From fgt@cadre.com Mon Aug 8 12:44:57 EDT 1994 Article: 637 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!olivea!uunet!cadre!usenet From: fgt@cadre.com (Fred G. Thurber) Subject: Re: Bees night out? Message-ID: Sender: usenet@cadre.com (News Account) Nntp-Posting-Host: cadre.cadre.com Reply-To: fgt@cadre.com Organization: CADRE TECHNOLOGIES INC. References: <31fohg$6jp@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz> Date: Mon, 1 Aug 1994 17:47:20 GMT Lines: 19 I am a new beekeeper and started off this year with a couple of hives. I had two nukes of carniolans installed this Spring. I have had trouble with one of the hive; the bees seem very grumpy and have recently taken to stinging me. The hives are very close to a gravel driveway and cars & farm equipment apparently rumble by during the day. A couple of days ago I decided to move them and took them to a friend's house in a quiet location about a mile away. Separating us are three major roads, two wooded swamps filled with sweet pepperbush (which is now blooming) and three of pastures. However the next day hundreds of bees were swarming around the location the hives used to be and by afternoon they had massed on a car parked nearby. They also seemed to be hot-tempered and my landlord complained about them. What should I do? --- Frederick Thurber fgt@cadre.com From jlks@u.washington.edu Mon Aug 8 12:44:58 EDT 1994 Article: 638 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!news.clark.edu!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!jlks From: jlks@u.washington.edu (Jordan Schwartz) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Bees night out? Date: 1 Aug 1994 20:45:03 GMT Organization: University of Washington Lines: 25 Message-ID: <31jmsf$cbb@news.u.washington.edu> References: <31fohg$6jp@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu fgt@cadre.com (Fred G. Thurber) writes: [...]A couple of days ago I decided to move them and took them >to a friend's house in a quiet location about a mile away. Separating >us are three major roads, two wooded swamps filled with sweet pepperbush >(which is now blooming) and three of pastures. However the next day >hundreds of bees were swarming around the location the hives used to be and by >afternoon they had massed on a car parked nearby. They also seemed to >be hot-tempered and my landlord complained about them. What should I do? New to beekeeping myself, but I would say move the hive back to its original position ASAP, and, once you have the hive reconsolidated, pick a new spot to move them to, further away than your friend's house (a mile and a half did me fine, but better safe than sorry). Bees have no regard for major roads, and if one happens upon a familiar landmark, they will be able to find their old home quick. If you are set on your friend's house as a permanent location, pick some spot very far away from both the original spot and your friend's house to move them to for three or four weeks, until everyone who remembers the old terrain is dead, then move them to your friend's place. Again: this is my first year beekeeping, so take my advice with a shaker of salt... Jordan From Paul.Ferroni@ab.com Mon Aug 8 12:44:59 EDT 1994 Article: 639 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!olivea!uunet!news1.hh.ab.com!icd.ab.com!cpferron From: cpferron@icd.ab.com (C. Paul Ferroni) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: 1 Aug 1994 22:31:37 GMT Organization: Allen Bradley Lines: 56 Distribution: world Message-ID: <31jt49$4me@news1.hh.ab.com> References: Reply-To: Paul.Ferroni@ab.com NNTP-Posting-Host: dabney.cle.ab.com In article , sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes: [...munch...] > new colony, but in the meantime, what do I do with all those full frames? > Get an extractor? Destroy the frames? What? And will these bees feasting > on the honey be very upset at my intervention? I've been stung a few times > in my life, but certainly I'm not anxious to try for multiple stings! > > Thanks in advance! > > Mark Sandrock If the hive is empty (and if it's not already too late) you need to do something to keep the wax moths out. Bees will keep them out when they are living in the hive, but I doubt if robber's will care. You should open the hive (don't worry about the "mean-ness" of robbers. I suspect that they'll act pretty much like "ordinary bees") and see if you have robbers, or if a swarm has moved in. You can probably judge this by watching the bees coming in. If they are laden with pollen, they are not robber bees, and you have a natural swarm that's moved in. If you don't have any resident bees, then move the hive in the evening, since the robbers will all go home around sunset, and leave the hive empty. Move it to wherever you'll be storing it. Check it carefully for moth-damage. You'll recognize it if you see it - worm-like larvae eating through the wax, leaving silky trails behind them. Eventually they'll form cocoons on the wooden frames, but by that time, all the wax will be consumed. I store my empty hives in plastic garbage bags, with some moth balls on top of the frames, isolated from actually contacting the wax/frames by a sheet of cardboard. This will actually kill any larvae and eggs in the combs, too. Be SURE to air out the frames a couple of DAYS before putting on active hives after removing them from the presence of the moth balls. The wax will store some of the chemicals in it, and requires lots of free air to flush it out. You can also treat frames with a BT spray (bacillus thurengensis spores -- spelling not guaranteed) that will kill any wax moth larvae when they hatch, and be totally harmless to bees. This can be purchased under several common names -- check your garden supply store. Wax moths can devistate a weak/inactive/empty hive in a matter of weeks. Once ruined, you have to start from scratch with new foundation, etc. Hope you've got a swarm. That'd be the best solution to all your problems. But in any case, don't be afraid to visit your bees. With a good veil, gloves, and proper clothing, you shouldn't have any problems. (forgot to add a little common sense to that list :) ). -cpf From Paul.Ferroni@ab.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:00 EDT 1994 Article: 640 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!news1.hh.ab.com!icd.ab.com!cpferron From: cpferron@icd.ab.com (C. Paul Ferroni) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Will the honey move up? Date: 1 Aug 1994 22:48:45 GMT Organization: Allen Bradley Lines: 58 Distribution: world Message-ID: <31ju4d$4me@news1.hh.ab.com> References: <1994Jul30.124716.1@jaguar.uofs.edu> Reply-To: Paul.Ferroni@ab.com NNTP-Posting-Host: dabney.cle.ab.com In article <1994Jul30.124716.1@jaguar.uofs.edu>, ddc1@jaguar.uofs.edu writes: > [...munch...] > Also how do I put the hive back together without crushing a million > bees? Everytime I either brush or smoke them off the sides by the time I turn > around and pick up the box to put back on they've covered the sides again. I > *can't* stand there forever until they decide to move, my back can't take it > especially when they're full. > > -- > Dave D. Cawley Dave, I'll take a stab at your last question... I typically use the hive outer cover as a stand for the supers. Turn it upside down, and set the super(s) on it in such a way that it sits on four points, rather than sliping into the cover. This way, there is a significant gap below the super as it's sitting on the cover. (It also makes it easy to pick up later). Be sure to have scraped off any comb that's hanging below the frames. Then, apply liberal smoke to the top of what's left of the hive (where the seperated super will go), and to the underside of the super sitting on the cover. This is why you leave the space below it -- so the smoke will go underneath easily. (Note: I always leave the inner cover on top of the seperated super as well, to reduce the number of curious onlookers while working.) Typically, most of the bees will be away from the points of contact by this time, and you have a short window of time to move the super on top of the hive. If your hive is very full (of bees), angry (open too long perhaps?), etc, you may still have MANY bees sitting where they may get hurt. The method of placing the super on the hive will also help at this point. Don't just set it in its final location. Gently set it down about a side- board width from it's final resting point. Do this by setting one edge down first (slowly), then the other (slowly). Then slowly slide the whole thing into position. I emphasize the slowness of the movement(s) because the bees will naturally move out of the way as they are getting compressed between two objects. You'll end up crushing a few bees, but I'm usually able to put the most active, full hives together without rousing them too much, or effecting a massacre. I typically smoke any crushed bees, to try to mask the scent, and avoid any "misundertandings" with the survivors :). Hope this helps. -cpf From Dave.Du.Toit@enviro.cds.alt.za Mon Aug 8 12:45:01 EDT 1994 Article: 641 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!psgrain!ticsa.com!cstatd.cstat.co.za!cds!enviro!Dave.Du.Toit From: Dave.Du.Toit@enviro.cds.alt.za (Dave Du Toit) Date: 31 Jul 94 17:50:00 +0200 Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Moving Hives? Message-ID: X-Mail-Agent: GIGO+ sn 62 at cds vsn 0.99w32 X-FTN-To: Dharry@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu Organization: -Enviro-Base BBS, Tzaneen (RSA), (0152) 307-5954 (5:7106/77) Lines: 13 Hi DD> and am wondering what the best way to do it is. I seem >to remember DD> reading that they should be moved a foot/day or something, >but can't DD> find the reference in the books I have now...Any advice? Most probably the easiest method is to move them a least 15km away from there original site for a minimum of five days, place some foreign matter in front of the entrance leaves or something so they are aware that things have changed and they must retake there bearings, then after 5 days follow the same process to bring them back. dave@enviro.cds.alt.za From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:03 EDT 1994 Article: 642 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!tcsi.tcs.com!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Will the honey move up? Date: Mon, 01 Aug 1994 13:57:42 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 65 Message-ID: References: <1994Jul30.124716.1@jaguar.uofs.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <1994Jul30.124716.1@jaguar.uofs.edu>, ddc1@jaguar.uofs.edu wrote: > Well...in my two brood boxes I found almost 5 frames total of capped > honey, 3.5 in the top and 1.5 in the bottom. This amazed me cos I figured I > could get away with 2 brood boxes and a medium super for the year since we've > had droughts the last 3-5 years...how was *I* supposed to know that the > rainfall would be a doozy this year?!? So now my question is (other than where > the heck am i going to get more supers) is will they move the honey up into the > super to free up the brood boxes now that they have the room? They had one full > sheet of of foundation filled out and were working on the others. I figure I > have a full super with what is capped in the bottom boxes. I don't think the bees will "move the honey" into the super, but what they will do is consume the honey that is stored near the broodnest, and new nectar that is coming in will probably be stored up in the super. At a casual glance, this looks like they "moved the honey", but that isn't what really happened. Of course, that's just my opinion - I haven't watched my hive closely enough to be able to "prove" this hypothesis. > I found the queen in the top box which is practically filled with > brood and 3.5 frames of honey, the bottom box had some open space, will she > move back down or is it time to switch boxes on them? Since I don't have an > excluder should I pray that she doesn't move up into the super? Given how crowded your colonies sound, I would guess that it is likely that the queen would move up into the super & start laying - all those open cells would be just too appealing. Prayer doesn't seem to change that! Some folks say that if there is a band of honey across the top of the hive, the queen won't cross it & lay in the super. To have an effective band, *EVERY* frame needs to be solid honey on the top couple of inches - it is easy to get the honey barrier on the sides, but much tougher (you see it less often) directly over the brood nest. The honey barrier didn't work for me this summer, but it seems to work much of the time (don't know how prayer impacts this one!) > Also how do I put the hive back together without crushing a million > bees? Everytime I either brush or smoke them off the sides by the time I turn > around and pick up the box to put back on they've covered the sides again. I > *can't* stand there forever until they decide to move, my back can't take it > especially when they're full. The trick I was taught was 1) lots of smoke, and 2) set the upper box onto the lower box at a slight angle (rotation), and then spin it into position. The advantage is that the "crush zone" is much smaller when you initially set the box down. Then, if you can spin the box slowly enough, most of the bees will get out of the way, or get pushed out of the way. I still squish some, but not as many as just plopping the box straight down. The disadvantage is that it can be tough with burr comb & propolis to spin a deep that has lots of honey in it! Good Luck. Rick Hough rshough@tasc.com **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:03 EDT 1994 Article: 643 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!tcsi.tcs.com!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Mon, 01 Aug 1994 13:57:46 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 58 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article , sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) wrote: [preliminaries deleted for brevity] > Now, the problem is, this hive full of honey has been sitting in the > garden all along, and I've noticed a fair amount of activity with bees > coming and going and crawling around the hive entrance. Yesterday I > received the equipment I (finally) ordered, and was ready to take a > look inside, but happened to read a paragraph in Walter Kelley's book > about the potential "meanness" of robber bees. Well, if what I have are > robber bees, I'm not anxious to do battle with them, and am appealing > here for any advice as to what course of action I should now follow. As Mike Moroney noted, robber bees aren't that big a deal. Yes, they tend to be somewhat more aggressive than "residents", but you probably won't notice that much of a difference if you are a "glove-wearer" (i.e. you don't work your bees bare-handed). One good way to discriminate between residents & robbers from the outside of the hive is to watch the hive entrance - If you see bees bringing pollen into the colony, then you have an active colony (robbers will not bring pollen in - they are taking the honey out! Also, pollen coming into a colony is an indication that there is brood rearing going on (ok - late in the season they might be storing it away for spring...) which is something only "residents" will do. Again, as Mike noted, robbers will clean out a vacant colony quite rapidly, so if the activity you have been watching is, indeed, robbers, it is likely you don't have to worry about any honey! > Kelley's informed me that they've been sold out of bees for several > months, and I'm thinking I have to wait until next spring to start a > new colony, but in the meantime, what do I do with all those full frames? > Get an extractor? Destroy the frames? What? And will these bees feasting > on the honey be very upset at my intervention? I've been stung a few times > in my life, but certainly I'm not anxious to try for multiple stings! It is amazing how mother nature takes care of these things for us - maybe a swrm moved in, in which case you have an established colony by this time, but you need to watch for mites & disease. Also, depending on how well they have built up, you may need to feed them to help them through the winter. If a swarm has not moved in, then it is likely that other bees will have found the colony & robbed all the honey out. Once the robbers have done their work, it is likely that wax moths will move in, and consume all the wax left in the hive. So, you may open the hive this fall, and just find a bunch of empty frames!! If you still have honey in the frames, you have a bunch of choices to make. Contact me by e-mail if you want, and we can talk about this further. Rick Hough rshough@tasc.com **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:05 EDT 1994 Article: 644 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Requeening by putting in queen cell? Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Date: Mon, 25 Jul 1994 12:45:02 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 27 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article , owen@rsnz.govt.nz (Owen Watson) wrote: > Has anyone tried the method of requeening by putting an-almost-ready queen > cell on the frames, and letting supersedure take place? I don't think this will work in a queen-right hive. I would think that the existing queen would kill the queen in the cell before she ever emerges (this is the way it works when a colony raises emergency queens to replace a "lost" queen - the first queen to emerge runs around & chews holes in the sides of all the other queen cells - the workers then finish the job by pulling the pupa out of the cell and discarding it outside the hive). This would be a good way to requeen a colony if you first eliminated the old queen, although you may want to place more than one queen cell, just in case you damage one "installing" it. **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:06 EDT 1994 Article: 645 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Question about making beewax candles Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 10:05:19 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 23 Distribution: na Message-ID: References: <311471$26s@homer.mdd.comm.mot.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <311471$26s@homer.mdd.comm.mot.com>, jong@mdd.comm.mot.com (Edward Jong) wrote: > > When making beeswax candles, is it advisable to mix some > parafin as well? Any suggestions for candle making. > > I don't know anything about bees. I am posting this question > for a beekeeping friend of mine. Addition of parafin will increase the chances that the candle will drip. Also, once you add parafin, you can't sell your candles as 100% beeswax. I am not aware of any advantages of adding parafin, other than parafin is cheap. **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:07 EDT 1994 Article: 646 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: How to process burr comb - novice Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 13:05:36 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 77 Message-ID: References: <9407260857.PN06539@LL.MIT.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In esponse to Mike Killoran's recent post: Your concept on the solar melter is right - brood & big chunks of other "undesirables" will stay on top, with all the rest dripping through. Wax floats on water, and since honey is heavier than water, wax will float on the honey too. The problem is that the honey that goes through the solar melter probably won't taste that great. So, before rendering the honey soaked wax, put it back on the hive for a while. The bees will clean up the honey and leave the wax behind (I put the wax on top of the inner cover, with an empty super or something holding up the outer cover. This is a *GOOD* way to spread American Foulbrood, so it is best to feed the honey back to the colony it came from) The wax that comes out of the melter still needs to be cleaned bofore making candles with it (a beeswax crafting book can tell you how - Bob Berthold just wrote a nice one). This cleaning process will remove any honey, bee parts, pollen, etc. that didn't get separated by the initial melting process. Also, refer to the FAQ (don't know if it is archived yet - e-mail me and I'll forward you a copy) - there is a reference to hint sheets available from Andy Nachbaur - there is one on solar wax rendering. **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. In article <9407260857.PN06539@LL.MIT.EDU>, killoran@ll.mit.edu (Mike Killoran) wrote: > > Question from someone who started their hive this spring: > > My bees tend to build comb where I don't want it. This is > normally hanging off the bottom of the frames and occasionally > between the frames. When there wasn't too much of it, I'd > scrape it off with my hive tool and leave it on the ground. > > Last weekend, when I was adding another super (;->) I took out > the queen excluder I had in place. There was alot of extra > space due to the frame of the excluder and the bees had built > comb both above and below the wire grid. The comb on top was > capped honey and the comb below had brood of various stages. > > I scraped both types into two plastic food containers, > respectively. The capped honey comb I just squished with a > fork and left the container on an incline for ~1 hour to > separate the wax and honey... mmm, mmm good! Now I'm left > with mostly empty comb. The larvae filled comb on the other > hand, I'm not sure what to do with. > > I've seen plans for a solar wax renderer but don't see exactly > how they work. It seems like the comb (containing honey, brood, > etc.) is placed on a screen in the sun. The wax melts and drips > down to a collecting pan. But wouldn't the honey drip down too? > This seems like a good way to separate the brood, though. > > I don't want to waste the wax the bees worked so hard to make. > Perhaps I'll use it for candles... but a candle filled with > different stages of bee brood might only be interesting to a > beekeeper! > > Any insights or pointers in this area would be helpful! Thanks, > > Mike Killoran > -- > Mike Killoran Zen says: > killoran@ll.mit.edu Cease to do evil, > (617) 981-2667 Try to do good. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:08 EDT 1994 Article: 647 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What do I do about skunks? Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Date: Tue, 26 Jul 1994 13:27:21 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 47 Message-ID: References: <313bm1$66o@news.doit.wisc.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <313bm1$66o@news.doit.wisc.edu>, nmrdb@vms.macc.wisc.edu (BEVERLY SEAVEY) wrote: > This morning there were a lot of my bees by the door of the hive, all uupset. > I had noticed skunk smell all night. In the ABC to XYZ book, it says that > skunks eat bees!!! How do I get rid of these skunks? A couple of tricks I have heard about, but have not had to test out myself: 1) Put the hives on taller hive stands, so the skunks can't reach. I would guess that this has a couple of problems - skunks can climb, skunks can be rather tall when they stand on their hind legs, it can be hard to remove supers from the top of the hive. 2) Place something in front of the hive that the skunks will not walk on. I've heard of driving nails through a board so they protrude from the back side, and then leaving the boards, nails up, in front of the hive. Knowing me, I would forget about the darn board, and step on it myself! I'm not sure if it works, but I've heard that some animals don't like to walk on chicken wire when it is laid flat on the ground. 3) Put up a fence around the hives. This can be a lot of work, and skunks can dig, so the fence needs to go below the surface a bit. 4) Sprinkle liberal amounts of pepper, or other hot spice on the ground in front of the hive entrance. The theory on this one is that the skunk will walk on the pepper, get pepper on it's paws, and get some of the pepper when it eats the bees. "Hmm, these bees don't taste so good..." and the skunk leaves your bees alone. 5) Trap the skunk & move it elsewhere. This one has certain obvious risks. As I said above, I can't vouch for the effectiveness of any of these, but I'm sure others will have some comments of their own! Oh yah - I almost forgot the relatively sure fix - a rifle. **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From adent@Deakin.Edu.Au Mon Aug 8 12:45:09 EDT 1994 Article: 648 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!galaxy.ucr.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.oz.au!sol.ccs.deakin.edu.au!adent From: adent@Deakin.Edu.Au (ADRIAN GRAHAM DENT) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: help!!!! Date: 2 Aug 1994 05:21:15 GMT Organization: Deakin University Lines: 1 Distribution: world Message-ID: <31kl4b$l11@sol.ccs.deakin.edu.au> NNTP-Posting-Host: eros.ccs.deakin.edu.au From physikv@phys.canterbury.ac.nz Mon Aug 8 12:45:10 EDT 1994 Article: 649 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!eff!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!ames!waikato!canterbury.ac.nz!newton!physikv From: physikv@phys.canterbury.ac.nz (Kumar) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Requeening by putting in queen cell? Date: 2 Aug 1994 12:11:29 GMT Organization: University of Canterbury Lines: 33 Message-ID: <31ld5h$65i@cantua.canterbury.ac.nz> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: newton.canterbury.ac.nz X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Rick Hough (rshough@tasc.com) wrote: : In article , owen@rsnz.govt.nz : (Owen Watson) wrote: : > Has anyone tried the method of requeening by putting an-almost-ready queen : > cell on the frames, and letting supersedure take place? : I don't think this will work in a queen-right hive. I would think that the : existing queen would kill the queen in the cell before she ever emerges : (this is the way it works when a colony raises emergency queens to replace : a "lost" queen - the first queen to emerge runs around & chews holes in the : sides of all the other queen cells - the workers then finish the job by : pulling the pupa out of the cell and discarding it outside the hive). : This would be a good way to requeen a colony if you first eliminated the : old : queen, although you may want to place more than one queen cell, just in : case : you damage one "installing" it. This method of requeening is quite frequently used by commercial beekeepers in New Zealand, with claims of a 70-80% success rate. The cells are protected on the sides with tape, ensuring that the pupa inside has a chance to at least emerge. The cell does not need to be placed in the brood chamber - often it is placed in a super (with no excluder being used). It is an attractive idea from a labour-saving, "leave-it-alone" point of view, but I don't know how accurate the success rate really is, or whether anyone has ever done a controlled experiment. My only attempt with this method resulted in a swarm in the last month of Summer... Kumar From rohvm1.mah48d@rohmhaas.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:11 EDT 1994 Article: 650 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!rohvm1!rohvm1.mah48d Nntp-Posting-Host: 136.141.220.39 Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 12:30:15 -0400 From: rohvm1.mah48d@rohmhaas.com (John E. Taylor III) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Distribution: na Subject: Re: Question about making beewax candles Message-ID: References: <311471$26s@homer.mdd.comm.mot.com> Organization: Rohm and Haas Company Lines: 23 In article , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > In article <311471$26s@homer.mdd.comm.mot.com>, jong@mdd.comm.mot.com > (Edward Jong) wrote: > > > > When making beeswax candles, is it advisable to mix some > > parafin as well? Any suggestions for candle making. > > Addition of parafin will increase the chances that the candle will > drip. Also, once you add parafin, you can't sell your candles as > 100% beeswax. I am not aware of any advantages of adding parafin, > other than parafin is cheap. > I have the impression that candle crafters consider 100% beeswax candles to be a bit extravagant (after all, they use mostly parafin), and thus use it primarily as a minor additive. We, on the other hand, have access to lots more beeswax than they do. We can afford the luxury of pure beeswax candles. Go for it! -- John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company." From rohvm1.mah48d@rohmhaas.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:12 EDT 1994 Article: 651 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!koriel!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!rohvm1!rohvm1.mah48d Nntp-Posting-Host: 136.141.220.39 Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 12:35:14 -0400 From: rohvm1.mah48d@rohmhaas.com (John E. Taylor III) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Distribution: na Subject: Re: What do I do about skunks? Message-ID: References: <313bm1$66o@news.doit.wisc.edu> Organization: Rohm and Haas Company Lines: 24 In article , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > In article <313bm1$66o@news.doit.wisc.edu>, nmrdb@vms.macc.wisc.edu > (BEVERLY SEAVEY) wrote: > > > This morning there were a lot of my bees by the door of the hive, all uupset. > > I had noticed skunk smell all night. In the ABC to XYZ book, it says that > > skunks eat bees!!! How do I get rid of these skunks? > > A couple of tricks I have heard about, but have not had to test out myself: > > 1) Put the hives on taller hive stands, so the skunks can't reach. I would > guess that this has a couple of problems - skunks can climb, skunks can be > rather tall when they stand on their hind legs, it can be hard to remove > supers from the top of the hive. According to what I've read, the advantage of raising the hive to about 18 - 24 inches is that the skunk has to stretch upward to hassle the hive, leaving his underbelly exposed to the bees. Apparently they're much more effective there than trying to get through his back fur. -- John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company." From terry-dahms@uiowa.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:13 EDT 1994 Article: 652 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uiowa.edu!news.weeg.uiowa.edu!drone.weeg.uiowa.edu!terry-dahms From: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu (Terry Dahms) Subject: June 1994 'Buzz' - Iowa Beekeepers Newsletter Message-ID: Keywords: newsletter june 1994 iowa Lines: 375 Sender: news@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (News) Nntp-Posting-Host: drone.weeg.uiowa.edu Organization: Weeg Computing Center X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 22:18:06 GMT Submitted by: Terry Dahms, Pres. East Central Iowa Beekeepers Assoc. internet: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu ps: sorry for the delay in posting. ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BUZZ JUNE, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------ A newsletter published monthly as a cooperative effort by The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and The Iowa Honey Producers Association (IHPA), an affiliate member of the Iowa Horticultural Society. Copy deadline is the 20th of each month. Your ideas, comments and letters are welcomed and encouraged. EDITOR: Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Monies, IA. 50319 Phone: (515) 281-5736. IHPA MEMBERSHIP: Membership dues in the Iowa Honey Producers Assn. are $5.00/year. Send to Gordon Powell, IHPA Treasurer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ STATE APIARISTS REPORT What a fantastic spring for the bees we have had! You can expect lots of swarming if you have not managed the bees properly. It is time to start thinking about getting supers on your colonies and preparing for the harvest. That brings up the Iowa State Fair. Get involved this year. Enter some of your best product in the apiary division or perhaps cook something with honey to enter in the food division. It doesn't matter whether your bees produce dark or light honey, liquid or comb honey, beautiful beeswax or a nice observation beehive. There is a class for everyone. Think about putting in a bid for selling honey or beeswax at the Iowa Honey Producers Association Salesbooth at State Fair. We could really use good quality product and at the same time promote our favorite industry or hobby. I am finding the Varroa mite in many places around the state this year. Beware of this mite and treat if you have them. Time is running out to treat this spring, if not already past in most areas of the state. The black locust trees are blooming now (May 23rd) and some sweet clover is starting to bloom here in central Iowa. This is the time of year to put on supers for the bees to store surplus honey. In June there are local beekeepers meetings being held in Marshalltown, Iowa City and Davenport. For specific dates, places, and times consult the "Calendar of Events." These are a great opportunity to compare notes and see how other beekeepers do things. Why not pick one closest to you and attend it? If you want to be on a list of beekeepers wanting to retrieve swarms or need bees inspected before July 1st, give me a call at (515) 281-5736. - Bob Cox CENTRAL IOWA BEEKEEPERS MEETING The Central Iowa Beekeepers Association (CIBA) will hold their summer meeting at the Anson Park Shelter House in Marshalltown June 18th at 5:30 p.m. A member appreciation meal will be cooked and served by CIBA board members for continued support of the membership. The program will follow at 6:30 p.m. featuring Bob Mitchell, Tim Laughlin and Bob Cox (Mo, Larry and Curly?) For further information contact Margaret Hala (515) 752-2981. IOWA SUMMER BEEKEEPING FIELD DAY Saturday, July 23rd the Iowa Honey Producers and Central Iowa Beekeepers Association will hold a beekeeping field day at the Riverside Bible Camp near Story City, Iowa. The camp is located just 2 miles off of I-35 about 20 miles north of Ames. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. and the program will last until 4:00. Dr. Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota Bee Research Laboratory will present a program on queen management: finding and evaluating the queen, queen selection, breeding, rearing methods, replacement and introduction methods. Everyone attending will get a copy of the new disease booklet published by the University of Minnesota. The morning will start out with a walking tour of bee plants on the grounds. Breakout sessions in the afternoon will include choices of Comb Honey Production, Pollen Trapping, Beginning Beekeeping, or Bee Diseases and Pests. The camp setting is a great place for beekeepers and their families. There is a beeyard with a screened-in observation building on the property. Some of the talks and lunch will be held in an air-conditioned retreat center. Pre-registration ($4.00 for single or family) is required for a prepared meal ($5.75 per adult) or you could bring your own lunch and eat at picnic tables outside. To register fill out the form on page 9 and send in with your check for the registration and meal. The registration fee at the door is $5.00. For further information contact Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Department of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Moines, IA 50319 (515) 281-5736 or Gordon Powell, 4012 - 54th St., Des Moines, IA 50310 (515) 278-1762. SCOTT COUNTY BEEKEEPERS FIELD TRIP Thurday, June 16th at 6:00 p.m. the Scott County Beekeepers Association will hold a beekeeping field trip. Meet at Al Gruber's beeyard at 1945 Wisconsin St. on the west side of Davenport. This will be a hands-on experience in the beeyard or you may want to watch. Anyway, bring you own hat, beeveil and other personal gear if you have it. However, come even if you do not, because we will have some extra equipment for you to use. We will identify queens, swarm cells, and other aspects of a bee colony. We will demonstrate how to make splits and requeen colonies and when to place supers on colonies for surplus honey production. Hopefully, we will not have a rainstorm again. DIRECTIONS: Turn north on Wisconsin Street off of Locust, 1 1/4 miles east of I-280. Come and bring a friend. For further information contact Ray & Jo Whitwood (319) 263-0992. HONEY OF A VERSE "John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins... And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild HONEY" (Mark 1:4,6) NOSEMA IN HONEYBEES by Carol Fassbinder (Hawkeye Science Fair Winner) In the past four winters the winter kill rate for honeybees in Iowa has been 50-75%. In my science fair project I wanted to determine if Nosema disease is a contributor to such a high winter loss. I predicted that the colonies that were treated with Fumadil-B will have little or no Nosema spores, and survive winter better than the colonies that were not treated. Procedure: I tested 8 different yards (averaging 26 colonies per yard) and gathered a 25-bee sample from each. Yards #1 and #2 were treated with Fumadil-B and winter-wrapped, #3 and #4 were treated and not wrapped, #5 and #6 were not treated but wrapped, and #7 and #8 were not treated and not wrapped for winter. At each yard I recorded the number of living colonies in the spring. I then dissected the bees by removing the head, then grasping the stinger end of the abdomen, and gently removing the insides. After removing the insides from 25 bees, the gut, ventriculus and honey stomach were ground up with 25 millilters of water (1 ml per bee) with a mortar and pestle. I used a wire loop to transfer a small amount of this solution onto the hemocytometer for counting the number of Nosema spores. Under a 430 power microscope I counted the Nosema spores in 80 small squares on a special grid and used a mathematical formula to calculate the correct number of spores per bee and the level of infestation. Results: The Nosema infestation is displayed in Table 1 and the winter survival rate is shown in Table 2 on page 4. In yards #1 and #2 (Fumadil & wrapped) the average spore count was 1,667 spores per bee, and they had an average winter survival rate of 85% and the amount of dysentery was extremely low. In yards #3 and #4 (Fumadil but not wrapped) there were 24,834 spores per bee and they had an average winter survival rate of 85% and was not much dysentery dtectable at these yards. In yard #5 and #6 (no Fumadil but wrapped) the average spore count was 66,665 spores per bee, and 83% winter survival raate and there was a fair amount of dysentery on the outside of the hives, but the inside of the hives were still clean. In yards #7 and #8 (no Fumadil & not wrapped) the spore count was 152,667 spores per bee, with only 31% surviving winter and dysentery covering the front of the hives, as well as the inside of the hives. Conclusions: It appears that if the bees are either well protected for winter by wrapping or treated with Fumadil-B, their winter survival is reasonable. However, if the bees are neither treated with Fumadil-B, nor protected by wrapping, they do not survive winter well. I conclude that winter protection is more important than treating with Fumadil-B (because of the added expense). If the bees are not protected, then treatment with Fumadil-B is essential. Since other factors play a part in winter survival, more reasearch needs to be done. (Carol is a 7th grader at Valley Community School and daughter of Robert and Kathy Fassbinder , commercial beekeepers from Elgin, Iowa.) Figure 1 - Number of Nosema Figure 2 - Winter survival rate spores per bee in the spring in the spring of 1994 after of 1994 after colonies were colonies were treated with treated with Fumadil (3+4), Fumadil-B or wrapped or both wrapped (5+6), both (1+2) or or neither. neither (7+8). CALENDAR OF EVENTS JUNE 13 Eastcentral Iowa Beekeepers Meeting 7:00 p.m. in basement of Montgomery Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Iowa City 16 Scott County Beekeeping Field Day 7:00 p.m. at Al Gruber's beeyard, 1945 Wisconsin St. in Davenport. 18 Central Iowa Beekeepers Dinner & Meeting 5:30 p.m. at Anson Park Shelter House in Marshalltown. Program at 6:30 25 IHPA Board Mtg. 1:00 p.m. at Royal Cafe in Huxley. JULY 13-15 Eastern Apicultural Society Annual Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Contact Maryann Frazier telephone: (814) 865-4621. 23 IHPA/CIBA Summer Field Day at Riverside Church Camp, Story City, Iowa. Contact Gordon Powell or Bob Cox for further details. NOVEMBER 11-12 Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting in Marshalltown. WHAT TO DO ABOUT SWARMING (Reprinted from the Alaska newsletter - By Dr. Clarence Collison, Mississippi State University) Swarming is an instinctive desire of honeybees to increase their numbers by reproducing at the colony level, giving them twice the chance to survive. While this behavior is not fully understood, several factors contribute to the swarming impulse. The major factor is congestion in the brood area which is related to population size and availability of space. Swarming also is associated with the production and distribution of chemicals secreted by the queen. When there is a shortage of these secretions (queen substance), the bees make queen cells in preparation for swarming or supercedure (a natural replacement of an established queen by a daughter in the same hive). Swarming also may be modified by the weather. When colonies are strong and developing, good weather following some bad weather seems to accentuate the swarming fever. Other factors that contribute to swarming include poor ventilation, a failing queen, heredity and an imbalance in the makeup of the worker bee population. Most swarming occurs during April and May in Mississippi, and you need to check the colonies every 8 to 10 days during this season. The presence of queen cells in the brood area is the first indication the colony is preparing to swarm or supercede its queen. Swarm cells are commonly found on or near the bottom bars of the combs in the upper brood chamber(s). Whereas supercedure queen cells are generally found on the face of the comb. To check quickly for swarm cells, tip back the top brood chamber(s) and look up between the frames, destroy all (unsealed) swarm cells. Unfortunately, cutting out queen cells seldom prevents swarming; it only delays it since the bees usually construct more cells in a few days. Once the bees succeed in capping a queen cell, they are committed to swarming. (Tennessee Apiculture March-April 1991) I am not hard hearted--some of the time but I have a hard time feeling sorry for people who allow their bees to swarm when they don't watch their bees. July is our usual swarming time. This year the first swarm was reported June the 5th. Caging the queen first week of July to prevent swarming won't work as well this year due to the fact that the bees are swarming early. It will do the other jobs in to brood rearing, etc., that I write about. Cutting out queen cells--my way of saying it--it is a waste of time. Why? Because even experienced beekeepers miss them and when the bees have their jogging shoes on cutting out cells will not stop them, just slow them down a few days. Separate the brood from the queen by an excluder and give an uppper entrance. Let them swarm but stay in the hive. FOR SALE: queen excluders, Kelley 33-frame extractor, sump tank, 1" pump, Dadant Wax melter, Cowen uncapper, 2 - 3000 gal. S.S. corn syrup tanks, and more. Call days (608) 568-7601 or evenings (608) 748-4706. ESPY APPOINTS NEW MEMBERS TO NATIONAL HONEY BOARD Mike Espy, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, appointed two producer members, one exporter member and one cooperative member as well as alternates for each position to the National Honey Board. The new members' three-year terms commenced April 1 and expire on March 31, 1997. H. Binford Weaver, Navasota, Texas, was reappointed to serve as producer member representing Region 5 (Al, AR, LA, MS, MO, OK, TN and TX). Bobby E. Coy, Jonesboro, Arkansas was appointed as the alternate for Weaver. Stephen A. Conlon, Proctor, W.V. was appointed to serve as producer member representing Region 7 (CT, DL, DC, IL, IN, KY, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, RI, SC, VT, VA, and WV). David E. Hackenberg, Lewisburg, PA was appointed as the alternate for Conlon. John (Doug) McGinnis, Edgewater, FL was appointed to serve as exporter member. Robert E. Coyle, Bellevue, WA, a honey importer, was appointed as the alternate for McGinnis. Newly appointed members of the nominating committee are: Jerry A. Brown, Haddam, KS; Glenn E. Davis, Blue Springs, MO; Todd D. Larson, Billings, MT; Joann M. Olstrom, Reedsport, OR; Glen R. Wollman, Parker, SD; Donald J. Kohn, Withee, WI; and Charles D. Hannum, Arlington, VA. Reappointed for three terms on the nominations committee are: Reg G. Wilbanks, Claxton, GA; Donald T. O'Neill, Baton Rouge, LA; Jacob C. DeKorne, Ellsworth, MI; Darl B. Stoller, Latty, OH and Stephen H. Dilley, Nashville, TN. FRANK PELLETT, APICULTURE PIONEER, REMEMBERED An excellent article about the Hyssop honey plant, a member of the mint family, by Ayers and Widrlechner was published in the May 1994 American Bee Journal. In this article quite a mention of Frank Pellett was made with respect to his work on this honey plant. The following is quoted from this article: "Because of his extensive writing on the subject, Frank Pellett (1879-1951), more than anyone else, created a place in U.S. apicultural history for A. foeniculum (anise hyssop). Mr. Pellett was a well respected apiculturist. He was the Iowa State Apiarist between 1912 and 1917, a Field Editor of the American Bee Journal for many years, and then an Associate Editor of the same publication, a position he held until the end of his life. He was instrumental in the pioneering research on American foulbrood. He initiated and operated the American Bee Journal's Honey Plant Test Gardens at Atlantic, Iowa. He was a careful observer who published books on the history of American beekeeping, queen rearing, practical beekeeping, horticulture, botany and ornithology (Anonymous, 1951), but he is probably most remembered by today's beekeepers for his magnum opus, American Honey Plants, which he revised several times through his life (1920, 1923, 1930, and 1947). His proclamations about bee forage in general (and anise hyssop in particular) demanded the respect of the apicultural industry." (Anonymous. 1951. Frank Pellett 1879-1951. American Bee Journal 91:234-237). 1994 SUMMER BEEKEEPING FIELD DAY Iowa Honey Producers & Central Iowa Beekeepers Assn. Saturday, July 23rd Riverside Bible Camp, 3001 Riverside Rd. Story City, IA 50248 Phone (515) 733-5271 Meeting Pre-registration $4.00 $________ (Deadline - July 16) At the door $5.00 $________ (No prepared meal available if not pre-registered)** Noon meal* in air-conditioned bldg. $5.75 $________ Through age 3 - No charge Children: Ages 4 - 10 yrs - $3.00 Ages 11 and up - full price * Includes soup, salad, BBQ sandwich & chips, bread/roll, coffee/milk/coolaid ** Picnic tables outside if you would rather bring your own lunch. 1994 MEMBERSHIP DUES: Iowa Honey Producers Association $5.00 $________ Central Iowa Beekeepers Association $4.00 $________ ================= TOTAL $________ MAKE CHECK PAYABLE TO: IOWA HONEY PRODUCERS ASSN. SEND CHECK AND FORM TO: Gordon Powell 4012 - 54th St. Des Moines, IA 50310 (515) 278-1762 NAME______________________________________________________________ ADDRESS:__________________________________________________________ CITY:____________________STATE_________________ZIP________________ PHONE(____)_______________________No. of colonies_________________ 4/05/94 From terry-dahms@uiowa.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:15 EDT 1994 Article: 653 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uiowa.edu!news.weeg.uiowa.edu!drone.weeg.uiowa.edu!terry-dahms From: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu (Terry Dahms) Subject: July 1994 'Buzz' - Iowa Beekeepers newsletter Message-ID: Keywords: newsletter iowa july 1994 Lines: 427 Sender: news@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (News) Nntp-Posting-Host: drone.weeg.uiowa.edu Organization: Weeg Computing Center X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 22:22:59 GMT Submitted by: Terry Dahms, Pres. East Central Iowa Beekeepers Assoc. internet: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BUZZ JULY, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------ A newsletter published monthly as a cooperative effort by The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and The Iowa Honey Producers Association (IHPA), an affiliate member of the Iowa Horticultural Society. Copy deadline is the 20th of each month. Your ideas, comments and letters are welcomed and encouraged. EDITOR: Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Monies, IA. 50319 Phone: (515) 281-5736. IHPA MEMBERSHIP: Membership dues in the Iowa Honey Producers Assn. are $5.00/year. Send to Gordon Powell, IHPA Treasurer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Dear Fellow Beekeepers, I think it is 1988, but my age tells me it is 1994. The bees up until now look just like they did in 1988. In April and May the bees built up like they are suppose to do. I think they look great. Our queens were accepted just like they should be in our new splits and even as we were requeening. The bees were able to work the dandelions this year, as they haven't been able to the past three to four years. There was plenty of pollen and nectar for them and the queens started laying real well. I talked to several other people that ordered two and three pound packages the middle of April, and the first of June were putting on honey supers. The bees I have looked at the post couple of days were putting honey into the cells as fast as the brood was hatching. We have to be careful not let them plug up their brood chambers and crowd the queen out of laying space. I feel that this can cause swarming. We had a nice rain a few days ago, maybe about two inches or so. This should keep the flowers blooming for the bees. The weather has been great this spring. It's a refreshing change. Don't forget the Central Iowa/Iowa Honey Producers Field Day on July 23rd at the Riverside Bible Camp north of Story City. This should be a fun day for the family. State Fair is just around the corner, too. It is not as far off as it may seem. Start planning to enter into the Apiary, Foods made with Honey or Honey-Walnut Classic competition at the fair this year. There is great fun in doing this and prize money also. An entry form for Apiary has been included on page 7. SCOTT COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ANNUAL PICNIC Sunday, July 10th at 1:00 p.m. the Scott County Beekeepers Association will hold their annual picnic at the Duck Creek Park Shelters on East Locust Street in Davenport, Iowa. A collection will be taken up to pay for fried chicken catered from Riefes Restaurant. You should bring a side dish, salad or dessert to share and your own drink and table service. Come, bring a friend and compare notes on this year's honey crop. Bring a small sample of liquid, creamed, or comb honey for others to taste. Maybe this could be a time to make plans to take some of the best honey to the state fair in Des Moines in August. REMINDER TO ALL BEEKEEPING FAMILIES Help promote our favorite product--HONEY! Bring your favorite honey-sweetened snack to the July 23rd Beekeeping Field Day at the Riverside Bible Camp, Story City, Iowa. Share a tasty honey treat with us. See the program for the meeting on page 3. (insert Leo's signature) LAPLANDERS HONEY CONFERENCE Friday, September 9th, the Laplanders Honey Conference of Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri will be held in Allerton, Iowa at the "Inn of the Six Toed Cat." Dinner will be held at 6 p.m. and the program at 7 p.m. The following day, Saturday, September 10th at 10 a.m. the Honey-Walnut Classic will also be held at the "Inn" in Allerton. Look for more details in next month's newsletter. CALENDAR OF EVENTS JULY 13-15 Eastern Apicultural Society Annual Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Contact Maryann Frazier telephone: (814) 865-4621. 23 IHPA/CIBA Summer Field Day at Riverside Bible Camp, Story City, Iowa. Contact Gordon Powell or Bob Cox for further details. AUGUST 11-21 Iowa State Fair Apiary Exhibit, 2nd Floor of Agriculture Building. Come see the best! SEPTEMBER - NATIONAL HONEY MONTH 10-11 Laplanders Honey Conference 6:00 p.m. the 10th and Honey Walnut Classic 10 a.m. the 11th both at the Inn in Allerton, Iowa. NOVEMBER 11-12 Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting in Marshalltown. WANTED: Contact with beekeepers who collect and market Bee Pollen. We are examining the nutritional qualities of pollen from various crops, as well as seeking suitable quantities for use in our Raw Food products. Contact Raja Tamaran, Vital Health Network, P.O. Box 570, Kealakekua, Hawaii 96750 phone: (808) 328-8052 FAX (808) 329-7651. FOR SALE: Dadant 4-frame stainless extractor with motor (will handle 8 shallow frames) - $250; 40 gal. galvanized tank with 2-inch gate - $50; 12 shallow supers with comb - $5.00 ea.; 7 deep supers with frames, 2 smokers, 2 bee veils, electric uncapper. My beeyard was destroyed by fire. Contact Don Kraus, Box 275, Britt, IA 50423 phone: 515-843-3133. FOR SALE: Dadant 4-frame s/s extractor. Hand crank or power drive. $125 w/out the motor. Call Phil Ebert in Lynnville, Iowa 515-527-2639. STATE APIARISTS REPORT Please sign up to help in the State Fair Honey Booth this year. It's a great way to spend a part of a day. (see sign-up on p. 6) The number of swarms this year must be at least double that of last year. I am running that far ahead on bee swarm calls here in my office. I think this year has caught a lot of beekeepers off guard after last year's slow and poor build up. You couldn't hardly split your bees enough this spring. Stan Weiser told me of the following incident that illustrates how frustrated he became with trying to stop a colony from swarming. Stan had been reversing the hive bodies, making splits, and cutting unsealed swarms cells to prevent swarming of his dozen or so colonies in his back yard near Adel. Despite all this he watched one of his colonies swarm one morning a couple of weeks ago. It landed in the top of an evergreen tree in his yard, about 30 feet off the ground. It made him so angry that he got out his 20 gauge shot gun and shot the swarm out of the tree. As soon as the swarm was hit, it dropped to the ground like lead. Then the bees dusted themselves off and all went back into the hive from which they issued. Believe it or not! (Explanation? Stan figures that he killed the queen and the demoralized swarm simply returned home.) Field inspectors will be starting in July and August. We are delaying inspections in the early summer so that we can save hours to inspect more next spring. I have been inspecting those requesting it, mainly in central and eastern Iowa. We will have the same inspectors as last year working in the same counties, with the exception of Bob Wells, who retired last July 1st. If you would like your bees inspected, contact my office in Des Moines. (State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace State Office Building, Des Moines, Iowa 50319 phone: 515-281-5736) Beekeepers who have treated their colonies with Apistan strips have been getting a clean bill of health with respect to Varroa mites. So far this year the highest levels of Varroa mites have been found in bees where the beekeeper was not aware that he had Varroa yet. Plan on treating with Apistan as soon as the honey is harvested from your colonies to avoid losses due to Varroa mites. Check any weak colonies for signs of American foulbrood disease (i.e. sunken, perforated, greasy, darkened cappings over brood with a "melted-down", gooey, chocolate-brown mass underneath the capping). These must be dealt with promptly to avoid spread to neighboring healthy colonies. The beekeeping class taught at the Des Moines Botanical Center will conclude this month with the final field trip to the beeyard to harvest honey (hopefully) and extract some honey to take home. We will meet at the beeyard Saturday, July 16th at 10:00 a.m. so that we can get done before its too hot. Don't forget the IHPA/CIBA Beekeeping Field Day July 23rd at the Riverside Bible Camp near Story City. It should be a fun day for all the family. The meeting place is air-conditioned. Save time and a dollar by preregistering now on the form on page 9. We are really looking forward to Dr. Spivak's presentation as well as the rest of the program. A LAND OF MILK AND HONEY While driving through the Wisconsin countryside I saw a sign on the side of a barn with the slogan "Bee Udderly Cool, Drink Milk and Eat Honey." Many consumers today have an even better idea--eat honey-sweetened ice cream. Ranking 8th in the nation in milk production and around 15th in honey production, Iowa is also "A Land Flowing with Milk and Honey" (Bible - Exodus 3:8). Several years ago the Iowa Honey Producers Association got the idea to sell a small serving of honey-sweetened ice cream at the State Fair Salesbooth as a way of promoting this use of honey, as well as the use of honey in general. Several other state beekeeping organizations in the upper Midwest were selling honey ice cream and thought it was a winner. For example, Nebraska Honey Producers were contracting with the University of Nebraska for producing several flavors of honey ice cream, both soft and hard. Nebraska State Apiarist, Marion Ellis, offered to let us purchase some of their mix, but transportation during the hot summer seemed a problem. We then contacted several large Iowa Dairies about making us a small batch for our needs at State Fair. Anderson-Erickson (A-E) Dairy of Des Moines seemed to be the most interested and the most convenient because the State Fair is also located in Des Moines. In order to taste the honey flavor, we felt it was important to keep the flavors simple, so we tried Honey-Vanilla and Honey-Almond premium ice cream. We contacted the National Honey Board who provided technical support (commercial recipes, etc.). The Iowa Honey Producers Association provided a nice light-colored, mild-flavored clover honey for the manufacture of the ice cream. The first two years we sold out the 7000 servings of ice cream before the end of the Fair. Many people said they loved the ice cream and asked where they could purchase more of it. In fact, the second year we collected signatures on a petition asking A-E Dairy to offer this for sale in the local grocery stores. In 1992, A-E Dairy decided to produce honey ice cream commercially using Iowa Honey Producers Honey. In spite of delays due to the new nutrition labelling requirements, Honey Almond premium all-natural ice cream will be available to super markets in their marketing area by July 1st according to David Bush, general manager, A-E Farms, Inc. Additionally, A-E Dairy is teaming up with Sioux Honey Association of Sioux City, Iowa in a joint venture to develop and market honey-sweetened light ice cream. Test marketing will begin this summer according a June 1st Des Moines Register article. Honey-sweetened yogurt, dairy spreads and juice blends are also on the drawing board. Initial ice cream flavors will include honey-vanilla, chocolate, oatmeal-raisin cookie dough, mint-chocolate truffle, honey-almond and peanut-butter cup. The product will be in pints in the "super premium" category. We hope that the proposed products will be a big success and that the promotional efforts will pay off in a greater consumption of honey in our area, increased business opportunities and a better image of honey by the public. 1994 SUMMER BEEKEEPING FIELD DAY Iowa Honey Producers & Central Iowa Beekeepers Assn. Saturday, July 23rd Riverside Bible Camp, 3001 Riverside Rd. Story City, IA 50248 Phone (515) 733-5271 8:30 a.m. Registration - $5.00 for individuals or family (at the door) Sign up for door prizes. Preregistration (before July 16) $4.00. 9:00 a.m. Bee Pasture Walking Tour Jim Cherry 9:45 a.m. COFFEE BREAK with honey-made snacks that you bring. (door prizes) 10:00 a.m. IHPA President's Welcome Leroy Kellogg 10:05 a.m. CIBA President's Welcome Arvin Foell 10:10 a.m. Queen management Lecture - Dr. Marla Spivak 11:00 a.m. Demonstration of Queen management in the beeyard 12:00 M LUNCH (door prizes) 1:00 p.m. Concurrent Sessions A. Beginning Beekeeping (beeyard) Bob Cox B. Pollen trapping Jim Cherry 1:45 p.m. Concurrent Sessions A. Beginning Bee Diseases & Pests Bob Cox B. Comb Honey Production (beeyard) John Johnson 2:30 p.m. BREAK (door prizes) 2:45 p.m. Minnesota Research Update Dr. Marla Spivak 3:15 p.m. Hot Topics in Beekeeping Panel of Speakers 4:00 p.m. ADJOURN FARM AUCTION: July 16th at 9:00 a.m. at the Bob & Phyllis Gott residence, RR 1, Box 72, west of Ollie, Iowa. FOR SALE: s/s honey extractor, s/s bottling tank, 2 large s/s tanks, honey strainer, uncapping knife, 5 gal. plastic buckets, bee blower, foundation, new frames in box and other misc. beekeeping and farm equipment. DIRECTIONS: From Iowa Hwy. 78 turn north 2 miles west of Ollie Jct. at the Golden Furrow Fertilizer Plant. Go 1 mile north and 1/8 mile west to home on the south side of the road. Follow "Auction" signs. For more info. call Phyllis at 515-667-3611. FOR SALE: 7 2-story bee hives plus misc. equipment. Contact Raymond and Jo Whitwood in Muscatine, Iowa at 319-263-0992. FOR SALE: Dadant Gasoline-powered bee blower. Contact Edwin Richardson, 2103 E. 156th St. South, Grinnell 50112. (515) 236-6034. FOR SALE: Moving--must liquidate bee operation. 175 2-story hives - $50 @; 350 Illinois supers - $6.50 @; 40 shallow supers - $40 @; honey crop from 175 colonies - $40 @; 60-70 deep boxes (some w & some w/o frames) - $2 @; 40-50 shallow supers (some w & some w/out frames) - $1.50 @; 1 box deep foundation - $135; 2 boxes Illinois foundation - $140 @; 1 box cut-comb foundation $140; Dadant 20 frame stainless extractor - $1600; stainless capping tank - $200; 50 gal. stainless holding tank; other misc. beekeeping equipment - $400 = $21,000 for Complete Bee Operation. Contact Keith & Gail Rhodes in Fairfield, Iowa (515) 469-6628. PECAN HONEYBALLS (A.B.F. contest recipe) 1 cup butter or margarine 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup honey 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 cups sifted flour 2 cups finely chopped pecans Cream butter; add honey gradually; add flour, salt & vanilla. Mix well. Add chopped nuts & mix well. Form into very small balls. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake in 300 oven 40-45 minutes. Roll hot honeyballs in powdered sugar and repeat when cool. OBSERVATION HIVES--A REAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE During my eight years experience as a beekeeper, much of the factual knowledge I've gained has come from magazines, newsletters, bee meetings and talking with other beekeepers. Recently I've added my observation hive to that list of sources of bee information. It has been a good learning experience for me and can be for you if you decide to purchase or build one. In my small operation, the observation hive gets used more every year. It's been used for a demonstration in kindergarten, a children's sermon at church, at the Iowa State Fair, two craft shows, and at Cattle Congress in Waterloo. When at home, it is found by the window in the guest bedroom. My wife and son look forward to it's appearance every year. The glass-sided hive is really valuable when retailing honey at a craft show, because it's a good attention getter. Observation hives give the opportunity to watch bee behavior. Bees can be seen filling the cells with nectar, depositing pollen and propolis, feeding each other and taking care of the queen and brood. The queen provides most of the excitement by depositing eggs in the brood nest. The Iowa State Fair is a place to "show-case" observation hives in the apiary division. This year's fair is August 11-21. The rules for this class state that the observation hive must have a standard size frame on the bottom for brood and a shallow frame or comb honey section frame above, with bees and a marked queen. Observation hives must be built with adequate ventilation or the bees will overheat and die in the Ag building with no air conditioning. They must also have a closeable opening to allow the bees to exit the hive. Extra prize money is available for the first 15 places in this class at state fair. If you need assistance or plans to build an observation hive, I would be happy to assist you. (from Summer 1994 Central Iowa Beelines and written by Tim Laughlin) HONEY BEES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION Several recent discussions across Internet computer network about bee-collected propolis and pollen have concluded that honey bees are excellent samplers of their environment. This has both good and bad aspects according to one of the pioneers in this field, Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, University of Montana. Here are a couple of his "take home" messages concerning these insects as environmental monitors as they appeared in May Apis newsletter: 1. Honey bees serve as multi-media samplers that average the concentrations of pollutants over time and throughout large areas. Bees sample contaminants in all forms - gaseous, liquid, particulate - and can detect chemicals in their surroundings at levels often difficult, if not impossible, to detect using more conventional approaches - i.e. instrumentation. 2. Most of the contamination (at least as indicated by the concentrations measured) ends up in the bees themselves and in the pollen. Some chemicals concentrate in wax. Generally, honey seems to be less contaminated than pollen, bees, or wax. 1994 IOWA STATE FAIR WORK SCHEDULE Please indicate the day(s) and time(s) that you are willing to work by writing your name(s). Also, fill in your name, address and phone number at the bottom of the page. THURSDAY, AUGUST 11 TUESDAY, AUGUST 16 9:00-1:30____________________ 9:00-1:30____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ (Handing out samples) (Handing out samples) FRIDAY, AUGUST 12 WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17 9:00-1:30____________________ 9:00-1:30____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ (Handing out samples) (Handing out samples) SATURDAY, AUGUST 13 THURSDAY, AUGUST 18 9:00-1:30____________________ 9:00-1:30____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ (Handing out samples) (Handing out samples) SUNDAY, AUGUST 14 FRIDAY, AUGUST 19 9:00-1:30____________________ 9:00-1:30____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ (Handing out samples) (Handing out samples) MONDAY, AUGUST 15 SATURDAY, AUGUST 20 9:00-1:30____________________ 9:00-1:30____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 1:30-6:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 6:00-9:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ (Handing out samples) (Handing out samples) NAME:________________________ SUNDAY, AUGUST 21 9:00-1:30____________________ ADDRESS______________________ 1:30-7:00____________________ 10:00-2pm____________________ _____________________________ (Handing out samples) PHONE(_____)_________________ RETURN TO: W. John Johnson RR 4, Squaw Valley Ames, IA 50010 From terry-dahms@uiowa.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:16 EDT 1994 Article: 654 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uiowa.edu!news.weeg.uiowa.edu!drone.weeg.uiowa.edu!terry-dahms From: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu (Terry Dahms) Subject: May 1994 'Buzz' - Iowa Beekeepers newsletter Message-ID: Keywords: newsletter Lines: 427 Sender: news@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (News) Nntp-Posting-Host: drone.weeg.uiowa.edu Organization: Weeg Computing Center X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 22:08:24 GMT Submitted by: Terry Dahms, Pres. East Central Iowa Beekeepers Assoc. internet: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu sorry for the delay in posting. ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BUZZ MAY, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------ A newsletter published monthly as a cooperative effort by The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and The Iowa Honey Producers Association (IHPA), an affiliate member of the Iowa Horticultural Society. Copy deadline is the 20th of each month. Your ideas, comments and letters are welcomed and encouraged. EDITOR: Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Monies, IA. 50319 Phone: (515) 281-5736. IHPA MEMBERSHIP: Membership dues in the Iowa Honey Producers Assn. are $5.00/year. Send to Gordon Powell, IHPA Treasurer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ HANDLING BEE PROBLEM CALLS Spring is the time when insects become active and some of the insects cause people problems. Beekeepers, pest control operators, bee inspectors, county extension, ASCS, police and fire department personnel may all receive telephone calls concerning "bees" causing problems. Many of these situations do not involve honey bees. Problems range from bees digging burrows in the garden, to angry hornets, to a large scale honey bee hive spill due to a truck wreck. Your first job in fielding this type of call is to determine, as best as you can, if it is an emergency because bees are stinging people and what type of insect is involved. The best way, if it is an emergency or you are close by and you have the time, is to go over and check out the situation yourself. However, that is not often possible and you should gather information over the phone. Ask about the location of the caller, the appearance of the insect, the number of insects, the location of the bees' activity or nest and the appearance of the nest, if they can see it. If there has been a highway accident with honey bee hives spilled out on the road, call a fire department to come to the scene with water and hoses. The fire department needs to add liquid soap or film forming foam to the water and spray bees down with this solution. A solution of at least 3% soap or foam will knock bees down and kill them. A fine spray is most affective for clearing the air of bees and making it safe to rescue victims from the wreckage. The time of the year will give you a clue as to the type of insect. Generally most calls in the spring and early summer involve swarms of honey bees. These may be either hanging from the limb of a tree or nesting inside a tree or inside the wall or soffit of a home or other building. If their combs are visible you will notice that they hang vertically. About 3/4 of the calls that come into the State Apiarists office here involved problem bees or wasps inside structures and the remainder are free hanging swarms of honey bees. The free hanging swarms (clusters) of bees that are low to the ground (up to 10 feet) are valuable to some beekeepers, especially in the month of May. Most beekeepers do not feel that removing colonies of bees from inside structures is a profitable use of time. But occasionally, there is a beekeeper who will remove a colony of bees from a building for a fee. If you determine that the caller has honey bees, call one of the beekeepers listed on the cover of THE BUZZ located nearest to you to obtain name of beekeeper in your local area. The county ASCS office may also have names and phone numbers of beekeepers registered for pesticide notification in your county. Honey bees do not often swarm after July. Therefore most of the calls in late summer and fall involve yellow jacket wasps and hornets. Hornets make a gray paper nest the shape of a football that hangs from the limb of a tree. The nest contains several horizontally stacked paper combs connected by pedestals and covered by several paper envelopes. An individual hornet is black in appearance with white markings and is larger than a honey bee. Yellow jackets range in size from smaller than a honey bee to as large as a hornet and have bright yellow and black stripes. Their paper nests are inside a structure like honey bees, but unlike honey bees, some species may also nest underground. If the nest is visible, you may see several layers of outside covering like the hornet nest and horizontal combs hanging by one or more pedestals. Some of these colonies may contain several hundred thousand individuals. These insects are the ones that ruin your picnics in the late summer and fall. They like anything sweet: your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, soda pop or fruit. They also eat insects and forage on car grills, eating the dead insects deposited there while driving. If you determine that the caller has yellow jacket wasps or hornets, it is best to refer them to local pest control operators. SUMMER BEEKEEPING FIELD DAY Saturday, July 23rd the Iowa Honey Producers and Central Iowa Beekeepers Association will hold a beekeeping field day at the Riverside Bible Camp near Story City, Iowa. There is easy access to the camp which is located just 2 miles off of I-35 about 20 miles north of Ames. Registration is at 8:30 a.m. and the program will last until 4:00. The University of Minnesota Bee Research Laboratory will present a program on queen management: finding and evaluating the queen, queen selection, breeding, rearing methods, replacement and introduction methods. Everyone attending will get a copy of the new disease booklet published by the University of Minnesota. We are planning on door prizes and honey-made snacks that you bring. The morning will start out with a walking tour of bee plants on the grounds. Breakout sessions in the afternoon will include choices of Comb Honey Production, Pollen Trapping, Beginning Beekeeping, or Bee Diseases and Pests. We will finish up the day with a research update from the University of Minnesota and a "Hot Topics" question and answer session. The camp setting is a great place for beekeepers and their families. There is a beeyard with a screened-in observation building on the property. Some of the talks and the noon meal will be held in an air-conditioned retreat center. Pre-registration is required for a prepared meal or you may bring your own lunch and eat at picnic tables outside. For more information contact one of the committee members: Margaret Hala, Leo Stattelman, Margaret Hala, Gordon Powell, Jim Cherry or Bob Cox. TO DO IN THE BEEYARD SWARM PREVENTION - Because the colonies that survived are so full of brood, you will need to split colonies, equalize brood or make two-queen colonies to prevent swarming this Spring. Reversing the two hive bodies when the top box fills up with brood, honey and bees will also help discourage swarming. Prevention is the key! CAUTION: Cutting out sealed queen cells may result in a queenless colony and will not usually stop swarming anyway; it's too late. MAKING INCREASE - Early in the month you can still make splits to replace winter losses and increase the number of colonies. Make them a little larger now (e.g. 6-7 frames of brood). CHECK FOR VARROA & FOULBROOD - ignoring these will not make them go away. CALENDAR OF EVENTS MAY 7-8 Queen Rearing Short Course, University of Minnesota St. Paul Campus, Call Dr. Spivak at (612) 624-2275. JUNE 11 IHPA Board Mtg. 1:00 p.m. at Royal Cafe in Huxley. 