Dear Subscribers,
Hot weather has arrived in Gainesville, Florida. Although still possible, a late frost doesn't appear to be in the cards. Summer then is beginning in earnest. The bees are definitely swarming as well, and those inhabiting the storied panhandle of Florida eagerly await one of the Sunshine state's signature crops, tupelo, enshrined in perhaps one of the best movies featuring a beekeeper,
Ulee's Gold.
Another movie is making the rounds,
Queen of The Sun. I have not seen the whole thing, but there are a lot comments being published, including those by Editor Flottum, who says it "is a golden opportunity lost." He concludes we should see it if we have a chance for the music and photography, but don't expect answers." I am attempting to arrange a showing here at our local
theater, but I won't do it without some kind of feedback or talkback session the try to communicate some of the nuances that will probably be left out. For example, how does all the gloom and doom about disappearing honey bees square with a
20 percent rise in production and record high honey prices?
A long time ago, I wrote that the time for diagnosing bee diseases more professionally had come. Veterinarians and laboratories have been doing this for years in most of the livestock industry, but not in honey bees. A recent idea, however, might be a first step in providing some quality diagnostics for beekeepers. David Wick, who I met last summer in Montana, has mounted a viral mapping project that presents some valuable potential opportunities. The full details are found on his
web site . He concludes: "...I am asking for individual beekeepers (backyarders) and small commercial operations to help map the bee viral load regionally, and nationally. Thank you for your help, and if you need more information please call or email me at 406-369-4214,
mrwick@bvs-inc.us." I believe this service might be something that local and state associations can assist with (provide a subsidy), and I am planning on marketing it to the Florida State Beekeepers Association
http://floridabeekeepers.org
Newsletters: Joe Traynor joemtraynor@gmail.com has published his April newsletter. Most interesting. He takes on topics including what he calls a Tea Party Alert: "Beekeepers that receive CCD or honey-money and are also member of the Tea Party are faced with several choices, all of them difficult: return the $ to the government or resign from the Tea Party and register as Democrats. Most Tea Party congressmen have chosen to tap dance." Project Apis m also has an almond report http://www.projectapism.org/ Eric Mussen at the U. of California, Davis, who publishes perhaps the longest standing newsletter (except this one) also is paring down his printed newsletter list, and going to primarily an electrical format. Subscribe at
http://lists.ucdavis.edu/wws/subscribe/ucdavisbeenews Bee Girl is also publishing a newish
newsletter and The American Beekeeping Federation's
E-Buzz now includes an article by Gainesville's own Peter Teale at CMAVE (Center for Medical and Veterinary Entomology).
The National Honey Board has announced funding eight production studies in 2011: "“We’re pleased we received more proposals this year,” Walker said. “We want to put this money to good use, and do it responsibly.” See more at
http://www.honey.com/ There's another suggestion that the research bill for honey bees should also be footed by honey users and growers. As a beginning, a piece of legislation is in the works to create a “
California Apiary Research Commission”. We'll hear more about this in the future.
Gilles Ratia, President of Apimondia recently was interviewed by Charlotte Lietae
TECA@fao.org: "The bees are on this planet for the last 100 million years. Since the last decade, in several places of the world, the beekeepers are facing an abnormal yearly bee colony mortality rate. First they must correct a possible wrong management in their own apiaries (artificial food, too much migration, no adapted queens to the local biotope, too heavy veterinary drugs to fight varroa, contaminated wax foundations, etc.). Then they must be transparent and give complete data to their associations. They must communicate their problem to the politicians, the farmers and the general public through the media. Finally, they must encourage everybody to use the forks as a tool to change the agriculture policy, by asking the supermarkets to provide more organic foods!"
Catch the Buzz confirms what we've always had a nagging suspicion about;
pesticides also affect people. In Spain it seems that human samples analysed had "at least one pesticide in considerable concentrations, and the average number of pesticides detected was 11, ranging between four and 17. Some 62% of the participants had residues of 10 to 14 different pesticides in their blood. The study found a strong correlation between exposure to vinclozolin and malformation rates in spermatozoa. Although no evidence was found on the potential effect of vinclozolin on humans, further experimental tests should be conducted for verification."
In an abrupt change of heart, the Australian government says the committee that claimed it is impossible to eradicate the Asian honeybee now establishing itself in the northern state of Queensland to
reconsider its decision. Federal Department of Agriculture officials told the Senate Standing Committee on Rural Affairs and Transport the Asian Honey Bee National Management Group will reconvene to again review the scientific evidence and issue a second finding.
Yet another survey is being conducted: "The Bee informed Partnership, a joint project among numerous universities and laboratories, needs your help and is asking you to please participate in two surveys. Both surveys are open only from 1 April through 18 April 2011. You can learn more about the Bee Informed Partnership at http://beeinformed.org/ . Thank you for your participation." Check it out at the Exension Bee Health
web site:
There have been recent discussions around the beekeeping world on mite control using screened bottom boards and small cell size. Information on these has been assempled by Calgary and District Beekeepers Association:
http://www.CalgaryBeekeepers.com, "beekeeping Resources" tab.
