It's my birthday. I'm celebrating by linking here to a
truncated oral history account of my career, developed by the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project here at the University of Florida. It's always interesting to see who else was born on one's birthday.
Let's see! Not I'm happy with sharing my day with Weird Al
Yankovic?
Cooler nights are now prevailing and the winter dry season approaches finally. We have had a lot of rain and the mosquito population is building, so we need lower temperatures. We lost two large colonies at the end of the summer; don't know the reason. So we are going to attempt to overwinter some colonies from our nucleus reserves with populations smaller than I'd like. My partner is feeding them up and we also have some left over honey. I am still keeping my eyes cocked toward the tropics. This time of year can produce surprises. Tropical depression nine,
soon-to-become Tropical Storm Hanna, has formed, and once it crosses the Yucatan peninsula into the Caribbean, predicting what might happen is fraught with uncertainty. Hurricanes
Wilma and
Rita in 2005 come to mind.
My partner visited Cuba and brought me some
Apisun Honey. It's pretty good;
polyflora and medium amber in
color. This product appears to be something being touted as part of Cuba's “post-embargo, post Castro” strategy. It's only a matter of time some think. However, many Cuban-Americans in Miami have yet to board the “normalizing relations” train.
With so much wild honey bee forage being eliminated, folks are going to have to be more creative in finding honey bee locations. What about the local airport? Those in Seattle, Chicago and Germany are
leading the way. “Travelers to Chicago can taste the work of O'Hare's beehives. The honey and items made from the beeswax are sold at the Terminal 3 Farmers Market. Since 2011, O'Hare's apiary has grown to 75 hives, which together house more than 1 million bees. Other Windy City urban beehives include one on city hall's green roof and one in Millennium Park's garden.”
Remember Dr. Jerry
Bromenshek's pioneer work using honey bees as
environmental indicators. “In Germany, eight airports use bees not only to produce honey, but also as air quality '
biodetectives.' The honey from hives at Dusseldorf, Munich and six other airports are regularly tested for toxins. This is a way to monitor air quality, but it is also good PR. The tests are made public to show that the airline industry is following up on its promise to lower pollution rates.
"The idea is that pollutants like carbon monoxide would not only directly affect the bees, but would also affect the flowering plants from which they collect pollen. Because of this dynamic, the bees' honey is the perfect barometer for measuring air quality. Also, the tests do not distinguish between pollutants from airplanes and those from ground activities (emissions from passengers' cars and airport vehicles), so the testing gives an accurate picture of local air quality.” Look to other airports for similar projects. St. Louis International is now leasing to local beekeepers.
More and more are our perceptions about nature are having to shift. A recent paper reveals re-thinking animals as being hardwired and
reactive to stimuli. “This review describes studies demonstrating that innate
behavioural responses, with particular emphasis on reproductive responses mediated by
pheromonal signals, are actually flexible and substantially influenced by past experience and associative learning. These attributes allow the animal to assign new motivational incentives to pheromones associated with social and reproductive
behaviours, thus providing adaptive ability to cope with unique changes in internal and external environmental conditions. We argue that responses to pheromones are far more easily modified by experience than would be expected from hardwired innate responses, and that the
behaviours they elicit are chiefly plastic and sensitive to modification throughout life by sensory-mediated emotional experience.”
The idea that
thelytoky in honey bees can come into play in Australia is raising some eyebrows. This phenomenon is usually referred to with respect to Cape honey bees,
Apis mellifera capensis in South Africa. A Catch the Buzz reveals, however, that crossing of
Apis mellifera with
Apis cerana could produce the same consequences. “...research found queens and drones of the two species often meet and mate as they fly at similar times and places. Genetic testing using DNA markers showed the presence of Asian honey bee sperm in the sperm storage organs of one third of the Australian commercial queens sampled in Cairns.” There is discussion about how virulent this situation might become "down under.” Stay turned!
After some soul searching and lots of up front research, the American Beekeeping Federation approved supporting a bid for the
Apimondia congress in 2019. This is a huge undertaking by the organizing committee. As a start, It has converted itself into a non-profit organization and mounted a
Facebook presence:
Apimondia USA Bid for 2019, 40 S
7th Street, Suite 212, #211, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402: Phone (317) 432-9578, Email:
lapimondiausabidfor2019@yahoo.com.
The site for the 2019 Congress has now been chosen, the twin cities area of Minnesota. Several factors were involved in the selection process, including support by one the nation's premier beekeeping supply outfits in nearby Hackensack MN,
Mann Lake LTD. Now the real work begins; look for the committee to begin reaching out to U.S. Beekeepers for assistance in many critical areas. The bid must be ready to present at the next
Apimondia Congress in
Daejeon, South Korea,
September 17 through 20, 2015.
A huge coalition of folks involved in honey bee health/welfare has reached out to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Chief
Adminstrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an effort to produce what is being called a “
roadmap” to share priorities, ask for input and work to achieve mutual goals. Loyal reader, Al Summers, concludes the roadmap is especially helpful because it avoids being alarmist, “while focusing on what we as beekeepers can practically do (rather than ideologically or politically) to ensure that our bees are healthy and productive.”
