tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55012156844317028102024-03-13T10:41:00.574+00:00Windsor bees and honeyWindsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.comBlogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-72258632549103166272016-05-01T20:38:00.000+01:002016-05-04T15:41:41.315+01:00Hum bug<style type="text/css">td p { margin-bottom: 0cm; }p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }a:link { }</style>
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bee</span>keepers must stop being happy-clappy groupies for the eco-lobby and start telling the truth about honey bees;<br />
<br />
THEY ARE NOT DYING OUT!<br />
<br />
They never were, though if you'd be forgiven for thinking so if you rely on the popular press. Here are some typical alarmist headlines from British newspapers in the last 12 months:<br />
<i><br />"Humans are to blame for wiping out honeybees"</i> - Daily Mail (5/2/2016)<br />
<br />
<i>"Honey bees are being killed off in Europe by 57 pesticides"</i> - The Independent (11/3/2016)<br />
<br />
<i>"Honey bee crisis deepens as die-offs surge"</i> - The Daily Telegraph (14/5/2015)<br />
<br />
It's not just the popular press – even scientific news sources can't resist alarmist headlines:<br />
<br />
<i>"U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of bees in 2014 -15"</i> - wailed Science Daily earlier this year. They're not kidding; here are the percentage annual losses for U.S honey bee colonies over the last 5 years:<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; width: 100%px;">
<colgroup><col width="51*"></col>
<col width="51*"></col>
<col width="51*"></col>
<col width="51*"></col>
<col width="51*"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="top">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
<b>2010/11</b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
<b>2011/12</b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
<b>2012/13</b></div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid #000000; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0.1cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
<b>2013/14</b></div>
</td>
<td style="border: 1px solid #000000; padding: 0.1cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
<b>2014/15</b></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign="top">
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
-37%</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
-28%</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: none; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
-45%</div>
</td>
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-34%</div>
</td>
<td style="border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000; border-top: none; padding-bottom: 0.1cm; padding-left: 0.1cm; padding-right: 0.1cm; padding-top: 0cm;" width="20%"><div align="center">
-42%</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<div align="left" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
It looks horrendous. There were 2 ½ million colonies of bees in the USA in 2010 so based these losses you might calculate that there are now only 239,000 hives remaining<span style="font-size: x-small;">*</span>, but the actual number of hives is 2.66 million. Its gone up!<br />
<br />
It's the same in Europe – the number of managed honey bee colonies has risen from 11 million in 2000 to over 12 million today. Hardly bee-mageddon!<br />
<br />
So what's happening? Well the annual loses data above is based upon the 15 – 20% of beekeepers that bother responding to surveys so there's potential for bias – if you've had a particularly bad year you may be more likely to respond to a survey about colony losses.<br />
<br />
But the real sleight of hand is the failure to mention that honey bees can easily double their numbers in one season by swarming, something many of us will notice in the coming weeks when the swarming season begins.<br />
<br />
So even though U.S annual losses data isn't good, it's not disastrous. The situation across Canada and Europe is better with winter losses last year of around 17% - easily manageable.<br />
<br />
Indeed what's perhaps more surprising, given the bees ability to double their numbers in one season, is why the number of hives isn't increasing more rapidly, but there's a simple explanation: Beekeepers merge their surplus colonies each year to keep things manageable … and profitable.<br />
<br />
Yes – global economics is driving growth in the number of honey bees. Over the last 10 years high prices for manuka honey have led to a doubling in the number of bee hives in New Zealand (from 300,000 to 600, 000), and countries like China and Argentina have contributed to the relentless growth in global honey production, which is now at a record 1.6 million tons p.a.<br />
<br />
So why all the scary headlines about honey bee decline? Well it's a combination of conspiracy and cock-up.<br />
<br />
The conspiracy comes from those who gain from bee-mageddon. Tariffs on foreign honey are easier to obtain if national honey bees are thought to be 'at risk'. Suppliers of equipment, training and beekeeping publications make money from newbie hobbyists trying to 'save the bees'. Academics receive generous research funding, and politicians win plaudits.<br />
<br />
Then there's the eco-lobby which too often is prepared play fast and loose with the truth in their perpetual war with the agro-chemical industry. According to Greenpeace;<br />
<br />
<i>“ Worldwide bee colony collapse is not as big a mystery as the chemical industry claims.”</i><br />
<br />
Indeed! The reason it's not a <i>'big mystery'</i> is because it isn't happening!<br />
<br />
Cock-up is down to sloppy journalism. Most scribblers don't know a honey bee from hover-fly. When scientists rightly raise concerns about our 'native wild pollinators', this gets translated as 'bee' and to the average hack 'bee' means 'honey bee'. So they write about honey bees rather than the 2,000 other species that are actually at risk.<br />
<br />
Its a shame. Well meaning folk are becoming beekeepers to 'save the bees' when a much better approach would be support activities that help our wild pollinators. For example:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Don't pave over your garden and support the RHS's <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/gardening-in-a-changing-world/greening-grey-britain">'Greening Grey Britain'</a> initiative</li>
<li>Don't cut your grass when the dandelion and clover is in bloom</li>
<li>Wash your car rather than lobbying to have <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7271725.stm">trees cut down</a> </li>
<li>Plant <a href="http://www.sussex.ac.uk/lifesci/goulsonlab/resources/flowers">pollinator friendly flowers</a> and trees</li>
<li>Encourage your local authority, school, employer and other land owners to grow pollinator friendly flowers rather than the usual garish sterile hybrids</li>
</ul>
<br />
Oh – and buy local honey! (Well I would say that!)<br />
<br />
Then you really will hear the bugs hum, rather than humbug about honey bee decline. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Here's the calculation:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">2,500,000 x (1-0.37) x (1 – 0.28) x (1 -0.45) x (1 – 0.34) x (1 – 0.42) = 239,000</span>Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-13144102027509568212016-03-19T12:32:00.000+00:002016-03-19T12:32:09.449+00:00Pixie Dust
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<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">My honey contains
pixie dust, golden pixie dust.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The bees pick it up when they're
visiting flowers for nectar and pollen. Not all flowers have pixie
dust, it's found mostly on wild flowers although you will find it on
some garden flowers.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course, the
flowers themselves don't produce pixie dust, they just get coated in
it when the fairies start throwing it around. You will know if you
have a fairy-friendly garden, and if you do the bees will be
inadvertently gathering pixie dust.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The pixie dust
content of honey varies enormously. Some mono-floral honeys contain
none, which is hardly surprising as you'll not find fairies in those
monotonous fields of sunflowers or oilseed rape. Wild flower honey
contains lots of pixie dust, but it's easily destroyed.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pasteurisation ruins
pixie dust when the honey is heated up to 70 degrees or more for a
few minutes to kill of all the yeasts. Ultra-filtration which strips
most of the pollen from honey also removes pixie dust. Most small
scale UK honey producers do neither so there's a good chance your
local honey contains pixie dust.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The problem is that
pixie dust is difficult to quantify because analytical tests destroy
the very thing they are trying to measure. As a result you seldom see
pixie dust mentioned in the contents of honey.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Instead, purveyors
of honey use words like 'full of natural goodness' to indicate its
presence, or they'll refer to 'natural vitamins', 'living enzymes' or
'nutritional elements' – all code for pixie dust.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pixie dust accounts
for the medicinal properties of honey. It explains why honey is a
powerful immune system booster, a digestive, a tonic, a treatment for
cancer, sore throats, hang-overs, insomnia and of course, hay fever.
