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Combings Magazine   
Issue No 16 ~ December 2005

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 ...

Our Annual General Meeting was held at Murton on the evening of Wednesday 19th October with a good turnout of members.  The meeting opened with President Ian Kibble introducing himself to members. He is a member of the Yorkshire Trust and an ex beekeeper.

Madam Chairman Sue Hesp gave a run down on the past season, the working party that painted the pavilion, the beginners class that had twenty nine aspiring beekeepers on it, apiary visits and the visit of Chilean beekeepers to York.

If members wish to collectively raise queens, Tom Robinson is prepared to offer advice to such a scheme.

William Johnson stood down as Treasurer and Chris Robinson was elected unopposed to the post.  Colin Hattee was re-elected unopposed as Secretary but gave notice that he will stand down at the 2006 AGM.   Librarian John Bowes also stood down and Alan Johnston was elected unopposed to take his place.

Russell Carey and I stood down from the Committee.  A new Committee was elected. Their names appear on the front page.  Four have never been on our Committee before.  It is a rewarding task bringing new ideas to the Association.    I wish them well.

The Treasurer reported that the Association has £5,413.41 in the bank – a healthy state of affairs.

You are reminded that your subscription to York BKA was due on October 1st and have until 31st December to pay.  After that, your membership will lapse.  This year’s subscription is £25.00 and should be sent to Treasurer Chris Robinson as soon as possible.  For Associate Members your subscription will be £12.50.

A topic that came up from the Chair was about BBKA Third party Insurance that we all have as members of BBKA.  If you go collecting swarms and make a charge for collecting it, then you are not covered by insurance.    To get round it, you have to collect the swarm for free and charge travelling expenses.  If I remember rightly, this topic has been brought up before.

An approach is to be made to Yorkshire BKA for York to host their 2007 Spring Field Day.

I have just heard (Friday 11th November) that York BKA is to host the Yorkshire 2007 Spring Field Day.   This must be feather in our cap.  The Committee will meet early in the New Year to start the ball rolling.  There will be a lot of work and a lot of help will be needed – please come forward and lend a hand.

“Combings” from now on will be sent through the post to all members.   It is felt that this is more personal than reading it off a web page and possibly downloading it. Madam Chairman Sue Hesp and her Committee wish to thank all those who gave up their Sundays to man the Bee pavilion at Murton.  We will want volunteers again next year.  You do not have to be a master beekeeper to undertake this task.   You will be speaking to members of the public on very basic beekeeping, honey and wax, also dispelling a lot of unfounded myths that they have.  The pavilion is manned from 1100 hrs to 1500 hrs.  If you are interested, please contact Secretary Colin Hattee.

Our Honey Show was held on the evening of Wednesday 9th November at Murton.  This year was disappointing with 11 competitors and 67 exhibits compared with last year when we had 16 competitors and 127 entries. Nonetheless, the standards where high and this was commented on by judge Ivor Flatman.  Ivor was assisted this year by a colleague Colin Wood.  Having two judges speeded the job up.

The winner again was Sue Hesp with Ron Waites in second place and John Bowes in third.  The winner of the “John Fuller” trophy for a “Block of Beeswax > 1 lb” was Ron Waites.

While the Honey Show was being held in one room, members had a social get together in the cafeteria next door with light refreshments supplied by Jenny Smith and Debbie Hattie.  Ken Barran showed them a video on “Queen Rearing in Denmark” that he had taken while on a visit there.

Another feature of this year’s meeting was a raffle that put £70 into the Associations coffers.

The evening was a departure from our normal routine and went well.  As I have said, the honey show was disappointing.  Have you any thoughts on the matter? Would holding it on a Saturday afternoon for instance be any better?  If you have let the committee know – they always want new ideas.

This year’s Annual Dinner is to be held at the “Ship Inn” in Acaster Malbis.   Please let Bob Hirst know your choice from the menu without delay.   Bob has given you a suggested route to get there. Also included with “Combings“ is an inventory of equipment owned by the Association.

Are drones from laying workers able to fertilise virgin queens?

