Dear Subscribers,
The dog days of summer appear to be on us in North Central Florida. Nectar flows have shut down; honey bee populations are in retreat. Beekeepers must keep a close watch on hives during this period to ensure that certain varmints or pathogens don't overwhelm colonies. Several things must be kept in mind during this period that will reflect on success. One concerns the treatments that beekeepers use on bee colonies. Although perhaps important, it should be realized that most chemicals introduced into beehives are risky, even those characterized as “soft” or “organic.” More is not necessarily better; we are seeing drug interactions as increasingly important in determining the quality of bee colony as well as human health. Just take a look at the next television commercial you see about certain drugs being marketed to humans (the list of potential complications seems to get longer and longer).
Something not often realized is how certain genetic strains of honey bees are better adapted to specialized environments and/or tolerant to certain impacts on their health. This topic often seems to be the last thing on beekeepers minds in search of a quick fix for perceived problems.
Honey bees are not all the same, just like humans and other organisms. The “melting pot” that has become the population of U.S. honey bees, however, often mitigates against this realization. Unfortunately, there has been less-than-satisfactory practical determination of the differences among honey bees in the melting pot. The genetic code seems to be providing evidence that this need not be so. It's up to researchers and beekeepers to sit up, take notice, and assist in finding bees that are more “healthful” in the modern beekeeping environment, not an easy task.
Pesticides continue to get huge play in the press and on social media. Many reports implicate the neonicotinoids and there are moves afoot to condemn their use. This is especially strong in Europe and now appears to be getting traction in Canada.
Here's Ontario's response:
"As you may know, the Ontario Beekeeper's Association has been working hard to have the neonicotinoid pesticides responsible for these losses removed from use in Ontario. As part of their strategy, the OBA has developed the attached petition requesting the Premier of Ontario to follow the lead of the European Union and ban neonicotinoid pesticides.
"I am asking you to sign this petition by clicking here to add your voice to the beekeepers, farmers, environmentalists, scientists, and citizens who want to see an end to this toxic contamination of our pollinators, wildlife, water systems and land.
"Please circulate this email to all your friends and contacts, or 'cut and paste' this
link into your own message:
http://chn.ge/11J53Jc . If you have a website, blog or Facebook page, or if you Tweet, please share the petition on your sites."
Thanks to Joe Traynor for sharing his
July newsletter. It is full of great stuff and the Apis newsletter is getting full access to it at the moment. It's difficult if not impossible to find it elsewhere.
Catch the Buzz posts reveal a movement afoot to control
use of Fipronil and a brand new substance about to be registered called
Sulfoxaflor, part of a new class of pesticides, sulfoximines. The former is pretty toxic to honey bees, whereas the latter is not yet being used on any scale.
The best discussion on pesticides and honey bees is found at
Randy Oliver's web site. Three published in 2013 are
capped by the latest: All are required reading.
Unfortunately, like pesticides, there is information that RNAi might have unintended consequences according to
another Buzz post. At the outset this appeared to be a wonderful technology. I was one of the first to communicate this idea to Bee Culture's readers in
November 2008. It has made news recently because the first outfit to try to commercialize this,
Beeologics, was sold to Monsanto Corporation. Monsanto just held a
bee health summit at its home office in St. Louis. I wasn't able to attend, but will be looking for reports on this event. Perhaps there will be more of these kinds of events as the corporation attempts to become more bee friendly. Editor Flottum was in attendance. Read what he saw and experienced in
his
blog. Some of this no doubt will appear in the printed pages of Bee Culture.
Pesticides and RNAi suffer from reputations associated with large agricultural corporations, which for many are anathema to world health and agriculture. The questions often raised come from what is called the “
precautionary principle.” There is a line between scientific knowledge and human emotion in most innovation, sometimes resulting in what has been called “blind pessimism.” Meanwhile it is certain that many unintended consequences can come from not following the precautionary principle. See
my paper on GMOs and beekeeping for more on this important topic.
Amazon.com reports 46 units of Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees
http://apisenterprises.com/storey were sold from June 10, 2013 - July 7, 2013 . Portland, OR, Bringtn, VT and Plattsburgh, NY, Atlanta and Denver
As always, see the latest on bee health at
http://www.extension.org/bee_health Note the article in this month's Bee Culture on origin of this initiative.
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Gleanings from the July 2013 Bee Culture:
Remember that Bee Culture now has a
digital edition.
