Dear Subscribers,
When in rains it pours here in Gainesville, FL. After one of the coldest January's so far, February has started out with a bang. Several days of fairly torrential rains have given us a respite from the drought conditions last fall. It's still cold, however, and the swamp maples are just beginning to show their reddish hue around the now very wet lands. A sunny day yesterday brought out the sandhill cranes, floating lazily in the sky and getting their fight muscles ready for the long trek back to Nebraska and beyond. We still have our hooded merganses on the University of Florida campus, but they too will soon depart. The bees are definitely buzzing in parts of Florida. At the new Gainesville Bee Club, Mr. Alan Stefanik of Lake City showed a video taken by his wife of a recent inspection revealing a healthy colony of bees, almost ready to swarm.
Perhaps my most loyal fan is Jimmy Mahuron jimmy.mahuron@netscape.com up in the great state of Georgia . He writes that he read about the Warre hive in Bee Culture and sent me the following
link. There's a lot in this, but one thing sticking out is temperature regulation and the frame measurements in hives. This month's
Bee Culture has a great article on equipment and why it doesn't "fit."
Looking for regulations/codes on beekeeping? Is it legal and/or regulated in your neighborhood? Check the latest at
municode.com. In my county (Alachua), the only reference when searching for bees is in the hazardous waste bill. Go figure?
"The detection of RNA viruses in other pollinators, including bumble bees, solitary bees and wasps, suggests that viruses might have a deeper impact on ecosystem health , given that these pollinators are essential to most plants for seed set and production of fruits, nuts, berries, and vegetables. The findings are important to the public and scientific community worldwide, given pollinators' role in agriculture and the environment and recent declines in native pollinators. " Ooops!
Read more.
I missed the Galveston, TX and the North American Beekeeping Conference and Trade Show. Too bad as several reports indicated it was a remarkable event. One thing to wait on is the report of the American Bee Research Conference (ABRC), sponsored by the American Association of Professional Apiculturists (
AAPA) Tim Tucker's
e-Buzz provided some details, profiling my old friend from Bermuda, Randolph Furbert (only available to members).
One thing that came out of the convention was "The True Source Honey™ Initiative," launching a Certified Honey Traceability Program beginning in January 2011. It is designed to certify the origin of honey being distributed and consumed within North America, resulting in better food safety and product purity assurances for quality-minded customers and consumers. Further details of the program have been posted
online, along with some
details about changes in the honey market complete with an analysis of possible climate change on honey production.
Here's one take from Down Under: Peter Detchon <
homesteadhoney@wn.com.au> "The update on hive losses:- 4000 in Victoria, 1500 in Queensland, 1500 in central NSW. No report yet from northern NSW which received substantial rains. None reported so far in South Australia. No report yet from Tasmania.
"These are hives that have disappeared in floods. Remember Qld beekeepers are used to heavy summer rains so their sites are normally high and dry. Roads and bridges are still damaged and impassable in many places and particularly in SA and Victoria the floodwaters are still rising so many beeks have been unable to travel to their bees. In addition to losses there have been many reports of hives killed by suffocation when entrances became blocked by rising water and mud. This number is expected to be many thousands. Package bee producers are already receiving substantial orders to restock these hives which may partially offset the loss of package orders into USA this season, due to the closure of that market which is a major loss.
"Honey prospects are reasonably good...but not the bumper response to rain which was anticipated early in the season. Heavy growth and flowering of weeds and the regrowth of damaged crops (canola in NSW and Victoria, and Lucerne in SA ) seem to be the principle prospects. Eucalypts have generally responded with prolific new growth (which reduces flowering and crop prospects), although there are some pockets of good eucaylpt prospects.
"All in all a mixed bunch. Undoubtedly for some beekeepers it will be the 'last straw', but generally they are a resilient bunch and will ride out this event as they have others in the past. What is different this time though, is that SHB is expected to emerge as a major challenge in the immediate post wet season and could be of more significance than the actual flood damages so far experienced. We are all anxiously watching that situation.
