University Student looking for advice/info

[HM Honey]

Hi all

The other day, I was contacted by a guy studying at Uni. He is planning to do a paper on bee keepers and beekeeping and wants some info and to be present when I inspect the hives. I put him in touch with my local bka and explained the problems with the current weather. He has responded with the following question but I just dont feel like I am experienced enough to give an answer so wanted to get opinions from others on the forum. His email is below and any contributions would be appreciated:

Hi Marc,

Thanks for your quick and helpful reply!

I completely understand the difficulties with the weather, and it doesn't sound like it is going to get much better for at least the next few weeks either. I always knew when I started this project that force majeure might 'throw a cog in the works'. It's just something that I am going to have to work around due to my deadlines and try to make the best of a bad situation. It sounds as though it's a far worse situation for you guys and all of the bees still surviving out there!

I may actually write an article about how the weather is affecting bees and beekeepers. From your point of view, would you say that this is a particularly tough winter? Do you feel that there is reason to be concerned and that there is a story to be told from your perspective due to these recent long winters and Qodd unseasonal seasons we've had?

I've just emailed David Barrett, so thanks for providing me with those details.

Cheers,

Phil Dawson

 

[For want of a better word]

If it is a BSc Honours dissertation then he would have a University year to complete it in
A Masters would of course be a different matter
If it is an MPhil / MRes or PHd ... then I would like to know where funding is coming from... anyone out there got a spare £250,000 ++ for bench fees?

 

[Moggs]

Generally, healthy, strong colonies will tough it out. There can be little doubt that this winter has added to the problems caused by an abysmally poor season last year. We are about to find out about the cumulative affects of poor forage caused by poor weather, potentially poorly mated queens last year, a harsh winter to add insult to injury, possible starvation, etc.

Bees are resilient insects, after all, they shrugged off temperatures of -17C at my apiary last year. I am worried about the overall effect of so many adverse situations on weakened bees. I anticipate losses - those relatively weaker colonies and nucs that may have been better united in autumn

But there is hope. Stronger colonies appear to be waiting patiently for the first signs of spring and these will be quick to get on with it.

Yes, they're having a very hard time. Hard enough to test the most resilient.

 

[HM Honey]

Thanks Mogg, I wil send him a copy of your post. I think he will find it very helpful.

 

[richardbees]

Who's David Barrett?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Who's David Barrett?

google says chairman of Leeds BKA

 

[richardbees]

Thank you, MM

There we go then, problem sorted!

 

[Chris B]

It's been a cold winter but I'm of the opinion it's actually last summer which is the real problem. I think we'd have seen problems very similar even if the winter had been more favourable.

 

[Little John]

It's been a cold winter but I'm of the opinion it's actually last summer which is the real problem. I think we'd have seen problems very similar even if the winter had been more favourable.

I think it was three things in succession: an appalling summer, followed by a warm December/ January which kept the hives awake, scoffing whatever stores they had, followed by this period of persistent low temperatures which haven't allowed the bees to forage - not that I think there's very much forage out there, even if they could fly.

LJ

 

[pargyle]

Not to mention the damp .... cold they can live with but cold and wet ... not good.

 

[Finman]

It's been a cold winter but I'm of the opinion it's actually last summer which is the real problem. I think we'd have seen problems very similar even if the winter had been more favourable.

that is true. UK is not a cold country. Temps are seldom under zero.

Bees need good pollen nutrition in late summer to be good winterers. A big winter cluster helps colonies to survive.

important are pollen stores in hives . Apis mellifera has a surviving strategy. They store pollen for bad days and for bad weeks. stores for a months? That is difficult or even impossible.

guys here in forum write that bees get every week fresh pollen from nature. That is a big nonsense. When I read how small are colonies what guys try to over winter, it tells that summer has not been good, and how in heck bees get pollen in winter if they do not get it in summer?

 

[OXFORDBEE]

There's been a lot of late flowering Kale planted here as game cover. The plants were in flower until the tail end of December. Late pollen availability and winter feeding encouraged colonies to rear bood late into the season.

There were quite a few colonies that stopped rearing brood in August due to the poor weather. So, there must be quite a few overwintered colonies dwindling due to the combination of a large number of late summer bees and an extended period of minimal brood rearing due to the weather...

 

[farbee]

If it is a BSc Honours dissertation then he would have a University year to complete it in
A Masters would of course be a different matter
If it is an MPhil / MRes or PHd ... then I would like to know where funding is coming from... anyone out there got a spare £250,000 ++ for bench fees?

If this was a research degree it would be on the cheap. Would only cost the stipend for the student and some paper & ink. Bench fee would not be needed as no experiment seem to be proposed . Not really proper research in my view

 

[thorn]

If this was a research degree it would be on the cheap. Would only cost the stipend for the student and some paper & ink. Bench fee would not be needed as no experiment seem to be proposed . Not really proper research in my view

That bigoted vegan comes on and we try to help. No-one attacks his views. But here we have a genuine student and what happens? We start questioning his research, presumably as a way of attacking the education system generally. If you have doubts about what he's doing, pm him and find out more about his project. Otherwise, let's try to be helpful.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Otherwise, let's try to be helpful.

I can quote some of the old boys from the local BKA who have 40+ years of beekeeping under their belts. They said that 2009-2010 was poor, 2010-2011 was the worst year ever, and that 2011-2012 was worse than that. Average yields last year were the lowest they've ever known.

Last year there was a hot early spring, which encouraged the bees to do what they do in warm weather, then it turned wet and quite cold. The bees could have coped with cooler dry weather, but the incessant rain meant they couldn't fly for food, and virgin queens couldn't get properly mated. (It rained almost continuously for several months. Vegetables rotted in the ground and some trees drowned. The ground is still waterlogged, new rain runs across the surface rather than soaking in.)

Members of my BKA were talking about higher than 'average' queen losses late last year and were, then, predicting a higher than average number of drone layers showing early this season. Some of the most experienced had lost colonies by the beginning of December - earlier than usual. Add to that mix this current prolonged cold spell, low stores and winter bees dying off, so the next few weeks could be quite telling, and could be quite calamitous.