Meetings are held on second Monday each month (except January), at above venue

PRESENT: Frank Lindsay (Pres.), Mary Ann Lindsay (Treas.), John Burnet (Sec.), and 29 members and visitors as listed in the attendance book.

APOLOGIES: Amor Walter, Peter Radcliffe, Marie Christoffel, Pam McDowell, Wayne Newby.

NEW MEMBERS AND VISITORS: Erland Omand (Orkney Islands, Scotland).

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Minutes of meeting held 12 March 2001 as detailed in April newsletter were confirmed.

MATTERS ARISING: Varroa Update: Surveillance was now underway within the Waimarino bubble (in the buffer zone between the infected and surveillance areas) with no varroa detected to date. However, varroa had been found in Katikati. The mite area was now expanding at a rate of 60km per year and was killing hives in approx 14 months.

Ivan Pedersen confirmed he had been invited by MAF to undertake research on alternative methods of controlling varroa but would not proceed as research funds were not provided. Ivan was willing however to allow members to read his research paper on the issue. His proposal centred on the removal of drone brood from the hives and the ability to inspect brood without removing honey supers.

Diseasathon: 100 hives on 19 sites were inspected by four teams with no AFB found. Some teams reported resentment from some beekeepers but this soon disappeared after the beekeepers learned of the team’s objectives and observed their inspection procedure. Team members reported a very beneficial and educational experience overall.

CORRESPONDENCE: Annual Disease Returns: All beekeepers should expect these in the mail within the next few days. To ensure correct processing by AgriQual it was recommended completed ADRs are photocopied by beekeepers before returning them.

Internet Service Provider: A letter from BuzzDotNet had been received offering a distinctive email address to beekeepers with $10 of the connection fee being donated to the Club. James Scott suggested members consider carefully before signing up as the company’s line capacity and support were unknown. Internet connection was also possible for members through the Club’s existing website (www.beehive.org.nz).

Inland Revenue Dept: Letter had been received from IRD advising exemption from tax provided taxable income was less than $500. (As incorporated societies are exempt from all tax, this issue did not apply to the Club).

TREASURER’S REPORT: Balances of all accounts were outlined to members. Members authorised purchase and issuance of petrol vouchers (totalling $60) to compensate Diseaseathon drivers. Reimbursement of $32 inspection fee per site will be sought from NBA. It was suggested that if this payment was obtained from the NBA, funds could be used to obtain a Global Positioning System. This would result in less wasted time searching for hives also grid references could be checked and updated where necessary thus benefitting the Apiary Register and future AFB/varroa mite checks.

GENERAL BUSINESS: NBA report: Richard Hatfield (NBA President) reported the NBA had recently successfully prosecuted a commercial beekeeper for back levies and a further eight claims were being taken to court over the next month. Undeclared hives were still a problem and several beekeepers were also now subject to legal proceedings. This rigorous debt collection policy had resulted in the NBA being now in a less precarious financial position than they were last year.

Approx 24 DECAs had been revoked for failure to comply – 20 of these were held by commercial beekeepers.

Education: The DECA exam would be able to available for club members to sit at Johnsonville on 26 May and would also be available at the Camp Rangi Field Day at Pohangina Valley in Aug.

Visitor Erland Omand (in NZ to study beekeeping at Telford) spoke briefly about beekeeping in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. The climate was generally cold and wet with clover and heather honey being the main crop. Hives were overwintered using the British standard WBC hive (i.e. double skinned) for greater insulation and weather protection.

HONEY COMPETITION: Judged by Frank Lindsay and Richard Hatfield

Meeting closed at 9.00 p.m. with the usual supper.

What is worse than being a fool? Fooling with a bee!

Why do bees have sticky heads? Because they use honey combs!

Beekeeping for the year is drawing to a close. Winter is fast approaching and the bees are going into a cluster. Time to plan for the next season and look back on the previous one. NIWA is indicating that this winter is going to be warmer and drier than average so plan for this. Could be that the bees will be out foraging during the winter on warm calm days.

Being situated close to the coast my bees don't close down completely during the winter so I have to work this into my management. Brood is reared all year round in some apiaries stimulated by winter sources of nectar.

