Bees for development
JOURNAL
No 120 September 2016
• SWARMING MAKES BEES HEALTHIER • BEES AT SCHOOL • BEESWAX • BEE MEETINGS
The Journal for sustainable beekeeping 1
Bees for Development Journal 120
September 2016
Dear friends
Issue 120: Sept 2016 In this issue
page
Dear friends.................................. 2 Swarming makes bees healthier....................................... 3 8th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress...................................... 4 Apimondia ApiBio Organic Beekeeping Symposium............... 6 Bees make beeswax..................... 7 ApiExpo-Africa............................10 Uganda 7th National Honey Week.................................11 Beekeeping helps young people with social and learning difficulties......................12 Bookshelf.....................................14 Bees for development Journal Produced quarterly and sent to readers in over 130 countries Editor: Nicola Bradbear PhD Co-ordinator: Helen Jackson BSc Subscriptions cost £26 per year - see page 15 for ways to pay
Well planned international beekeeping events provide a boost for the apiculture sector of the host nation – this is because beekeeping is often rather low down political agendas, and an international meeting brings in visitors and showcases the national industry. Non-beekeepers are always surprised to experience the great interest and curiosity of visiting beekeepers who never tire of looking at other people’s bees, honey and apicultural set-ups. Of course it is impossible for most beekeepers to travel to these event, and in this magazine we aim to bring you at least some of the interest and flavour of these international meetings. Also in this edition is more information from Professor Tom Seeley and Dr Wolfgang Ritter about swarming – explaining why swarming bees are healthy bees – you read it here first! Nicola Bradbear Director, Bees for Development
TECA FAO discussions teca.fao.org 15 October to 15 November 2016
Let’s give a toast to tropical honey Looking at national standards for tropical honey. Moderated by Professor Cleo Cervancia, President of Apimondia Regional Commission for Asia. 12 December 2016 to 12 January 2017
Adulterated honey Adulterated honey is one of the greatest problems facing the beekeeping sector and this debate will be moderated by Etienne Bruneau, President of Apimondia Scientific Commission Beekeeping Technology and Quality. These discussions are at beekeeping Exchange Group at www.teca.fao.org
© Bees for Development
September is the favoured month for bee conferences and meetings, because it comes early in the beekeeping season for people in the southern hemisphere, and at the end of season for many beekeepers in northern climes. So for example, the APIMONDIA International Beekeepers Congress is held in September every second year – with the next Congress in Turkey in late September 2017. This means that many events are scheduled to take place in the alternate year, and this month has been a full one for international bee meetings. In the Caribbean has been the Eighth Caribbean Congress, in South America the APIMONDIA ApiBio Symposium on Organic Beekeeping, in Africa, Uganda Honey Week (now becoming a major event for Africa) as well at the ApiTrade Africa event in Rwanda. So if you are planning a bee event for 2017 or 2018 – check our website calendar and this Journal to be sure of unique dates!
Readers in developing countries may apply for a sponsored subscription. Apply online or use the form on page 16. Bees for Development Works to assist beekeepers in developing countries. Bees for Development Trust gratefully acknowledge Charles Hayward Foundation, The Daylesford Foundation, Eva Crane Trust, EH Thorne Ltd, The Waterloo Foundation, and the many groups and individuals who support our work. Copyright You are welcome to translate and/or reproduce items appearing in Bees for development Journal (BfdJ) as part of our Information Service. Permission is given on the understanding that BfdJ and author(s) are acknowledged, Bfd contact details are provided in full, and you send us a copy of the item or the website address where it is used.
Bees for development 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Telephone: +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org
www.beesfordevelopment.org 2
Cover picture John Gates and Gladstone Solomon. display the Flow Hive at the 8th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress, Tobago in September 2016.
Swarming makes bees healthier!
