By some estimates, bees and other pollinating insects, such as butterflies and moths, contribute $200-billion to global agriculture every year. Almost one-third of the food we eat has been pollinated by bees, and some crops, such as broccoli and almonds, are entirely dependent on bees for pollination.
For me, the beekeeping season is winding down. It has been a poor season because of the inclement weather. I have removed what honey the bees could spare, which was not much, given the poor summer we had. This year was characterised by a lot of late swarming. I had a swarm in mid-august which just shouldn’t happen!
Since removing the honey, I am now treating each colony for varroa using Apiguard. This is easily administered. It comes in a 50g tray – you simply remove the foil cover and place the open tray face upwards on the frames in the brood chamber. Place an eke( or empty shallow super) (with feed hole blocked) over the brood box and close up with the roof. After 2 weeks, give them a second 50g tray in the same way. Treatment should continue until the containers are empty which usually takes 4 – 6 weeks in total depending, on the temperature. For nukes only use half trays. You can check the average daily mite drop before and after treatment to find out if the treatment has been effective. The one thing to remember is that to work effectively the temperature needs to be 15C, so the earlier the better – some people also use top insulation.
Talking about varroa, I read recently that two TCD Engineering students, Francis Yates and John O’Reilly, have teamed up with Business student John Lanzillotta to explore new systems for the removal of the varroa mite from bees. They claim to have invented a system that can be easily installed in hives and removes varroa mites effectively. We will wait and see. Interestingly, a wild colony has survived a full year in one of our cavity walls. This is a good sign as they obviously received no treatment for varroa so maybe it is a sign that bees are gradually building up resistance to it.
I read an important note about the use of MAQ strips – it is very important to check the weather for the three days after you have put on the strips. It should be fair, not too wet or windy for the bees to fly. So you need at least three days of good weather when applying the strips. It maybe some time before you get them on!
Feeding
This is the time to get the bees fed if you have not left them adequate stores of honey. The recommended feed mix is 2kg of sugar to 1 litre of water. It is easier to dissolve the sugar if you you use warm water. Each colony will need 35-40lbs of stores to carry them through the winter. I have fed very little in the last few years as the autumn ivy flow has provided a lot of stores. Ivy honey granulates and is not easy for the bees to use in winter as they need water to utilise it. So it is important that they have some liquid stores as well.
There is some question whether we should feed bees white sugar at all! I read the following recently…… “Sugar syrup consists of sucrose and water. In addition to the stark difference in composition, the manufacturing process for white sugar used in syrup eliminates many healthy components such as protein, vitamins, minerals, organic acids and nitrogen elements. Honey being natural does not go through this type of process and retains its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties.
If you are going to effectively feed a Mars bar to your bees question the implications. Don’t just accept it as part of beekeeping. The whole approach to beekeeping is weakening the bees and caused its health and resistance to deteriorate. Leave the honey on over winter and remove the surplus in the late spring when plants are in flower and the nectar flow is abundant. Only then will you know for sure that the honey is surplus and ready for harvest…”
Beware of robbing while you are feeding. It is a scourge if it gets going in an apiary. The best way to avoid it is to feed all colonies together and in the evening. Also, it is vital to narrow the entrance right down so they can defend it easily.
Interesting Story
Apparently there is a concrete sculpture by a French artist, Pierre Huyghe, of a reclining nude woman with a live beehive for her head. When the sun is out and the bees are active – it is like all the fragments of the mind whizzing around in all directions and then reassembling. Only 20 people at a time are allowed to see the sculpture and have to remain seven away from it. Gallery assistants are positioned by the door and instructed to contact the trained first aider duty manager if anyone gets stung!
The piece uses a breed of bees that are docile and placid. But apparently their sweet nature proved to be their downfall. Bees from hives on top of the National Theatre close by attacked and killed them. The gallery had to get a new queen, who bred a slightly tougher offspring!
If you have bees, I hope they are of the docile, placid variety and that you had a good harvest.