A weather forecaster today (8th February) was heard to refer to our weather as being “rather mixed up”; an understatement if ever there was one. We have had everything possible thrown at us since my last Newsletter including, for the first time in our 23 years here, a blocked access road some one metre deep in snow. However, it must be said that apart from three or four days of real winter, we have had the mildest winter on record. In daily temperatures of 8/120C the bees are flying as though there is no tomorrow and bringing in large loads of what may be hazel pollen. They are clearly consuming food as the cappings can be seen where they fall through the mesh floors onto the concrete below.

I see in the number 75 issue of The Beekeepers Quarterly that there is a ‘new’ design of floor using tubes beneath each brood frame, discretely spaced to prevent the bees getting out between them, but ensuring that varroa mites will fall through on to the ground and be unable to return. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that varroa mites do ‘fall’ off their host and any device that prevents them crawling back must be useful. The ‘new’ design of floor does not have wire mesh, but bottom ventilation is still provided by the spaces between the tubes and debris from the frame cappings should fall through. ‘Plastic’ tubes are used which would not be too expensive or difficult if you wish to make your own.
I mention mites ‘falling’ off the bees and those of you who check for mites using paper inserts will frequently see that live mites do fall. Why are they there, have they ‘fallen’ or were they ‘pushed’, for there is some signs of bees beginning to clean mites off themselves or off each other. It may be a coincidence that this month we have received an article from John Dews of Whitby who has been studying the effect of varroa on bees for many years. He has concluded that bees may be ‘beginning’ to find their own way of dealing with varroa. This is not surprising for if bees are to survive as a species, in the long term they must adapt to the threat of varroa themselves or die out completely. It is the feral colonies, free from the interference of beekeepers, that will adapt first. There does seem to be evidence of the odd feral colony that is still alive after ten years of living with varroa all round them. (There was a feral colony living in a chimney close to here as recent as last autumn; it remains to be seen if they have survived this winter). John Dew’s article once more stresses the importance of Thymol rather than ‘hard’ chemicals, and he illustrates a ‘new’ method of administering it using a very simple frame that we could all make ourselves. This does not free us from the need to examine our bees for varroa or, for those who use ‘hard’ chemicals exclusively, testing for resistance to them. Those of us who use a combination of both methods of treatment may begin to think in terms of using Thymol based treatments more and more and hard chemicals less and less.

I am ‘squeezing’ the following into the Newsletter after receiving a notice from DEFRA on the 13th February regarding Pyrethroid Resistant Mites:- DEFRA are inviting all CBKA Members to an ‘Integrated Pest Management Day’ at Houghall College, Durham on Saturday the 6th of March, starting at 10-30am.
They state “that due to the inevitable spread of resistant mites, Bayvarol and Apistan will be of no use and our bees will die out”.
The workshop intends to give folks an insight into how to identify resistant mites and the techniques to control them. The day will be run by Ian Molyneux, David Kemp, local Seasonal Bees Officers and experienced beekeepers.
The workshop will focus on:-
*The use / application of Apiguard
*Mesh / ventilated varroa floors
*Drone brood culling
*NBU and ‘Bettsville’ Pyrethroid resistance test
*Queen cage trapping
There is no charge but as it’s on a Saturday catering may prove difficult so we are advised to take food with us, though tea and coffee will be provided.
There is “no limit to the numbers” with folks invited from all over the North. I will have spare seats in my car if anyone wishes to come with me.

Once again National Honey Week (10th / 15th February) has passed us by and there’s been no mention of it. There was no evidence of the new Tesco store close to here promoting it and I have not heard any mention of it on radio or television. Those of you who can should look up www.honeyassociation.com/index.htm for a very interesting article not only about honey but many other facts I bet you didn’t know. I can’t understand why the British Honey Packers Association don’t make it more public but each year has always been the same, very low key indeed.

I have had the usual spate of ‘phone calls at this time of the year when folks get upset about seeing dead bees in front of their hives. It must be remembered that a colony of bees goes into winter (early September) with about 60,000 live bees and emerges from winter (end of March) with about 10,000 live bees. 50,000 bees will have disappeared from your hive during that 7 months, and most will have disappeared during February and March. That’s an average of approximately 7,000 per month and you only see a few of them, but it looks a lot. You may also see signs of faeces round the entrance; in their desperation to get out to defecate the bees sometimes leave spots just round the entrance but it usually nothing to get too concerned about. When you get round to ‘spring cleaning’ always clean up any faeces left by the bees near the entrance before they try to clean it themselves, for it is yet another possible source of disease.

At the CBKA Committee meeting held on the 2nd of February Jill Hodgeson accepted the position of Publicity Officer. Publicity is important as a means of letting the public know we exist and in the long run to recruit new members.
We also decided to take part in two outside events this year, the first on the 25th of April at Hartlepool and the second on the 12th of August at Guisborough Priory. We are looking for volunteers to help on each day. Please offer to help.

So far four people have decided to take the Basic Exam; it will take place on Friday 23rd of July with the practice night on Friday the 16th. If anyone else wishes to have a go please let me know.

We have received copies of the Whitby BKA Programme and once again we are invited to any of their meetings. Briefly they are:-
- 9th March, The Art of Supering, at the Rifle Club.
- 25th April, Spring Assessment, at Egton Bridge.
- 23rd May, Artificial Swarming, at Lealholm.
- 23rd June, Breeding for the Heather, at Lealholm.
- 25th July, Moving to the Heather, at Dalehouse.
- 22nd August, Heather Harvest, on Roxby Moor.
- 12th September, Winter Preparation, at Iburndale.
For further details please see Ian or myself.

Whitby BKA are sponsoring the YBKA Annual Honey Show as part of the Egton Show this year. We have received the following plea from their Secretary, “I would be extremely grateful if you would encourage your members to support our efforts on the 25th of August by entering honey and wax for the Yorkshire Honey Show at Egton”.
There is also the YBKA Annual Field Day sponsored this year by Richmond BKA. It will be held at Foxglove Covert which is part of the Catterick army base. Numbers are limited and will be by permit only. If you wish to go see Ian Brown.

I wonder how many of you are aware of the New Honey Regulations which came into force in September last year. This is an extract from Thorne’s Web-site:-
“UK HONEY LABELLING REGULATIONS.
Below is our simple advice on honey labelling. For more detailed information - go to the website of the Food Standards Agency.
1. The Word "HONEY" is required.
2. The weight must be on the label - we will ensure it is the legal size and format.
3. You can specify the area where the honey is produced. For example, Lincolnshire, Forest of Dean, Scottish Borders.
4. You can specify the type of honey. For example, Heather, Borage. The honey must be at least 75% of that particular type.
5. If you are selling the honey, you must have your name and address on the label. It does not need to be complete but you should be able to be found from the information.
6. If you are selling the honey through a third party, you must have a lot number.
7. New for 2003 You must have a best before date on the jar. We suggest 2-5 years from now.
8. New for 2003 You must have a country of origin on the jar. For example - Produce of England, Product of Scotland, Harvested in Wales. Adding the country to the end of your address is not acceptable”.
I also notice that there seems to be a new lower limit for HMF but it should not worry most of us so long as we don’t overheat our honey.
Kindest regards to you all,

Kindest regards to you all,
Bryan Hateley