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Inaugural Meeting of Galtee Bee Breeding Group |
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Inaugural Meeting of Galtee Bee Breeding Group |
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Present were John Carrigan, Redmond Williams, David Lee, and Ml. Mac Giolla Coda. The main purpose of the meeting was the formation of the Galtee Bee Breeding Group. Discussions took place on the procedures to be adopted in the improvement of the bees of the area, methods of queen rearing, colony evaluation, recording of behaviour assessments, and morphometry. Maps of the area involved in member's beekeeping activities were drawn up and the location of members apiaries were marked on them. The location of other beekeepers apiaries where known would also be recorded on 1\2 inch O.S. maps, the location of all known wild colonies was also to be pinpointed on these maps. For the 1992 season it was decided to use those colonies for queen and drone production which had been evaluated and selected during the previous three years. |
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The "Dun Aonghusa System" of queen mating was discussed a "semi isolated" site was selected for the main mating apiary. Colonies within the 2, 4, and 6 mile guard rings of this apiary have been progressively requeened in previous years or have come up to satisfactory standards of behaviour, performance, etc. It was. decided to make queens freely available to non members within the monostrain area with the object of requeening their aggressive or otherwise undesirable colonies, provided we would be allowed to kill the old queens thus preventing the further production of undesirable drones. It was also decided to endeavour to carry out an evaluation of non-members bees during the season where possible and to seek the co-operation of other beekeepers in the area for the bee improvement project. |
Provisional Rules and Guidelines.
SELECTION AND BREEDING PROGRAMME - YEAR ONE, 1992.
Select up to 20 breeder queens from 4 unrelated lines, viz... BK6/90, GRl/89, DR7/91 and
SRI0/91. These lines have been evaluated and selected over a period of 1 to 3 years and
possess a sufficiently high standard of performance and behaviour.
Establish an isolated mating apiary on the Galtees with at least six drone colonies, headed by six sister or closely related 1991 queens of the most docile line, i.e. BK6/90.
Further breeding material may be selected, provided the records show that the required standards have been reached for the characteristics being evaluated , or by mutual agreement following group assessment in the field.
Any material selected for the breeding project must be subject to confirmation of racial purity through morphometric examination. Results of Such assessments must conform to standards prescribed for the Dark European Bee by Prof. Ruttner.
Queens of colonies with undesirable traits in the area should be replaced as soon as possible with progeny of the chosen breeder queens.
Undesirable drone brood should be eliminated as early as possible so as to reduce their influence on the queens being mated. Where possible every effort should be made to replace Such drone brood with brood from more desirable stock. This would help to flood the area with the desired drones, which in turn would help to speed up the monostraining of the entire locality.
About 25 Apidea mating hives were on hand plus about 20 homemade double mating nucs which require some modification. Members would make some BIBBA mini-nucs according to specifications received from Jim Ryan of Thurles.
Due to the necessity for constant feeding of stocks at the mating apiary, as well as queen-raising colonies and mating nuclei, it was decided to sell some queens in an effort to defray some of the expense involved. Considerable expense would also be incurred in loss of honey through the diverting of honey-production stocks to queen rearing and drone rearing and also the stocking of mating nuclei.
Where virgin queens are being used in mating nucs. it would be better to mark them prior to
introduction. Where queen cells are used marking should be left until sealed brood is
present.
With the object of broadening the influence of the group's breeding programme, selected breeding material should be distributed to non-members. This will help to speed up the monostraining of the group's selected area of operation and reduce the level of undesirable drones as early as possible.
The cheapest and most effective way of accomplishing this may lie in, the provision of ripe queen cells for introduction to beekeepers' nucleus hives.
Wild colonies...
The identification, location and recording of all feral colonies on 1/2 inch map and their removal at the earliest possible opportunity should be a primary objective both for breeding and disease control. If possible, and provided they are free of disease, these colonies could be re-established in a conventional movable frame hive, where they could be monitored and fully assessed for behaviour, characteristics, etc. If satisfactory, they could be incorporated into the breeding programme, or if not they could be requeened or otherwise eliminated.
The method of evaluation and recording system as practised during 1991, should prove adequate for the group's purposes for the immediate future.
SELECTION AND BREEDING PROGRAMME - YEAR TWO, 1993.
Expansion of the monostrain area in all directions so as to provide further buffer zones against the influence of foreign races or mongrel strains.
Provision of advisory assistance for other similar groups and encouraging beekeepers in general to establish breeding groups in their localities. Demonstration of results of the previous year's breeding programme especially as regards docility, hopefully!
Encourage and assist at morphometry workshops. Liaise with other BIBBA groups in Ireland and outside of it.
Ongoing evaluation of all members colonies and. non-member's colonies where possible. Particular attention to be paid to colonies headed by queens reared in previous year's breeding programme.
VARROA
Constant monitoring of stocks for the presence of Varroa Should be an integral part of all
future beekeeping manipulations. Spring floorboard scrapings to be sent to the Diagnostic
Unit. Tobacco test of at least 10% of stocks during October and March. Tobacco test on
broodless sticks and artificial (shook) swarms during the active season.
Inspection of drone brood for the presence of mites at all examinations during the honey
gathering season.
Install at least one permanent floor screen per apiary in 1993 season.
Draw up a contingency plan for the group's area to be put into practice in the event of
Varroa being found in some part of the country.
Collect as much information as possible about Varroa and maintain established contacts with
beekeepers in other infested countries.
AMERICAN FOUL BROOD
Constant monitoring of stocks for the presence of A.F.B.
Careful inspection of brood comb at each manipulation during the season.
Where dead brood might denote the presence of A.F.B. a sample of
brood comb should be sent to Clonroche for diagnosis.
Colonies which have been diagnosed as having this disease should be destroyed at the
earliest opportunity.
Adequate precautions should be taken to ensure against the spread of the disease.
ACARINE
Where severe infestations of acarine have been diagnosed it would be advisable to destroy the colonies concerned which could be considered susceptible to the disease. By such a process of elimination it would be hoped that eventually only resistant colonies would be left within the group breeding zone.
NOSEMA
Treat all empty brood combs with Acetic Acid and particularly hives where bees have died.
Page constructed retrospectively from various documents and the minutes of the meeting.
Originated... Spring 2006, Completed... 20 January 2007,
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GBBG First Meeting... Monday, 30th December 1991 at Micheál's house in Glengarra Wood
About fifteen colonies will be used for queen production and six sister colonies derived
from BK6 would be used for drone production in the mating apiary.