13 Eastcentral Iowa Beekeepers Meeting 7:00 p.m. in Montgomery Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Iowa City 18 Central Iowa Beekeepers Meeting 6:30 p.m. at Royal Cafe in Huxley. JULY 13-15 Eastern Apicultural Society Annual Conference in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Contact Maryann Frazier telephone: (814) 865-4621. 23 IHPA/CIBA Summer Field Day at Riverside Church Camp, Story City, Iowa. Contact Gordon Powell or Bob Cox for further details. NOVEMBER 11-12 Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting in Marshalltown. NEW NHB HONEY RECIPE FOLDER A new brochure (depicted on the front cover) published by the National Honey Board teaches cooks how to "make magic in minutes" with honey. The three-color, eight panel brochure is a collection of quick and easy tips for adding honey to dressings, desserts, drinks, sauces and spreads. Recipes vary from broiled bananas to lemonade to Dijon tarragon sauce. As the brochure cover explains: it's easy to drizzle, to dabble, to sizzle, to dazzle -- use honey. For a free sample of the "Make Magic in Minutes" brochure, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: National Honey Board Magic, 421 - 21st Ave., Ste. 203, Longmont, CO 80501. Quantities are available for 15 cents each. HAWKEYE SCIENCE FAIR AWARDS The state-wide Hawkeye Science Fair was held April 8-9 at the Merle Hay Mall in Des Moines. Two science fair projects involving honey bees deserve special recognition. Carol Fassbinder, 7th grader of Valley-Elgin school, had the best honey bee project and received a $50.00 award. In addition, she placed 2nd overall in the 7th grade Biology division. Carol studied the effect of treating for nosema disease and wrapping colonies on winter survival of honey bee colonies belonging to her family. Carol is the daughter of commercial beekeepers Bob and Kathy Fassbinder of Elgin, Iowa. A research article about this project will appear in the June BUZZ. Kristin Burgess, 10th grader from Stuart-Menlo school, received a $25 award for her interesting project entitled "The Smelling Bee". She obtained worker honey bees from Ken Lappe, beekeeper from Casey, to test the bees' preference for different fruit odors. She constructed a simple olfactometer and her testing revealed that the bees most often preferred the pear and least often to the orange and the apple in between when given a choice. EASTERN APICULTURE SOCIETY SHORT COURSE AND CONFERENCE The annual EAS short course and conference will be held in Lancaster, Pennsylvania July 11-15. The short course will offer a choice of beginning beekeeping or beekeeping as a business July 11, 12 and the morning of the 13th. The conference will be held during the balance of the week. Other activities include a tour of Dutch Gold Honey packing business and Kitchen Kettle Village, located in an Amish community. Speakers for the conference include: Andrew Matheson (IBRA), Jim Tew (USDA), William Towne, David Fletcher, Clarence Collison, Cliff Sunflower, and Theodor Cherbuliez; Master Beekeeper & M.D. on Apitherapy. Workshop highlights include presentations by Kim Flottum on "Generating Good Public Relations for Your Association or Business" and "Writing the Perfect Newsletter," Tom McCormack on marketing, Dennis Keeney on backyard queen rearing, Cliff Sunflower on developing effective school programs and much, much more. For more information on the conference and short course including a registration form and copy of the program, please contact: Joe Duffy Maryann Frazier 309 Clivden Street or Dept. of Entomology Glenside, PA 19038 501 ASI Bldg. (717) 885-1681 Univ. Park, PA 16802 (814) 865-4621 EAST CENTRAL IOWA BEEKEEPERS MEETING Monday March 14 the East Central Iowa Beekeepers met at the Fairgrounds in Iowa City. The 14 members present reported an average of 33% winter loss out of 186 hives collectively. An announcement was made about Paul Goossen teaching a beekeeping class at the Amana Middle School in Middle Amana. This is an 8-week course taught through Kirkwood Community College and beginning April 9th at 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Dave Irwin lead a discussion about participating again this year at the Johnson County Fair. It was the consensus of the group to set up a table again with an observation bee hive if the fair board will give permission and to hand out honey candy. Cleo Troyer brought a video entitled Controlling Bee Emergencies to show to the group. The group watched the video which was produced for fire departments to instruct them on how to handle an overturned truck load of bee hives or nuisance colonies. The evening ended with the members attempting to assemble an observation bee hive that President, Terry Dahms, had purchased. The next meeting meeting is scheduled for June 13th at 7:00 p.m. in the basement of Montgomery Hall at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City. Anyone interested in beekeeping is invited. NEW UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA VARROA RESEARCH New research from The University of Georgia may support the notion that secondary pathogens compound damage to bee colonies from Varroa mites. Experimental colonies infested with Varroa mites were treated with various combinations of Terramycin antibiotic and Apistan miticide. Each product increased body weight of mature hive bees of mixed ages. Additionally, Terramycin increased body weight of newly-emerged bees. Reduced body weight is one of the best documented effects of Varroa mites on honey bees, and low body weight is linked to a shortened lifespan. Since Terramycin counteracted this negative effect, supplemental antibiotic treatments, along with Apistan miticide, may optimize benefit to Varroa infested colonies. (from January 1994 APIS newsletter, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville) BAKERS WILL GET SWEET SURPRISE IN WELBILT BREAD MACHINES Purchasers of Welbilt bread machines will soon get a bonus -- the National Honey Board's "Breads & Spreads" brochure. The brochure includes recipes for Honey Whole Wheat Bread, Poppy Seed Loaf, Dutch Dill Bread and Cajun Tomato Bread. Honey spreads are highlighted in the brochure as delectable toppings for breads, muffins and rolls. The Welbilt Corporation inserted the brochures in 100,000 of its bread machines. "I tried all of the recipes myself and the results were delicious" said Mary Humann, marketing director for the National Honey Board. Humann added that the bread recipes were developed especially for the Welbilt machines -- adjustments to the recipes may be required when they are used with other machines. The Honey Board has a limited quantity of bread machine brochures available. If you would like a free copy, please send your request to: Bread Machine Brochure National Honey Board 421 - 21st Ave., #203 Longmont, CO 80501 HONEY BARBECUE SAUCE 1/2 cup minced onion 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce 1/2 cup honey 2 tablespoons vinegar 2 tablespoons minced parsley 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper Saute onion and garlic in oil until softened. Add remaining ingredients and bring to boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Makes 1 cup. Marinate beef, chicken or pork in sauce. Brush on meat during barbecuing or broiling. Quick tip: Add 1/4 cup honey to 1 cup of your favorite prepared barbecue sauce. HONEY HERB BARBECUE SAUCE 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup minced onion 1/4 cup dry white wine 1 tablespoon each lemon juice and chopped fresh rosemary* 1 clove garlic, minced Salt and pepper to taste Combine all ingredients in saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Makes 1 cup. Marinate chicken pieces at least 1/2 hour before barbecuing or broiling; brush chicken with sauce during cooking. *One teaspoon dried crushed rosemary may be substituted. HONEY LIME MARINADE 3/4 cup honey 2/3 cup fresh lime juice 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root 2 teaspoons minced garlic Combine all ingredients; mix well. Makes 1-3/4 cups. Marinate chicken or turkey cutlets at least 1/2 hour before grilling or broiling; brush cutlets with marinade during cooking. (Recipes courtesy of the National Honey Board) IOWA HONEY PRODUCERS BOARD MEETING NEWS The board of directors of the Iowa Honey Producers Association met March 12th in Cambridge. Highlights included planning a summer field day, the decision to sell honey lemonade instead of honey ice cream this year at the Iowa State Fair and selling of the new National Honey Board's honey cookbook. These new cookbooks are available now through the mail and will be available at the Summer Field Day in July (see article elsewhere in BUZZ). John Johnson asked for more help for staffing the State Fair Salesbooth again this year. Note was also made that the Fair is one week earlier than in recent years. Bid sheets for honey sales will be published in the June BUZZ newsletter and the work schedule sign-up in the July issue. The next meeting of the board is scheduled for Saturday June 11 at 1:00 at the Royal Cafe in Huxley. CLEO TROYER OF KALONA DIES Cleo Troyer, just 10 days shy of his 70th birthday, died Tuesday, April 19 at University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City. Cleo had surgery for a brain tumor at the end of March and seemed to be doing fine when he died suddenly. His funeral was April 22 at the Lower Deer Creek Mennonite Church near Kalona, where he was an active member. The church is large and was packed with family and friends. Cleo was a long time beekeeper and was active in the East Central Iowa Beekeepers. He will be remembered for the help he gave to us less experienced beekeepers and his enthusiasm for beekeeping. At past meetings he had demonstrated a bee removal vacuum he purchased, a home-made video on beekeeping that starred himself, and at the March 14 meeting a video on bee emergencies he had purchased. We will miss him. For a combined total of 26 years he was either on the City Council or mayor of Kalona. In a Cedar Rapids Gazette article about Cleo, a resident was quoted as saying Cleo knew where every line, every pipe was in Kalona, along with the history of everything. At his funeral service, many were wiping eyes and blowing noses. The community of Kalona will dearly miss him too! - Terry Dahms President, East Central Iowa Beekeepers FOR SALE: Approx. 75 - 5 11/16" honey supers with drawn comb, fair condition $2.00 each. Approx. 50 - 5 11/16" honey supers w/ and w/o frames and no comb, good condition $1.00 each. Empty deep supers (shells), fair condition $1.00 each. Several hundred unassembled 9 1/8" and 5 3/8" frames, grooved top bars. Plus lots of misc. equipment. Will sell cheap. Great for a beginner. Call (712) 589-3606 in Braddyville, Iowa. FOR SALE: CLOVER HONEY IN BARRELS OR PAILS. CALL Lapp's Bee Supply Center. 1-800-321-1960 WARNING!! The following warning was sent to Bob Cox, Iowa State Apiarist, by Mississippi's State Apiarist, Harry Fulton. Russell Apiaries, J.N. Russell proprietor, of Bolton, MS is advertising in national bee magazines but is not certified in Mississippi. The owner is refusing inspection. Packages from Russell Apiaries should not be purchased for shipment to Iowa because it would be an illegal shipment. Additionally, these bees may be carrying diseases or parasites damaging to your other colonies and your neighbor's. A HONEY OF A VERSE "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing." (Proverbs 20:4) It's time to be in the beeyard preparing your bees to make honey. From terry-dahms@uiowa.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:17 EDT 1994 Article: 655 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!ukma!jobone!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!MathWorks.Com!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!hobbes.physics.uiowa.edu!news.uiowa.edu!news.weeg.uiowa.edu!drone.weeg.uiowa.edu!terry-dahms From: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu (Terry Dahms) Subject: August 1994 'Buzz' - Iowa Beekeepers newsletter Message-ID: Keywords: august 1994 iowa newsletter Lines: 427 Sender: news@news.weeg.uiowa.edu (News) Nntp-Posting-Host: drone.weeg.uiowa.edu Organization: Weeg Computing Center X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev A] Date: Tue, 2 Aug 1994 22:27:05 GMT Submitted by: Terry Dahms, Pres. East Central Iowa Beekeepers internet: terry-dahms@uiowa.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------ THE BUZZ AUGUST, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------------ A newsletter published monthly as a cooperative effort by The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and The Iowa Honey Producers Association (IHPA), an affiliate member of the Iowa Horticultural Society. Copy deadline is the 20th of each month. Your ideas, comments and letters are welcomed and encouraged. EDITOR: Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Monies, IA. 50319 Phone: (515) 281-5736. IHPA MEMBERSHIP: Membership dues in the Iowa Honey Producers Assn. are $5.00/year. Send to Gordon Powell, IHPA Treasurer. ------------------------------------------------------------------ STATE APIARIST REPORT We now have two field inspectors working in the western part of the state and the 12th of the month we will start inspecting in northeastern Iowa. We are looking for an experienced beekeeper to inspect for about 6-8 weeks this fall and 6-8 weeks next spring in the northcentral, central and/or the southeast part of the state. The beekeeper must reside in one of those areas to qualify. If you are interested or have any suggestions for someone who might be, give me a call at 515-281-5736. The honey flow has slowed considerably since June. However, many beekeepers are reporting a good crop from clover already and are hoping for some late flows from soybeans and wildflowers. The southeast part of the state looks to be the best, especially considering that they have had almost no crop for four years. This is a good time of the season to take some of that nice light colored honey off the hives and keep it separate. The extraction process is much simpler with fewer robbing bees and the honey temperature warmer. This is also a good time to prepare products to enter in the State Fair. All you need is six jars of honey, sections of comb honey, a frame of honey, a 3-pound chunk of beeswax, candles, or an observation beehive to enter. Fill out the entry form in last month's newsletter and send in with the nominal entry fee. If you need help getting entries to the fair in Des Moines, let me know, and I'll see if I can find someone else in your area who is coming to the fair. BOOK REVIEW: Almond Pollination Handbook by Joe Traynor You might ask why should an Iowa beekeeper be interested in a handbook on almond pollination. I'll give you two reasons. 1.) Many of the principles of pollinating almonds also apply to pollinating any crop, especially other tree fruits. 2.) The demand for honey bees to pollinate California almonds and the opportunity to earn some cash during an off-time of the year may be attractive to some Iowa beekeepers. The book is divided into two sections, the first section for the almond grower and the second for the beekeeper. Topics for the grower include: orchard design for pollination, renting bees, pollination management, bee removal and alternate insect pollinators. This section makes this book the ideal gift for an orchardist for which you are currently providing pollination services or a prospective customer. A similar manual for fruit growers in Iowa (primarily, apples and some cherries, pears, plums, peaches and apricots) would certainly be valuable. The section written for the beekeeper covers topics such as pollination agreements, state regulations, theft, bee delivery, pesticides, preparing colonies, bee removal, time and duration of bloom and grower-beekeeper communication. This 86-page handbook is well written and printed on nice glossy paper, well organized for easy reference, and has some nice color photography. And last, but not least, the price is right-- $7.00 (which includes shipping and handling). To obtain a copy send a check to Kovak Books, P.O. Box 1422, Bakersfield, CA 93302. LAPLANDERS HONEY CONFERENCE Friday, September 9th, the Laplanders Honey Conference of Southern Iowa and Northern Missouri will be held in Allerton, Iowa at the "Inn of the Six Toed Cat." Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and the program to follow at 7 p.m. "The Honey Market: What's Out There?" will be the theme of the conference. Lisa Terry, the 1994 American Honey Queen from Northfield, Minnesota, will be one of the guest speakers for the evening. Joining her will be Leon Metz, honey packer from Hazel Green, Wisconsin. Do join us for dinner and for this timely program. For further details and reservations contact: Ann Garber 515/872-3119 by Tuesday, September 6th. The fourth annual Honey-Walnut Classic will be held the following day, Saturday, September 10th at 10 a.m. on the east portico of the "Inn" in Allerton. This popular event honors the historic "Iowa-Missouri Honey War, 1838-1841." NATIONAL HONEY BOARD ANNUAL MEETING HELD The National Honey Board held its annual meeting in Denver June 17. The Board elected Neil Miller, Blackfoot, Idaho, as its new chairman during the meeting. Randy Johnson, Nampa, Idaho, was elected as vice president and Steve Klein, Marshall, Minnesota, was re-elected as secretary/treasurer. Two additional Board members, Binford Weaver, Navasota, Texas, and Larry Krause, Riverton, Wyoming, were elected to serve on the Board's Executive Committee. The Executive Committee is responsible for the conduct of duties and policies outlined by the National Honey Board. The Board administers an industry-funded national research, promotion and consumer information program to increase domestic honey consumption and U.S. honey exports. The board member's work at the meeting also included allocating funds for the 1995 plan year. "The Board will be reviewing the Committee's work this fall," said Neil Miller, chairman of the National Honey Board. "Before the Board spends a dime, we review the program plans to ensure that they uphold the Board's mission -- to support a strong and viable domestic honey industry by creating a dynamic marketplace for honey and honey products." 4-H ESSAY CONTEST NEEDS ENTRIES (from June 1994 APIS newsletter) What does it take to get 4-Hers to sit down and write an essay? That's the burning question those at the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) and myself are asking after looking at the results of last year's 4-H essay contest. Only fifteen (15) states submitted winners and (Iowa) was not among them. In addition, the vast majority of these states had only one to two entries to choose from. There are three top cash prizes each year ($250, $100 and $50), plus the winner in each state is awarded a book on beekeeping. This boils down to one fact: there's a great opportunity to win something by simply entering! The rules for this year's contest have just been announced. The topic this year is much different than from previous contests. The essayist is asked to write an original story on honey bees suitable for a teacher to read to second-grade students. Suggested titles include: The Busy Little Bee, I Like Honey, A Trip to the Apiary, or My Friend, the Beekeeper. There's plenty of time to get a story together for this year's contest; deadline is April 1, 1995! Full contest rules are available from Bob Cox, State Apiarist, phone 515-281-5736 or the ABF Office, phone 912-427-8447. A BEGINNER'S BAIT HIVES by Peter Coyle Having read in John Vivian's book, Keeping Bees, about "bees for free," by placing bait hives in trees and then, again in the Aebi's book about their bait hives, my Scottish parsimony took over. Last year I made my first swarm trap and was excited when some scout bees started sniffing around and into it. However, some of Walt Disney's beloved delinquent squirrels knocked on wood, tasted it and found it good, wherein the bees departed. Unable to harass my bees during the winter, I turned to collecting on bait hives, which being a novice in the beekeeping game, is my substitute for knowledge. I got Cornell's, "Bait Hives for Honey Bees" by Seeley, Morse and Nowogrodzki and could just see the bees rolling in. Then there were the articles by Schmidt, Thoenes and Hurley, from the American Bee Journal, which explained the importance of pheromone lures, which I just knew I had to have. I could visualize all those winter clusters of bees over half of Iowa impatient to zoom into my traps. However, a catalog price of twenty dollars for what they described as being made of inexpensive material, and what I gathered would only be a kind of paper mache, deep, brood box, sent me to the workshop with cardboard and thin plywood scraps to construct an alternative. I had read that a volume roughly the size of a deep hive body was most favored, (although recently opinion has changed). Climbing ladders and trees with a full box of bees required the box to be as light as possible. Everything I made had a coating, externally, of roof cement, thinned with mineral spirits to sicken the squirrels off and I capped each hive with a lid made from discarded aluminum soffit to keep everything dry. Internally, each had homemade rough frames of standard dimension with a waxed starter strip which would easily transfer to a deep hive body. I then sat and itched for Spring. The last week in April, I was out with the ladder visiting friends who might have suitable spots in trees about ten to twelve feet up, with morning sun and afternoon shade, just as the literature suggested. Now, at the end of June, I have had three swarms from one hive and two from another, with scout bees still buzzing around the emptied boxes. The first swarm, which I weighed like a proud father, was five and a half pounds and made some nice comb honey for me. The last one, which was so big it filled the whole trap and had a pound or two of bees still outside, I collected in a screened box using a funnel and transferring it to a medium super of foundation and two round section supers at dusk, feeling exhilarated beyond measure. However, the next day, when I looked in the afternoon, they were gone, leaving me as devastated as I had been exhilarated. Too late, I now have two homemade entrance guards. In collecting one swarm which had started to build comb from the bottom of the trap, I missed the open sack on the end of a pole, held helpfully by my companion and neighbor, Cheryl, and brushed a couple pounds of less than happy bees on her head. This made me more acquainted with the language of liberation. Two other bait hives in suburbia have never had a snifter so far. Perhaps in bee real estate the three most important things are location, location and location. My experience, limited as it is, suggests that I should err on the large side with the boxes, worrying less about the spaces around the frames, as the bees are unlikely to construct burr comb between inspections, although one swarm built comb on about a third of nine frames in just a couple of days. The mistakes I made were very instructional, if humbling. Ah, but just wait until next year. FOR SALE: 7 bee hives, two-story plus misc. equipment. Contact Raymond and Jo Whitwood, Muscatine. phone (319)263-0992. FOR SALE: 55-gallon drums $6.00 each; 20 or more $5.00 each. Call Harry Hunter in Des Moines at (515)266-1984. FOR SALE: Stainless 8-frame extractor with Dayton electric motor, cappings knife and misc. supers, frames, lids & boxes. Asking $200/offer. If interested call Des Moines at (515)270-8726, leave message if no answer. FOR SALE: Kelley electric, vibrating uncapping knife with electric motor $175; Kelley steam vibrating uncapping knife $125; Dadant electric stainless mini-melter $350; C.C. Pollen Co. traps used only one season $30 each. Call Monroe Neihart near Clarinda (712)582-3200. FOR SALE: Qualitly Section Comb Honey in Cartons $1.90 each. Call Stanley Weiser, 2674 - 303rd Pl. in Adel. Ph: (515)993-3126. "Butter and HONEY shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil and choose the good." (Isaiah 7:15) CALENDAR OF EVENTS AUGUST 11-21 Iowa State Fair Apiary Exhibit, 2nd Floor of Agriculture Building, State Fairgrounds, Des Moines Open daily 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. Come see the best! SEPTEMBER - NATIONAL HONEY MONTH 9-10 Laplanders Honey Conference 6:00 p.m. the 10th and Honey Walnut Classic 10 a.m. the 11th both at the Inn in Allerton, Iowa. 12 Eastcentral Iowa Beekeepers Meeting 7:00 p.m. in basement of Montgomery Hall, Johnson County Fairgrounds, Iowa City 15 Scott County Beekeepers Meeting 7:00 p.m. at Riefes Restaurant, Locust St., Davenport. 17 Central Iowa Beekeepers Meeting at Royal Cafe in Huxley. Buffet dinner at 5:30 p.m., Business Meeting 6:30 p.m. and Program at 7:30 p.m. (We will try again to show the Bee Emergency Video.) NOVEMBER 11-12 Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting in Marshalltown. FOR SALE: Home Study Course "Rearing Honey Bee Queens in the Northern U.S." (with manual and video tape) by Dr. Marla Spivak and Gary S. Reuter, the University of Minnestota. $40.00 Contact Dept. of Entomology, University of Minnesota, Hodson Hall, St. Paul, MN 55108-6125 or call Dr. Spivak at (612) 624-4798. Dear Beekeeper Friends, I am writing this short announcement to let you know of the recent loss of my father, Russell Stephenson of Williams, Iowa. He died suddenly in his home on May 19th at the age of 77. As some of you know, he sold his business, "Stephenson Honey Farms" in 1993 and retired. He loved the beekeeping business and being able to work in the outdoors. He offered great assistance and advise to several beekeepers and those interested in the field during his life. My father enjoyed talking to many of you over the years and sharing the constant cares and concerns of the Midwest beekeeper. [Editor: I certainly enjoyed getting to know Mr. Stephenson when inspecting his equipment for the sale. He had an efficient way to handle frames during the extracting process and developed a unique way of removing excess moisture from his honey after it was extracted and checked his own bees for tracheal mites with his microscope. He certainly applied his engineering skills learned in his silo construction company to the beekeeping business.] Thanks for being a special part of my father's life!! He will be greatly missed! -Thomas Russell Stephenson and The Stephenson Family OTHER INSECTS OCCUPYING BEE HIVES Sometimes beekeepers may become alarmed or at least concerned about insects other than honey bees inside their hives. At times the beekeeper may see cockroaches, ants, beetles, spiders and wax worms (moth larvae) occupying their bee hives. As a general rule healthy, populous colonies are not damaged by these insect guests. Many times wax moths are blamed for the death of colonies. This is almost never the case in Iowa. The wax moth larvae are nature's clean-up crew after a colony dies. This can actually be helpful if the colony died from American foulbrood disease by reducing the probability of spreading the disease to neighboring colonies. The best way to prevent damage to your combs after the colony has died is to keep an eye on your bees and pick up any empty hive equipment from the beeyard. The primary problem beekeepers encounter is in storing empty beeswax comb, especially brood comb during the warm summer months. A few years ago several products were available for fumigating or treating stored beeswax combs. These products are designed to kill insects, therefore fumigated combs should always be aired out for a few hours before placing them on the bees. Most recently, the product "Paramoth" (PDB - Paradichlorobenzene) is no longer available for bee equipment. I've heard conflicting reports from beekeeping supply houses as to the fate of registration of this product for treatment of beeswax combs. One story is that PDB is a carcinogen and EPA has withdrawn registration for use on beeswax. Another beekeeping supply dealer says they will have approval from EPA to sell PDB later this fall. Outside of using chemical products, combs can be placed in a deep freezer for a few days to kill any adult moths, larvae or eggs. Additionally, the moths do not like light or fresh air. Therefore, storing combs in a way that they are exposed to both of these elements may be of some help. Light colored combs from honey supers are pretty safe from the moths. Another system that may work for you is to keep empty comb stored on the colonies where the bees will keep the moths out during the warm months (June, July, August, September and October). Then, bring in empty equipment and store in an unheated building for the winter and nature will give them a cold treatment. Dear Iowa Honey Promoter: Along with getting your honey harvested, it's time to plan to promote your state's beekeeping or honey exhibit at your local fair or festival. To aid in honey promotions Media kits are available from the National Honey Board by contacting Sherry Jennings, Industry Relations Director at (303)776-2337. Media kits include: a story on pollination, newsreleases, summer recipe tips and two new recipe leaflets -- "Bringing You Nature's Bounty Is Our Line" and "Make Magic in Minutes." Use the media kit to give to local newspaper editors, television news shows and radio stations the latest buzz on honey. BRINGING YOU NATURE'S BOUNTY IS OUR LINE -- Recipes from NHB. Back to Nature Cookies 1/2 cup shortening 1 cup honey 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups quick-cooking oats 1/2 cup chopped nuts 1/2 cup finely chopped apple 1 cup raisins In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and honey until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. In medium bowl, stir together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to honey mixture, beating until smooth. Stir in oats, nuts, apple and raisins. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 F 10 to 12 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Makes about 5 dozen. Honey Pork Chops & Apples 6 pork loin chops (about 3/4-inch thick) Salt, pepper and ground sage 2 Granny Smith or other tart apples 1 tablespoon butter or margarine 1/4 cup HONEY 6 Maraschino cherries (optional) Brown chops slowly in skillet; remove to shallow baking dish. Season chops with salt, pepper and sage. Core and slice apples into 1/2-inch rings. Add butter to skillet and saute apple rings until crisp-tender. Place 1 apple ring on each chop. Cover and bake at 300 F for 30 minutes. Drizzle honey over apples and chops; baste with drippings. Cover and bake 15 minutes longer or until pork is fully cooked. Place cherry in center of apple rings before serving. Makes 6 servings. Honey-Kissed Fruit (Microwave Method) 1/4 cup honey 1 teaspoon grated orange peel 2 fresh pears, pared, cored and halved 1 can (5-1/4 oz.) pineapple chunks, drained 1 cup each red and green grapes, halved, seeded Blend honey and orange peel; set aside. Place pears in 4 microwave-safe serving glasses; drizzle with honey mixture. Cover each glass with plastic wrap; vent. Microwave at HIGH (100%) 3 to 5 minutes or until pears are tender. Combine pineapple and grapes. Divide evenly between servings and sprinkle over pears. Serve warm or cold. Makes 4 servings. Honey Cloverleaf Rolls 1 package (16 oz.) hot roll mix 6 tablespoons honey, divided 1/4 cup butter or margarine 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel 1 cup sliced almonds Prepare dough according to package directions, adding 2 tablespoons honey to liquid. Cover kneaded dough with bowl and let stand 5 minutes. Melt butter and remaining honey; stir in lemon peel. Roll dough into 36 balls (about 1 to 1-1/2 inch diameter). Form clusters of three balls, dip each in honey mixture and then almonds. Place each cluster in well-greased muffin cup. Let rise 30 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 350 F 15 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Brush with honey mixture, if desired. Makes 12 rolls. Honey Cranberry Butter 1 cup butter, softened 1/4 cup HONEY 1/4 cup chopped cranberries* 1/4 cup cranberry sauce 2 tablespoons ground walnuts 1 tablespoon milk 2 teaspoons grated orange peel Cream butter and honey in medium bowl. Add cranberries, cranberry sauce, walnuts, milk and orange peel. Whip until light pink in color. Serve at room temperature; store in refrigerator, tightly covered. * Use fresh or frozen cranberries, if desired; chop before thawing. New NHB recipe folder; see page 7 for recipes. From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:18 EDT 1994 Article: 656 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!zombie.ncsc.mil!