Dead colony and a WBC

A little while ago I was asked to help a local beekeeper look through a dead colony. They wanted to try to work out two things. First was reassurance that the colony hadn't died of foulbrood, secondly to, if possible, find out what had caused the colony to die - something that isn't always easy.

The colony was in a beautifully appointed cedar WBC - that's the double skinned hive designed by William Broughton Carr way back in the late 1800s. It is a design has stood the test of time, and is used by many British beekeepers.

Colony history, and weather
The queen was in her second year. The colony had been large and thriving going into autumn.

Diagnosing the Foulbroods

Both European Foulbrood and American Foulbrood are notifiable diseases here in UK. This means that cases MUST be reported to the Beekeeping Inspectorate, who will then inspect your bees and, if there is a positive diagnosis, will tell you what you should do next.

The Inspectors will then inspect all known colonies within the nearby area, and support those other beekeepers whose colonies are also infected. The aim is to restrict the spread of the disease.

There is no shame in admitting that your bees are infected, the greater shame would be trying to hide or ignore either of these diseases and hope they will go away on their own. They won't! All you would achieve is to let foulbrood spread throughout the local honey bee population, with potentially catastrophic results for both other beekeepers's bees and feral colonies.

Please, learn how to recognise these diseases, and ask for help if you think you spot either in any of your colonies.

The Beekeepers' Library

I'm adding this partly as a placemarker for personal use, but I can really recommend checking out the rather excellent resource at Strathcona Beekeepers. There's something there for every level of beekeeper.

Here's their own description:-

This library is a collection of articles, powerpoint presentations, webinars, software, videos and books on bee related subjects like bees, plants, farming, insecticides and beekeeping.  We are adding to the library regularly.

Pears in a rich caramel-honey sauce

Fresh pears with a rich caramel-honey sauce - a lovely dessert recipe, very quick and easy to make at any time of the year.

You will need:-
One pear per person - use firm, ripe, pears. Comice are good.

For each pear:-

• 1 oz butter
• 1 tbsp. honey
• Sprinkle of ground cinnamon

Homing pigeons versus bees - which is the fastest?

Spotted on the BBC site, an item about a competition held in Hamme, Germany, some years ago.

A pigeon fancier and a bee-keeper decided to settle their argument about which species would be the fastest to return home.

Bees and pigeons were released from the same site, 3 1/2 miles from the 'home', at the same time. The bees had a slight disadvantage, because they were first rolled in flour to make them easily identifiable.

The first bee to arrived 25 seconds before the first pigeon, another two bees arrived before the second pigeon and at that point nobody bothered to count any more.

Well done bees!

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Beekeeping Acronyms and Abbreviations

N.B. This page is a work in progress and will be added to from time to time. It is intended to complement the Beekeeping Glossary  where there are more detailed explanations of the terms.

A
ABPV: Acute Bee Paralysis Virus 
AFB: American Foulbrood 
Amm: Apis mellifera mellifera
APHA: Animal and Plant Health Agency (link)

B
BBKA: British Beekeepers Association (link)
BFA: Bee Farmers Association (link)
BIAS: Brood In All Stages - eggs, larvae, sealed. Acronym used in colony records
BIBBA: Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders' Association (link)
BPV: Bee Paralysis Virus - coverall term for undiagnosed symptoms of paralysis

Small Hive Beetle in Italy

I would think that most British beekeepers would know by now that Small Hive Beetle Aethina tumida has been found in Italy - not the first time it's been found on mainland Europe because it was previously found in, and eradicated from, Portugal. Here's hoping the Italians will be able to deal with it as efficiently.

** Update**
15 June 2015 - Good news, I hope.
Via Gavin Ramsay  on sbai

I have to say that the apparent success of the eradication attempt in southern Italy is surprising ... and good. It might still be lurking somewhere there - or elsewhere in Europe - but this sea of green dots for 2015 is very promising.

From Italian health authority and research organization for animal health and food safety

Current epidemiological situation

• Figure 1: Calabria protection area (20 km radius)
• Figure 2: Sicily protection area (20 km radius)
• Figure 3: Calabria and Sicily monitoring area (100 km radius)

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