BeeLines - November '24

I’ve been renovating a shed near the overhanging branches of an old oak tree. The spot catches the morning sun and, with that begins the lovely quiet sound of bees working ivy flowers. Occasionally you catch the characteristic rich, slightly heavy, aroma of the flowers. It is hard to see the bees, the ivy being high up in the tangle of branches. The sound is, I think, the last communal gathering of nectar and pollen by the bees before we slip into winter.

And as the days shorten and our bees slip into their winter cluster….or do they? That was one of the key questions raised in the last meeting in the presentation by Derek Mitchell on his theoretical research into hive temperatures with a virtual bee colony. The meeting was well attended with approximately 30 members, and has evoked interesting questions: is clustering a stress response? And should the 30,000 plus UK beekeepers be taking Derek’s suggestion to have highly insulated hives made from EPS and PIR? Both oil based materials that are difficult to recycle and, as is now becoming evident, a potential source of contaminating microplastic particles. And if we don’t follow this suggestion is there a welfare issue that beekeepers are being cruel to bees?

As a number of articles in beekeeping magazines have pointed-out, these are controversial suggestions. One article in BBKA News October 2024, The British Beekeepers’ Association Journal, is by Dr David Wilkinson, who states he has kept bees for over 50 years and has also studied them as a scientist. He titles his article, “Is using wooden hives cruel?”. Over three pages David considers, “Is cold stressing the bees?; does evolution support the argument?; should we believe his model?” plus more considerations such as ‘how much insulation? apertures in hives; what works for his bees. He also says, “I suggest that words like ‘stress’ and ‘cruel’ are best left for a different type of research. It is a mistake to over-anthropomorphise”. He concludes, “Assessing the evidence I’ve seen so far, I’m not about to change from my simple, wooden-hive system; but I will remain open-minded. Happy, guilt-free beekeeping”.

It is good to have an open mind. As I said to Derek in the meeting, we have been monitoring hive temperatures for 14 years - in a limited and amateur way maybe, but with high quality sensors and data that posts every minute. So, we’ve decided to super insulate this hive for the winter. Will the bees cluster or will they not cluster? Place your bets!

Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a present for a beekeeper? The idea is a torch that is excellent for helping to spot eggs on brood frames. For some years we have used a small, relatively inexpensive, torch. It has proved useful but not quite good enough. The torch we have in mind is a very bright, single diode torch sold for ‘inspection use’. We got the idea from Holly Pinkney, our new SBI mentioned in the October BeeLines. Holly used it when inspecting our hives to locate some quite small patches of eggs. The torch is made by AP (Active Products) with reference A50893: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AP-Lumens-Aluminium-Torch-3AAA/dp/B00A780UU0/

We mentioned in August BeeLines that we were contributing bee samples to a European wide INSIGNIA-EU project researching honey bee diversity patterns. We await the results of our individual samples, but have received two posters presented at the recent EurBee Conference held in Estonia. The UK samples are part of a sampling programme already taken from 315 apiaries in 27 EU countries. The preliminary results are from Norman Carreck, former Science Director of IBRA [International Bee Research Association]:

https://beemonitor.org/2024/11/10/preliminary-results-of-europe-wide-research-on-honey-bee-diversity-insignia-eu-project/

In summary, focusing on the relevance to the local bees that are mainly kept by LLEBKA members; from the pie-chart information on the distribution maps, it is clear that the native Northern European honey bee (Amm - Apis mellifera mellifera - the M-lineage and, for example, our native or near native dark Welsh honey bee) is mainly restricted to the western areas of Europe, i.e. in Great Britain, the Iberian peninsula, and with a concentration in Ireland. In most of the other Western European countries C-lineage bees, native to Eastern and Southern Europe, have been introduced and largely replace Amm. Well-known C-lineage subspecies are Apis mellifera carnica (‘Carnies’) and Apis mellifera ligustica (‘yellow’ Italian bees). This detailed research highlights the significance and importance of locally adapted dark bees that we know are genetically very near to Apis mellifera mellifera.

While discussing the subspecies of honey bees it may be of interest to remind ourselves about Buckfast bees. These are not a specific subspecies; they are a hybridised cross, bred commonly, between a dark Northern European bee and a light coloured Italian bee. The breeding is largely commercial, not standardised, and can contain the genetics of other subspecies. Buckfast bees are no longer bred at Buckfast Abbey; to learn more do watch the excellent Youtube video ‘Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey - Past and Present’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tg6zXh0hqw. The video by the two beekeepers now keeping bees at the Abbey is really good and explains all about Buckfast bees - and why they now keep locally adapted Devon bees at Buckfast Abbey!

Hive weights - a number of us decided to weigh hives on 1st October enabling a ‘weight change’ to be known with a second weighing on 1st November. We have weighed seven hives and all had gained weight during the month. The average gain for the seven was 2kg exactly; the biggest gain was 4.33kg; the smallest 0.19kg. Our judgment suggests the biggest gain corresponded with the larger colonies. What weight change, we wonder, will occur during December?

If you have comments, information, a bee story or tips you would like to share with members please let us know and I will include them in BeeLines.