Bay of Plenty Branch Field Day - Saturday 21 May 1999

Beekeepers gathered for the traditional 'cup of tea' and talk to begin the Field Day. As usual, it was hard to get them all to move into the honey house to actually start the proceedings!

Gerrit Hyink welcomed about 100 beekeepers to the sunny Bay of Plenty. He thanked Steve and Lorraine Weenink for allowing us to use their honey house for the Field Day.

Cliff Van Eaton sorted out the various 'housekeeping' matters. He got a good laugh as he announced that the field day was a 'public place', referring to the fact that I was taking photographs that might well appear on the Internet!

Paul Bolger, AgriQuality Apicultural Advisory Officer, described how nice it was to come into the Bay of Plenty sunshine after the fog of the Hauraki Plains. He announced that he would soon be stationed in Palmerston North, with James Driscoll coming to the Tauranga office.

He described the current process of DECA applications (Disease Elimination Conformity Agreement), and the current ADR (Annual Disease Report) due by 1 June. He reminded us that the levy calculation date was 1 June as well.

He urged beekeeper who had been approached to return the bee and honey samples for testing that had been sent out. He said they currently had a 60% return of the 500 bee and 500 honey samples sent out.

Carole Inkster, Team Leader in MAF Policy in Wellington, talked on the implications of the Animal Products Bill currently before a Select Committee. Submissions on the main Bill closed on 22 February. Current submission process relates to the Supplementary Order Paper which closes on Monday.

She described the future of the Bill as it will pass through Parliament. She went through the parts of the Bill in detail, describing the intent of each clause.

RMPs (Risk Management Programmes) form an essential part of the Bill, with the need to identify, analyse, minimise and eliminate risks as much as possible.

Toxic honey will probably be dealt with as a Regulated Control Scheme, but she stressed that the Bill contained only the framework which would be used to create the particular details, so there was little chance to see what practical effects it might have on the area.

She stated clearly that the Bill was to be dealing with health and safety issues only, and did not include quality issues. She felt this would allow for competitive advantage, giving a chance to negotiate away unfair requirements (at least in the government to government agreements, not on requirements put on by individual importers from overseas). Registration of exporters will be required (within six months of the Bill's enactment), and will be tied into the schemes related to export certification.

The Supplementary Order Paper describes how we get from where we are now to where we will be in three years time with the Bill is fully in force. Intention is that the transitional arrangements will be in a separate Act that can be gotten rid of once the main Act is in operation.

New businesses (for instance a new beekeeper!) would need to have a RMP straight away, while other businesses would have the three year transition period.

Lively questioning brought out some important aspects related to export certification and industry-wide codes of practice (which could be used as a 'template' for RMPs).

Dr Peter Molan spoke on a number of issues related to current research.

Indentifying floral sources by chemical composition was described, attempting to overcome perceived problems with pollen analysis. Oligosaccharides (the minor sugars) in honey and their potential in source-typing and for identifying honey analogs (imitation honeys) are being looked at.

Projects related to comparing methods of identifying floral sources are being undertaken. The assaying techniques for the antibiotic activities of honey need to be optimised/refined to ensure that results are consistent and repeatable.

Sensitivity to honey of wound-infecting bacteria is an important aspect of the on-going work, with increasing numbers of contacts from overseas wanting more information. He felt honey has a special role in the treatment of wounds that are otherwise difficult to treat (such as those with antibiotic resistant bacteria). "We haven't found anything that is resistant to honey" was a memorable quote, indicating the effectiveness in dealing with bacteria that his team had found to date.

Sensitivity to honey of bacteria causing acne is indicated given anecdotal evidence with the application of honey on boils that are developing. The research required before trials would be possible let us know of the complexities of the process.

Sensitivity to honey of eye-infecting bacteria research had come from one particular approach from an optomologist. After a number of successful treatments, he was quite a supporter of honey for eye related infections, and is putting together an application to run a trial. Dr Molan is also particularly interested in veterinary applications related to pink-eye in cattle. Honey as a 'self-preserving' eye drop material is also being investigated.

Investigating the antioxidant content of honey ties in with considerable publicity of antioxidants in general for all sorts of things.

Investigating honey's stimulation of tissue growth is being carried out as a way to overcome the problems with using natural medicines such as honey because of a lack of perceived quality control, the need to certify ('assay') them to particular levels.

