Dear Subscribers,
Fall is in the air! The relatively cool, humid mornings are signaling a shift in the weather here in northeast Florida. Dawn is later; spiked goldenrod is showing up and Bidens (beggar's tick) has bloomed. There's a lot moisture in the soil, and from this perhaps a fall nectar flow will result. Let's hope we are producing that population of winter bees that will carry colonies through the coming winter. Even in Florida we need those bees! Finally, it is definitely lucky that no “big ones” have come our way, although we continue to watch the tropics for development.
September is National Honey Month and there are big doings around the country. Check out the National Honey Boards'
report of the inaugural “Battle of the Bees” event, in New York City. The Waldorf Astoria New York and its sister property, the Grand Wailea on Maui created this event, to determine which property’s house-grown honey reigns supreme.
Honey is being more and more recognized as a product of importance. The USDA is looking into developing
organic standards. This is a welcome development; look for more on this soon, including a comment period as these begin to
take shape.
The Road to Pollinator Health is detailed by Catherine Woteki, Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in
Science Magazine. See where we are when considering the great
paradox that pesticides present.
It is more clear all the time that beekeepers can no longer satisfy themselves as being on top of the issues confounding honey bees in the modern agricultural environment. They must become more educated about the history and potential effects of mass use of chemical controls.
The American Beekeeping Federation has released it's latest
E-buzz.
This is one of the nation's oldest beekeeping associations. It is attempting to reach out to a wide audience of beekeepers via a number of routes, including sponsoring webinars, supporting relevant research, and other initiatives. This January the ABF meets in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Come be part of “Bees on the Bayou” at the
North American Beekeeping Conference and Trade Show.
The Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) has just released the results its most recent
report on carbohydrate feeding. In summary, the document states:
“Carbohydrate sources fed to bees include sugar (sucrose) syrup , sucrose candy (i.e., fondant ), high fructose corn syrup, excess extracted honey, honey in the comb (added unextracted frames), and wet honey supers. Most beekeepers in our survey reported applying at least one of these forms of feed to a majority of their colonies, at least once, between April 2011 and March 2012 (2,883 feed carbohydrate vs. 726 who did not). There was not a significant difference in average winter mortality between groups. However, carbohydrate feeding is clearly an essential part of honey bee management and we do not discourage using carbohydrate feed.
“When examining the responses for carbohydrate feed use by the specific products, beekeepers who feed colonies by adding frames of honey to colonies reported 4.4 MORE over wintering colony deaths per 100 managed colonies than those who did not report feeding colonies frames of honey. This result warrants more investigation. It could be that beekeepers who lost more colonies simply had more frames of honey to feed. Or, there could be an underlying effect of feeding frames of honey on colony survivorship.”
This BIP report is worth considerable study. Feeding honey bees is one of the most expensive, time consuming activities of beekeepers. They will be ahead of the game by understanding as much as possible all the ramifications of this practice.
On occasion, I publish the observations of those who are not necessarily in the mainstream of the beekeeping press, but have important things to say. Here's a take on pesticides and CCD that has not been widely distributed, but deserves some attention:
Honey Bees and Pesticides Redux:
As a beekeeper in for the past 30 years here (keeping bees for over 50) and member of local, national and international beekeeping organizations, I would like to comment on recent editorial pieces appearing in the Daily Camera regarding pesticides and so-called bee losses.
In general it has seemed to me that the information and studies referred to in those letters has followed a frequent but often misconstrued understanding of the issues relating to pesticides and honey bee losses. Most recently in the Open Forum section of the Camera, the writer referred to a study titled: “In situ replication of honey bee colony collapse disorder” as verification for the need to ban a certain class of insecticides called Neonicotinoids. That study in particular has been generally discredited by the academic and scientific communities in the way it was conducted. A more complete explanation for why this was concluded can be viewed at:
http://scientificbeekeeping.com/the-harvard-study-on-neonicotinoids-and-ccd/
I would also like to offer my observation that the so called discussion of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) both in the Camera articles, and within the general public arena seems to follow a common misconception that CCD is an actual disease or malady that has befallen honey bees in recent years. An often used date for its appearance is 2006.