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Wed, 03 Aug 94 10:06:08 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 66 Message-ID: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" thread that has been going on the past few days. The scenario was that a hive died last year and now the owner is wondering what's going on in the hive this season. I've been keeping this to myself, and have been watching others' responses/suggestions and have been shocked that none has mentioned what poor beekeeping practice it is to have not addressed the situation until now. I know that it's a newbie who has the problem and I realize it's the first exposure the newbie has with keeping bees and we should be gentle. So as gently as I know how I have to ask, "What the hell have you been doing that was so important that you haven't addressed the problem until the end of July!?" Oops, be gentle. Disease is nothing to take lightly. When a hives dies, a beekeeper should first close up the hive to make it as inaccessible as possible to other bees. This should have been done as soon as it was sure the hive was dead (was it February?). Robber bees WILL show up if there is honey left and if no honey is left then investigator bees WILL show up just to check things out. If any disease is present, the robbers/investigators WILL take it back to their home hive. So first and foremost, the hive should have been sealed. Spreading disease was not a concern to the owner (as it was the only hive) but there may be neighbors with bees who could pick up disease from an unattended hive. Beekeepers have a responsibility to protect not only their own apiary but the apiaries of others and feral populations as well. After a dead hive has been sealed it should be determined what caused the hive's demise and action should be taken accordingly. If starvation was the cause, the equipment can be reused and should be restocked ASAP. However if disease was the culprit, different measures are in order (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for treatment by fire). If it can't be determined what the cause was, it's best to err on the conservative side. When it doubt, burn it out! Drastic yes, but it's cheaper to replace an empty hive that to restock a diseased environment only to have it die out again. Finally, I have to say again, the time to do this was as soon as the problem was noticed. There is just no excuse to have not taken care of this problem in the spring (and EARLY spring at that). Inexperience can only be overcome by gaining experience. All the discussion of the possibility of a swarm moving in and discussions of the danger of wax moths would not have taken place had the problem been addressed in a timely manner. Not meaning to get on the guy's case (I was a newbie once myself), but the description of being timid to look in the hive for fear of getting stung says to me that the guy is pursuing the wrong hobby. You're working with bees. Stings come with the territory. Get used to it. And while I'm on my soapbox, does anyone else have a problem with the moth balls on top of the frames suggestion? Especially when the very same posting states that the wax WILL absorb moth ball chemicals! Can you spell honey contamination? I can just picture a honey judge: "Hmmm. Nice color. Pleasant order with just the right subtle undertones of moth balls!" Glad I am that I've never had the pleasure. Sorry to have flamed away here (torches blazing!). It isn't my intent to put the guy down and I don't want to discourage his interests, but if you're going to keep bees, then keep bees. If you are going to have bees, don't. Beekeeping is an active pursuit. Beehaving is a disservice to the bees you have and the bees kept by others in your area. I will apologize in advance to the posters of the articles if they take offense to the tone of my response. I don't mean any disrespect, I'm just stating rather forcefully what should be good practice in keeping bees. From sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:20 EDT 1994 Article: 657 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!aries!sandrock From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: 3 Aug 94 20:36:32 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 84 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: aries.scs.uiuc.edu SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: >... So as >gently as I know how I have to ask, "What the hell have you been >doing that was so important that you haven't addressed the problem >until the end of July!?" Oops, be gentle. Well, since you ask, I'll give you a few highlights. In March both sump pumps failed and the lower level of my house flooded. In April I spent several weeks supervising a severely depressed, suicidal acquaintance, (it's a *long* story), including having to hang onto the person by one arm as she hung off a two-story overpass at O'Hare airport in Chicago. Including flying to Germany to escort the person to a hospital there since the airline would not agree to allow her to fly alone. There have been other personal crises, less spectacular, but no less time-consuming--I'm a single parent of three teenage boys, so crises come with the territory. Actually I did have the hive stored in my garage for part of the time. My mistake was putting in back out in the garden before I was certain I would have the time to work on it. I should have sealed the hive in plastic rather than putting it back out. I realize this now. So, mea culpa! >After a dead hive has been sealed it should be determined what >caused the hive's demise and action should be taken accordingly. If >starvation was the cause, the equipment can be reused and should be >restocked ASAP. However if disease was the culprit, different measures >are in order (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for >treatment by fire). If it can't be determined what the cause was, >it's best to err on the conservative side. When it doubt, burn it out! >Drastic yes, but it's cheaper to replace an empty hive that to restock >a diseased environment only to have it die out again. The neighbor in back, a former bee-keeper and a retired professor of entymology, opened the hive last October and felt that the colony was so weak that it would probably not survive the winter, and it turned out he was right. The bees didn't starve. They may have simply died of cold. Also, I did have the hive stored in my garage for several months, and as of early July there was no sign of moths. Nor had there been any appearance of foul-brood, I did have the fellow in back take a look at some frames to be certain. >Finally, I have to say again, the time to do this was as soon as the >problem was noticed. There is just no excuse to have not taken care >of this problem in the spring (and EARLY spring at that). I think you've made the point rather well, my friend!! >... Not meaning to get on the guy's case (I was a newbie >once myself), but the description of being timid to look in the hive >for fear of getting stung says to me that the guy is pursuing the >wrong hobby. You're working with bees. Stings come with the >territory. Get used to it. If you'll recall, my concern was not being stung, but being attacked by a swarm of bees. Something I had read indicated that this might be a possibility and that it could endanger other people and animals in the vicinity, so I was checking before plunging ahead. A few stings I think I can handle, having been stung before. Maybe the author was exagerating, but how do I know unless I ask? >Sorry to have flamed away here (torches blazing!). It isn't my intent >to put the guy down and I don't want to discourage his interests, but >if you're going to keep bees, then keep bees. If you are going to >have bees, don't. Beekeeping is an active pursuit. Beehaving is a >disservice to the bees you have and the bees kept by others in your >area. No problem. I don't feel put down. I respect your conviction. >I will apologize in advance to the posters of the articles if they >take offense to the tone of my response. I don't mean any disrespect, >I'm just stating rather forcefully what should be good practice in >keeping bees. No offense taken here. Thanks for your post. Mark Sandrock -- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Fruechte reifen durch die Sonne, Chemical Sciences Computer Center Menschen durch die Liebe." 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 --Julius Langbehn Email: sandrock@uiuc.edu From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:21 EDT 1994 Article: 658 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Wed, 03 Aug 1994 17:52:44 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) wrote: > I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" > thread that has been going on the past few days. The scenario was [lots of good stuff deleted for brevity] Thank you Aaron!! I agree with your sentiments, and the forceful tone is appropriate (IMHO). I authored a response to the original request, but failed to step back to the basics. It is all too easy to fire off a quick comment, and miss some of the more important issues that were not directly addressed. Thank you for reminding all of us that beekeeping involves significant responsibilities, in addition to all the pleasures it can bring. Solving or at least reducing widespread problems like mites & diseases can only be accomplished if responsible beekeepers significantly outnumber the negligent ones. Rick rshough@tasc.com **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From gross@ims.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:21 EDT 1994 Article: 659 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!att-out!pacbell.com!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!uunet!psinntp!ims.com!gross From: gross@ims.com (Don Gross) Subject: Re: Varroa resistant bees Message-ID: <1994Aug3.211301.15134@ims.com> Keywords: orchard_bee, pesticide, pollenation Sender: usenet@ims.com (USENET News Poster) Reply-To: gross@ims.com Organization: Integrated Measurement Systems, Inc. References: <315v87$m5v@nexus.uiowa.edu> Date: Wed, 3 Aug 1994 21:13:01 GMT Lines: 50 In article , Adam wrote: > In article <315v87$m5v@nexus.uiowa.edu>, > randy nessler wrote: > >...some European > >bees that are resistant to varroa mites. I think that they were from > >Czechoslovakia, and were soon to be imported. Once the breeders had > >raised enough broods, they were to be offered for sale. My questions are; > >has anyone else heard this, and are they commercially available yet. > > USDA has the "Yugo" bee, from Yugoslavia, via Thomas Rinderer at Baton > Rouge bee lab. This stock is now commercially available, it is fairly > tolerant to tracheal mites, and shows _some_ tolerance to Varroa mites, > but these bees still need to be treated. > I use some of Miksa's stock, I have Varroa and I'll be treating this > fall with Apistan, but I'm observing which colonies have the lowest > _apparent_ levels of the mite. These I'll watch next year and maybe > incorporate them into my breeding program. > Adam > -- I've been following this topic (tracheal and Varroa mites) for awhile now, and have a question or two. My interest in honey bees is secondary; I have fruit trees and a garden that needs to be pollenized. I belong to an organization called the Home Orchard Society (sort of a local NAFEX, if you are familiar with them), and a fellow member has really "gotten into" pollenizers - primarily mason bees, but including bumble bees, flies, and even honey bees. He says that the "medication" (which I assume is Apistan) is simply an (non-organic) insecticide, and is contaminating all the honey on the market. He doesn't plan on consuming any more honey until alternatives are identified used. So, what is the "truth" about the mite treatment, and contaminants in the U.S.'s (other countries'?) honey? BTW, because of the unreliable nature of honeybee pollenation, both due to the mite crisis here in the Pacific Northwest and also the fact that the fruit trees are in bloom in the spring before the honeybees become active, a great deal of interest has arisen in our organization about orchard (mason) bees. In fact, its become quite a good fund-raiser to make and sell starter bee houses to the home and commercial orchardists. I would be interested in getting a thread going on orchard bees. I'm posting this to sci.agriculture.beekeeping as well as rec.gardens. If there is a more apporpriate news group, please let me know. ************************************************************************* Don Gross Member, Home Orchard Society Integrated Measurement Systems PO Box 230192 Beaverton, Oregon Tigard, OR 97218 - 0192 Membership open to all Annual dues only $10.00 From david@roentgen.demon.co.uk Mon Aug 8 12:45:22 EDT 1994 Article: 660 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping From: david@roentgen.demon.co.uk (Dr David Lauckner) Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!ukma!jobone!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!nic-nac.CSU.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!pipex!demon!roentgen.demon.co.uk!david Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Organization: Wansbeck Radiology Department X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4 References: <31jt49$4me@news1.hh.ab.com> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 07:43:54 +0000 Message-ID: Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk Lines: 11 The garbage bag (in the UK I would call it a binliner!)method worked for me last winter. I did not use mothballs. I use a wad soaked in glaciac acetic acid. This is an approved bee kit "sterilizer" as I understand things. David -- Dr David Lauckner Phone: 0670-521212 Wansbeck General Hospital Fax: 0670-529778 ASHINGTON, Northumberland e-mail: david@roentgen.demon.co.uk United Kingdom. From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Mon Aug 8 12:45:24 EDT 1994 Article: 661 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!uunet!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: July Issue of APIS Message-ID: Keywords: Apis, magazine, sanford Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 12:25:56 GMT Lines: 255 Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764) Volume 12, Number 7, July 1994 AHB INVASION RUNS OUT OF STEAM? Reports of African honey bee (AHB) colonization of western Texas continue, but the movement appears to have slowed significantly. And in neighboring New Mexico and Arizona, confirmed finds may be from swarms moving across the Mexican border, rather than migrating westward. The biggest question mark concerns California which has yet to be officially invaded by this insect, although there have been confirmed finds near the state line. In east Texas as well, the AHB has not advanced as far as previous predictions indicated. The insect has yet to reach Houston and it's now been over three years since the first colony was found in the state. Has the invasion indeed run out of steam, and if so, why? These questions as yet have no answers, but already the press is writing about the phenomenon. There are some intriguing reasons for the slowdown suggested by Mr. Laurence Cutts, Florida's Chief Apiary Inspector, and others examining the situation. The weather in the region has been generally unfavorable (colder winters, later springs) for feral bees. The bees may be approaching their climatic limits; the present distribution when compared with that predicted by Dr. Orley Taylor over a decade ago shows great correspondence. Texas is a very large state; perhaps the AHB will take some time to reach saturation in certain areas before the invasion can continue. In addition, the AHB wave from Mexico has also met a challenge that it didn't face in that country, the Varroa mite. Nor can the potential ravages of chalkbrood, the foulbroods and tracheal mites on wild populations be discounted. There is more than a little bit of irony in the realization that the beekeeping industry's nemeses might become allies in stemming the AHB tide. Another suggestion is that the imported fire ant, well entrenched in southern Texas, is responsible for predation on AHB colonies. Nests in scrub are quite near the ground and migrating swarms are small. There are reports that these ants are also becoming more effective predators on managed European colonies in Florida. And what of the consequences of hybridization? Increased rate of genetic crossing among AHBs, feral European bees and those managed by Texas beekeepers could be responsible for restraining the migration. The situation is quite different than in tropical areas of Mexico and Central America. There, bees of European origin had not formed large feral populations, providing limited competition to the invaders, and over time, those in managed colonies were almost completely replaced by AHB. Hybrids that developed between European bees and AHB in the wild did not appear to persist (See February and March 1992 APIS). Unlike in more tropical areas, a population of feral European bees already exists in Texas. This means greater competition for the AHB in the wild. It will also be a continuing source of genetic material above and beyond managed colonies to produce hybrids. And the resultant hybrid population might persist longer in these temperate regions than was the case further south. However, they could still be at some disadvantage. Hybrids may not be so migratory, one of the reasons suggested for AHB resistance to mites and pathogens. This fact, along with addition of European genetic material, could make them more vulnerable to a host of problems than are AHBs. In the end, no single cause is probably responsible for checking the bees' advance. However, all of the above reasons taken together could make a formidable barrier keeping AHB populations at bay. TRACKING HONEY BEE ANCESTRY Even a cursory review of the apicultural literature reveals that over hundreds of years honey bees have been imported from all over the world. The results of this activity have been variable. Among the successes would be introduction of the Italian bee (Apis mellifera ligustica) which materially improved commercial bee stocks, and is in general use today throughout the country. A notable failure was the Cyprian bee (Apis mellifera cypria), considered too defensive by most beekeepers. It has almost been eliminated from the U.S. gene pool. In 1922, legislation to control importation effectively reduced genetic immigration. However, legal and illegal introductions have continued. Considering the sheer number of importations, the question arises concerning the eventual fate of these bees in the U.S. Dr. Eric Mussen posed this question in his latest newsletter, From the UC Apiaries, while reporting on a study by N.M. Schiff and W.S. Sheppard in the Journal Experientia, Vol. 49, pp. 530-532, 1993. The study's authors did not address Dr. Mussen's specific question. Their purpose was to look at the genetic variation of feral populations in the southern U.S. and find out if the AHB invasion could be adequately monitored using existing European genetic markers. They did this by analyzing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). There are two primary sources of DNA in multicellular animals. The one most heard about, often touted by the press as the best crime fighting tool since the fingerprint, is from the nucleus of the cell. This DNA is the chemical information that determines the form of the organism and much of its behavior. It is inherited from both the mother and the father and can effectively be used to make unique identifications. But there is another kind of DNA. It is found in small energy-producing capsules outside the nucleus of the cell. These organelles are called mitochondria (the singular is mitochondrion). In multicellular animals, DNA associated with the mitochondria is only inherited from the mother. This provides the means to track maternal ancestry . All bees in a colony have the same mtDNA, inherited from one single individual, their queen. Pioneering studies on mtDNA by Drs. Glenn Hall at the University of Florida and Deborah Smith, University of Kansas, provide evidence that feral swarms of African maternal lines were primarily responsible for AHB migration in the tropics. Study of human mtDNA also gives rise to the provocative idea that all humanity descended from a single Eve. The Experientia study looked at 422 feral bee colonies sampled from areas not undergoing AHB invasion. The bees came from nine states (Florida was not included). Collection was restricted to wild colonies, including those relocated, but not requeened by beekeepers. The results are as follows: State Mitochondrial Types Total African Mel/Ibr Car/Lig AL 1 14 24 39 GA - 4 28 32 LA - 10 41 51 MS 2 14 31 47 NC - 3 27 30 NM - 7 54 61 OK - - 3 3 SC - 21 59 80 TX 1 19 59 79 Total(%) 4 (0.9) 92( 21.8) 326 (77.3) 422 Mel/Ibr refers to two European honey bee races (Apis mellifera mellifera and Apis mellifera iberica). The former is the German or dark bee, while the latter is the Iberian bee, native of the Spanish peninsula. These are grouped together and considered "western" races. The "eastern" races include A. mellifera carnica (Carniolan bee) and A. mellifera ligustica (Italian bee), designated above as Car/Lig; both are thought to make up the majority of the present U.S. commercial honey bee stock. The eastern and western groups have been separated on the basis of mtDNA structure. The African mtDNA was from the Egyptian honey bee, Apis mellifera lamarckii, not Apis mellifera scutellata, considered to be the ancestor of the AHB. When analyzing the results of this study, it is important to understand that the percentages noted above are only of mtDNA types found in wild U.S. honey bees. They do not necessarily translate into bee types. For example, even though four colonies were found with African mtDNA, the authors identified the individual bees as "European" using morphometrics. Thus, no bees determined to be "Africanized" are present in the above samples. This is problematic. Presence of lamarckii mtDNA is a certain indication of African ancestry. Is it reasonable to correlate percentages of a certain mtDNA type to a specific population? One school of thought says no, because mtDNA really may have no effect on a bee's structure or behavior which are considered superior measures of identification. However, different mtDNAs may result in different capabilities. Enzymes coded by mtDNA are responsible for energy production in the cell and must interact with those coded by nuclear DNA. These functions may contribute to the differences in metabolic capacities of African, European and hybrid honey bees discovered by Drs. Glenn Hall at the University of Florida and Jon Harrison, Arizona State University (see APIS June, 1993). In addition, because mtDNA is inherited as a total package from the mother, its presence means that it came from an unbroken maternal lineage. In the case of the lamarckii mtDNA identified in the Experientia study, the time line could reach as far back as the 1860s. It is tempting, therefore, to make a correlation of mtDNA types with bee populations. Dr. Mussen surrendered to this in his article, concluding: "It will be interesting to see if the 22% of feral bees with 'non-commercial' lineage can survive the competition of AHBs for their feral territory." STATUS OF U.S. BEEKEEPING F.L. Hoff and L.S. Willett have just released their study entitled The U.S. Beekeeping Industry. It is Agricultural Economic Report Number 680, published by the USDA Economic Research Service, 69pp, May 1994. This document is required reading for anyone interested in the changes taking place in the apicultural industry. The introduction states in part: "This report updates information on honey production, pollination and the relationship of the U.S. beekeeping industry to agriculture and the environment. The study was mandated in the Committee report that accompanied the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 1987. The mandate resulted from concern by beekeepers and members of Congress about problems, issues, and challenges that emerged during the 1980's with the potential to significantly alter the beekeeping industry. These concerns included northward migration of the Africanized honeybee, infestations of colonies by tracheal and Varroa mites, the widespread use of highly toxic pesticides, increasing honey imports, and efforts to discontinue the honey price support program." This report is an extremely valuable lobbying document. The authors should be congratulated for providing the industry with these facts and figures. The beekeeping community now has plenty of ammunition to back up its arguments for public support in many arenas. However, the time and expense to produce this document will go for naught, if those in the beekeeping industry do not actively use the information to its fullest potential. To obtain a copy call toll free 800/999-6779 in U.S. and Canada (other areas 703/834-0125) and ask for AER-680. The cost is $12.00 payable by Visa or MasterCard. To order a copy by first-class mail, send a check for $12.00 ($15.00 for Canada or elsewhere) made payable to ERS-NASS, 341 Victory Drive, Herndon, VA 22070. NOSEMA CONTROL Mr. Glen Stanley, Retired Iowa Apiary Inspector, provided some advice in a recent letter to the American Bee Journal. It was simple. If one controls nosema this helps the bees overcome other obstacles like tracheal mites. In other words, asks Mr. Stanley, "...why not begin fighting the battle where it would do the most good by getting bees cleared of nosema first." Another basis of good beekeeping, he says, is to remove all old, black combs (his emphasis), the source of bacteria, fungal spores and other materials the bees might unintentionally collect. Mr. Stanley's message must continually be kept in mind by beekeepers interested in getting the most from their colonies. Adhere to the fundamentals of beekeeping and the bees will take care of the rest. Sincerely, Malcolm T. Sanford Bldg 970, Box 110620 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190 BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:25 EDT 1994 Article: 662 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Varroa resistant bees Date: Thu, 04 Aug 1994 13:53:07 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 67 Message-ID: References: <315v87$m5v@nexus.uiowa.edu> <1994Aug3.211301.15134@ims.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <1994Aug3.211301.15134@ims.com>, gross@ims.com wrote: > I have fruit trees and a garden that needs to be pollenized. I belong > to an organization called the Home Orchard Society (sort of a local > NAFEX, if you are familiar with them), and a fellow member has really > "gotten into" pollenizers - primarily mason bees, but including bumble > bees, flies, and even honey bees. He says that the "medication" (which > I assume is Apistan) is simply an (non-organic) insecticide, and is > contaminating all the honey on the market. He doesn't plan on consuming > any more honey until alternatives are identified used. > > So, what is the "truth" about the mite treatment, and contaminants in > the U.S.'s (other countries'?) honey? Don, Actually, I believe that fluvalinate (the active ingredient in Apistan) is pyrethran (spelling?) based - in other words it is an organic based acaracide (mite killer). Your friend is accurate in stating that the "medication" (assuming he is talking about Apistan) is "simply an insecticide", however when this product is used properly, i.e., following the directions on the label, contamination of honey is _NOT_ a problem. Apistan sometimes is refered to as a "medication" because it is often discussed in the same breath as treatments for Foulbrood and Nosema, treatments which really are properly characterised as "medication". Calling Apistan a "medication" is, in my opinion, a bit misleading, but, in careless moments, I have been known to mis-speak similarly. Please read the following comment carefully - I don't want to be misunderstood - Honey contamination is (should be) a widespread _concern_ among beekeepers and honey packers, but IT IS NOT A WIDESPREAD _PROBLEM_. The differentiation that I am making is that we are dealing with a food product, and constant vigilance is required at all steps in the process to assure the purity of the final product. I believe that the beekeeping & honey packing industries are successful accomplishing this. This issue is a fact of life in _ALL_ areas of the food service industry, and is not unique to bees, honey, and beekeeping. The vast majority of beekeepers are extremely careful with all the treatments that they apply to their hives. I, for one, do not apply _ANY_ treatment, medication, acaracide, etc. to my hives while the supers are on. In other words, when the bees are collecting any nectar that ends up in honey destined for human consumption, _NO_ external products are applied to my colonies. This is a widespread practice throughout the beekeeping community. Also, the large honey packers have extensive testing programs, in which honey samples are constantly being tested for residues of undersired substances. I have every confidence that the honey offered for sale in the USA is quite safe, and I do not believe that your friend's fears are founded in fact. I do not have any specific information about the quality of honey being imported to the USA, but I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of it is of top quality. There have been some stories which have tarnished the reputation of imported honey. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of those stories, but even if they were true, they were only isolated cases. I hope that the above information adequately addresses your concerns. Sincerely, Rick Hough, a beekeeper from NE of Boston. **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Mon Aug 8 12:45:26 EDT 1994 Article: 663 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: Varroa resistant bees Message-ID: Keywords: orchard_bee, pesticide, pollination, pollen bee, mite Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: <315v87$m5v@nexus.uiowa.edu> <1994Aug3.211301.15134@ims.com> Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 19:05:24 GMT Lines: 46 In article <1994Aug3.211301.15134@ims.com>, Don Gross wrote: (and others wrote too...) >I've been following this topic (tracheal and Varroa mites) for awhile >now, and have a question or two. ...>I assume is Apistan) is simply an (non-organic) insecticide, and is >contaminating all the honey on the market. He doesn't plan on consuming >any more honey until alternatives are identified used. > >So, what is the "truth" about the mite treatment, and contaminants in >the U.S.'s (other countries'?) honey? Good questions. As with any labeled agricultural chemical, if the label is followed then there shouldn't be any contamination. This does not mean that everyone follows the label. As for honey from other countries, where there is no EPA, your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps some residue testing is done? I don't know. I'd get honey from someone I trusted. I'd ask them how specifically, they treated their bees. If they were unsure, or were unable to tell you, maybe their honey would be suspect? You may get the label from any package of Apistan, ask a beekeeper, or your State Apiarist. By reading the label, you will know the proper procedure. Then you may compare this to what the honey producer says. When in doubt, ask. > >BTW, because of the unreliable nature of honeybee pollenation, both due >to the mite crisis here in the Pacific Northwest and also the fact that >the fruit trees are in bloom in the spring before the honeybees become >active, a great deal of interest has arisen in our organization about >orchard (mason) bees. In fact, its become quite a good fund-raiser to >make and sell starter bee houses to the home and commercial orchardists. >I would be interested in getting a thread going on orchard bees. I'm >posting this to sci.agriculture.beekeeping as well as rec.gardens. If >there is a more apporpriate news group, please let me know. I'd check out the bumble bee list, it's in the FAQ. Also, USDA is doing some "pollen bee" research. This is described in Apis magazine. Apis is archived on the net. Read the FAQ. good luck! Adam -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From Paul.Ferroni@ab.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:27 EDT 1994 Article: 664 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!news1.hh.ab.com!icd.ab.com!cpferron From: cpferron@icd.ab.com (C. Paul Ferroni) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: 4 Aug 1994 21:53:35 GMT Organization: Allen Bradley Lines: 120 Distribution: world Message-ID: <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com> References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> Reply-To: Paul.Ferroni@ab.com NNTP-Posting-Host: dabney.cle.ab.com In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: > I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" > thread that has been going on the past few days. [...munch...] > And while I'm on my soapbox, does anyone else have a problem with the > moth balls on top of the frames suggestion? Especially when the very > same posting states that the wax WILL absorb moth ball chemicals! > Can you spell honey contamination? I can just picture a honey judge: > "Hmmm. Nice color. Pleasant order with just the right subtle > undertones of moth balls!" Glad I am that I've never had the pleasure. > I am the poster of the mothballs suggestion... My (longwinded) comments follow. > I will apologize in advance to the posters of the articles if they > take offense to the tone of my response. I don't mean any disrespect, > I'm just stating rather forcefully what should be good practice in > keeping bees. Your comments are appreciated. I agree that we should all be aware of good and proper practice. I wasn't giving a flippant or "home-brew" suggestion with mothballs. I've been keeping bees for about 15 years, starting in college, after taking an apiculture class at Ohio State University, taught by Prof Rothenbeuler (sp?), one of the contributors to _The_Hive_and_the_Honey_Bee_. I honestly don't recall if he ever actually suggested this in class (or in one of the hands-on labs), but one of the two books we used in class specifically recommended this practice. If Dr. Rothenbeuler had disagreed in class, I would have marked it down in the book (along with several other things he didn't agree with). Anyways, here are relevant quotes and notes from _The_Hive_and_the_Honey_Bee_ and _Starting_Right_with_Bees_, the two books we used in class, and that I refer to when I have questions. Complete reference information is included, in case later versions (which I've never seen) are different. >From _The_Hive_and_the_Honey_Bee_, Revised Edition (1976), from Dadant & Sons, Inc. Chapter XXI, "Diseases and Enemies of the Honey Bee", pg 651-652, says that to avoid wax moth problems, you should (My summary outline): 1) Maintain strong colonies which will not allow the moths to develop. 2) Keep empty combs in cold storage rooms. 3) Fumigate a) Ethylene dibromide (best) b) Ethylene oxide (also for foulbrood spores) 4) Use Bacillus thuringiensis NOTE: No mention of Paradichlorobenzene (moth balls) in this section. Also, in Chapter XIV, "The Production of Comb and Bulk Comb Honey", in a section called "Care of Comb Honey" (pg 439) with reference to handling section comb or bulk comb honey: "[section comb or bulk comb honey] cannot be handled too carefully to prevent damage. It is the appearance of comb honey that determines much of it's sale value. After the supers are removed and brought to the honey house, they should be fumigated againt damage by wax moth. The supers may be stacked about 15 high, leaving no cracks for fumigant to escape. [...] One well-known fumigant, paradichlorobenzene (PDB), should never be used as the odor will permeate the cappings and ruin the flavor of the honey." Note that this is relative to comb with honey in it. Of course you would NEVER allow a volatile substance like PDB near your honey! I never implied that. However, the stuff DOES dissapate with lots of fresh air. Another good reference book on beekeeping (much shorter, and more "practical" then the former): _Starting_Right_with_Bees_, 18th edition (1976), from the A.I.Root company, also discusses the wax moth. Chapter 20, "Diseases and Pests of Honeybees", page 93: "Stored combs are very susceptible to wax moth injury, especially combs that have been used in brood rearing. Empty combs, wet or dry, can be stored successfully indoors or out in supers and hive bodies. The supers and hive bodies of combs should be stacked six full depth supers high or less on a smooth pallet or metal cover. The joints between the supers if not tight should be taped all the way around with masking tape to make them airtight. A cupful of moth crystals, chemically known as Paradichlorobenzene, should be placed on a piece of cardboard and set on top of frames or combs in the top super. An empty shallow super should then be set on the top super, around the crystals and the stack covered with a tight cover and sealed with masking tape. The crystals emit a gas that is heavier than air and this gas will seep down through the combs killing moths and worms, and protect the stack from future attacks. Crystals should be added to each stack of combs as they evaporate. Before putting fumigated combs back on the hives the stack should be broken apart and the combs aired for 72 hours. Ethylene dibromide is effective againt all stages of the wax moth but cannot be used to fumigate honey and combs where the intended purpose of the honey is for human food." This is the reference I'm referring to at the beginning. I've done this (when necessary) for years, and never noticed any odor/taste in my honey. I have never entered it in any fair, though. It's also interesting to note that _The_Hive_and_the_Honey_Bee_ and _Starting_Right_with_Bees_ seriously disagree about Ethylene dibromide. One saying it's the best fumigant; the other, don't use where honey will be used for food. Perhaps, this is meant for comb honey again (?). The bottom line is that its obviously best to keep stong hives, and store your empty supers in sealed bags, in cold areas (freezing) where possible. Well, 'nuff for now. I hope this adds a little substance to the discussion. Again, no offense taken. Thanks for the opportunity to do a little digging into one of my favorite hobbies. -cpf paul.ferroni@ab.com From mthunzeker@aol.