Some time ago I was asked a question by a member: “Are the drones from laying workers able to fertilise virgin queens?   They are produced in extreme circumstances in small cells, but are they the same internally as drones reared under normal circumstances?”  A simple question so I thought.   I contacted five learned people, among them Professor Ratnieks at Sheffield University and Mike Brown at the Central Science Laboratory at Sand Hutton.  Their answers where all in accord, but the most comprehensive reply to my letter came from our own Gill Partridge.

My original question meant drones raised in worker cells.  The first thing Gill did was to expand the question to drones raised in drone cells.    Drones raised in both worker  and drones cells are both capable of fertilising virgin queens, although it is un likely that those raised in worker cells will ever succeed.  They are smaller than drones raised in drone cells – they have smaller wings and there for not as powerful in flight as a full size drones, nor do they have such large eyes, there fore cannot see virgin queens so easily.  Gill also added laying workers often lay in drone comb (and in circumstances where you have laying workers there is likely to be a fairly high degree of 'worker policing' where workers eat eggs).

In selective breeding for experimental research purposes it seems that worker-laid eggs are sometimes used.  Dr F Ruttner in his book Queen Rearing says: "A method of producing drones used several times in breeding programmes consists of inducing worker bees to produce eggs” (Drescher 1975).

About 10 days later the queenless worker bees start to lay eggs, but at first many of these eggs are removed by the worker bees. This is why the drone combs with the eggs are transferred into a nurse colony or young nurse bees from a queen right colony are added about 10 days after the start of oviposition. The production of brood food inhibits the development of the ovaries and therefore egg laying in these new nurse bees. The drones reared are on top quality, in respect to size and production of spermatozoa."

Purified Honey ...

Early in the year I had a persistent cough.  My wife insisted that I took some cough medicine and bought a bottle of “Meltus for Chesty Coughs” - it didn’t do any good, but in the list of ingredient I saw “Purified Honey”.   This intrigued me so I wrote to ask what purified honey was.  I got a reply from Mr Geoff Pinkney their Quality Improvement Officer and I can do no better than reproduce what Mr Pinkney says in his letter: “Our supplier has informed us that in order for them to comply with the BP specification and achieve the necessary Optical Rotation they have to add water to the honey.  According to the European Directive, if anything is added or removed then it can no longer be classified as "Pure Honey".  Instead it becomes "Purified Honey" for descriptive purposes”.  I had thought it may have been referring to ultra filtered honey that I mentioned previously in December    2004’s “Combings”.   It is a funny way of describing honey.

I have farmer friend who has a beekeeper on his land.  One of this beekeepers hives swarmed and took up residence in a nearby barn in the void space between the outer cladding and a grain bin inside, with no access at all from the inside.   Their main entrance was about seven feet off the ground.  The swarm prospered and by mid August was becoming a nuisance to visitors to the farm – his granddaughter had also been stung.  The long and the short of it was that in mid September I offered to try and drift the bees into a brood box placed close to their main entrance.

I rigged up a platform and put a brood box on it with the entrance only a couple of inches from their main entrance.  I blocked up all other entrances bar one and put a cone escape over this last one.  You all know about cone escapes – bees can get out but not back in!

Being late in the season I was unable to get a queen and was reluctant to split a colony leaving one half queenless so I decided to put a couple of frames with unsealed brood plus a couple of frames of food into a brood box.

To lift a full sized colony up a ladder was too much for me, so this was a compromise.  I left it until the middle of October before removing it.  I had more bees than when I started.  I shall have another go next spring if the colony survives.

Two things – firstly you must have a queen in the bait colony to stand a chance and secondly use a porter escape rather than the cone escape that I used.  The pundits tell us about entrance sizes – I watched bees flying strongly, going in and out of a cone escape that was only the diameter of a bee.

Frank Arnold’s bees came on the market at the end of August.  I had intended to put a flyer in with Septembers “Combings”, but heard a week later that they had all been sold.  York Beekeepers had nothing to do with the sale – it was organised by two of Frank’s friends.

Moral of the story – if you want more bees and hear of any for sale – don’t hang about thinking about buying – get in there quick.