Admittedly the scientific evidence is weak, but that's because most
studies failed to use raw wild-flower honey. Anyway science is over-rated; you just have to
believe as Peter Pan says:</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All you need is
faith and trust... and a little bit of pixie dust!</span></span></i></div>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span>
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Sceptics
will doubt my honey contains pixie dust.“If your honey contains
pixie dust why don't your customers fly?</span></span></span></span><b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">”</span></span></em></span></span></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">It's
a ridiculous argument. Of course honey doesn't make you fly. </span></span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">To
get airborne you have to sprinkle p</span></span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">ixie
dust, </span></span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">not
eat it!</span></span></em></span></span></b></div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-68947042598646927232016-02-07T20:26:00.000+00:002016-02-07T20:26:59.686+00:00Aromatherapy for Bees<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="line-height: 100%;">Do you know what
drives bees bananas?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Bananas!</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Well not the banana
itself, but the smell of bananas. Just a whiff is enough to make bees
go ballistic. Bananas should really carry a health warning:</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<b><i>Bananas </i><i>can
</i><i>cause bee attacks – </i><i>do not </i><i>picnic on bananas
</i><i>unless wearing protective clothing</i></b></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
You'll never catch
beekeepers eating bananas because they know that the chemical that
gives bananas that distinctive smell is the same chemical that bees
use as a sting alarm pheromone. It's called isoamyl acetate, or more
commonly, banana oil.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Isoamyl acetate is
widely used as a flavouring, from pear drops to banana-flavoured
yoghurt, and it's even used in some varnishes and lacquers. It smells
nice – just like bananas!</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But the bees hate it
because the smell of isoamyl acetate means there's trouble, which
means they're going to sting someone and then they're going to die.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
It all starts with
the guard bees which spend their time patrolling the hive entrance
keeping out intruders. Usually there are four or five guards though if the colony is being harassed, by wasps for
example, the guard may increase to 20 bees. That normally suffices
but every now and then the guards can't cope with an intruder, so
they call for reinforcements.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
They do this by extending their stinger and releasing isoamyl acetate from a gland at
its base. To make sure the odour of banana rapidly diffuses
through the hive the guards fan their wings at the same time. The
response can be spectacular; dozens of soldier bees rush out of the
hive looking for a fight.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
That's usually the
moment when you see a beekeeper frantically puffing away with their
smoker in an attempt to try and mask the smell of bananas and calm
the bees down – but it doesn't help. What they should try instead
is aromatherapy.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
For those unfamiliar
with quack medicine aromatherapy '<i>offers some of the best
remedies for easing stress by using natural oils to enhance
psychological and physical well-being</i>'.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Probably tosh, but
it seems that when it comes to bees there is scientific evidence
showing that certain flower oils really do make bees less aggressive.
A recent study found linalool (found in lavender oil) and
2-phenylethanol (found in rose oil) significantly reduced aggression
in honey bees enraged by the sting alarm pheromone, and the effect
was not simply due to the pong of flowers masking the scent of
bananas.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Instead, what seems
to be happening is that the soldier bees get two scent messages; the
one from the banana oil says 'Go out and die for your colony!' but
the one from the lavender oil says ...
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
'Lunch anyone?'</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And given the choice
between certain death and the promise of a little snack, soldier bees
choose the snack.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Most beekeepers wont
be surprised by this; during a strong nectar flow the hives are
fragrant with the smell of flowers and bees are very calm.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I'm going to try
aromatherapy instead of using my smelly old smoker. Lavender flowers
(fresh or dried) infused in hot water, then allowed to cool and
filtered into a plant sprayer. A few sprays at the hive entrance and a
few more when the roof is off should suffice.</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But just in case it
doesn't work, I'll put a dab or two of 2-phenylethonol behind my ears
to ensure that what ever happens, I still come out of the experiment smelling of roses!</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. “Appetitive
floral odours prevent aggression in honey bees” Nouvian et al.
Nature Communications 6, 10247 (Dec. 2015)</span></div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-73862464484288514682016-01-01T15:21:00.001+00:002016-01-13T15:59:55.773+00:00The Cling-ons<span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 100%;">Some bees are bad
... really bad. In fact some are downright evil!</span><br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This may surprise
some readers who blithely assume one honey bee is much like another,
but most bee-keepers will know better. Bees may not have individual
personalities, but each hive certainly has it's own characteristics.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Good bees are calm.
They're the sort you see in those photos of people sporting a
bee-beard or handling bees in a T-shirt and shorts. It's the result
of good breeding.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Most bees aren't
like that. My Berkshire mongrels are relatively well behaved, but not
mellow enough for me to forego a veil and gloves. Their bad behaviour
manifests itself in several different ways:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are the
'Meeters and Greeters' – those troublemakers who save you the
bother of visiting the hives by flying up the garden path to meet
you. It's best to be fully kitted-up before going out if you have
these bad girls in your apiary.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Next the 'Followers'
– they just follow you like a black cloud as you move from hive to
hive and back again to the house. It's annoying, but they're not usually much trouble.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">More spectacular are
the 'Pingers' – these bees fly with such ferocity at you're face
that you can hear them pinging off the veil. They make bee-keeping
stressful but you don't suffer much harm ... provided your veil is
intact!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Then there are the
'Burrowers' – they're sly and will be quietly investigating every
fold, seam and hole in your clothing to find a way to get inside and
sting you. Burrowers will crawl up your trousers, through the cuffs
of your sleeves, in between the tiny gap in the zip of your veil.
They're the one's you find on the inside your bee suit, next to your
face. Fortunately by the time most burrowers have reached their
destination they have often forgotten why they're attacking you and
are more concerned about making their own escape.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But the worst of all
the bad bees are the 'Cling-ons'. They just hang onto you and wait
for a chance to get even ….</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have a hive of
Cling-ons at the moment. They were a swarm of bees I reluctantly
collected in Eton last June. Nobody else wanted them so I cobbled
together some kit to give them a home. This proved to be a thankless
task because within weeks it was clear that these Eton girls were not
as well behaved as our Eton boys - they lack breeding.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This was confirmed
when I spotted the queen – she was unmarked and had led a primary
swarm, which suggests that she had either come from a feral colony,
or more likely an apiary where the bee-keeper had been too scared to
manage such aggressive bees properly. Instead they were allowed to
swarm, and probably swarmed again and again. Worse still the area was
contaminated with drones spreading bad tempered genes into
neighbouring apiaries.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My Cling-ons are
manageable at the moment even though they hang on to my bee suit in
out-of-sight and difficult-to-reach places which makes getting
changed afterwards hazardous. But come the summer when there are
50,000 bees in the hive the thought of a hundred or more Cling-ons
all over my veil and suit is no laughing matter. So they'll have to
go.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Trekkies can relax -
I wont be needing the services of the Star Ship 'Enterprise' to deal with these
Cling-ons. Come the spring I'll kill the queen and unite the
remaining bees and brood with a better behaved colony.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Not that good
manners are learnt – they'll continue to be bad bees until the day
they die, but at least I'll get some useful work from them in the
meantime. </span></div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-61046116723444254832015-11-04T14:33:00.000+00:002015-11-04T15:10:46.903+00:00Blossom must never fly from bee to bee to bee<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">'The King and I'
need to have a conversation about the birds and the bees because he's
got it so, so wrong. Here's his justification for polygyny:</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A girl must be
like a blossom with honey for just one man</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">A man must be
like a honey bee and gather all he can!</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">To fly from
blossom to blossom a honey bee must be free</span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">But blossom must
never fly from bee to bee to bee!</span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can't imagine
Blossom or any other woman agreeing with him, but the irony is that
bees practice another form of polygamy – polyandry! Each queen
gathers all the males she can and those lucky fellows that consummate
the act promptly drop dead (read - </span><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.co.uk/2015_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">It's raining men</a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">).
