tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64536342012-01-04T14:56:15.808Z<strong>bees, honey and other sticky subjects</strong>Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.comBlogger11271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-73606282359078005462008-03-19T23:10:00.003Z2010-01-09T12:44:50.990Z

British comedian, Eddie Izzard's take on beekeeping.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-71094867703822929872008-03-19T09:43:00.005Z2008-03-19T09:52:55.416Z

Sublingual therapy might sound a little riske to ignoramuses like me, but apparently it's not an uncommon way to treat allergies. And now they are experimenting with it for allergies to bee stings.Italian researchers found that putting honeybee venom under the tongue was safe and significantly reduced reactions in people allergic to bee stings. So far they have only tested it on people who have "

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-14284152799758543742008-03-18T12:05:00.003Z2008-03-19T08:32:38.793Z

Bees in downtown areas of Japan seem to becoming popular. A shopping mall recently bought some hives as part of its development project. They seem to be using a mix of eastern and western honeybees (Apis cerana and Apis mellifera).

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-27176044211417837132008-03-18T10:06:00.007Z2008-03-20T11:02:14.814Z

Why is that honey can only command a fraction of the price of wine? I had a very heated debate on this last night -- heated in the sense that it was in a sauna. We had been discussing Trockenbeerenauslese (as you do) and a gorgeous wine that retails at £25 ($50) for a half bottle. (This one -- Trockenbeerenauslese 2000 37.5cl Welschriesling/Pinot Gris Josef Lentsch Podersdorf/See -- to be precise

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-52790317588386392742008-03-18T09:46:00.005Z2008-03-18T10:00:36.213Z

The royal jelly secret that turns larvae into queens rather than workers may have been uncovered. Scientists at the Research School of Biological Sciences at the Australian National University (ANU) have discovered that royal jelly flicks a genetic switch in larvae."Royal jelly seems to chemically modify the bee’s genome by a process called DNA methylation and disrupts the expression of genes

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-20668653177031913272008-03-16T18:43:00.003Z2008-03-16T18:56:10.326Z

It's nice to know that the New Zealand authorities seem keen to ensure the authenticity of the medicinally-acclaimed UMFR manuka honey. The paperwork of an un-named supplier is under investigation by the Active Manuka Honey Association. They say there is no problem with the honey.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-22450511870345650962008-03-14T12:24:00.004Z2008-03-14T12:30:30.518Z

After failing to stop a bear stealing honey from his hives by playing Serbian turbo-folk music at great volume, an exasperated Serbian beekeeper took the bear to court and won. The bear didn't show up and won't be punished, but because it is a protected species the state must pay the beekeeper 2,238 Euros for damage to his hives.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-9833444706920983002008-03-13T22:36:00.002Z2008-03-13T22:38:57.313Z

While I have been off doing other things, you may be interested to know that the British Beekeepers Association has been kicking up a media stink about the plight of honey bees and the UK Government's refusal to invest research funding.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-45942272056802993542008-03-13T22:26:00.002Z2008-03-13T22:28:58.474Z

The best seller The Secret Life of Bees featuring two beekeeping sisters and focusing on racism and civil rights is being made into a film.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-38363460886785889872008-03-13T20:23:00.004Z2008-03-13T20:33:31.167Z

First: long time, no post. Apologies -- if you care!There is a fascinating BBC News Online story about another social insect today -- the ant and how its males surreptitiously pass on the queen gene to ensure that their offspring become reproductive queens, not mere workers. Or, to put it another way, unlike honeybees it isn't just the larval food that determines who can become a queen.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-79117214291133286702008-01-28T22:39:00.001Z2008-03-09T08:42:17.200Z

A bees' nest has been removed in California Florida and made the news -- but beekeepers will be interested in the method. Have a look at this picture.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-7888818674715386112008-01-25T22:10:00.000Z2008-01-25T22:15:34.296Z

A girl from a very low-income Indian family turned to bee-keeping to make a living at age ten and and was declared the 'UNICEF girl' in 2006. Now she has been hailed as a role model by the National Council of Educational Research and Training. Anita Kushwaha is now 19 and and comes from a remote Bochaha village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district. She is studying English in a women's college.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-11346578943150648142008-01-25T22:05:00.001Z2008-03-18T16:05:10.847Z

New Scientist this week features swarming and compares it to a human brain activity. (You'll need a subscription for the link.)

