Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers

It is always a pleasure attending these conferences, meeting and greeting friends and brethren in the craft. Perhaps I should include here sisters as well, for I am sure the reader will have noticed a marked increase in the number of ladies taking up the craft. It breaks my heart to have to say this, but bye and large, they make better, gentler, more tolerant beekeepers than us macho men; if only this would only carry over into domestic life.
The bit-of-a-do got off to a flying start by the Chairman Michael Young, in his multi-coloured waistcoat, giving a brief run-down of the Institute’s activities throughout the past twelve months. He then presented our president Mr. Bill Turnbill with the gaudiest waistcoat I have ever seen. The president, with his usual alacrity, gave a brief report; perhaps I should say description, of his past year’s beekeeping. As I understand it, he is building some sort of monument, tower of Babel or other edifice in the middle of his kitchen floor, from supers full of granulated honey. I am not one to pour cold water on his efforts, but I think it only fair to advise that he prepare himself for a little recalcitrance from another quarter, so gird your loins William and prepare for defeat.

The first lecturer of the day was our well esteemed friend from over the big pond, Mr. Kim Flottum, Editor of America’s premier Beekeeping publication, “Bee culture Magazine”. The lecture, entitled “Beekeeping without Chemicals” was, quite honestly, eye-opening. He listed the chemicals at present in use in the USA; unfortunately it is out with the scope of this article to list them.
Kim reported on the efforts, the trials and tribulations of present day beekeeping in USA, his findings when working with Russian bee strains, which were good to work with, quick to react to honey flows, extremely hardy and wintered well. He reported on their Varroa tolerance and the results of his (“Live and let Die” with a wee bit of help) experiments he was conducting. It would seem that the bees can survive and even flourish in the presence of these mites of Hell.
Kim advised vigilance in examining hives, in particular close examination for the new nightmare for beekeepers, Nosema Cerannae. He postulated that this could well be the reason for the CCD epidemic. Just to cheer us all up he spread his cloak of despair to cover American Foul Brood, advising destruction absolute in all cases.
Then, to really ice the cake, he reported that the systemic pesticides now in universal use, were being used with scant regard for bee health and causing 15% queen losses.
This was, in all probability, the most important lecture I have heard for many years. A quick break for coffee and wee bun, was most welcome at this point.

The next speaker was Malcolm Blake of Somerset BKA; Malcolm is married to Sharon, editor of the British Beekeepers’ Association News.
This master Beekeeper laid out the impact on the quality of the honey crop, by the weather affecting the nectar flow and the bees. The weather dictates the honey flow, thus beyond our control, but the bees we can do something about. He then laid out, in layman’s terms the mathematics of the hive, the cell availability for worker bees, the spacing and the hive size. When he explained how the beekeeper should and could increase the available laying space for worker brood cells, all of us could see how simple and important it was to reduce or eradicate redundant drone cells thus increasing available worker cells by 20/30%. He then went on to lay out the case for changing foundation in the brood chamber on a three year cycle, with a simple method of marking when frames have been changed. This was an important lecture for practical beekeepers and I assume, if he hasn’t he should, publish this in his magazine.

Mr. Williamson, of DARD gave his report on Bee Health in the Province, reporting that EFB was virulent in Southern England, whilst N.Ireland was more inclined to the AFB, both of which it is compulsory to report discovery of. Seventeen apiaries in the Province had been inspected and 20 hives destroyed for AFB presence.
He reported on honey prices and the new Honey Strategy being introduced by DARD We are all agog to find out what this will cost us.

Lunch After a rather nice lunch, Malcolm Blake gave his second lecture entitled “Beespace”. I couldn’t, for the life of me, think what this was going to be all about, for I thought I knew all there was to know about beespace. I was wrong. No matter what size the beekeeper makes the beespace, if it does not suit the bees they will make it to what they want, either by building up or cementing over. The secret is to know what the tolerated beespace is and design this in to suit both the bee and the beekeeper. The size must be relative to purpose, i.e. half an inch in brood rearing area and a quarter inch in the honey super.
The talk then advanced to hive design and especially the pros and cons for top bee space versus bottom bee space, with relative merits of excluder design to suit both systems. This subject caused a lot of argumental discussion during the later coffee break, with everyone believing that their own was the one for them.

Andrew Gibb the chairman of BeeCraft Magazine gave a brief promo for his magazine and gave a lot of valuable information on the publications available for beekeepers, experienced and novice, and where or how to obtain them.

Our good friend Kim Flottum now took the floor for the final lecture of the conference and what a lecture. “Producing and Marketing Honey”. The difference between Varietal and Artisan honey was explained (Mono v. Mixed Honey). He talked in honey quantities and crops we can only dream about i.e.: 20,000 acres of blue berries, a million and a half hives going to fertilise the almonds of California; all this with pictures too. He emphasised the importance of good, accurate record keeping, and accurate recording/labelling of honey for sale. He then launched into what he called Creative Advertising. This has made millionaires of some beekeepers. It is based on the telling of the truth about your honey, only doing it with pizzazz, that’s all.

The Honey Show prize presentation was next and if you want to know the results see INIB Website. Prizes were presented by our president and the beekeeper of the Year presentation went to Robert Ditty, a well deserved accolade for a truly gentle man. The chairman then organised all the photo shoots and presented the speakers with a wee something to remember us all by. As we all began to make our way to the ice-cream bistro the unearthly skirl of bagpipes firing up was heard and in marched the redoubtable Cecil McMullan at full blast. Cameras flashed everywhere and it is with regret that I had forgotten to bring my own. What is it about the bagpipe music that sets our hearts beating that bit faster? Deep, deep in our psyche there must still linger the call of Scotia.
Finally, we all said our farewells to friends, new and old, as we polished off the ice-cream, promising to meet next year for an even better conference.
Our president, still in his waistcoat of many colours, sent us all home with the INIB blessing. That really was a glorious, glorious waistcoat.