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And it's just a
small point but those bees that '</span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">gather all they can</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;">' -
they're female!
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The King of Siam
in the 1956 movie musical clearly knew nothing about bees, but now it appears he was wrong
about the flowers too.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's well known that
flowers do their utmost to attract visitors by looking pretty,
smelling nice and offering a sip from the honey pot. But they also do
something else to help them 'fly' from bee to bee to bee – they use
drugs!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Memory-enhancing
substances in the nectar can improve the bees recall about where the
flowers are located and a </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">good </span><a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2815%2901054-4" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">dose of caffeine</span></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> to boot, guarantees
those bees will be dancing like demons when they get back to their
hive. Bees dance to tell the rest of the colony about good food
sources and the more vigorous the dancing the greater the eagerness
for other bees to pay a visit to young Blossom.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So far from having
honey for just one bee, the flowers in effect 'fly from bee to bee to
bee'. Fair enough, but there's a downside to Blossom's promiscuity –
infectious diseases! Every tongue probing the flower nectaries risks
leaving or picking up </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">a </span><a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1813/20151371" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: inherit;">nasty infection</span></a></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">, and not just from other
honey bees. Bumble bees can also transmit diseases like nosema to
honey bees visiting the same flower, and vice versa.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's not normally a
problem; bees have been visiting flowers for millions of years, but
if disease carrying bumble bees or honey bees are bought into an
area, local infection rates can spike. This is particularly so when
flowers are scarce because the remaining few get many more visitors.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There's a simple
remedy; plant more flower. That way each flower will have fewer
visitors and harbour less disease, and even more nectar for those
that do call.</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-29029045511702290772015-09-18T17:08:00.001+01:002015-09-18T17:08:25.271+01:00The Ministry of BeesI got a warning letter from the Ministry of Bees last month. Government inspectors had found that many hives of bees were close to starving, so the Ministry wrote to all beekeepers urging them to check that their bees had enough food.<br />
<br />
I wasn't surprised - August is a terrible month for bees because there are so few flowers. Sure, bees living near the waterways may have purple loosestrife and Himalayan balsam to visit, but for most there are only slim pickings in suburban gardens.<br />
<br />
Not that it should be a problem - strong colonies make 50 - 100 lb of honey during the summer which is more than enough to see them through to next year, so all would be fine, except for one thing. The beekeeper!<br />
<br />
Greedy or incompetent bee-keepers strip the hives of all their summer honey. If the bees are 'lucky' they get fed sugar syrup and if they aren't .... they starve. The rapacious logic is simple; honey sells for £5/lb whereas sugar costs 25p/lb.<br />
<br />
I wasn't concerned about the letter. I'd taken a good honey crop but still left my bees with plenty to see them through to the end of September - but not longer!<br />
<br />
I'm relying on the ivy which is just coming into flower. Ivy produces lots of very sweet nectar which is almost 50% sugar. It's so concentrated that on warm sunny days you can see crystals of sugar glistening on the flowers. The bees, wasps and red admiral butterflies all love it!<br />
<br />
But many beekeepers don't. The high glucose content of ivy honey causes it to crystalise in the honeycomb. Beekeepers worry that their bees may not be able to access enough water in the winter months to dissolve the honey, resulting in starvation.<br />
<br />
Come the spring any ivy honey left in the comb blocks up the brood nest and has to be removed, but the only way to remove the honey is to heat the comb, which destroys it. Worse still, ivy honey doesn't taste very nice.<br />
<br />
So to stop their bees making ivy honey many beekeepers keep feeding their bees sugar solution - gallons of it.<br />
<br />
Their bees seem to do well, but it doesn't feel right to me. Instead I let my bees make all the ivy honey they can. Even on the coldest days of winter condensation in the hive will provide sufficient moisture, and come the spring any frames of uneaten honey will be set aside to feed any colonies that need a honey top-up.<br />
<br />
There is a risk - if the weather is really bad over the next month the bees may not collect enough ivy nectar, and it may then be too cold for an emergency sugar solution feed.<br />
<br />
But you have to have faith in these things - such is the ministry of bees!Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-60977331399757601222015-08-02T21:20:00.000+01:002015-08-03T10:19:45.171+01:00The cheats among the runners<div class="MsoNormal">
Bees earn a lot of air miles during August, but it’s no holiday.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On average they will fly four kilometres to forage this
month compared to just 400 meters in spring. It's necessary because
of a shortage of flowers; most wild flowers have gone over so the bees are spending
more time foraging around gardens and allotments.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Competition is intense and choice limited; just spend a few
minutes watching insect activity on buddleia or oregano and you will see
butterflies, bumblebees, hover flies and honey bees all competing for the nectar.
When competition is this tough it’s hardly surprising that someone decides to cheat....
like this young lady.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-fxF3tErBzfQyQwfiINfHDYD_hwn4-C0Mw8fxP53r_IYOPNUDvbSbM00eJBhqRzwgaunvNQznUjlN30G1a8BR-10QvLMoK1mcLYx1SoSU1__5EjIuQrkG8-LelLd2Hp-MvrN7OsZhoA/s1600/False+pollinator.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3-fxF3tErBzfQyQwfiINfHDYD_hwn4-C0Mw8fxP53r_IYOPNUDvbSbM00eJBhqRzwgaunvNQznUjlN30G1a8BR-10QvLMoK1mcLYx1SoSU1__5EjIuQrkG8-LelLd2Hp-MvrN7OsZhoA/s320/False+pollinator.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She’s in our local allotment stealing nectar from runner
bean flowers. Normally flowers provide
nectar to bees in exchange for pollination services, but this little minx has
decided to skip scrambling around inside the flower and is helping herself to the
nectar by sipping it directly from a hole in the corolla tube.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s easy honey. But although it looks bad on the honey
bee, someone else cheated first.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A bumble bee! Both the white-tailed and the buff-tailed bumble bees bite holes at the bottom of runner bean flowers so that they can get to the nectar without having
to clamber inside.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When a honey bee lands on the flower the first thing she
does is check whether a bumble bee has already punctured the flower. Although
the bumble bee will have taken most of the nectar there’s always some left
over, and it’s easy work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the mornings most flowers haven’t been visited
by bumble bees so there’s no hole. Instead the honey bee climbs inside the flower to
get a full dose of nectar in exchange for pollinating the flower. But by late
afternoon most flowers have been holed, so climbing inside would
be a waste of effort.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The honey bees are just being sensible - the bumble bees are
the real cheats. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So if your runner beans aren't setting you know who to blame. Although in the round bumble bees do a great job in the
allotment pollinating all sorts of plants, ... like courgettes!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(Can you ever have
too many?)</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-1660063513017483952015-07-08T12:21:00.000+01:002015-07-08T12:21:09.897+01:00The Changing of the Guard<div class="MsoNormal">
Bees work hard to make honey -they fly 50,000 miles collecting
nectar from millions of flowers just to make a pound. At the moment strong
hives contain 50 – 100 lb of honey, some even as much as 200 lb. It’s a
valuable resource that will see the colony through winter, so it has to be
guarded!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of the year a hive has around 10 guard bees on duty. They linger around the hive entrance ready to challenge potential
intruders regardless of their intent; the innocent ladybird that wanders into
the hive will be ejected just as vigorously as a thieving wasp, or a bee from
another colony.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Distinguishing nest mates from other honey bees isn't easy –
you have to get up close ... and sniff! Bees
that smell like family are allowed to pass, and those that don’t get ‘done over’.
