Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Clive de Bruyn (pronounced Brain)
(Clive said that he practised selective queen rearing rather than breeding.)
The talk was composed of questions and the audience of beekeepers were able to participate by responding to the questions.
Why raise queens?
Every colony needs a queen to keep them happy, they smell the pheromones and know she’s there; as she gets older the smell is less and a replacement is needed.
To give away to others and start off new beekeepers with a small nucleus.
Gene’s quality control to rear out bad temper, or a preferred colour.
Swarming and health control,
to increase stock.
Clive has managed bees in eleven counties in England as well as assisting beekeepers abroad in the Caribbean, Madagascar and Nepal. So therefore he told us to read the season ourselves in Scotland. For marking and clipping the queen; his guide line is when the flowering Redcurrant is out in the spring. We should learn to find the queen, learn to read the frame where she is found: how old are the eggs? Read the frame looking for the proportion of the eggs, larva, and sealed brood to show if the queen is increasing her lay.
Easy to remember 3. The eggs hatch after three days, then a larva for (3x2) 6 days, then sealed (6x2) 12 days, altogether 21 days for the worker.
There are many way to do queen raising and we have an abundance of booklets, books and courses to attend. The best time is when the bees want to swarm in May or June. The beekeeper needs to know what is happening in the hive:
whether enough stores,
room for growth,
is the colony going to swarm?
Heath of bees,
are there eggs and queen present?
The rest of the talk was in three sections:
Grafting, Cell raising, Nuclei Management.
Graft when you see the Lupins in flower probably May time is the time to begin. Clive showed us some queen cups that had been made from wax formed around a stick, and then stuck, ten to a wooden bar. Now he uses dark brown plastic cups that make it easier to see the egg. There is skill in grafting and practise is needed, children are good at grafting with their nimble fingers and are used in Brazil; but we can practise with carrot seeds putting them on to alternate squares in paper with a grafting tool. Many and varied are the grafting tools - find which works best for you, a paint brush may work.
Cell raising, will the bees accept the cells?
Prepare a swarm box. With frames of protein food (pollen), nectar, plus empty drawn frame and dummy board or a feeder frame. (The feeder frame prepared by coating the inside with polyuathane then covering with sand and a piece of netting so they can climb out.)
Select a swarmy colony and find the queen, put her safely into a matchbox, shake six frames of bees into the swarm box - one firm quick shake. Put lid on and cover with dark Hessian sack, cool and dark and leave a minimum of three hours, or a maximum of eight. Return the queen to the colony. To get the grafts in without loosing the bees? Water spray at the ready, lift box up and BANG down - we all jumped and so did the ‘bees‘, as none came out as the frame was inserted into the box. Keep the swarm box closed until the evening oc the following day. On the third day you can count the acceptances, Clive hopes for 78%. Take the queen cells out 2 days later the following week - if grafting Monday it would be Wednesday the following week.
Nucleus Management, make up the nuclei colonies in balance, frame of bees, brood, nectar and pollen.
There are different types of nuc hives, polystyrene, wooden. Clive showed us half frames that joined together for full box. For mininukes he gives the bees dry sugar sprayed with water to draw out the comb of previously made up strips of foundation on the frames. The new queen cell is inserted into a cell protector or onto drawn comb, then put in bees (this was interesting, after shaking bees into a box with a funnel he poured them into the nuc,) put on lid and keep in dark for three days with the entrance closed; move to the mating site open entrance in the evening.
Questions were continuing to be asked over tea and packing up. New members and Fife members joined us in listening to this extemporaneous delivery.
22nd October 2007 Clive de Bryun
A lively talk about pollination of plants by bees.
As beekeepers we were instructed that successful honey production depends on a good knowledge of plants in your area. Know which plants produce good honey and marketable honey. Flowers produce nutritious pollen that the bee carries back in bags on her legs, this is important for bees to collect.
Weather, geology, plants the beekeeper must know when flowers are in blossom. Between the main flows of honey are there pollen fillers in between flowering? Your bees are the chief pollinator in your area; talk to neighbours about what they grow. Talk to the local Council encourage them to plant bee trees and bee flowers.
Clive earns a living from taking his colonies to orchards and fields for pollination and rewards the farmers at the end of the year with some pots of honey. He asks them to cut the dandelions that compete with the Cherry and Apple flowers. Farmers constantly change their crops and with seed crops, come insecticides. We need to be able to have a friendly dialogue with them to persuade them to use less harmful sprays. Ladybirds are natural predators for aphids and these can be lost. Some farmers use a machine to blow the pollen onto their trees. Bees are dedicated to do it as they dust their hairy bodies with pollen and fly about they cross-pollination naturally.
We were encouraged to find out where our bees go to by examining the pollen using a microscope. (A few members tried last year but enthusiasm waned in the dark days of winter and knowledge was lacking.) We can see by the pollen brought into the hive, but with books and other slides to compare we can make an accurate analysis.
Flowers good and bad were mentioned Rose Bay Willow Herb and Ragwort. Phaceilia grown around fields good for insects and bees, Budlia, Cedars are good. Borage flowers all day and goes on until November, no need to autumn feed bees beside Borage.
Interestingly Clive had a theory for the American losses of colonies. As the honey there is very cheap many beekeepers do not extract the honey and only use the bees for pollination. They are constantly moved from crop to crop thereby stressing the bees that causes their immune systems impaired, then they are prone to disease.
