Apiary Diary 2023

[John B]

Unknown frames lodged against fences must be a risk surely John? Same issue here in Gisborne but a landfill operator has very kindly offered a deep bury of frames

Of course they are a risk but is very debatable whether that small risk makes it legal to burn them. The burning of any plastic whether AFB infected or not is debatable from a legal point of view and one day someone will get really annoyed with that toxic smoke and challenge it in court where the outcome will by no means be certain.We are potentially talking about the gear from thousands of hives here and I think deep burial is a much better option. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think deep burial in a safe site is probably a good idea for all AFB and potential AFB gear.
Radical idea I know but just remember that we burn AFB hives in a hole now because honey doesn't burn and burying remnants keeps bees away from it. Times have changed and we now have great big diggers that can do great big holes in a few minutes .I wonder which is the bigger risk, a hive buried 5 m deep or kilos of unburned honey in the shallow grave that I can dig in my rockhard soil around here.

 

[John B]

"...the Easter storm at Paeroa over 40 years ago." I remember Theras Broadley, commercial bkpr, who had bees all around Paeroa and Thames talking about how many of his hives were completely submerged or floated away. He said the yards had been fine for all of his beekeeping, and suddenly they weren't.

Our bees were on the side of the river that didn't break and those hives that did flood mostly only had clean water up to the top of the bottom brood box so we didn't lose too many although we did lose 50 hives from one site where the stream eroded the bank from underneath them. It was a catastrophic flood but nowhere near as widespread as this last one.
We had major thunderstorms today with heavy rain along with hail and a palm tree in Hastings set on fire by lightning. Maybe Bishop Brian is right . I will have to amend my ways.

 

[southbee]

Challenges eh .... don't yah just love a challenge. Gets you outta the pit on n a morning.
This week seems to have seen a few of them.
The one of note is that the Big MAN is out of action after it suffered a dislocated rear differential.
The Big MAN can haul almost 300 boxes back from the coast in one hit. We are reduced to olde favorite Beani Bee which has a payload of 96 boxes.
It is what it is.
But the biggest challenge is the bills that keep rolling in .....
I had a chat with me old mate 'The Doc ' tonight .... Doc Speights.

It kinda went like this ....

"Doc , I been plagued with breakdowns lately and the bills just keep rolling in. True, I 'aint been to church for a while to ask for forgiveness for my cussing and swearing .... but....
The Honey Hummer crapped out and I sent it to the fix it shop and they charged me $180/hr to fix a f'up that they created at the last service. Then the honey lift pump crpped out and the engineer chraged me $1200 to fix a pump that I only paid $200 for a lifetime ago.
And then i got slammed with the Big MAN's dislocated back difeerential and the fix it man quoted me 30k to pop it all back into place.
Hows a bloke supposed to make a dollar in this tough game?

Old mate Doc looked me crooked in the eye ..... Jesse James..... you 'aint her to make a dollar. You are here to provide sustenance for the great unwashed , and will recieve your reward in Heaven!

Old Doc was always pretty philosophical .... too much weed and Dylan...

Mama take this badge off me
I can't use it any more
Gettin dark, too dark to see
Feel like I'm knockin on heavens door...

Knock knock knockin on Heavens door.

'Look on the flip side' , said the Doc..... 'only 42 sleeps on you'll be on that big Sky Waka wingin it to some spring sun and yanking that Triumph Tiger's tail back into life and hitting the road again.
Sticky side down ...eh !'

He's a good Man, my mate Doc.

If it helps, you just made me smile and laugh and I looked at my rum and felt better knowing there's James out there having a friendly chat with his doc. Bills keep coming in all the time, seems you've been hard hit there lately......wish a beekeeper could charge $180/h!!!! But tomorrow morning it's only 41 sleeps to go for you and that's something to focus on!!!! Looking forward to hear from your travels, cheers.

 

[James]

Of course they are a risk but is very debatable whether that small risk makes it legal to burn them. The burning of any plastic whether AFB infected or not is debatable from a legal point of view and one day someone will get really annoyed with that toxic smoke and challenge it in court where the outcome will by no means be certain.We are potentially talking about the gear from thousands of hives here and I think deep burial is a much better option. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think deep burial in a safe site is probably a good idea for all AFB and potential AFB gear.
Radical idea I know but just remember that we burn AFB hives in a hole now because honey doesn't burn and burying remnants keeps bees away from it. Times have changed and we now have great big diggers that can do great big holes in a few minutes .I wonder which is the bigger risk, a hive buried 5 m deep or kilos of unburned honey in the shallow grave that I can dig in my rockhard soil around here.

I dunno John , I've had some pretty good bonfires started with old combs.... honey and wax.
Plastic combs .... NZ BeesWax clean plastic combs .... the tech could be tweaked to wash and sterilise AFB, but I guess it all comes down to cost and are we prepared to pay to be Green ?

 

[Maggie]

I dunno John , I've had some pretty good bonfires started with old combs.... honey and wax.
Plastic combs .... NZ BeesWax clean plastic combs .... the tech could be tweaked to wash and sterilise AFB, but I guess it all comes down to cost and are we prepared to pay to be Green ?

When I queried a commercial beekeeper who had burnt hives with plastic frames, I was told black smoke was not a problem because they had prepared a very hot base. The issue was only with one apiary. Large hot base was not an fire issue in their neck of the woods.

Another stated that black smoke was not an issue, because they always chose the darkest night to burn!!!!!