PRESENT: Andrew Beach (Pres), James Scott (Vice Pres), Richard Wickens (Sec), John Burnett (Treas), and 24 members as per the attendance register.

APOLOGIES: John Robson, Mr & Mrs Peter Cooper, Vaughan Kearns, Mary-Ann Lindsay

NEW MEMBERS: Nil

Minutes of the meeting held 12 July 2004 as printed in the July newsletter were confirmed.

• Varroa update: James Scott commented that the restriction on the movement of hives in the South Island had been lifted. Frank commented that there had been two mites found in the South Island, one in Murchison and the other in Oxford, South Canterbury. One had been found inside a sample bag and the other on the outside. It had now been concluded that the mites had been brought into the South Island on the sample bags. $1/4m had already been spent investigating the mite discoveries and the cost could reach $1/2m. Expensive lessons had been learned from the scare about taking appropriate precautions to ensure that investigations were not compromised by contaminated equipment.

• Cords for FGMO Varroa Treatment: Vicky produced a sample of cords of various thicknesses, in both round and flat configurations. Frank Lindsay commented that the most suitable size was between 8 - 10 mm and was obtainable from Trim & Things in Henderson, Auckland, for 20 cents per metre. Frank was to investigate the availability of the cord and report back to members at the September meeting.

• Food Grade Mineral Oil: This was a Mobil product and could be obtained from the Waione Street, Petone, Mobil Service Station.
• Burgess Foggers: Three people were currently using them to treat their hives with FGMO. Vicky reported that she was getting a mite drop from using her fogger. John Burnett reported that he had tried to find a supplier on the Internet for Burgess Foggers but had been unsuccessful in doing so. Whether or not further investigations should be made would depend on the level of interest.

• Extractor for Sale: Andrew repeated the details of the sale that had appeared in the July newsletter. The extractor had a new value of $673. The vendor had indicated that he was prepared to accept an offer of around $350 for it. The vendor, Trevor Reynolds, was an ex-member of the Wellington Beekeepers Association, but no one could recall him.

• Thymol: The tablets and crystals have been approved but no news on the liquid form. Apiguard gel is also available now. It costs around $4 per dish and is available from Ceracell. Thymol should not be used when the supers are on the hive. It takes around 10 weeks to work.
• Franks Annual Report: Still on his home PC but can be expected to appear in next month's newsletter.
• Subscriptions: Due now.
• Annual Accounts: Still being worked on but discrepancy appears to be isolated to depreciation treatment.
• Constitution: The proposed amendments had not been properly notified and therefore could not be passed at the present meeting. Notice was to be given in the September newsletter for the amendments to be considered at the October meeting. A Special General Meeting would need to be called to discuss the amendments. There had been no further submissions on the amendments since last month.
• Subscription to National Beekeeper Magazine: The annual subscription of $55 had now been paid.

Guest Speakers: Andrew urged members to approach people to speak at future meetings to talk about subjects related to beekeeping. Frank was to approach the owner of the meadery at Houghton Bay to see if he could be persuaded to come along to one of the association's meetings to talk about brewing mead.

AFB: Frank Lindsay reminded members that Mark Goodwin had produced a set of photographs of AFB and other diseases and they would be used for the the DECA tests in future. They were superior to the photographs that had been used in the past.

