Dear Subscribers,
It is heating up again in Gainesville, FL, but not as hot as other parts of the country. We are starting to have some more frequent rains and the newspaper says our “drought is broken.” That's prematurely optimistic, but let's hope the trend continues.
We still have a significant mosquito population, the legacy of tropical storm Debbie. Other areas in Florida do as well. This can lead to aerial application of pesticides. Beekeepers in Florida have been warned. They have been referred to an
Edis document on the
subject.
Colonies are being checked for food and many beekeepers are actively feeding to boost population for the fall honey flow. Everything looks to be early this year, continuing the yearly trend in this direction. This may throw off some beekeepers used to more traditional late summer and fall calendar timing. There may also be huge populations of small hive beetles in colonies. Especially in danger are colonies in the shade.
I am just back from the North Carolina meeting in Lumberton. There's a lot going on there. A honey certification program is in the works and so is a vanity license plate program.
Ray Revis presented about
Russian honey bees. Many folks know about these bees, which have the reputation of being tolerant to Varroa, and interest is increasing despite persistent rumors that they don't produce like Italians.
The
story behind their introduction is entertaining. The initiative has developed into the
Russian Honeybee Breeders Association with the following goal: "...to maintain and improve the genetic lines of Russian honey bees through propagation and selective breeding."
I have visited three certified breeders and each is fitting the Russians into a different business plan. There is some interest right now in marketing Russian queens to the beekeeping public, but that is not the primary enterprise of most certified breeders. As the demand grows, look for more interest in this stock, which boasts a professional genetic “closed population” breeding program backed up by DNA certification.
Russians aren't the only Varroa-tolerant game in town. There are VSH honey bees (see All The News That Fits in Bee Culture), Minnesota Hygienics and
others. And then there's
Apis mellifera iberiensis
and the French experience of
John Kefuss, or the honey bees of
Gotland Island.
Many beekeepers would like to get away from treating honey bees. One of the reasons is the complexity of the activity, perhaps best laid down by one of beekeeping's most thoughtful characters,
Dave Cushman Unfortunately, Dave is no longer with us, but his wisdom lives on through the web pages he created while he was alive..
Editor Flottum has released a Catch the Buzz article entitled: “
EPA Does Not Suspend Clothianidin and Releases Petition for Public Review.” This continues to be controversial (see Ed Colby's take on this month's Bottom Board in the print edition of Bee Culture).
Rusty Burlew pens a great blog called Honey Bee Suite. I especially like it for the great quality photos.. But the new digital communication world can be hazardous for those
sharing images.
Correction from last month's newsletter: The link to Mr. Martin Braunstein's document presented in the last issue of the Apis newsletter
http://apisenterprises.com/braunstein.pdf has been deleted because it mistakenly directly quoted references of a personal nature that do not pertain to neonicotinoids and their effects on honey bees. The interchanges resulting in that document, however, continue to be available on the ApiNews site: See
document one and
document two. Mr. Braunstein's comments quoted directly in the
newsletter itself , sourced from the deleted document, remain germane to the discussion."
Project Apism.org has released its latest newsletter. It contains information on a number of issues, and is one of the most relevant research initiatives for both beekeepers and almond producers.
Hard on the heels of
National Honey Bee Day, August 18, 2012 , the month of September brings National Honey Month. There's been a lot discussion about honey recently, especially with reference to filtration issues. It seems that some are saying that honey without pollen is not honey. The National Honey Board has issued a
rebuttal assuring audiences that no matter what the hear, honey is not made from pollen.
Thirty eight copies
Storey's Guide to Honey Bees were sold on amazon.com from July 9, 2012 to August 5, 2012. The book was recently featured on Storey's blog as part of its
Bug Out series.
check out the selected links in
August 2012, ranging from, and look at what's new at the Extension
Bee Health site.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gleanings from the August, 2012 Bee Culture:
Remember that Bee Culture now has a
digital edition.
Bee Culture is going to the
Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs, PA. Storeys Guide to Keeping Honey Bees made its debut there in 2010: See editor Flottum on stage, Friday, September 21 1-2 p.m. and tell him you saw it in the Apis Newsletter.
