Letters to the Editor

If you want to comment on anything you have read in Newsletter then write to Dr Nicola Bradbear.

Bushfire: A factor in swarming?

It has long been believed that African bee species south of the Sahara namely A. m. adansonii, A. m. littorea, A. m. scutellata and A. m. monticola have a common characteristic of swarming regularly even when there is still some space in the hive for them to construct combs.

There are many factors which generally contribute to swarming namely:

i) Overcrowding in the hive leading the bees to swarm in search of a better place.

ii) Failure of the queen to produce enough queen substance to keep the bees in cohesion.

iii) Insufficient food supply for the bees.

iv) An unprolific queen due either to age or poor genetical line and some other factors which may relate to seasonal routine.

I have in mind the bush fires as another factor most likely to contribute to swarming especially in the grass and woodland savannas of tropical Africa where bush burning is quite common in alternate years.

It is well known that before the bees swarm off they will always gorge themselves with honey. They need honey for energy to fly and (after metabolic processes in their bodies), to produce wax which they use to construct combs as they settle in the new place.

At the same time it has been observed that as soon as you puff smoke into a beehive most bees will rush to start sucking the honey, which may indicate that they are getting on standby to move. This act may consequently tickle the swarming instinct in the bees. Furthermore they will probably fill beyond their honey stomachs in which case honey cannot be regurgitated back into the cells, and has to be digested, thus boosting wax production. Observations have confirmed that bees in tropical savanna regions swarm mainly during, or shortly after, the dry seasons when bushfires are rampant.

Another factor is that most beekeepers in tropical regions site their hives high up in trees thus exposing them to smoke whenever there is a bush fire. Besides the heavy smoke there is also too much heat which presumably disturbs the bees so much that they prepare to leave for better places.

I will be grateful to get your views and other beekeepers’ experiences with smoke, especially the bushfires.

Daudi G. Mugisa, Extension Programme, Department of Veterinary Services and Animai Industry, Uganda.

Treatment for Varroa jacobsoni

William Ramirez B. reports that dry dust made from pollen, glucose, dry leaves or pollen substitutes can be used to kill Varroa. 50m) of each product was dusted on to the bees of separate hives, during the late afternoon or early evening. Glucose dust was found to reduce the population of mites on adult bees by 100%, powdered dry leaves by 95%, pollen substitutes by 97% and pollen dust by 87%. Mr. Ramirez writes:

“As you find in the literature, the most promising non-fumigant acaricides are diluted in dust materials (e.g. glucose and others) and malathion has worked best, when they reduced the amount of che- mical and increased the amount of powder.

I would appreciate very much if you please try the products mentioned in this letter on adult bees, or any other nontoxic-non-contaminant powder at your laboratory and communicate the results to me”.

William Ramirez B., Escuela de Fitotecnia, Facultad de Agronomia, Universidad de Costa Rica, COSTA RICA.

Baits for Bees

I started beekeeping at the beginning of this year. My main problem (shared, I believe, with other beginners in the tropics where queen rearing is not practised) is to get the bait to attract the bees to colonise the hive as quickly as possible. I am appealing to authors who could give me the names of baits and the specific way to use them. This will help beginners in different countries to use their research departments to get these baits.

Please, beekeepers who know which baits do attract bees, inform us as soon as possible. You can pass this information through the Newsletter. I will be very grateful if my fellow beekeepers respond.

BRAZIL

THE TROPICAL APICULTURE CENTRE is at Pindamonhangaba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and is part of the State Department of Agriculture. The Centre runs courses on beekeeping and supplies information to schools.

Honey production in tropical/equatorial countries like Brazil is affected not so much by seasonal changes in climate (colonies are able to reproduce in all seasons) but rather by variations in rainfall throughout the year, since this affects the nectar-flow periods. This is not always advantageous for honey production: continuous activity reduces the life-span of queens and workers, and increases the food consumption of the colony. The wide variation in intensity and distribution of rain affects the occurrence and intensity of the nectar-flow. The consequence is that it can be difficult to schedule colony management by yearly periods. The beekeeper must therefore be aware of changes in the state of nectar-bearing plants and manage the bees accordingly.

The Tropical Apiculture Centre teaches management methods appropriate for tropical beekeeping on its 4-day basic course, and short courses on queen rearing and other subjects are also given.

Centro de Apicultura Tropical, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

UK

DIPLOMA IN APICULTURE. An international course taught within the Bee Research Unit at the Department of Zoology, at University College, Cardiff.

The one-year course starting each October is intended for those who already have science degrees or appropriate posts in government research or the agricultural industry.

Bee Research Unit, Dept of Zoology, University College, Cardiff.

This Newsletter is edited by Dr Nicola Bradbear, Information Officer for Tropical Apiculture at the International Bee Research Association (IBRA), and is produced under funding from the Overseas Development Administration, UK. There are two editions of the Newsletter each year and these are sent, free of charge, to those developing countries who are involved with beekeeping. Views expressed in the Newsletter are not necessarily those of the International Bee Research Association. Contributions, letters and news of forthcoming events are welcomed; these may be edited for reasons of space and clarity. Many thanks to everyone who has sent information and articles; some items have had to be held over for the next edition. If you have any enquiries about beekeeping and the information you need is not available locally, then write to me here at IBRA and will try to help you.

Nicola Bradbear

International Bee Research Association, Cardiff.