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TRANSCRIPT
Newsletter
December 2014
NEXT MEETING: Wednesday 3rd December 2014
Main Hall, Johnsonville Community Centre, Moorefield Rd
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7.30pm MAIN MEETING
Phil Lester on Varroa
Mead Competition
7.00pm BEGINNERS SESSION (In upstairs Trust Room)
What needs to be done in the summer months
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Wellington Beekeepers Association
MEETINGS Johnsonville Community Centre
Main Hall, Ground Floor, Moorefield Road
1ST WEDNESDAY of the month
Main Meeting @ 7.30pm Beginners Tuition @7.00pm
WHO TO TALK TO
PRESIDENT Richard Braczek (04) 973 3028
TREASURER John Burnet (04) 232 7863
SECRETARY
Lou Gallagher 022 175 5452 [email protected]
NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTIONS: Sandie Matcham (04) 565 1083
Newsletters are published in the last week of each month, except January. Members contributions to be with editor by 20th month. Please submit articles in Microsoft Word document format.
If recommending articles from the web, please confirm whether these can be reproduced or have copyright.
CONTENTS 3. November Meeting minutes
5. New Editor wanted
6. December Meeting
6. Club Jubilee Report
7. Club Jubilee Former Members
8. Club Jubilee Long Service
9. Message from the ‘queen’
10. Ukranian honey smugglers
10. Varroa and deformed wing viruses
11. UK Unites to save the bees
12. Hive site offered
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MINUTES OF THE WELLINGTON BEEKEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION (WBA) MONTHLY MEETING HELD AT THE JOHNSONVILLE COMMUNITY CENTRE,
WEDNESDAY 5th November 2014, 7.30 pm Visitors: - 13 new people introduced themselves.
Attendance Book: - 58 people signed the attendance sheets but not everyone signed. It was a very well attended meeting where we filled the whole hall!
Newsletter: - Electronic version didn't reach everyone for some reason. Newsletters can be downloaded from the website. Rural post is less reliable than it used to be.
Minutes: - No matters arising.
What's happening in the bee world?
Some people are taking off honey already.
Swarms
Sandie had a bad swarm incident where an elderly couple used hoses and pesticide but some of the bees were still alive. Soapy water is a good way to finish killing sick bees.
Lots of swarms in Brooklyn.
Maryanne - swarm list relies on constant email access, not so great for lots of people who aren't on email all day.
We need to be splitting our hives to avoid swarming. Come to the club apiary visits to learn how to split hives and maintain bees properly.
Frank has a video on queen introduction and splitting hives. Need to visit hives every 6 to 9 days now to make sure we're on top of diseases and bee conditions.
Local Councils
Hive in the Hutt, Council had complaints. OSH turned up and said that bees couldn't be kept in an urban area which is not correct. Councils are supportive of bees in general.
Porirua Council. Won't charge money for people to have their hives any longer. PK says that 2 officers came out to his place after neighbours complained. The Porirua Council will be consulting with the Club to see how they should handle beekeepers. Some councils limit the number of hives per property - It's a limit of 3 in Kapiti.
Nuc Update - end of November is the soonest we'll get our bees. There are 129 nuc orders.
Interest Groups
Paekakariki - club made a split. Went through 2 hives, split the one with the most bees in it
Tony Coade. - Their group had 2 swarms and both were sorted out.
Chartwell Apiary visit on Saturday. Just PK and John went. Put on extra boxes. A swarm took off an hour after they left and John took it for one of the weak hives in Te Rito.
Te Rito - 5 people showed up. 2 hives were very weak.
This Sunday, hive check at 12, - Chartwell.
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DECA Course.
Can't do the course until you've got at least a year’s beekeeping experience.
Once you have a DECA Certificate you are only authorized to inspect your own hives. Law changed in June 2014. After 2 years, all beekeepers have to do a refresher course. THEN they can be authorized to do inspections of other people's hives. A minimum of 2 years with a DECA is required to be able to sign off a hive inspection report. Need to be registered with AQ before you will be allowed to do an AFB course. Next course is Sat. November 15 at 1 pm, $60. Classroom closest to the swimming pool, maximum number of people is 20.