L & B Containers of Leeds that supply us with honey jars have gone into liquidation.   Two reports that I have heard say that because of it, the price of jars will double, the other, that there will be a management takeover and that things will be much as before.  Another jar supplier – Compak (North) Ltd based near Southampton has a depot in Leeds - they could be possible suppliers in the future.  In the meantime, jars could be in short supply. Watch this space!  Colin Hattee tells me that he anticipates having new supplies at the end of November.  As yet, he does not have a price.

"Sweet Success"

This letter under the heading “Sweet success” from a Gloucestershire reader appeared in the Country Landowner & Rural Business Magazine that was given to me by a member.  It looks as though he wants to build a honey house using the looser building regulations enjoyed by farmers. But his local authority did not see honey production as being agricultural.

“Thanks to the CLA and your assistance in my efforts to achieve outline planning permission for a purpose built honey house - after almost a year of waiting the appeal was held earlier this year and the inspector gave judgment in my favour - the most important point being that bee keeping is part of agriculture and that the looser restrictions on planning that the industry enjoys shall apply to this section of agriculture as long as the honey has been produced on the bee keeper's apiary sites”.

Winter Healthcheck ... by David Aston

The late autumn of 2005 has been a period of mild temperatures and this has meant bees have continued to forage on ivy, late balsam, even dandelions and game cover strips and are still very active giving cause for concern over their premature use of winter stores.

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

Varroa Control - If you are using Bayvoral or Apistan strips remember to check the date you put them into the hive and make sure they do not stay in the colonies for more than 6 weeks.

Space - Even though bees cluster in winter they still need space. Double brood systems need no further space provision, but single broods, especially with standard 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 14” x 12” frames are probably big enough and don’t require extra space.

If you are wintering bees over a mesh floor think about putting an empty super below the brood box until the spring. This will encourage the bees not to cluster over the top bars of the brood frames and run the risk of isolation starvation.

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 much of the 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 on their way back into the hive.

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. Do not use paradichlorobenzine (PBD or mothball) crystals.

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 (not granulated) 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.

Apimondia 2005 - Dublin

Bob Hirst went to Apimondia in Dublin.  From his report, it was an event of a lifetime.

Saturday 20th August Tom Robinson and I arrived at Robin Hood Airport on the first leg of our trip to Ireland and Apimondia 2005.  Never again will it be held so close to home (Next time - Melbourne Australia) so we had to take advantage - and anyway we were going as representatives of BIBBA.  On arrival at Dublin airport a quick bus trip into the city of Dublin and our destination for the week.

What is Apimondia? It is without doubt the premier show for beekeepers and all attendant industries associated with our craft, from America to Australia and Zimbabwe to New Zealand – they were all there.   A visit to Apimondia was never going to be cheap, but for me it was never going to be as cheap again and a chance like this was not to be missed.

Dublin is a beautiful city with some of the most out standing architecture you will find anywhere.   The people of Southern Ireland are the friendliest and welcoming to be amongst and I would not have missed it for the world.

Our first day was spent preparing the stand and thanks to Tom’s organisational ability it was soon completed along with a roster of personnel and times that we were “on duty”. A quick orientational look round and then to the bar and our first Guinness and a meal.   Apimondia was held in a great hall on the main road running into Dublin so was very easy to find. Inside it was truly amazing the size of the place, and was divided into two, one part for trade exhibitions, ie us, and the other half was for the international and equipment exhibitors for which you had to pay to gain entry - a bit expensive to say the least and I am sure discouraged a lot of people from attending. Luckily for us representatives, it was free as long as you had your pass with you.

With a snazzy dress of blue shirt and yellow tie we were soon recognised by the guards and so we passed through easily, indeed we became quite well known and were complimented on our turn out by all who visited the BIBBA stand.  Other reps from other stands came to give us the once over.

What did I gain from attending Apimondia?  To me it was a privilege to belong to a gathering of people from all over the world with one common interest – bees and their well being. It is staggering how sophisticated some beekeeping is and then at the other end of the scale simple and modest, but the enthusiasm is the same, I marvel that an insect has this power over people, that brings people together from all walks of life, different cultures, language, politics and religions, and yet we are as one when it comes to beekeeping (a lesson here for our leaders).