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-39158719676123082342008-01-25T21:55:00.001Z2008-01-25T22:00:07.869Z

Just getting back into my blogging stride after a break with an intriguing story from New Zealand where some highly technical thefts have been taking place. Not mere thefts of beehives, but thefts of the queen on brood frames leaving everything looking apparently undisturbed. South Islanders are blaming North Islanders. A b-crime every bit as sophisticated as e-crime.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-74230428288975816962008-01-11T08:51:00.000Z2008-01-11T09:00:49.689Z

A modest 88 year-old former Kiwi beekeeper who didn't do very well at school or university, but who is a household name throughout the British Commonwealth and beyond, is to receive a state funeral in New Zealand. Some 53 years ago, that beekeeper also happened to be the first person to climb the world's highest mountain, Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary has died. His legacy in helping Nepalese

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-30179622955971098892007-12-20T22:42:00.000Z2008-12-10T03:06:46.503Z

Since I last posted a piece on Miss Olive Brittan MBE, the last royal beekeeper of Libya, nearly three years ago, I've had some correspondence and am delighted to have received this photo from Albert Lee via Lofty Albert Webb (Lofty). I'm hoping to hear more about Miss Brittan from another source soon, so keep watching.I understand that this picture was taken in 1962/3 and features the renowned

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-80774352549146603282007-12-04T14:00:00.000Z2007-12-04T21:21:48.165Z

On the lunchtime news were pictures of the English and Sri Lankan cricket teams plus umpires laid flat on their faces on the pitch as a swarm of bees passed overhead in Kandy. Pictures here.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-18588535030621404952007-12-04T10:38:00.000Z2007-12-04T10:47:56.764Z

Isn't it interesting how the vilest tasting honeys are being found to have medicinal properties. Here's the latest on buckwheat honey for children's coughs. To allay any thoughts that I may be too sceptical, I suppose it's possible that it's because dark honeys are high in antioxidants that the strongest flavoured honeys are most potent.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-43029267467029158882007-11-22T21:29:00.000Z2008-12-10T03:06:47.132Z

This may seem like any other English parish church, but it has a particular association for beekeepers and on 10 November 2007, Hampshire Beekeepers Association (HBA) celebrated its 125th birthday there for a very special reason. It is the church of the Rev Charles Butler, sometimes called the Father of English Beekeeping. Born in 1560, Butler was vicar at Wooton St Lawrence parish church in

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-74192012919957164452007-11-08T11:17:00.000Z2007-11-09T11:10:57.553Z

A lawsuit is flying because Jerry Seinfeld's recently released Bee Movie uses the catchphrase "Give Bees a Chance,". Richie Gerber, known to Howard Stern fans as Cousin Richie, owns an organic skin and hair-care company called BeeCeuticals Organics that claims the phrase as its own. He claims that DreamWorks and Paramount, after initially exploring opportunities to work with Gerber, went ahead

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-48123302079984199112007-11-07T09:33:00.001Z2007-11-07T09:37:25.182Z

Amongst the new conditions for the resumption of the Hawaiian interisland Superferry are: watch out for whales. But Governor Linda Lingle admitted that she forgot to include restrictions on the transport of bee equipment to deter the spread of destructive varroa mites from O'ahu to the Big Island, the centre of the state's bee industry.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-76576509835307766712007-11-06T12:18:00.000Z2007-11-06T12:27:44.102Z

Mark Winston, the head of bees at Simon Fraser University in BC, Canada has been letting off steam about the industrialisation of beekeeping.He thinks that CCD crisis goes much deeper than a particular virus. He thinks that the industrialization of bee farming has made bees more susceptible to mass die-offs and abrupt disappearances.By "separating bees from their keepers," Prof. Winston argues,

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-55161680655732745952007-11-05T10:24:00.001Z2007-11-05T10:32:57.585Z

After reports of the potential CCD threat to New Zealand's kiwi fruit crop, reports of widespread honeybee deaths appear one day later.The second report implies agricultural chemicals are suspected, something that will doubtless be rectified rapidly since kiwi fruits are dependent on honeybee pollination arnd are worth $NZ 720 million a year.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-398425477463839482007-11-02T17:24:00.000Z2007-11-02T17:36:14.401Z

Eric Mussen of University of Califiornia, Davis, gave an excellent overview of CCD last month. Here are a few extracts ...Mussen identified malnutrition, parasitic mites, infectious microbes and insecticide contamination as among the possible culprits. It’s a complex issue, he said, but one thing is certain: “It seems unlikely that we will find a specific, new and different reason for why bees

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-28962284283212148582007-10-29T14:07:00.000Z2008-12-10T03:06:48.595Z

There's a must-see exhibition for anyone interested in beekeeping at Winchester's Great Hall in Hampshire, UK.Bill Woodrow has Brood — Sculpture from the Beekeeper Series 1996-2007 on show there until 10 December 2007.The exhibition features honey and wax and the gold glistens. The larvae high in the walls were especially commissioned for the Great Hall.My photographs of a few of the exhibits do

