able to find out is that maslin bread is made of rye with a little wheat. It was the staple bread in medieval times, and dredge = Pisum sativum - a legume = pea. or Vicia faba  another legume - field bean or horse bean or tick bean or mazagan bean.(or dredge corn containing these species).

Can any of you shed any light on what these are?

Past Events

Tuesday 29th May

The first of this seasons apiary visits was held at Rob Coleman’s apiary at Wiggington. This meeting tied in with the beginners class. There was a good turnout in spite of the cold and wind.  Rob demonstrated to the new comers what to do when queen cells are found – artificial swarms and making up a nucleus with queen cells.

The evening ended with Rob’s wife Myra treating us all to tea and cakes.

Sunday 10th June

York BKA where hosts to the Yorkshire BKA Spring Field Day held at All Saints Roman Catholic School on Nunnery Lane in York.

It was a fine day and was well attended.  The speakers where all of top quality and all the facilities where very good.

Colin Hattee and his assistants are to be complimented on their efforts. The schools Head Master Bill Scriven played a large part in the days success, turning his school over to York Beekeepers for the day.  His catering staff laid on a first class lunch – during the lunch we were entertained by a student string trio playing popular classical music.

Wednesday 13th June

Steve Hudson was the host for a visit to his bees on borage at Wheldrake. Only six members turned up for the meeting – but that was not surprising as it was a cold wet evening.   It was the start of 48 hours of continuous rain that caused so much havoc throughout Yorkshire.

Saturday 23rd June

Due to EFB, the visit to Sue Hesp’s and Ken Barran’s apiary and extraction facility had to be cancelled.

Sunday 24th June

I did a mock BBKA Basic Exam on a one to one with four members who are interested in obtaining this qualification.

Thursday 28th June

I did another mock BBKA Basic Exam on a one to one with three further members who are interested in obtaining this qualification.

Saturday 7th June

Twenty five members old and new, with their friends and spouses turned up for our annual Summer Barbeque that was held at Jenny Smith’s home at Askham Bryan. It was a pleasant occasion with the rain of earlier in the day holding off.

Wednesday 11th June

Colin and Debbie Hattee where host for this evening’s apiary meeting. Ten members attended. Finding and marking queens   was the topic for the evening.  Even the most experienced eyes in the Association could not spot her on this occasion and as a result only a couple of queens got marked.

Tuesday 17th June

Five members took their Basic Assessment at Alan Johnston’s apiary on Cliff Common – between down pours.

Friday 20th June

A second group of five members took their basic assessment- again at Alan Johnston’s apiary - (with heavy rain forecast).

Wednesday 25th June

The last of this summers apiary visits was held at Tom Robinsons apiary at his allotment at Fulford Cross.  It was a fine evening with fourteen members turning up.

Tom demonstrated doing a shook swarm and then put all the brood above a queen excluder until it emerged.

The down side to allowing brood to emerge that way is that any varroa sealed in the cells will also emerge and infest the new bottom box. This was a demonstration of the technique.

I think that shook swarms are better done at your first inspection when amounts of brood are small and can be sacrificed along with any sealed in varroa. You will then be starting the season with a minimum amount of mites in your colony.

Tuesday 31st July

The Honey Show sub committee – Alan Johnston, John Fuller and June Meredith met at Murton to discuss what to include in this edition of “Combings”

Forthcoming Events

Sunday 9th to Friday 14th September

Apimondia 2007 will be held in Melbourne, Australia. For more information: www.apimondia2007melbourne.com

Wednesday 12th September (Murton) 1930 hrs

The first of our winter meetings. Speaker to be announced.

Wednesday 17th October (Murton)

York BKA Annual General Meeting. Election of a new Committee.

Thursday 18 to Saturday 20th October

The National Honey Show at the RAF Museum, Hendon. Ample free parking.  Website: www.honeyshow.co.uk

Wednesday 21st November (Murton)

York BKA Annual Honey Show.  Your chance to show your produce to the rest of the Association.  Exhibits for show will be accepted from 1815 hrs and judging to commence at 1915 hrs  prompt.

Saturday 5th April 2008 – Lincoln Auction

The first of this year’s auction will be the Lincoln District sale held at the Lincolnshire County Showground, Scampton. (The showground is on the A15 some five miles before Lincoln). The sale to commence at 1100 hrs.  Bees for sale will be accepted On Saturday morning before 1000 hrs, equipment from 1500 hrs – 1900 hrs on Friday 4th.

The Lincoln auction is held under cover in a big shed, so weather is not a problem.

Saturday 17th May – York Auction (Murton)

Our 9th Annual  will be held at Murton.  Bees for sale will be accepted between 1800 hrs and 2000 hrs on the evening of Friday 16th May. Equipment for sale will be accepted from 0900 hrs on the day , viewing from 1100 hrs and the auction will commence at noon.

Further details from Association Secretary Alan Johnston.

For sale

Tired of always ending up with backache every time you go through your hives , do you have to do your beekeeping on your knees ? Then no more, for I have the solution. Purchase one of our purpose made hive stands capable of carrying two or three hives, made of light weigh metal fully galvanised, strong and robust, will last you a life time and find out the pleasures of easy hive manipulation all for the modest cost of £45.

A limited number of good quality, second hand WBC hives. Each hive consists of a stand, brood box, queen excluder, two supers, a crown board, outer lifts and pitched roof in galvanised zinc.The hives are presently in use over wintering colonies, but will be cleaned, sterilised and available for sale in time for the start of the season.

Brand new from Thorne’s, these hives retail at £300+.   Secondhand – this offer £100.  Order early to avoid disappointment.

Colin Hattee has 1lb squat honey jars for sale. Priced at £15.00 per half gross including lids.  Lids on there own are £5.00 per half gross.

14 lb tubs of Ambrosia are also available at the special price of £13.00 per tub.

Colin will bring your order to meetings or you can collect them from Colin’s home by prior arrangement.

Steve Hudson has new 30lb honey buckets with sealed lids for sale.  £2.00 each.

CLARO BEES for all your beekeeping supplies

Large stock and very keen prices on all items

Cedar National hive parts, frames (all in first and second quality), clothing, gloves, foundation, jars, spacers ,tools, smokers, medicines, straps etc. etc. all normally in stock and at below list prices.  Advice on the selection and use of beekeeping equipment always available. Open every Saturday morning 0900 hrs to 1230 hrs April to October inclusive.

Beside the Harrogate Arms, past the RHS Harlow Carr Gardens, Crag Lane, Harrogate, HG3 1QA.  A map showing our location is available at: www.hrbka.org.uk

 

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