Technically there was every conceivable piece of equipment you could think of and a few more besides, from the latest machinery to help you process your honey and wax, to the latest ideas to deal with varroa and hive pests.

There were lectures going on daily. The ones I attended were to my mind aimed mostly at the scientific field and were above me, some were not worth attending. The best of all (to my mind) was one given by a speaker from Germany. His lecture was pure, simple basic beekeeping and I shall try and get in touch with him.

There were representatives from many different equipment manufacturers and all claiming their product was the best, but I was looking for labour saving devices and the one that caught my eye was an uncapping machine by a French company but at around €5,000 it will remain a dream for a while yet.

We had the good fortune to befriend the delegation from Russia and I thought their trade stand was the nicest presented, we got on very well together – so much so, that we were invited to take group of English beekeepers to visit their area which was at the foot of the Ural Mountains – any one interested?

For anyone not wanting to go to the trade hall every day, there were visits to the surrounding area including a visit to Michael Mac Giolla Coda’s apiary, he being the leader of a group of beekeepers in Southern Ireland. You could also visit the world renowned Irish Bloodstock Breeding Stud where some of the best race horses in the world come from.

I could go on about my visit Apimondia, enough to fill the next issue of “Combings”.  I hope I have given you some idea of what can be gleaned from events such as Apimondia. Where ever it is held, it will never be cheap, but the privilege and pleasure of meeting old friends and meeting new ones far out ways the financial expenditure.

I don’t know where or when I will meet any of them again, but of one thing I am certain, it will always be a joyous meeting and because of our common interest THE BEE.

In your June 05 edition of “Combings” I asked for information on Reynolds and Patterson hives after reading about them in old newspaper cuttings ...

I got a call from Bob Hawker of Newcastle who had read my plea on the York web site.  Bob collects old beekeeping books – his current tally is over 1,000 – among which he found a leaflet on the Reynolds hive dated 1947.  This he photo copied and sent to me.

Reynolds were the makers of the hive and took out a patent for it in 1946. The price of a standard Reynolds hive then was £11. 15s. 0d, when Manley in his “Honey Farming” of about the same date says that a complete hive (probably a National) can be had for £1 10s 0d.   With that price differential it is easy to understand that they did not succeed.  They were Wigan based.

The hive its self is a double skinned horizontal cylinder 3’ - 3" long × 18" wide × 19" high hinged on its long side with five inner covers that allow you to expose four or five frames at a time.   The entrance runs the full length of the hive and is controlled by sliding strips.  It comes with or without a stand.

There are 23 frames each twelve inches in diameter and equivalent to a British standard frame. For section honey each frame is divided into six wedges.

Queen excluders, division boards, and clearer boards are all circular in shape. There are no separate supers. You also need a special cage in your extractor to accommodate Reynolds circular frames.  Mention is also made of a “Mark 2 RenStan” extractor. (I have never heard of such an extractor – have you?)

You can see from the foregoing that it is a complex hive hence the high price. Every thing is tailor made for it – you cannot get parts except from Reynolds.

Bob reckons it was similar to Major Mumm’s hive of 1840. Bill Bielby’s Catenary Hive worked on semi circular frames.  It has a lot in common with the Dartington Long Deep Hive.

I had hoped to give you a drawing of the hive, but not being computer literate, I have not been able to get the drawing onto the pages of “Combings”.

While our website is fresh in my mind ... I got a telephone call late in August from a beekeeper in Essex asking if I knew where he could get Australian queens and packaged bees. He had heard of a place near Hastings but could not find an address anywhere.  After a brief discussion I was able to give him the address he wanted.  Where had he got my ‘phone number from – our website!

Our website was entered into a web site competition at Apimondia in Dublin.  Unfortunately we did not get any recognition – first prize went to Somerset Beekeepers, (www. somersetbeekeepers.org.uk) but the good news is that David Aston and his wife Sally won a Bronze Medal for their book “Plants and Honey Bees – their relationships”.

Secretary Colin Hattee received a message from a lady late in September asking for a one off 2kg of beeswax.  Colin sent an e-mail to those with the facility and within two days, two York members had offered to supply the lady.

