Bookshelf

Honey Bees

Ingo Arndt and Jurgen Tautz

IIustrated throughout in full colour Natural History Museum London, 2021

ISBN: 978-0565095277

Hardback, 192 pages

29.1 x 2.3 x 22.2 cm

Reviewed by John Phipps.

Over so many years of keeping bees and adding beekeeping books to my library, there are three books that I consider to be outstanding as regards both the wonderful images they contain and the all-important text which fully describes the inner mysteries of colony life and the bees’ relationship with those with whom they are involved,

The first, undoubtedly a long-standing beekeeping classic, is the huge book, published way back in 1998 - Eric Valli’s ‘Hunting for Honey - Adventures with the Rajis of Nepal’. The photographs, which were taken under extremely difficult conditions, show that the photographer was willing to expose himself to the same dangers as the hunters, those who climb to tremendous heights in trees or on steep rock faces as well as facing the anger of the bees in order to collect the much-needed honey and wax for their communities.

The second, only recently published in 2017, is another enormous volume, ‘Ostatni Bartnicy Europy’ (The Last Remaining European Tree Beekeepers) sadly as yet only in Polish, but it is accompanied with a supplement in English which gives plenty of information on the book’s contentsenough anyway to allow one to guess what is happening in the outstanding photos about the history and the still remaining (though disappearing) practice of tree beekeeping mostly in Poland, but also in other parts of Northern Europe. I understand that a full English translation of this remarkable book on sustainable beekeeping will eventually be published.

The third - this one, ‘Honey Bees’, is a collaboration between two remarkable men: the famous photographer Ingo Arndt, and one of the most interesting writers on bees today, Jurgen Tautz. What an excellent partnership! Whilst in the past Tautz and written on many aspects of bee science and behaviour, in this volume he is focused entirely on honey bees as forest insects and their very important relationship with the forest throughout history - or, as Tautz puts it: “Many of the attributes and abilities inherent in honey bees can be explained by the living conditions in the forest.” This theme is explored throughout the book, looking in detail at all aspects of a colony’s life within the nest itself and in the surrounding environment. Thus, the development of bees; the castes and their activities, the wonderful construction of combs to rear the brood and to accommodate their stores, their methods of orientation and how they deal with their enemies, as well as the importance of nest commensals (not found in modern bee hives) are all delightfully and clearly illustrated in sharp detail - with captions sufficient in length for full understanding.

If any family member, colleague, or friend finds it difficult to understand why you are so absorbed in beekeeping - then this would be a good present for them, containing as it does a magnificent window into a world they may know so little about. And, of course, first of all buy a copy for yourself.

A Guide to the Safe Removal of Honey Bee Colonies from Buildings

Clive A Stewart & Stuart A Roberts - with a Foreword by Professor Thomas D. Seeley

Paperback, 127 pages

ISBN: 978-1-914934-50-6

Northern Bee Books, 2022

Reviewed by Mary Montaut.

