Dear Member,
Those of you who attended Celia Davis’ talk in January are now all aware of how important pollen is for both winter and summer bees. She stressed that pollen, both in quantity and variety was crucially important for the production of a protein vitellogenin which is essential to sustain bees, and which may even act as a protective agent against disease. So, make sure your hives have access throughout the seasons to different plants rich in pollen.
Good pollen sources in spring are crocuses, snowdrops, hellebores and pussy willow. I have noticed bees on the mahonla which is currently flowering, so if you are taking a trip to the garden centre, stock up on some of these pollen rich plants.
Remember that our AGM takes place In February. Please come along to support your association and think about either volunteering to join the committee or nominate someone else. We need a chairman elect to replace Steve Brown next year, so think who you would like to nominate. The post is only for 2 years, so is not onerous as we only meet 3 -4 times in the year.
You may have seen in Warwickshire Beekeeper that our umbrella organisation WBKA (Warwlckshlre Beekeeping Association) is in dire straits as they have been unable to appoint a Chair or Secretary. If this organisation founders it will have important implications for us as a branch as we will need to take on many of the roles in which we are currently supported by WBKA. Personally, with the size of our branch, I cannot see how we can do this, and it would therefore mean the end of our Rugby branch. Hopefully by the Warwickshire AGM in March a solution will have been reached, but if any of you feel you have the time and skills to volunteer for either of these positions, I am sure you will be offered help and support to do so. If you are able to help in any way please speak to a member of the committee.
Tips for the month:
The very odd weather has meant that bees have been bringing in pollen into December, but I didn’t notice too much in January. Now as Spring is just round the corner we should once again be seeing pollen being brought in, and this would indicate that the queen has increased her laying and there is brood in the hive which means the bees need food (pollen and carbohydrate/sugar) to make brood food, and keep the queen well fed. The unusually warm winter has probably meant that stores have been used up more quickly, so make sure they survive the winter by supplying fondant and pollen patties if no pollen is available near the hives.
Make sure that the bees have access to water close to the hive so that this can be used to dilute stores.
The warm winter is also causing alarm about the possibility of increased varroa, so monitor the drop from hives by inserting a clean inspection board and monitoring the drop for a week. More than 2 mites a day means the colony should be treated for varroa ASAP. MAQS strips are good as they only need one application for 7 days and will be effective at temperatures of 10°C but ensure that the colony is strong, or the treatment may kill the colony. Thymol based treatments need higher temperatures (l5°C) and need to be applied for 3 weeks to be effective.
Spring is a good time for spring cleaning, so if you haven’t yet cleaned all your equipment now Is a good time to flame brood boxes after scraping off old wax and propolis, and making sure that all boxes are bee tight and joints have not drifted apart.
Clean smokers by unscrewing the bellows and immersing the metal box In a strong hot solution of washing soda (1 cup to 2 litres of water and a squirt of washing up liquid). You may need several changes of water, and leave them to soak for a good time to loosen the carbon deposits. Use your hive tool to scrape off the black deposit as well as a metal pot scourer. Do wear rubber gloves or your skin will feel pretty raw. Your smoker and hive tool will look like new after this treatment. Don’t forget to clean off propolis on the bellows.
Identify any equipment needed which you may want to buy at the Trade Show at Stoneleigh on 10th March.
Margaret Holdworth