Wise bees submit and are allowed to fly off; those that struggle are killed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now that the honey stores are so large and the flow of
nectar from the flowers is slowing, the guard is changing. Their numbers have
increased substantially, and they are hyper-vigilant. They need to be too –
because there are robbers about!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Wasps are the worst offenders. They can overwhelm a colony
of bees and steal all the honey. Of course, the bees don’t give up without a
fight, but a wasp can sting and sting again, whereas a bee can only sting once.
For every dead wasp there are five dead bees; small hives don’t stand a chance.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other honey bees can be just as bad. A poorly guarded hive
is fair game for neighbouring bees looking for a free lunch. Sometimes the
robbing is vicious –the weaker hive is simply overwhelmed. But often the
robbing is silent, with the robbers sneaking into the hive and helping
themselves to the honey.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Good guards become over-zealous and challenge all bees
entering the hive, including their returning nest-mates! The confusion doesn't
last long because in addition to passing the sniff-test the returning foragers
just submit and offer up some of their bounty; robbers on the other hand arrive
with empty stomachs.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Or empty buckets. I have yet to take off the honey crop so
it’s going to be tense! I may be a friend of the honey bee but I'm not family,
so I won’t be passing any sniff-test!</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-69756893017786530982015-05-29T15:57:00.000+01:002015-05-29T15:57:08.440+01:00Can you Adam ‘n Eve it – I’m trendy!Trendy urban middle-class beekeepers with ‘<i>more enthusiasm than expertise’</i> have been
blamed for increase swarms of bees in towns across southern England, according
to the newspapers.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘I'm not surprised’ I thought. ‘Monty Don’s encouraging folk
to keep bees in their gardens without any thought to disease management and
swarm prevention. We don’t need more beekeepers, we need more forage.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Trendy? More like grumpy .... and just a tiny bit smug. I’d already swarm-controlled one of my hives a few
weeks earlier, and I was counting down the days to sorting out another hive
when my neighbour mentioned that ‘thousands of bees were flying around this
afternoon.’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Impossible! I had it under control, or so I thought. But a
quick check of my hive records revealed my error- I was a day out. It takes 8
days for bees to produce a sealed queen cell which then matures for another 8
days before the new queen emerges. Swarming
takes place any time between day 8 and 16, and usually depends upon the weather.
It had been a fine day after a period of blustery weather and the bees had
swarmed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was embarrassed and annoyed. Swarms frighten some people
and can be disruptive, although they seldom harm anyone. Responsible beekeepers
certainly try to prevent swarming.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With ‘<i>more enthusiasm
than expertise’</i> still ringing in my ears I spoke to two of my most
experienced colleagues. They were sympathetic; ‘It’s happened to me too’, and ‘It’s
been a funny year for swarms,’ they said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some consolation, but I know I should really have paid closer
attention to the calendar and counted the days.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course for the numerically challenged there is another solution:
Clip the queen’s wing, and then she won’t be able to fly anywhere.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is a tricky operation and some beekeepers develop this ‘skill’
by cutting the wings off drones. They say the bees feel no pain but I'm not so
sure. Regardless, I find the notion of mutilating bees to prevent them swarming
somewhat disquieting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it seems I'm not only trendy, I'm sentimental too!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you think? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<script charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/8900110.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<noscript><a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/8900110/">Should beekeepers stop bees swarming by clipping the queen's wing</a></noscript>Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-14049082694835435542015-04-29T08:43:00.000+01:002015-04-29T08:43:48.629+01:00It’s raining men!<div class="MsoNormal">
Hallelujah!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The bees have been living like nuns in a convent these past
8 months – barren sisters led by an old matriarch. But that’s all changing because
right now the colonies are raising male bees, called drones, as fast as they can.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drones don’t do much around the hive except eat and
occasionally lift their feet when one of their sisters is doing some cleaning.
You’d expect the workers to get irritable with these slouches, but the opposite
is true - a happy hive has lots of drones. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Drones are big; almost twice the size of their sisters. They
have powerful wings and huge eyes and just one ambition – to mate!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It takes about 2 weeks for a drone to become sexually mature.
During this time he will develop his flying and navigation skills and once he’s
competent he’ll spend his afternoons hanging out with his brothers and the lads
from other hives in a part of the sky known as a drone congregation area. Think
of it as a boys’ afternoon out, which it is, until a virgin queen comes along ....</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
She’s the ultimate
femme fatale who deliberately seeks out these drone congregations. She’s game for
certain and the boys know it. A chase through the skies begins as dozens of
drones pursue the young queen, all wanting to mate with her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They should be careful what they wish for! Those with the
best eyesight and strongest wings soon catch up with the queen and seize her
with their legs, arch their abdomen and immediately penetrate her.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
‘Hallelujah!’</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s all over in a second but it blows the drone away .....
from his genitalia! The poor drone, no longer in possession of his
tickle-tackle, drops dead to earth. The queen meantime continues her flight
with his lost bee-hood still <i>in situ</i>.