The other day I was out wandering around a bush site looking at what's flowering. Surprisingly, the odd manuka bush is flowering again. Perhaps the sudden influx of 6mls of rain following our prolonged drought, or has this been triggered by high UV levels?

Several other species are budding up for winter flowering: Spanish Heath (Erica lusitanica) flowers mid-winter to early spring and is a valuable nectar source. Some beekeepers in the Marlborough area harvest this as a winter crop.

Kohekohe (Dysoxylum spectabilie) is budding up. This native tree produces a white lily of the valley-like flowers on stalks that spring from the bare parts of the trunk and branches. Unfortunately the possums love these flowers, so in heavily infested areas you will only observe the flowers on the thin outer branches of the tree. (Oh for an environmentally friendly treatment that will wipe out the possum).

Another bush source budding up in my garden is the five finger (pseudopanax arboreus). Located along the bush fringes and in creek beds, it usually flowers from July to September and is attractive to bees. One of the most valuable trees for bees, often overlooked because it is Australian, is the Banksia. This tree survives in poor, well drained, sandy soils. Some are frost tolerant. There are many varieties but the tall growing coastal banksia (integrifolia) which produces nectar and pollen during the winter and early spring does extremely well in our area. The pollen is not a complete bee food being deficient in one or two essential elements but bees build up on this if there are other sources of pollen around.

Review what's flowering around you apiaries. If there is a lack of early nectar and pollen sources, consider planting some. Ask the farmers if you could put in a few trees around your apiaries for nectar and shelter. Pussy willow and tree lucerne (in frost -free area) grow fast and provide early spring nectar and pollen, plus will shelter the slower growing trees. If this is not possible, look at putting pollen supplement in your hives. A lot of beekeepers simply feed sugar syrup to stimulate brood production in the spring. However, without good pollen sources, the bees use their own stored fats to produce brood and that next generation will be weaker and will have a shorter foraging life. One South Island beekeeper's philosophy is "Money In = Honey Out". Never scrimp during the spring build-up. Strong hives will always bring in a crop no matter what the duration of the flow.

Plan to replace any rotten woodware in the spring. Order it now so it arrives in good time to put together during the winter. Protect your investment. Supers these days are made from trees that haven't got a lot of heartwood so needs to be protected. Hobbyists tend to use metalex (copper naphthenate) and mineral turpentine, or an equivalent preservative. Commercial beekeepers use a paraffin hot dip procedure to protect theirs. More about this next month.

On the practical side, I usually try and visit all my apiaries in the middle of winter to see how the bees are getting along. Although I tie my hives with nylon cord to keep them on the pallets, cattle and storms do disturb them. Hopefully the ties will hold the supers together and prevent the combs and bees being exposed to the weather. Any that require attention are straightened up and the slope checked to see that rain runs off the bottom boards. Entrance reduces are checked to see that they are still in place and any hives showing cappings wax in the entrance are checked for mice. These little horrors can quickly make a nest in the top super and chew through the stores in no time leaving the hive to starve.

I also check under the split boards for condensation. The bees give off carbon dioxide (CO2) and moisture as they consume the stores when they shiver their wing muscles to keep warm. Hives require a constant circulation of about 2 cubic inches per second to replenish the atmosphere with oxygen and remove moisture. More than this and the bees use more honey to keep warm (those on the outside of the cluster cool faster). Less or no ventilation means the bees use more honey as they have to break from the cluster often to force ventilate the hive when the CO2 level gets too high. It's a fine balance.

Any hive showing an excess of moisture (completely damp split board or under the roof) should have small twigs or matchsticks placed in each corner of the super to raise the board/roof. Hives that have only a slight damp patch opposite the entrance in the split boards are considered ok. We are trying to prevent the lugs on the frames becoming damp. These rot away quickly if left wet over a few winters and become a nuisance during extraction and an additional expense. They are either rejected or a nail is driven in to replace the rotten lug. We want to provide an environment that does not stress the bees.

Beekeepers in the North and in frostier areas tend to winter their hives in single supers. This helps to prevent moisture build-up and allows the bees to totally fill the super making ventilation easier. The plus to this is that these hives have smaller populations, so do not swarm as much, but require more attention and feeding than those who prefer to leave their hives two or three supers high.