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-34259688997541659352007-10-17T09:35:00.000+01:002007-10-17T09:40:06.583+01:00

Nevada folk call wasps (yellow jackets) meat bees, presumably because they see them eating grasshoppers and insects. One local stung on his scalp described it as being like having a cattle prod on the head. I suspect all beekeepers can relate to that.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-8201888173530892692007-10-16T10:07:00.000+01:002007-10-16T10:19:01.885+01:00

Lady Masson, a British peer of the realm, has set a hare -- or a hornet -- running by raising the issue of increasing number of hornets in the UK. A relative of a friend of hers was unfortunate enough to have stood on one as he got out of the bath, was stung and died from anaphylactic shock. She wants more research -- into precisiely what I'm not sure. If it's into treatment and diagnosis of

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-76530730360685977842007-10-16T09:18:00.000+01:002007-10-16T09:24:51.446+01:00

Every now and again, the importance of honey in the Arab world comes to my attention:“According to the past year’s statistics there are 2.8 million colonies of honeybee hives in Iran which produce 22,400 tons of high-grade honey with an average harvest rate of 7 to 10 kilos however over half of this amount (11,200 tons) is produced from two provinces West and East Azerbaijan,” said Faraj Allah

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-70782467544644516902007-10-15T14:08:00.000+01:002007-10-15T14:23:39.270+01:00

The Seinfield/Spielberg collaboration, Bee Movie, is due for release in the USA on 2 November (it happened to be the subject of one of the first Propolis blog postings). So, beekeepers, brace yourselves! Here's why Jerry Seinfield wanted to make the film:“I just thought bees were funny. They live in a small company. They have a product. They have offices. They have bosses. They have employees.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-51338671243000595352007-10-12T11:18:00.000+01:002007-10-12T11:38:15.647+01:00

I heard that someone locally was wanting to get rid of “wasps”. So I called. The conversation went like this:I hear you are concerned about some wasps?- YesHow do you know they are wasps?- Because they are buzzing around.But they could be bees?- No, they sting.But bees sting too.- Oh.Have you been stung?- No.Are they causing a problem?- Two or three came in the house yesterday and another one

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-25076911190137138022007-10-10T09:44:00.001+01:002007-10-10T09:50:50.607+01:00

Beekeepers are well aware that plants exert some control over their pollination by attracting them by producing nectar at different seasons and even at different times of day. But here's a very smart plant dating back 300 million years that tells insects when it's time to move on:Cyads have distinct male and female plants, and both produce large, club-like “flowers”. There is, however, a key

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-26953359443393292732007-10-09T08:52:00.000+01:002007-10-09T09:08:18.499+01:00

Elephants will turn tail (and trunk) if they hear the buzz of bees say Oxford University researchers trying to find a way of keeping them away from villages. They set up recordings of buzzing and, for the moment, they are effective as elephant scarers, but they fear that elephants may soon understand the con. It's not just the elephants that are smart, the bees are no dummies either -- they sting

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-85699929463400688682007-10-08T10:13:00.001+01:002007-10-08T10:23:37.036+01:00

The Federated Farmers organisation of New Zealand is calling for a tax on tourists to meet the growing biosecurity costs necessary to keep the world's pests from the islands' shores. It points the finger at tourist sailors and trampers (hikers) whose equipment they say brings in the nasties. Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen spoke of tourists in “silk-bottomed waders” who he says

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-37695150440260345392007-10-05T11:17:00.000+01:002007-10-05T11:23:38.597+01:00

Although the California almond harvest is -- at 1.3 bn pounds -- the biggest ever, the nuts are small, about 15% smaller than usual. No one is quite sure why, but it may have resulted from very good pollinating conditions which ensured that more blossoms than usual were pollinated resulting in trees laden with almonds.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-73147016410050038702007-10-04T14:54:00.000+01:002007-10-04T15:03:51.430+01:00

Bees mighn't like power lines, but they seem to generate a lot of electricity themselves. I can't say that I understand all of the abstract below (from researchers at the University of Cambridge and Tel Aviv), but as I understand it pollen grains may be able to jump significant distances to ensure that they land on stigma and not some other part of the flower because of the electrostatic charges

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-90293742234960530782007-10-04T09:40:00.000+01:002007-10-04T09:47:41.291+01:00

The New Zealand Varroa Agency set up in 2005 to try to stop the spread of the varroa mite throughout South Island will close next month. The Agency claims to have established a good biosecurity control model and that the mite has not strayed far from the apiaries it was first identified in South Island. It will consult with Biosecurity New Zealand on border control being transferred to the

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-2430039227022315602007-10-03T09:53:00.001+01:002007-10-03T09:57:46.803+01:00

I thought bees and horses don't mix, but I read of an equestrian beekeeper in a book, Extraordinary Exhibitions by Ricky jay, “which explores a mix of “sensational, scientific, satisfying, silly, and startling attractions ranging from an armless dulcimer player and a singing mouse, to an equestrian bee-keeper and a mermaid.” Can anyone explain?

