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NSBK Blog

How Bees detect Colony Size by Michael Smith

12/2/2021

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Dr Michael Smith (Auburn Uni. Alabama, USA) started by referring to his now famous IgNobel awarded project to rate the pain caused by bee-stings.
(https://www.theapiarist.org/ouch-that-hurt). He is currently leading the new Smith Bee Lab facility and is seeking students to join his research team (https://smithbeelab.com)
However the focus of this talk was his series of experiments to investigate the way that honeybees regulate the production of drone comb, and how this relates to their assessment of the size of their own colony.

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All organisms, including honey bees, balance the resources and effort dedicated to three primary aims: Survival, Growth & Reproduction. For the honeybee, the latter includes the production of drones and their dispersal for mating activities. A colony will start the necessary drone comb production as one of the first signs of maturity, long before Queen cells start appearing. This activity marks a developmental milestone, but how do bees determine this moment?

After a series of practical field experiments using enlarged display hives, it seems that bees are capable of assessing their own population density; so "squeezed up" bees make more drone comb.

One memorable experiment involved mechanically stroking the bees with slowly rotating tickling sticks. Though Ken Dodd would certainly have approved, the bees remained unaffected. Tickling is not their thing! Also, large, dense colonies produced more drone comb. Michael Smith then remarked that worker bees default to making drone comb when there is no active laying Queen.

It is remarkable that after centuries of beekeeping experience we still need to find good answers to such simple questions about honeybee behaviour.


The recording can still be viewed with passcode: M#^98!xN

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/2vCriVHLi-xiVBFDBt0HCFYhnGAwjU8deRVDyEGiZAlvxn50pi3Ftt5bpFOESOjO.aC2gBs4yrkp9-YBl

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Health & Importance of Wax Comb by Jennifer Berry

7/1/2021

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On Wednesday 6th January our latest zoom talk was delivered by Jennifer Berry, a Research Professional at the University of Georgia, USA, on a day when events in Georgia may well prove to be historically pivotal! A good audience of beekeepers from across Avon and Somerset watched the talk live, and it has been recorded for those unable to attend. [https://bees.caes.uga.edu/about-us/jennifer-a--berry.html]

The main theme of Jennifer’s talk was on Queen rearing, but she also talked about the importance of clean comb to the colony, and how the level of contaminants built up in the comb over several years. Her research also showed that much of the foundation bought from commercial suppliers was already contaminated, as a result of this Jennifer had changed to plastic foundation, itself a potential topic for discussion. Jennifer’s work shows that over time pathogens and pyrethroid deposits build up in the comb, the cell size becomes smaller and the colony less productive. She recommended the regular refreshment of comb, something that I think as a branch we are quite good at anyway. I think also it is likely that foundation produced in the UK would have much lower levels of pyrethroid contamination than that bought in the USA, but I have no figures to back this up. Jennifer’s methods of queen rearing were probably more relevant to larger beekeepers, but there were plenty of tips relevant to the smaller scale beekeeper. The importance of choosing queen cells from the youngest and best fed larvae for example.

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Jennifer placed the temperament of the Queen as the most important aspect of choosing breeding stock, something that I think most of us would agree with. She also emphasised the importance of developing good drone lines as well as good queen lines in our breeding programmes. She advocated inserting a frame of drone foundation into each good colony to ensure a plentiful supply of drones from these colonies. I think that many of us just assume that "there will be drones up there" rather than actively producing good drones.

One of the attendees at the meeting was Julia Common from the University of Vancouver, who had delivered one of our previous talks. I found it fascinating that we, as a small bunch of beekeepers in the UK, were able to facilitate a live discussion between a beekeeper who had kept bees in a Georgia jail, and a beekeeper who had kept bees in an inner-city area of Vancouver!


A recording of the talk can be viewed using the passcode rh!LR76f at:
 https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/dNelTNfRk17oSDL9zx9B4xqUc8JXx-yL3ZdtiwFAxtokSnlmiGii_Z7NxkM7Cc0C.xclt4at8LrgqzF7J
 
David Capon 7/1/20
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Sounds of the Honeybee by Dr Martin bencsik

18/12/2020

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On Thursday 17th Dec, the Avon 2020 Christmas Lecture was enthusiastically delivered by Dr Martin Bencsik of Nottingham Trent University. He outlined his on-going research into the use of vibrational communication by honey bees.

He started by showing a wonderful video of a lone leaf-cutter bee which had established itself in a home-made bee hotel. Using standard audio microphones the bee's vibrational activity could readily be heard. When moving on to study honey bees, the microphone was changed for an electronic accelerometer unit which eliminated background noise and increased sensitivity. This was embedded in the centre of a frame of wax comb and the signal monitored while the bees continued their daily activity.
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Honey bee investigates an embedded accelerometer
Martin then played acoustic recordings from three different activities: Queen piping, an alarm reaction termed "whooping", and the classic von Frisch waggle dance.

By simultaneously recording with a high frame-rate camera it was possible to identify individual bees responsible for the higher frequency (340Hz) whooping alert. The normal 250Hz wing movement is constrained by air drag, so to achieve 340Hz the bees use a rotational wing movement in place of the usual flapping. Two dimensional frequency plots highlighted the vibrational changes.