This is quite a short book, at 129 pages, but it gives a great deal of helpful information and advice, including warnings about the precautions which must be taken before you try to remove a colony of bees from a building. I feel sure that most beekeepers have been requested to perform this feat at some time, and I think that the warnings in this book should really be included in any beekeeping course. It would be especially valuable for less experienced beekeepers to be warned about the difficulties they are likely to encounter, when they may innocently be trying to help someone who has discovered bees in their chimney or attic. The main part of the book is addressed to a beekeeper who is considering taking up bee removal as a small business or service. The authors emphasise the immense difference between collecting a swarm from a tree or bush, and trying to dislodge a colony from its nest inside part of a built structure. All beekeeping courses will address the first of these, almost none addresses the latter. Yet, collecting a swarm and enjoying the drama of being watched by the admiring citizens is a completely different job from the hugely challenging beekeeping and construction skills which are needed to remove a colony from a building where it may well have been living for some years. Whether you are considering starting a service or business, you will need to understand the legal and insurance dimensions of this work as well as understanding bees and their needs.A good example of the complexity of the problems which you are likely to encounter would be the need to know whether the part of the building which you may be required to open up, contains asbestos. In such a case, there is not only the risk to your own health. There are also stringent regulations about dealing with asbestos which you should know. The authors recommend that you actually do a course on this subject before you delve into an old roof (with asbestos tiles, for example) or open up an old chimney where the cowl could be made of asbestos cement from years ago. Just as important, you would need to understand enough about building construction to assess the risk to the fabric if you cut into rafters, joists or walls, where the bees have taken up residence. In every case, a thorough assessment of the work involved should be written up and discussed with the owner and/or occupier of the building. This will also require you to understand the insurance and other legalistic aspects of the job. Health and Safety regulations are paramount, and the need for scaffolding to work safely even at quite a low height. The authors spend time describing the various tools which may be required, and in fact, there is a photograph of their van fitted out with all sorts of building and carpentry tools, besides the bee suits, gloves, nuc or spare hive for the bees, and so on. Certainly my response to this thorough and highly professional outfit was to determine that I would advise anyone with bees in their building to find an expert to remove them. However, the question of setting up a business aside, there is a huge amount of helpful advice in this book. It is clear from the outset that the authors’ main intention is to protect and preserve the colony itself. This distinguishes their entire approach. and reflects the expert nature of their beekeeping skills - a Bee Master and a beekeeper with twenty-three years’ experience. The preface by Tom Seeley speaks about the immense value of wild colonies of honey bees, and it is clear that both the authors have taken his research to heart. The preservation of the colony in the best condition possible is really the aim of all their work, though it is often put in a technical frame - heat camera to locate the colony, or discussion of the ‘bee vac’ which gives rise to the comment that they only use this (rather violent) method when there is absolutely no other choice. The constant advice to use scaffolding to provide a safe platform when working underlines all the the dire warnings they give about trying to work from a ladder - don’t do it! Their imperative is always to find and catch the queen, working with the bees’ natural instincts. I was quite amused by the warning they offer against eating any of the honey which you might obtain from a colony in a building - just think about it! The part of the book which is of most use to ordinary beekeepers who are in the situation of being requested to remove a colony comes in Parts 4 & 5. In these chapters, the authors give excellent advice about cutting out comb - ‘Cut Outs’ - including from a fallen tree. They show how to fix the comb into a frame for putting in a nuc or hive, and advise you to keep as many bees as possible on the comb during this operation. If you are doubtful that you have kept the queen, they give the excellent advice of waiting - not being in a hurry. The bees will show the situation soon enough. There are many times when wild comb may be exposed if a swarm has not found a suitable new home, and the advice about removing such combs is most helpful. However, the part which I found most enlightening for my own limited experience was the part where the authors describe a ‘Trap Out’ method to lure a swarm out of their new home in a building. Of course, you have no real means of knowing how long such a colony has actually been in situ, and householders may simply have failed to notice the colony for some time. This method is superficially attractive because it seems to be kind to the bees, just luring them into a new home, as you hope. But our authors’ give us the benefit of wide experience: ‘Due to the many disadvantages, I only ever use it (Trap Out) in extreme situations where access to the building is physically impossible. Whilst this option looks potentially favourable (…) it does not operate in a favourable way for long established colonies. it can however be very useful on those colonies that have truly only just moved in, where access is easy enough to enable it (the new home - a nuc or hive) to be installed without hindrance.’ I confess I have totally failed with this method myself, though it sounded ideal when the Aussie beekeeper I was talking to described it to me. This part of the book is full of useful summaries of advice and techniques, very helpful to any beekeeper who is considering whether to become involved in any kind of removal of bees, not just in setting up a service/business. There are case studies in the final chapter, and a summary at the end of the book. The photographs throughout the book give clear demonstrations of the items under discussion in the text, and this is most helpful. It is particularly good to see a photograph of nucs which have been rescued. I suggest that your Association could invest in a copy for members’ use. This book could save you all a lot of time and energy next spring.

Beekeeping Simplified with the Drayton Hive

Andrew Bax

Paperback, 52 pages

ISBN: 1914934490

Northern Bee Books, 2022

Reviewed by Marcus Nilsson.

Andrew Bax has written a book about a hive of his own construction that is aimed at beekeepers like himself who seek a more relaxed approach to beekeeping. A ’coming of age’ hive and book? Not only that: it might just be the perfect hive for beekeepers/gardeners with a more relaxed view on backyard beekeeping for the beauty of keeping honeybees and not necessarily for maximized honey production; a hive that also makes a beautiful ornamental part of the garden as well as being a good home for its inhabitants.

