MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MONTHLY MEETING OF THE WELLINGTON BEEKEEPERS ASSOC. INC. HELD IN THE JOHNSONVILLE UNION CHURCH HALL, JOHNSONVILLE ON MONDAY 8 MAY 2000 AT 7.30 PM.

PRESENT : Richard Hatfield (Pres.), Mary Ann Lindsay (Treas.), John Burnet (Sec.) and 37 members and visitors as listed in the attendance book.

APOLOGIES : Bernie Cox, John Wallace, Wayne Wild, Ernst Segessenman, Ken Breden, Marie & Chris Christoffel, Andrew Yung, Amor Walter.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING : Minutes of meeting held 10 April as detailed in May newsletter were confirmed.

MATTERS ARISING : Upper Hutt Science Festival : Bill Allan & Les Solomon offered to man the Club stand on Thurs & Fri. 20 & 21 July so volunteers are still required for Sat & Sun 22 & 23. Brief details of events and speakers (including David Bellamy) were outlined and members were invited to view the full Festival program if interested.

TREASURER’S REPORT : Working account balance $2,262.85 and details of all recent cheques issued totaling $155.05 were outlined to members. Other balances were $3,112.77 (Goal Saver) and $431.33 (BL account).

GENERAL BUSINESS :Issues discussed -

• Persuading bees to take honey down from half empty supers - bees will do this automatically when winter temperatures arrive.
• Small honey flow currently being experienced in many areas with tree lucerne and occasional pohutukawa in flower.
• When wintering down honey stocks store better than sugar however honey should only be used before the last autumn brood i.e. it is now too late to use honey.
• Now that queens are no longer laying it is much harder to locate them - hives may even appear queenless. Marked queens are a distinct advantage at this time of year.
• Members were reminded about the mead competition in July - full details in the latest newsletter. James Scott will invite Mark Atkin, an experienced local mead maker and previous speaker in 1996, to assist with the judging.
• Andrew Beach advised Neil Hollebone of Tawa was giving up beekeeping and his hives would be available to any new beekeeper in the Spring.
• Ivan Pedersen outlined details of a Danish varroa eradication procedure which required all drone cells to be continuously removed from frames.

VARROA MITE OUTBREAK :

Issue was discussed at length and Frank confirmed the current outbreak originated in South Auckland with almost all infested hives located within a 6km radius. Problem was very likely to have emanated from bees smuggled into NZ by a beekeeper possibly dissatisfied with current breeds available in NZ. The low infestation found in Bay of Plenty and Coromandel came from hives moved from South Auckland and could be readily eradicated. Complete eradication from the country was possible at this early stage although no other country had ever attempted this. As eradication would cost the country at least $28 million the decision concerning complete eradication as opposed to control would be purely political. Ongoing control costs for beekeepers would not however be cheap and reinfestation would be a continual problem because of feral hives. If eradication was ruled out based on overseas experience the mite would ultimately reach Wellington in 3 - 4 years. In Britain 80% of beekeepers had apparently abandoned the industry or hobby when the mite was first detected because of the ongoing control costs.

Members unanimously passed a resolution instructing a letter be sent by the Club to the Minister of Agriculture and the Chief Veterinary Officer MAF advising " this Association urges in the strongest terms the immediate eradication of Varroa from within NZ". It was also agreed a copy of this letter was to be sent to the NBA for publication in the NZ Beekeeper under a covering letter advising Wellington members would be willing to provide a four-frame nucleus free of charge to beekeepers required to destroy their hives because of the infestation.

Two videos were shown to members - the first from Australia detailing recognition and the global spread of the mite. The second video from National Geographic advised that bees in Thailand had over many years developed an ability to identify, attack and kill the mites.

Meeting closed at 9.20 pm with usual supper.

John Burnet