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 26 members as listed in the attendance book.

APOLOGIES: Ernst Segessenmann, Richard Hatfield, Ken Breden, Andrew Yung, Pam McDowell, Bob Porter

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: Minutes of meeting held 10th September as detailed in the October newsletter were confirmed.

MATTERS ARISING: GPS purchase clarification – the Sept meeting indicated two of these instruments had been purchased however one had been purchased for the Southern North Island branch. President confirmed it was likely however the Club would be able to borrow this unit for diseaseathons etc.

CORRESPONDENCE: Telford Rural Polytechnic – Letter received from Telford indicating its concerns about the ongoing viability of the one-year apiculture course due to insufficient student numbers. Telford enclosed details of all beekeeping courses and requested club’s assistance in circulating these to colleges and identifying prospective local students. Two club members later expressed their interest in obtaining course details etc.

Foot and Mouth Disease Brochure - Copies of MAF’s brochure for farmers were circulated and the impact of the disease on UK beekeepers was discussed. With few livestock remaining in disease affected areas of the UK, pasture flowers were more prolific than they had been for many years however many beekeepers were unable to gain access to their hives in these areas.

VARROA UPDATE: President confirmed that the recent outbreak at Jerusalem on the Whanganui River was probably "assisted" by a self-interested beekeeper and there was a similar infestation at Turangi which was also highly suspicious.

The varroa infestation rate is now doubling every month and this rate is twice that of anywhere else in the world due to the lack of immunity in NZ bees. Current records show hives in NZ are usually dead by the fourth month after infestation.

Re-infection is a major problem and experience is showing many leave-it-alone beekeepers are giving up the hobby following the death of their hives.

Varroa Control Manual – Every registered beekeeper should have now received their copy from MAF. Ivan Pederson complemented MAF on its content but pointed out there were many issues and aspects omitted. It was generally agreed however that because the disease and control options were constantly evolving in NZ, it was impossible for the manual to remain completely up to date and publication/ distribution was necessary immediately. MAF’s Varroa Control Roadshow was expected to be held in Wellington in March and the hobbyist’s session was likely to take a half-day.

The use of formic acid to control varroa was discussed: This required the isolation of brood boxes before the addition of supers and after supers were removed - basic hive restricted to two full depth boxes. Use of a queen excluder was considered essential. Use inverted shallow tray to create 10cm space over top of formic acid impregnated material. Formic acid fumes will kill the grass in front of the hive and hives must be draught-free.

Icing sugar was considered an effective and economical option for hobbyists with few hives. A recent Bayvarol brochure indicated the price would be $8 plus GST per hive however an alternating product would also be required.

President outlined recent correspondence from Trevor Tong in the UK, which indicated that after eight years use mites were now showing resistance to Bayvarol & Apistan. A special field meeting with Trevor in Feb to discuss the impact of varroa in the UK was considered by many as well worthwhile.

Use of a cappings scratcher on drones at the pinkeye stage was demonstrated and the use of a single drone comb in a hive to prevent drone cells being formed on other frames was discussed.

GENERAL BUSINESS: President advised AFB had recently been discovered in Belmont, consequently it was logical to focus this season’s diseaseathon in the Western Hutt hills. President produced an AFB infected frame for inspection by members that had been taken from the Otaki area.

An Animal Research Day was to be held at MAF’s Wallaceville Research Centre on 17 & 18th October. President and Treasurer requested volunteers from the Club to assist with their proposed beekeeping stand.

President confirmed that the drought had broken and a honey flow was underway in many areas. Swarms had been reported since end of September and Vaughan Kearns reported collecting a swarm at Miramar which filled three and a half boxes and there were still about two litres of bees left over. President reminded members that the Swarm List needed volunteers in all areas and the use of swarms was a quick and easy way for beekeepers to significantly increase their hive colonies for the summer. Bait hives using spare supers and nucleus boxes should be put out now preferably near but not alongside existing hives and one to two metres off the ground.

Meeting closed at 9:30 with the usual supper enjoyed by all.

The club field day advised last month had to be called off (twice!). Unfortunately, the weather on the original weekend, and again on the substitute weekend was not suitable for calm and unhurried inspections of hives.

