Please note that this is a corrected version of the February newsletter. There was an error in the Date Savers section of the previous version.
Far North Coast newsletter - January 2021
Far North Coast newsletter - October 2020
October 2020 Newsletter
ABA FNC Beekeepers Presidents Report
Well the bees are certainly buzzing. Ive had reports of swarms from over on the coast. Ive carried out several inspections of the girls over the last few months and boy, have they been packing it away. Its coming in so fast they are not capping the honey, so every hive is bursting with honey.
Checking the brood boxes reveals that most boxes have 6 out of 8 frames, some all 8, are packed with brood. Ive been experimenting with a double brood box, with one super on the top (10 frame) and when I looked it had nearly 20 frames full of brood. I did 3 splits from that 1 hive, taking 9 frames and when I checked again a month later the foundation as fully drawn and had eggs in it.
Will we have a wet summer with all this activity?
Has anyone else noticed that equipment and bee supplies are getting harder to obtain including foundation, pine for supers. Even Bunnings had a shortage of screws. You must think at least 6 months ahead. A few spare boxes and foundation isn’t a waste as you will eventually need it.
A reminder to all new beekeepers, you must register your hives with DPI even if you have only 1 hive. You have a responsibility to inspect for pests and diseases at least 3 times a year and report any findings notifiable pest or disease.
Have you given thought to the keepers of the sentinel hives around our major ports? Thet play a vital role in protecting our industry from exotic pests such as verroa mite and African ‘killer bees’.
Peter Laughton
From the Secretary
Another full month that started with the field day at Robert Stone’s apiary. It was good to see a good roll up, just managed to keep the number down to the legal limit. The feed back was that most enjoyed looking at the bees in the company of other beekeepers.
The next meeting will be a’ Christmas’ morning with the bees at Shirley and Merv McDonald 536 Wardell Road Alstonville. Do not expect to see father Christmas, because he has not been invited. A comment from the grandkids, can I eat my peas with honey, why , it makes them taste funny
Yes but they don’t fall off the knife.
This month’s skills test is rather useful as we are coming into salad season.
Honey Salad Dressing
½ cup macadamia oil
¼ cup of fresh lime juice and some seeds from the finger limes
2 teaspoons of honey to taste
2 cloves crushed garlic
Season with salt and cracked pepper
Mix all ingredients. And pour over a fresh garden salad.
It’s even heathy.
Some useless facts:
in one day up to one thousand worker bees from one colony will die, only to be replaced by the eggs laid by the Queen on that day.
A good working hive will consume 125Kg of honey and 32kg of pollen for its own needs in a year.
Last one… For worker bees to build out full depth sheet of foundation into comb they will need 1.5 kilos of Honey.
If anyone has an article you think is interesting then PLEASE send it to me at farnorthcoast.secretary@beekeeper.asn.au
Next Field Day on 15 November 2020.will be our Christmas meeting.
At Shirley & Merv McDonald.
536 Wardell Road Alstonville. You will need your Bee gear please.
Tea Coffee and nibbles will be provided.
Handy Hints
Queen Rearing Calendar. Just to let you know when to graft and what should be happen after grafting.