Is MAQS a game changer? “BioGro, New Zealand’s leading organic certifier, has granted NOD Apiary Products’ Mite Away Quick Strips® (MAQS) 'organic treatment' status. This will provide beekeepers seeking organic treatment tools to control mites on Honey bees with the assurance of the organic integrity..
"Mite Away Quick Strips® (MAQS®) are an innovative solution that controls the Varroa mite by harnessing an organic acid, formic acid. Formic acid is naturally occurring in honey. The product has now been registered in Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, UK and the USA. Registration is expected for additional European countries.”
To my knowledge this is the first so-called “soft treatment” that has been awarded this status. Read more about this product on the
web site.
As always, see the latest on bee extension efforts at the
Bee Health Extension site. Check out the latest tweets, webinar offerings and answers to questions via “Ask the Experts.”
Amazon.com reports 83 units of
Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees were sold from September 15, 2014 to October 12, 2014. Spokane, WA and Detroit, MI sold 14 and 12 copies respectively. My reading at Auntie's book store in Spokane looks to have borne fruit.
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Gleanings from the October 2014 Bee Culture:
Doug
McCrory, Ex-Ontario, Canada Provincial
Apiculturist, writes that plenty of
opportuity exists for Canadian beekeepers to begin producing queens and package bees. Friedrich Knapp,
Schooley's Mountain, NJ, fixed his skunk problem by “electrifying” the hive entrance after carpet tack strips didn't work. Rob Green is getting more vocal about “the hijacking of the bee crisis by the environmentalists.”
Wicwas Press is looking for bee stories and poetry for an anthology.
Word and Pages files only please. “.. selection emphasis on new ideas and old concepts presented in a new way. Swarm stories will be hard to impress us.” Prizes are being offered! Deadline is March 1, 2015. Steve
Manis,
Gautier, MS writes that perhaps there is a relationship between colony losses and pesticides in pollen (bee bread). He's on the right track it appears. More and more evidence supports the idea that routing comb replacement is a good idea (see article by Ross Conrad in this issue).
Editor Flottum attends both the Omaha, Nebraska Bee Club and Treasure Valley Bee Club in Boise, ID. Find out how these meetings broke the mold in several unique and unpredictable ways.
In “It's Summers Time, read about a trip to Crater Lake. Find out how the chickens are doing as fall approaches in Medina and plans for trips to the Mother Earth News Fair and WAS in Missoula, MT.
Clarence Collison takes a closer look at fat bodies. Read how these cells change with the development of individual bees and can substantially affect colony food reserves.
Ian Stell looks at The Bee's Knees using a scanning microscope. Read why they are pretty special structures.
Michele Colopy looks at the broader scope of pesticide impact on pollinators. Read about the latest research on exposure, and innovative testing procedures that might become important in the future.
Jeff Harris spins a tale of genetic theft. Read how one beekeeper deals with this situation in a unique way.
David Edwards describes beekeeping in central New York in the 19th century. Read why this was a unique time in beekeeping history.
G. Splevin writes about change. He urges beekeepers to move into the 21st century. Read why “professionalizing” is his recommended way to run any non-profit organization at this time.
Jennifer Berry goes into a Georgia swamp to collect feral honey bee stock. Read about installing swarm traps in the Okefenokee and what resulted from this significant effort.
Larry Connor continues his series on developing a beekeeping course. Read about selecting instructors, choosing a text book, setting fees and other administrative issues.
Alice Eckles takes a quick look at “reaping the value of beeswax.” Read about the all-important rendering process and how to pour a mold resulting in a superior product.
Jessica Louque describes “the buckwheat saga.” Read how this important nectar source continues to be of value, as well as the things that can be done with this “pseudocereal.”
Phil Craft answers questions about the Cape honey bee (see previous discussion on thelytoky) and what a beekeeper should do with an apiary that has been ravaged by fire.
Ross Conrad concludes that active comb management is finally sinking in to prevent large buildup of pesticide residues in colonies. Read what he suggests and how he recommends getting combs replaced.
Jim Tew challenges beekeepers to start managing an observation hive or two. Read why they are a constant source of entertainment and education, but also risky. He recommends starting one in the Spring, not now as winter approaches.
Jack Blackford sees an apple cider revival in his region. Read how he makes a “cyser to die for!”
Ann Harman is into solving honey problems. Major ones come from storage and bottling issues. Read her solutions concerning crystallized, spilled and fermented product.
Toni Burnham suggests urban beekeepers be the best of neighbors. Read how she says one should make connections, while avoiding conflict and building consensus.
In “All the News That Fits,” we read that Walter T. Kelley Co. has been sold to the
Fransden Corporation (Will CEO Dennis Fransden see fit to have his own head mounted on a honey bee a la Walter T.?); Arizona beekeeper, Lenard Hancock Hines obituary; how EPA intends to address complaints about its pesticide testing; honey bee origins shifting again to Asia (when will investigators make up their minds?), Steve Ellis, second-generation beekeeper is Farmer of the Year in Grant County, MN; and Canadian Beekeepers sue Bayer and Syngenta in a pesticide class-action law suit.
On the bottom board, Ed Colby gets a nasty August surprise. Also read his mutterings on honey storage and honey bee researcher politics.
Sincerely,
.