Honey bees appear to communicate more through substrate vibration than acoustic air waves. Indeed, they may not have any "ears" at all. They react by freezing all activity when subjected to higher energy vibrations. This was compared to the anecdotal accounts of beekeepers singing to calm their hives and beating saucepans ("tanging") to force flying swarms down to earth.

The prediction of imminent swarming was also an aim of this research. The indicators from vibrational data required an extended analysis over a period of time for this to be of practical value to beekeepers.

The talk was universally acknowledged to be fascinating and has stimulated several members to kit up and try their hands at vibrational analysis!

The talk and discussion can still be seen using the following URL with an entry passcode: vDWH8&9M.


https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/qXcG_sUzDppOG-NXON2pnxGwzYqpO0AC_KJ7cbsWSCRNVO9GcDRIC9OkJ16mL9u6.vx_53KpjbTdykkO3
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Hives for Humanity  by Julia Common

14/12/2020

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December 3rd

Julia Common, Master Beekeeper from the Delta area of the Frazer Valley just outside Vancouver, gave a fascinating talk.


Firstly Julia introduced Hives for Humanity, a society that she set up with her daughter, with the aim to connect people to nature, community and themselves.  It started with a single bee hive in central Vancouver and Julia freely admits she had misgivings and preconceptions of who she would be dealing with.  The project quickly expanded and involved at-risk groups of people with tasks like gardening, beekeeping and fostering connection to land and community.  You can find out more about this at the website www.hivesforhumanity.com
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Julia then went on to talk about large scale pollination with her bees and especially inside 6 hectare greenhouses where the bees were tasked with pollinating strawberry plants. Her honey bees were being used where the farmer had been unable to get the usual bumble bee pollinators. Julia now has this as a regular arrangement as her honey bees worked so well.


Finally Julia talked about beekeeping using nucs only and how she was focusing on this as it involves far less heavy lifting and the bees are doing as well for her as they did using full size hives.  Hopefully this will be a topic of another talk for us in the future.
Julia’s talk was recorded and can be viewed at this link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/96IKHJWf3X0Hyksedl0nmFNSTMSA3OCYesqe7uXDXSslIw2tF7jXmU6Df_RgBMg.WyX87sGCCr-d65Sf
Passcode: zr83Uyj+


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Social Immunity in honeybees   by Dr Marla Spivak

21/11/2020

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We enjoyed an excellent live talk given through Zoom by Prof Marla Spivak (MacArthur Fellow and McKnight Distinguished Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota) and arranged by Somerset Beekeepers.

Honey bees use several strategies to protect themselves and their colonies from parasites and pathogens. In addition to individual, physiological immunity, the colony benefits from behaviours now termed: Social Immunity. Bees work specifically to control the spread of parasites and pathogens within the nest. Two examples of social immunity in honey bees are hygienic behaviour (the detection and removal of diseased brood), and the collection and deposition of antimicrobial resins (propolis) on interior nest surfaces.
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Propolis
Propolis is the apicultural term for plant resins that many species of honey bee collect and then lay down inside their nest cavities. The prophylactic property of propolis has been recognised and exploited by humans for many centuries. Both fungal and bacterial agents can be inhibited. Several active chemical components have been identified, but these vary according to the season and plant source. There is no clear, single molecular component providing the anti-microbial performance but flavonoids are significant in all types of propolis. Honeybee colonies have been shown to perform better if they are allowed/encouraged to lay down a full propolis envelope on the inner walls of their home in the same manner as wild bees. Roughening the internal walls of a wooden hive will encourage the bees to provide a propolis coating. Whether beekeepers should now refrain from flaming their spare brood boxes to kill pathogens, and so burn off all the protective propolis coating, was still an open question. Besides reducing the opportunity for infections to develop across the colony, it has been discovered that the internal microbiome, contained within the bee's gut, is healthier when a protective coating of propolis has been extended throughout the hive.

Hygienic behaviour
Early detection and removal of infected pupae is essential to avoid spreading spores throughout the hive. Both AFB and chalkbrood have an early "non infectious" phase before spores develop to spread the infection. Immature varroa mites simply need to be released from the pupal cell and exposed to predation. Honeybees use their probosis to detect dead or infected pupae, including those afflicted by mites and microbes, so uncapping and removal can then take place. Oddly, drone pupae seem not to be included in this hygienic behaviour, only worker brood.

The usual method of beekeepers assessing the level of hygienic behaviour expressed by a colony involves sacrificing an area of worker brood by freezing with liquid nitrogen and seeing what percentage of the dead pupae have been removed after a fixed interval. The correspondence between detecting dead pupae and those living but hosting mites is not perfect, but the freeze-killed brood assay has been judged a good way to screen colonies. Alternative experimental assay methods which avoided handling liquid nitrogen were also described. To breed bees to maximize hygienic genes, it is considered necessary to use instrumental insemination techniques. Just relying on wild drone insemination of chosen queens is not sufficiently effective.