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:28 EDT 1994 Article: 665 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!newstf01.cr1.aol.com!search01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Insecticide in bee venom? Date: 4 Aug 1994 23:49:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 16 Sender: news@search01.news.aol.com Message-ID: <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: search01.news.aol.com One of the members of our local beekeepers association was checking his colonies after finding some spray kill and got stung. (They sure don't like to get sprayed!) His reaction was quite a bit more severe than usual with a very large red area and swelling. He was worried he had developed a serious allergic reaction, but has been stung numerous times since then and only had a standard (mild) response. So we are wondering if it is possible for a bee to pass on an insecticide in her venom? Has any research been performed in this area? Mike Hunzeker MTHunzeker@aol.com Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper From mthunzeker@aol.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:29 EDT 1994 Article: 666 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!newstf01.cr1.aol.com!search01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Date: 4 Aug 1994 23:51:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 20 Sender: root@search01.news.aol.com Message-ID: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: search01.news.aol.com (This seems to be my night for insecticide questions.) A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" (probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). Is this actually a legal use of PENCAP? Does anyone have any experience with this? Are there studies we can use to demonstrate the danger of PENCAP? Has anyone been successful in forcing limits on the use of PENCAP? Any available information would be greatly appreciated. Mike Hunzeker MTHunzeker@aol.com Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Mon Aug 8 12:45:30 EDT 1994 Article: 667 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 12:20:35 GMT Lines: 24 In article <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com>, MTHunzeker wrote: >A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name >right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one >of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, >PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but >the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" >(probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). Mike, check with your state apiarist, about the law. Here in VA, if there are known bees present, an applicator must notify the beekeeeper well ahead of time before application, for it is illegal to spray during bee flight as per the label. PENCAP-M resembles pollen, and since bees are working corn, gathering pollen, PENCAP-M, applied at this time , would be deadly to colonies foraging. The applicator needs to know that there are bees present. Involve your Dept. of Agriculture in this issue, bee inspection or the State apiarist's office, but get somebody on the situation. Label laws are very hard to enforce in bee kills. Adam (VA Bee inspector) -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:31 EDT 1994 Article: 668 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Insecticide in bee venom? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 94 08:43:43 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 13 Message-ID: <170097AC3S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) writes: >So we are wondering if it is possible for a bee to pass on an >insecticide in her venom? Has any research been performed in this >area? Stating up front that this is mere speculation on my part, I would imagine that insecticide would do in/off/kill a bee before there would be time for any insecticidal residues to be absorbed/transferred to bee venom. Furthermore, I'd speculate that a poisoned bee would not be up to the task of defending a hive or stinging a beekeeper: she'd be too busy kicking the bucket! From rsrodger@wam.umd.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:32 EDT 1994 Article: 669 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!eff!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!rsrodger From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 12:14:54 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland College Park Lines: 18 Message-ID: <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> Reply-To: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: rac6.wam.umd.edu Originator: rsrodger@rac6.wam.umd.edu In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) wrote: > (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for > treatment by fire). Pardon a question from an interested reader (no knowledge whatsoever of beekeeping), but what are "Robber Bees" (wasps?) and what is American Foulbrood? I ask because I'm curious as to what kinds of diseases strike bees. In my pesticide class, we covered the use of biological agents instead of chemical pesticides (fungi, etc.), but nothing about diseases that strike beneficial insects. -- Previous .sig deleted because some people couldn't parse "from email _received_ re: a post on comp.sys.powerpc." From sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:33 EDT 1994 Article: 670 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!overload.lbl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!mp.cs.niu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!aries!sandrock From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: The hive ain't empty... Date: 5 Aug 94 20:05:12 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 38 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: aries.scs.uiuc.edu Since I stirred things up a bit with my questions about empty hives and robber bees, I thought it might be good to let people know what I've found since then. Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned me somewhat. The bees seemed quite calm and gentle. A dozen or two were floating around the hive, a few seemed to check me out, but they mostly seemed to ignore me--a rather gratifying attitude to my way of thinking. :-) I could easily see dozens of bees crawling around on the frames, and one thing that puzzled me a bit was they mostly seemed to ignore the smoke I would puff at them occasionally. Still, it felt reassuring to have the smoker handy. I'm going out of town this weekend, but next week I intend to look at a few more frames and try to spot the queen and/or active brood cells. Anyway, my newbie impression is that a colony has indeed moved in, but perhaps someone would care to interpret what I've seen so far. Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments. Mark Sandrock -- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Fruechte reifen durch die Sonne, Chemical Sciences Computer Center Menschen durch die Liebe." 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 --Julius Langbehn Email: sandrock@uiuc.edu From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:35 EDT 1994 Article: 671 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 17:56:06 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 55 Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com>, Paul.Ferroni@ab.com wrote: > In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: > > I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" > > thread that has been going on the past few days. > > [...munch...] > > > And while I'm on my soapbox, does anyone else have a problem with the > > moth balls on top of the frames suggestion? Especially when the very > > same posting states that the wax WILL absorb moth ball chemicals! > > Can you spell honey contamination? I can just picture a honey judge: > > "Hmmm. Nice color. Pleasant order with just the right subtle > > undertones of moth balls!" Glad I am that I've never had the pleasure. > > > > I am the poster of the mothballs suggestion... My (longwinded) comments > follow. [...munch...] > NOTE: No mention of Paradichlorobenzene (moth balls) in this section. Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her sweaters (I forget the chemical name), and then there is Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. I'm under the impression that use of PDB on stored comb is widespread, and not detrimental to the comb, although there is a need to air out the combs for several days prior to putting them on the hives. While my mom's moth balls would probably kill the wax moth, I'm pretty sure that there is a problem with that chemical staying in the wax. Besides, my mom's moth balls aren't labeled (read legal) for use on combs (I think PDB is labeled for use on stored comb... isn't it??) Any comment, Aaron?? > The bottom line is that its obviously best to keep stong hives, and store > your empty supers in sealed bags, in cold areas (freezing) where possible. Amen to that!! Have a good weekend, all! Rick Hough **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:36 EDT 1994 Article: 672 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 18:16:14 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu>, rsrodger@wam.umd.edu wrote: > In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, > SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) wrote: > > (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for > > treatment by fire). > > Pardon a question from an interested reader (no knowledge whatsoever > of beekeeping), but what are "Robber Bees" (wasps?) and what is > American Foulbrood? Robber Bees = honey bees that come from a different hive to steal honey from a weak or uninhabited hive. American Foulbrood (AFB) is a disease of honeybee brood (young bees) - it strikes the pupal stage, and is fatal to the individual bees that it infects. If enough individuals get it, it can kill an entire hive. It is spread by spores, which can contaminate the honey (thus the transference of AFB by robber bees), as well as the combs. AFB spores are not dangerous to humans - our digestive system takes care of that, but the poor bees don't fare so well. The darn spores are very tough to kill, and thus the fire treatment is the method of choice for dealing with serious infections. Hope this answers your questions. Rick **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From chowe@cthoneybee.win.net Mon Aug 8 12:45:37 EDT 1994 Article: 673 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!swiss.ans.net!malgudi.oar.net!witch!cthoneybee!chowe Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Message-ID: <138@cthoneybee.win.net> References: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> Reply-To: chowe@cthoneybee.win.net (Charles Howe) From: chowe@cthoneybee.win.net (Charles Howe) Date: Sat, 06 Aug 1994 06:04:57 GMT Subject: Re: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Lines: 68 In article <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com>, MTHunzeker (mthunzeker@aol.com) writes: >(This seems to be my night for insecticide questions.) > >A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name >right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one >of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, >PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but >the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" >(probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). > >Is this actually a legal use of PENCAP? Does anyone have any >experience with this? Are there studies we can use to demonstrate the >danger of PENCAP? Has anyone been successful in forcing limits on the >use of PENCAP? > >Any available information would be greatly appreciated. > >Mike Hunzeker >MTHunzeker@aol.com >Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper > > Oh yes, Pencap-M is micro-encapsilated methylparathion as I recall. Until Connecticut's regulation was modified to stop the use of this material on tasseling corn we were loosing many colonies to methylparathion poisoning every year in CT. This stuff is particularly deadly to bees since they apparantly gather the stuff along with the pollen (they seem to *not* be able to discriminate between pollen and the capsules of insecticide). Once the stuff is brought back to the colony it gets incorporated into the combs (wax probably) and is left there when the colony expires. When new bees are installed into the colony they may also die from the remaining material in the combs. For our bees corn pollen ranks up there with dandylion pollen as favorites among the top five. When corn tassels my bees pollen production jumps from about 1/3 cup per day to 2 cups of corn pollen. To get a regulation limiting the use of Pencap-M in CT. we started by sending insecticide killed bees to the State Entomologist for analysis. This showed that, as I recall, about 1/2 of the bees were killed by the active ingredient in Pencap-M. If it wasn't 1/2 it was the largest single insecticide killer of bees. At that point, we (the CT. Beekeepers Assn.) hired a lawyer for advice and the process of getting a regulation in CT. stopping the use of Pencap-M on tasseling corn left the Association with a substantial debt. We went through this process over 10 years ago. I don't know if it ended up in a change in the label for other states, but Connecticut's more limiting use restrictions for Pencap-M still stands. It is noteworthy, that after the regulation went into affect the number of insecticide poisonings sharply declined. If more detailed information is required I will try to come up with names and addresses of people who worked closely with the problem at that time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Chuck Howe - Editor | Phone or FAX: (203)491-2338 | | Connecticut Honey Bee | 86, 5 1/2 Mile Road | | INTERNET - CHOWE@CTHONEYBEE.WIN.NET | Goshen, CT. 06756 | | COMPUSERVE - 72726.1437@COMPUSERVE.COM | USA | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rsrodger@wam.umd.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:39 EDT 1994 Article: 674 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!rsrodger From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Sat, 06 Aug 1994 10:22:17 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland College Park Lines: 10 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> Reply-To: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: rac2.wam.umd.edu Originator: rsrodger@rac2.wam.umd.edu In article , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > Hope this answers your questions. Yes, thanks. -- Previous .sig deleted because some people couldn't parse "from email _received_ re: a post on comp.sys.powerpc." From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Mon Aug 8 12:45:40 EDT 1994 Article: 675 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!halls1.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 00:45:27 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 16 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: >From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) >Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? >Date: Wed, 03 Aug 94 10:06:08 EDT >I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" >thread that has been going on the past few days. The scenario was In quick defence of myself, I did express some such concerns (I always do.... I am on a CRUSADE against diseases...my fathers entire apiary was wiped out by AFB) I did actaully reply along that vein, but from my other account, and I don't seem to be able to get the news posting facility on that acount to work... Adrian (trying to help myself this time....) From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Mon Aug 8 12:45:41 EDT 1994 Article: 676 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 00:59:21 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au In article sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes: >From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) >Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling >about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as That sounds reasonably typical of a colony (to me at least) >opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb >on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so >thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead >removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the The way I usually open up a hive is to remove one of the edge frames, in your case, the shady side one as it would have less bees and wax on it, then move the others across so that you have room to manipulate them. >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if Find some literature on AFB, and compare any pictures in it with what you see...also chalk brrod, EFB, and other brood diseases. If you are still in doubt, cut a piece of the affected comb and send it to a bee inspector type place...they will be able to give an accurate diagnosis (free in australia...) apart from all that, good luck, and enjoy. Adrian. From at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA Mon Aug 8 12:45:42 EDT 1994 Article: 677 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!at664 From: at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (R John Northcote) Subject: Re: What do I do about skunks? Message-ID: Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca (Usenet News Admin) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 01:11:53 GMT Lines: 16 Skunks will scratch at the entrance and eat the bees as they come out to investigate. I have some bottom boards with 3/8 inch scratches in them from the skunks. I have found a dead skunk in one of my yards but otherwise know of two methods which work. The first is to have a landlord (eg farmer) who shoots them for me with asking - aim for the backbone/neck sho he doesn't 'fire'. THe other method is to inject a raw egg with cynaide or arsenic and bury the egg in front of the hive (one inch or so). You'll find the skunk nearby. Buying cyanide/arseic is a sometimes a problem though - depends on the state/province you live in. -- R John Northcote c/o National Capital Freenet From at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA Mon Aug 8 12:45:43 EDT 1994 Article: 678 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!at664 From: at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (R John Northcote) Subject: Re: 1993 Honey Prices Message-ID: Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca (Usenet News Admin) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 01:18:06 GMT Lines: 11 Prices in US are usually by the pound (remember that quaint Measure?). Here in Canada we usually quote honey in pounds as well (except for the government which uses Kilos). In 93 Canadian wholesale prices were in the 60-65 cents/pound range in 45 gal (CDN) barrels. At the time the exchange rate was about 1 CDN$ = .79 US$ (currently 72 cnets). -- R John Northcote c/o National Capital Freenet From sph@usgp4.ATT.COM Mon Aug 8 12:45:44 EDT 1994 Article: 679 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!ames!ncar!uchinews!att-out!nntpa!nntpa.cb.att.com!sph From: sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) Subject: old honey Message-ID: Sender: news@nntpa.cb.att.com (Netnews Administration) Nntp-Posting-Host: usgp4.ih.att.com Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 17:02:26 GMT Lines: 19 I have one hive of bees down in central Il, and I have 4 gallons of honey left that is 3 - 5 years old. It used to taste pretty good, but it has gotten dark, is crystalized, and does not taste that great anymore. It was not stored in the best of conditions. If I feed this to my bees will it make this year's crop dark and taste old? Or will the bees "freshen it up" somewhat? One more question: I have had this colony for 7 years now, and it was re-queened 2 years before I bought it. Should I consider buying a new queen next year, or should I just let them go as long as they seem strong ( and they looked great yesterday ). Thanks in advance Stephen P. Hill sph@uscbu.ih.att.com From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Mon Aug 8 12:45:46 EDT 1994 Article: 680 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-07.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: old honey Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 07:22:30 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-07.cc.monash.edu.au In article sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) writes: >From: sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) >honey left that is 3 - 5 years old. It used to taste pretty good, but >If I feed this to my bees will it make this year's crop dark and >taste old? Or will the bees "freshen it up" somewhat? Usually bees wont store honey that is given to them in a honey condition, they will just eat it, and use it for brood food, so it shouldn't affect the honey quality. BUT are you sure (if it wasn't stored in good conditions) that it is disease free??? >One more question: I have had this colony for 7 years now, and it was >re-queened 2 years before I bought it. Should I consider buying a new >queen next year, or should I just let them go as long as they seem >strong ( and they looked great yesterday ). Well...the naverage life span of a queen is about two years, so you should have had a few queens since then, although you may not have noticed. Some beekeepers requeen every two to four years, but I only do so if I have an unproducitve hive, or one that is paricularly unpleasant to work with. I also like to requeen if I am splitting a hive, because there is a theory that leaving a "swarm induced" queen will promote the swarm impulse gene... if there is such a thing. Adrian (was I helpful this timt?? hu? huh? was I??) From roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com Mon Aug 8 12:45:48 EDT 1994 Article: 681 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!rohvm1!roh033.mah48d Nntp-Posting-Host: 136.141.220.39 Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 07:26:06 -0400 From: roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com (John E. Taylor III) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Distribution: world Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com> , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > In article <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com>, Paul.Ferroni@ab.com wrote: > > Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! > There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her sweaters > (I forget the chemical name), and then there is Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) > that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. The "other" mothballs (the ones you should NOT use) are naphthalene. It's a hydrocarbon (polycyclic hydrocarbon, if you're into details) that would be quite soluble in wax and would thus diffuse readily into the comb. -- John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company." From altabios@bham.ac.uk Mon Aug 8 12:45:50 EDT 1994 Article: 682 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!fulcrum!bham!usenet From: altabios@bham.ac.uk (John E. Fox) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: 8 Aug 1994 12:10:14 GMT Organization: The University of Birmingham, UK Lines: 53 Message-ID: <3257b6$i3o@sun4.bham.ac.uk> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: bcs118.bham.ac.uk X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 In article , sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) says: > >Since I stirred things up a bit with my questions about empty hives >and robber bees, I thought it might be good to let people know what >I've found since then. > >Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling >about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as >opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb >on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so >thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead >removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if >this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned >me somewhat. > >The bees seemed quite calm and gentle. A dozen or two were floating >around the hive, a few seemed to check me out, but they mostly seemed to >ignore me--a rather gratifying attitude to my way of thinking. :-) > >I could easily see dozens of bees crawling around on the frames, and >one thing that puzzled me a bit was they mostly seemed to ignore the >smoke I would puff at them occasionally. Still, it felt reassuring to >have the smoker handy. > >I'm going out of town this weekend, but next week I intend to look at >a few more frames and try to spot the queen and/or active brood cells. > >Anyway, my newbie impression is that a colony has indeed moved in, >but perhaps someone would care to interpret what I've seen so far. > >Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments. > >Mark Sandrock >-- >Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Fruechte reifen durch die Sonne, >Chemical Sciences Computer Center Menschen durch die Liebe." >505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 --Julius Langbehn >Email: sandrock@uiuc.edu Seeing brood cells with the tops broken is a disturbing sign. The only time this should happen is when the new bee is coming out. The cap is then quickly removed and the cell cleaned up for the next occupant. It may be that these contain dead bees and they have been opened by the new workers. It's hard to quantify numbers of bees by Email but you should be seeing frames covered with bees, in their hundreds. Certainly they may not move for smoke, the main effect of smoke is to make them feed and get so full they can't sting you. I would suggest looking for eggs and brood. If they are there, you have a working queen. From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:50 EDT 1994 Article: 683 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 10:52:16 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 69 Message-ID: <1700C98E5S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu Some final comments on my "Empty Hive" missal. First, I'm glad that readers saw through the flames and took the face value of my post. Bees will do what bees will do, beekeeper or not. There are no value judgments involved. Bees will visit an empty hive, irregardless of the reasons why the hive is empty. Valid reasons or bad excuses don't matter to the bees who see an empty hive as an empty hive. Concerning the moth ball thread, I guess it breaks down into a couple of things: commercial vs hobby beekeeping and greens vs browns (organic vs chemicals). I am a hobby beekeeper with twenty years experience. My beekeeping concerns are small potatoes. I don't have to store large numbers of honey supers and am able to spend more time/labor tending my equipment. My goal in keeping bees is to be outside enjoying the buzz. The hobby is its own reward, the honey harvest is a bonus. I also lean towards the green side. I garden organically whenever possible, although I've been known to resort to herbicides (flower gardens only, never vegetable/consumable gardens) when the weeding task is beyond my ability to handle it organically. I do however, avoid nonorganic pesticides at all costs. Better to lose to the buggers than poison them with chemicals in my book. This explains my distaste for fumigants, sanctioned or not. I too got out my copy of "The_Hive_and_the_Honeybee" and read up on fumigants. Finding a reference that says that it's ok to use PDB and/or moth crystals doesn't make it ok for ME to use it/them. Knowing that the U.S. government says that after three days of airing out the supers they will be "OK" doesn't necessarily give me comfort, although I ALWAYS believe whatever the governments says ;-) . As a small potatoes beekeeper, I am able to wrap ALL of my honey supers in plastic garbage bags and with diligence, I can avoid problems with wax moths. I have no need to resort to fumigants when mechanics will serve my needs. I would probably sing a different tune were my operation multiplied a hundred fold, but I am more comfortable knowing that my honey has not been exposed to fumigants, whether used properly or not. When a query is posted about whether honey is exposed to chemicals, the answer can't be "No, it was produced in honey supers that were exposed to chemicals in a sanctioned manner", the answer is "Yes, the honey has been exposed to chemicals". It's up to the consumer to decide to what degree they are comfortable with the USDA sanctioned exposure. Laying all my cards on the table, I'll admit to using Apistan. I've lost too many hives to mites, and there is no alternative at the present time, so USDA sanctions away, I use the strips and follow the "moving target" directions. I'm not reassured by following the directions and I know that at least on a molecular level, my honey contains a contaminate that it did not before I started using the strips. I'm not comfortable with whatever level of contaminates there may or may not be, but given the alternatives I'll use the strips and live with the discomfort. This is not meant to start off an organic vs chemicals flame war, that's already covered on rec.gardens. I'll continue to avoid fumigants, I'll continue to use Apistan, I'll continue to monitor progress on genetic resistance, and I'll continue to be comforted in knowing that the honey produced by my bees has a lower level of exposure to sanctioned chemicals than most. Cheers! Aaron Morris P.S. On a different note, while browsing "The_Hive_and_the_Honeybee" I stumbled across a reference to a US president in the '70s who was a real believer in the positive benefits of bee pollen, but the reference didn't say which US president (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Regan). I'll bet it was Carter, but does anyone know for sure? From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:52 EDT 1994 Article: 684 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: "Mothballs" as a fumigant? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 11:12:33 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 30 Message-ID: <1700C9DA1S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu >In article , >rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > >> ... >> Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! >> There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her >> sweaters (I forget the chemical name), and then there is >> Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. > >The "other" mothballs (the ones you should NOT use) are naphthalene. >It's a hydrocarbon (polycyclic hydrocarbon, if you're into details) >that would be quite soluble in wax and would thus diffuse readily into >the comb. >-- >John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the >roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company. " Thanks to Rick and especially John for clarifying this. Quite a difference there, no? That's one thing that bothers me about the Information Superhighway: the ability to disperse misinformation worldwide. Perhaps there is more to be learned from Adrian's sig ("No help at All!?") than meets the eye! (Not attributing misinformation to Adrian, just acknowledging his sig). Again, thanks to those who set this record straight! Keep up the good work! Perhaps there should be a very explicit section in the FAQ along the lines "Can I use my mother's moth balls to control wax moths?"? Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Mon Aug 8 12:45:52 EDT 1994 Article: 685 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 11:14:44 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 42 Message-ID: <1700C9E28S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes: > ... one of the middle frames ... had some honey cells along the >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if >this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned >me somewhat. This COULD be a bad sign. Normal appearance for hatched out cells is a bee emerging/chewing its way through the cell cap. If there are no emerging bees evident there may me reasons for concern. If there are dead bees behind the broken caps there is definite cause for concern, as this is a symptom of American Foulbrood. The good news is that you're poking around in the hive! Check again, but go throught the entire hive. The capping pattern as you described may be normal, but it's hard to say without knowing what things looked like surrounding that frame. It may be the case that the middle frame you picked was an area of the brood chamber that had just hatched all of the bees and had not yet been reused by the queen. Hopefully, this is the case. Or, it may be indicative of a brood disease. The things to look for are whether the cells are empty and clean, ready for the next generation, and how the pattern you observed compares to the pattern of the surrounding frames. Also, use your other senses: sound and smell. These are harder senses to develope and exploit when working your bees, but they are very valuable to the beekeeper. Listen to the buzzing of the bees. Is it a busy, hive at work sort of sound (that's the impression I get from your description) or is it a stressed tone? It's hard to describe the difference, and perhaps the destinction only comes with experience. Smell is also important. Does the hive smell normal? Literature describes the smell of foulbrood as sickly sweet, but it's hard to put those words into an olfactory experience other than to experience it. And if you are able to experience it, learn it(!), because it's not an experience you'll care to oft' repeat. Otherwise, it sounds like you're getting into the experience of beekeeping. Good luck with your subsequent inspections! Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! From mthunzeker@aol.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:16 EDT 1994 Article: 665 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!newstf01.cr1.aol.com!search01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Insecticide in bee venom? Date: 4 Aug 1994 23:49:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 16 Sender: news@search01.news.aol.com Message-ID: <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: search01.news.aol.com One of the members of our local beekeepers association was checking his colonies after finding some spray kill and got stung. (They sure don't like to get sprayed!) His reaction was quite a bit more severe than usual with a very large red area and swelling. He was worried he had developed a serious allergic reaction, but has been stung numerous times since then and only had a standard (mild) response. So we are wondering if it is possible for a bee to pass on an insecticide in her venom? Has any research been performed in this area? Mike Hunzeker MTHunzeker@aol.com Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper From mthunzeker@aol.