September 2016
Photo: Ute Schneider-Ritter
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Professor Tom Seeley spoke at a Symposium organised by the independent NGO Mellifera e.V., at Fischermühle in Germany in August 2016. by Wolfgang Ritter
With heart and commitment, the Mellifera e.V. team had planned the Symposium on the theme of Swarm intelligence, forest bees and Varroa tolerance giving German and French beekeepers many new ideas about the world of bees. The well-known American bee expert Professor Tom Seeley is famous not only for being a brilliant scientist and author, but also for his thrilling lectures. His appearance with “Mellifera” was somehow similar to a pop star. It is not only the young audience that is delighted when he dares to do away with old traditions and thinking. Also highly experienced beekeepers are challenged to disagree with his words, because Seeley continues to counter their repeatedly-parroted expert knowledge - with the manifold results from his sound, scientific experiments. A key insight for participants at these three days was that everything progresses – including knowledge about bees and beekeeping! Perhaps eventually even old stagers will have to get accustomed to new ideas. It is obvious that in our local beekeeping custom, swarming ranks at the top of the list of no-go things: it is considered by conventional beekeepers to be absolutely unwelcome. Indeed, being named a “fan of swarming bees” is considered a stigma rather than meaning something positive about a beekeeper! First Tom Seeley made us familiar with the swarm and its collective
Panel discussion about the topic swarm intelligence with Prof. Dr Thomas Seeley, Dr Johannes Wirz (presenter), Thomas Radetzki and Dr Wolfgang Ritter. intelligence that enables the swarm to efficiently identify and select a new nesting place, as described in his book Honey Bee Democracy. His recent research on the advantages of swarming for bee health make us curious. Not only are the bees in the swarm healthier, but also the bees in the mother colony! It is quite logical of course: while swarming, the bee colony loses Varroa mites, and by interrupting the brood cycle, Varroa development is reduced in both the swarm and the mother colony. Keeping bees with a high density of honey bee colonies also greatly contributes to the spread of diseases. Indeed, keeping a large distance between colonies may alone decide on the life or death of a colony, and this must alert even the most convinced user of medical treatments. When moreover Tom Seeley explains that the ideal nesting place is high in a tree, one begins to wonder – how can all of this be realised in practice? A swarm catching tree, following the African example, could solve this problem. However, swarm boxes cannot just be any old hives - this would open the way for the spreading of pathogens. Proper solutions are requested, allowing everyone to see from the outside that pathogenfree hives (without combs or foundation) are being used as 3
swarm boxes. Honey bee colonies living in these swarm boxes can put an end to one of the arguments by opponents - that honey bee colonies cannot survive without us beekeepers. Finally, it has to be added that I could underline some of Tom Seeley’s statements with further details from my experience in East Africa with the native bee Apis mellifera scutellata. By following the African way to healthy bees generally practised there, which fully includes absconding and swarming, they have succeeded in keeping Varroa mite infestation at a low level. Damage only happens when people try to suppress these natural instincts. Therefore, the challenge now is to protect the African beekeepers from wrong influences and ‘consultants’. In industrialised countries, on the other hand, we have to change our thinking, as proposed already in my recent articles in Bees for Development Journal. We will enlarge upon this topic and the African way in future editions. By his exact research and his often ingeniously simple test designs, Tom Seeley has not only confirmed the ideas of some mentors but he has helped also to reduce the old prejudices and to break new ground. Dr Wolfgang Ritter ritter@bienengesundheit.de
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8th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress, Tobago September 2016 The eighth Caribbean Congress was the most successful to date, with 140 delegates from 14 Caribbean nations. They met for five days in Tobago in September, and found plenty to discuss. Gladstone Solomon is a Tobago beekeeper who twenty years ago, attended an Apimondia Congress in Switzerland. So impressed was he by the learning experience, that it motivated him to initiate this series of Congresses. They provide the only regional bee meeting for Caribbean beekeepers, and there is clearly a need for this type of event. The Congress was hosted by ACBO, the Association of Caribbean Beekeepers Organisations, together with the Tobago House of Assembly, and made possible with support from a range of donors – their names are shown in the Congress banner (below).
Gladstone Solomon, President of the Association of Caribbean Beekeepers Organisations (ACBO)
(left) Trinidad & Tobago’s Minister for Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, the Honourable Clarence Rambharat addressed the Congress concerning support for the apiculture sector, and in particular honey trade – currently the nation does not permit honey importation. (right) Professor David de Jong from University of São Paulo lectured on new health risks for honey bees in the Americas, and the effect of nutrition on honey bee health
Photos: Bees for Development
Nicola Bradbear’s participation was sponsored by Vita (Europe) Ltd.