She’ll mate with several more drones before returning to the hive, with each
successful coupling resulting in a cry of ‘Hallelujah!’ and another drone
dropping dead from the sky.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the Weather Girls are right, from a bee’s perspective, it
really is raining men!</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-47340363942387409632015-04-01T20:10:00.000+01:002015-04-01T20:11:26.395+01:00Spring cleaning<div class="MsoNormal">
Demolition experts don’t get much credit - plaudits always go
to the builder, yet without the work of the demolition crews
there would soon be no space to build.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Bees have exactly the same problem: They fill their home
with delicate white comb which is used to store honey and pollen and to raise
brood, and they eventually run out of space.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Raising brood is messy; every time a new bee emerges from its
cell it leaves behind the thin skin of its cocoon. The house-bees quickly clean
up any loose material but rather than scrape every last piece of cocoon off the
cell walls they simply skim the surface with a bit more wax and polish it ready
for the queen to re-lay.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the course of a year a brood cell may be skimmed and
polished 17 times, each time getting a little bit darker and a little bit
smaller. Smaller cells means smaller bees, so it’s not surprising that in the
wild, bees soon abandon old brown comb and make new white comb for the queen to
lay in – provided there’s room!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is where the demolition experts come in. Little silvery-brown moths lay their eggs in old brood comb and soon the caterpillars are
munching their way through the comb, turning it to dust within a few weeks and
creating space for the bees to make new comb.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You would think beekeepers would like wax moths – nature’s
little demolition experts, but you would be wrong. The caterpillars are
routinely squashed, frozen, or infected with lethal bacteria. The reason for the slaughter is simple – many beekeepers
force their bees to keep using old brood comb, often for years on end, so that
the comb is as black as tar and as thick as cardboard – and perfect for food
for wax moths!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The obvious thing to do is remove the old comb, but that’s
not so easy using standard hives. At best a diligent beekeeper would change the
brood comb every 3 years; hardly surprising there's an ongoing battle with the demolition crew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t use standard hives so most of my comb is is less than 12 months old. Clean comb means less bee disease as well as bigger bees, but there is a downside - every
spring I have dozens of old frames of comb that need cleaning, which takes
hours of work.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Of course, I could spare myself the effort and just leave
them out for the wax moths!</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-23826682228808323952015-03-03T20:46:00.000+00:002015-03-03T20:46:02.112+00:00Another host of golden daffodils?Now is a critical time for the bees - their stores of honey are low and they have run out of pollen. Without pollen they can't raise brood to replace the old bees, so the colony's survival is at stake. Hardly surprising then that on chilly dry days the bees are out when the rest of us would rather remain indoors!<br />
<br />
It's easy to see what they are foraging on by looking at the colour of the pollen collected on their back legs; grey-white means they've been on the snowdrops, bright orange the crocuses, bright yellow is mahonia, and greeny-yellow pollen is from the hellebores.<br />
<br />
Yet what is the most widely grown spring flower? The daffodil - pretty, but useless. In fact most flowers grown in the typical English garden are pretty, ... but useless, which is why this spring I'm giving further thought to how to make my garden even more insect pollinator friendly.<br />
<br />
It's not as simple as growing plants that are '<i>Perfect for Pollinators</i>'. Plants that are covered with bees in one location can be totally ignored when grown in my garden. Past 'failures' include agastache, monarda and asters. I don't know if it's the soil, or lack of moisture, or simply that the bees have better pickings elsewhere.<br />
<br />
There have been successes: eryngium, solidago, lythrum, erysium, and verbena, but I want my garden humming so I'm always trying something new. This year I'm sowing honeywort (cerinthe), sweet rocket (hesperis), and vipers bugloss (echium) and sneezeweed (helenium autumnale). With luck they will germinate and flourish and be crawling with bees and butterflies.<br />
<br />
If you want to help insect pollinators forget those pretty but useless flowers. It's a critical time for bees - so plan to get your garden buzzing.<br />
<br />
Please comment if you have any plant suggestions or success stories - either in the comment box below or using the Facebook link.Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-82491482699314759702015-02-07T15:40:00.000+00:002015-02-07T15:40:23.358+00:00If trees could walk<div class="MsoNormal">
“Christmas? That’s 10 months off. Surely there’s a quicker
way?” My bee-buddy was dismayed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We could move them all to the Chilterns,” I
suggested, “That’s well over 3 miles.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No way!” he exclaimed, “It would take days to transport all
these hives up there.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had a conundrum – how to move 13 bee-hives 100 yards from
one side of an orchard to the other. Conventional beekeeping wisdom states that
you should only move a hive 3 feet every three days, or you should move it more
than 3 miles away.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The logic is simple: In the wild bees nest in trees and
trees don’t walk. Consequently once a bee has learned where home is it always
returns to the same spot; move the ‘tree’ and the bees are totally lost.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortunately these ‘rules’ are baloney. I convinced myself of
this a few summers ago when I moved my hives 10 yards. If I had followed the
book the move would have taken a month. Instead I waited until dusk when the
bees were all home and then moved the hives to their new location, taking care
to pile a load of branches in front of the entrances before leaving.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The following morning the bees were confused by the mayhem outside their hives so they spent time examining what had
happened. In the process they quickly learned the new position of their hive before
going off to forage.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In winter time the situation is even easier. During cold snaps
the bees remain huddled together in the hive and they soon forget their
bearings, so when it warms up they have to spend time re-learning their
location.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Rather than taking 10 months to move the hives 100 yards we
simply loaded them up on a tractor and trailer and took them off to the new apiary. The weather forecast suggested it would be
cold for several days, so most of the bees would forget about their old
location. Even so,we decided to leave some old crates leaning against the hive entrances to confuse the bees, just in case there were any smart alecs in residence.</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some beekeepers absolutely refuse to believe you can do
this. But the logic is simple: Trees do occasionally ‘walk’ – they fall over!</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-18669871853446601842015-01-03T16:15:00.000+00:002015-01-03T16:15:21.792+00:00Honey, get back..<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>I'm all right Jack keep your paws off of my stack!</i><br />
<br />
There’s quite a stack of honey in the hives right now,
thanks to a long warm autumn. Most of it is ivy honey which doesn’t taste very nice
and has crystallised in the comb. But the bees like it, so they guard it jealously
because it’s their only source of food for next 3 months.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem is that as it gets colder the bees huddle closer
together to keep warm, so they are not so vigilant. Mice know this!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So they creep into the hive and dine on the honey and wax
and any dead bees lying on the hive floor. Sometimes they even move in! It
makes sense – the hive is dry and kept warm by the bees vibrating their bodies,
and the mouse is surrounded by lots of food.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The trick is to move gently so as not attract too much
attention. Sleeping helps - you don’t want to upset 8,000 bees when you are the
size of mouse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Usually beekeepers stop mice getting into their hives by
making the entrance very small – too small even for a mouse. I had done just
that in October, but the warm weather meant the bees were still very active bringing
in lots of pollen, which was then being knocked off their back legs as they
scrambled through the narrow hive entrance. So I removed the block and forgot
about it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Just before Christmas I was checking the hives when I
noticed an unusual pattern of debris underneath one. Careful inspection confirmed
my suspicions – a mouse was getting in because I’d left the entrance block off. Inserting the block is simple enough, but what if the mouse
was still inside the hive? I needed to be sure it was mouse-free. There was one
way to be certain – kick the hive!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, not so much a kick as a good bump on the ground to