• Mite Infestation Monitor: Ivan described a simple method of testing for varroa mite levels in hives. The device comprised a square of aluminium foil with a piece of flyscreen clamped to its edges. The device was about the same size as an Apiguard dish that had been displayed by Frank. The device was inserted into the hive through the hive entrance. The device collected mites that had died from natural causes. The flyscreen stopped the bees from cleaning out the mites. If any mites were found in the device, the number should be multiplied by 100 to calculate the strength of the infestation. It was important to check the hives each month. If checks were delayed any longer then they were at risk of them dying out if a heavy infestation was allowed to occur unchecked.
• Hand Protection for Hive Manipulations and Checking: Andrew showed some heavy duty rubber gloves and plastic sleeves that he had bought from NZ Safety in Petone. The rubber gloves allowed the wearer to handle equipment more sensitively than the leather gloves commonly used and provided good protection against stings.
• Bottom Screen: Frank showed the latest version of the mesh bottom board screens that he had developed. No adhesive was applied to the board insert on which mites were collected, making for simpler cleaning and reuse. Ramps had to be installed as landing boards to provide the bees with easier entry to the hive. Because of the improved ventilation allowed by the bottom screen a smaller hive entrance was possible. The timber used was eco-treated and should last 25 years. In the US, where these boards were being used, the interior temperature of the hive was lowered to 33ºC and brood hatching was extended an additional day allowing more mites to be reproduced. However, 50% fewer mites were found to infest the hives as a result of using the boards. The mesh boards were also useful when hives were being moved for pollination as they permitted good ventilation when hive entrances were sealed during shifting. They also allowed bees to be confined with good ventilation when pesticides were being sprayed.
• Hot Houses: Andrew described a hot house that he had built to warm his honey so that it could be extracted easily. He was using a fan heater to provide heat though Frank cautioned that it might overheat the honey. Other members also provided descriptions of alternative hot house structures.
• Combating Dampness in Hives: James had developed a method of protecting his hives from dampness with a polythene sleeve with an opening for ventilation.

• The mead competition was to have been held this month but only John Wallace had brought along a sample of his brew. Those lucky enough to taste it could only be impressed by its quality.

• Pohutukawa Plants Available: Cliff is being plagued by rampantly generating pohutukawa plants and enquired if anyone would like seedlings. He was invited to bring some along to the next meeting.
• All the stainless steel mesh had now been sold and any member wanting to buy it should contact Ceracell in Auckland.
• A demonstration of hive equipment assembly for benefit of new beekeepers was suggested as an event for the next meeting.

The meeting closed at 8.45pm.

NOTICE: A Special General Meeting of the Wellington Beekeepers Association will be held on Monday 11 October 2004, at 7.30pm, to approve the proposed changes to the Rules of said Association. These rules can be seen on the Association’s website: www.beehive.org.nz. The Special Meeting will be followed by the usual monthly meeting.

The ubiquitous Beehive matchbox typifies the use of bee imagery to signify industry and prosperity. Beeswax was used to impregnate the early rolled paper matches.

July had come and gone and I thought that it was about time that I removed last years honey and extracted it, provided that there was still some there, and that it had not granulated.

Continued over …

I knew that I would have to warm it, so with about 12 boxes to do, a light bulb underneath would probably not be sufficient. So I decided to make an insulated heat box. The 30mm thick polystyrene insulating sheets come in 2.4m x 1.2m sizes so I made frames to glue these to. The size I made was 2.4m long by 1.2m wide by 1.2m high with one sheet cut in half for the two ends. I would need to dismantle it for storage, so I used some old door hinges for the ends, 4 on one end and 3 on the opening end. To dismantle - I just knock the centre pin out, and hey presto, all comes apart. The opening end has 2 hinges on one side, and one on the other, so to get inside I slide the one pin out and swing open the end. One sheet rests on the top with small pieces of 4" x 4" timber to hold it down.

Now, how to heat it?

Frank Lindsay had told me 33-35^o was the optimum temperature so I wired a fan heater through a heating thermostat hung from the roof. However, trials proved that the fan heater cut out at about 25^o due to its own thermostat cutting in. While trying to cut out the fan thermostat there was a flash - one set of heating wires no longer worked, and the end of my insulated screwdriver disappeared! Back to the drawing board.

I ended up putting a radiant heater in the circuit with an oscillating fan on all the time to blows the air around the box. It certainly worked. I set it up in the garage, left the honey boxes in there for a week and then extracted over three evenings. I also used a polystyrene sheet on the floor and covered this with real estate agents boards which prevented drips of honey from going into the polystyrene, and also prevent damage. As the weather has been cold, although I have a hive behind the garage, only one or two bees visited. I doubt that I could have got away with this in February/March, as the smell would have started a robbing frenzy.

During the cold weather my wife remarked that she would prefer to be in the insulated box, as it was a darn site warmer than our house!