This double postponement is despite the enthusiasm of a contingent from Wainuiomata who are not inclined to let the weather stand in the way of another bee adventure. After travelling all the way to sunny Porirua (comparatively speaking), they were advised that the field day had been called off L Evidently, beekeepers from that area are a much tougher bunch, or was it the bees we were all worried about?

Maybe we can schedule another field day, this time over in Wainuiomata, to see how beekeeping is really done J I can hear them all lining up now to show their best and biggest hives to the rest of us.

The time has come for the honey flow. It can be either a chore or a pleasant exercise. Be prepared - have all of your gear ready well in advance. Adding supers is not only important for honey collection, but also to relieve congestion in the hive, thus reducing the tendency to swarm. Honey supers provide the space required for the ripening and storage on honey. Remember that incoming nectar contains 50 to 80% water, and therefore requires more room while the bees are processing it, than when stored in its processed state as honey with a 18% water content.

Presuming you have done the last major brood chamber manipulation in mid November, by the end of November the queen should be moving up the hive filling the empty cells with eggs as she goes. But before she reaches the top it is likely the brood there will be all gone and the cells filled with honey. With nectar coming in faster the upper portion of the second super will not be available to the queen, therefore she has to restrict her laying to the bottom box, which is the last place the bees want to store honey.

This is an important factor, remembering that it takes six weeks from egg being laid, until the worker has progressed through its duties in the hive, to become a field bee. You need to keep in mind that eggs laid from the beginning of the flow will produce foragers. If the flow is practically over by mid January, these foragers will barely bring in enough to support themselves. In a poor season they will eat up honey already in the hive. They are more of a liability than an asset. New Zealand's main honey flow occurs over such a short time that good housekeeping is important to take advantage of what's available and to get the maximum crop possible.

For most of the larger operators, the first honey supers will need to be placed on the hives before the main honey flow starts, particularly if the area usually has a early significant honey flow. Putting supers on early (mid to late October), also helps to prevent swarming.

The first honey super should contain drawn combs if possible, as foundation does not provide the bees with any more room until the cells have been drawn. High temperature and a good honeyflow are required for this, and any combs drawn during an erratic honey flow will not be drawn out properly and are usually not attached to the bottom bar correctly, causing problems later on during extracting. Additional supers should be added before the bees require them. This maintains the momentum of the colony, and the additional space seems to activate the bees to gather more nectar. The old idea was that you added supers only once the bees have started white waxing the top bars. In fact white waxing is the latest stage that you should add supers. Ideally the supers need to be placed on the hive earlier than this in a honey flow, before the white waxing occurs.

Supers are usually added on top of the previous super. This is the easiest way to put on supers as less lifting is required and you can easily check the existing super to see if another is required. Bottom supering involves lifting one or more nearly full supers off and adding the new super directly above the brood nest. It demands a lot more work, which is only warranted if supering has been delayed and combs in the top super have been completely capped over.

It is almost impossible to state how often or how many to super a hive, as honey flows vary from year to year and region to region. A general rule is to add enough supers to last until the next planned visit. This may be one, two, or even more, supers depending on the flow. In a good honey flow, strong hives can fill a super in one to two weeks, or even two days, though this is rare. Depending on the flow you may need up to four or five supers above the brood chamber.

If in doubt about how many supers to put on, be generous, as the bees cannot fill supers still in the storage shed. The hives will not suffer from having too much room during the honey flow. Some trials suggest that no harm is done if supers are added earlier and all at once, and that total crop yield are likely to be heavier if the bees always have large amounts of space available. Shortage of space on the other hand is an inhibiting factor. All that happens if the honey flow stops before the supers are filled is that you may need to rearrange some frames to get full boxes of honey.

For the smaller beekeeper, remember that the general rule is that the bees should never be using all of the comb available to them. As soon as they get to this stage another super must be put on the hive. Keep in mind that the aim is to draw the bees from the brood chamber into the super fairly quickly. If only foundation is available, the bees will often not go through a queen excluder to get to a super of foundation. This is remedied by putting the super on without a queen excluder (simply place the excluder under the mat or inner cover). At the next inspection, the bees should be established in the new super and drawing out the wax into comb. The queen can be found, and if she is in the super replaced back down into the brood chamber and the excluder put back in place above the brood chamber and beneath the super.