Hive Assembly Workshop
Good turnout at the hive assembly workshop in Wainuiomata.
Box Dipping
Wayne will be dipping boxes on November 22 at 1 pm. You can drop boxes off beforehand.
Newlands Intermediate
Students have made the boxes and frames, boxes have been dipped. Waiting for their nucs. Support coming from community organisations. Students excited. Bee garden going in as well.
Varroa
Member went on holiday and found his bees were very weakened by varroa when he got back.
Gary showed us his latest oxalic acid vaporizer. Frank says 4 treatments per year are sufficient. Gary is doing continuous treatments because he wants to make sure the bees can tolerate the vapour. Deaths have occurred to beekeepers in the USA (says Tony). OSH issues need to be taken seriously. Paper mask is useful. Other club members are trialling the vaporizer. Gary is looking for feedback.
Standard varroa treatment is using Bayvarol and Apivar strips alternately in Spring and Autumn as they consist of different chemicals. This prevents resistance.
As useful non chemical treatment is to put a bare frame in each brood box. The bees will draw these out with drone brood. Remove this brood when capped. Because of varroa preference for drone brood this is a good management technique over the Summer. (Kills 70% of varroa).
A new Formic Acid treatment is coming available - Miteaway (Frank). Formic acid is only good at temperatures ranging from 10 to 20 degrees. Formic acid can be used during the honey flow.
Luke has formic acid available for people who want to buy some.
Oxalic acid can be dripped on - at 6.2%. Does oxalic acid affect honey? No. It's organic
School Video
A video made by a member's students at Avalon school, rap song about bees by students there! Was shown. Fantastic.
Stewart shared his homemade 12 volt soldering iron repurposed for oxalic acid treatment.
Beekeeping in Bulgaria
Jane Harding did an interesting presentation on her trip to Bulgaria and the honey there. Beautiful photos.
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Guest Speaker
Cliff Van Eaton did a TED-type-talk presentation on his new book, ‘Manuka: The Biography of an Extraordinary Honey.’ Very well received talk.
Cliff and Mark Goodwin wrote the book on treating varroa without drugs a number of years ago. This has been well taken up overseas and translated into other languages.
Exisle publishers approached Cliff to write a book about Manuka. He calls it his love song to bees. Kiwi success story over the last 30 years. Science, bees, nature and medicine and also New Zealand.
Copies of the book are available at the North City Paper Plus in Porirua. Cliff discussed Mary Bumby, New Zealand's first beekeeper. Also the Beekeeper's Lament by Hannah Nordhaus.
New Zealand statistics - we now have half a million hives in NZ - Manuka related.
High prices of honey in New Zealand is good for beekeepers and bees. All honey should be expensive.
Frank thanked Cliff for his presentation and added to this by saying that the growth in hive numbers is not always a good thing - in the Wairarapa, for example, hive numbers have nearly quadrupled in 20 years - from 33,000 hives to 113,000.
Supper
Mason and Tony are the Supper providers for next month.
Mead Competition
Next month. 4 Categories- Open, Sweet, Dry, Sparkling.
Bring a plate, it's a Christmas party.
Meeting closed at 9:30.
Wanted: - New Editor for your Newsletter This is my last newsletter.
If you would like the opportunity to inform and learn as you go, this is a great chance. There are only 11 issues a year, and plenty of people help with content.
If you are interested in becoming the new editor, please contact me on [email protected], or discuss with our president Richard.
Editor
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Club’s 75th Anniversary Celebration Thanks to Richard for this report
On Saturday 8 November the club celebrated its 75th Anniversary at the Johnsonville Community Centre.
Our guest of honour, Mayor Celia Wade Brown, talked about the origins of the club as the Wellington Branch of the National Beekeepers Association in 1939. There were around a hundred members at the start indicating the popularity of beekeeping in a Wellington which looked a lot different 75 years ago to what it does now. Then places like the Hutt Valley, Karori and Tawa were semi-rural with lots of places to keep bees. Sections in Wellington itself were large enough to keep bees and chickens and grow lots of vegetables.