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Janet Fraser from Guyana – a keen supporter of Bees for Development
(above) Clive de Bruyn discusses a beekeeping topic with Mr Richard Matthias from Mille Fleurs Honey Producers Cooperative, St Lucia. John Gates (left) has tested the Flow Hive (inset, right) in Canada, and described his favourable experience.
Congress delegates had plenty of opportunity to discuss hot topics surrounding honey trade and standards. 5
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Apimondia ApiBio Organic Beekeeping Symposium Santiago del Estero – Argentina September 2016 This was Apimondia’s 4th Symposium on Organic Beekeeping, and this time held in Argentina. The event consisted of a three day Course on organic honey production, a course on honey quality, and the Symposium with presentation of papers with international speakers. Argentina’s beekeepers harvest 65,000 – 70,000 metric tons of honey, the majority of which is exported. In recent years Argentina’s honey price has declined as volumes of white and light amber honey have appeared on the world market. In recent year Argentina’s honey export to the USA has declined, while export to the European market has increased.
The 5th ApiBio Symposium is planned to take place in Germany in 2018.
The delegation of beekeepers from Peru
Wayra staff discuss their honey trade
Wayra brand organic and fair-trade-certified honey. Wayra market two varieties of honey, multifloral, and the monofloral Atamisqui Capparis atamisque, the only monofloral honey exported from Argentina, in this case to Italy. 6
The Symposium was attended by 300 delegates, mainly from central and south America
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Bees make beeswax
Young worker bees secrete wax from their eight abdominal wax glands, and can produce eight scales of wax every 12 hours. The size of the wax glands depends on the age of the worker bee: they are at their largest when the bee is 12-18 days old. Older worker bees can recover their ability to produce wax if the colony needs it. About one million wax scales are needed to make one kilogram of wax – the amount needed for a small nest. Bees chew the wax, mixing it with salivary secretions, and when the wax is the right consistency, they use it for comb construction or to seal honey cells. Bees are stimulated to produce wax when there is a surplus of honey to be stored and a lack of honeycomb in which to store it. About eight kilograms of honey are consumed by bees to produce one kilogram of wax. Newly produced wax is clear white, but after manipulation by the bees it soon turns pale yellow, as the wax takes up coloured compounds from pollen and propolis. If the wax is used only for honey storage it will retain its light colour. The presence of pollen, propolis and other substances cause it to darken. Brood comb darkens with use because of the gradual build-up of the larval cocoons spun inside the cells during pupation.
Photos: Bees for Development unless otherwise credited
Bees build their comb, the physical structure of their nest, from beeswax. Beeswax is produced by all species of honey bees, with each species having slightly different physical properties. In this Factsheet we are describing beeswax from Apis mellifera honey bees.
Beeswax provides the physical structure for the bees’ nest.
Beeswax comb construction The beeswax comb provides structure for the bees’ nest and has multiple functions. It is most obviously used for storage of honey and pollen, for egg laying and raising brood. It forms an essential component of the honey bee colony. As well as providing the physical structure of the nest, the comb has important biological functions concerning the colony’s communication, memory and immunity2. The comb may in some ways be likened to the skeleton of a mammal – it is an indispensable part of the animal that is a honey bee colony superorganism.
Bees use their materials efficiently: the shape and dimensions of the cells in beeswax comb optimise the ratio of size to strength. The cells connecting the comb to the top of the nesting place can carry more than 1,300 times their weight. However, if the temperature inside the nest exceeds 35°C, the wax will begin to soften and melt; the combs will lose strength and may collapse. Understanding the properties of beeswax comb brings understanding of the great effort that bees make to maintain nest temperature. If a hive is situated without shade, bees must expend more effort to keep the nest cool.
On the left, old beeswax comb that is darkened from the cocoons of many generations of pupating larvae. Newer comb on the right. 7
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Photo © Hampshire BKA
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Newly secreted wax scales – sometimes visible on the hive floor.
Discs of rendered beeswax, ready for trade. New wax is colourless – it becomes yellow as it takes up pigment from pollen.
Comb functions and communications
the comb is attached to a frame or wall this vibration is restricted.