Interestingly, Apis cerana, the eastern honeybee, does not collect and use plant resins but demonstrates vigorous hygienic behaviour to control varroa mites. It also has adopted the strategy of sealing in the infected pupae in such a manner as to prevent them emerging.

A very thought provoking and well presented talk, many thanks to Marla Spivak!

https://www.entomology.umn.edu/faculty-staff/marla-spivak
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NSBK Annual Brains Trust, 10/10/20

11/10/2020

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The annual Brains Trust took place this year through Zoom. Tony Slater acted magnificently as Chairman, and the Very Expert Panel comprised: Annabel Lewis, David Capon and Jamie Llewelyn. Though there was a disappointingly small number of login attendances (8), a good range of questions were submitted and thoroughly discussed.
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Varroa Control - Lynfa Davies

26/8/2020

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Lynfa Davies, a master beekeeper from Aberystwyth in Mid Wales, talks about the control of varroa. Starting with the life cycle of the varroa mite, she goes on to discuss the various ways beekeepers have devised to control the mite. This includes both the use of chemical applications and more natural methods. She concludes by answering questions from participants. This talk is an ideal introduction to the whole problem of varroa, both those starting the keep bees and for the more experienced beekeeper.
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Lynfa has been keeping bees since 2005 with her husband and currently has approximately 30 hives. In 2015 she became a Master Beekeeper after working her way through the modules and practical assessments and then in 2019 she achieved the National Diploma in Beekeeping (NDB). Lynfa enjoys teaching beekeeping and is passionate about helping new beekeepers to learn the skills required to keep bees healthy and productive. Covid-19 might have curtailed many activities but Lynfa has adapted to this and regularly gives talks via digital platforms. She also regularly writes articles for beekeeping magazines. Lynfa is a member of the Welsh Beekeeper's Association (WBKA) Learning and Development Committee and has delivered courses for the WBKA as well as being a tutor for the NDB short courses and contributing to workshops at the BBKA Spring Convention. In her day job, Lynfa is a Knowledge Exchange Manager on the Farming Connect programme in Wales.
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What you never find in books - Brian Campbell

7/3/2020

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Brian has been keeping bees since 1989, assisting as a Seasonal Bee Inspector for some of that time. He based his talk on some of the ideas and techniques he has picked up during 30 years at the Apiary Face. This is a quick summary of the main points for you to ponder:

1. Add 3 supers to the brood box way before the Q runs out of space to lay in. You will see a massive reduction in swarming with this method. You can insert a sheet of newspaper between the upper empty supers to encourage the bees to fill the lower frames first.

2. Double brood boxes will help provide enough space for keen layers, it all depends on the Q and the weather.

3. Don't name your Qs or grow too attached to them. Culling aging Qs is a necessary part of the beekeeper's job.

4.  Cover over the escape holes in crown boards to stop the bees entering the roof space. This gives you extra time to assess the hive, and more roofs, acting as bases, to stack supers on.

5. When assessing advice from other beekeepers take into account their "hive years" of experience. Try to increase and broaden your own experience by assisting your colleagues.

6. Bees generally flourish whatever the beekeepers think they should be doing.

7. Don't forget to clean your tools and gloves in the handy bucket of washing soda. Also have a container with lid  for the hive wax debris.

8. Are mouse guards really necessary?

9. Float a piece of wood in the water trough or feeder container to prevent bees drowning. An old tea towel can serve the same purpose.

10. Refill your honey jars!

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Branch Honey Show - Feb 8th 2020

11/2/2020

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The annual display of our best apiary products, with competitive categories including: clear and set honey, cut comb, home baked honey cake and biscuits, candles, and mead, took place on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Memorial Hall. David Capon kindly acted again as Judge and Commentator, with an audience of around 20 members taking notes as he progressed through a record number of entries for all the categories.
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Most points in show – Belinda Kumpel
After the judging had been completed everyone was invited to sample the cakes and biscuits with a cup of tea, while debating the results!
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Most points for a novice – Caz Bartlett
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Beekeeping as a Profitable SIdeline- Will Steynor

18/1/2020

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The first NSBK guest lecture of 2020 was brilliantly delivered by Will Steynor from Devon. He outlined the principal methods he has developed over many years of beekeeping for earning cash from the activity. His advice could be of interest to anyone considering setting up in business, or simply ensuring that their back-garden hobby funds itself.

Four basic business models to generate revenue were described, with estimates of annual income per hive displayed:

1. Honey sales
2. Commercial pollination service
3. Queen rearing for sale
4. Selling colonies obtained from swarms.

We were also given many useful tips to streamline our beekeeping, such as a Miller Feeder Tray which also had slots to accept Porter Gates, making it additionally serve as an Escape Board. The simple deployment of a stainless steel sink top as a decapping station was also notable. Then there was a Hive Entrance Block with a Snelgrove-style swing-gate to allow for easy variation in entrance size. Using a milk crate to carry 24 jars of honey was so simple. But the bespoke road trailer, with many adaptations to suit the needs of a beekeeper was the envy of many!

30 members attended the event and several requested that Will be asked to return and give a second talk just about his inventions.

Rob Williams
Sat 18th Jan 2020
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