Certainly a successful experiment.

Beekeeper friend tells me that she was puddling around outside with her chooks during the recent deluge which struck Wellington, when she heard what sounded like a rifle shot. A quick though cautious check of neighbouring properties ascertained that nothing seemed amiss, so she assumed that the noise must have been a branch from a dying cabbage tree falling onto the honey house roof.

However, upon returning inside, she found "him indoors" putting away his .22. The story goes that hubby was passing the hall window when he happened to glance outside and notice a rat feasting on dead bees on the hive landing board. A quick trip downstairs with the key to the gunrack, load and back upstairs to take aim through the hall window which, fortunately, he remembered to open first.

The good news is: the passing shot left no evidence of it’s passing on the hives.

The bad news is: neither did it leave any mark on the rat, who lives to tell the tale.

A SMART man uses this to his advantage when working bees. You approach the colony that you want to inspect, and blow several whiffs of smoke directly into every entrance that the bees may have into the hive. Now, you do something EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for most beekeepers — you go away, have a coke, watch the birds, or look for four leaf clovers for at least 60 seconds, but two minutes is better.

When you return to the hive, you carefully blow a tiny whiff of smoke in the entrance, remove the inner cover, allow a whiff of smoke to drift across the bees on top of the frames and began frame removal for inspection. TOO MUCH smoke forces bees to fly into the air, and they are mad, so they might sting you. Use just a little smoke often to keep them quiet and placid; and use nice, COOL, white, smoke, not hot, blue smoke with flames that BURN the bees and MAKE THEM STING

Many of us think pine needles are the NUMBER ONE smoker fuel of all fuels. It is very easy to light, stays lit, and makes dense COOL, white smoke. Never work bees without a lit smoker. A lit smoker does not mean you have to use smoke, but it does mean that you have smoke instantly IF smoke is needed. Frankly, I prefer to use little or no smoke when working bees, and too much smoke can make bees very nasty. Smoking bees is an ART, and can't be taught by writing about it; but the choice of fuel is important.

When we see pancake upon pancake of natural comb hinging from rafters or any other crevice where bees have set up home, do we realise that this is the way honey bee’s combs have been built in the wilds for the 10 to 20 million years they’ve been on earth – before we induced them to crawl into the hives of today?

Mead is another by-product of honey. Potent stuff, it was a staple of elaborate Viking funerals. It not only marked funerals but also, research tells us, led to them.

At least four Viking kings died during or after mead-drinking binges, and so strong was the association of mead to funerals that the expression "his mead is brewed" spelt the belief that the person spoken of was surely doomed.

So, if you’re thinking of entering the Club’s September Mead Competition …..

However, mead was also associated with fertility and the word "honeymoon" was derived from the old custom of giving newly-weds mead to drink on each of the first 30 days after the marriage. (2)

It is just over 165 years since the first honey bees were brought to New Zealand from England, by a quite appropriately-named Miss Bumby, "a very plump and very nice good-tempered girl" according to the records. The sister of a Northland missionary, Miss Bumby arrived at the Mangungu Mission Station on the Hokianga Harbour with her two hives of bees in March 1839.

One taste of ling heather honey and you will see why it is one of the highest-priced honeys in the world. The aromatic flavour bursts on the taste buds at the back of the mouth, leaving a lingering perfume for minutes after. Produced from flowers in the Central Plateau, it is the champagne of honey.

However, you are unlikely to have a chance to develop a taste for it, because the small amount that is produced in New Zealand is almost all exported. As at 1989 Arataki Honey was receiving about $12 a kilogram, but by the time Dresden customers pick this honey up off their shelves, they’ll be paying up to $50 for each kilogram!

Are you interested in purchasing cotton cord to be used in association with food grade mineral oil solution and fogging? Your committee has managed to obtain various prices for the cord, and will be presenting these for consideration at the September meeting.

Quotes (1) and (2) are from "Some Food for Thought for Beginners – and Others" By GEORGE IMIRIE Rockville, MD 20850. All other quotes are from "NZ Geographic", June 1989 edition courtesy I Pedersen.