Studying honey's production of hydrogen peroxide is a research area to identify the factors that cause hydrogen peroxide production. Findings indicate that even with high dilution levels, it is still being produced (and that there is no real potential for 'overdosing' with too high a level of hydrogen peroxide produced - it is pretty much a flat line production curve)

The project of comparing honey throat lozenges with Strepsils has been very favourable to honey to date.

Developing honey confectionary for no dental caries could give some great advantages. Below 10% honey completely stops dental caries, so Dr Molan is happy with the results to date.

Assessing honey as a preservative for meat has demonstrated that most meat spoilage organisms are susceptible to honey.

Studying the potential of honey for fly strike treatment resulted from the claim that honey treatments might cause flies to be attracted. Dr Molan has a personal belief that the blowfly attraction is to the wound itself, with honey not being the attractant.

Developing wound dressings containing honey is on-going. Dr Molan recommended sufficient amounts of honey, and would like to develop better methods of delivering the material. He is currently working on ways of solidifying honey so it could be easily applied (currently being patented).

He finished with descriptions of the number of clinical trials that he was overseeing on behalf of the US National Honey Board.

Lunch was full of talk and discussions.

One of the Weenink children managed to get her dog to smile for the camera, too!

Malcolm Haines demonstrated his Billet's loader to an interested crowd.

Steuart Ecroyd described his action packed trip, which involved multiple delays, detours and a meeting with a steel pipe (to account for the plaster above his eye).

Malcolm Haines then showed us some of his other products, including the one piece Pierco frame (which he described as "employee and bear proof"). He is currently preparing to manufacture the frames here in New Zealand, but had had some trouble with the mould. He also showed us a form of solid pollen supplement which was very tidy and easy to put into the hive. It was more expensive than making up your own, but it kept well and was very convenient.

Peter Robertshawe talked to us about floor re-surfacing products, particularly epoxy coatings. Corrosion, erosion or abrasion - his products are designed to cope with them all. He estimated our needs in the $15 to $70 per square metre range.

Trevor Cullen of Ceracell talked with us about Fumadil-B. He made a particular point of explaining the need to feed it properly at the correct time of the year to ensure there would be no possibilities of any residues. The final product display was from Brian and Christine Lipscome who demonstrated the Les Gera-developed propolis collection mats. He also referred to the pollen trap system they sell.

Cliff Van Eaton led a discussion on barrel strainers. He showed us a copy of a 1954 Journal of Agriculture with a barrel-type stainer designed by Roy Paterson for straining manuka honey! Malcolm Haines pointed out that it had been originally designed by Brownie Sharpe of Matakana. Mike Stuckey described putting a handful of stones into the barrel to help to scrape the strainer clean!

Ross Ward showed us the small strainer he had created for Comvita NZ Ltd.

It has a small motor and a slight tilt. Rather than having a central axis, he designed it so a slip-over 'sock' strainer could be used.

Steve Weenink came to the use of a barrel strainer as he did not want to be using any sort of spin float device.

It had enough capacity to last a full shift of his extraction facility. The entire barrel can be removed for cleaning.

Cliff explained that the rotation continued to open up new surface areas of the strainer, so that the clogged up parts would fall off and be effectively 'self-cleaning'. The importance of continuing to break up the jelly-like components of manuka honey through the process was considered important.

Malcolm Haines felt the continuous turning might not work so well as a periodic rotation. He described four initial turns of a quarter turn, then half turns after that. Malcolm and Mike both felt they strained cold honey perhaps even better than warm.

Cliff concluded that it might be 'an old idea whose time has returned' - a device popular in the 1950s that is now coming back into favour.

Peter Boutelia has built a number of spin floats for beekeepers in the Auckland area. He was trained as an engineer, turned to beekeeping and is now again using his engineering skills into the field of beekeeping devices.

He has been involved in volumetric fillers in South Africa and here, such as that for Caltex oil.

His spin float is based to some extent on the Cook and Beale device, but with his own improvements along the way. Throughput and foaming can be a problem, however. Temperature and speed controls both affected these.

He has turned his attention to the design of extractors, specifically those designed for manuka honey. The first machine, holding 24 frames after 'pricking', was made about a year ago - an 'industrial quality' machine that should last for many years.