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-61339573727379961242007-10-03T09:45:00.000+01:002007-10-03T09:50:23.778+01:00

Norfolk Lavender Ltd plans to merge with Gleneagles of Edinburgh. "I will also bee keeping [sic] a close watch on the progress of the fragrances division," said Mr Henry Head, MD of Norfolk Lavender.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-41265151829284443922007-10-02T16:49:00.000+01:002007-10-02T16:58:22.278+01:00

The good ol' Daily Mail (for readers not familiar with the British press, there's a touch of irony in there) suggests that manuka honey might be useful in countering what it calls the kissing disease -- glandular fever.Be aware that honey has just as much of an effect on blood sugar levels as sugar, although I would make an exception in the case of Manuka honey from New Zealand, which has been

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-80947308409922296302007-10-02T12:26:00.000+01:002007-10-02T12:33:02.741+01:00

Slow blogging from me lately as I have been caught up with other activities. But I have been amazed at the response to the bell jar bees. A German beekeeping magazine expects to be featuring the pictures, so I look forward to that.I've had an interesting email from Manuel in Portugal who tells me that as an amateur beekeeper with 100 colonies, he is concerned with the attitude of his government

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-79450332379088461332007-09-17T12:17:00.000+01:002007-09-17T12:28:18.508+01:00

I was saddened to hear that Dr Eva Crane died earlier this month, aged 95. Her obituary is in The Independent, The Times, The New York Times amongst others. She lived in the neighbouring county to me, but I regret being too late to beekeeping never to have heard her speak.Anyone interested in bees and honey should look at her remarkable publishing record:Crane produced more than 180 scientific

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-67673353068913028802007-09-16T12:03:00.000+01:002007-10-08T14:38:58.990+01:00

The 2007 harvest is almost in -- just a bit more heather honey to come and a lot of ivy nectar being gathered which I will certainly not extract as it has the most disgusting taste I have ever encountered from a honey.From an initial six colonies I have extracted something between 400 and 500 lbs (approx 200 kg) of honey. The bees have grown to eight colonies having already united some colonies

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-8021690707437225082007-09-14T11:08:00.000+01:002007-10-08T14:40:28.465+01:00

Lots of nice comments coming in about the bees in the bell jar (via howithappened, boingboing and elsewhere) -- but regular readers might have missed the slideshow of progress over the past couple of months. I see how I can try to help the bees improve the design -- and just this morning was given another bell jar. So roll on next season!

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-72896089527499444762007-09-13T16:21:00.000+01:002007-09-13T19:03:02.301+01:00

With Israeli bee virus being accused of CCD and this week, not an attempt to pin it all on a Spanish virus, Slavik has sent me an interesting, if selective, timeline of the history of bees in the USA. It highlights several episodes of "disappearing bees disease, starting in 1896 and implicitly relating the phenomena to what we might now term biosecurity.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-51059151637489888922007-09-12T14:22:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:49.437Z

The bell jar bees have finished the job -- with one fatality left entombed in gold (second photo). (For progress at each stage, click the bell jar bees keyword.)    

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-11532126238332800302007-09-11T14:28:00.000+01:002007-09-11T14:34:46.735+01:00

First a heard an excess of buzzing in the garden, then smelt honey and then saw rain glistening against the clear blue sky. A swarm was leaving, the smell was honey from the bee poo raining from the outer edges of the swarm. I've never seen or smelt that before.The swarming season should have finished be now, but in my deliberately cramped nucleus hive the bees hadhad enough of the congestion

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-25481468622961089092007-09-06T09:45:00.000+01:002007-09-06T10:01:39.133+01:00

Beehives dating back 3000 years have been found in the ancient city of Rehov in Israel. Thirty intact hives, made of straw and unbaked clay with an entrance for the bees at one end and a lid for beekeepers at the other, were found in orderly, three-high rows in a room that could have accommodated 100 hives.Their location in a city has puzzled experts. They speculate that the city’s ruler might

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-56810912908645738232007-08-16T20:31:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:49.714Z

From a completely different Irish context: "I haven't gone away, you know." But I have been blog-idle. So here's a little update before I depart for another couple of weeks.The bell-jar bees are progressing slowly. But it's not as if there are not enough workers! I'm surprised they can breathe in such a crowded house. Nectar seems to be scarce, but it is dribbling in and being stashed in the

