Newsletter of the Beekeepers Association of the ACT Incorporated

Meetings of the Beekeepers Association of the ACT Inc are held on the second

Wednesday of the month at 7.30 pm at the CIT, Heysen Street, Weston in Building A

December 2000

Christmas Get-Together

Thanks to Dick and Jan Johnston, instead of the December monthly meeting on the 13^th there will again be a get-together at:

Place: Bindaree Bee Supplies, 16 James St, Curtin, (phone 6281 2111)

Time: 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm, Snacks, OJ and bubbly will be provided. People might like to bring any other drinks they prefer.

Hope to see you all there.

No January Meeting

As in past years there will be no meeting in January 2001.

President’s Note

Greetings, members, and good cheer for the coming festive season. I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting, which is our Christmas Get-Together at Dick Johnston’s place in Curtin.

This year’s swarm season seems to be a long one considering it started back in late August. I’m still collecting up to six a week, big ones too! The key to preventing this is good spring management, re-queening when necessary and plenty of hive space. This year ACTEW have received lots of complaints regarding feral colonies in power poles. The bees then swarm elsewhere. One lady said she had had two come into her yard this year and it’s not always easy to find a beekeeper willing to collect them, making it very stressful for residents and neighbours. It is apparently the same for City Parks with bees in tree hollows.

ACTEW have asked me to ask members if they would mind bee spotting for them. If you see bees in power poles make a note of the location, including suburb, street and nearest house number to the pole and forward this information to Stephen Mudford on phone 62935834 or fax 62935788 or email stephen.mudford@actew.com.au. All efforts to overcome this problem will be greatly appreciated.

Well, that’s it from me; see you at the Get-Together or if not have a happy and safe honey season and all the best for the New Year.

P.S. Don’t forget to get your honey entries ready for the Royal Canberra Show. The contacts are Lyn and Pat Shiels.

Your President
David Lillis

by Larsen, "The Far Side"

Member rises to new heights in pursuit of honey. Hopefully the full story will emerge in our next newsletter.

November Meeting

A number of interesting topics were covered:

Personal injury to the swarm collector who is not collecting for a fee is probably covered by our other policy, which is a Voluntary Workers Compensation policy. But again, those collecting for a fee may not be covered; this also needs to be clarified.

There is a very good NSW Agnote entitled "Insurance for Beekeepers", which is available electronically from Bindaree.

• The ACT Code of Practice, which our Committee has worked hard on, is currently caught up in discussions with the Animal Nuisance section of the ACT Government.

Honey Gingerbread

In last month’s recipe (also in the original Queanbeyan Age article) the ginger was left out! Lyn Shiels used 2 teaspoons of powdered ginger per half-recipe for the gingerbread sample she brought to the meeting, which was delicious.

Bindaree Bee Notes

Why not drop a few hints to the family for that Xmas gift? Wouldn’t some beekeeping gear come in very handy?

While on the subject of gear, here is a great suggestion for cutting down on the expense of multiple honeygates. You don’t need to buy a honeygate for all your buckets.

Buy one honeygate with a drum adaptor ($22)
You can put it on one honey drum ($12)
Then simply transfer it to other honey drums when the need arises

 

 

Nutritional Value of Pollens for Bees

Doug Somerville has kindly made available the results of some interesting work he has done in collaboration with professional beekeepers on protein levels in the pollens of the important bee flora of southern NSW. The results are expressed in the table below as percent crude protein in the pollen.

In the case of Paterson’s Curse a large number of samples were analysed to get an idea of how the pollen quality varies over different locations and seasons; however the variability was not high.

Most of the eucalypt pollens were deficient in the essential amino acid isoleucine.

Doug concludes that in view of the ample quantity available and its very high quality, Paterson’s Curse is the single most important pollen source in southern NSW.

POOR QUALITY POLLENS
SPECIES	CP %		SPECIES		CP %	SPECIES		CP %
Buckwheat	11		Weeping willow*		15	Saffron thistle		18
Fireweed*	12		Nodding thistle		15	Silky hakea*		18
Black sheoak*	13		Flatweed*		16	Citrus		19
Sunflower	13		Black thistle*		17	Lavender*		20
Blueberry	14		Capeweed*		17	Eggs & bacon*		20
Maize	15
AVERAGE QUALITY POLLENS
Red ironbark	20		White box*		23	Apple box*		24
Yellow burr	21		Onion weed*		23	Canola		24
White mallee*	21		Swamp mahogany		23	Vetch		24
Sweet scented wattle	22		Turnip weed		23	River red gum*		24
Pussy willow	22		Skeleton weed*		23	Faba bean		24
Rough barked apple	22		Alpine ash		23	Sydney golden wattle		25
Hedge mustard	22		Grey box*		24	Red stringybark*		25
Red box*	22		Manna gum		24	Currawong wattle*		25
						Woollybutt*		25
ABOVE AVERAGE QUALITY POLLEN
Almond	25		Christmas mallee*		27	Blakely’s red gum*		29
Balansa clover	25		Bloodwood		27	Spotted gum*		29
White clover	26		Grey gum*		27	White stringybark*		29
Pear	26		Sydney blue gum*		28	Heath-leaved banksia*		29
Brittle gum*	26		Gorse		28
EXCELLENT QUALITY POLLENS
SPECIES		CP %		SPECIES			CP %
Scribbly gum		30		Lupin			34
Paterson’s curse		33		Vipers bugloss			35
Saw banksia*		33
* Deficient in one or more essential amino acids.

Editor’s Thanks

Many thanks to Paul Hooper for the nice formatting and many good ideas about the content of this year’s newsletters.

 

Cec Mercer, Mugga Lane

 

Empty Super Award

Two entries by Rob Gardiner:

How to Get the Queen Laying

We had collected a nice strong swarm a week earlier. The workers were doing all the right things: buzzing into every flower in the garden, bringing honey and pollen in, but where were the eggs? Answer: REQUEEN. We discussed this while we were at the hive. When our new queen arrived, we lifted the lid to put her in when lo! - there had been a huge egg-laying effort. Must have been the bee equivalent of leaving an axe in the chook shed.

Check Your Suit

I was in the backyard checking the three new swarms we have in quarantine, when the bees started flying hard around me. I don’t usually worry about that, but this time they seemed to be up close and VERY persistent. I thumped my hood to get one off, so hard that I knocked my glasses off. It was only when I was taking my suit off that I realised the blasted thing was inside my suit! It must have hung around in there from the week before. Guess who checked his suit carefully the next time.

 

 

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