Clive de Bruyn (pronounced Brain)
(Clive said that he practised selective queen rearing rather than breeding.)
The talk was composed of questions and the audience of beekeepers were able to participate by responding to the questions.
Why raise queens?
Every colony needs a queen to keep them happy, they smell the pheromones and know she’s there; as she gets older the smell is less and a replacement is needed.
To give away to others and start off new beekeepers with a small nucleus.
Gene’s quality control to rear out bad temper, or a preferred colour.
Swarming and health control,
to increase stock.
Clive has managed bees in eleven counties in England as well as assisting beekeepers abroad in the Caribbean, Madagascar and Nepal. So therefore he told us to read the season ourselves in Scotland. For marking and clipping the queen; his guide line is when the flowering Redcurrant is out in the spring. We should learn to find the queen, learn to read the frame where she is found: how old are the eggs? Read the frame looking for the proportion of the eggs, larva, and sealed brood to show if the queen is increasing her lay.
Easy to remember 3. The eggs hatch after three days, then a larva for (3x2) 6 days, then sealed (6x2) 12 days, altogether 21 days for the worker.
There are many way to do queen raising and we have an abundance of booklets, books and courses to attend. The best time is when the bees want to swarm in May or June. The beekeeper needs to know what is happening in the hive:
whether enough stores,
room for growth,
is the colony going to swarm?
Heath of bees,
are there eggs and queen present?
The rest of the talk was in three sections:
Grafting, Cell raising, Nuclei Management.
Graft when you see the Lupins in flower probably May time is the time to begin. Clive showed us some queen cups that had been made from wax formed around a stick, and then stuck, ten to a wooden bar. Now he uses dark brown plastic cups that make it easier to see the egg. There is skill in grafting and practise is needed, children are good at grafting with their nimble fingers and are used in Brazil; but we can practise with carrot seeds putting them on to alternate squares in paper with a grafting tool. Many and varied are the grafting tools - find which works best for you, a paint brush may work.
Cell raising, will the bees accept the cells?
Prepare a swarm box. With frames of protein food (pollen), nectar, plus empty drawn frame and dummy board or a feeder frame. (The feeder frame prepared by coating the inside with polyuathane then covering with sand and a piece of netting so they can climb out.)
Select a swarmy colony and find the queen, put her safely into a matchbox, shake six frames of bees into the swarm box - one firm quick shake. Put lid on and cover with dark Hessian sack, cool and dark and leave a minimum of three hours, or a maximum of eight. Return the queen to the colony. To get the grafts in without loosing the bees? Water spray at the ready, lift box up and BANG down - we all jumped and so did the ‘bees‘, as none came out as the frame was inserted into the box. Keep the swarm box closed until the evening oc the following day. On the third day you can count the acceptances, Clive hopes for 78%. Take the queen cells out 2 days later the following week - if grafting Monday it would be Wednesday the following week.
Nucleus Management, make up the nuclei colonies in balance, frame of bees, brood, nectar and pollen.
There are different types of nuc hives, polystyrene, wooden. Clive showed us half frames that joined together for full box. For mininukes he gives the bees dry sugar sprayed with water to draw out the comb of previously made up strips of foundation on the frames. The new queen cell is inserted into a cell protector or onto drawn comb, then put in bees (this was interesting, after shaking bees into a box with a funnel he poured them into the nuc,) put on lid and keep in dark for three days with the entrance closed; move to the mating site open entrance in the evening.
Questions were continuing to be asked over tea and packing up. New members and Fife members joined us in listening to this extemporaneous delivery.
22nd October 2007 Clive de Bryun
A lively talk about pollination of plants by bees.
As beekeepers we were instructed that successful honey production depends on a good knowledge of plants in your area. Know which plants produce good honey and marketable honey. Flowers produce nutritious pollen that the bee carries back in bags on her legs, this is important for bees to collect.
Weather, geology, plants the beekeeper must know when flowers are in blossom. Between the main flows of honey are there pollen fillers in between flowering? Your bees are the chief pollinator in your area; talk to neighbours about what they grow. Talk to the local Council encourage them to plant bee trees and bee flowers.
Clive earns a living from taking his colonies to orchards and fields for pollination and rewards the farmers at the end of the year with some pots of honey. He asks them to cut the dandelions that compete with the Cherry and Apple flowers. Farmers constantly change their crops and with seed crops, come insecticides. We need to be able to have a friendly dialogue with them to persuade them to use less harmful sprays. Ladybirds are natural predators for aphids and these can be lost. Some farmers use a machine to blow the pollen onto their trees. Bees are dedicated to do it as they dust their hairy bodies with pollen and fly about they cross-pollination naturally.
We were encouraged to find out where our bees go to by examining the pollen using a microscope. (A few members tried last year but enthusiasm waned in the dark days of winter and knowledge was lacking.) We can see by the pollen brought into the hive, but with books and other slides to compare we can make an accurate analysis.
Flowers good and bad were mentioned Rose Bay Willow Herb and Ragwort. Phaceilia grown around fields good for insects and bees, Budlia, Cedars are good. Borage flowers all day and goes on until November, no need to autumn feed bees beside Borage.
Interestingly Clive had a theory for the American losses of colonies. As the honey there is very cheap many beekeepers do not extract the honey and only use the bees for pollination. They are constantly moved from crop to crop thereby stressing the bees that causes their immune systems impaired, then they are prone to disease.
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Notes: East of Scotland Beekeepers
