Podcast

Banned in the EU But Still Sold in NZ – KM157

Posted on by Gary Fawcett

This is Episode One hundred and Fifty Seven of our beekeeping show – Banned in the EU But Still Sold in NZ

We are Gary and Margaret, We are kiwimana.

kiwimana are beekeepers who keep bees on the Wild West Coast of Auckland in New Zealand. We love to teach about beekeeping. We sell beekeeping supplies and share information to help you keep honey bees organically.

This week we ask why the EU is banning pesticides and What are some great plants that help bumble bees. We have roving reporters checking in from Scotland, England, Australia and United States

What’s Happening with our Bees – We talk to Margaret

Gary – what’s been happening at kiwimana HQ’s Apiary ?
Margaret – Over the last 2 months I have been conducting some field trials in our apiary.
Gary – what are you working on ?
Margaret – As most of you know, we have always used plant based concentrates to treat varroa.
Api Life Var – thyme, camphor, eucalyptus, menthol oils infused into a wafer
Oxalic Acid Crystals in conjunction with our kiwi Vaporizing tool
So this summer I wanted to find out how the colonies would cope with less treatments.
Gary – how many treatments were you doing before you started ?
Margaret – One treatment per fortnight (every two weeks) with a full head of oxalic crystals
Gary – how many have you done over summer ?
Margaret – I treated the first month of summer and then haven’t treated for the last 2 months.
Gary – more details please
Margaret – Well we don’t want to use synthetic varroa miticide treatments due to the resistance factor they are causing and that is based on research we have read and also what we have seen the bees experience over the last 5 years. It is as if the Varroa are even stronger now than 10 years ago so we had to change our OAV treatment methods.eg regularity and amount of crystals we used.
Gary – so was it working ?
Margaret – Yes I think so as we have had 100% winter surviving colonies for the last 4 winters. Failures which did occur happened after the ‘official calendar’ start of Spring or end of Autumn.
Gary – so why change ?
Margaret – I guess I would like to stop treating as often, princibly the aim was to keep knocking back varroa so this would stop build-up, in the meantime the hope is that the Bees would be able to cope with the presence of some mites and therefore in time they would be able to deal with varroa on their own.
Gary – that would be a good result – so what problems have presented while doing this field test ?
Margaret – So far there has been seen in some colonies, deformed winged bees but populations appear to be consistently high and very active.
Gary – What is your next step ?
Margaret – I will need your help to conduct full end of season inspections on each of our colonies.
Gary – yes absolutely when will you need me ?
Margaret – You heard it here folks – the purpose of these full assessment inspections will be to start preparing for Winter or commonly called “wintering down”. Also to do varroa mite level checks, bee shape, queen rightedness and honey levels – which may mean we can extract some
Once these are completed we will update you

Roving Reporters

Kelvin Towner

Kelvin – Dunblane – Scotland

Kelvin is an Advanced Beemaster Beekeeper from Dunblane in Scotland. He teaches beginner beekeepers and Honey bee biology to his local association. His main interest isn’t honey but Queen Rearing and Breeding to improve his stock of bees.

Chris from Three Hares Honey – Hampshire, England

Chris is a beekeeper and vet from Three Hares Honey in rural Hampshire.

For the most Exceptional raw honey from rural Hampshire, check out his web site Three Hares Honey. Thanks Chris for supporting kiwimana

Walter – Long Island – United States

Walter has been keeping bees in the West Hills of New York for over three years now. Walter and wife sell their honey at local fairs and markets. Walter is studying to become a Master Beekeeper.

Dan – Victor Harbor – South Australia

Dan with the amazing help ofhis lovely wife Tracey and daughter Ivy is a keeper on Bees and chickens. He lives in Victor Harbor in South Australia.

Follow Dan and Tracey’s adventures on Instagram

Thanks, Dan and Tracey for being supporters of the kiwimana Buzz

This Week in Beebooks

We catch up with Jerry Burbidge from Northern Bee Books about a great bee book of the week.

Honey Bee Drones: Specialists in the Field – Graham Kingham

This book concentrates only on the drone – the male honey bee.

It provides details regarding the drone’s internal and external anatomy, production and development, behaviour, role in the hive, genetics and more. Copiously illustrated, the book also discusses the latest research updates on drones.

You can buy this book at Northern Bee Books HERE
Or on Amazon HERE

Beekeeping News

Entire European Union Bans a Bayer Insecticide

Despite the EU planning to ban thiacloprid which is the active ingredient of Calypso, it’s still used in New Zealand on Apples, Avocadoes, kiwifruit and Peaches.

In October of last year, a European Union commission recommended that the EU not renew authorization for the use of thiacloprid, an insecticide made by Bayer. This week, the EU officially declined to renew approval, which is the way the EU bans things: They simply decline to make them legal to use.

Click Here to Read Full Article

Talking Points

  • This Bayer produced Neonicotinoid is still sold right here in Clean Green New Zealand!!!!
  • EU Members will have until Aug 3 to withdraw their Authorization of products containing thiacloprid
  • The grace period may extend to until Feb. 3, 2021
  • Following a January 2019 study looking into the safety of thiacloprid, decided to completely prohibit its use
  • It was banned due to concerns over its role in bee deaths, water contamination, and human health.