CCD is neither a specific disease, nor is it something new to beekeepers or beekeeping. Similar declines in large populations of honey bees in the past have been recorded for over 100 years, using different titles: “spring dwindling”, “colony decline”, “brood dwindling” et al. At best, CCD is recognized as a combination of factors affecting honey bees in different proportions and at different times, that result in sometimes rapid depopulation of honey bee colonies. In other words, CCD is a fairly recently coined term that refers to a fairly rapid depopulation and possibly colony death (but not always) and is believed to be attributable to many causes in combination; a syndrome rather than a discreet malady in other words.
The attempt to link CCD to pesticides is like trying to link the common cold to wind chill, in my opinion. However, in the concern over pesticides, the Neonicotinoids in particular, seem to have generated an almost psychotic level of reasoning and concern. Please read that I’m referring to the level of concern here, not to the individuals expressing concern.
For the sake of balance however, and as an actual beekeeper having to deal with the increasing problems we face, I’m the first one to admit that we do have problems, and they have been increasing over the past 20 years or so. Most within the larger beekeeping community would agree that most of our current problems started with the arrival of the parasitic mite Varroa Destructor around the late 1980’s. They not only have devastated honey bee colony numbers worldwide, but have introduced a whole new set of concerns over transmitted viruses the treadmill of control products that we beekeepers have been forced to use to control them. In some cases, the pesticides most affecting our bees, not only synthetic but natural as well, are the same ones we have put into our hives.
What all this means to be a successful beekeeper nowadays, is that we have to become much more proactive rather than reactive and for those of us considered “old timers” (read: before the arrival of Varroa), we have to be willing to change our old habits and ways to deal with the new threats. Successful beekeeping is possible for those of us willing to change and adapt, and for those of us who view the situation as workable rather than as victims.
Allen “Al” Summers
Mountain High Beekeepers
Boulder County Beekeepers
Colorado State Beekeepers
American Beekeeping Federation
American Association of Professional Apiculturists
Japan Beekeepers Association
The South Florida Bee College is an interesting experiment in Florida that was concluded last month. Thanks to Dr. Jamie Ellis at the University of Florida and his crew for taking the risk that Spanish-speakers would come to an educational event about beekeeping. It worked on several levels, although it requires some tweaking. You can read about it on the
HBREL web site.
The countdown for Kiev and
Apimondia 34 is winding down. Only a little more than a month to go. Check out John Phipps article
http://apisenterprises.com/Kiev_Article.pdf on the host city; he will be in Kiev. Also refer to my
blog as I attempt to capture the essence of the event and provide beekeepers back home information on an enigmatic country many in the U.S. are not familiar with. Part of this event will be a contingent of people surveying the crowd as to what city they would like to visit in the U.S., in the event the American Beekeeping Federation chooses to submit a bid for Apimondia in 2019.
Amazon.com reports 63 39 units of
Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees were sold from August 12, 2013 - September 8, 2013 . Thirteen (13) were sold Chicago and eleven (11) in the Minneapolis St. Paul area.
As always, see the latest on bee health at the
Bee Health Extension site.
===========================================
Gleanings from the September 2013 Bee Culture:
Remember that Bee Culture now has a
digital edition.
Jim Thompson, Smithville, OH liked the crème honey article by Ed Simon. Debby Reelitz sends a photo of a road side sign saying more flowers and less grass please. Graham White in the UK says there's a lot of misinformation on neonicotinoids and looks carefully at Bayer Chemical's
Bee Care Center in Monheim among others. Frank Gunseor, Coeur d' Alene, ID thanks his Russian bee distributor, Golden Ridge Honey Farm's Manley Bigalk. Always check to see you are getting the
real thing. Ella Miller, Black River Falls, WI loves Bee Culture, especially Phil Craft's column. Gianna Devoto, San Francisco, CA writes about the
great sunflower project. Bill Krovetcz appreciates Ross Conrad's articles. Richard Church writes about discovering that chipmunks were cleaning out his frozen drone-catching frames.