Stanley Austin, Glennville, GA writes about the success of teaching beekeeping at Smith State Prison in Georgia. Jeryjak believes he found the reason for disappearance of bees during almond polllination in California. Hint: they have four wheels. Cath Proctor in England would like to see some discussion of water sprayers to keep defensive bees in check. Project Apism is looking for “unrestricted funds” for honey bee research. Donate at
http://projectapism.org
New from Root Publications: Plants for Bees, The Honey Connoisseur, Queen Bee Biology, Rearing and Breeding, Plants for Bees, The Thinking Beekeeper, and ABC XY of Beekeeping (Summer discount)
http://beeculture.com. Also for summer reading: A Bee's Guide to Managing Beekeepers.
http://www.makinghives.com and Build Your Own Beekeeping Equipment
http://storey.com.
Editor Flottum in the Inner Cover reflects on choosing “bee nutrition” as a topic for a presentation. Read his description of why this subject is more and more important in the modern beekeeping environment.
Kathy Summers reflects on it finally being summer in Ohio. Read about her lawnmower situation and how the chickens are doing in the heat.
Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at brood nest temperature regulation. Learn about stenothermy and endothermy. Both are big reasons for having genetically diverse honey bees in a hive.
John Skinner gives a rundown on research-based information available at
eExtension Bee Health. A round of applause must go to Skinner for “volunteering” to take on this initiative in 2007, as part of his apicultural extension duties. It's come a long way; read what's now on the site and what he sees might be on the horizon.
Jeff Harris is into busting myths. He's not on television yet, but let's see how it goes. Biggest myths: 1) Humans will starve if honey bees are lost from the planet: 2) Beekeeping is declining worldwide and 3) CCD affects all beekeepers.
Jennifer Berry asks if “Natural” is really “Natural.” Read her answer. Guess what? It's pretty nuanced and there's no “smoking gun.” Is all of her information correct. How could it be, if
Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees didn't make the article's reading list.
Kelly Kellison describes a field day
hosted by project ApisM at Capay Ranch, Chico, California. Read how a wide range of folks from around the nation are searching for “common ground” with reference to pollinators and beekeeping.
Jim Tew continues to spell out how he does it with Part 2 of an article on swarm management. Read why among other things bees will swarm no matter what, and even a veteran beekeeper can't sometimes keep them “down on the farm, after they've seen Pariee” (in the box, after being collected from a nearby tree).
Phil Craft answers questions on curbing defensive behavior and robbing. Read why he repeats one of beekeeping's standard answers when confronted with equipment concerns: “The bees don't care.”
John Phipps, long-time editor of
The Beekeepers Quarterly, looks at the
history of Kiev, home of Apimondia 2013. Read how the city was developed and what it's major characteristics are (deepest subway stations in the world!). The Eastern Orthodox Church was born here and there are estimated to be around a half million beekeepers in the country. Remember
Chernobyl? It's 150 miles north of Kiev; the disaster is now 26 years old and worth revisiting according to Mr. Phipps
Read the account of his own recent visit.
Making things is the purview of Ed Simon and Peter Seiling. Read side-by-side discussions small-scale wax processing and a window-mounted observation hive.
Jessica Laurence looks at the bigger picture in terms of household items like laundry detergent and all-purpose cleaner. Read how to make these items cheaply and more importantly, they are often better environmentally than their cousins manufactured by large corporations.
Larry Connor offers random thoughts on rearing nuclei and drone production. He also provides insight on the relationship between honey bee swarms and the ecosystem.
Toni Burnham continues to be worried about neighbors in the city. So she attempts to prevent swarming, the cause of many public relations issues. Read what she says in this context about robbing, bees in structures and trees.
Ross Conrad asks which is best, harvesting honey early or later. Read the costs and benefits of this decision and what goes into determining what is “just right.”
Kristen Taylor spins a great story about a “coming home” from a city boy who inherits his dad's place and bees. Read how he found again the voice of his father in the bee's hum as he finally realizes he is home.
Jessica Daily looks closely at one of the social media tools,
Twitter. There's more to this than meets the eye. Read about re-tweets, hashtags, and
tweetchat.
Connie Krochmal reveals that flax is important for many reasons. Read about wearing, admiring, or eating this bee-friendly plant.
Les Crowder concludes “It's time to get ornery.” He rants about the effects of pesticides on growers, beekeepers and “people who eat.” Read his suggestions about what to do, and why he has forsaken large-scale beekeeping for a small business using top-bar hives.
In all the news that fits, an article reviews inputs necessary for biofuels and asks whether we should be growing food instead. Chinese honey in France indicates exporters are getting more and more creative when it comes to trans shipping honey from Asia to the European market.
Ed Colby says he read an ad for a “
bee guardianship” seminar. He concludes there's no shortage of honey bee gurus nowadays and asks folks not to confuse him with one. Read his story of metamorphosis as a commercial beekeeper, and why he's not ready to go to California yet where they “pay you to send your bees.” After all he concludes: “What could possibly go wrong?”
Sincerely,
Malcolm T. Sanford
beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com
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