"Thats about it to date. Australia's biggest river (the Murray) is now rising rapidly. It runs through NSW, Victoria and South Australia, and that flooding is expected to be pretty extensive too. And the rainy season to the east and north is only half way through!! But here in Western Australia we are still in drought...15 years now! So is global warming responsible for all this???? Juanse (my Chilean mate) says 'No' and that we are experiencing global cooling and are on the way to another
Little Ice Age ( )!!! We live in interesting times".
The Apiary Inspectors of America (
AIA) also met in Galveston and a couple of
resolutions deserve study: " 1) The USDA-ARS shall develop and or evaluate for adoption AHB detection techniques to replace the cumbersome USDA-ID identification tool. Among techniques to be recommended are the 'Small SNP Array' being developed by Dr. Jay Evans of USDA-ARS, and the 'Identification of Africanized Honey Bees through Wing Morphometrics' being developed by Dr. David DeJong. The AIA understands that both of these techniques show promise to provide accurate and time efficient determination where the identification of AHB is needed.
"2) Be it resolved that the Apiary Inspectors at its annual meeting on January 7, 2011, urgently request USDA, both APHIS and ARS, to fund and continue to implement surveys of honey bee colonies not only for
Tropilaelaps clareae, but for virus complexes, Varroa species and their variants as well as other organisms capable of adversely affecting honey bee health. Such survey should continue to utilize current infrastructure among cooperating state agencies to collect and prepare samples for USDA analysis. Therefore, assuming state cooperation in supplying in-kind services utilizing current personnel, AIA requests that adequate funding be budgeted and approved for this much needed baseline survey which began in 2009."
Austrailian honey bees will no longer be allowed into the U.S. It seems authorities have "thrown in the towel" in terms of eradicating the
Apis cerana infestation that has become entrenched. It should be understood that the
Apis cerana found in Australia is not the same insect as found elsewhere in Asia, which has a reasonable reputation. Editor
Flottum says in no uncertain terms, that we don't need this bee!
Dr. Jamie Ellis and his postdoctoral associate, Ales Gregorc, have published a paper on monitoring cell death "apoptosis" in honey bee larvae: "The quantification of cell death could be used to monitor the subclinical and sub-lethal effects of applied pesticides on larval tissue. Honey bee larvae reared in vitro could be used in the future as models for studying the effects of chemicals on living tissues at the cellular level."
Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology 99 (2011) 200–207
"PENSACOLA, Fla. (January 24, 2011) - Last week representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the pesticide industry met with university researchers, conservationists and beekeeping groups in Florida to discuss the way that pesticide risks to bees are evaluated. The conference, which was organized by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (
SETAC) , is considered by U.S. government agencies and industry-watchers to be the first step in
evaluating whether current guidelines on measuring pesticide toxicity are effective.
"Currently, the EPA only evaluates pesticide toxicity to honey bees, while bumble bees and other crop-pollinating bee species are given no consideration. Beekeeping groups have also questioned the validity of the existing honey bee hazard evaluation process in the U.S., and have pushed the agency to develop stricter standards in the wake of highly publicized bee deaths. Previous SETAC conferences have reviewed the pesticide risk standards to wildlife such as fish and birds, resulting in more stringent requirements on the part of manufacturers. This was the
first SETAC conference focused specifically on bees."
Anybody out there used this? Al Summers in Colorado sent me the following :"This year try something new!
Hive Tracks is a FREE service for beekeepers. It’s a full featured online application that helps you track yards, hives, queens, inspections, weather, print reports and manage equipment. Hive Tracks can show personalized Google Maps of where your bees are foraging. It’s easy to use and fun. There’s nothing to download or install because it works from the Internet browser on any computer. Just create an account and add your hives. It even has a way to 'test drive' the software so you can see how it works beforehand." Did it do the job? Al also clued me in on the activities of a unique group, The
Mountain High Beekeepers Cooperative.
An exciting development to watch in the future is section 3 labelling for MiteAway Quick Strip http://www.miteaway.com/. Note that February 25 is the deadline for abstracts for the
2011 Apimondia Congress in Buenos Aires.
Finally, take a look at selected links provided through
publish2.com : These include thoughts on urban beekeeping, pesticides and GMOs.