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Gleanings from the April 2011 edition of Bee Culture http://beeculture.com :
Remember that Bee Culture continues to be available in a digital edition:
http://sample.beeculture.com
Chris Baldwin, Belvidere, SD asks why we haven't learned anything in the last quarter century when in comes to Africanized honey bees. Joe Stafford from Stratford-on-avon, UK provides an
alternative fondant recipe for feeding bees. . Mike Thomas is coordinating National Honey Bee day with a downloadable petition http://www.nationalhoneybeeday.org, August 20, 2011. Michael Marks, Northern, IL Beekeepers Association, thanks Editor Flottum for his encouragement in a presentation at the Northern Illinois Beekeepers Association in Crystal Lake. Kathleen Silvey, Vancouver, BC Canada discusses issues surrounding the decision to bring honey bees to Vancouver Island.
Several things "New For The Beekeeper" include a review of Queen of Sun (see above), a new book, Getting the Best From Your Bees, by David MacFawn and Chris Slade (Outskirts Press, Denver), a screened bottom/beetle trap bottom board http://www.beetlejail.com/, and an upgrade to the popular program
Hive Tracks. A new "app" for the Android phone is also in the making. Mann Lake now has preprinted creamed honey and 100% pure local honey containers. Dr. Zachary Wangs'
MiteZapper is finally being released for sale, and new and improved pollen traps are available from Beeline Apiaries, beeline@abcmailbox.net
Editor Flottum waxes on the fact that so much news about honey bees is gloomy due to the fact that so few answers seem to be forthcoming from the research community. Most are from private initiatives like nutrition management, mite control and even Russian bees. I have a different take: A lot of those private companies are based on ideas out of the research community. The piece of good news he focuses on is that Bee Culture is expanding its circulation due to an increased number of beekeepers. You will now be able to see it in many places that have survived the downturn beyond Tractor Supply, like Borders and Barnes and Nobel. Look for it.
The honey report this month is interesting; there is a 20% increase in honey production over last year. Prices are also at record levels. Per capita appears to be increasing, but statements like this must be tempered by the variations in the survey itself and there are some big ones, like 120,000 beekeepers too small to count. This report is also available via
Catch the Buzz.
Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at division of labor in a honey bee colony. Perhaps most interesting is the ability off colonies and indivduals to respond to changing conditions, based on both genetic and hormonal stimuli. Read about the influence of JH and QMP in a honey bee colony.
Jay Evans writes that more and more
genetic tools are becoming available for diagnosis to pests and diseases. Read how scientists are building a better toolkit. One already been described above, David Wick's viral mapping, is not mentioned as it takes advantage of technologies other than strictly DNA analyses.
Joe Latshaw likes using 2-day queen cells to propagating new queens in a local area. This takes a critical and expensive cost out of the equation, establishing mating nucs. Read about experiments to see if this is a viable technique for distributing cells that are much younger (still open, not sealed). The fact that at this age almost any queenless colony will accept such cells is a real benefit. Queenright colonies excluded from direct contact with them will also finish out the cells.
Roger Hoopingarner seeks to determine what defines a bee. This is one of several articles providing an in-depth look at the characteristics of nature's most manageable pollinator.
Tammy Horn, also at this year's
Florida Bee College reports on the North American Pollinator Protection Conference. This was the 10th conference of this sort and held in Washington, DC. Read about a bevy of researchers and others attempting to increase pollinator populations.
Jim Tew is in awe of the queen, describing her mystique, biology and job description. This all comes from the increased interest by beekeepers in a variety of settings, from those wishing local stock to others who simply want to save money. Read his always entertaining stories about personal experiences with the hive's most singular creature.
Bruce Boynton provides a "reintroduction" to the new improved National Honey Board. Read how this is funded and the signature marketing efforts, like the
honey locator There's a lot more to see on this
web site. This ties in to what I wrote earlier concerning the Board's production research initiative.
Walt Wright continues his discussion of checkerboarding (CB), attempting to manipulate frames to maximize production. Read how this ties into various configurations. Finally, find out about the
history of this technique and philosophy behind it.
Jennifer Berry uses splits for different reasons. Read how and why she considers this technique one of the most important in any beekeeper's bag of tricks.
Larry Connor's title says it all: Wipe Out. This is not about surfing, but the arrival of a "perfect" storm of exotics, including Varroa and most recently small hive beetle. This article is worth more than a read. It is the quintessential discussion of what can happen when aliens arrive, and they have in a big way in Hawaii. Read what this might mean to mainland beekeeping.
Kim Flottum attempts to provide pictures of a perfect package installation. He comes close. Two pages and 15 pictures later he reveals the results of his efforts. Perfect? Perhaps, but nothing is in beekeeping.
Ann Harman says feeding bees in the best way to help bees out no matter the situation. Read her advice on carbohydrates, protein and feeders.
Graham White in a guest editorial takes on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pesticides and honey bees. There is no mistake that this is an indightment on the EPA an its labeling procedure. The fact that this agency against its own advice labelled a highly toxic pesticide with minimal study says it all. Or almost; until we realize that its budget is $10 billion. Read the gory details here.
In all the news that fits we see small hive beetles have made it to Ontario, Canada and New Zealand is worried about an onslaught of new "hobby" beekeepers that can spread diseases and pests, including Varroa. Michigan is going to attempt to eliminate spotted knapweed (purple star thistle), an exotic, but super honey plant. New honey regulations are going into effect in Nebraska, to develop a honey standard. It appears they haven't read about or simply plan to ignore Florida's standard, developed more orless using the same procedure.
On the Bottom Board, Ed Colby, full time ski patrol and part time ranger in the colorado rockies, says there's a bevy of new beekeepers as "honey bees are the biggest thing since hula hoops." Read why he dithers no longer to put his honey bees on his mountain.
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
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