(Note: this is a photograph of one of Peter's photographs - it wasn't actually at the Field Day!) The extractor has some features of the old 'Everlasting' extractor, allowing the combs to be rotated from tangental, to semi-radial to full radial positioning in the extractor basket. He has also developed a computer controlled (programmable) speed control unit suitable for any extractor system. Once programmed, the operator need only select programme one, two, three or four - simply choose the right one for the honey to be extracted. A basic cycle involved 5 minutes of spinning (one minute of this being the speed up and speed down) with 2 minutes between to remove and put in new frames.

Ross Ward had to say he did not have the completed honey dehydrator he is building for Steve Weenink - a mountain bike fall and difficulty in sourcing some materials had slowed things down somewhat!

He told us about the initial idea of the dehydrator he has developed. While in Vietnam, he learned about high moisture honey being a particular problem. With a lot of beekeepers keeping hives in single story colonies only, there was some inclination to take frames before fully sealed. High moisture conditions in the country generally added to the problem.

He investigated the natural method of reducing moisture levels in nectar by the honeybees. He explained the relationship between moisture content and relative humidity. Increased relative humidity would lead to equilibrium at a higher moisture content.

The percentage of moisture that air can hold at any given temperature explains the relationships involved - warmer air can absorb more moisture. The three factors, then, are temperature, relative humidity and moisture content. Bees take air at 25 degrees and 75% RH and heat the air to 30 degrees - allowing them to dry the honey down to 16% moisture.

In Vietnam, 34 degrees air temperture simply means the bees cannot ripen the honey down to the required level, explaining the particular needs for some means of assisting them to reduce the moisture content of the honey.

In the hive, bees expose the nectar repeatedly to the warm dry air. Next step involves depositing it into partly filled cells. Overnight, with the lower temperatures (which are able to hold a greater amount of moisture) the moisture content is lost more rapidly. Only when fully dehydrated is the honey sealed in the cell.

Ross wanted to mimic the process used by the bees to reduce damage to the honey.

He stressed the importance of keeping the honey surface from 'crusting' over, which would slow the process (dehydrating in a hot room was used as the example).

The keys were thin layer of honey to be exposed to warm dry air and constantly agitated so it would not form a surface crust.

Ross referred to the Canadian systems of honey production, taking honey from the hive before fully ripened, then extracting and dehydrating to remove the extra moisture. He could now better understand the background to this, as the final percentage points of moisture took increasingly large amounts of energy (read: honey!) to remove. He made a number of astute observations on the nature of honey flows and how they related to moisture content.

Bees need to be helped sometimes to minimise the energy requirements of drying honey!

James Ward talked about the Fiton Wax Press. James had first started thinking about a press when talking to the late Ted Roberts, who had seen a similar device in England. He had previously used a Maxant spinner for manuka and two hot tops back to back for the lighter honeys.

He knew he wasn't getting the full amount of honey out with the Maxant, as he simply couldn't afford because of turnaround times to leave it spinning long enough.

The Fiton press loses only 3-6 kg per 1000 compared to 100 per 1000 with the Maxant. The increased yield has paid for the press in the first year in his operation.

Cappings sit on a mesh to allow most of the honey to fall through before being pushed down into the auger area where it is compressed.

Disadvantages: 150-200 frames per hour. Needs to go through at 25-30 degrees so may need a hot room. If too much honey is going through with the wax, it will cavitate, but it can be handled easily enough by the operator. It is a relatively expensive device.

Advantages: It can be run by relatively unskilled labour. It is maneuverable, compact, easy to operate and clean, quiet. It can press whole combs, even with the wire! No heat damage.

After a cup of tea and a chance to see some of the equipment in the shed, we finished the day off with a talk on 'how to get bees out of the boxes of honey'.

Shaking and brushing was not considered very popular, though one of the people present had one time extracted honey from 250 hives after removing the bees with a brush.

(A bit of an aside...) Peter and Sylvie Boutelia were sitting next to me during some of the day - Sylvie was very impressed with the camera and the laptop I was borrowing from Cliff Van Eaton!

Disadvantages of fume boards were highlighted. In Canada, the recommendation is that the boards either not be used at all, or at least not when uncapped honey is present (to avoid residue problems).

Small blowers were considered quite a good means for small to medium sized operations. Several beekeepers present used inverters on their truck batteries to power Hitachi and Makita handheld blowers.

The larger Cifarelli blower (cost about $740) put out a lot of air (23 cubic metres per minute) - wind at 280 miles per hour!