After the first year the beginner should have some drawn comb and be able to mix this with foundation in the supers. The drawn comb should be placed on the outside against the super walls and the foundation in the middle where the heat from the brood chamber is the greatest. This arrangement encourages bees to enter the super and the warmth gives those pulling the foundation considerable help.

Foundation is drawn out properly only on a good honey flow, so it is inadvisable to use it at other times unless you have now drawn out comb. Unless a honey flow is particularly good, supers of foundation should be baited when they are put on a hive. Pull out two partly capped honey frames from the top super and place them in the middle of the box of foundation, separated by a couple of new frames. Put two other frames of foundation down in the middle of the top super to make up the spacing. This stimulates the bees to move up more quickly to start drawing comb, and helps keep the moment of the colony.

What ever you do make sure that you keep records and you can compare the results over several years' different methods. Do not be deterred by Joe Bloggs 40 years experience. Often it is one year of experience repeated 40 times, with no records kept apart from memory. Remember also that one or two successes or failures do not establish a principle, they may be due to factors other than the method of supering.

Hi..just speaking with a friend..who tells me that someone highly allergic to bees got stung in the mouth while tramping..and as they were being rushed to hospital they ate an orange....and the doctor said that the orange saved them. Anyone heard that before? Could there be a scientific rationale?

The Vitamin C in the orange is probably what did the trick. Twenty or so years ago we read in the Beekeeper or other publication of the beneficial effect of Vit C on beestings,for an elderly couple. They took 2000 mg (2x Redoxin tabs) after a bee sting and found that that the swelling was not as bad and it reduced quicker than without the tabs.

"As for us, we have found it to be very effective for our family. My wife was highly reactive (to bee stings!) and carried antihistamines when we were working bees. We tried vit.C - we used "Citravite" 500 mg and found that if shee and our four children took 1000 mg each before going out to work bees and then following with another dose of 1000 to 2000 mg if they got a sting, the treatment worked very well. Better than a dose only after a sting."

"My wife has found that over a period of time she no longer reacts to a sting and we haven't used any vit.C now for probably 15 or so years. A sting on the throat brings on no more reaction for her now than "OW--YOU BRUTE!!!" So it seems to me that if you are putting yourself in a situation where you could be vulnerable to a sting or two-- bush walk (bees, wasps etc) where-ever, it is better to have any sort of vit C in your system (Raro drink etc. -or your orange) in advance. To my knowledge you can't overdose on vit.C -any surplus gets flushed out. Second point: Be aware that there are NO gaurantees that this will work for you so err on the side of caution. Lastly, if you can find a good wine that's fortified with plenty of vit.C then I'd throw all caution to the wind and go -for-it!!!"

Three decades ago a brilliant intellectual meteor flashed into sight: the leading American biochemist Linus Pauling's 1968 article 'Orthomolecular Psychiatry' in Science put forth a convincing argument that extra vitamins (more than you can get in food) would be expected to improve health, especially mental health.

One reaction in New Zealand was that a leading scientist (Prof R E F Matthews, later FRS) promptly urged the Medical Research Council to solicit research proposals based on this impressive new theory. They didn't, and on the whole megavitamin therapy has yet to gain respectability amongst reactionary medicos.

But actually VitC is by now one of the best-tested medicines. The first famous application of Pauling's megavitamin theory was in prevention of colds and influenza (see Pauling's book 'Vitamin C and the Common Cold'). Dozens of careful studies on thousands of people have proven that about a gram daily of vitC fends off colds & flu markedly; and when one does succumb, the symptoms are milder & briefer.

Vitamin E is not so extremely well tested, but also looks safer than many artificial drugs. Both are reasonably suspected to inhibit cancer - to prevent to some extent, and to allay some effects when a tumour does get out of control.