Your Feedback

Helen Patricia Smith Great. Long overdue
Donna Trott SUCH EXCITING NEWS !
John Thomson Now, tell me what the outcome was as to productivity.
Concerns about the combinatorial effects of synthetic chemicals for not only our bees but for the human population in our food-chain…these concerns have been written and discussed since the 1950’s.

Bumble Bees’ Favorite Flowers Identified to Aid Bee Restoration

An article from SciTechDaily investigates what Flowers can help restore Bumble Bees populations.

Many species of North American bumble bees have seen significant declines in recent decades. Bumble bees are essential pollinators for both native and agricultural plants, and their ability to fly in colder temperatures make them especially important pollinators at high elevation. Bumble bee declines have been attributed to a handful of factors, including lack of flowers. Not all flowers are used equally by bumble bees

Click Here to Read Full Article

Full Study: Plant Selection by Bumble Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in Montane Riparian Habitat of California

Talking Points

  • Study was published in the Environmental Entomology journal
  • Bombus bifarius (sometimes known as the two-form bumble bee) prefered selected thick stem aster flowers Eurybia integrifolia
  • Bombus bifarius inhabits mountainous regions of western North America
  • The black tail bumble bee (Bombus melanopygus) prefers selected Rydberg’s penstemon flowers Penstemon rydbergii.
  • Bombus melanopygus is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, and as far east as Idaho.
  • New Zealand’s most common Bumble Bee is “Bombus terrestris”

Your Feedback

kiwimana At the moment our humble bees love our purple Hebe
Jackie Davidson Exasperating that they don’t name the 14 best species! Just talk around it.

Update from us

Well some good news and some sad news, we tried over the last few months to see if kiwimana could earn us a living, but after much research and discussion the money just wasn’t coming in. So Gary has gone back to the corporate world and got a developer role.

We are looking at how to best use our limited free time going forward, and we were wondering about the future of this podcasts. If you care about the show email us one thing that you get out of the show to [email protected]

Feedback from You

We heard from Rachel Stone from Perth

She writes:-

Hi Guys,

I work from my car & had a 2-day road trip of 7-800km on Thursday & Friday & binge-listened to your pod-cast. It is GREAT!! & in a language & accent I can understand coming from Christchurch originally but living in Perth Australia now.

I picked up my first NUC yesterday and made my first Rookie mistake – enjoy the photos – all my friends had a good laugh!!

Since the guy kept emphasising that I had to let them out as soon as I got home I did but wanted to video it for the friend who was given the Flow Hive So Rookie Mistake 101 = standing in front of hive in the flight path videoing. Will read the Girl-Next-Doors list of 10 Rookie mistakes [that YOU have pointed me to] in detail before I don my suit, light my smoker & transfer them into the hive Monday or Tuesday.

Very excited about the whole idea & venture so thank you for your enthusiasm & encouragement to people like me.

We went to the local club & a few of the presenters were a tad pessimistic & condescending so might just stick working my way through your resources where all the positive people have shared their knowledge to encourage us back-yarders to get into the game.

Cheers & thanks again for sharing…Rachel

Who helped us in bringing this show to you?

Did you enjoy that show, This show is made possible for you by our amazing supporters. Every show we read out our top Supporters and on the first show of each month we read out all the supporters. Thanks to you all. This week we would like to thank:-

Tim Willcox, Mandy Shaw, Dan McGivern, Greg Parr, Jim, Mun Rosewarne, Glenn Gowthorpe, Christopher Brown, John Paff, Lisa Morrissey, Chris Palgrave, Fil Takoyaki, Irene Townshend, Gudny Hunter, Robin O’Connell, Tony Lumb, Carolyn Sloane, Boris Brockmann, Rachel Stone, Lucy, Nathan Buzzinga Beekeeping, Trish Stretton, Scott Wiltshire , Michelle Scheidler and Buzzed Honeys – Humane Bee Relocation and Finn’s bees.

Shout out to our New Supporters

Huge thanks to Lucy who started supporting what we do in February, thanks Lucy 🙂

Thanks to Rachel Stone for also becoming a supporter this month, thanks for your great story as well Rachel.

And just this week, Thanks to Ulrika Malmberg for becoming a new supporter.

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kiwimana_buzz_podcast_showNotesSo did you enjoy that show ?…did you find something useful you can use in your beekeeping work or help keep you company as you work your bees??? Yes?

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Show Times

  • What’s Happening with our Bees – We talk to Margaret 00:01:18
  • Roving Reporters 00:07:51
  • – Dunblane – Scotland 00:08:24
  • – Hampshire, England 00:11:23
  • – Long Island – United States 00:14:48
  • – Victor Harbor – South Australia 00:18:21
  • This Week in Beebooks 00:22:44
  • Beekeeping News 00:24:13
  • Entire European Union Bans a Bayer Insecticide 00:24:27
  • Bumble Bees – Favorite Flowers Identified to Aid Bee Restoration 00:30:14
  • Update from us 00:34:13
  • Feedback from You 00:35:25
  • Who helped us in bringing this show to you? 00:38:25

Media Credits

Avatar photo
Gary Fawcett

Gary is the web designer and chief Propeller-head at kiwimana. He enjoys designing products which solve problems and is passionate about saving the Bees and encouraging urban beekeeping. Gary loves to write about issues that affect the Bees and our environment. He is one of the hosts of the kiwimana buzz Beekeeping podcast.

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