At this time of the year commercial beekeepers render down old frames to recover the wax. There are many methods in the books that recover approximately 50% of the wax in the old combs. Some are as simple as heating frames in a container of hot water. After the wax has risen to the surface, warm water is added which allows the wax to float off into a separate container. Others methods are more sophisticated. The idea is not to overheat the wax as it can quickly break down and turn to a soapy substance. Bees wax melts at 62-65 degrees centigrade. Try to keep the water within this temperature range.

For the hobbyist with just a few hives, frames for rendering can be kept for summer to use in the solar wax melter or used during the winter as a source of fuel for the fire. A word of warning. Old brood frames contain a lot of wax and burn fearlessly. Make sure the chimney has been swept and put pieces of the old frames on, a little at a time. It's rather embarrassing and dangerous to have a chimney fire. If you don't have the facilities to do either of the above, the wax frames and cell residue composts quite well.

During winter read a few bee books. Local libraries usually hold one or two but our own NBA library has many books and the latest in world magazines. For the non-reader, videos are now becoming a popular means of communication. If you have the patience to look at my videoing, past conference reports and seminars are held in the library. We do not take everything in first time when being lectured to. Every time I see a video, I pick up something different from it.

If you want to see the real thing, come to Conference in Queenstown during July. Most beekeepers take a break from work and have their holidays during winter. Seminar day is well worth the trip. Remember that it only take one tip that saves you money or boost your income and your trip is paid for.

Things to do: plan for the new year. Review your plan. Render down cappings and old combs. Make up new equipment for the coming season.

Frank Lindsay

The following explanation is to assist you to build a model (picture) for winter hive ventilation, which requires Air IN, and water / carbon dioxide OUT. Remember, bees use honey and oxygen (in air) to produce heat (energy), carbon dioxide and water. Glucose (honey) + oxygen => water + carbon dioxide + energy (heat). The water (as vapour) is less dense than air, while carbon dioxide is greater. So, carbon dioxide goes down, while water vapour goes up.

A bit of detail for the ‘data people’: 180 g of glucose + 135 litres of oxygen => 108 ml of water + 135 litres of carbon dioxide (at 0 degrees C). In other words, 1/3 a pot of honey + 7x20 litre (4 gallon) tins oxygen => ½ cup of water + 7x20 litre tins carbon dioxide. Because air is only 20% oxygen, the amount required is 675 litres, or 33x4 gallon tins.

SO for bees to consume about 1/3 pot of honey, 33x20 litre tins of air must enter the hive, followed by ½ a cup of water and 7x20 litre tins of carbon dioxide leaving the hive. The water may leave as a vapour our the top ventilation holes, or as a liquid dripping down the insides and out the entrance, while the carbon dioxide will sink and leave out the entrance or other gaps around the floor.

Summary: A hive needs top ventilation and should slope towards the entrance. If an entrance reducer is fitted, it should be cut away on the outside edges to allow liquid water to flow out the front edges, or the hive should be fitted with a gauze screen floor.

Unless the water vapour all escapes through ventilation holes, the use of insulation will influence where it will condense to form liquid water. Polystyrene foam under the roof will prevent condensation under the top board. Water will condense on the inside wall of the hive if that surface has less insulation (ie is at a lower temperature), than the ceiling. The liquid water will then run down the hive inside wall, rather than drip onto the cluster.

For those who feel water should leave the hive as vapour, the amount of air entering and leaving the hive increases enormously. Converting 18 ml of liquid water (say 1 table-spoon) to a gas at 0^oC produces a volume of 22.4 litre (say a 20 L tin), but to remain a vapour, it must be mixed with another gas (eg air), in the ratio of about 0.6% water vapour to 99.4% air. If the water vapour content gets above 0.6% at 0^oC the water condenses into tiny drops and collects on any surface (eg our breath on cold days). So for 1 tablespoon of water to exit a hive as a gas, about 100x20 litre tins of air is required to ventilate the hive. This amount of air will also itself take a lot of heat out of the hive (as well as the water vapour). Multiplying by 6 to scale up to about 1/3 pot of honey gives a volume of 600x20 litre tins (12 cubic metres or 3 toilet rooms) of air entering the hive. The same volume of moist air must leave, along with 7x20 litre tins of carbon dioxide and some heat energy.