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:17 EDT 1994 Article: 666 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!godot.cc.duq.edu!newsfeed.pitt.edu!uunet!newstf01.cr1.aol.com!search01.news.aol.com!not-for-mail From: mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Date: 4 Aug 1994 23:51:05 -0400 Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Lines: 20 Sender: root@search01.news.aol.com Message-ID: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: search01.news.aol.com (This seems to be my night for insecticide questions.) A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" (probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). Is this actually a legal use of PENCAP? Does anyone have any experience with this? Are there studies we can use to demonstrate the danger of PENCAP? Has anyone been successful in forcing limits on the use of PENCAP? Any available information would be greatly appreciated. Mike Hunzeker MTHunzeker@aol.com Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Fri Aug 12 10:57:18 EDT 1994 Article: 667 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> Date: Fri, 5 Aug 1994 12:20:35 GMT Lines: 24 In article <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com>, MTHunzeker wrote: >A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name >right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one >of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, >PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but >the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" >(probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). Mike, check with your state apiarist, about the law. Here in VA, if there are known bees present, an applicator must notify the beekeeeper well ahead of time before application, for it is illegal to spray during bee flight as per the label. PENCAP-M resembles pollen, and since bees are working corn, gathering pollen, PENCAP-M, applied at this time , would be deadly to colonies foraging. The applicator needs to know that there are bees present. Involve your Dept. of Agriculture in this issue, bee inspection or the State apiarist's office, but get somebody on the situation. Label laws are very hard to enforce in bee kills. Adam (VA Bee inspector) -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:19 EDT 1994 Article: 668 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Insecticide in bee venom? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 94 08:43:43 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 13 Message-ID: <170097AC3S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article <31scrh$n7j@search01.news.aol.com> mthunzeker@aol.com (MTHunzeker) writes: >So we are wondering if it is possible for a bee to pass on an >insecticide in her venom? Has any research been performed in this >area? Stating up front that this is mere speculation on my part, I would imagine that insecticide would do in/off/kill a bee before there would be time for any insecticidal residues to be absorbed/transferred to bee venom. Furthermore, I'd speculate that a poisoned bee would not be up to the task of defending a hive or stinging a beekeeper: she'd be too busy kicking the bucket! From rsrodger@wam.umd.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:20 EDT 1994 Article: 669 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!eff!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!rsrodger From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 12:14:54 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland College Park Lines: 18 Message-ID: <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> Reply-To: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: rac6.wam.umd.edu Originator: rsrodger@rac6.wam.umd.edu In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) wrote: > (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for > treatment by fire). Pardon a question from an interested reader (no knowledge whatsoever of beekeeping), but what are "Robber Bees" (wasps?) and what is American Foulbrood? I ask because I'm curious as to what kinds of diseases strike bees. In my pesticide class, we covered the use of biological agents instead of chemical pesticides (fungi, etc.), but nothing about diseases that strike beneficial insects. -- Previous .sig deleted because some people couldn't parse "from email _received_ re: a post on comp.sys.powerpc." From sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:22 EDT 1994 Article: 670 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!overload.lbl.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!mp.cs.niu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!aries!sandrock From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: The hive ain't empty... Date: 5 Aug 94 20:05:12 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 38 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: aries.scs.uiuc.edu Since I stirred things up a bit with my questions about empty hives and robber bees, I thought it might be good to let people know what I've found since then. Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned me somewhat. The bees seemed quite calm and gentle. A dozen or two were floating around the hive, a few seemed to check me out, but they mostly seemed to ignore me--a rather gratifying attitude to my way of thinking. :-) I could easily see dozens of bees crawling around on the frames, and one thing that puzzled me a bit was they mostly seemed to ignore the smoke I would puff at them occasionally. Still, it felt reassuring to have the smoker handy. I'm going out of town this weekend, but next week I intend to look at a few more frames and try to spot the queen and/or active brood cells. Anyway, my newbie impression is that a colony has indeed moved in, but perhaps someone would care to interpret what I've seen so far. Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments. Mark Sandrock -- Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Fruechte reifen durch die Sonne, Chemical Sciences Computer Center Menschen durch die Liebe." 505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 --Julius Langbehn Email: sandrock@uiuc.edu From rshough@tasc.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:23 EDT 1994 Article: 671 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 17:56:06 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 55 Distribution: world Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com>, Paul.Ferroni@ab.com wrote: > In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: > > I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" > > thread that has been going on the past few days. > > [...munch...] > > > And while I'm on my soapbox, does anyone else have a problem with the > > moth balls on top of the frames suggestion? Especially when the very > > same posting states that the wax WILL absorb moth ball chemicals! > > Can you spell honey contamination? I can just picture a honey judge: > > "Hmmm. Nice color. Pleasant order with just the right subtle > > undertones of moth balls!" Glad I am that I've never had the pleasure. > > > > I am the poster of the mothballs suggestion... My (longwinded) comments > follow. [...munch...] > NOTE: No mention of Paradichlorobenzene (moth balls) in this section. Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her sweaters (I forget the chemical name), and then there is Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. I'm under the impression that use of PDB on stored comb is widespread, and not detrimental to the comb, although there is a need to air out the combs for several days prior to putting them on the hives. While my mom's moth balls would probably kill the wax moth, I'm pretty sure that there is a problem with that chemical staying in the wax. Besides, my mom's moth balls aren't labeled (read legal) for use on combs (I think PDB is labeled for use on stored comb... isn't it??) Any comment, Aaron?? > The bottom line is that its obviously best to keep stong hives, and store > your empty supers in sealed bags, in cold areas (freezing) where possible. Amen to that!! Have a good weekend, all! Rick Hough **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From rshough@tasc.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:24 EDT 1994 Article: 672 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!uunet!newsserver.tasc.com!newsserver.read.tasc.com!rshough.read.tasc.com!user From: rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Fri, 05 Aug 1994 18:16:14 -0500 Organization: TASC Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: rshough.read.tasc.com In article <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu>, rsrodger@wam.umd.edu wrote: > In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu>, > SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) wrote: > > (worst case scenario (American Foulbrood) calls for > > treatment by fire). > > Pardon a question from an interested reader (no knowledge whatsoever > of beekeeping), but what are "Robber Bees" (wasps?) and what is > American Foulbrood? Robber Bees = honey bees that come from a different hive to steal honey from a weak or uninhabited hive. American Foulbrood (AFB) is a disease of honeybee brood (young bees) - it strikes the pupal stage, and is fatal to the individual bees that it infects. If enough individuals get it, it can kill an entire hive. It is spread by spores, which can contaminate the honey (thus the transference of AFB by robber bees), as well as the combs. AFB spores are not dangerous to humans - our digestive system takes care of that, but the poor bees don't fare so well. The darn spores are very tough to kill, and thus the fire treatment is the method of choice for dealing with serious infections. Hope this answers your questions. Rick **************************************************** * Rick Hough * email: rshough@tasc.com * * TASC * Phone: (617) 942-2000 * * 55 Walkers Brook Drive * FAX: (617) 942-7100 * * Reading, MA 01867 * * **************************************************** SET DISCLAIMER ON The above is my opinion, and not my employer's or anyone else's. From chowe@cthoneybee.win.net Fri Aug 12 10:57:25 EDT 1994 Article: 673 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!swiss.ans.net!malgudi.oar.net!witch!cthoneybee!chowe Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Message-ID: <138@cthoneybee.win.net> References: <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com> Reply-To: chowe@cthoneybee.win.net (Charles Howe) From: chowe@cthoneybee.win.net (Charles Howe) Date: Sat, 06 Aug 1994 06:04:57 GMT Subject: Re: PENCAP-M (?) Insecticide Lines: 68 In article <31scv9$n9e@search01.news.aol.com>, MTHunzeker (mthunzeker@aol.com) writes: >(This seems to be my night for insecticide questions.) > >A local aerial applicator is pushing PENCAP-M (I think I have the name >right) for treating corn just after it has tassled. According to one >of the commercial beekeepers in our local beekeepers association, >PENCAP is a serious threat to bees, especially in tassling corn, but >the applicator maintains that he "doesn't ever see any bees in corn" >(probably because he is flying 6 feet above it at 60 knots). > >Is this actually a legal use of PENCAP? Does anyone have any >experience with this? Are there studies we can use to demonstrate the >danger of PENCAP? Has anyone been successful in forcing limits on the >use of PENCAP? > >Any available information would be greatly appreciated. > >Mike Hunzeker >MTHunzeker@aol.com >Boulder County Colorado Beekeeper > > Oh yes, Pencap-M is micro-encapsilated methylparathion as I recall. Until Connecticut's regulation was modified to stop the use of this material on tasseling corn we were loosing many colonies to methylparathion poisoning every year in CT. This stuff is particularly deadly to bees since they apparantly gather the stuff along with the pollen (they seem to *not* be able to discriminate between pollen and the capsules of insecticide). Once the stuff is brought back to the colony it gets incorporated into the combs (wax probably) and is left there when the colony expires. When new bees are installed into the colony they may also die from the remaining material in the combs. For our bees corn pollen ranks up there with dandylion pollen as favorites among the top five. When corn tassels my bees pollen production jumps from about 1/3 cup per day to 2 cups of corn pollen. To get a regulation limiting the use of Pencap-M in CT. we started by sending insecticide killed bees to the State Entomologist for analysis. This showed that, as I recall, about 1/2 of the bees were killed by the active ingredient in Pencap-M. If it wasn't 1/2 it was the largest single insecticide killer of bees. At that point, we (the CT. Beekeepers Assn.) hired a lawyer for advice and the process of getting a regulation in CT. stopping the use of Pencap-M on tasseling corn left the Association with a substantial debt. We went through this process over 10 years ago. I don't know if it ended up in a change in the label for other states, but Connecticut's more limiting use restrictions for Pencap-M still stands. It is noteworthy, that after the regulation went into affect the number of insecticide poisonings sharply declined. If more detailed information is required I will try to come up with names and addresses of people who worked closely with the problem at that time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | Chuck Howe - Editor | Phone or FAX: (203)491-2338 | | Connecticut Honey Bee | 86, 5 1/2 Mile Road | | INTERNET - CHOWE@CTHONEYBEE.WIN.NET | Goshen, CT. 06756 | | COMPUSERVE - 72726.1437@COMPUSERVE.COM | USA | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rsrodger@wam.umd.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:26 EDT 1994 Article: 674 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!rsrodger From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Sat, 06 Aug 1994 10:22:17 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland College Park Lines: 10 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <-LcGkO9RtM7B069yn@wam.umd.edu> Reply-To: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: rac2.wam.umd.edu Originator: rsrodger@rac2.wam.umd.edu In article , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > Hope this answers your questions. Yes, thanks. -- Previous .sig deleted because some people couldn't parse "from email _received_ re: a post on comp.sys.powerpc." From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Fri Aug 12 10:57:27 EDT 1994 Article: 675 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!halls1.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 00:45:27 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 16 Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au In article <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) writes: >From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) >Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? >Date: Wed, 03 Aug 94 10:06:08 EDT >I'm surprised that there isn't more concern about the "Empty Hive" >thread that has been going on the past few days. The scenario was In quick defence of myself, I did express some such concerns (I always do.... I am on a CRUSADE against diseases...my fathers entire apiary was wiped out by AFB) I did actaully reply along that vein, but from my other account, and I don't seem to be able to get the news posting facility on that acount to work... Adrian (trying to help myself this time....) From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Fri Aug 12 10:57:28 EDT 1994 Article: 676 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 00:59:21 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-03.cc.monash.edu.au In article sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes: >From: sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) >Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling >about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as That sounds reasonably typical of a colony (to me at least) >opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb >on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so >thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead >removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the The way I usually open up a hive is to remove one of the edge frames, in your case, the shady side one as it would have less bees and wax on it, then move the others across so that you have room to manipulate them. >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if Find some literature on AFB, and compare any pictures in it with what you see...also chalk brrod, EFB, and other brood diseases. If you are still in doubt, cut a piece of the affected comb and send it to a bee inspector type place...they will be able to give an accurate diagnosis (free in australia...) apart from all that, good luck, and enjoy. Adrian. From at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA Fri Aug 12 10:57:29 EDT 1994 Article: 677 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!at664 From: at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (R John Northcote) Subject: Re: What do I do about skunks? Message-ID: Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca (Usenet News Admin) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 01:11:53 GMT Lines: 16 Skunks will scratch at the entrance and eat the bees as they come out to investigate. I have some bottom boards with 3/8 inch scratches in them from the skunks. I have found a dead skunk in one of my yards but otherwise know of two methods which work. The first is to have a landlord (eg farmer) who shoots them for me with asking - aim for the backbone/neck sho he doesn't 'fire'. THe other method is to inject a raw egg with cynaide or arsenic and bury the egg in front of the hive (one inch or so). You'll find the skunk nearby. Buying cyanide/arseic is a sometimes a problem though - depends on the state/province you live in. -- R John Northcote c/o National Capital Freenet From at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA Fri Aug 12 10:57:30 EDT 1994 Article: 678 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!torn!nott!cunews!freenet.carleton.ca!FreeNet.Carleton.CA!at664 From: at664@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (R John Northcote) Subject: Re: 1993 Honey Prices Message-ID: Sender: news@freenet.carleton.ca (Usenet News Admin) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 01:18:06 GMT Lines: 11 Prices in US are usually by the pound (remember that quaint Measure?). Here in Canada we usually quote honey in pounds as well (except for the government which uses Kilos). In 93 Canadian wholesale prices were in the 60-65 cents/pound range in 45 gal (CDN) barrels. At the time the exchange rate was about 1 CDN$ = .79 US$ (currently 72 cnets). -- R John Northcote c/o National Capital Freenet From sph@usgp4.ATT.COM Fri Aug 12 10:57:31 EDT 1994 Article: 679 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!ames!ncar!uchinews!att-out!nntpa!nntpa.cb.att.com!sph From: sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) Subject: old honey Message-ID: Sender: news@nntpa.cb.att.com (Netnews Administration) Nntp-Posting-Host: usgp4.ih.att.com Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Date: Sun, 7 Aug 1994 17:02:26 GMT Lines: 19 I have one hive of bees down in central Il, and I have 4 gallons of honey left that is 3 - 5 years old. It used to taste pretty good, but it has gotten dark, is crystalized, and does not taste that great anymore. It was not stored in the best of conditions. If I feed this to my bees will it make this year's crop dark and taste old? Or will the bees "freshen it up" somewhat? One more question: I have had this colony for 7 years now, and it was re-queened 2 years before I bought it. Should I consider buying a new queen next year, or should I just let them go as long as they seem strong ( and they looked great yesterday ). Thanks in advance Stephen P. Hill sph@uscbu.ih.att.com From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Fri Aug 12 10:57:31 EDT 1994 Article: 680 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-07.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: old honey Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 07:22:30 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 31 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-07.cc.monash.edu.au In article sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) writes: >From: sph@usgp4.ATT.COM (nac250300-Hill) >honey left that is 3 - 5 years old. It used to taste pretty good, but >If I feed this to my bees will it make this year's crop dark and >taste old? Or will the bees "freshen it up" somewhat? Usually bees wont store honey that is given to them in a honey condition, they will just eat it, and use it for brood food, so it shouldn't affect the honey quality. BUT are you sure (if it wasn't stored in good conditions) that it is disease free??? >One more question: I have had this colony for 7 years now, and it was >re-queened 2 years before I bought it. Should I consider buying a new >queen next year, or should I just let them go as long as they seem >strong ( and they looked great yesterday ). Well...the naverage life span of a queen is about two years, so you should have had a few queens since then, although you may not have noticed. Some beekeepers requeen every two to four years, but I only do so if I have an unproducitve hive, or one that is paricularly unpleasant to work with. I also like to requeen if I am splitting a hive, because there is a theory that leaving a "swarm induced" queen will promote the swarm impulse gene... if there is such a thing. Adrian (was I helpful this timt?? hu? huh? was I??) From roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:32 EDT 1994 Article: 681 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!newsserver.jvnc.net!rohvm1!roh033.mah48d Nntp-Posting-Host: 136.141.220.39 Date: Mon, 8 Aug 1994 07:26:06 -0400 From: roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com (John E. Taylor III) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Distribution: world Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Message-ID: References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com> , rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > In article <31ro0v$8hs@news1.hh.ab.com>, Paul.Ferroni@ab.com wrote: > > Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! > There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her sweaters > (I forget the chemical name), and then there is Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) > that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. The "other" mothballs (the ones you should NOT use) are naphthalene. It's a hydrocarbon (polycyclic hydrocarbon, if you're into details) that would be quite soluble in wax and would thus diffuse readily into the comb. -- John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company." From altabios@bham.ac.uk Fri Aug 12 10:57:34 EDT 1994 Article: 682 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uknet!fulcrum!bham!usenet From: altabios@bham.ac.uk (John E. Fox) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: 8 Aug 1994 12:10:14 GMT Organization: The University of Birmingham, UK Lines: 53 Message-ID: <3257b6$i3o@sun4.bham.ac.uk> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: bcs118.bham.ac.uk X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 In article , sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) says: > >Since I stirred things up a bit with my questions about empty hives >and robber bees, I thought it might be good to let people know what >I've found since then. > >Today at lunchtime I opened the hive and found a lot of bees crawling >about. They were especially dense on the sunnier side of the hive as >opposed to the shady side. I could see that they were busy adding comb >on three frames closest to the side. In fact, these frames looked so >thick with comb that I did not initially try to move them, but instead >removed one of the middle frames. It had some honey cells along the >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if >this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned >me somewhat. > >The bees seemed quite calm and gentle. A dozen or two were floating >around the hive, a few seemed to check me out, but they mostly seemed to >ignore me--a rather gratifying attitude to my way of thinking. :-) > >I could easily see dozens of bees crawling around on the frames, and >one thing that puzzled me a bit was they mostly seemed to ignore the >smoke I would puff at them occasionally. Still, it felt reassuring to >have the smoker handy. > >I'm going out of town this weekend, but next week I intend to look at >a few more frames and try to spot the queen and/or active brood cells. > >Anyway, my newbie impression is that a colony has indeed moved in, >but perhaps someone would care to interpret what I've seen so far. > >Thanks again to everyone for the helpful comments. > >Mark Sandrock >-- >Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign "Fruechte reifen durch die Sonne, >Chemical Sciences Computer Center Menschen durch die Liebe." >505 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801 --Julius Langbehn >Email: sandrock@uiuc.edu Seeing brood cells with the tops broken is a disturbing sign. The only time this should happen is when the new bee is coming out. The cap is then quickly removed and the cell cleaned up for the next occupant. It may be that these contain dead bees and they have been opened by the new workers. It's hard to quantify numbers of bees by Email but you should be seeing frames covered with bees, in their hundreds. Certainly they may not move for smoke, the main effect of smoke is to make them feed and get so full they can't sting you. I would suggest looking for eggs and brood. If they are there, you have a working queen. From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:35 EDT 1994 Article: 683 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty hive? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 10:52:16 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 69 Message-ID: <1700C98E5S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <170078E13S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu Some final comments on my "Empty Hive" missal. First, I'm glad that readers saw through the flames and took the face value of my post. Bees will do what bees will do, beekeeper or not. There are no value judgments involved. Bees will visit an empty hive, irregardless of the reasons why the hive is empty. Valid reasons or bad excuses don't matter to the bees who see an empty hive as an empty hive. Concerning the moth ball thread, I guess it breaks down into a couple of things: commercial vs hobby beekeeping and greens vs browns (organic vs chemicals). I am a hobby beekeeper with twenty years experience. My beekeeping concerns are small potatoes. I don't have to store large numbers of honey supers and am able to spend more time/labor tending my equipment. My goal in keeping bees is to be outside enjoying the buzz. The hobby is its own reward, the honey harvest is a bonus. I also lean towards the green side. I garden organically whenever possible, although I've been known to resort to herbicides (flower gardens only, never vegetable/consumable gardens) when the weeding task is beyond my ability to handle it organically. I do however, avoid nonorganic pesticides at all costs. Better to lose to the buggers than poison them with chemicals in my book. This explains my distaste for fumigants, sanctioned or not. I too got out my copy of "The_Hive_and_the_Honeybee" and read up on fumigants. Finding a reference that says that it's ok to use PDB and/or moth crystals doesn't make it ok for ME to use it/them. Knowing that the U.S. government says that after three days of airing out the supers they will be "OK" doesn't necessarily give me comfort, although I ALWAYS believe whatever the governments says ;-) . As a small potatoes beekeeper, I am able to wrap ALL of my honey supers in plastic garbage bags and with diligence, I can avoid problems with wax moths. I have no need to resort to fumigants when mechanics will serve my needs. I would probably sing a different tune were my operation multiplied a hundred fold, but I am more comfortable knowing that my honey has not been exposed to fumigants, whether used properly or not. When a query is posted about whether honey is exposed to chemicals, the answer can't be "No, it was produced in honey supers that were exposed to chemicals in a sanctioned manner", the answer is "Yes, the honey has been exposed to chemicals". It's up to the consumer to decide to what degree they are comfortable with the USDA sanctioned exposure. Laying all my cards on the table, I'll admit to using Apistan. I've lost too many hives to mites, and there is no alternative at the present time, so USDA sanctions away, I use the strips and follow the "moving target" directions. I'm not reassured by following the directions and I know that at least on a molecular level, my honey contains a contaminate that it did not before I started using the strips. I'm not comfortable with whatever level of contaminates there may or may not be, but given the alternatives I'll use the strips and live with the discomfort. This is not meant to start off an organic vs chemicals flame war, that's already covered on rec.gardens. I'll continue to avoid fumigants, I'll continue to use Apistan, I'll continue to monitor progress on genetic resistance, and I'll continue to be comforted in knowing that the honey produced by my bees has a lower level of exposure to sanctioned chemicals than most. Cheers! Aaron Morris P.S. On a different note, while browsing "The_Hive_and_the_Honeybee" I stumbled across a reference to a US president in the '70s who was a real believer in the positive benefits of bee pollen, but the reference didn't say which US president (Nixon, Ford, Carter, Regan). I'll bet it was Carter, but does anyone know for sure? From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:36 EDT 1994 Article: 684 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: "Mothballs" as a fumigant? Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 11:12:33 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 30 Message-ID: <1700C9DA1S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu >In article , >rshough@tasc.com (Rick Hough) wrote: > >> ... >> Ah - it suddenly becomes clear! There are two kinds of "moth balls"!! >> There is the kind that my mom uses to keep the moths out of her >> sweaters (I forget the chemical name), and then there is >> Paradichlorobenzene (PDB) that beekeepers use to deal with Wax moth. > >The "other" mothballs (the ones you should NOT use) are naphthalene. >It's a hydrocarbon (polycyclic hydrocarbon, if you're into details) >that would be quite soluble in wax and would thus diffuse readily into >the comb. >-- >John Taylor (W3ZID) | "The opinions expressed are those of the >roh033.mah48d@rohmhaas.com | writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company. " Thanks to Rick and especially John for clarifying this. Quite a difference there, no? That's one thing that bothers me about the Information Superhighway: the ability to disperse misinformation worldwide. Perhaps there is more to be learned from Adrian's sig ("No help at All!?") than meets the eye! (Not attributing misinformation to Adrian, just acknowledging his sig). Again, thanks to those who set this record straight! Keep up the good work! Perhaps there should be a very explicit section in the FAQ along the lines "Can I use my mother's moth balls to control wax moths?"? Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:37 EDT 1994 Article: 685 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: The hive ain't empty... Date: Mon, 08 Aug 94 11:14:44 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 42 Message-ID: <1700C9E28S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article sandrock@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Mark Sandrock) writes: > ... one of the middle frames ... had some honey cells along the >top, which I remembered from before, but in the center there appeared >to be brood cells on which the covering was broken. I don't know if >this is a normal appearance for hatched out cells, so this concerned >me somewhat. This COULD be a bad sign. Normal appearance for hatched out cells is a bee emerging/chewing its way through the cell cap. If there are no emerging bees evident there may me reasons for concern. If there are dead bees behind the broken caps there is definite cause for concern, as this is a symptom of American Foulbrood. The good news is that you're poking around in the hive! Check again, but go throught the entire hive. The capping pattern as you described may be normal, but it's hard to say without knowing what things looked like surrounding that frame. It may be the case that the middle frame you picked was an area of the brood chamber that had just hatched all of the bees and had not yet been reused by the queen. Hopefully, this is the case. Or, it may be indicative of a brood disease. The things to look for are whether the cells are empty and clean, ready for the next generation, and how the pattern you observed compares to the pattern of the surrounding frames. Also, use your other senses: sound and smell. These are harder senses to develope and exploit when working your bees, but they are very valuable to the beekeeper. Listen to the buzzing of the bees. Is it a busy, hive at work sort of sound (that's the impression I get from your description) or is it a stressed tone? It's hard to describe the difference, and perhaps the destinction only comes with experience. Smell is also important. Does the hive smell normal? Literature describes the smell of foulbrood as sickly sweet, but it's hard to put those words into an olfactory experience other than to experience it. And if you are able to experience it, learn it(!), because it's not an experience you'll care to oft' repeat. Otherwise, it sounds like you're getting into the experience of beekeeping. Good luck with your subsequent inspections! Aaron Morris - I think, therefore I bee! From hthomas@solid.phys.ethz.ch Fri Aug 12 10:57:38 EDT 1994 Article: 686 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!scsing.switch.ch!elna.ethz.ch!otto-4.ethz.ch!user From: hthomas@solid.phys.ethz.ch (Hans-Ulrich THOMAS) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Varroa resistant honeybees Date: 11 Aug 1994 06:34:14 GMT Organization: Solid State Physics, ETHZ, Switzerland Lines: 14 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: otto-4.ethz.ch Some days ago somebody enquired about such bees. The journal "Bee World" carried in its issue 2 1994 an interesting article written by Mr. Ralph Buechler about this aspect. The answer is: Yes this behaviour is possible. Honeybee races vary widly in there natural resistance to varroatosis. The article gives a good overview and shows the efforts by some researchers in finding such races through selection or breeding. In case somebody needs this article I can mail a copy. Please send e-mail to - hthomas@solid.phys.ethz,ch Hans From hthomas@solid.phys.ethz.ch Fri Aug 12 10:57:38 EDT 1994 Article: 687 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!scsing.switch.ch!elna.ethz.ch!otto-4.ethz.ch!user From: hthomas@solid.phys.ethz.ch (Hans-Ulrich THOMAS) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: BeeNet Date: 11 Aug 1994 12:55:33 GMT Organization: Solid State Physics, ETHZ, Switzerland Lines: 11 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: otto-4.ethz.ch In an older issue of "Bee World" I read about an other beekeeping BBS. It's called "BeeNet". Does anybody know how to access it through the Internet or any other means? In case you want to e-mail I can be reached via: - hthomas@solid.phys.ethz.ch Thanks for your help. Hans From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Fri Aug 12 10:57:39 EDT 1994 Article: 688 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!news2.near.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What to do with empty Date: Thu, 11 Aug 94 09:59:28 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 12 Message-ID: <1700F8C83S86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <33A15839@beenet.