This book is about a hybrid hive that in its creation, construction and usage reflects the personal journey of its inventor. As many experienced beekeepers know, heavy lifting of traditional stacked beeboxes starts to get hard on one’s back and knees when we reach a certain age.

But age also comes with a lot of accumulated experiences in bee behaviour and what beekeeping practices to use to help bees overcome such obstacles as drought or lack of sufficient stores for wintering, etc. An understanding of bees also leads many of us to have more faith in the honeybees’ own abilities to take care of numerous tasks in the hive, so that we as beekeepers need not to intervene as we usually have done as ’traditional’ beekeepers. We learn that it is easier and more cost effective to follow nature instead of trying to force our way as beekeepers upon it. The author gives many examples of this in his book as, for example, letting the bees build natural comb instead of providing them with frames of foundation. This lets the bees decide how to construct comb but also what cell size they need and how much drone comb. As Andrew Bax points out, "a more relaxed approach leaves the bees in control. Unstressed by constant manipulation, they are much more likely to be docile bees – just what is wanted in a garden hive".

The use of foundationless frames in a horizontal hive has benefits other than saving your back. It can be more economical in that all frames are kept throughout the year in the beehive, so no need for extra boxes with frames that take up valuable storage room, no need for investing in an expensive honey extractor as comb can just be cut out and strained or pressed to get the honey out of the comb without any mess. Frames emptied of honey are simply put back in the hive for the bees to clean up and start to build new comb in. The removal of comb in this way also leads to a rotation of old comb out of the hive to be replaced by new comb, thus lessening the likelihood of it harbouring the infections which can occur when old comb is re-used. As, normally, no frames are being moved between hives, the spread of disease between colonies is unlikely. All of the above will lead to better hive hygiene.

The author is very open when saying that the Drayton hive in its construction is a hybrid hive which borrows some of the best features of established designs such as the Warré hive and the Horizontal Topbar hive, but avoids some of the difficulties inherent in their use. Bax has also understood the importance of a well-insulated hive that leads to less consumption of winter stores and a better chance of survival for the bees. Instead of being tempted to use any form of insulation material, the author uses the simple but very effective method of sealed double walls with air in between.

Less intrusive management, as in the Drayton hive, gives the beekeeper the option of trying to let the bees manage the varroa population themselves without the need for chemical treatment against mites. Populating the hive with feral swarms, as the author practices, is also a good way of getting bees that could handle mite control better than the beekeeper.

The management system encouraged by the author is to leave the bees sufficient amounts of their own honey for wintering. This is at the cost of a smaller honey harvest but for the benefit of bee health. As stated above, the good insulation of the hive leads to less consumption of winter stores, giving the beekeeper the option of letting the bees winter on their own stores, if they are sufficient.

Manual de buenas prácticas en alimentación de abejas (Manual of Good Practices In Bee Feeding)

Various authors

This is excellent text (in Spanish) has recently been prepared by experts in Argentina, as a consequence of the increased volumes of fake honey appearing in world trade. The crisis situation demands increased control and analysis to detect foreign sugars in honey.

An online course was organised so that Argentine beekeepers could quickly find out about the scope of the fight against fraud, its implications in the global market for quality honey. 2,700 Argentine beekeepers partici pated in the on-line course, and the Argen tine beekeeping sector managed to quickly adapt feeding practices to the new require ments and avoid inadvertent contamination of honey.

Using the contents from the on-line course, this Manual was prepared to deepen and update the information related to good bee-feeding practices, in the context of the fight against fraud. The Manual is a combination of scientific knowledge and experience of different actors in the market chain. It explains the need to adjust feeding practices, and scientifically supports why and how to do it in a clear and accessible way.

The Manual was first presented at the 47th Apimondia International Congress in Istanbul, Turkey in August 2022.

The team was made up of professionals from the company NEXCO SA, researchers and technicians from INTA Beekeeping Program (INTA-PROAPI), the Agroindustry Research Center (CIA); EEA Balcarce, EEA Ascasubi, EEA Famaillá, EEA Cerrillos, EEA Rafaela and EEA Cuenca del Salado, professionals from the National University of the South, Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries and SENASA. The team received the invaluable and generous collaboration of honey-buying companies, beekeepers, and technicians and extensionists from INTA and other provincial institutions.

Together the team are determined to prove the quality of Argentine honey!