Pauling died (at 94) saying the only two vitamin supplements which can be generally recommended are vitC (at dosages in the range 1 - 10 gram/day) and vitE (0.1 - 0.3 g/d i.e. 100 - 300 mg/d), which I have been taking for many years. Such dosages cannot be achieved from even the most vitamin-rich foods. The preferable form of vitC is not ascorbic acid but calcium ascorbate (mail-order around $60/kg). The proportion of calcium in this salt is just under 10%; therefore 10 g/d calcium ascorbate gives a calcium dosage of less than 1 g/d. If a further gram of calcium daily comes from food, the total is not (so far as I am aware) suspected of supplying excessive calcium, and is indeed what would seem prudent in minimising osteoporosis.

I have not heard of any side-effects from 10 g/d calcium ascorbate, whereas those who try ascorbic acid at a gram per day usually get mild diarrhoea. The few allegations of side-effects (one by a disgruntled ex-employee of Pauling's institute), have not proved credible.

I mix calcium ascorbate powder (one rounded tsp = 4g) in a bowl with a week's stewed fruit (after cooling) so as to give 1 - 2 g of the added vitamin in each day's worth of the fruit. I don't notice any flavour change, and the upset gut usually provoked by any more than 1 g/d ascorbic acid does not occur. Fruit seems to me the accompanying food from which megadoses of ascorbate will be best absorbed. When in the grip of a cold or flu I also take several batches a day of 1 - 2 g simply stirred in orange juice.

Prevention is surely the watchword, for osteoporosis even more than most illnesses. It is two decades since I taught what little nutrition was in the Auckland medical course, but I have kept in touch with some aspects of the science and in particular with the eminently reasonable leader of the Nutrition Foundation Dr John Birkbeck (ret. aspro of nutrition, Otago). He quietly desisted some years ago from the mantra (carried on by his successor my namesake - no relation - and by the Consumers Inst.) "no vitamin or mineral supplements are helpful for your well-fed Kiwi".

Prevention is most surely the watchword for delayed toxicity, which has concerned me generally more than prompt poisoning. The industrial world is failing to cope with many buildups of toxic chemicals and harmful radiations; we know some of these cause cancer, and cancer is now killing around one in three in the overdeveloped world. For all the four categories of delayed harm - cancer, mutations, malformations in utero, and mental damage - there is no evidence of thresholds (safe doses). I suspect that mental damage is the first to occur as toxic cocktails accumulate in our bodies.

Some agents cause delayed illness by producing in our tissues highly reactive transient substances called free radicals. Vitamin C scavenges these nasties. It also does many other kinds of good. A gram a day may not keep the doctor utterly away, but will help. Perhaps the only proven drawback is that those habituated to high dosages of vitC can fail to heal operation wounds when suddenly on hospital food (ca. 80 mg/d). The other vitamin which can be generally recommended is VitE at 0.1 - 0.3 g/d. This scavenges free radicals in the fatty realms of the body as vitC does in the aqueous parts, and is likely to be especially helpful when synthesising new membranes (e.g. in recovery from stroke).

These are not my original ideas but those of the late great Pauling. They are all secondary to the good old wisdom of eating a balanced diet, not eating too much, and exercising. Megadoses of other vitamins may do harm in some minority of persons and can therefore not be blindly recommended. A range of impressive benefits can indeed be had for some from megadoses of, for instance, nicotinamide (vitamin PP), but it cannot be recommended without expert appraisal.

Don't forget that the club has one (or two? Extractors available for members to hire. These cost $10 per time (ie over a weekend or similar), and need to be returned promptly in clean working order. Contact May-Ann Lindsay (ph 478 3367) for more information if you are interested.

Leave your name with Mary-Ann (ph 478 3367) if you are prepared to collect swarms in your area. Hives are predicted to be more susceptible than usual to swarming this season.

Telford Rural Polytechnic offers full-time or correspondence courses in all aspects of Beekeeping, including Queen rearing. Recent low numbers of students enrolled in the one year course has placed it under threat of closure. All branches and even hobbyist clubs are being asked to identify young persons interested in beekeeping who might like to attend the one-year full time course to ensure that it is kept to provide the commercial beekeepers of the future.

If you know of anyone who might like this opportunity, please contact:

The committee is always looking for interesting and/or relevant speakers for future meetings. If you have any suggestions please contact our secretary,
John Burnet on 232 7863 (or secretary@beehive.org.nz).