Newsletter of the Beekeepers Association of the ACT Incorporated

Newsletter Web address:  www.bindaree.com.au/newsletter.htm

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

Contact No:  Association President – Bob Shaw  Ph: 62540018

Swarms: Nothing According to Plan

Elaine’s bees swarmed recently and settled on a pergola among the canes of her climbing rose. We put the ladder into position and climbed up adroitly avoiding the thorns (mostly). The bees were swept into a cardboard box and carried down to ground level. At first success seemed to be ours, the bees were going into the box and we felt sure we had the queen. But then the tide turned and the bees which were going so eagerly into the box began to come out and return to the rose (and the thorns). We found the queen wandering around on the ground under our feet and put her in the box and the bees began to follow but again changed their minds and returned to the rose.

With Barry’s help we got a plank and made a platform for the box on top of the pergola and the bees began to go in again. Pat stood on the ladder watching them and noticed the queen wandering around outside the box and encouraged her back inside. This occurred four times and each time after a few minutes inside she would again emerge to go for a walk. Finally, with all patience lost, Pat killed the queen and pushed the body into the hive.

In half a minute the bees had pushed the dead queen out and had begun to leave the hive and within about three minutes every bee had returned to the parent hive in another part of the garden.

A few days later they swarmed again, presumably with a newly hatched queen, and settled in a more convenient location. Elaine was able to box them and this time they stayed and behaved themselves.

Swarm queens are usually very eager to run into a box and seek shelter and it is a mystery to me that this queen kept leaving a perfectly comfortable bee box to run about among the rose thorns.

Lyn Shiels

Every swarm collection is different. It would be good to hear from anyone who has experienced something a bit different collecting swarms.

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Hive Losses.

Many members have lost hives to starvation over winter or in the early spring.  Early spring is the danger time for starvation because the bees have begun brood raising while there may be only limited opportunities for foraging.  Sometimes the bees starve while there is still honey stored in the hive because it is too far away from the cluster and they can’t reach it in cold weather.

If you are in this position and are unable to collect swarms yourself there may be other association members who could collect a swarm for you.  Swarms can be used to build up hives which have gone down during winter and early spring as well as to start new hives.  Ask at the meeting or contact Dick at Bindaree.

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Amalgamating Swarms with Existing Hives

Most people are aware of the standard method of amalgamating two or more hives or swarms using one or more sheets of newspaper to separate the bees until they have acquired the same hive smell and have chewed through the newspaper.  Sometimes equipment is in short supply and there is no spare box to contain the swarm for a few days.  May I recommend the Apple Box Temporary Hive Body available at your local green grocer.  These boxes are wax coated and will stand up to a reasonable amount of dampness. Once the bees have joined forces the Apple Box Hive Body can be removed and the bees shaken down onto the frames below.

Lyn Shiels

Picture shows the Apple Box Body at work

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Irradiation of Beehives

We sent our first load of hives to Steritech last month with TJ’s Country Express.  Apart from a delay when Steritech were unable to do them the first week the process worked well.  TJ’s were terrific and coped with the problem beautifully.  Anyone who needs to use a courier service will find their prices very competitive and the service excellent.  The cost of transport depends on the number of units sent and worked out this time to $7.50 per unit.  We will send another load as soon as we have enough to make an economical load so if anyone has hives to send please contact Bob Shaw on 6254-0018 or Lyn Shiels on 6286-2421.

Cost of irradiation is currently $22 per triple and $15.40 per double which is certainly cheaper than buying new material.  If making up triples do keep in mind that weight of each unit must be below 25 kilos and Steritech may refuse to handle any above that weight.  For full details on packaging refer to the October Newsletter or NSW Agnote DAI/35. Available from NSW Agriculture offices or at www.agric.nsw.gov.au

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Diseased Hive Material

This may be delivered to the ACT Government Incinerator at Mitchell for disposal. The incinerator is currently not working but they will store the material in secure storage until disposal can be organised.  Please make sure you label the packages clearly “Diseased Bee Material. For Secure Storage and Disposal”. There is no need to contact Environment ACT before taking the material to the incinerator.

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Bait Boxes.

We have two bait boxes set up in our backyard, one on the roof of the garage, and the other on a stack of old bee boxes in the garden.  So far one has become the home to three passing swarms.  Each time there were bees looking at the boxes for a day or two before the swarm arrived. They looked at both boxes and then opted for the more sheltered location in the garden.  Members who have spare hive material and a suitable location might consider setting up a bait box and reducing the chances that you will have to collect a swarm from your neighbours’ gardens. Each of our boxes is set up with four old frames.  These frames will be melted down when the weather is hot enough for the solar extractor to work so if the wax moths attack them not much is lost.

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