Ok – so it’s been a while, and I missed Beekeeping 4 which was the fun one about all the products from bees, but anyway, here are my notes from beekeeping 5, which was all about apiary health and hygiene.
Andy Wattam, the National Bee Inspector from the National Bee Unit presented the session.
Bees are livestock – hence the need for inspection
Role of bee inspector: Train, research, inspect
Inspections are mandatory but it is not compulsory to register. Beekeepers got extra sugar rations in the war so the number of registered keepers went up!
There are now 4000 registered bee keepers in the UK.
Bee inspectors are a free service and are good people to contact for advice
Bees are not covered by welfare legislation
What’s normal?
The most important thing with bees is to know what normal looks like, and then it is possible to spot when something is wrong. When you look in the hive, as long as you can see eggs it doesn’t matter whether or not you can find the queen – she must be there. The open brood must be lying in aC shape.
Disease
- Varroa You have to control it or bees die, many bee keepers struggle with it
- European Foulbreed
- Acarine – tracheal mites
- Nosema
Varroa
All keepers have varroa. You need to monitor, count and treat. The motes are big enough to see so look out for them. Images of what to look for can be found by searching the BeeBase site. Varroa like to breed in the drone cells as the drones have the longest incubation period. Varroa mits carry most of the viruses that bees can suffer from, e.g. deformed wing virus. Open mesh floors help.
There are lots of treatments available, some are dependent on the time of year that you are using them.
If you can master varroa management beekeeping is easy!
Foulbrood
This can be spread by beekeepers, but its also spread when bees rob a diseased hive. Also called open brood disease. Not C shaped, discoloured, and open brood. Books will tell you that you can smell it – you can, but not until disease is very advanced. You really want to be able to identify it before it gets to that stage.
Chalkbrood
A minor disease – bees can often deal with it themselves. Larvae harden and beed pull them out. You will see chalk like mummified bits outside the hive. You need to get a new Queen that is not susceptible.
Bald brood
Brood not capped over. This disease had increased since varroa. It is also seen if there has been a wax moth in the hive. Bees deal with this and it is of no concern to bee keepers.
Drone brood in worker cells
There is a problem with trying to raise drone bees in worker cells – the drones are too big! This situation could be a sign of no queen.
Preventable issues
- Waxmoth damage
- Wasp robbing
- Mice
Apiary hygiene
You need
- all in one suit
- disposable gloves or washing up gloves
- smokers
- hive tools
- soda crystals for cleaning hive tools
- blow lamp
- new comb
Plants Bees Like
- Field beans
- Borage
- Phacelia
Beebase is the National Bee Unit website