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-90369816083207492892007-08-01T11:56:00.000+01:002007-08-01T12:19:30.450+01:00

Tammy Horn, author of Bees in America, has kindly sent me some additional information about St Gobnat , also spelt St Gobnait, (mentioned in earlier post).Apparently she was Irish, 6th century, and a genuine beekeeper. Her convent was in County Cork, and true to most legends, seemed to have used beehives to prevent thieves from breaking into the convent. In Matrifocus, Cross Quarterly for the

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-1532756020024981892007-07-18T12:50:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:50.003Z

Even though the season is nearly over, the bees continue to work in the bell jar and are now starting to store honey. If you look very carefully in the second picture, you'll see some very peculiar bee legs.  

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-89900312819872435002007-07-13T10:43:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:50.259Z

Steady rather than spectacular progress probably because the weather has not been the best for nectar collection. 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-23956880865580245002007-07-11T16:53:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:50.539Z

Are Northern Ireland's beekeepers going a little over the top with this skep-like structure? No, it's the eleventh night bonfire celebrations of Northern Ireland's loyalist communities as they prepare for the Twelfth of July parades day when Orangemen march to celebrate the defeat of Catholic King James II by Protestant King William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. (We'll quickly

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-47604614236123335712007-07-11T09:44:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:50.749Z

The infrastructure cells are now being constructed to contain the honey. But it is a race against time: I expect the nectar flow to slow down soon and the bees may even be thinking about swarming because this is the last empty part of the hive and they must be feeling a little cramped. 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-24503032126278032602007-07-09T17:38:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:51.085Z

It's day three in the bell jar and the bees are showing considerably more interest in their new home extension. The decoration hasn't really begun -- this is more like the undercoat being applied. They walk around, chewing a bit here and there and generally casing the joint. They still have some comb building to complete in the super below, so no clusters of wax builders have yet appeared in the

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-20024562618329866302007-07-07T20:16:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:51.529Z

It's been a miserable early summer in southern England and with only about ten days of the nectar flow to go, I've at last been able to put the bell jar in place. I've stuck small strips of foundation to the inside of the jar and the idea is that the bees will join the dots and make a pretty picture. So far, so good. Within a few hours, they seem to have accepted the jar as a potential nest

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-68318312910372846102007-06-28T10:36:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:51.712Z

Four new stamps featuring pollination are being issued by the US Post Office tomorrow. Bees, birds, butterflies and bats are all featured pollinating four wildflowers. One look at the bat tells me that Disney must have been involved somewhere in the process. The bees? Maybe they are Apis stylizedus. The stamps were designed by artist Steve Buchanan of Winsted, Connecticut. 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-53514612146672296302007-06-27T16:08:00.000+01:002007-07-24T09:47:52.887+01:00

A high temperature can indicate a fever, but in the case of bees it seems it can be an evolved approach to fighting disease. Tufts University biology Professor Philip Starks and his graduate student researchers are uncovering the secret lives of honeybees and paper wasps:“One of our discoveries has to do with the ability of a colony to mount a group level temperature response to disease,” says

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-41356881887133164352007-06-27T14:45:00.000+01:002007-06-27T15:07:27.122+01:00

The UN sees beekeeping as one of the 170 projects to be encouraged in tackling food security for 20 million people in the Horn of Africa.“We have identified what works best and where. The biggest challenge is to scale up successes to extinguish hunger in the Horn rather than just fighting fires each time one breaks out.” Meantime, beekeeping has hit a problem from bee bargers in another poor area

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-6194990114623825412007-06-26T16:51:00.000+01:002007-06-26T16:54:46.747+01:00

I've received a mysterious email:I do voluntary work two mornings a week at our local Hospice and this morning I found a copy print of an article about your and your bees' splendid work with Propolis. Iwas absolutely astounded. My wife and I are both rapidly approaching the magic figure 70 and are both getting afew twinges of the dreaded A (Alzheimers, I suppose). Is it possible for us to

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-36937351902986087962007-06-26T12:06:00.000+01:002007-06-26T12:15:20.150+01:00

A violin restorer has contacted me looking for raw propolis to use as a ground for violins. Apparently, the story goes something like this:Back in the days of the old master violin makers, 1550–1730, people who kept bees didn't have the hives we have today. They kept their bees in skeps, baskets woven of straw. Each year, in preparation for the honey run, the beekeeper would clean the hive by

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-72550139084728761612007-06-26T12:03:00.000+01:002007-06-26T12:06:10.225+01:00

Wimbledon fortnight has begun, so the weather is grim. My bees are ready to go, with the main nectar flow expected to end about mid-July. But the weather is not good, so nothing is happening .... yet.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-76071674868381743242007-06-19T17:43:00.000+01:002007-06-19T17:48:04.527+01:00