make the bees angry and startle any mouse. The culprit would then sprint out of
the hive with a dozen or so bees on its tail.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the event no mouse appeared. I wasn’t surprised. Day time
temperatures had been relatively high and the bees were actively guarding
their honey. It was only at night when the temperatures dropped and the bees
were in a huddle that the mouse slipped in ....</div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-23530819552077435602014-12-02T11:24:00.000+00:002014-12-11T12:31:58.584+00:00Bees support BKIP <div class="MsoNormal">
My bees have decided to vote BKIP in next year’s election.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was astonished, “Surely you‘re not worried about
over-population. Aren't honey bees in decline?”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a hollow laugh from inside the hive, “That’s just
propaganda put out by the eco-warriors and bee-huggers!”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It turns out my bees were right. UK honey bee colonies
fell steadily from 1957 to 2005 as beekeeping declined in popularity, but since
2007 the number of beekeepers has more than doubled from 11,000 to 24,000 today. More beekeepers mean more hives, which means more honey bees.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was still sceptical, “What about all those headlines we read
about bees dying out?” I asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“They’re muddling up honey bees and bumblebees,” explained a
worker. “And they are confusing the position elsewhere with the situation in England,” added another.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So it's bumblebees, butterflies and other insects that are in
decline. It’s hardly surprising. Since the Second World War we have lost over
95% of our wild flower meadows.<sup> </sup>Hedgerows have been ripped out and
vast tracts of our countryside are now barren monoculture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But it still didn't explain
why my bees are planning to vote BKIP.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It’s the housing,” said one.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What, not enough housing?” I queried.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“No, too much!” came the exasperated reply.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
All over the Thames Valley gardens are being lost due to
in-fill development. Food is becoming scarcer for the honey bees at a time when
the population of has doubled. Competition with other pollinators is tough so
during the summer months the bees have to fly even greater distances to find food.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We don’t need more honey bees – we need more flowers,” was
the unanimous view.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Yes, but they have to be the right type of flowers. Seventy-five
percent of garden flowers are either useless or of little use to pollinators. What we need are insect friendly flowers that can feed all sorts of insects
including butterflies, hover flies, bumblebees and honey bees.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I realised my bees weren’t being ‘bee-ist’; they simply wanted
to help all pollinators. It got me wondering. “What does BKIP stand for?” I asked.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“<b>B</b>e <b>K</b>ind to <b>I</b>nsect <b>P</b>ollinators!” they
roared in unison.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Someone who is being kind to pollinators is James Headington
of Paley Street Farm near Maidenhead. Take a look at this video clip of
his field margins this summer.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/ja2fu68ilFU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You could do something similar. Please support the National
Pollinator Strategy by planting insect friendly plants in your gardens, window
boxes and school fields.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Resources:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The RHS provide a list of plants perfect for
pollinators:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/wildlife/encourage-wildlife-to-your-garden/plants-for-pollinators">https://www.rhs.org.uk/science/conservation-biodiversity/wildlife/encourage-wildlife-to-your-garden/plants-for-pollinators</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Natural England also explains how to make a wild flower
meadow in your garden in this document:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/98029">http://publications.naturalengland.org.uk/file/98029</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You can find out more about the National Pollinator Strategy
here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pollinator-strategy-for-bees-and-other-pollinators-in-england">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-pollinator-strategy-for-bees-and-other-pollinators-in-england</a></div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-54618228108986765562014-10-21T20:15:00.000+01:002014-10-30T20:29:38.929+00:00The workers and the shirkers<div class="MsoNormal">
Busy bees – they work all day long for the good of the hive.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s hardly surprising that sociologists have long considered
honey bee colonies to be a perfect example of collectivism; comrades living in a
higher phase of a communist society, in which Marx would expect ‘<i>From
each according to her ability, to each according to her needs.’ </i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But there’s a problem with this analogy because whenever I
open up my hives it seems to me that only half the bees are actually working.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now admittedly they could be having a tea break, but I’m
beginning to suspect there is more than a grain of truth in the old joke about communist
economics: They pretend to pay us, we
pretend to work!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For sure worker bees don’t earn much (see <a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.com/2013/03/workers-wages.html" target="_blank">Worker’s Wages</a>)
but could it really be that some socialist workers are really lazy shirkers? The
answer seems to be.... yes!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Scientists attached radio-frequency identification tags to
hundreds of individual honey bees and tracked their activity for several weeks
to discover that over half of all the nectar and honey bought into the hive came
from just 20% of the foraging work force. It seems the bees know that hard work
kills, so most of them opt for a life of indolence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It makes sense. The hard working bees provide more than
enough food for the colonies needs so the shirkers only pull their weight if
they have to.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On reflection it seems that bees provide a pretty good model
of socialism.....<br />
<br />
I've embedded a video clip about the research below:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/CWsQlJu31mM?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-63351013496880904742014-09-17T12:53:00.000+01:002014-09-17T12:53:27.411+01:00WannabeesEven in a strong healthy hive there are wannabe queens. These pretenders to the throne are kept in check by loyal workers and a chemical cosh in the form of pheromones released by the queen. Revolution and anarchy are kept at bay..... until the queen dies.<br />
<br />
Usually the colony quickly raises a new queen, but sometimes the anarchists get the upper hand. It doesn't end well because, put simply, the wannabes lack breeding.<br />
<br />
Queens are carefully cultivated and well bred. As larvae they receive a superior diet of royal jelly and live in spacious queen cells. When they come of age they earn their right to the 'throne' by killing any challengers. Once secure in their position they mate with only the best suitors.<br />
<br />
Pretenders on the other hand lack class. They were fed standard worker's rations so they are scrawny with under-developed ovaries. They never fought for anything nor have they ever loved, but they still wannabe queen! Beekeepers show them no deference and disparagingly refer to them as 'laying workers'.<br />
<br />
The problem with laying workers is that their eggs aren't fertilised which means they can only create male bees. Moreover, they have no sense of order so they lay eggs in a random fashion, often 2 or 3 to a cell. Most larvae perish but those that survive develop into stunted drones. It's a disaster for the colony which will die out within a month or so.<br />
<br />
The obvious thing to do is introduce a new queen, but the pretenders, having tasted power, won't give it up, so gang-up together to kill her.<br />
<br />
Today I found one of my colonies had laying workers. There was only one thing to do. I shook all the bees out onto the grass in front of a strong healthy hive. The workers will probably be accepted by the strong colony without too much of a fight, but the pretenders will be refused entry and will crawl off to die.<br />
<br />
There have been several pretenders to the Scottish throne, and all have failed. But I suspect whatever the outcome of tomorrow's referendum on independence, Alex will be the new 'King' of Scotland.<br />
<br />
He has a tough act to follow; the 'Last King of Scotland' was Idi Amin!Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-41410443797950749802014-08-25T15:01:00.001+01:002014-08-25T15:01:55.272+01:00Too fat to fly?I should have known something was up last week; there were no eggs in one of the hives - so either the queen was dead, or she had stopped laying.<br />
<br />
I assumed she'd stopped laying. It was the convenient option - I didn't want to hunt through the colony to find the queen because it was hot and the bees were irritable, and anyway I had a simple explanation; the hive reeks!<br />
