Dear Subscribers,
Hope everyone had a good Valentine's day. In keeping with the season take a look at the delightful and educationalValentine from the
Geitmann Lab, University of Montreal.
There's a hard freeze in the forecast in North Florida (in the Tallahassee area, the local
Apalachee Beekeepers Association cancelled its nuc-making workshop . It will be about as cold for the nights thereafter.
Let's hope it isn't too bad; everything is in full bloom, including what's left of the dogwoods, the azaleas. The red maple appears to be almost over; some bees locally have collected nectar and are in build up mode. They may be “hitting the trees” soon, although this cold snap might delay things. Again, we are pretty early for what is usually the prime honey bee event in Florida, citrus bloom, the Ides of March. Its a dry time in Florida generally this season, but we sure could use some rain after these warmer-than-normal days.
There's a lot of
talk that there won't be enough honey bees for Almonds this year. Check out Joe Traynor's
math lesson on this topic.
Pesticide effects on honey bees are getting their share of attention, especially the neonicotinoids (neonics). And this appears to be problematic in Europe, the U.S. and even Australia A situation that keeps cropping up is that there are very few substantiated reports on how these chemicals actually affect honey bees and beekeepers. The
Australian experience is worth looking at in some detail.
Some excerpts from the above article should get a discussion going:
"Getting an Australian Beekeeper to report any adverse finding is all but impossible and herein lies a deep problem with early detection of potential chemical threats in Australia, because bees are often the first to be affected. In the words of Bill Winner, now the Beekeeping Services Manager of Capilano Honey, [Bill has been at Capilano since 1991, Capilano has been one of the major spokesgroups for Beekeepers in Australia for more than 50 years] 'If you ask 100 beekeepers to fill out an Adverse Experience Report, you will be lucky to get two of them who will.'
"In fact, there is not one report of a beekeeper having registered an Adverse Experience Report (AERP) concerning NEONICS in Australia, not one. Every Australian Commercial Beekeeper’s bees have been sprayed by this or that insecticide, some of them many times, There are few AERP reports in parity. The AERP system of the APVMA to register bee mortalities, dead queens and low numbers in hives throughout Australia is flawed. Beekeepers won’t report, ask their Associations they will tell you the same.
A post on Bee-L collected some remarks that show the complexity of trying to analyze honey bee losses, whether by pesticides or pathogens. Below are excerpts: Date:
Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:47:08 -0500:
“In a yard or (holding yard) of U.S. bees you will find all levels of nosema and varroa. Field tests on hives free of these factors are a waste of time as not a real scenario.”
“The source colonies were kept in the field, and had no demonstrable effect from being fed imidacloprid over 10 weeks. Tellingly, nosema levels in the field colonies did not correlate with exposure to imidacloprid (the "real life" situation).”
“I do see differences. The older pesticides were clearly toxic, and the piles of bees hard to miss. Yet, the colonies often recovered. Those older chemicals were frequently in ppm levels when an incident was observed. And,I know from both my own testing and from the nature of the modes of action, virtually all of those pesticides had sub-lethal impacts, its just that no one was studying and reporting them.”
“Bees displayed intoxication, rejected contaminated foragers, changed the sounds produced by the colony, showed a wide array of behavioral/memory/avoidance responses to assays such as PERS, got lost going through mazes, tried to avoid contact, got defensive, the list is long and these types of effects can be seen at incredibly low exposure concentrations. There's nothing unique about sublethal effects that limits them to neonics.”
“For example, a couple of years ago I talked to a second generation beekeeper who had lost 400 of his 1200 hives during the winter. The only variable he could think of to explain this loss was the 400 dead hives had pollinated a vegetable crop treated with neonics the previous summer. On the other hand, I’ve also talked to beekeepers who used their hives to pollinate hybrid canola treated with neonics - with no ill effects.”
“little actual checking done except for paper trail so hard to monitor. temick (e.g.
Temik) is still being used illegally in Florida and many organophosphates will be until supplies are gone.”
“at the two recent national bee meetings, we saw both beekeepers and researchers at odds over the issue of whether Nosema was or was not a problem and to a lesser similar debate about the extent of problems due to viruses. About the only agreement - varroa is still a problem.”
“CCD as a phenomenon, has never been defined.”
“..All of this presents an interesting question - how can you refine a definition for a syndrome that still has no definitive cause?”
“The best environment for the bees is not agricultural, I have them there for my benefit and deal the best I can with the side effects thereof.“
On a larger scale, readers are referred to the following: Late lessons from early warnings: science, precaution, innovation:
Part B: Emerging lessons from ecosystems, Number 16: “Seed‐dressing systemic insecticides and honeybees.” This provides an illuminating case study of the French situation surrounding banning of Gaucho as a seed treatment on sunflowers and maize (corn).
The Job Of A Lifetime! Check This Out If You Want To Get Paid To Learn Bees: Editor Flottum's
posting with that title raises a few eyebrows. The devil is in the details it seems. “Must posses a willingness to adapt at a moments notice, enjoy a thrilling fast paced atmosphere, and have a passion for bees
“The Bee Informed Partnership (
http://www.beeinformed.org) is seeking additional Tech Team transfer members to work with commercial beekeepers in the southeast (primarily Florida, Alabama, Georgia) and when they move their colonies into almonds in California. The salary range is $35,000 - $39,000 (based on experience) per year and will include full medical and retirement benefits.
