Dear Subscribers,
Hot weather is the story of the day. It was forecast to reach 100 degrees F this week, close to an all-time record. Spotty thunderstorms are the result of intense afternoon heat, but that means that the many fires in the state are often not affected; the rain is short duration and often not well targetted. A
huge fire to the north in Georgia is the most spectacular in the region but there's also
one to the west that is concerning near Gainesville. High winds and dry conditions exacerbate the situation. The region is several inches below normal rainfall at the moment.
This dry weather is a reminder to beekeepers to ensure their bees have water during dry periods. And preferably this should be available in the apiary. Right now one situation threatens to become a major headache for beekeepers and others. A swimming pool(s) in an urban area near 100 colonies on a small farm in central Florida is attracting unwelcome attention. Never allow bees to become trained to a watering source, which might cause neighbor problems.
On my way to a workout Monday at 9:00 a.m., I crashed my bicycle. During a sharp right turn and the front wheel lost traction, setting me down hard on the right side. In the p.m. I had trouble breathing due to increasing pain. Urgent care center x-rays showed a fracture on rib 6 right side, but no "displacement," however, routine urinalysis showed blood. This cleared up over night--next day blood negative according to the lab thank goodness. Now it just takes time to heal; no lifting of heavy supers in the meantime. And yes, I was wearing a helmet.
Check out Penn State's bee informed
site. "This project will adapt the tools developed by human epidemiologists to study complex human diseases (such as cancer or heart disease) to study honey bee colony health. However, it will be slightly different than traditional “community health” initiatives in a couple of important ways."
Nutritional Discussion: "I find that researchers of pollination and nutrition are working on differant pollens, but not hy-brid. I’m writing you because I need information. Do you know if the government or any university is working on the food value of pollen from Hy-brid seeds compared to the pollen from a natural seed? In my research, hy-brids started in the early 1900 hundreds and reached the full potential in the late 1990s. I believe we have been destroying the immune system of honey bees by not giving them pollen with the nutrition they need for the last 40 years. Bees need pollen that supports their immune systems from plants and I don’t believe they can receive that proper nutrition from hy-brids. As far as I can see there is no one analyzing or comparing pollens to see what’s missing from hy-brids. If any reader can provide some insight into this issue, let me know.” Charles Bennett,
cbennett3491@comcast.net, 8701 NE 159th Street, Battle Ground, WA 98604, 360-566-0455.
In reply, "True hybridization should not affect the nutrition of the plant much as both are so alike as to be able to cross naturally and easily. I think you will find that the problem is with the nutrition in the soils. As modern agriculture is convinced that N,P,K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) provide all the nutrition that a plant needs to grow, we have seen our soils become very depleted. Trace minerals have not been added, or if thought of since the 1950’s , now maybe 10 added in. Kelp alone carries 80 trace minerals not to mention powdered rock mineralization, or sea salts. Research on our fruits and vegetables have shown a marked decrease in vitamins and minerals. These vitamins and minerals are essential to bee health and honey nutrition and may to some extent affect taste." Patricia Seeley,
mldyacrs@windstream.net. With reference to the latter, see discusion by Lester Brown in the latest issue of
The Futurist Magazine concerning the health of the world's soils.
Information on colony loss for the last couple of winters has been reported by the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA). This was published on the
Extension Bee Health site. It appears that losses are down from previous years, but still not sustainable: "It is important to note that this survey only reports on losses that occur during the winter and does not capture the colony loss throughout the summer as queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Preliminary data from other survey efforts suggest that these 'summer losses' can also be significant. Beekeepers can replace colonies lost in the summer and winter by splitting the populations of surviving colonies to establish a new hive. This process is expensive, so replacing 30% of the nation’s colonies annually is not considered sustainable over the long-term."
A
Catch the Buzz posting provides analysis of five large-scale companies and two trade associations who have joined a lawsuit against members of the corn refining industry in an attempt to
stop them from claiming that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a natural corn sugar. It's about time some big players got into the act of examining closely HFCS' effects on nutrition and perhaps next, the agricultural environment.
Lots of activity in the pollination area: I was invited to attend a recent tour of folks promoting native insect pollinators here in Gainesville, FLorida. We visited both the University of Florida's projects looking at native plants and the largest blueberry farm in the area. Most illuminating. Expect to see more from these
folks in the future.
National Pollinator Week is next week. Our Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a
proclamation. Also check out the Highways BEE Act: Significant potential exists to achieve both economic savings and conservation benefits on 17 million acres of highway rights-of-way (ROWs). The Highways Bettering the Economy and Environment Act (Highways BEE Act) directs the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to use existing authorities, programs and funding in encouraging and facilitating efforts by State DOTs and other transportation ROWs managers to implement integrated vegetation management (IVM), including reduced mowing and plantings of native forbs and grasses. These actions will both produce economic savings and enhance habitat for pollinators and other mini-fauna wildlife.
Click Here for
DRAFT text of the legislation. Write supporting this initiative as I
posted to the Florida State Beekeepers Association:
The concept of stress in honey bees is controversial. Do these insects have emotions affected by their circumstances, resulting in stress? The most comprehensive volume on this continues to be by
Dr. Lipiński , who I met in St. Petersburg, Russia way back in
2005 : The latest study reports, "We have shown that the emotional responses of bees to an aversive event are more similar to those of humans than previously thought," said
Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University. "Bees stressed by a simulated predator attack exhibit pessimism mirroring that seen in depressed and anxious people." "In other words," according to the senior author Melissa Bateson, "the stressed bee's glass is half empty." But, the authors conclude that isn't the same as saying that bees consciously experience emotions in the way that we do. On that point, the jury is still out.