| Day No | Week Day | Status/Task |
|---|---|---|
|
Saturday |
||
|
1 |
Sunday |
The egg is laid by the the old Queen |
|
2 |
Monday |
|
|
3 |
Tuesday |
|
|
4 |
Wednesday |
Graft the day-old larvae into cell cups and insert into queen colony |
|
5 |
Thursday |
|
|
6 |
Friday |
Check the grafts the bees should have started to draw out the cells and feed the larvae with royal jelly. If not re graft |
|
7 |
Saturday |
|
|
8 |
Sunday |
|
|
9 |
Monday |
Queen cells are capped |
|
10 |
Tuesday |
Sensitive development phase |
|
11 |
Wednesday |
do not move cells |
|
12 |
Thursday |
gentle when opening the hive |
|
13 |
Friday |
Move the capped queen cells into mating Nucs |
|
14 |
Saturday |
|
|
15 |
Sunday |
|
|
16 |
Monday |
Queens hatch |
|
17 |
Tuesday |
|
|
18 |
Wednesday |
Discard any unhatched cells |
|
19 |
Thursday |
|
|
20 |
Friday |
|
|
21 |
Saturday |
Mating flights |
|
22 |
Sunday |
|
|
23 |
Monday |
|
|
24 |
Tuesday |
|
|
25 |
Wednesday |
|
|
26 |
Thursday |
|
|
27 |
Friday |
|
|
28 |
Saturday |
|
|
29 |
Sunday |
|
|
30 |
Monday |
|
|
31 |
Tuesday |
|
|
32 |
Wednesday |
|
|
33 |
Thursday |
|
|
34 |
Friday |
Check Nuc for eggs |
|
35 |
Saturday |
|
|
36 |
Sunday |
|
|
37 |
Monday |
|
|
38 |
Tuesday |
|
|
39 |
Wednesday |
Check Nuc for Larvae |
|
40 |
Thursday |
Larvae found? If so, the queen is ready |
|
41 |
Friday |
If No Eggs Found Buy New Queen. |
Standard Hygiene Procedures
All Gear used for each inspection should be clean before you start that includes hive tool, smoker, bee brush or air blower, and your own protective gear including gloves.
Honey Supers are best placed on the lid or hive stand not on the ground where they will come into contact with the soil. A spare bucket to put the burr comb or wax removed from the hive, not left on the ground outside the hive for other bees to rob. What comes out of each hive should go back in the same hive, be it boxes frames or stickies do not feed honey back to the bees if they are starving use sugar water.
President. Peter Laughton farnorthcoast.president@beekeepers.asn.au
Secretary. Stephen Fowler farnorthcoast.secretary@beekeepers.asn.au
Treasurer. Robert Stone. farnothcoast.treasurer@beekeepers.asn.au
Membership. Robert Butler farnorthcoast.membership@beekeepers.asn.au
Far North Coast newsletter - September 2020
We have decided that it’s time to get back to the bees and have a meeting. Robert Stone has offered his queen rearing apiary, so we be out in the open. We will still have the responsibility to protect one another therefore, these COVID rules will apply,
Unfortunately, no handshakes hugs or kisses.
Record your name and contact details in the book to allow for contact tracing
Practice social distancing ,1.5 m away from others, feel free to wear mask if you like
Hand sanitizer will be provided please use it.
If you feel unwell or have or have visited a hot spot or been abroad stay at home. Think of others.
A limit on 20 people unless this changes.
Other wise come and enjoy. Get amongst the bees and catch up with old friends
SATURDAY 10 OCTOBER 2020, start at 9am
Address 800 Ellangowan Road, Casino.
Spring is well and truly upon us and with that comes the desire of the bees to swarm. There is an old wives tale or should I say old beekeeper rule that if the red gums flowers early then the it will an early swarms’ season. The number of beekeepers needing boxes to put swarms in I think it must be true. So, if you have not checked your hives yet, it might be prudent to move it to the top of the list.
The meeting next month on10 October will be held at Robert Stones apiary ,just out of casino .We will run through what you need to check in the brood box if you do have a swarm and when its best to introduce a new Queen to try to stop the multi swarming that can happen in some hives.
We all hope to have honey soon so what to do with the capping’s from a small extraction? A low-cost way to make use of those capping’s and end up with clean wax will be demonstrated.
I have been trialling a web-based app for record keeping using a smart phone which some of you might like to use, looks easy will let all know if its Ok.
If there any topics that you would like covered at future meetings put it in a short email and we will see what we can do.
Since our last meeting which seems a long time ago, mainly due to my frequent trips to hospital, we have achieved a trip to Steritech, completed before the price rise came into effect, we have to thank John McKenzie for the use of his time and vehicle to make this possible. That’s another 140 plus boxes ready for spring at a price never to be repeated. Thanks John.
Thank you to Brad Lane and family for the use of his house and garden and for taking us though his hives. All of which proved to healthy and building up for spring. Robert Stone explaining to the newer beekeeper what was happing in the hives and why and what to look for in their own hives. He was helped by the more experience members of the club.