While on the subject of e-mails, Colin would like those of you with e-mail addresses and have not informed him of it to do so.  Information can be disseminated so much more quickly this way.

BBC Bargain Hunt Interview

Jenny Smith volunteered for this - it is a little different to everyday life!

It all started at an apiary meeting when our Secretary asked if everyone had had their email about the BBC wanting four beekeepers to take part in their antiques programme "Bargain Hunt" with Tim Wannocot to be filmed in York.  Andrew Dykes and I agreed to make up one team and Rob and Myra Coleman were our "opposition".

Two days later we all had telephone calls from the BBC at Bristol who proceeded to ask quite a few questions about ourselves and our partners - alright for the Coleman’s but Andrew and myself had only met at the beginners meeting and once since so we didn't know much about each other! The first question I was asked was to describe Andrew's personality so a lot had to be guesswork. We passed that test though and were invited to the Royal York Hotel a couple of days later for a further interview in front of the camera and some "roll play"! Another form to fill in between us (that was hurriedly done before the interview) and an object to take with us from our homes "that reflects our personality and gives the interviewer some idea of the kind of person you are".

By this time we were getting quite excited about doing the programme and went to the Hotel where we found our two interviewers in the bar with a noisy stag night party going on in the background! We had to introduce ourselves and speak a bit about our personalities, hobbies and our jobs in front of the camera and then introduce each other.  Then came our object from home.  I took a small china calf feeding from a bucket of milk and Andrew took a Lurpack butter dish. We were then asked why we had chosen the objects so I managed to talk for a few minutes about the calf and how it reflected my life. I can't remember everything Andrew said but I was very impressed when he finished off and pointed to the trumpet on top of the dish and said "and now I am blowing my trumpet"!

Brilliant, I thought that must be a winner.  Then followed the "role play".  Andrew was handed a brown earthenware jug and I was given a small black box inlaid with mother of pearl. We had to sell our items to each other and ask the two "experts" any questions and finally choose an item to go to auction - this was the brown jug!

After the interview we chatted and they said if the programme went ahead they would like us in our bee suits at the beginning. We would be given £300 and have to find three items to go to auction from three antique centres in York and would then take them to the auction in Harrogate. They would let us know by the end of the week.

Eagerly awaiting a phone call but when it came we were told that the producer was away and the decision would be delayed. Convinced we would be doing the programme I wandered down Stonegate and Petergate the following Monday to seek out the antiques centres. Bad idea as when I got home the BBC rang with the disappointing news that they didn't want the beekeepers after all! After all that effort all we got out of it was a weak cup of tea at the Royal York Hotel - maybe they will think of us another time!

Chilean Visit

On Wednesday 17th August, York Beekeepers where host to a party of twelve Chilean beekeepers/agronomists over here on a visit which will culminate at the Apimondia Congress in Dublin. While in this area they visited the Central Science Laboratory at Sand Hutton, Sheffield University and BIBBA.

Their day with us at Murton started at 10.00 with a welcome from Colin Hattee who’s word were translated in to Spanish by Jill Gates.  They then had a look round the Farming Museum.  This was followed by an open air buffet laid on by Debbie Hattee and Jenny Smith.  After lunch there was an exchange of gifts and a photo shoot before our party split into two.  One half took our visitors into York and showed them the walls, the Shambles, a walk round the out side of the Minster, the Museum Gardens, finally parting company late in the afternoon at Cliffords Tower.  (While this was going on, the other half of our party stayed back to clean up at Murton).

On the day our President Ian Kibble with Sue Hesp, Jenny   Smith, Ken Barran, Colin and Debbie Hattee, Rob Coleman, John and Pat Bowes, Bill Scriven and I turned up for the event.

I am not taken to waxing lyrical over things, but this event went very well. To start with, it was a lovely warm sunny day so the event was able to take place out of doors.  Ken Barran had cut the grass and tidied up the garden making the place look smart. The buffet could not be faulted.  Bill Scriven laid on a mini bus to take our guests in to York for the afternoon. I thought the whole event was well organised – it went off without a hitch.