The club was incorporated as the WBA in 1973.
With the growth in the city population, the number of beekeepers declined to around 40 in the late 90s. However with the recent resurgence of interest in beekeeping our numbers have blossomed to around 300 at present.
Merry Christmas and Good Wishes for a Great Honey Season
December Meeting
Beginners session: Maintenance of hives for the honey flow over the coming months, Tutin awareness in your hive radius, especially for honey collected after January 31.
Main Meeting: Phil Lester will be talking at the meeting about varroa and its impact on honey bees.
Mead Competition – Please bring your entries Rules were in last month’s newsletter
Christmas supper – Please bring a plate to share
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Celia talked about the resurgence of interest in growing vegetables and keeping chickens as well as bees in the city although now many are likely to do so as part of community groups as well as individually. She thinks that its good that people connect together in these ways and she will do everything she can to support this.
We were joined in our celebration by several former members who were involved in the club during the 1970s through to the 1990s. They had lots of interesting stories to tell. Jim Gyson talked about the vandalism of a display hive located in the women’s section of James Smiths in Porirua which closed the store. And of trying to catch a swarm of bees at the crematorium in Karori which caused a delay to the funeral hearse arriving at the same time.
The Mayor issued certificates to some of our long serving members who have been in the club for over twenty years. The longest serving member is Frank who has been involved with the club since 1970- 44 years. We owe a lot to Frank and these other members who have contributed so much to the club for such a long time.
We had a birthday cake of course – in the shape of a skep - and while this was being eaten we watched a video produced by Mason and Tricia showing the reminiscences of some of our members. This is part of a series of interviews being done to mark our anniversary and will be available for viewing on our website.
We also heard a lot more stories shared by the current ‘old timers’.
It was a special celebration acknowledging the achievements of the club particularly those who have contributed so much to its success over many years.
Former Members
Ham Maxwell
Ham is an ex-Club President and life member. He was a member for many years from the early eighties until about ten years ago. He regularly wrote articles about 'Beekeeper Fred' for the National Beekeepers Magazine
Len Tooke and partner
Len was a member of the club from the early seventies until the early eighties so has a wealth of knowledge about that middle period of our club's history.
Amour Walter
Amor was a keen club member who travelled down from Levin regularly until a few years ago. He is very knowledgeable about meeting protocol and ensured that it was correctly followed. He also has a keen sense of humour and always livened up our meetings with 'Amorish type' interjections.
Jim Gyton Member for around 20 years during the seventies and eighties. Was a beekeeper even before then. Held various leadership roles in the club.
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Certificates Recognising Long Service to the Club
Length of Service Frank Lindsay
44(1970) The 'Godfather' of the club. Joined in 1970 when he was a bit younger than he is now. Became a 'Young Turk' and was instrumental in leading a coup which removed all the old guard at the time. Since then he and his wife MaryAnne have been major contributors to the club in various roles. Is passionate about bees and beekeeping and about sharing his knowledge with others. He is now a distinguished elder in the club and continues to provide valuable input.
Andrew Beach
31(1983) Andrew arrived in NZ in December 1982 and joined the club very soon after. Like Frank has been a major contributor to the club in all the key roles. Is currently past president and continues to be very active in the club taking the beginners sessions prior to our monthly meetings. He also manages the Paekakariki Club Apiary and helped set up an offshoot of the club in Otaki recently. Starred in our beekeeping for beginners video which was produced last year.
James Scott 29 (1986) Another club stalwart James too has done significant things for the club and was recently vice-president. He is still web editor and does a lot of unsung work for the club such as look after the membership list and the sound system.
John Burnet 28 (1987) John Burnet is a real workhorse in the club. He is currently Treasurer and Mr Arkwright providing members with the opportunity to purchase bee equipment. He lends a hand to everything the club does and was instrumental in setting up the club's first apiary in Chartwell. He also organises the club's stand in the annual Home and Garden show at the Westpac Stadium each year.
Willie Pattinson
42 (1972) Willie is another venerable club member who is the second longest serving joining in 1972, the year that Norm Kirk became Prime Minister. Soon after he came to New Zealand he built himself a house on the Paekakariki Hill and when he moved to Wellington he still kept hives at the foot of the Paekakariki Hill which were visible from the road until just recently.