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article <33A15839@beenet.com> ANDY.NACHBAUR@beenet.com (andy nachbaur) writes: >>SYSAM@UACSC2.ALBANY.EDU queried >> ... a US president in the '70s who was a >>real believer in the positive benefits of bee pollen... > >Andy responded: > It was RR! Someone gave him some pollen bars...or something. Well if that's the case I would never make a claim about bee pollen having a positive effect on one's memory! From jwg2y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU Fri Aug 12 10:57:40 EDT 1994 Article: 689 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!poe.acc.Virginia.EDU!jwg2y From: jwg2y@poe.acc.Virginia.EDU (Warner Granade) Subject: best time to harvest Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: University of Virginia Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 16:12:43 GMT Lines: 21 I remember reading that the best time to harvest honey was in the middle of the day and that bees tended to get madder during a low-pressure time like before a thunder storm. Well, on Sunday, I went out (admittedly late in the day at 5pm) to get into my hive, and were they mad. I took out 4 frames and left after getting my rite of passage sting--my first in the three years I've had this hive. Last year, they hardly bothered me. The frames were totally covered with bees in this super with some uncapped frames. OK, I decided to try again yesterday in the middle of the day, temp 80degrees in the shade and hazy. They were even more angry like I had dissed the queen or something and hundreds of them flew at my veil. OK, maybe 50 total flew at my veil, but it seemed liked hundreds. I was smoking them like crazy and even smoking myself. I thought sure everyone would be out to lunch, but apparently not. So, is there a better time/condition than others to open a hive and harvest the honey? Should I take a sprayer of cool water or something? -- Warner Granade *****jwg2y@virginia.edu 804-924-7409 From fgt@cadre.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:42 EDT 1994 Article: 690 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!xanth.cs.odu.edu!news.larc.nasa.gov!news.msfc.nasa.gov!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!uunet!cadre!usenet From: fgt@cadre.com (Fred G. Thurber) Subject: Re: best time to harvest Message-ID: Sender: usenet@cadre.com (News Account) Nntp-Posting-Host: cadre.cadre.com Reply-To: fgt@cadre.com Organization: CADRE TECHNOLOGIES INC. References: Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 18:26:01 GMT Lines: 5 Angry bees have also become a problem for me. Could it be that there is little nectar right now in my area because of dry conditions? Would feeding them a big dose of undiluted honey calm them down? From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Fri Aug 12 10:57:43 EDT 1994 Article: 691 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!darkstar.UCSC.EDU!news.hal.COM!olivea!uunet!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: best time to harvest Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 01:25:09 GMT Lines: 10 In article , Fred G. Thurber wrote: > Angry bees have also become a problem for me. Often when harvesting honey the bees may be aggressive. Adam -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From lapointe@netcom.com Fri Aug 12 10:57:44 EDT 1994 Article: 692 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!csusac!csus.edu!netcom.com!lapointe From: lapointe@netcom.com (Douglas LaPointe) Subject: What is bee pollen? Message-ID: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL1] Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 04:18:28 GMT Lines: 10 First I will apologize for asking such a newbee question, but I could not find my answer in the FAQ. I saw bee pollen for sale in a health food store. Is this pollen that has been harvested by honey bees? It was touted as being extremely nutritious, "you can live off of this stuff". Is this true? TIA Douglas From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Wed Aug 17 00:30:41 EDT 1994 Article: 693 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: best time to harvest Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 07:21:04 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 28 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au In article fgt@cadre.com (Fred G. Thurber) writes: >From: fgt@cadre.com (Fred G. Thurber) >Subject: Re: best time to harvest >Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 18:26:01 GMT > Angry bees have also become a problem for me. Could it be that >there is little nectar right now in my area because of dry conditions? >Would feeding them a big dose of undiluted honey calm them down? The best thing to do is to get a reasonably gentle strain of bees, and to not rush into opening the hive...wiat a minute or so after the first puff of smoke so they have a chance to start gorging thenselves. Something else you might like to check is the type of smoker fuel you are using...I have noticed marked differences between eucalyptus leaves, pine needles and heshian sacking... Another thing I have started doing recently is to take a shaker of thin sugar syrup and shake this over the bees as soon as I open the hive, and right before I close it...I don't use honey, purely to avoid any risk of spreading disease. I don't think I have any disease (apart from some noseema) in any of my hives, but I don't want to suddenly find out that the hive I got my feeding honey from had AFB...as the way I would probably find this would be because all my hives would die... mostly, the bees are easier to handle if they are the right temperature, queenrite, and well fed. Adrian (I hope I'm helpful this time...) From laakkone@cc.Helsinki.FI Wed Aug 17 00:30:42 EDT 1994 Article: 694 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!biosci!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!sunic!news.funet.fi!news.csc.fi!news.helsinki.fi!not-for-mail From: laakkone@cc.Helsinki.FI (Tero Laakkonen) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: maximizing vicia villosa seed crop with bees? Date: 13 Aug 1994 14:02:55 +0300 Organization: University of Helsinki Lines: 10 Message-ID: <32i98v$l25@kruuna.Helsinki.FI> NNTP-Posting-Host: kruuna.helsinki.fi Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit hi, what kind of bee (and at what density) do i need for maximum seed crop of vicia villosa? what is a good (and up-to-date) reference? thanks! -- "i abhor you pretentious insight. i respect conscious guessing because it consists of two good qualities: courage and modesty." -imre lakatos From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Wed Aug 17 00:30:42 EDT 1994 Article: 695 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.oz.au!yarrina.connect.com.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Gosh, it's quiet in here.... Date: Sun, 14 Aug 1994 11:34:25 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 49 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au Keywords: echo!!! Helo??? ooo?? ooo?? ooo?? I thought it might echo a little.....there does seem to have been a little fall of in the number of postings here lately...I suppose all you people on the upside of the planet are busy out harvesting tanker loads of honey... I suppose it is really going to start getting quiet as everyone slows the pace down for their winter operations....I think we need more Aussies online so that we can have inane chat about obvious things all year 'round. I guess, just as I am getting ready for my fourth harvest (well my fourth personal harvest...not counting the five or six I did with the guy who's hive management techniques seemes to be responsible for over 300 hives including my fathers 30, being wiped out by AFB) everybody else will be busy talking about storage of combs and various other winter operations.... I suppose the small hiatus in the activity that comes in your Autumn and my spring will give time for me to get to work on the australian sections of the FAQ instead of being totally useless trying to help everybody...:-> While there is a bit less in the way of hive activity going on, why don't we all swap best/worst experiences about beekeeping... My worst experience was trying to work our first (at least we think it was first) AFB infected hive. Actually they belonged to the guy I mentioned above, but all our hives where in with his....he had all the equipment, we just had hives.. Anyway, this hive gave me more stings in one day than I have had before or since....in fact probably even if I was to add up all the stings I'd ever had, this would have been more.... This hive was the worst pack of niggly little bitches I have ever seen ( although those of you that have seen Afric. bees have probably seen worse) and as soon as we started smoking the hive, all four of us were attacked.... once we had the hive opened, one person stayed there as each of the rest of us went to was our srings to get rid of the venom smell....our bucket of water was about ten metres away from this particular hive, and as soon as we took our gloves of to get at the sting, another two or three would seemingly materialise next to it...then after washing the arm or whatever and moving to put the glove back on, we would get stung again. We closed that hive up, but for the next few hours, if we walked withing three or four meters of it, we got stung. The reason I believe this hive to be responsible for promoting the spread of AFB through the apiary is because even the guys that had been doing bees for years were to wary of this hive to do all the work it needed for swarm and disease control, in fact it was rarely opened, and it wasn't even robbed for a year or two. I was about 14 at the time, and blissfully unaware that such things as bee diseases existed....but the older guys should have known better... Well...thats all for now....I just thought I'd share that...oh...my best experience.....every year when the first bit of honey flows out of the bottom of the extractor....(what else?? :-> ) Adrian. From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Wed Aug 17 00:30:43 EDT 1994 Article: 696 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Bes/Wicwas Press Catalog Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 00:03:46 GMT Lines: 26 Forwarded from Bee-l: From: "" Subject: New catalog Expect delivery of our new catalog this week, with book, slide and video list of current bee/beekeeping/social insect titles. Will send a free copy to any Bee-L people who request it. Also, if you have a club or class, I will ship them in bulk. Indicate the number you require. Again, no charge. Mail address is: BES/Wicwas Press Larry Connor, Ph.D., Owner P. O. Box 817 Cheshire CT 06410 USA I'd assume he'd send anyone on USENET a free copy too, at least so he figures out we're here! Adam -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From griffin@dorsai.org Wed Aug 17 00:30:44 EDT 1994 Article: 697 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!gatech!udel!news.sprintlink.net!news.dorsai.org!griffin From: griffin@dorsai.org (Leslie_Bildner) Subject: Image of Beehive in art Message-ID: Organization: The Dorsai Embassy, New York, NY X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 07:41:25 GMT Lines: 14 Hi there: I stumbled across this newsgroup and couldn't resist posting a question that I have had for a while. I have long wondered about the dome shaped 'bee-hive' that is traditionally shown in emblems, cartoons, etc. It certainly doesn't look like any natural bee-hive that I've ever seen. Is this a stylized representation of some sort of artificial hive? Some versions that I've seen appear to be woven, like a wicker basket. Thanks, <<< Les <<< From roe@crosfield.co.uk Wed Aug 17 00:30:44 EDT 1994 Article: 698 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!pipex!crosfield.co.uk!roe From: roe@crosfield.co.uk (Malcolm Roe) Subject: Re: Image of Beehive in art Message-ID: <1994Aug15.123959.3168@crosfield.co.uk> Organization: Crosfield, Hemel Hempstead, UK References: Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 12:39:59 GMT Lines: 37 In article griffin@dorsai.org (Leslie_Bildner) writes: >I have long wondered about the dome shaped 'bee-hive' that is >traditionally shown in emblems, cartoons, etc. It certainly doesn't look >like any natural bee-hive that I've ever seen. Is this a stylized >representation of some sort of artificial hive? Some versions that I've >seen appear to be woven, like a wicker basket. You're almost right, Les. They were made of straw and called skeps. To protect them from the rain they were often placed under some sort of cover. Sometimes recesses in walls called bee boles were used. I don't know exactly how widespread the use of skeps was. They were certainly used by the British and in other parts of the world where British influence prevailed. They slowly went out of use after the invention of removable frame hives in the middle of the 19th century. What the beekeeper did was to catch swarms in the spring and encourage them to take up residence in the skeps. At the end of the summer a few were put to one side (to provide the swarms for next year) and the rest of the hives were killed. Often this was done by placing them over a fire onto which sulpher had been placed. Once the bees were dead the honey comb was cut out and the skeps put to one side until the next spring. I believe methods rather like this are still used in some less developed parts of the world such as Africa (using log hives) but throughout most of the world removable fame hives have become almost universal. They have many advantages although I don't have time to discuss that here. Indeed, in some countries it is illegal to keep bees in anything but a removable frame hive. This is because it is otherwise impossible to inspect for disease. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : roe@crosfield.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From rspear@sookit.jpl.nasa.gov Wed Aug 17 00:30:45 EDT 1994 Article: 699 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov!sookit!rspear From: rspear@sookit (Richard Spear) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: weak hive? Date: 15 Aug 1994 15:13:19 GMT Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Pasadena CA Lines: 13 Message-ID: <32o0mf$s1o@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> Reply-To: rspear@sookit.jpl.nasa.gov NNTP-Posting-Host: sookit.jpl.nasa.gov Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL0] hi - my two new hives have survived the summer (still raging here in california), but one of them seems quite weak. the two were started from five frame nucs ... i've added two honey supers to one of them and the other has yet to fill the brood chamber. as october/november approaches, i'm a bit concerned about this weaker hive ... can i take some honey frames (and bees) from the strong hive and add them to the weak one? anyone have any other ideas on how to strengthen the weak hive? regards, richard rspear@sookit.jpl.nasa.gov From roe@crosfield.co.uk Wed Aug 17 00:30:46 EDT 1994 Article: 700 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!yeshua.marcam.com!usc!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!crosfield.co.uk!roe From: roe@crosfield.co.uk (Malcolm Roe) Subject: Re: weak hive? Message-ID: <1994Aug15.171748.5112@crosfield.co.uk> Organization: Crosfield, Hemel Hempstead, UK References: <32o0mf$s1o@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Mon, 15 Aug 1994 17:17:48 GMT Lines: 24 In article <32o0mf$s1o@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> rspear@sookit.jpl.nasa.gov writes: >i've added two honey supers to one of them and the other >has yet to fill the brood chamber. as october/november approaches, i'm a bit >concerned about this weaker hive You can boost the weaker hive but before you do that you should ask yourself, "Why are the two colonies so different?" It could be disease. Inspect your weak hive carefully for brood diseases and mites. If you find anything then treat as appropriate. Another possibility is that you have a poor queen. I'll return to that. Assuming the hive is healthy then transfer a frame or two of brood, depending on how much is available, from the stronger to the weaker hive. Its best to shake most of the adult bees off. Make sure you don't transfer the queen! It's young bees you want at this time of year to build up for the winter. If the hive still doesn't thrive then requeening is probably indicated. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : roe@crosfield.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From altabios@bham.ac.uk Wed Aug 17 00:30:46 EDT 1994 Article: 701 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!pipex!warwick!bham!usenet From: altabios@bham.ac.uk (John E. Fox) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: honey yields Date: 16 Aug 1994 12:22:28 GMT Organization: The University of Birmingham, UK Lines: 9 Message-ID: <32qb24$8dg@sun4.bham.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: bcs118.bham.ac.uk X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 Just out of interest, what sort of honey yield does everyone else get, say the average per hive? I have four working hives this year, the fifth one was a filled in June with a new swarm. I got a total of 180lb of honey off the four hives and am quite pleased with myself (and the bees who did all the work). How many tons/hive do you get in the States? Everything there being bigger and better than in the old UK! From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Wed Aug 17 00:30:47 EDT 1994 Article: 702 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!howitt-b04-01.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: honey yields Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 13:10:49 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 11 Message-ID: References: <32qb24$8dg@sun4.bham.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: howitt-b04-01.cc.monash.edu.au In article <32qb24$8dg@sun4.bham.ac.uk> altabios@bham.ac.uk (John E. Fox) writes: >Just out of interest, what sort of honey yield does everyone else get, >say the average per hive? WEll, I can't speak for the u.s.a....but here in a.u.s., we can get up to 100kg per hive over two extractions. In a good year (or even just an ordinary year in the north) it can be much more than this. Average for me is about 15 - 10 kg per hive, but then I have only been extracting once each year.... Adrian. (yet another failed attempt at being helpful....) From mikee@eskimo.com Wed Aug 17 22:50:36 EDT 1994 Article: 703 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!mvb.saic.com!eskimo!mikee From: mikee@eskimo.com (Mike Koehn) Subject: Fennel Message-ID: Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 04:22:15 GMT Lines: 5 My bees are into the fennel and mint bloom. Will this ruin the taste of the honey? It's mostly blackberry so far. Thanks in advance, Mike Koehn From moroney@world.std.com Wed Aug 17 22:50:37 EDT 1994 Article: 704 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!blanket.mitre.org!world!moroney From: moroney@world.std.com (Michael Moroney) Subject: Re: weak hive? Message-ID: <6eOKkaE96ZrT065yn@world.std.com> Sender: moroney@world.std.com (Michael Moroney) Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA References: <32o0mf$s1o@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 04:54:46 GMT Lines: 30 In article <32o0mf$s1o@netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov>, Richard Spear wrote: > > hi - my two new hives have survived the summer (still raging here in > california), but one of them seems quite weak. the two were started from > five frame nucs ... i've added two honey supers to one of them and the other > has yet to fill the brood chamber. as october/november approaches, i'm a bit You may wish to consider that you may be better off with one strongish hive going into winter rather than two weaker ones. If the hive comes through winter strong they'll have a good jump on the spring and you will be rewarded. Otherwise you may have a weak hive and a very weak (or dead) hive and get less total honey. To do this combine the hives. Remove whichever queen is less desireable (prob. the one from the weaker hive), or don't bother if you want the bees to sort things out. Remove the outer and inner cover from one hive, place a sheet of newspaper over it (with a couple small holes in it) and place the other hive body on it. The bees will chew the paper and slowly get acquainted in the process. You can split the hive in the spring if they're doing well/trying to swarm, and get your two hives back. However you're from California so therefore don't have the winters we do here, so maybe they'll do OK anyway. Regardless be darn sure the weak hive is not diseased before you do anything that will contaminate the other. -Mike From crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net Wed Aug 17 22:50:38 EDT 1994 Article: 705 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!ukma!jobone!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!zip.eecs.umich.edu!panix!MathWorks.Com!news.duke.edu!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!panther.Gsu.EDU!gatech!ncar!csn!jabba.cybernetics.net!not-for-mail From: crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Tips on finding queen? Date: 17 Aug 1994 12:42:50 -0400 Organization: Creative Cybernetics -online services (704-549-5553 voice) Lines: 8 Message-ID: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: jabba.cybernetics.net X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] This is my second year of beekeeping and I'm still having trouble locating the queen. I know what she looks like, and sometimes when I am working a hive (I have 4) I will see her, but I can't just go into a hive and find her whenever I want to. This fall I need to re-queen 2 hives (captured swarms) so I need some tips on how to find the elusive little lady. Thanks -Steve Crumley (Louisburg NC) From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Wed Aug 17 22:50:39 EDT 1994 Article: 706 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Tracheal Mite Samples Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 20:23:46 GMT Lines: 38 Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 11:04:23 -0400 From: Diana Sammataro Subject: Tracheal Mite Samples To all bee/or bee mite researchers out there: I am currently screening tracheal mites from different countries and regions of the US to see if DNA patterns are different. I would be grateful if some other cooperators would send me samples of mites, or infested bees, from colonies that died of mites and from those still alive but infested. Alcohol samples of mites in the tubes or infested bees is fine, if the samples were previously frozen or collected within the past year. Bees left in alcohol too long are difficult to find mites. However, mite samples within the tubes can be over a year. Use 70% EtOH and label all samples In addition to A. woodi, A. externis and A. dorsalis would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help. If there are any questions, please write, call or email. Diana Sammataro Dept Entomology Ohio State University 1735 Neil Ave Columbus OH 43210 1220 Phone: 614 292 9089, Fax: 614 292 2180 Email: dsammata@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From ez021641@dale.ucdavis.edu Sun Aug 21 21:06:04 EDT 1994 Article: 707 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!news.ucdavis.edu!dale.ucdavis.edu!ez021641 From: ez021641@dale.ucdavis.edu (Son Trinh) Subject: Yellow Jackets (sp?) Message-ID: Sender: usenet@ucdavis.edu (News Guru) Organization: University of California, Davis Date: Thu, 18 Aug 1994 04:51:35 GMT Lines: 15 I have a hive in my back yard, and everyday, i see there are two or three yellow jackets hoovering around the hive entrance. Sooner or later, one of them will land on a semi-dead bee near the entrance. Any body has any idea of what's going on? I tried to find out what the yellow jacket were doing, but to no avail. I also observe that the worker bee drags away the dead bee beyond my sight. For curiosity sake, is there any published paper on the distance that the worker actually disposed of the dead bee?? I would appreciate if you can reply directly to my email acct (ez021641@bullwinkle. ucdavis.edu). Thank you for ur help An inquiring mind, -ST From killoran@ll.mit.edu Sun Aug 21 21:06:05 EDT 1994 Article: 708 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!uhog.mit.edu!xn.ll.mit.edu!ll.mit.edu!killoran From: killoran@ll.mit.edu (Mike Killoran) Subject: Bee disease: preventative vs treatment Message-ID: <9408181210.PN00869@LL.MIT.EDU> Sender: news@ll.mit.edu Organization: MIT Lincoln Lab -- Lexington, MA Date: Thu, 18 Aug 94 12:10:17 -0400 Lines: 44 Another newbie question from someone who just started this spring! I've read a bit about the various bee diseases and what to do about them, but I'm always left wondering how old the information is (especially in the case of mites) and whether the treatment is preventative or only used when the problem becomes obvious. Here's what I believe - please expand on this info or correct: There are four problems to worry about: 1 Foulbrood (both American and European) 2 Nosema 3 Varroa mites 4 Tracheal mites >From reading I think the following is to be done: 1 Feed terramycin in spring and fall to control foulbrood. It seems like this is always present to some degree, but is manageable. 2 Fumidil 'B' for control of Nosema. Again, spring and fall feedings for prevention. 3 Apistan strips when you KNOW you have Varroa mites. Not preventative, but reactive. 4 Extender pattys (vegetable shortening) or Menthol when you KNOW you have Tracheal mites. Not preventative either. So... I haven't done anything yet to my bees (the package they came in had an Apistan strip which I didn't move into the hive). This fall I plan to feed both Terramycin and Fumidil 'B'. As the hive seems very healthy, I will not treat for any mites. Am I doing the right thing? Any other diseases to worry about? Should I not treat for anything? Etc, etc... I've heard of hives with AFB being burned and certainly don't want my hive to have to end this way! Your personal ideas and schedule for disease control would be helpful. Thanks, Mike Killoran -- Mike Killoran Zen says: killoran@ll.mit.edu Cease to do evil, (617) 981-2667 Try to do good. From altabios@bham.ac.uk Sun Aug 21 21:06:07 EDT 1994 Article: 709 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!warwick!bham!usenet From: altabios@bham.ac.uk (John E. Fox) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Date: 19 Aug 1994 12:18:03 GMT Organization: The University of Birmingham, UK Lines: 21 Message-ID: <3327tr$dbr@sun4.bham.ac.uk> References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: bcs118.bham.ac.uk X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 In article <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net>, crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) says: > >This is my second year of beekeeping and I'm still having trouble >locating the queen. I know what she looks like, and sometimes when >I am working a hive (I have 4) I will see her, but I can't just >go into a hive and find her whenever I want to. This fall I need >to re-queen 2 hives (captured swarms) so I need some tips on how >to find the elusive little lady. >Thanks > -Steve Crumley (Louisburg NC) I find it hard to see the queen as well, although I rarely specifically look for her The queen tends to shun the light so if you keep half of the brood chamber covered she will tend to be in that half. You can also mark the queen with paint, in the UK there is a colour coding system so you can tell her age. The paint helps to find the queen as well. I once spent an hour trying to find a marked queen without success, put all the frames back in place and while wondering what to do, saw the queen going over the top of the frames. The queen is rarely on the outer frames so you can take these out of the hive, it makes for fewer frames to look through From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Sun Aug 21 21:06:09 EDT 1994 Article: 710 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Apis Magazine 8/94 Message-ID: Keywords: Apis, beekeeping, bee, sanford, magazine Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. Date: Sat, 20 Aug 1994 03:58:01 GMT Lines: 247 Florida Extension Beekeeping Newsletter Apis--Apicultural Information and Issues (ISSN 0889-3764) Volume 12, Number 8, August 1994 PERMITTING HONEY PROCESSING Dr. Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia recently discussed food regulations in his column "Strictly for the Hobbyist," American Bee Journal, July, 1994. His concern comes from hard experience. It seems that a food inspector visited a store that was buying Dr. Delaplane's honey. The merchant ceased doing business because Dr. Delaplane was not licensed by the state. At first disgruntled by yet another "imposition of government on agriculture and grass-roots living," Dr. Delaplane has changed his opinion. He now urges beekeepers to be proactive on this issue. Even the smallest beekeepers who sell honey to the public must comply with facility licensing laws in Georgia. According to Dr. Delaplane, "The licensing consists of a permit issued at no cost following a satisfactory inspection. Facilities are inspected quarterly thereafter." The above policy used to be about the same in Florida. However, as of January 1993, the rules have changed. According to Florida Statute 500.12, Section 1(a), "A food permit from the department is required of any person in the business of manufacturing, processing, packing, holding, preparing or selling food at retail . . . " Most of this statement was already in the old law, but Section 1(b) says "Applications for a food permit from the department shall be accompanied by a fee to be determined by department rule, not to exceed $350. Food permits shall be renewed annually on or before January 1." Thus, the time is over when food processors can obtain free permits. For small producers (less than $10,000 in sales), this translates to a fee of $60.00 per year, according to Dr. John Rychener of the Bureau of Food and Meat Inspection, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Although the strict letter of the law requires all beekeepers selling honey to the public to obtain permits, there is some latitude. Florida employs only eighty-four food inspectors to oversee the food safety in over 25,000 processing plants and retail stores. The occasional small honey producer can be missed, according to Dr. Rychener. However, if and when the food inspection service becomes aware of any person/business without a permit, it must act. There is no penalty the first time one is discovered. Nevertheless, once contacted by a food inspector, one must obtain a license which is renewable annually with imposition of a late fee, if applicable. Section 5E-6.008 of the same law provides sanitary regulations governing manufacture, processing, packing, or other handling of honey. They are summarized in Hints for the Hive 106, soon to be distributed as ENY 106 in the IFAS CD-ROM FAIRS program: (1) HONEY HOUSE. A honey house is any stationary or portable building, including equipment, used for the purpose of extracting, processing, packing or other handling of honey. (2) FLOORS. Floors...shall be impervious and easily cleaned...smooth, in good repair, and kept clean...and if having a drain, be drained into a septic tank, or cesspool, or be connected to local sewage disposal facilities. (3) WALLS AND CEILINGS. Shall have smooth washable surfaces, be clean and in good repair. (4) LIGHTING AND VENTILATION. Shall be adequately ventilated...permit efficient operations and cleaning of equipment. (5) DOORS AND WINDOWS. Shall be screened, kept in good repair, and equipped with bee escapes. (6) WATER SUPPLY. Shall be properly located, constructed and operated in accordance with local sanitary codes...easily accessible and sanitary. (7) CONSTRUCTION, CARE, USE AND REPAIR OF HONEY HOUSE, CONTAINERS AND EQUIPMENT. During operation, the honey house shall be used exclusively for extraction, processing, packing or other handling of honey and for the storage of equipment related to the business of the honey house. Containers shall be free of internal rust, cleaned before reuse...all open equipment should be covered when not in use. (8) WATER DISPOSAL. There shall be an efficient waste disposal system. Toilet facilities, including wash basins, shall be conveniently available to honey house personnel. Toilet rooms shall not open directly into any room of the honey house. Toilets without plumbing shall be at least 75 feet from the plant...screened and have a self-closing door. (9) STORAGE OF EQUIPMENT. Equipment shall be stored free from rust and contamination. (10) HEATING EQUIPMENT. No boiler, oil stove or other heating equipment that gives off dust or odor may be used within the honey house, unless it has proper ventilation...and shall comply with fire regulations. (11) WORKER SANITATION. Workers shall wear clean and washable clothing... keep hands clean, and be provided with clean and sanitary towels. (12) CARE AND HANDLING OF COMBS OF HONEY. Combs should be loaded and handled so as to protect them from contamination. (13) USE OF HONEY PUMPS. Before being pumped, honey shall be strained through a screen of at least eight meshes to the inch or pumped from a baffled sump tank which provides a constant supply of honey for the pump. (14) CONTAINERS AND STORAGE. Honey shall not be packed in containers which have previously contained pesticide, creosote, gasoline, kerosine, fuel oil, paint, glue or other toxic substances. Storage tanks are to be protected from contamination and packed honey stored in a clean and sanitary manner. (15) PESTICIDE PROHIBITED. The application of spray type pesticides in the honey house is prohibited during extracting, processing and packing honey. Questions pertaining to Florida honey house sanitation should be directed to Dr. John Rychener or Mr. Kevin Lufkin, Bureau of Food and Meat Inspection, Food Safety Division, Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 3125 Conner Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399-1650, Ph. 904/488-3951 or 1-800/HELPFLA, "select or say 6" for Food Safety. HONEY ADULTERATION ON THE RISE There is evidence that honey adulteration is approaching epidemic proportions in Florida and elsewhere. As in the past, the prime culprit is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The addition of HFCS to honey, even in large amounts, is difficult to detect without laboratory testing. And occasionally, vendors simply sell corn syrup as honey. Any of the above practices renders honey either adulterated and/or misbranded under the Florida Food Law. Many people are concerned about adulteration of honey, but it is extremely difficult to police. In a way, honey is its own enemy in this effort. The sweet is so healthful that, even when adulterated, it is not a health hazard. State and federal inspectors are stretched to their limits examining high risk foods. According to Mr. Lufkin of the Food Safety Division, mentioned in the previous article, there are not enough personnel resources left to enforce deceptive labelling practices. Inspectors are focusing instead on meat, milk and other products that are less forgiving than honey in their processing. "Detection of honey adulteration is the easy part," Mr. Lufkin says, "Tracking the violators is the constant challenge. All too frequently, the trail leads to phantom producers and distributors, hiding behind false labels and cash transactions." Only when enough people contact food inspectors, legislators and other policy makers with solid information can some effective action be taken. In the recent past, adulteration was reduced after an especially blatant case came to trial followed by conviction. However, the practice is raising its ugly head again. Honey adulteration adversely affects the apicultural industry by displacing its product in the marketplace. It also lowers the price as imports have been accused of doing. However, at least most imports are real honey and paying assessment for promotion to the National Honey Board. Adulterers reap double benefits: high prices for their product, cheaper to market than even the least expensive imported honey, coupled with no promotional assessment. As in the past, the beekeeping industry is the first line of defense against adulteration. A "self-policing" program, sponsored by the American Beekeeping Federation continues to be in effect. Suspicious honey is tested and, if found adulterated, the Federation notifies the proper officials and sends a report to the person who sent the sample for their follow-up. In spite of the recent adulterating activity, the Federation is receiving very few samples. Feeding bees sugar syrup and/or HFCS and extracting "honey" containing these products is also adulteration. Thus, beekeepers cannot be too careful. Even small amounts of adulterants are detected by tests currently in use. It is impossible to tell adulterated honey by either taste, smell or color. The only real evidence comes from defined techniques certified by the National Association of Chemists. Experience has shown, however, that adulterated product has one or all of the following characteristics: 1. No flavor, just sweet. 