Our visitors had travelled a long and circuitous route to reach us. One of them started with a 16 hour sea passage from well to the south of Chile.   They flew from their capital Santiago to Frankfurt thence to Manchester.

How did all this come about?  They found our website and started with a ‘phone call to Sue Hesp in July.  A Committee meeting took place at short notice to decide an itinerary.  Colin and Debbie undertook to organise the event.

Not all our visitors could speak English and none of us could speak any Spanish.  Colin had put out a plea for a Spanish speaker and Jill Gates had responded.  Without her translating skills the meeting would not have gone half so well.

What you all wanted to know

The word with the most meanings in the Oxford English Dictionary is RUN with seventy six definitions.

Past Events

Monday 19th September

A Committee meeting was held at Murton.  After a minutes silence in memory of Frank Arnold items discussed where:- the holding of our next annual dinner  to be held in the New Year – Bob Hirst and Jenny Smith are to look out for a new venue. Report to the Committee on our auction in May and confirmation that our next auction will be held on Saturday 20th May 2006. Winter programme.

New Treasurer (subject to ratification at the AGM) Chris Robinson was welcomed to the meeting and retiring Treasurer William Johnson was thanked for his services.  An invite from Harrogate BKA to attend a meeting on November 15th where Mike Brown of CSL will be speaking.

Wednesday 21st September

The first of our winter meetings was held in the cafeteria at Murton. The meeting opened with a minutes silence in memory of Frank Arnold who died recently.

York BKA has been asked to sponsor women to train as beekeepers in Ghana at a cost of £65. (per person? per year? One off?)   A representative of the charity behind this has offered to come and speak to us on the subject.

After discussing other business our speaker for the evening was introduced – he was Bob Mould to speak on Winter Management.

Bob is the Seasonal Bee Inspector for Lincolnshire.  He has been interested in bees since he was five years old, his father and grandfather were also beekeepers.

He treats for varroa before going to the heather and re queen’s after then feeds.  On requeening he removes the old queen and introduces his new queen within 30 minutes maintaining that the old queen’s pheromones have gone within that time – do not leave introduction of your new queen for more than an hour.   The longer it takes for your new queen to be released the better.

Move old combs towards the out side of your brood box to replace them next spring.  Use the winter months to clean you equipment and use PDB when you store brood boxes and supers to prevent wax moth.

Frames with old wax have the comb removed and are then dipped in a solution of boiling water and soda.   This not only removes any last traces of wax but sterilises the frame at the same time.

Bob believes that you cannot get enough ventilation in the winter.

Wednesday 5th October

The Honey Show Sub Committee – Messrs Coleman, Johnston and I met at Murton to discuss Novembers Honey Show.

Monday 10th October

There was an extra ordinary Committee Meeting held at the Farming Museum at Murton to discuss the possibility of York BKA being host to the Yorkshire Field Day in 2007 or our own Field Day.

After much discussion it was decided not to be too ambitious to start off with and to hold a small event primarily for the benefit York BKA.  This decision will be discussed further at the AGM.

Wednesday 19th October

There was a good turnout for our AGM held at Murton Farming Museum. After business Chris Clayton spoke on “Bees and Garden Plants”.  Stating that plants started evolving 195 million years ago and how in time plants and bees became dependant on each other.  Chris then went to itemise plants that we can all grow in our gardens from seed that are beneficial to bees and other insects.

All this was illustrated with slides.  Finally Chris showed us a video on the dance language of honeybees.  This was an easy to follow video with Professor Ratnieks of Sheffield University demonstrating opening a hive and showing what was going on, plus of course bees “dancing”.  I found it a good video without any jargon that would be of interest to non beekeepers.

Monday 24th October

A Committee Meeting was held at Murton.

Wednesday 9th November

This was our Annual Honey Show, details of which appeared earlier.

For Sale

1lb squat honey jars complete with lids are available from Colin Hattee. Lids are also available separately. Colin will bring them to meetings or they can be collected from his home by prior arrangement.  Contact him on 01430 860972.

“Apifonda” in 2.5 kg plastic sachets. Just split the bags and put on top of your bees.  For price and details contact Bob Hirst on 01904 760111.

Forthcoming Events

See 2006 Programme.

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