It seems that we are getting closer to the truth about CCD losses in the USA over the past year.A survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America estimates that between 651,000 and 875,000 of the nation's 2.4 million honeybee colonies were lost over last winter. While most losses were from known causes, over one fourth were attributed to CCD.So it seems that the figure might be 8-10% of the total

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-80037609975244398602007-06-19T14:30:00.000+01:002007-06-19T14:37:23.522+01:00

If you are of a gentle or prudish disposition, you may wish to avoid this one:Apparently Mick Jagger has tried lengthening a certain part of his anatomy (clue: not his tongue) by covering it with bees:“It involved putting bamboo over the male member and filling it with stinger bees so the member attained the size of the bamboo,” said (Fitzcarraldo film director) Julien Temple. “Mick spent months

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-61908383436833763622007-06-18T09:45:00.000+01:002007-06-18T09:51:25.540+01:00

A Southampton University (UK) postgraduate student is using a sniffer dog to find bumblebee nests. His supervisor says that finding nests has always been a very tricky part of the research, but he thought that perhaps foxes and badgers, bumblebee predators, found their prey by sniffing. It seems that he could be right as Quinn, a springer spaniel is doing a good job. (Report on BBC Countryfile.)

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-44561925956681431702007-06-15T09:29:00.000+01:002007-06-15T09:55:19.768+01:00

How would you deal with 700 prime swarms a year? Here's a brilliant video from a heather skep apiary in Lower Saxony, Germany. It's a huge skep apiary and the date of the filming is unclear but may be 1979. I've never seen their technique for catching swarms -- essentially a huge sock attached to the skep entrance. The most interesting part starts at about 3 mins 30 sec; the total video is just

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-18639459582523788302007-06-14T15:37:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:52.119Z

My bees were taking time out today to practise for that famous sport of lining up your stripes with the grain on the wood of the hive: 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-6020729882491098952007-06-12T16:07:00.000+01:002007-06-12T16:09:23.521+01:00

Queensland police are to wear beekeeper-like veils in the face of spit attacks from prisoners.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-5766567372411788052007-06-12T14:51:00.000+01:002007-06-12T15:56:44.054+01:00

As most beekeepers know, the queen doesn't actually control her colony, though she appears to react to signals from her workers. Now Andrew Pierce and Stanley Schneider of the University of North Carolina have documented what actually happens -- or at least a later stage in the swarming process:workers use the vibration signal to prepare the queen for swarming by making intrusions into her “court

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-10924480044444019422007-06-12T14:40:00.000+01:002007-06-12T14:45:02.585+01:00

Australia is on high alert for the varroa mite. It's the only major area where honeybees are not yet affected by the mite and they are looking to improve their national sentinel hives program, a network of beehives near ports to ensure early detection of the mite and other pests:... no more than two hives stood sentinel at each site. “At this stage we're the cleanest country in the world for bee

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-45371435346741150502007-06-11T09:35:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:52.722Z

 well well....the cups are again half empty...somebody from the government or the tax department must have been here.....from SlavikWhat are you doing there?Oh, everbody have to be somewhere!courtesy of Bluebottle in The Goons

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-23388677494213441942007-06-11T09:22:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:54.086Z

After rather too long a blogging break, I'm back with a story about a cycle in Oxfordshire today. As a friend and I pedalled around a corner a rather familiar sound hit my ears, followed by a few objects bouncing off my face. We'd run into a swarm of bees about to form in a hedge. This is the first time I've ever accidentally run into a swarm in the countryside. I did see one fly over my office

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-50987603039385933562007-05-13T15:46:00.000+01:002007-05-13T15:50:53.269+01:00

2007 looks like being a bumper year for Californian almonds. Yields are expected to be up 17.5% (worth about $1.3bn in total) while worldwide consumption increases annually at about 5.5%. California supplies 80% of the world's almonds and bees are the key pollinators.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-34203327499145909002007-05-13T15:34:00.000+01:002007-05-13T15:38:20.214+01:00

For an excellent summary of the current suspect causes of CCD, see this release from Cornell associate professor of entomology Nicholas Calderone.“Just like in the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster,” Calderone said, "there are a lot of conflicting and inaccurate reports" circulating in the media. “What we do know is that there are an awful lot of dead bees. We are looking for patterns.”