Beeswax comb holds chemical memories for the bees: their family and nest odour, and the history of each cell’s use. The cuticular wax covering bees’ bodies shares compounds with the comb wax, resulting in the unique colonyspecific identity that allows guard bees to distinguish strangers. Foragers leave temporary chemical markers on the areas of comb where they dance, informing other bees about the food source they have found.
Beeswax is a very stable substance, resistant to natural oxidation and insoluble in water. It is a complex material with a characteristic odour mainly derived from the bees themselves and honey, pollen or propolis. Wax is solid at room temperature and becomes brittle below 18°C. It is soft and pliable around 35-40°C, and melts at 64.5°C.
Propolis has antibacterial and antifungal properties, and is stored around the nest walls for use when necessary, and is used to line the rim of each brood nest cell. The bees use comb to communicate between themselves. The rims of cells of cavity-nesting bees are slightly thickened, creating a network of thicker wax, mixed with propolis, resting on thin cell walls. This is easily displaced by vibrations, transmitting signals along rows of cells. The bees use this mechanism to communicate in the darkness of the nest. The comb must be kept under 35°C or the wax will deform rather than transmit. Foragers vibrate the cell rims with their legs to alert other bees to their dancing to share information about the locations of nectar and pollen sources. Vibrations travel along the comb surface to free edges which can expand and contract: where
Quality
Beeswax can be any shade of yellow, orange and red through to brown. Colour does not affect the quality of the wax, unless it is dark from over-heating, when its value is much reduced. The finest beeswax is considered to be from wax cappings (the wax seal with which bees cover ripe honeycombs) because it is pure and white. The use of bleach (sulphuric acid or hydrogen peroxide) is unnecessary and damaging to natural wax. Contamination causes the main reduction in beeswax quality, primarily from residues of drugs introduced into honey bee colonies by beekeepers. Acaricides used to control mite predators are lipophilic and, because they are soluble in beeswax, they accumulate in it. Acaricide concentration in wax increases with the number of applications, but decreases very slowly after use has stopped, with a half-life of five years3. 8
Other chemicals, such as paradichlorobenzene that is still used in some countries to control wax moth, and wood preservatives (used to paint hives) may also accumulate in wax. Insecticides used in buildings where beeswax is stored post-harvest can also be taken up into the wax. This contamination of beeswax can be minimised by avoiding the use of synthetic chemicals in beekeeping, and careful postharvest packaging and storage. In industrialised countries, the widespread use of chemicals in beekeeping and subsequent contamination of beeswax, makes the beeswax harvested from disease-free colonies in Africa and other regions more precious and valuable. Pure beeswax has a good aroma, and when a wax block is broken, it shows a grainy surface. That is not the case if it has been adulterated with paraffin, fat or other oil. If pure beeswax is chewed, it does not stick to the teeth, and when rolled between fingers it softens but does not stick to the fingers. When paraffin wax is mixed with beeswax, the wax becomes more transparent and slightly greasy to the touch. Pure beeswax is relatively expensive, and so there has always been a tendency for people to try to falsify or dilute it with cheaper materials. Adulteration with paraffin wax depresses the melting point (64.5°C) and weakens the
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material. It follows that using adulterated wax for foundation will weaken the comb and cause problems for the bees and the beekeeper.
valuable beeswax harvest. The beekeeper with a just few hives can produce blocks of wax of excellent quality from these sources.
Wax production
Processing beeswax
An important aspect of frame hive beekeeping is the reuse of empty combs after the extraction of honey, thus maximising honey production and minimising the production of wax. Therefore beekeeping using frame hives results in the harvesting of relatively little beeswax, and the production ratio of honey to beeswax production is approximately 75 : 1. Beekeeping using local-style, fixed-comb hives, or movablecomb (top-bar) hives or Warré People’s hives, results in greater yields of beeswax which is harvested along with honey. The delicate honeycombs are broken to enable the extraction of honey, and cannot be returned to the hive. The ratio of honey to beeswax production is about 10 : 1. For this reason, countries with fixed-comb beekeeping and honey hunting produce significant amounts of beeswax, which can provide a valuable crop for local sale or even export, if available in bulk. Beeswax rather than honey may be the most valuable product of beekeeping, although this value is not everywhere appreciated.