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Wayne Wild
30 (1984) Has been in the club a long time but running his own business kept him very busy until his retirement. Since then he has been very involved in building a wax dipper and regularly dips boxes for members and hosts hive assembly workshops at his place.
Bob McGahan
27 (1987) Bob is another of those club stalwarts who work quietly behind the scenes and continues to help newbies learn the ropes.
Jacob De Ruiter
26 (1988) Jacob is our mead expert. He makes mead commercially and judges our annual mead competition. He is a horticulturalist with a passion for bees and takes every opportunity to promote natural beekeeping.
Ken Breden 21 (1993) Ken was a member of the Whanganui Club before joining ours in the early nineties. Although living in Levin he and Amor regularly travelled down to our monthly meetings together. A keen film maker he has taken a lot of footage of club events over the years and recently donated them for our club archive.
Message from the ‘queen’ On behalf of myself and my many, many, many subjects I would like to thank the dedicated beekeepers in the Wellington Beekeepers Club for looking after us so well for over 75 years.
They have overcome many challenges to provide us with nice safe homes so that we can go about our important business of ensuring that pollen gets to do its job and provide lots of fruit and vegetables. And the lovely people in the Wellington area get to have honey on their toast in the morning.
They are good employers and we are very happy working for such nice people.
We congratulate them on the occasion of their 75th birthday and hope that our productive relationship will continue for many more years to come. A happy queen Thanks to Richard
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Ukranian honey smugglers sent home MPI Media Release 21 October 2014
Border officials sent two Ukrainian air passengers home on Friday after they tried to smuggle honey and bee pollen into New Zealand. The couple were found with nearly 3kg of honey and 1kg of pollen after a luggage search by Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) staff at Auckland airport. The man and woman had arrived in New Zealand to work at a beekeeping operation in the lower North Island. “Untreated honey products are a major biosecurity risk. They have the potential to carry diseases that could devastate New Zealand’s beekeeping industry,” says Craig Hughes, MPI’s Northern Border Clearance Manager, Passengers and Mail. He says the couple had failed to declare they were carrying any food or other items of biosecurity risk when questioned by MPI staff. “They had declared they were apiarists, which is a high-risk occupation for us. That’s one of the reasons why our inspectors conducted the search.” He says the couple stated the honey products were for personal use after they were found. “The fact they were taking the products to a beekeeping area is just mind-boggling.” As a result of the find, immigration officials refused the couple permission to enter the country. They were sent home on the first available flight.
Varroa and deformed wing viruses When most parasites do not kill their hosts, why does varroa have such an impact on honey bees? Studies at the University of Warwick, England have been looking at the difference in the deformed wing virus in bees without varroa, and that in bees with varroa. Extract from their report:
Studies at the University of Warwick We have studied the three-way interaction between bees, viruses and Varroa. We exposed frames of mite-naïve larvae (sourced from the Isle of Colonsay, historically free of Varroa and maintained in insect-proof flight cages in our research apiary; Figure 2) to a mite-infested colony. The goal of this research was to investigate changes in the virus level and population diversity in pupae exposed to mites (and their viral payload) and to compare this to changes observed in pupae that remain mite-free and so could only acquire virus during larval feeding. Is more deformed wing disease seen in mite-infested hives because Varroa somehow makes the virus grow to much higher levels? At the same time, we studied the same pupae to investigate how they responded to virus exposure when fed by nurse bees, or to the combination of Varroa and viruses. In particular, and returning to the components involved in the battle between host and pathogen, are there changes in the expression of genes of the honeybee immune response which might explain the enhanced levels of deformed wing disease seen in the presence of Varroa? These studies have recently been published (1).
