A sweet treat

Published 16 Mar 2010 15:15

AS the Winter slips into early Spring, beekeepers in the Clyde area are now beginning to count the cost of this particularly cold hard Winter.

Many colonies, despite the continuous cold in December, January and February, survived but in a weakened state, some with dangerously low population levels.

The recent night after night of hard frost in March, as low as -5C has taken its toll on many of these weakened survivors and at present colony losses are running at between at around 40 to 50 per cent - a few beekeepers have already lost all of their colonies.

But the losses, although severe, are less than the catastrophic losses expected.

The good news, though, is that now that day temperatures are becoming warmer, bee breeders in West and East Dunbartonshire are beginning to feed the bees with the much appreciated sugar gifted in a magnificent gesture of support for the honey bee.

The gifted sugar presently amounts to around 400kg, with more donations expected before the present West Dunbartonshire 'Sugar Project' ends in late April.

These surviving colonies will be fed heavily using the gifted sugar, combined with the beekeepers' normal sugar feeding input during the Spring and early Summer, to boost hive population levels to encourage the bees to develop to swarming strength as early in the Summer as possible.

These stimulated swarms will be used to supply bees to beekeepers who lost bees in the past Winter.

Despite the considerable Winter losses, beekeepers are optimistic that with a reasonable Summer by feeding the bees heavily as planned, this will result in many more foraging bees gathering pollen, which bees need to produce new young bees.

The steady sugar feeding encouraged more bees to gather pollen and this will stimulate an increase in egg laying by the queen bee.

This will bring rapid colony growth, which in turn will allow the beekeepers to rear new young queen bees and make more colonies and by dividing the strong colonies into two or three smaller colonies, called nucleus colonies, the new queens can be introduced.

By feeding steadily these new colonies will grow rapidly to a size which will carry them through next Winter.

Properly managed, in a reasonable Summer - not too wet, not too windy, not too cold and with even just two or three really good, bright sunny, windless and warm days each week during April, May, June July and August - we can get the job done.

The best case scenario could result in the present surviving colony numbers being trebled - even in a Summer like the past two, the numbers could be doubled.

The hope is that despite the present sugar project ending in April, Dunbartonshire communities will again rally to the aid of the bees if they are still in crisis at end of the Autumn this year.

So that come another unfavourable Summer at least the bees can enter the Winter period well fed and in good condition.

Given two reasonable Summers back to back the Bee Breeders Group is confident that by late Summer 2011 the honey bee population in Dunbartonshire could be well on the way to recovery, especially if the wild Varroa tolerant colonies have survived the severe Winter just past.

The mood is optimistic and the breeding group is raring to go to make the best use of the coming Summer.

The Government has no funding for beekeepers to arrest the present honey bee colony decline.

The communities of council of West and East Dunbartonshire, in supporting the sugar project, have performed a remarkable act, which could stimulate other councils in Scotland to follow suit and hopefully stimulate a Scotland wide honey bee revival.

Eric McArthur, Dalmuir

Tweet

This letter appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 16 Mar 10

Follow @dumbartonreport

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Opinion archives.