Whatever beeswax is to be used for, it has to be melted and filtered and turned into a solid wax block. Expensive equipment is available to achieve beeswax rendering, however most beekeepers achieve perfect results without spending money on equipment. There are a number of different ways to process beeswax, all of which involve a combination of melting the beeswax and filtering i. one way is to melt washed honeycomb in clean water and put the molten wax and water mix through a heavy cloth. The hot mixture may then be squeezed out of the bag using two sticks as shown. The receiving bucket can be made of tin, steel or enamel. Scraps of cocoon, wood, grass and other
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large particles are filtered out by this process. After squeezing the mixture, it is left to cool whereupon the wax and water separate to create a disc of wax floating on the water. This operation should be done in a clean environment and the hot mixture left for some hours for the wax to solidify. Any small impurities that passed thought the cloth can be scraped off the bottom of the solid wax disc, and the filtering process repeated through finer cloth. References BRADBEAR, N. (2009) Production and trade of beeswax. In: Bees and their role in forest livelihoods. FAO, Rome, Italy. Chapter 10. 2 TAUTZ, J. (2008) The buzz about bees, biology of a superorganism. Springer, Berlin, Germany. Chapter 7 p 157 3 BOGDANOV, S. (2004) Beeswax, quality issues today. Bee World 85 (3): 46-50. 1
Beekeepers using frame hives require large quantities of beeswax for making foundation. Many beekeepers harvest, process and recycle their own beeswax, so this use is not evident in the trade statistics. In countries where frame hives are used, the major use of beeswax will be the beekeeping equipment sector manufacturing foundation. It is common practice for beekeepers to render the beeswax from their own bees into lumps of pure beeswax, and to exchange this for a smaller weight of ready-made sheets of foundation, made by commercial manufacturers of foundation. Cappings are the best source of new beeswax, but scraps of brace or burr comb (bits of comb built by the bees as part of the nest structure), old honeycombs and old brood combs all yield a
Processing beeswax by filtering a hot mixture of melted beeswax and hot water through a heavy cloth. 9
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APIEXPOAFRICA 2016 in Kigali, Rwanda 21-26 September Mr Vincent Hakizimana, expert beekeeper writes: The Best Producer Organisation and Overall Best Exhibitor at APIEXPO AFRICA 2016 was Ubwiza bwa Nyungwe Beekeepers Union located at Nyamagabe District, Southern Province, Rwanda. There were around 55 countries represented by 68 exhibitors including Tanzania, Turkey, Nigeria, Uganda and USA. I would like to thank you very much for your support because we as the community surrounding Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda became able to use top-bar hives. We also helped to initiate the young and women to be involved in beekeeping of which they previously afraid. We are proud for
Mr Vincent Hakizimana receives the Best Producer Organsation Award on behalf of Nyungwe Beekeepers from Mr Harun Baiya, Chair of ApiTrade Africa you to know that ApiExpo Africa 2016 helped us to be aware of: 1. The progress of beekeepers in the African sector and their vision 2. New methods and techniques for other advanced beekeepers 3. Marketing of bee products 4. The location of beekeeping
equipment producers 5. The challenges faced by African beekeepers. On behalf of Ubwiza bwa Nyungwe Beekeepers Union, we members say Hello to your lovely Bees for Development family. NIGERIA will be the next host of ApiExpo Africa 2018.
Photos: Vincent Hakizimana
Beautiful display by Ubwiza bwa Nyungwe Beekeepers Union who work in and around Nyungwe Forest in south-west Rwanda
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Uganda 7th National Honey Week August 2016 by Bomujuni Allon, Membership Development Officer, TUNADO The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO) organised a successful and innovative national honey week event running under the theme Quality bee products: a means for ready market. The event attracted 95 exhibitors from across the country and 12,000 participants. The main objective of National Honey week 2016 was to advocate for quality bee products to penetrate existing and emerging markets. In particular Honey Week: • Defined the quality of bee products; • Demonstrated quality control and assurance mechanisms; • Verified simple methods for testing quality honey and other bee products; • Established the role of quality bee products in respect to highend markets; • Created a business platform for apicultural exhibitors to showcase, network and market their products and services.
