Potential out apiary

Exciting news! P got an email yesterday from Christchurch Countryside Officer to say that the farm up the road may have a site suitable for a few hives. It is a little wooded area. Hope to go to look at it this week - water may be an issue and livestock!

Tips

If you use drone foundation in the supers you get less wax and more honey - it can be a bit more fragile though.

Put a super frame in the brood box and the workers will build comb underneath to fill the space. This is nearly always drone comb and when full of ripe drone larvae, slice it off. It is likely to contain large numbers of Varroa mites and so is a method of controling their number. Freeze for 48 hrs what you remove and then put out for the birds!

Beekeeping Day Course

What a great day!

The was billed as a 'Taster" day and was excellent. There were about 30 people there.

The first hour was a talk about bees and their life cycle etc. I knew most of it but the presenter was very good and the powerpoint was good. We broke for coffee and there were 2 displays to look at: One from Thornes showing some of their products, the other was of a virtual hive.

We then broke into 4 groups, each with an experienced beekeeper. We could ask any questions we liked and I learned a lot from someone who has been working with bees for over 50 years!

After lunch we went off to the apiary in West Moors. We got to put on bee suits and gloves and observe a hive inspection, hold frames etc. We then had a lesson on frame making and were told about honey extraction.

David, the chairman, was having a garden open day at his house the following day so I took Pauline along to see how hives can work in a garden. We could see their flight path and how the plants and fence near the 3 hives drove them up before they flew off. The reverse process occurred as they returned and there were very few bees in the main garden. I think Pauline realised how little they interfered with the rest of the garden and how the flight path could be directed away from houses and neighbours' gardens.

So, now need to decide where they could go in our garden and if this year is practical to start. It is getting a bit late in the year to give enough time for the colony to build up sufficiently to get through the winter. I may need to spend this year shadowing a beekeeper and visiting the apiary to get more knowledge and experience (and equipment!) with a view to getting bees next Spring. The other factor is my impending shoulder surgery which would prevent me from doing hive inspections for a few weeks. Mmm... disappointed really but I want to do it well and properly and my original plan was to start next year and use this year to learn.

I may get some hives this year - second hand if some good ones come up at the right price.

Latest books read

Just finished reading 'Keeping Bees' by Paul Peacock and 'Beekeeping - self sufficiency' by Joanna Ryde: good background and useful as an introduction to the subject. Now need to start reading more detailed reference books.

Currently reading 'Practical Beekeeping' by Clive De Bruyn (Poole library).

Steve and Dave O have offered to have  hives in their gardens (Dave used to keep them at Twynham when he was at school). Need to have a look and check if the neighbours are happy!

Hygiene & Honey

Notes from NFBKA meeting on 18th March 2010 given by lecturer from Brockenhurst College

CONTAMINATION

• Biological - very low risk in honey
• Physical - foreign objects (e.g. bees!)
• Chemical - cleaning products, paint
• (Allergens - peanut products etc.)

FOOD POISONING

• 90% is bacterial:

Salmonella - 20,000 types

Clostridium - in soil - survives heat - autoclave/pressure cook to kill

Staphylococcus - e.g. MRSA

Bacillus Cereus - found in rice

Campylobacter

Listeria

Typhoid

E.Coli

• Moulds
• Chemicals - copper, aluminium, mercury - make sure you only use cleaning chemicals before or after honey preparation - not DURING.

PREVENTING FOOD POISONING

• Store food out of "danger zone" - 5 - 60 C
• Keep high risk food at room temperature for the shortest time
• Preserve - pickling, smoking, curing, vacuum packing, irradiation
• Store dry foods correctly
• Thorough cooking - at least 70 C for 2 minutes
• Heat processing
• Exclude human carriers

PROTECTING FOOD FROM CONTAMINATION

• cover food
• avoid handling
• separate raw and cooked food
• good housekeeping
• practice personal hygiene
• careful refuse disposal - black bin bags are covered in rat repellant
• eliminate pests

PERSONAL HYGIENE

• Jewellery - remove
• Clothing - wear a clean apron
• Cuts and sores - blue, waterproof plaster regularly changed
• Hand washing

Be sure to read the Honey Regulations