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-51782493817557444822007-05-08T16:57:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:54.971Z

Cycling across Salisbury Plain this weekend, a ghostly figure caught my eye. Perched on a platform jutting out from the side of a hill overlooking Warminster was a beekeeper with probably the best view in towm. policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /> 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-16744327029331689912007-05-08T13:09:00.000+01:002007-05-08T13:27:04.657+01:00

All quiet on my blogging front for a few days because amongst other things I've been busy extracting -- or trying to extract fast-crytallising oil seed rape honey. I've never extracted so much (healthy bees, too much oil seed rape!) so early in the year (good weather). I'm beginning to sound like a real farmer -- grumbling about the harvest whatever it is. OSR is a pain! As it crystallises, it

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-54014977684634687272007-05-04T23:04:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:55.214Z

A textbook swarm -- hanging up about 20 meters from their original home, geting read to move to a final destination. 

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-38099548125951732232007-05-03T21:56:00.000+01:002007-05-03T22:19:50.326+01:00

A (relatively) new church, the Chapel of St. Ignatius on the Seattle University campus, USA, has its internal walls covered by beeswax.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-71974632604788236772007-05-02T17:30:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:55.368Z

 I clip my queen's wings so that they don't get far if/when they swarm. Swarms in chimneys and elsewhere can be quite anti-social, so I try to make sure that my swarms don't upset the neighbours. Some people object to clipping -- but I see it as the lesser of two evils.Obviously the clipping cannot do the Queens much harm -- if done delicately. This happens to be the only Queen that has stayed

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-41000086688502921672007-05-02T16:48:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:55.529Z

That mating nucleus in my garden has been teasing me for three days. It's just below my office window and six times in the past three days it has attempted to swarm. No, let me correct that -- five times it attempted to swarm, the sixth time it was successful.The fifth attempt ended up in my next door neighbour's garden. But they returned, presumably because the queen decided not to go with them.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-86984223218760070672007-05-01T10:08:00.000+01:002007-05-01T10:12:13.572+01:00

“It's not my fault if people misinterpret our data,” said Kimmel. “Ever since The Independent wrote their article, for which they never called or wrote to us, none of us have been able to do any of our work because all our time has been spent in phone calls and e-mails trying to set things straight. This is a horror story for every researcher to have your study reduced to this. Now we are trying

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-1505264678553414342007-04-30T22:53:00.000+01:002007-04-30T22:53:44.659+01:00

Since CCD hit the news, Toni (a regular reader) is noticing how many people have become more honeybee-aware. Her friends keep pointing out interesting bee news. Like the friend who sent her this link about how honeybees have helped to develop a model for allocating web hosting resources http://www.isye.gatech.edu/eemag/pdfs/20041Spring.pdf.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-71691651765633119942007-04-30T22:49:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:55.987Z

I have four apiaries (just one or two colonies in each), so I thought you'd like to see where they are. They are in little gaps in the woodland in the right of centre of both pictures.  

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-67987670737509247792007-04-30T22:22:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:56.499Z

 How on earth do bees walk with feet like that?

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-1121220806522329852007-04-30T21:57:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:56.793Z

It's big boys' hive time again -- and it's only April! The hive on the right has been snelgroved and has two entrances -- one at the side of large box on top. A few bees in the second picture are confused. The picture is taken from the back of the hives and shows that the six or seven bees on the right clustered up the side of the box have gone to the wrong hive. It's the one on the left which

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-5162695680665299392007-04-30T21:42:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:57.123Z

Either a virgin queen left on a mating flight today or she left with a swarm.Here's the hub-bub at the entrance to the nucleus hive. And below are workers calling in the troops in the aftermath sending their nasinov marker pheromones into the air. I had a similar incident last year, but this season's is two months earlier. We've had an extraordinary spring with average April temperatures 3C above

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-60227222561929499262007-04-27T11:42:00.000+01:002007-04-27T11:47:01.823+01:00

It's early days yet, but there may be a new role for propolis (the sticky substance, not the blog) as a food preserver. In experimental conditions, it's been found that propolis may inhibit the development of the dreaded e-coli. It could be used in ground beef.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-40434440596722697772007-04-26T09:27:00.000+01:002007-04-26T10:51:16.102+01:00

Following the news release (reported below) announcing that CCD may be caused by a virus and a parasite comes the -- ahem -- clarification:But the results are “highly preliminary” and are from only a few hives from Le Grand in Merced County, UCSF biochemist Joe DeRisi said. “We don't want to give anybody the impression that this thing has been solved.”Nonetheless things are looking interesting.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-46779142855203370382007-04-25T23:50:00.000+01:002007-04-25T23:57:43.538+01:00

The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, “the US Army's principal research and development center for chemical and biological defense technology, engineering and services” and the University of California claim to have found both a virus and a parasite that are “likely behind” CCD:Using a new technology called the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS), which was designed for military use to

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-23805951250276524642007-04-25T22:34:00.000+01:002007-04-25T22:43:32.338+01:00