The business forum attracted many people with presentations from panellists like Dr Kwame Aidoo, the Director of Bees for Development Ghana, on the role of bees as pollinators, and Dr Wolfgang Ritter from Germany who talked about the African way of beekeeping
versus industrial beekeeping, in reference to pest and disease control. Talks were followed by a ‘Q and A’ session on honey certification for both local and international markets by Mr Lutaaya Joseph, Uganda National Bureau of Standards. The Bee Quiz was conducted at Forest Mall, Lugogo. 34 questions were set by the technical committee of National Honey week. This was the first Bee Quiz for National Honey Week, and the purpose was to check how much stakeholders know about the apiculture sector. To participate in the Bee Quiz, each participant paid 10,000 UGX (UK£ 2.30, US$ 3.00) and the winner, Mr Okuga Ezekiel took 10% of the entire fund.
Rogers Wasibi receives the winner’s certificate for Mbale Coalition Against Poverty, MBALE CAP The Bee lottery was also the first of its kind and attracted very many participants: each ticket to enter cost 20,000 UGX (UK£ 4.60, US$ 6.00), and the fortunate winner (Dr Robert Kajobe) received a fully sponsored trip to attend the 5th Api Expo in Kigali Rwanda.
Photos: Bomujuni Allon
This year’s Honey Week was packed with activities ranging from exhibitions to press conferences and media campaigns, business forums, a Bee Quiz and a Bee Lottery. The exhibition showcased Ugandan bee products: 75 brands of honey, beeswax, propolis tincture and ointments, and beekeeping equipment. Prizes were given to Best Processor, Best Provider of Training and Extension, and Best Producer Association, among others.
Gloria Ninsiima of Bugaari winery, watches as her Rosemac wines and brandy are considered by judge Alice Kangave and her assistants during Honey Week.
Mbale Coalition Against Poverty MBALE CAP, a group supported by Bees for Development, emerged as Uganda’s Best Producer Association 11
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Beekeeping helps young people with social and learning difficulties
Tony Davies, a Maths teacher at Talocher School for two years and an enthusiastic beekeeper for fifteen - takes up the story: ‘Two years ago a swarm of bees moved into the roof space of a home not far from the school. To preserve the colony, the bees were removed carefully and placed in a hive in the field next to the school. I was delighted when the bees attracted the interest of some pupils. We encouraged them to learn beekeeping skills, and some became confident to help with honey extraction and candle making – others developed woodworking skills such as framemaking’. ‘Beekeeping at Talocher really benefits students’, Tony continues. ‘It helps them to develop selfconfidence by meeting new challenges. Handling bees for the first time can be daunting if you lack confidence, even a little frightening, yet with support, students have responded well and are pleased with their achievements. Our first year’s honey crop was 30lb (13.6kg) which was sold locally as a Christmas fund raiser and through Bees for Development’s honey shop in Monmouth. Having the
Photos: Phil Savoie
Talocher School is a specialist education centre in rural Monmouthshire (southeast Wales, UK) which cares for boys and girls aged 9 to 19 years, who have severe social, behavioural and learning difficulties. Run by the Priory Organisation, Talocher School is surrounded by farmland and natural woodland making it an ideal location for beekeeping.
Talocher students Tegan Peterson (left) and Connor Walker working on one the school’s hives under the supervision of Tony Davies confidence to meet and talk with members of the public through work experience at Bees for Development, and when running a fundraising stall, helps to develop the social skills which many pupils have found difficult to master.’ In the second year Talocher’s bees swarmed and were successfully collected, this time by the pupils. The bees are vigorous and nearly 40lb (18.1kg) of honey was harvested. ‘Our bees seem to have a very good temperament’ says Tony. ‘No stings or problems have been reported in the two 12
years since they have been on site – neither have they needed any chemical treatment as monitoring for Varroa has shown infestation to be low’. Beekeeping is now set to become a regular part of the Talocher School curriculum, enhancing academic development in maths, science, design and technology, and business. It will play an important part in the development of social skills such as becoming aware of the needs of others, and gaining self-esteem from helping each other. ‘Developing self-belief that they can succeed
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in a normal working environment is very important to pupils,’ says Tony. ‘Selling bee products with the proceeds going to Felindre Hospital and the Children in Need charities plays an important part in both their personal and academic development’. Other plans for Tony and his young beekeeping team include a selective breeding program with the aim of raising nucleus colonies and queens. ‘We hope to support local beekeepers with a supply of good-tempered, hardy and productive bees with high natural resistance to disease’ he said. Bees for Development are delighted to have offered support and advice, and to supply hives, protective clothing and other beekeeping equipment to Talocher School, to offer workexperience, and to sell Talocher School honey through our shop.
