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

Reminder

No meeting at CIT, Weston this month, instead trip to ANU

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Swarming

Swarming is the honeybee colony’s means of reproduction and usually involves part of a colony, including the old queen, leaving the hive to establish another hive.

From a beekeeper’s point of view swarming is undesirable for several reasons.  A swarm will reduce the productivity of the hive for weeks afterwards and will take with it quite a lot of the surplus honey that the beekeeper was hoping to harvest.  The old queen will stop laying some days before swarming and a newly hatched virgin queen must mature and mate before she can begin to lay so there is a break in the production of brood as well as the loss of field bees with the swarm. Sometimes the bees will send off a succession of swarms and leave the parent hive queenless or the young queen will fail to mate. In either case the hive is doomed without help from the beekeeper and there will be a considerable loss in numbers even if you are able to requeen the hive.

Methods to Delay or Reduce Swarming.

- Maintaining Good Young Queens

Probably the most important method of controlling swarming is the regular requeening of hives with improved queens with a low swarming tendency.  Young vigorous queens secrete more pheromones than older queens and the hive is less likely to construct queen cells.

- Ensuring Enough Space in the Hive

It is very important to provide the colony with sufficient space for brood production and honey storage as overcrowding is a major cause of swarming. Brood space can be created by moving a couple of frames with capped brood above the excluder each week and replacing them with empty comb from the top box or with foundation.  Honey space is provided by adding supers as necessary and extracting sealed honey when there is a good honey flow.  Some beekeepers remove brood frames and honey frames and give them to weaker hives but there is a disease risk involved with this practice.

- Destroying Queen Cells

Hives need to be carefully examined every seven days and the bees shaken from the frames before examining so that all the queen cells can be destroyed. If the swarming urge is strong the bees may still swarm leaving an uncapped queen cell or none at all.

- Reducing the Number of Drone Cells

It is natural for bees to produce large numbers of drones in spring but excessive numbers may heighten the swarming urge. Combs with large numbers of drone cells should be removed or placed in the honey supers to reduce the number of drone eggs laid by the queen.

- Manipulating Hives within the Apiary

A strong colony threatening to swarm may have its position changed with a weaker colony in the apiary.  This causes the field bees to return to the weaker colony on the old site thereby relieving congestion in the old colony while strengthening the weaker one.  Again it is important that both colonies are free of disease and the beekeeper will need to assess the reasons for weakness in the receiving colony and possibly requeen to ensure continuing strength.

- Splitting Hives-Artificial Swarming

The queen and a number of young bees are removed to a new colony with empty frames or foundation leaving the brood in the old colony where a new queen will hatch and continue that colony.  Colonies artificially swarmed may be united again later or used to increase the number of hives in the apiary.

There are a number of methods  of artificially swarming hives such as moving the old hive to a nearby site and placing an new hive with empty combs plus a frame or two of the original brood and the queen on the original site.  All the queen cells in the parent hive but one should be removed. Later both hives must be checked to be sure both have a queen. 

Another method is the use of a division board. The hive is split and two or three frames of brood and the queen are left in the original box. An excluder is placed on the box and then a box of empty combs.  The division board is placed on this box with the entrance facing the opposite way to the original hive. The remaining brood and bees are placed on top of the division board making sure there is a ripe queen cell or a caged queen. Again check both boxes to make sure they are queenright.

For more detailed information on these and other methods refer to any good beekeeping book.

Collecting Swarms

This is a good way to increase the number of colonies in your apiary as well as providing a service for members of the public who are unfortunate enough to be adopted by a swarm of bees.  Swarming bees are usually very placid and may be shaken down into a cardboard box if a bee box is not available.  Dick has a swarm list on his website www.bindaree.com.au and is always glad to add extra names to his list.  Environment ACT also maintain a swarm list and can be contacted on 6207 9777 to put your name on the list.

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Beekeeping Course.

The Beginning in Bees course at CIT Weston will begin on October 11^th. The course consists of four evening theory sessions and four Saturday morning practical sessions conducted at beehives located at the CIT, Weston.  Topics will include bee biology and behaviour, handling bees, getting started, equipment, seasonal activities, pests and diseases, and extracting.  It will provide beginning beekeepers with basic knowledge and experience to start them on beekeeping.  Enrolments are still being accepted at CIT Solutions on 6207 4444 or at http://citsolutions.cit.act.edu.au/

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AFB Infected Hives

Infected hives must first be cleared of brood. This can be done by caging the queen and allowing the brood to hatch but hives must be isolated during this period.  Caging the queen is preferred to killing her as the hive is more likely to stay together.  When all brood is hatched honey can be removed and extracted.  This honey is only able to be sold for use in baking or cooking.  Equipment used in extracting must be thoroughly cleaned in a 1% solution of caustic soda in warm water. 

Bees may then be poisoned using petrol or phosphine.  Dead bees are removed from the hive and burned or buried together with any hive material that is not to be irradiated.  Environment ACT will arrange to burn diseased material.

Stack the boxes of combs as doubles or triples but remember that the total weight of the unit must not be over 25 kilos.  Smoker, gloves and other equipment may be sent inside an empty super provided the weight is less than 25 kilos.  Each unit must have a lid and base or a sheet of ply or similar material to make the unit bee proof.  Double strap the units with emlocks or similar strapping.  If using a normal bottom board place the closers of the emlocks under the floor to minimise the chance of the wrapping tearing.  Some padding or tape over the emlocks and on sharp edges will help prevent tearing. Place each individual box in a plastic bag or wrapping before strapping together in units.  Then securely wrap the unit in plastic or place in a plastic bag and secure and seal with tape.  Label each unit with your name address and telephone number.  Steritech may refuse to accept hives that are not presented in the required manner. Keep prepared hives in a bee proof shed until dispatched.

Phone Steritech on 02 9609 5566 to check on irradiation days and times for drop off and pick up.  Currently irradiation of bee material is done every Wednesday and they require material to be dropped off on Tuesday and picked up Thursday.  Units must be transported in a bee proof vehicle or securely enclosed in a tarpaulin which must also be irradiated.  A notice must be fixed to the dashboard of the vehicle as below.

Cost of irradiation is currently $22 per unit which is certainly cheaper than buying new material.  Transport is the responsibility of the beekeeper.  The irradiation facility is located at 5 Widemere Road, Wetherill Park, NSW. 2164

Information from NSW Agriculture Agnote DAI/35. Available from NSW Agriculture offices or at www.agric.nsw.gov.au

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Hives for Irradiation

We plan to send a load of hives to Steritech on Tuesday 7^th October.  The cost of transport depends on the number of units sent but will be less than $20.  If anyone has hives to send please contact Bob Shaw on 6254-0018 or Lyn Shiels on 6286-2421.

 

 

 

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