THINK before you make major changes to your normal practice. Try one or two changes each year. Insulate the ‘tops’ and cut away the corners of your entrance reducer this year. Try a few hives with mesh screen floors, either ‘open’ underneath or with some ‘skirt’. I have some 10mm thick polystyrene foam which I have made into ½ thickness insulating frames and intend trying one each side of a 9 frame brood box (in Auckland). They have to be painted or the bees will chew them to pieces. I hope this will keep the outer frames ‘drier’ and stop moulds on the outer emptied frames.

I think the main points are that the ceiling of the hive must be much better insulated than the walls. Condensation, (dripping) must not occur on/from the ceiling, and heavy carbon dioxide must exit the hive. Make sure the ‘wrapping’, insulation, is better on the top than the sides and that the bottom entry is never blocked. What works for you, works for you, consider changes thoughtfully. I hope I haven’t made any bad error/s, please feel free to query the values given. (they are only approximate).

The air in the winter hive can be crudely likened to a floating bubble, a 'warm air balloon'. Forced ventilation, notably wind at the entrance or mesh floor, is a major influence on the turnover of this 'bubble'. Bodily movement of air masses can be a far greater influence on the water regime in the hive than the considerations of gas densities raised by Paul. The temperature of the 'warm air balloon' is, as Paul says, influenced also by that anomalously large quantity, the latent heat of evaporation of water (same thing, with a minus sign, as the heat given out when water condenses).

If a hive is struggling for heat, it will keep warmer if water vapour actually condenses from the air before the air leaves the hive; the problem then becomes to ensure that the liquid runs away harmlessly. If ventilation is inadequate, some fanning may be organised (has anyone studied this?).

Adapted from e-mail posts by Paul Brown and Robert Mann

A Introductory Course for Beekeepers By The Southern North Island Branch of the National Beekeepers Assn of NZ. Camp opens from 5:30 pm Friday 24th August and closes 3pm Sunday 26^th August.

Camp Rangi is not being held as a fund raising exercise, but as a response to repeated requests for another training weekend similar to the one we held in 1998. Places are, limited to 50 RESIDENT PLACES AND 30-DAY ONLY ATTENDEES

A basic course in beekeeping for the hobbyist and small commercial beekeeper, the course will cover the basic knowledge required for looking after your hives and producing a crop, each session will be hosted by experienced personnel. If there is sufficient interest, there will be an opportunity to attend a DECA course and sit the DECA exam.

The programme includes: biology of the bee, basic hive set-up, spring build-up and requeening, Disease identification, food safety, extracting, propolis collection, nosema and varroa plus hands-on hive manipulation.

The, weekend accommodation facilities are basic, with participants supplying their own sleeping bags, eating utensils, plates etc, with shared segregated cabins similar to school camps. As there is no camp staff each attendee will be given camp duty tasks from sweeping to peeling spuds. Full details of the camp course content and your personal requirements will be forwarded to you upon receipt of your application and payment of the course fee.

Applications open 1st June 2001 and Close 31st July (or sooner if all positions are filled).

Any inquires to Mary-Ann Lindsay (04) 478 3367 or Peter Ferris (06) 378 7632

Send completed application and payment with a Stamped self addressed envelope to:

Peter Ferris, Camp Rangi Co-ordinator, Happy Ferris Apiaries, R.D. 11 Opaki, MASTERTON

The Southern North Island branch of the NBA will be holding a meeting in Palmertson North on Monday 14^th May. It will start at 10am in the AgriQuality Batchelor Centre conference room. Contact Frank Lindsay (phone 478 3367) for more information.

Monday 11^th June. The club's annual mead competition will be in June, so members should be planning now on making mead. There is a recipe in this edition of the newsletter, and James has a copy of a paper on mead making. Anyone who would like a copy, please see James at the meeting.

August 24^th - 26^th, 2001. A full weekend of training for all budding beekeepers or those who need to feel comfortable with bees. DECA Course run for those who wish to do it. (extra charge $25 covers test). Venue; Pohangina Valley Camp. Cost: $80 includes all meals, accommodation and course. Applications close June 30th 2001. Complete the application form inside this magazine if you wish to attend.