Left to right: Tony Davies (Maths Coordinator), Connor Walker (student), James Lewis (Teaching Assistant), Tegan Peterson (student) and Kelly Mills (Head Teacher)
Talocher’s bees are healthy, vigorous and have a very good temperament. 13
BOOKSHELF The tears of Re Beekeeping in ancient Egypt Gene Kritsky, 134 pages hardcover, Oxford University Press According to ancient Egyptians, the god Re (pronounced Ray) was the sun and he created honey bees when his tears touched the earth. This reveals the precious nature of honey bees to people of that time. Gene Kritsky is an entomologist and Egyptologist whose two interests have merged to enable him to explore the role of honey bees in so many aspects of ancient Egyptian culture. The honey bee featured regularly as a motif – the first hieroglyphs with honey bees date from 3050-2850 BC., and the author gathers together many pieces of evidence that show the importance of bees and how they were embedded in Egyptian society. Full of interesting illustrations – this book will be treasured by those interested in culture and bees.
If bees are few A hive of bee poems Edited by James P. Lenfestey, foreword by Bill McKibben and afterword by Marla Spivak 225 pages hardcover, University of Minnesota Press This is a collection of poems written across the millennia about bees, from Virgil, past Shakespeare and right up to now with Carol Ann Duffy imagining of bees sucking up neonicotinoids. The anthology takes its title If bees are few from Emily Dickinson’s poem To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee.... This is an apt quote for a fresh and marvellous collection of poems, and proceeds from its sale support Dr Marla Spivak and the work of her bee lab at the University of Minnesota in USA. Highly recommended for bee admirers everywhere.
Heather honey An anthology of works by Francis Sitwell, Rev. Brother Adam, Colin Weightman, William Hamilton and Peter Schollick. Compiled by Ian Copinger. 124 pages softcover, Northern Bee Books Heather honey is today one of the most delicious and highly regarded honeys that can be harvested from high altitude areas of the UK and other northern European countries. It was a different situation a hundred years ago, when beekeepers in the south of England claimed that honey off the heather moors was the food of peasants, and were most contemptuous of the product in conversation and writing. How things have changed! The first paper on heather honey presented here was by Francis Sitwell of Alnwick, who in 1912 travelled south to London to participate in a British Beekeepers Association Conversazione. From then onwards the harvest of heather honey from British moorlands was viewed in a different light, and as can be seen from the other works presented here, has become a special challenge for expert beekeepers, including Brother Adam. All share their different heather moorland beekeeping, honey skills and secrets, compiled here in this single volume, which will appeal to enthusiastic beekeepers everywhere.
Pollen microscopy Norman Chapman, 132 pages softcover, CMI Publishing Ltd The first twenty pages provide a perfect, clear, very well illustrated explanation of how to collect pollen samples and how to examine them with a microscope. Details are given of how to obtain pollen from plants, from a pollen trap fitted to a frame hive, or from honey. The following hundred or so pages are each devoted to one plant species, where Mr Chapman has drawn the pollen grain and provided photographs of the flower. Most species are indigenous plants or garden plants common to the UK.