Because I had too many colonies, I gave one away at the weekend. I have Langstroth hives, but the recipient has British National hives (the most common in Britain). So we did a shook swarm -- shaking the bees onto new National foundation -- and tried to ensure that they would take to their new box by adding a frame of National brood. I think all went well at the recipient's end.However, I had a

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-23327516576975652862007-04-24T09:52:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:17:39.261+01:00

The search for the cause of CCD continues and there is some finger-pointing at the neonicotinoid group of chemicals, particularly imidacloprid, a seed treatment commonly used in Europe and the United States, as a possible cause, says the New York Times and others. Imidacloprid is a systemic treatment that finds its way in minute traces into pollen, and, I think, nectar.In the late 1990s, French

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-39832762799146058762007-04-23T22:49:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:17:39.262+01:00

Even US Presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, has called on the US agriculture department (USDA) to respond to the concerns about nationwide honeybee losses.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-49579127326752831732007-04-23T17:10:00.000+01:002007-05-02T22:58:28.435+01:00

 The British countryside is distinctly yellow this spring. It's not because of the dry weather, but because of a substantial increase in the cultivation of oil seed rape (OSR or canola). According to The Guardian, production has gone up 17% this year -- a huge single-year increase that is not expected to decline anytime soon. Thirty years ago, the crop was barely known in Britain. Apparently

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-16557048340469454082007-04-23T13:45:00.000+01:002008-12-10T03:06:57.566Z

Libertiny's “slow prototyping”.With a Little Help of the Bees by Tomas Gabzdil Libertiny of Studio Libertiny is part of Droog’s Smart Deco 2 show in Milan. As I understand it, Libertiny shaped foundation into a vase and let 40,000 bees go to work on it for one week. Thanks to Ivan for pointing this out.

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-60203946231386043122007-04-19T15:52:00.000+01:002007-06-11T11:31:03.829+01:00

Today my bees foiled me (again). Two colonies are super-strong for so early in the year. Last weekend, one colony was putting eggs in queen cells. None of the cells yet contained royal jelly, so there was always the possibility that the queen cells might be aborted before they really started. Since then it has been excellent nectar-gathering weather, so I expected that they might want to swarm

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-41423905490273917212007-04-19T09:17:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:17:39.264+01:00

At last, someone has uncovered the research that led to the press frenzy on mobile phones and bees. An enterprising soul on Bee_L has managed to get links to two papers on the web (in German and in English). He is distinctly underwhelmed. The studies (a pilot study and a follow-up) were actually about electromagnetic fields, especially DECT phones, on the learning ability of bees. It said nothing

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-37107422932885990642007-04-17T08:58:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:17:39.266+01:00

Now that the Day of the Mobile Phones Kills Bees has gone (with headlines in nearly every British national newspaper, but without anyone yet managing to find the research or even quote the researcher), should Propolis start another hare running? Please vote for one of the following and I'll dig up some under publicised academic somewhere to support the thesis:CCD caused by bees copying reality TV

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-14771705126769693472007-04-16T09:16:00.000+01:002007-05-01T12:28:24.192+01:00

The British press has grabbed on to the speculation that mobile phone radiation might be the cause of CCD by affecting bees' navigation. Tabloids and broadheets have joined in: The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Mail and The Sun. The Sun of course overlooks the speculation part: “Mobile phones have wiped out millions of bees, scientists warned last night.”And all because a German

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-40958393552613688602007-04-13T09:55:00.000+01:002007-04-13T10:05:30.528+01:00

I've just come across an old (1994) Time article about President Viktor Yushchenko of the Ukraine. It has an odd opening paragraph:The first thing one notices about the opposition candidate is his face, full of scars and blisters that were absent from his once youthful, handsome visage just six months ago. And though Viktor Yushchenko, 50, raises bees in his spare time, he and his supporters from

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-76197288209984911172007-04-13T08:47:00.000+01:002007-04-24T11:18:17.365+01:00

Varroa may have been found on Oahu in Hawai'i -- samples from three abandoned hives are being sent for confirmation. Entomologists will survey all the Hawai'ian islands for the mites as soon as possible. In recent years, Hawai'ian beekeepers have exported queens on the strong selling point that the island bees have few of the bee diseases prevalent elsewhere in the world.That may leave just

Turloughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00497824768323499215noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6453634.post-43241400407333546182007-04-12T22:14:00.000+01:002007-04-13T22:33:37.506+01:00

Queensland (Australia) beekeepers are concerned about the effects of their ongoing drought on honey production. Some eucalypt trees only flower every two or three years and their cycle seems to be going out of sync. One source said that even with rain, honey supplies wouldn't return to normal until 2009.

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