There was also a lot of catching up after with such a long period without a meeting. Later in the month we held the first part of our beginning in bees’ course. The constant rain stopping the first hive inspection. All left looking forward to the second part a week later when the weather was kinder allowing all to get into the hives and see what we had been talking about.
This month’s skills test is rather decadent and was borrowed from the professional Beekeepers’ newsletter. Hope they don’t mind. Still making good use of any honey you may have.
Mocha Honey Cheese cake:
Mocha honey pastry
2 cups plain flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of instant coffee
125g. of butter
½ cup honey
1 small egg
Filling
500g cream cheese
½ cup honey
3 large eggs separated
¼ cup custard powder
2 tablespoons coffee-flavoured liqueur (e.g. Kahlua) (optional)
300g sour cream, whipped
125g dark cooking chocolate melted
Freshly whipped cream and grated chocolate, for serving.
Method
make pastry by sifting dry ingredients into a bowl. Rubin the butter then work beaten honey and egg mixture to form a firm dough.
Wrap mixture in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Roll pastry out and line the lightly buttered base and sides of a deep 25cm loose-bottom flan pan.
Bake pastry shell blind at 200deg C for ten minutes, remove blind weights, pierce the base with a skewer then continue baking at 190deg C for a further 10 minutes. Allow pastry to cool before filling.
To make the filling, beat cream cheese and honey together until smooth and creamy, then beat in the egg yolks, custard powder and liqueur.
Fold in whipped sour cream and stiffly beaten egg whites, then pour the mixture into cool pastry shell and swirl melted chocolate through.
Place cheesecake on a baking tray and bake at 170deg C for 45 minutes.
Allow to cool and set before removing from flan pan. Serve topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.
Another article sent in by our roving reporter Peter Dunn. Thank you, Peter.
If anyone has an article you think is interesting then PLEASE send it to me at farnorthcoast.secretary@beekeeper.asn.au
This article is about the importance of bee venom to cure cancer.
wonder if this works on all cancers?
Services and supplies.
David Fairhall Queens and Queen cells. 0444 513 771.
Robert Stone Queens and Queen cells, Five frame Nucs of bees 0432 277 317.
Merv McDonald Five frame Nucs of Bees. 0439 166 016.
Northern Rivers Beekeeping Supplies contact Stephen and Janet Fowler, all beekeeping supplies (not bees).
We will be taking another load to Steritech soon. To book a spot ring Stephen Fowler 0418 412 621 with the number and size of boxes. Steritech have increased there price but still hope to keep it down to $15 a box for the 15k dose.
Wanted Biosecurity officer.
News Letter Editor.
Committee members (3)
Training and help will be given for all positions. Talk to Peter Laughton at the meeting.
President. Peter Laughton farnorthcoast.president@beekeepers.asn.au
Secretary. Stephen Fowler farnorthcoast.secetary@beekeepers.asn.au
Treasurer. Robert Stone. farnothcoast.treasurer@beekeepers.asn.au
Membership. Robert Butler farnorthcoast.membership@beekeepers.asn.au
Far North Coast newsletter - June 2020
Note from Editor: Date for field day is July 19th . Training days are July 25th & Aug. 31st
Far North Coast newsletter - May 2020
Far North Coast newsletter - March 2020
Far North Coast newsletter - January 2020
Hi Beekeepers,
I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas and New Year.
Our 1st meeting for the year is on the 10th of February at the Lismore Workers club at 6:00pm. We hope you can all attend so we can get 2020 off to a great start, and set out a future program for the club.
Far North Coast newsletter - December 2019
Far North Coast beekeepers Christmas get together
Will be held on December 8th @ Merv and Shirleys place (contact Tanya on 0487598105 if you need the address)
10 am start with lunch at 1:00
Sausages and rissoles provided
Please bring a plate to share and steak if you want steak.
Royal Easter Show Honey Competition
Anyone wanting to enter honey or wax at the Royal Easter Show please contact Stephen Fowler 0418412621
Steritech
A steritech trip will go as soon as we have 3 to 4 pallets please contact Stephen Fowler if you have boxes you wish to send .