A two-page spread discusses Bee Culture's “Miles to go – Program.” This unique event takes place
October 5-6, 2013 in Medina, OH. Learn all about taking honey bees on the road to pollination contracts.
Editor Flottum in his Inner Cover says, we all know what the problems are, but are failing to act. Read about a truly transformational idea, a lawn (grass) tax! The impetus is the book reviewed later in this magazine, Bill McKibben's “
Oil and Honey.” Mr. McKibben is featured prominently in "
The President and the Pipeline," The New Yorker, September 16, 2013, and is the founder of
http://350.org.
Touching on another subject see what he did with his surplus honey. The bees in Medina had a bumper year it seems!
Kathy Summers laments Summer's end. Don't we all; or do we? Not in Florida! For her, Summer's end is marked by the Eastern Apicultural Society's annual meeting. She urges folks to take a look at the EAS web site. The event takes place in
Kentucky in 2014.
Clarence Collison takes a closer look at biologicial control of the small hive beetle. Read about the role of nematodes and fungi as alternatives to chemical insecticides.
Judy Scher says there is a right way and wrong way to advocate for bees in the city. Read what she learned along the way attempting to write ordinances that local officials would accept. There is another way to do this, the Florida route. The Florida State Beekeepers Association effectively lobbied the legislature to pass laws that keep local officials at bay, by empowering the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to regulate urban beekeeping. See more at the
FSBA web site.
Toni Burnham says “it takes a village” to collect swarms in the city. Read the ten things the
DC Beekeepers Alliance list one can do to help urban beekeepers.
Jeff Harris is frustrated when answers to questions aren't easy. Three times he puts in bold the issues surrounding treatment options for honey bees: 1. It's the law; 2. Formulation makes the poison; and 3. Illegal concoctions. This is must reading for those looking for alternative treatments.
Jim Tew says beekeeping things are changing all over. He urges beekeepers to reboot almost all their systems given this reality.
Jack Blackford discusses meadmaking philosophies. Read how homebrewers, winemakers and meaders have different approaches to making the same product.
Two short articles on wintering honey bees reveal the angst beekeepers have about putting the ladies to sleep (Charlotte Hubbard). Ventilation, mouse guards, good food and bottom boards (screened or closed), and using a “calf hutch” (Al Avitable) are all concerns for those in more temperate areas.
Another article by Christine Hemenway discusses wintering honey bees in a top-bar hive. A new kind of hive demands innovation it seems. Read how to handle the traditional problems in a different kind of environment
Jennifer Berry looks at mite control strategies asking somewhat unorthodox questions: “Do we treat? Do we walk away? Do we do a little dance.” Read her answers.
Resource management is on the mind of Larry Connor. Turns out there are many resources in a colony of bees. Are beekeepers resourceful enough to take advantage of this? He discusses a new condition out there called “molten brood.” Known otherwise as "
idiopathic brood disease syndrome." Read what this could do to a colony and how you identify it.
Phil Craft answers more questions. Washboarding, winter losses, and incomplete queen cells are on readers' minds.
Sara Gill Williams journeys to Cuba. Read that at least one beekeeper is happy with his lot on the island, as long as he can stay out of politics and keep bees.
Connie Krochmal looks at chestnuts and chinkapins. Read about these beech and oak relatives and their value to honey bees.
Jessica Lawrence takes her kids to a “family-friendly farmers' market.” Read what they learn from the experience.
Ann Harman says it's time to think about expanding your honey stand. Read her tips, among which is BYOB (not what you think!).
Case Western Reserve University had established the A.I. Root Observational Laboratory in Cleveland. Read the genesis of this project and how it will serve as a lasting tribute to one of apiculture's pioneer giants.
In all the news that fits, read about chemicals and honey bees, Chinese honey in Europe and studies of queenlessness in Australia.
On the Bottom Board Ed Colby describes the people he met at the Colorado bee meeting. Read why he says, “Somebody's always got it tougher."
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. .