<br />
The pong was coming from a thymol and eucalyptus treatment I had used to kill varroa mites (see <a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.com/2012/12/noah-varroa.html" target="_blank">Noah the varroa</a>). It's one of the few 'organic' treatments against varroa and is surprisingly effective, but it stinks of Vick's VapoRub. The bees hate it so much that they would rather sit on the outside of the hive than put up with the stench within.<br />
<br />
No wonder then that the queen stops laying, and a quick check on the internet confirmed my suspicions. As events proved, I was right.... but for the wrong reason, as I found out yesterday lunch time when I suddenly noticed a lot of bees flying around the garden.<br />
<br />
There were hundreds circling around; far too many for the play flights of young bees (see <a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.com/2013/04/biggles-learns-to-fly.html" target="_blank">Biggles learns to fly</a>). It looked like they were swarming which left me astonished because it's very late in the year for swarms. For a moment I wondered whether the bees had finally had enough of the 'VapoRub' and simple absconded!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMkuq9kpBCAnws0Ka0_S0rh6dnqHno_ZdbV1Gy4U7dWbIdTJ_gSnB4akmPsgYO0E9Jq9yY8knrYKSFcAzAQWBCkbWiHz9pgGLWS_n3_ciHE7D8MZPPuZvOnTI69aWoM1Z6GpU-1XlRSA/s1600/DSC04049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMkuq9kpBCAnws0Ka0_S0rh6dnqHno_ZdbV1Gy4U7dWbIdTJ_gSnB4akmPsgYO0E9Jq9yY8knrYKSFcAzAQWBCkbWiHz9pgGLWS_n3_ciHE7D8MZPPuZvOnTI69aWoM1Z6GpU-1XlRSA/s1600/DSC04049.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>I watched expecting them to disappear over the horizon but instead within 10 minutes they had settled on a nearby fence. As you can see, it's a small swarm and within the hour it was safely housed in a little 'nuc' box.<br />
<br />
I doubted they would stay and sure enough within two hours the sky was once again full of bees, only this time they settled in a nearby tree, fifteen feet above the ground.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg543S_Fpm-AnbbCk7sGFnDj_8QmDeOSqxr6Rq1yJNBZhnR44LiXjjgfwDx4ZwCB5NSivfVeJsNHgfJOshZXzvFq75NidNT_l-O90L5gJd0BDFKEVSU7RWsQAM4O-iIB16tDgUmJ6EPG8U/s1600/DSC04052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg543S_Fpm-AnbbCk7sGFnDj_8QmDeOSqxr6Rq1yJNBZhnR44LiXjjgfwDx4ZwCB5NSivfVeJsNHgfJOshZXzvFq75NidNT_l-O90L5gJd0BDFKEVSU7RWsQAM4O-iIB16tDgUmJ6EPG8U/s1600/DSC04052.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queuing to get back in the 'nuc'</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
"Blow it!" I said, "I'm not clambering up a ladder to re-home them so that they can just fly off again. It's going to rain tomorrow so getting cold and wet should teach them a lesson."<br />
<br />
I think they heard me because within half an hour they had returned to the 'nuc' box and were lining up to get back inside. It was a good decision because it's been raining all day!<br />
<br />
<br />
If the queen starts laying again they'll remain in the box, but why did she stop laying in the first place?<br />
<br />
Well it wasn't the 'VapoRub'. Instead it was a strict diet that the bees had put the queen on so that she could lose weight and be able to fly.<br />
<br />
I wonder whether Michael O'Leary has contemplated a similar strategy for those wanting fly Ryanair?Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-51890822279024164172014-08-02T17:53:00.000+01:002014-08-04T17:35:31.572+01:00Show me the honey!This year's summer honey is good - really good.<br />
<br />
I knew it was going to be particularly tasty when I saw what the bees were foraging on: White clover - which gives the honey a wonderful floral aroma; lime blossom - which provides a hint of mint; and small quantities of lavender, oregano, verbena, veronica and countless other flowers, including knapweed.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QFcAp5qBd4gicHnlJAPNtN7sVwf8uw0bAm7E7O1OpBs_OU-EZSD9aSlLMZOE6jmvTN9cPbUrio-zy3Mh5Kx3BDsyS64ojo7QderEx9tSZD8BpvETP8wjjL5SxEp_Qm1qYA4ENL5HbaQ/s1600/DSC04037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1QFcAp5qBd4gicHnlJAPNtN7sVwf8uw0bAm7E7O1OpBs_OU-EZSD9aSlLMZOE6jmvTN9cPbUrio-zy3Mh5Kx3BDsyS64ojo7QderEx9tSZD8BpvETP8wjjL5SxEp_Qm1qYA4ENL5HbaQ/s1600/DSC04037.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey fresh from the comb</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Knapweed makes a dark-coloured honey which has a taste reminiscent liquorice, and when first saw the honey in the honey buckets I was concerned it would taste like a well-known brand from Bassett's!<br />
<br />
However, the hay in Stag Meadow was cut earlier than normal this year, just as the knapweed was in flower. Besides killing a thousand or more foraging bees with the grass-cutters, the loss of forage resulted in a smaller honey crop.<br />
<br />
But what was lost in quantity has been made up for in quality because there is just enough knapweed in the honey to give it a rich golden colour with a nuance of liquorice, but not enough to detract from the other flavours.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM8Eba2WzuI_Hko8Yf2wY23lYEPHl9BzEFYE4Ge6xeZ-MHOcunwid_q2zD7x2nOFZhPUdamqthnxeSijz84CjWm3l96EGJkyAkK2INJs-WfTfS3kNOEityceZ6xVxuD1-qzRSkqVxmaI/s1600/DSC04039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnM8Eba2WzuI_Hko8Yf2wY23lYEPHl9BzEFYE4Ge6xeZ-MHOcunwid_q2zD7x2nOFZhPUdamqthnxeSijz84CjWm3l96EGJkyAkK2INJs-WfTfS3kNOEityceZ6xVxuD1-qzRSkqVxmaI/s1600/DSC04039.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Special Reserve Honey</td></tr>
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Better still, there's no bitter after-taste which seemed to mar much of the local honey last year. This year's crop looks good, and tastes even better.<br />
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Talking of Tastes - I'll suggest to Karen that she keeps this honey as a 'Special Reserve' for those who really appreciate great local food.<br />
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Not that the less discerning should worry; it's been a good year for the bees and I'm sure there will be plenty of other local honey available - just not as good as mine!<br />
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Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-2606520688221606542014-06-28T16:12:00.000+01:002014-06-28T16:12:08.201+01:00Housing the homelessBees take a very pragmatic approach to housing the younger generation; Mum simply moves out leaving a perfectly good home for the kids to raise a family.<br />
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This makes sense. The youngsters are strong and virile, so providing a home in a desirable location helps ensure survival of the next generation. But it does leave Mum with a problem - she finds herself homeless.<br />
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Not that she's on her own. Usually when she leaves the hive the old queen takes about 10,000 workers with her in a swarm. Initially the swarm rests somewhere before sending out scout bees to find new lodgings. However, this lack of forward planning means that the bees can be homeless for days. Sometimes they die, especially if they are a small swarm, but mostly they find new accommodation in someone's house or garden shed, which is when the trouble really starts.<br />
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If they're lucky a beekeeper will coax the bees out of their newly found cavity and into a hive, but often times swarms are a nuisance and are destroyed by pest control companies.<br />
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So you will understand the sense of urgency we had earlier this week when we went to collect a swarm that had settled on an old apple tree.<br />
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The swarm had arrived that afternoon, but by the time we got there it was raining and getting dark. In the gloaming we could make out the bees on the trunk of the tree ... and on a branch .... and on another branch ... and on another branch. This swarm was huge; probably 30,000 bees!<br />
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Catching 30,000 bees in the pouring rain at dusk is not easy, but two hours later we had most of them inside a small box (called a nuc), with a thousand still queuing to get in. The nuc was evidently too small, but by carefully wrapping the box and remaining bees in a sheet we managed to safely get them into the car.<br />
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These bees really needed a full size hive, but because there have been so many swarms this year there is no spare kit available, which is causing a housing crisis. With a bit of juggling the bees could be re-homed in a day or two, but in the meantime there was a risk they might decide to decamp to somewhere better.<br />
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My worst fears were confirmed that evening - the nuc box was empty!<br />
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I was gutted - until I noticed that the hive next door was over-flowing with bees.<br />
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It seems the swarm had simply decided to squat in their neighbour's hive, and the incumbents accepted them willingly rather than leave them homeless.<br />
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I think we could learn something from bees. What do you think?Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-35007145245650028942014-05-30T10:51:00.000+01:002014-05-30T10:51:59.043+01:00In praise of pantsUnlike the Duchess of Cambridge, beekeepers should never go commando. Let me explain why.<br />