Shane Brozovich in Utah writes that he modified the two-bucket swarm catcher found in last month's print issue with an additional screen for ventilation during travel. Laura Shannon, SW New Mexico, gives a shout out to the article on 3 ladies who are real beekeepers. A curious reader asks about marijuana honey (no such thing). Randall and Linda Stewart, Virgie, KY thought the July cover was “gross.” The Skep-Tick writes the sky is falling and we must prevent science cracking the beloved “Varroa mite RNA-i mystery.” Peter Wold, congratulates Bee Culture on informing the beekeeping community about neonicotinoids. Lawrence DuBose, Carol Stream, IL asks why the government demands beekeepers filter their honey to remove pollen.
New for the beekeeper is
Top Bar Beekeeping by Les Crowder ,
Propolis by Klaus Nowottnick and
the beetle jail. Finally, check out how beekeeping is
taught in China. Warning! It's in Chinese, although it has great pictures apparently.
Editor Flottum chooses a photographer to accompany him on his Almond Odyssey. See more at
her site. He also went on a whirlwind trip to New York and spoke to groups there. Finally he rants somewhat on the unintended consequences of a honey standard and the recent flap about
pollen in honey noted above.
Meanwhile Kathy Summers has a Texas adventure with her siblings. Her grandmother's house still stands in Littlefield, which also still has the same population it did when she was a kid, although it now sports both a McDonalds and Sonic. She concludes you can go home again. Take that
Thomas Wolfe.
Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at drone semen storage. Read where this technology has been and is going.
Katherine Aronstein and Angela Douglas discuss the impacts of Varroa parasitism on honey bee health. It is significant. Read why nutrition might hold some promise in helping the insects tolerate this mite.
Dan Conlon provides tips on planning a beekeeping business. This is part two (2) of a series containing advice on how a small honey producer can survive in a global economy.
Larry Connor states that some things in beekeeping are not as complicated as they seem. Read how he applies this logic to breeding bees and keeping small hive beetle at bay.
Jennifer Berry asks what's the buzz about in terms of telling apart wasps and bees. Read why bees are “vegans,” while wasps are better characterized as “omnivores.”
Chelsey Coombs compares food scouts and nest scouts. Read how novelty seeking honey bees are like human risk seekers participating in activities like the X games.
Jim Tew begins a series of articles on honey bees and parasitic mites. As a sign of the times, these are also available online as “
Webinars.”
Read his first experiences with mites and the “dawn” of the chemical frenzy.
Ross Conrad writes that he no longer thinks monitoring for mite levels is necessary for small scale beekeepers. Read why he is promoting this idea and how he says treatments should be done at the moment.
Judith Adamson reveals how a floral designer becomes a beekeeper. Read how she's come to love honey bees, while at first not a fan of this stinging insect.
Jim Thompson provides thoughts on bee removal. No surprise there. The right tools and experiences are absolutely necessary.
J. Kim Kaplan of the USDA News Service reveals that Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is an incomplete puzzle. Read about the list of actors that might be responsibility.
Ann Harman starts a series on Master Beekeeper Programs. These are proliferating around the nation. Read about how the programs are organized, their history and why the exams may be the easy part.
Dewey Caron asks every beekeeper to look at the brood, and attempt to see what it tells you. Read why brood is in reality an open book to honey bee health.
In All The News That Fits read about Australian honey bees and Varroa (not there yet, but on the way), and the relationship between native and imported bees in that country. Also included are articles on technology transfer with VSH honey bees, a Chinese smuggler is punished, new antibiotics in the works for American foulbrood, and the
Ecohealth organization taking on honey bee health.
East Asia will be transforming the food market. This will happen through a program called
Food 2040. Bee Culture asks whether China will eat what they send us? Read an analysis of this important worldwide movement.
Ed Colby in the bottom board wonders if it'll rain someday. Colorado is in drought like a lot of the nation. There's also controversy brewing there about neonicotinoids and whether pollen substitute indeed will boost honey bee health and colony production. He visited the Flat Tops, but doesn't tell us what they are. Thank goodness for
Wikipedia. Let's emulate Ed and all do a rain dance for the parched midsection of the country.
Malcolm T. Sanford
Beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
Bee sure to
Catch The Buzz, Bee Culture's latest releases important to beekeepers. Also access the
Apis Information Resource Center, which contains Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford's archived Bee Culture articles. Finally, check out the Apis Newsletter on
Facebook.com