To read their full report, copy the following link into a browser, and read the pdf file. http://www.google.co.nz/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCsQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbpsc.org.nz%2Fsites%2Fbpsc.org.nz%2Ffiles%2FVarroa_research_longer_version.pdf&ei=MQtwVIunFuPTmgXPqYGoDg&usg=AFQjCNHbQgdtOMl0O0B5LgvE_SvUDcmDvw&sig2=VJCwVEK5kI4uLCZe_HDcJw&bvm=bv.80185997,d.dGY&cad=rja
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UK Unites To Save The Bees From: https://ezezine.com/ezine/archives/1636/1636-2014.11.04.08.33.archive.html
The UK government today (4th November) launches a new strategy to support bees and other pollinators.
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) says organizations such as Network Rail, Highways Agency and the National Trust which manage more than 800,000 hectares of land in England have signed up to the National Pollinator Strategy, and pledged to take actions such as planting more bee-friendly wild flowers and allowing grass to grow longer.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss says it’s estimated the value of insects pollinating crops and plants amounts to hundreds of millions of pounds.
“That’s why we are doing everything we can to help them thrive,” Truss says. “Not everyone can become a beekeeper, but everyone from major landowners to window-box gardeners can play their part in boosting pollinators.”
Defra is setting up bee hives on the roof of their building in London and supermarkets including Waitrose and The Coop have been distributing bee-friendly flower seeds to their customers.
Motorway verges, railway embankments and forests will be used to create bee and insect friendly paradises as part of the major new strategy to protect the 1,500 species of pollinators in England.
Defra has also announced the first ever wild pollinator and farm wildlife package, which will see more funding made available to farmers and landowners that take steps to protect pollinators through the new Countryside Stewardship Scheme.
It says that in England, much of the biodiversity, including many birds, butterflies and plants, is declining. Wildlife areas are too disjointed and fragmented, which makes it harder for wildlife to flourish and respond to climate change and other pressures, such as pollution.
“All countries need to act to improve biodiversity and preserve natural ecosystems,” it says. “Otherwise the natural environment, wildlife and human life as we know it are all at risk.” Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett says the government wildlife strategy for the first time recognizes the benefits of organic farms to pollinators.
“Nonetheless, these efforts, as well as those of many gardeners across the country, are being totally undone by the mass spraying of insecticides and weed killers on farmland, along with the deadly impact of neonicotinoid seed dressings,” Melchett says
“The Soil Association will continue to campaign for neonicotinoids to be banned.”
But Melchett says it is a big step forward for the government to acknowledge the benefits of organic farms to pollinators within the national pollinator strategy.
“This is the first time that organic has been mentioned in a government wildlife strategy - recognition of the scientific evidence that organic farms have on average 75% more wild bees,” he says
“Organic farming supports the delicate natural balance of plants and pollinators, supporting 50% more wildlife, and 30% more species than non-organic farms.”
Pollinators in the UK have suffered in particular due to a lack of wild flowers on farmland, he says.
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“Organic farms, by not using weed killers, have far more wildflowers from early spring to late autumn, providing far more food for wild insects. Organic farmers generally do not need sprays to kill insects because they rely on encouraging the natural enemies of pests through crop rotations, maintaining hedges and other wild places where predatory insects can flourish.”
The Soil Association says it is keen for all farmers to work together to look at different ways of managing pests.
“The public have an important role to play too in protecting our bees, birds and soils – steps could include reducing the amount of common sprays used on back gardens to kill insects and buying insecticide-free organic food,” Melchett says. “We will be continuing to promote pollinator friendly farming, in particular via our program of farmer knowledge exchange and innovation.”
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Hive sites offered From Karen in Woodridge Drive, Newlands:
I live at the end of Woodridge Drive in Newlands. It is north facing and backs directly onto reserve (my land forms part of the reserve) – with farm paddocks beyond that. I think it would provide a good space to host a couple of hives. I do not want to rent them and I do not expect anything to host them.
I am just concerned about the bee population and would like to do a small bit in ensuring their sustained existence/survival.
There is fairly easy access for someone – down my drive then down some basic steps – depending on where they would be best placed.
Thank you very much. Contact Karen on: Mobile 027 3334576, or [email protected]
From David in Silverstream:
We have a large section at 218 Blue Mountains Road Silverstream and wondered if one of your members would like to put a hive on it.
Contact Dave Mason on 029 773 4400, or [email protected]