The sting of the wild Justin O Schmidt, 257 pages hardback, John Hopkins University Press If you are fascinated by insect stings, then this is the book for you. Justin Schmidt has been stung by dozens of different stinging insects, and according to his scale, the worst came from the Tarantula hawk solitary wasp ‘Blinding, fierce, shockingly electric’ and the Warrior wasp ‘Torture. You are chained in the flow of an active volcano’. Compared with these, honey bees are much less worrisome ‘Burning corrosive, but you can handle it’. In this entertaining text he describes his career as a biologist, encountering social insects, including honey bees in many different countries. 14
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LOOK AHEAD THE NETHERLANDS SICAMM Conference - ‘The Dark Bee Project’ 20 - 23 October 2016, Lunteren Further details www.sicamm.org/NextConf.html TURKEY 5th International Mugla Beekeeping & Pine Honey Congress 1-5 November 2016, Fethiye, Mugla Further details muglacongress.org TURKEY APIMONDIA: 45th International Apicultural Congress 29 September – 4 October 2017, Istanbul Further details apimondia2017.org UK National Honey Show 27-29 October 2016, Esher Further details www.honeyshow.co.uk USA Biodynamic Conference including Biodynamic Beekeeping 16-20 November 2016, Santa Fe Further details www.biodynamics.com Bee Audacious Conference 11-13 December 2016 Panel Discussion streamed live on December 14, 7:00pm PST from Dominican University of California Further details beeaudacious.com
LEARN AHEAD KENYA Certificate course Entrepreneur in apiculture in East Africa Baraka Agricultural College, Molo Further details www.sustainableagri.org TANZANIA BSc Beekeeping Science & Technology University of Dar es Salaam Further details coasft.udsm.ac.tz UK Strengthening livelihoods in developing countries through beekeeping 12 May 2017, Monmouth To have your conference, workshop or meeting included here and on our website send details to Bees for development, address on page 16 Secure order and payment at www.beesfordevelopment.org/shop WAYS Send Money via PayPal to T O PAY store@beesfordevelopment.org Credit/Debit card Maestro/MasterCard/ Visa. We need card number, name on card, valid from and expiry dates, card issue number (if given), security number on back of card. Cheque/bank draft in GBP payable to Bees for Development
Bottlingtanks Made of high quality stainless steel. All tanks come with a loose-fitting lid or with an airtight lid as an option. Capacity from 25 kg - 600 kg.
Solar Wax Melter For frames or comb. It has a strong wooden frame, insulating double window and a small tray for collecting the melted wax / honey.
Refractometer Measures water content in honey. Range: 12-25%. With automatic temperature compensation.
Honey Press Easy and effective way to press your honey. Made entirely of stainless steel. Holds approx. 9.5 L.
Honey Extractors Our modern tangential manual extractors. High quality machines at a very affordable price.
Packaging Many different sizes and shapes in both PET plastic and glas. Available with plastic and metal lids.
at Available om ienty.c www.sw ... for better honey
Swienty A/S
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Hørtoftvej 16, Ragebøl DK-6400 Sønderborg Tel. +45 74 48 69 69
www.swienty.com Fax + 45 74 48 80 01 shop@swienty.com
Bees for Development Journal 120
September 2016
Bees for Development Trust raises the funds we need to undertake our work PROTECTING BEES & POLLINATORS TEACHING SUSTAINABLE LIFE SKILLS CHAMPIONING BIODIVERSITY
WORKING TO ALLEVIATE POVERTY FACILITIATING FAIR MARKET ACCESS SHARING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
If you share our passion for protecting bees and pollinators, and for working to alleviate poverty in some of the world’s poorest regions, you can help us by
Making a regular donation Subscribing to Bfd Journal Sponsoring a Journal subscription Sponsoring a Training Resource Box Please give your support at:
www.beesfordevelopment.org
Bees for development Trust An independent UK-based charity, registered no 1078803
SUPPORT FOR TRAINING Bfd Training Booklets and Training Cards are for use by beekeeper trainers in Africa Each booklet provides one day of training on one topic. The cards provide pictures and plans illustrating techniques discussed in the booklets. These are included in our Resource Boxes for training events and workshops. Projects and associations in developing countries are welcome to apply for a Sponsored Resource Box by filling out an application form on our website, or request the form by email. Projects in other areas can purchase Resource Boxes through our website store.
www.beesfordevelopment.org
SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE This Journal is available for resource-poor beekeepers, projects, schools and groups in developing countries Supported with funds raised by Bees for Development Trust
Name................................................................................................. What is your involvement with bees and beekeeping? ......................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... Organisation ..................................................................................... Postal address................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................... Country............................................................................................. E-mail address................................................................................... Date of application............................................................................. Additional copies of this form are available from our website Email journalrequest@beesfordevelopment.org Post to Bfd Trust at the address below
Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Telephone +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org www.beesfordevelopment.org © Bees for Development 2016 ISSN 1477-6588 Printed on environmentally friendly paper