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Gleanings from the February 2011 edition of Bee Culture
http://beeculture.com :
Remember that Bee Culture continues to be available in a digital edition:
http://sample.beeculture.com
Neil VanDalsem, Tulsa, OK writes that anyone interested in the effort to reinstate the beekeeping merit badge for the Boy Scouts, e-mail:
merit.badge@scouting.org with the subject line: Honey Bees." Paul Warstler, East Sparta, OH asks some pointed questions about observation hives. David Maki, Kekaha, HI provides a report on beekeeping in the 50th State, but he doesn't mention two things recently in the news, the detection of Varroa and small hive beetle. Jim Cowan, Aberdeen, WA analyses some of his observations on swarms and contrasts those to what Dr. Tom Seeley says in his new book "Honey Bee Democracy."
New for the New Year is The Bad Beekeepers Club or How I Stumbled into the Curious World of Bees - And Became a Better Person. This is not a how-to book but something to give to those who don't understand why anyone would keep honey bees.
Also for the technically inclined check out Joe Latshaw's new instrumental insemination device e-mail
: ohioq@aol.com. Check out U.S. selected pollen at
bruce@ccpollen.com and a new instrument on analysing honey
info@polarmetrics-corp.com
Editor Flottum pontificates on the events in Galveston, including the Mite Away Quick Strip, novel viruses and other maladies for bees, and good news on the CCD front. Maybe? Varroa still remains the biggest culprit for bee losses and there are not many practical solutions yet coming from the "genome jockeys." His take on the
biggest honey show in the world from his perspective.
Cindy Hodges reports on EAS 2010 at Appalachian State University in Boone,NC. Read what she could and couldn't attend and why you should be getting ready for EAS 2011 in Rhode Island.
Michael Steinkampf uses front door introduction. Read why this should be taken seriously and what tips he provides to ensure success.
Jim Thompson emphasizes its not your fault when it comes to matching equipment. He has gone through an incredible exercise looking at various equipment and determining whether its too big, too little or Just right (optimal). A casual look at the spreadsheet says it all; most things register as "too large" from his analysis.
Jim Tew waxes philosophically about the new versus "newish" beekeeper and what they face when confronting a hive of bees. Read why "your bees are going to die," and "it's a disappointing conversation" about what goes wrong when a colony dies.
Ross Conrad believes the most challenging time of year for honey bees is now, the transition from winter to spring. Read his tips on helping the colony survive this critical period.
Jennifer Berry calls it a "tragic event." The first chapter in an evolving story of African(ized) honey bees in Georgia. Read about the first reported death and how beekeepers and other weathered the media storm that followed.
Walt Wright urges beekeepers to prevent swarming before the bees ever think about it. His technique is "checkboarding." He calls it a "relatively new approach" that should be used to defy the old adage that "swarming is inevitable."
Walt Dahlgren counsels beekeeepers to make a bee vacuum and keep it on hand during swarm season. Read about his latest model, which he uses for small swarms. An older model described in 2007 is used for direct introduction of bees into brood chambers.
Ann Harman agrees with Ross Conrad that February is not a friend of bees. Read why wind and temperature can be disastrous for colonies, and a lot of that is caused by beekeeper manipulation.
Abbas Edun provides information on natural remedies provided by wood avens, white archangel and abscess Root.
Alan Harman reveals the strategy behind the lock out of Australian honey bees. It's not pretty and some shipments of bees are liable to get caught in the paperwork jumble that is sure to occur. Australians call it political; others in the U.S. disagree. Read why.
In All the News That Fits Sue Cobey's activities in California and Washington are emphasized, Hawaii is in trouble with Varroa and small hive beetle and 8000 operators contacted by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in December in preparation for the National Honey Survey. The
full report should be available soon In addition, there are stories about honey laundering, future Varroa research via the European Coloss project http://coloss.org/ and
Apimondia 2011 in Buenos Aires, Argentina Finally, there is the obituary of yet another beekeeping giant, Bob Irving Brown of
Brown's Honey Farm (Kansas)
On the Bottom Board we find the latest musings of Ed Colby who ran for president of the Colorado Beekeepers Association and lost. Read why that suprised him, but does not disappoint.
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
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