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My bees are fairly placid, but some bees can be really nasty as I was reminded yesterday. I was helping my bee-buddy with his hives. It had rained for the last week and we expected the bees would be tetchy, especially as the day before he had removed some honey. Tetchy is an understatement; before we got within 20 yards of the apiary we were being attacked.<br />
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'We'll start with the feisty hive first,' he suggested. On reflection this was not the smartest strategy, but I was well protected with my veil and gloves.....or so I thought.<br />
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When bees are annoyed they buzz around your face trying to ward you off, and when they are angry they 'ping' off the veil because they fly so hard at you, but when bees go ballistic.... they burrow! They crawl all over you looking for any gap in your armour and if one manages to sting it releases pheromones that direct the other bees to your weak point.<br />
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'Ouch!' One managed to get me on the back of the neck delivering it's sting right through the bee suit. She was lucky, the material must have been close to my skin for a moment and she seized her chance, but such a long shot did no real harm.<br />
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More worrying were the bees on my legs. They'd worked out that my trousers had worn a bit thin on the thighs. Then some discovered the trousers had pockets and went burrowing, whilst others found the gap between my legs and Wellington boots and headed down to my feet, intent ascending my trousers on the inside.<br />
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I beat a retreat, initially 50 yards, but they were still going for me so I carried on walking. At 200 yards the flying bees finally left me, but I still had to deal with the burrowers!<br />
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I gingerly emptied my pockets - bees! Then my boots - more bees! Then off came the veil - no bees thankfully, .... but I could feel something tickling my leg. I dropped my trousers. I'm not sure who was more embarrassed, me or the bee, but she gave up all notion of further attack and flew away - laughing, I suspect.<br />
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I had 6 stings on one leg and 4 on the other, some perilously close to .... well let's just say, 'Thank goodness for pants!'<br />
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My bee-buddy toughed it out with no stings. I was astonished.<br />
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'Do your trousers have pockets?' I asked.<br />
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'No,' he replied smugly.<br />
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Nevertheless I expressed surprise that he hadn't been stung through his trousers, as I had.<br />
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He smiled. 'I'm wearing two pairs,' he explained.<br />
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I didn't ask if he was dressed 'comme la duchesse'.<br />
<br />Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-43946417687064730072014-05-18T20:06:00.000+01:002014-05-18T20:07:28.755+01:00Tell them about the honey, mummy!You've got to be quick with rape honey - as soon as the flowers start to fade the honey has to be off the hive and into the extractor, otherwise it sets rock solid in the comb.<br />
I wasn't quick ........ I went on holiday instead and after I got back it rained and rained. So when I finally got into the hive earlier this week I wasn't sure whether I would need a honey extractor or a pneumatic drill!<br />
Initial signs were encouraging - I couldn't lift the top box because of the weight of honey. Instead I had to resort to removing the frames two at a time and carrying them into the house, having first carefully brushed off the bees. Twenty frames later and all the honey was safely inside and a number of rather angry bees were buzzing around outside.<br />
As I started to uncap the honey comb with a knife it became immediately obvious that some of the honey had already crystallised, which meant extraction was going to be tricky: Spin the extractor too quickly and the honeycomb would fly apart; spin it too slowly and the liquid honey would stubbornly remain in the comb.<br />
Three hours later I had one smashed comb and about 10 lb of honey remaining firmly set in the frames. But best of all I had 40 of these:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPIw94spxGH0BBY7LSn3jYqsx-BA7oeJH3j1i3ddkTXK6lCBC6SfouefSprMOG1NLNANHulEDVaGklDoC98tN_fJ_1F7gcrTmrftUL9ETS8IvOAUuqhpwDhyM0bGbhUQHt1LPElyB4ec/s1600/DSC03933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSPIw94spxGH0BBY7LSn3jYqsx-BA7oeJH3j1i3ddkTXK6lCBC6SfouefSprMOG1NLNANHulEDVaGklDoC98tN_fJ_1F7gcrTmrftUL9ETS8IvOAUuqhpwDhyM0bGbhUQHt1LPElyB4ec/s1600/DSC03933.JPG" height="200" width="161" /></a></div>
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40lb of spring honey off one hive is a respectable result, but as you can see, it has already set in the jar just 4 days after extraction.<br />
There's one consolation - at least the Honey Monster won't be able to get his paws into it!<br />
<br />Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-84946965556223016552014-05-01T20:38:00.000+01:002014-05-01T20:46:55.362+01:00A foxy taleFoxes eat bees.<br />
Well they eat bumble bees for sure because I watched an emaciated old fox wandering around the flower beds one afternoon last summer snapping at them, so you can imagine my consternation at seeing a young vixen sniffing around the hives early one morning this week.<br />
I wasn't too concerned about the large hive - it's over five foot high and full of honey, there's no way a fox could topple it. But a couple of weeks ago I created a little colony of bees which is housed in a small box, and sure enough, the fox went over to it, then back on to it's hind legs to reach up to the hive and poked it's nose in the entrance hole.<br />
"Oh no!" I thought, "she's going to tip it over...."<br />
Both the fox and I assumed that because the bees weren't flying at that early hour, they must be sound asleep. Not so - the guard bees were clearly vigilant because as soon as the fox poked her nose in the entrance hole she leaped back in surprise!<br />
Was she stung on the nose? I don't think so because she didn't dance around in agony. I suspect they just gave her an angry buzz, which was enough to send her running.Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-21818102777696096772014-04-17T14:18:00.000+01:002014-04-17T14:18:31.210+01:00Fields of goldWith prices for oil seed rape currently at £330 per ton most farmers might not agree that this is a field of gold, but the owner who lives in the castle in the background seems to be doing all right!<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8nfISy3qGpB4qOQp_7KY5zxFvWyYYNAPMWkJVqWFQi84xNistSEEgAFKOIgc1gtgVcLFFiNkS6hVgP2BDHOZFzbsRra7O_SJwz7KY4Ud2WMMAshxtwboEiofENKB4468Zf6SoOd5ga0/s1600/Fields+of+gold.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8nfISy3qGpB4qOQp_7KY5zxFvWyYYNAPMWkJVqWFQi84xNistSEEgAFKOIgc1gtgVcLFFiNkS6hVgP2BDHOZFzbsRra7O_SJwz7KY4Ud2WMMAshxtwboEiofENKB4468Zf6SoOd5ga0/s1600/Fields+of+gold.JPG" height="240" title="Fields of gold" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fields of gold in Windsor Great Park</td></tr>
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For sure, oilseed rape is 'gold' for my bees because over the last week or so they have been frantically working this field. Already one 'super' has been filled with about 30 lb of honey and they are starting to fill a second box. What a turn around compared to last year (see <a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.co.uk/2013_05_01_archive.html" target="_blank">Oh crapus - there's no B. napus</a>!).</div>
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Better still, the field in the foreground contains field beans which should start to flower in the about a month, just as the rape is fading and before the wild flowers in Stag Meadow come into bloom. It should be a good year provided the weather holds.</div>
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However, there's a Sting in the 'tale' - your man was singing about barley!</div>
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Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5501215684431702810.post-44134089567273616462014-03-28T15:01:00.000+00:002014-03-28T15:01:32.190+00:00When the south wind doth blow..We're off!<br />
The wind switched from a cold north easterly to a warm southerly breeze at 1.00 pm today and out came the sun .... and the bees; hundreds of them!<br />
They had been more or less hive-bound except for the occasional 'comfort' flight. Even so, I knew from a pile of wax cappings underneath the hive that lots of new bees had emerged over the the last 7-10 days and they would be curious to experience the outside world; today they had their chance.<br />
Initially most of the youngsters were engaged in short play flights (see <a href="http://windsorhoney.blogspot.com/2013/04/biggles-learns-to-fly.html" target="_blank">Biggles learns to fly</a>) which ended with them resting on the hive roof, panting to get their breath back. But within an hour they could be seen 'foraging' on various flowers around the hive such as forget-me-not, grape hyacinth, pierus, rosemary and heather. I say 'foraging' because it was the half hearted effort of a novice that has yet to learn her trade. That's going to change over the next 24 hours because I can see the rape fields in the distance are turning yellow by the day. It's going to stay warm so by this time tomorrow a more senior forager will have found that rape and all those youngsters will get their flying directions. Then the nectar gathering will start in earnest.<br />
It's time to put another box on the hive and with luck and good weather in 2 weeks time it will be loaded with of honey.Windsor Honeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13672206474054454937noreply@blogger.com0