Reinventing introduced species is coming of age according to a
Catch the Buzz dispatch. "The recent field of invasion biology faces a new challenge as 19 eminent ecologists issue a call to "end the bias against non-native species" in the journal Nature. Often called aliens, hitchhikers or invasives, some scientists say that non-native species could just as easily be coined "abductees" whose transport links to activities by humans. There are
reasons many of these abductees are not all bad.
Check out other selected links at
publish2.com.
Finally, see Dr. Eric Mussen's
latest offering from the University of California, Davis and the Honey Bee Health Extension
site, featuring a summary of the American Bee Research Conference held in Galveston last January, sponsored by the American Association of Professional Apiculturalists,
AAPA.
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Gleanings from the June 2011 edition of
Bee Culture.
Remember that Bee Culture continues to be available in a
digital edition:
Tom Elliott, chugiak, AK no longer can get queens from Canada and asks if there are any cold weather queens available in the U.S. Linda Pelham, Whitehouse, TX comments on Graham White's article on the EPA; it all boils down to greed she says. Doyle Mayfield, Halfway, MO sends a picture of a "Hillbilly Hive" he made. Anne Brown, Saint Leonard, MD asks if anyone knows how to control termites without harming honey bees. Finally, Walter Holliday, Cleveland, OH asks and then answers some difficult questions about package bees.
Tom Seeley reviews the book Nature's Little Wonders: Bees, by Candace Salvage. Read why he says this book that takes an hour to read is at the top if his reading list.
Foutch Industries has an all steel hive stand for $55 and a new waterer design. This outfit has designed applications for many kinds of industries.
Northern Bee Books has some new offerings , including The Victorian Beekeeping Revolution and The Enigma That Was Thomas William Cowan. Many probably know the name found on many extractors, but few the colorful history of this man. Finally, Virology and the Honey Bee has been published by Northern Bee Books. It's also available
online and well worth a read. Our knowledge of viruses is expanding rapidly; for summary articles, see Randy Oliver's
Scientific Beekeeping . A
new paper just released found four new ones according to a
Catch the Buzz posting.
Editor Flottum brings a European
Beehaus home to experiment with Read his analysis of its strengths and weaknesses. He provides a picture along side a top bar hive, both fastened with bungy cords, concluding that no matter how ready you might be, the weather is still the deciding factor.
Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at colony conflict. This is a fascinating piece, discussing queen combat (did you know that one strategy is to empty the hind gut contents on your rival), role of the worker bees (may change their minds during combat or keep queens confined in their cells reducing contact) and finally the role of "piping" or "tooting."
Steve Sheppard reviews several papers, including one detailing estimated honey bee losses in the winters of 2008/2009, horizontal (bee to bee) transmission of deformed wing Virus (DWV), research on bee's feet as part of
biomimetics, and the acummulation of pesticides in the "closed circuit" (recycling beeswax via foundation) of Spanish beekeeping.
Donna Lynk explores using a backyard bait hive. Read her "for rent" ad, inviting bees to take up residence and the final outcome of this ad hoc experiment.
Editor Flottum goes in search fo the perfect beeyard. Read his analysis and don't forget that much more analysis is now in the beekeeper's favor looking for just the right place,
Google.com
Karen Kirsch writes about collecting yellowjackets for venom harvesting, a thriving business in some areas. Read how Jeff Goff goes about this as well.
Megan Paska keeps bees in New York City. Read what she says about this activity and her tips on keeping a low profile in one of the world's great metropolises.
Jim Tew provides three short discussions on unrelated topics. Read what he concludes about installing package bees in the rain, enjoying a good honey wine and overwintering a record-setting small colony.
Larry Connor records his latest event in capturing a swarm. He makes it look easy. It's a piece of cake when the swarm is at shoulder height on a tree on a mowed.lawn Fear not, he gives tips for trickier situations.
Ross Conrad provides his ideas on the fundamentals of selling honey retail. I like his tip on making the sweet available to taste using wooden sticks, which are compostable, not plastic.
Has Jim Thompson "lost his marbles" while beekeeping? Maybe. Read why/why not and how that relates to his hive-lifter odessey.
Franclyn Heinecke urges readers to "honor the honey pot." Read how the idea behind this versatile item is being used by computer types to catch "spam."
Walt Wright continues his articles on "checkerboarding," designed for swarm control. He concludes the technique also saves work and time. Read about this "
proactive" approach to swarm control technique.
Don Studinski publishes pictures of brood, capped honey and queen cells for both the informed and uninitiated. The accompanying text provides excellent guidance in ensuring honey bees are in good shape.
Ed Simon constructs a Hopkins queen rearing apparatus. It's a wooden rim that accommodates a horizontal frame containing eggs and larvae.
It can also be used for full-frame feeding. Slick.
Ann Harman believes "artisanal" honey is worth the work and provides tips on harvesting it. I like the term she used "out of the ordinary" honey better. Both, no matter what you call them, command a premium price.
Abbas Edun lists some natural remedies available from plants few will know much about, since the majority are native to other parts of the world. These include winter aconite, elephant apple and the Angelica tree.
In All the News That Fits there is a discussion of a possible major shift in agricultural policy to so-called "sustainable farming." Also read how high fructose corn syrup is losing market share to the traditional sweets, cane and beet sugar, but still dominates much of the sweetener market. Other topics: New Zealand beekeeepers might be experiencing CCD, safety of neonicotinoids is being questioned in the U.K. (England), Manuka honey research in Wales, an a U.N. report says honey bee collapse is world wide, without putting blame necessarily on CCD.
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
Bee sure to subscribe to
Catch the Buzz, Bee Culture's latest releases of importance to beekeepers. Also access the
Apis Information Resource Center , which contains archived articles, listing of posts on blogs, web sites, and links to related materials. .