“The positions require at least 2 years beekeeping experience, preferably in a commercial beekeeping setting. It entails intense fieldwork at times, extensive travel, close interaction with beekeepers and many other members of the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) team. These interactions require the applicant to be a good beekeeper, work well in a team environment, listen well, be non-judgmental, communicate effectively with team members, be self-starting, hardworking, and sensitive about privacy and security of all data collected.” Deadline for application is March 16, 2013. Beware the Ides of March indeed.
American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) State Delegates. Many have heard of the
ABF, but some may not be aware that four members of the board of directors from the states are elected at each convention. I found this out when I just happened to be appointed to and attend one of these sessions in Las Vegas, January 2012. As a consequence of this, many states don't appoint delegates to the ABF convention and are missing an opportunity. The ABF wants to change that, thus the following from Vice President Tim Tucker:
“It is our hope that you will encourage your state leadership to submit names for attendance at the 2014 North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow in Baton Rouge. This has been a difficult process at times, but we need to know who is coming from each state and who will be representing your state at the annual state delegates luncheon. This is a very important matter, as four of the ABF Board members are elected out of this group. As a result, the delegate members carry much weight in forming the direction and ongoing progress of the ABF. We will certainly commit to doing a better job of letting you know how many delegates your state is entitled to in 2014. We typically know this number in the late summer. So, if at all possible, please let us know as soon as you have elected your state delegates and we hope that you will fill all of your positions for next year. Please send your name(s) to Robin Lane, ABF executive director, at
robinlane@abfnet.org.”
Amazon.com reports, 36 of copies of
Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees were sold between January 28 and February 10, 2013. Hot spots were Salt Lake City and Atlanta.
Are you a science hobbyist doing beekeeping? “We need your help with a new National Science Foundation sponsored research study that will investigate the characteristics and educational experiences of people who are active in science hobbies. More and more people are engaging in science hobbies; schools and science centers would like to know more about the characteristics of science hobbyists and how these organizations might better support hobbyists’ networking and education. Click on this
link when you are ready to complete the survey:
As always, see the latest on bee health at
http://www.extension.org/bee_health .
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Gleanings from the February 2013 Bee Culture:
Remember that Bee Culture now has a
digital edition.
John Thomas in Texas writes it's time to abandon the myth that honey bees pollinate cotton; they don't at least for upland varieties. Deo Hurlburt Henrietta, New York asks what kind of bees she saw swarming that were black and dark gray. Pat Diters, Mechanic Falls, ME enjoys “It's Summers Time,” as a nice edition to the magazine. Norris Childs corrects Larry Connor's statement last that honey is only 18% sugar, the rest water—should be reversed. Robert Houg, Beaver Falls, PA liked M.E.A. McNeil's history of the Land Grant Colleges. Joanna Miscavige thinks publishing “wrongly prevailing opinions,” like those expressed with reference to DDT in a previous letter doesn't do her much good. Jeremy Barnes
honeybeewhisperer@gmail.com would like to discuss beekeeping in Kenya using appropriate technology, like “changing the paradigm of the conventional smoker and bee hive.
New for 2013 is an
updated version of Natural Beekeeping by Ross Contrad ,
portable gardening and the newest addition to the anti-Varroa arsenal,
Apivar, and the new
ecobeebox.
In “It's Summers Time,” Kathy talks about change for humans, cats and Bee Culture. For the latter, notice that poly bags are used for the 2013 calendar, the magazine is now sold on newstands and in Wal Mart, and a new sales person has been hired. A big trip is in store for the 150th celebration of Dadant and Sons, Inc. (registration has now
closed for this March event)
Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at Nasonov pheromone. Read what this scent communicates and how bees react to it.
On the heels of this, read what Larry Connor says about understanding queen pheromone. He provides some provocative ideas about using observation hives to help students in their analysis of pheromones.
Dr. Phil answers questions on feeding bees, using nucs (nuclei), and colony death.
Steve Sheppard writes about germplasm and breeding and how he and Sue Cobey are looking at developing a genetic repository using cryopreservation.
Jeff Harris muses on being a southern beekeeper, now academic. Read how pesticide kills have influenced his beekeeping life in his relatively new column, “The Voice of the South.”
Ross Conrad discusses choosing and maintaining a good apiary site. Read his analysis of the physical location requirements and also the more “soft” considerations, like being a good neighbor.
Jesica Lawrence publishes a good variety of bee images on peoples' bodies in her Tattoo Culture piece. This
activity is a lot more popular than some might think.
Tim Moore asks if you have hugged a new beekeeper today? Read why he says we need a bunch more new beekeepers.
Ed Simon makes syrup. Read why volume or weight doesn't make much difference and why syrup should stand over night before filling feeders.
Linda Tillman urges folks to treat their speakers right. She describes her worst and best experience as a speaker at a bee club. I say Amen! To this column. Read it.
Jim Tew gives a history of his experiences using present-day-technology to teach beekeeping. Look at some of the most
recent results.
Jennifer Berry looks at the latest from Dr. Wayne Esaias
honey bee net. Read about how to get involved in this innovative project.
Judith Adamson describes Spencer and Helene Marshall's Honey Farm. Read the tête-à-tête) between the beekeeper and his wife.
Ann Harman discusses the new technologies of communications in this digital age, including webinars, smart phones, Internet, web pages, etc. Read why even the bees themselves have not been spared. What's a beekeeper to do?
Jessica Lawrence discusses the bigger picture when it comes to better food. Read her analysis concerning consuming local food or imported, organic produce.
Ed Colby on the Bottom Board survives an accident on the ski slope and learns others on slope might have had one as well. Read why he says one shouldn't lose your overtime.
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
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