2. Very light or very dark 3. Molasses flavor 4. Consistently low price In addition to the above characteristics, adulterated honey has often been associated with "rustic" labels and "Mason" type jars. If you see suspicious product, send a sample to the Secretary-Treasurer, American Beekeeping Federation, P.O. Box 1038, Jesup, GA 31545, ph 912/427-8447, along with the following information: Date ____________________ DESCRIPTION OF HONEY SAMPLE: (include the label or copy the information on printed label including size of package, brand, name and address of packer or distributor) _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Where purchased:___________________________________________ Date purchased:____________________________________________ Code # on Jar or label_______________________ If only the packer's name appears on label, name and address of distributor: ____________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Reason why honey is suspected of being adulterated_____________ ______________________________________________________________ Name and Address of Sender_________________________________ A fact sheet entitled ENY 103 Honey Adulteration is available on CD-ROM and from this office. It discusses the adulteration issue and provides the information given above on the American Beekeeping Federation's "self-policing" program. Sincerely, Malcolm T. Sanford Bldg 970, Box 110620 University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190 BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From mark@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Sun Aug 21 21:06:10 EDT 1994 Article: 711 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!mark From: mark@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (M.C. Rendina ) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What is bee pollen? Date: 20 Aug 1994 05:10:06 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 16 Message-ID: <33437e$1tr@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu lapointe@netcom.com (Douglas LaPointe) writes: >First I will apologize for asking such a newbee question, but I >could not find my answer in the FAQ. >I saw bee pollen for sale in a health food store. Is this pollen >that has been harvested by honey bees? It was touted as being >extremely nutritious, "you can live off of this stuff". Is this true? As I understand it, its pretty much straight protein. It's the bees main (only?) source. Depending on exactly where it came from it may also have a lot of trace elements that you could be deficient in. I wouldn't try to live off it, but I do alternate mornings with my vitamin. Mark From mark@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu Sun Aug 21 21:06:11 EDT 1994 Article: 712 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!mark From: mark@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (M.C. Rendina ) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Date: 20 Aug 1994 05:14:29 GMT Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 17 Message-ID: <3343fl$2a1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: ux1.cso.uiuc.edu crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) writes: >This is my second year of beekeeping and I'm still having trouble >locating the queen. I know what she looks like, and sometimes when >I am working a hive (I have 4) I will see her, but I can't just >go into a hive and find her whenever I want to. This fall I need One tip the state bee inspector gave me when I was a beekeeping young-un: The queen has longer legs than the rest of the bees and may stand out vertically. I.e., before you take the frame out, look down at it--if she's on the open side, she may pop out at you. Look down from the top. Got it? I thought he was crazy, but it did help me spot her a few times. I really want to get back into keeping. There's nothing like finding a queen the size of your pinky filling frame after frame with eggs. Mark From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Sun Aug 21 21:06:12 EDT 1994 Article: 713 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-01.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Bee disease: preventative vs treatment Date: Sun, 21 Aug 1994 14:00:03 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 72 Message-ID: References: <9408181210.PN00869@LL.MIT.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-01.cc.monash.edu.au >There are four problems to worry about: >1 Foulbrood (both American and European) >2 Nosema >3 Varroa mites >4 Tracheal mites Starvation. Wax Moth. Pesticides. >1 Feed terramycin in spring and fall to control foulbrood. It seems > like this is always present to some degree, but is manageable. >From what I understand, terramyacin is only effective against EFB, and the only "cure" for AFB is to destroy all materials. In my opinion, it is better to destroy the materials anyway, because this stops other hives picking up the disease. It is better to destroy one hive, than to have to give extra attention to dozens of "sickies". Also, in Australia (why do I bother wity this..I'm the only aussie here) terramycin is (now...it wasn't five years ago) only available for diagnosed cases from a vet. (?!?!? a vet?!?!?!) >2 Fumidil 'B' for control of Nosema. Again, spring and fall feedings > for prevention. Making sure you have generaly strong hives is the best solution. From what I understand, and I could be wrong, there is no actual cure for nosema ( I would like to be wrong :-> ) but in strong and otherwise healthy hives, it dosen't usualy present a problem. I am not 100% positive here, but I have heard that nosema is present in 90% of all bee colonies (or more). >3 Apistan strips when you KNOW you have Varroa mites. Not preventative, > but reactive. No comment, because WE DON'T HAVE VARROA IN AUSTRALIA. (rub...rub....) >4 Extender pattys (vegetable shortening) or Menthol when you KNOW you > have Tracheal mites. Not preventative either. No comment...I have never had to deal with tracheal mites either. >So... I haven't done anything yet to my bees (the package they came in >had an Apistan strip which I didn't move into the hive). This fall I >plan to feed both Terramycin and Fumidil 'B'. As the hive seems very >healthy, I will not treat for any mites. I wonder....why was the apistan strip in the pakage...as you said, Apistan when you KNOW you have varroa mites....surely you would only be shipped healthy bees?? If you don't have AFB alredy (and you shouldn't) then mahaging your hives to avoid robbers, and to avoid leaving honey and wax (and products thereof) lying around where the bees can get to them, then you shouldn't pick it up... Now,.....I could be wrong in a few of my facts here, and if I am, someone please correct me. and Mike....talk to someone in your own area. Laws change from place to place, and different places also have diferent treatments. I think (and again I could be wrong) that REGISTERED Australian (or at least Victorian) beekeepers get recompensed for hives destroyed due to AFB. Adrian ( hey...I TRIED to be helpful......) From libby@igc.apc.org Sun Aug 21 21:06:14 EDT 1994 Article: 714 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!nntp.msstate.edu!olivea!sgigate.sgi.com!enews.sgi.com!sgi!cdp!igc.org!igc.apc.org!libby From: Libby Goldstein Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Date: 21 Aug 94 14:19 PDT Subject: Re: Fennel Message-ID: <-2145067290@cdp> References: Sender: Notesfile to Usenet Gateway Lines: 9 Our community garden bees do quite a variety of herbs. The early honey has a lightly herbal (not identifieable as to which herb). The later stuff is much "fruitier" because of the local raspberries. It's all a matter of taste tho. The blackberry honey will probably be darker than the herb honey. You can separate them separately, taste each one and then decide if you want to combine them or bottle them up separately. Libby From p.kerr@auckland.ac.nz Mon Aug 22 13:26:56 EDT 1994 Article: 715 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!ames!waikato!auckland.ac.nz!NewsWatcher!user From: p.kerr@auckland.ac.nz (Peter Kerr) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Image of Beehive in art Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 17:06:29 +1200 Organization: School of Music Auckland University Lines: 23 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 130.216.90.127 In article , griffin@dorsai.org (Leslie_Bildner) wrote: > I have long wondered about the dome shaped 'bee-hive' that is > traditionally shown in emblems, cartoons, etc. It certainly doesn't look > like any natural bee-hive that I've ever seen. Is this a stylized > representation of some sort of artificial hive? Some versions that I've > seen appear to be woven, like a wicker basket. That would be the old European *skep*, yes woven usually from cereal straw. The straw was forced through a ring, bound in a sort of loose rope, then sewn in a roughly curved spiral shape. It made a nice warm shelter for the small colonies of English and North European bees. No frames. Very difficult to get honey out without also getting lots of brood, or destroying the whole hive. Sometimes sticks would be poked thru near the top to simplify cutting out of combs. They are illegal now in many places that require moveable frames for disease control. -- Peter Kerr neo-Luddite School of Music bodger University of Auckland chandler From wood@kepler.pss.fit.edu Mon Aug 22 13:26:57 EDT 1994 Article: 716 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!darwin.sura.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!MathWorks.Com!usenet.eel.ufl.edu!usenet.cis.ufl.edu!usenet.ufl.edu!zeno.fit.edu!kepler.pss.fit.edu!wood From: wood@kepler.pss.fit.edu (Matt A. Wood) Subject: evicting bees? Message-ID: Sender: news@zeno.fit.edu (USENET NEWS SYSTEM) Nntp-Posting-Host: kepler.pss.fit.edu Organization: Florida Institute of Technology X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 14:58:20 GMT Lines: 13 I have some bees that have taken up residence in my house, and while I'd rather not kill them, I really don't want them living under my roof (one gets inside every couple of weeks). Does anyone know a local beekeeper that might like to come take them to a more loving home? Thanks for your help. -- Matt A. Wood Assistant Professor wood@kepler.pss.fit.edu Dept. of Physics and Space Sciences (407) 768-8000 (x7207) Florida Institute of Technology http://pss.fit.edu/wood.html Melbourne, FL 32901-6988 From griffith@aur.alcatel.com Tue Aug 23 23:45:05 EDT 1994 Article: 717 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!gatech!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gumby!wupost!news.utdallas.edu!rdxsunhost.aud.alcatel.com!aur.alcatel.com!griffith From: griffith@aur.alcatel.com (Mike Griffith) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Beekeeping FAQ - help/advice for beginner Date: 22 Aug 1994 21:09:54 GMT Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh, NC Lines: 27 Message-ID: <33b472$9v9@aurns1.aur.alcatel.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: aurxcc.aur.alcatel.com Keywords: beekeeping, bee Is there a FAQ on beekeeping yet? I've become medically retired due to Multiple Sclerosis which has adversely effected my vision and ended my career in computers. I can see well enough for routine hive maintenance, I believe, although some things like finding the queen will no doubt be quite a pain for me, I expect. (I've spent a few days working with my brother while visiting; he has 8 or 10 hives on his farm but he doesn't know what he's doing very much with his bees yet and he lives several hundred miles away). I got interested in bees/beekeeping as a result of investigating apitherapy (bee sting therapy) as a possible treatment for MS. I've pretty well decided that beekeeping would make a very interesting hobby (I'm about to go nuts since I've had to quit work a few months ago, as reading printed matter is often very difficult for me). I was wondering if there is a FAQ on beekeeping that I could access (I can read my enlarged screen/large text computer screen pretty well) which would help me get started? Best regards and thanks, Mike -- Mike Griffith, Raleigh, NC Email: griffith@aur.alcatel.com From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Tue Aug 23 23:45:06 EDT 1994 Article: 718 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> <3343fl$2a1@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: Mon, 22 Aug 1994 23:32:43 GMT Lines: 13 >crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) writes: > >I really want to get back into keeping. There's nothing like finding a queen >the size of your pinky filling frame after frame with eggs. > Ha! But do they make honey? :) Adam -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From Tue Aug 23 23:45:06 EDT 1994 Article: 719 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!emory!swrinde!pipex!warwick!nott-cs!lut.ac.uk!mac-cd06.lut.ac.uk!user From: (Steve Birchall) Subject: Angry colonies Sender: usenet@lut.ac.uk (Usenet-News) Message-ID: Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 11:10:16 GMT Nntp-Posting-Host: mac-cd06.lut.ac.uk Organization: Loughborough University, UK. Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Lines: 12 Several years ago I used to work on a UK honey farm (1500 colonies). Some of the yards that we had used to be of vicious temperament - this seemed to be due to the location and not the colonies, as these were cycled round from season to season. These yards were not fun to work and full kit was required, whereas a pair of shorts and a veil (optional - the veil that is!) were all that would be required in a yard a few miles away on the same day. One way around this problem that was employed by the older hands in the 30's thro' to the 50's was to grow hemp plants on these yards and to keep dried hemp leaves for burning in the smokers to pacify the bees. Apparently, this worked well but for obvious reasons the practice was discontinued when hemp became notorious in more recent years. From roe@crosfield.co.uk Tue Aug 23 23:45:07 EDT 1994 Article: 720 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news-feed-1.peachnet.edu!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!crosfield.co.uk!roe From: roe@crosfield.co.uk (Malcolm Roe) Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Message-ID: <1994Aug23.130930.7403@crosfield.co.uk> Organization: Crosfield, Hemel Hempstead, UK References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 1994 13:09:30 GMT Lines: 56 In article <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) writes: >This is my second year of beekeeping and I'm still having trouble >locating the queen. I know what she looks like, and sometimes when >I am working a hive (I have 4) I will see her, but I can't just >go into a hive and find her whenever I want to. This fall I need >to re-queen 2 hives (captured swarms) so I need some tips on how >to find the elusive little lady. The best time to look for the queen is when there are the least number of other bees present. Ideally, this means early afternoon on a warm spring day. It should be warm both to encourage the maximum number of bees to leave the hive and to avoid chilling the brood. (You are likely to have the hive open for some time.) The number of adult bees is at a minimum in spring. Obviously now is not the best time of year but you should still try to choose a warm afternoon for the search. In spite of what people say about where to find the queen, in practice she can be almost anywhere. This is because of the disturbance you have created by opening the brood nest. If you have a double brood chamber you'll have to search both boxes. I take the first frame out and, after checking for the queen, put it to one side. This means I can keep a gap between the searched and unsearched frames as I work my way from one to the next. I lift each frame out and the first thing I do is to run my eyes around the edges to check she isn't nipping round to the back of the frame. I then scan the surface of the comb, turn the frame over, check the edges again and scan the other side. I check all frames but pay particular attention to frames with brood. The queen moves more slowly and methodically than the workers. Sometimes you can see the retinue around her but don't count on it due to the chaos you have provoked by opening the hive. What happens if you get to the last frame and haven't found the queen? You go through them a second time. If you still haven't found her then it's probably better to give up and try again another day. A variation on the above that I've sometimes found useful is to use another brood box (or even a cardboard box) to temporarily hold the frames after I have checked them. Sometimes the queen manages to get onto a 'checked' frame by crossing the gap. This method prevents her doing that. Finally, you can sieve the bees through a queen excluder. This is rather brutal but is useful as a last resort. There is also a method of requeening without finding the queen due to Nick Wallingford. If I can find a copy I'll post it here. I'm a great believer in marking queens. You've only got to go through the whole business of finding her once then. Subsequently she's so much easier to find. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : roe@crosfield.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From dharry@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu Tue Aug 23 23:45:08 EDT 1994 Article: 721 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!rutgers!koriel!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!library.ucla.edu!news.ucdavis.edu!ucdmc.ucdavis.edu!dharry From: dharry@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu (David J. Harry) Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Message-ID: Sender: usenet@ucdavis.edu (News Guru) Organization: University of California, Davis X-Newsreader: Trumpet for Windows [Version 1.0 Rev Final Beta] References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> <1994Aug23.130930.7403@crosfield.co.uk> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 00:20:23 GMT Lines: 13 >There is also a method of requeening without finding the queen due >to Nick Wallingford. If I can find a copy I'll post it here. I read this method and it sounds very intriguing. However, you end up with the hive contents distributed into three full-depth supers. It isn't exactly clear how Mr. Wallingford consolidates this back into two boxes. I emailed him about his method, but never got a response. Has anyone tried this? If so, how do you reduce the hive to two boxes? I'm considering trying this next spring on two hives that need requeening. From roe@crosfield.co.uk Thu Aug 25 22:50:22 EDT 1994 Article: 722 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!pipex!crosfield.co.uk!roe From: roe@crosfield.co.uk (Malcolm Roe) Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Message-ID: <1994Aug24.134357.12376@crosfield.co.uk> Organization: Crosfield, Hemel Hempstead, UK References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> <1994Aug23.130930.7403@crosfield.co.uk> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 13:43:57 GMT Lines: 43 In article dharry@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu (David J. Harry) writes: > >>There is also a method of requeening without finding the queen due >>to Nick Wallingford. If I can find a copy I'll post it here. > >I read this method and it sounds very intriguing. However, you end up with >the hive contents distributed into three full-depth supers. It isn't exactly >clear how Mr. Wallingford consolidates this back into two boxes. I emailed >him about his method, but never got a response. Has anyone tried this? If >so, how do you reduce the hive to two boxes? I'm considering trying this next >spring on two hives that need requeening. Reducing the number of boxes is necessary whenever you unite colonies for whatever reason. If there are sufficient frames without brood you can simply take them away and put the rest of the frames back into one (or two) boxes. Unfortunately, life isn't usually that simple. There are normally too many frames with brood. In that case it's easier if you can find the queen - a good reason for marking her. Put the box(es) you want to retain plus the queen on the floor. Put on a queen excluder and then add the extra brood box(es) followed by any supers. Arrange for the box(es) above the queen excluder to include all the frames without brood, any old or defective frames you would like to take out of service and then make up the numbers with any other frames. Come back in about 3 weeks time and all the brood above the excluder should have emerged. You will probably find quite a lot of honey there. You can leave that untill it's capped and extract it or use the frames for making nuclei or re-enforcing weak hives. What if you can't find the queen? That's quite likely if you've been using Nick Wallingford's requeening method! Well, put all the boxes together but split them into two with a queen excluder. (You'll need another excluder under the honey supers as well.) Come back at least 4 days later and go through the boxes looking for eggs. When you find them you know which side of the excluder the queen is. You can now reorganise the hive to get the box(es) with the queen at the bottom fillowed by a queen excluder, more brood boxes and so on. Then just continue as in the first method, above. -- Malcolm Roe Phone : +44 442 230000 ext 5104 Crosfield Electronics Ltd Fax : +44 442 232301 Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK E-mail : roe@crosfield.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From rsrodger@wam.umd.edu Thu Aug 25 22:50:23 EDT 1994 Article: 723 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!inxs.concert.net!taco.cc.ncsu.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!news.umbc.edu!haven.umd.edu!cville-srv.wam.umd.edu!rsrodger From: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu (R S Rodgers) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What is bee pollen? Date: Sun, 21 Aug 1994 13:19:13 -0500 Organization: University of Maryland College Park Lines: 32 Message-ID: References: <33437e$1tr@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> Reply-To: rsrodger@wam.umd.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: rac2.wam.umd.edu Originator: rsrodger@rac2.wam.umd.edu lapointe@netcom.com (Douglas LaPointe) writes: >First I will apologize for asking such a newbee question, but I >could not find my answer in the FAQ. >I saw bee pollen for sale in a health food store. Is this pollen >that has been harvested by honey bees? It was touted as being >extremely nutritious, "you can live off of this stuff". Is this true? The current snake oil from health nuts. Right up there with "royal jelly," "shark cartilege" and other absurdities. In promoting it, the advertisements generally pander to the same kind of "natural or mysterious" == "good" notion carried about by so many people. The typical ad for bee pollen will claim that it's a "high protein supplement .. fed to the larvae and responsible for the incredible life force that makes up the hive." Almost always it will contain some reference to un-named (because there aren't any) "trace elements" which you may be terribly deficient in (this is the general plug, though, for almost all wacko supplements). Yeah, it's protein all right. You could do just as well with protein from any other source, given how miniscule a dose it contains. You have to give them credit for the sales pitches, though. People are always looking for _something_ magical. My particular favorites, though, continue to come from the cosmetics industry, not the supplements hawkers. They're improving, though -- the claims about Chromium and "amino acid pills" are particularly amusing. -- Previous .sig deleted because some people couldn't parse "from email _received_ re: a post on comp.sys.powerpc." From SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu Thu Aug 25 22:50:24 EDT 1994 Article: 724 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!sundog.tiac.net!usenet.elf.com!rpi!rebecca!uacsc2.albany.edu!SYSAM From: SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu (Aaron Morris) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Date: Wed, 24 Aug 94 08:17:26 EDT Organization: University at Albany, Albany NY 12222 Lines: 223 Message-ID: <1701C749CS86.SYSAM@uacsc2.albany.edu> References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> <1994Aug23.130930.7403@crosfield.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: uacsc2.albany.edu In article <1994Aug23.130930.7403@crosfield.co.uk> roe@crosfield.co.uk (Malcolm Roe) writes: >... >There is also a method of requeening without finding the queen due >to Nick Wallingford. If I can find a copy I'll post it here. > I retrieved a copy of Nick's posting from BEE-L LOG9403 . /Aa Date: Sun, 13 Mar 1994 15:08:00 +1300 Reply-To: Discussion of Bee Biology Sender: Discussion of Bee Biology From: NICKW@WAIKATO.AC.NZ Subject: Requeening without finding the queen Summary: Description of requeening a hive without having to look for the old queen. Variation of an article that orginally appeared in the Beginners Notes column of the NZ Beekeeper several years ago. REQUEENING WITHOUT LOOKING FOR THE QUEEN by Nick Wallingford One of the big stumbling blocks for many beginner beekeepers is that problem of how do you actually get the queen into the hive. The fundamentals -- the colony should be queenless, it should be well fed and it should have young bees emerging. How do you actually go about doing it? Most books tell you simply to find the old queen, kill her, and introduce your young queen in the mailing cage she came in. Fine, you think. Until you go out to look through your (strong) (aggressive) (agitated) colony for the queen. And knowing that you have your valuable, newly-arrived queen sitting in the house just waiting to be installed! So this message will be mostly devoted to giving you a method of introducing new queens to your hives without ever having to look for the old queen. And like any such system, it is not foolproof. It works for me and for many other beekeepers, but if it doesn't for you, first make sure you are following directions. Then consider special problems you might have, especially as they relate to the 'golden rules' of queenless, well-fed, with plenty of young bees. The system I will describe is not new, and it was not my idea. It's a combination of all sorts of ideas. Its the sort of management technique that develops when you have a fair idea of what you want to do, but you're not sure how. Then, rather than just making up your system, you sit back and think about bee behaviour and try to work effectively within the bounds of the ways bees will *usually* respond to certain stimuli. The object of the system is to create a nucleus colony on top of the old colony. I wanted a system that could be easily used by hobbyist or commercial beekeeper alike, without ever looking for the queen. It should be versatile, both in being able to deal with colonies of differing strengths and with end results. That is, the resulting nucleus, or top, can be used to re-queen with or to start a new colony. The method should use a minimum of extra equipment, and no exotic or complicated gadgets (much as I like them...) They are based around beekeeping systems that use two full depth brood chambers for most of the year. The system introduces a third box, which is of the same depth as the brood chamber boxes. After all is complete, you'll want to work this extra box 'out', especially if you (1) use different depth boxes for storing/extracting surplus and/or (2) you are particular about using white comb only (never used for brood rearing) as honey supers. The only 'extra' piece of equipment needed is a split board, also known as a division board. To those of you who may not know what that is, it is simply a hive mat (inner cover) that has had a notch cut out of the rim on one side so as to form an entrance for a colony set above it. The notch can be anywhere from 20 to 100 mm wide; I prefer to have mine about 50 mm, making it large enough for a fairly strong unit but still small enough that the bees can protect it while the colony is still small. I have modified the inner covers on all of my hives in this manner. Just to try something new this last autumn, I turned them over on my hives in an effort to give some sort of upper ventilation. I'm not really sure how much good it did. You will also need a queen excluder. As I have one of these for each hive as a matter of course, that is no problem. One last piece of equipment needed will be another box of drawn comb. Now, after all that prelude, let's see how the system works. For the sake of beginning, let us assume that it is springtime and your colony is housed in two boxes and you want to simply re-queen it. As you'll see later, you have other options, but let's start from this basic case. When you open your hive, you'll find most of the brood and bees in the upper box. Remove three frames of brood, both sealed and unsealed, from the centre of the brood nest. Take a glance over them first to see if you can spot the queen. Now that you're starting on a method that means you don't have to find her, its amazing how often you will! Then shake all of the bees off of them, back into the colony. You needn't shake off every last one of them, so long as you are sure that the queen is not one of the bees remaining. Now, place these three frames into the middle of the box of combs you have brought with you. If there are plenty of stores in the parent colony, take two good frames of honey, shake the bees from them, and place them in the new box with the three frames of brood. If there is not much honey in the hive, you will have to feed either the parent hive, the nucleus, or in the worst case, both. Now, you can start to re-build the hive. Replace all the frames you have taken from the parent colony with empty combs, doing your best not to split the brood nest if possible. On top of this second box, place the queen excluder. On top of the excluder, place the new box containing the brood and honey that has had the bees shaken from them. Put the lid on the hive and go away. Think about what you have just done. You have lifted brood and bees above the excluder. What is going to happen to the brood up there? The pheromones it gives off will attract nurse bees that are down in the main hive up to it. Combining that with the frames of honey, the third box that you have added has quite a 'pull' to bring bees up into it. But remember, there is a queen excluder between the boxes, so there is no way the old queen can come up there. After about 20 minutes, if you go back to the hive and lift the lid, you will find that enough bees have come up into the nucleus to take care of the brood, defend the colony and take care of your new queen. All you have to do now is replace the queen excluder with the division board and presto! You have your nucleus colony ready for introducing the young queen. It is queenless (because the queen couldn't come up through the excluder). It has plenty of young bees (because they have come up to take care of the brood you lifted). And it has plenty of food (because you provided them with two frames of honey). All the conditions have been met for ideal queen introduction. You can expect that some of the bees will drift back to the main colony, but the young bees taking care of the brood will most likely remain - the new unit shouldn't drop in bee strength too drastically. This system could be used on a larger number of hives. By the time the beekeeper has worked through the yard, shaking bees from brood and honey to lift into the new box, the first hive would have been left long enough for the bees to come up. Introduce your young queen into the top and wait a week. Don't disturb them in this time if at all possible; until the new queen is established and laying fully, the bees haven't really fully accepted her. Disturb them during this period and it is possible for them to turn on her. After a week, you will have a parent colony on the bottom, only slightly reduced in strength by the bees, brood and honey you took. And you will have a nucleus colony headed by a young queen above the split board, all set for your next decision. You can either use it to re-queen the parent colony, or you could place it on its own floor to use for increasing your colony numbers. If you choose the second option, it would be best if you actually moved it several miles away to avoid the loss of field strength through drifting. If you want to re-queen the parent colony, you could now go through it, looking for the old queen, preparing to unite the two colonies by replacing the split board with a sheet of newspaper for them to chew their way through. But that would defeat the whole point, wouldn't it? We're supposed to be doing this without ever looking for a queen, aren't we? If you can go through and find the old queen, aided by any tricks/knacks you might have to quickly locate queens, so much the better. You're certain of results then. But, believe it or not, you have the odds of success heavily in your favour if you simply newspaper the two units together without looking for the old queen at all. In almost 90% of the cases, if you unite two colonies with the young queen on the top of an old queen, the young queen will be left to head the resulting hive. Why this happens is open to argument. Some beekeepers will tell you that the bees always select the best of the two queens. I doubt that. My explanation goes along the lines of the young queen's bees are confined in the top box when you replace the split board with newspaper. As well, her field bees returning cannot use their normal entrance, the slot on the split board. They then drift down to the main colony entrance. As they are foragers returning with a load, they will be accepted without causing outrageous fighting at the hive entrance. I think the old queen is then probably killed by the 'scissor' effect of bees foreign to her coming at her from both directions - down as the bees confined above the newspaper chew through and move down in the hive, and up by the foragers from the top unit coming in through the bottom entrance and finding a 'strange' queen in 'their' hive. It has certainly worked for me, and if the thought of trying to find queens is an impossible one for you, the system might be worth considering. You might just want to experiment with it to see if the time savings will repay the small amount of uncertainty involved. It's not the answer to all of a beekeepers problems, but it just gives you an idea how by thinking a little bit about bee behaviour, you can sort out your management system to make your life a little easier while doing all you can in the interests of maximum production. ------------------------------------- Nick Wallingford (East coast, N Island, New Zealand) Internet nickw@waikato.ac.nz ------------------------------------- From hhickman@ess.harris.com Thu Aug 25 22:50:25 EDT 1994 Article: 725 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!darwin.sura.net!jabba.ess.harris.com!hhickman.ess.harris.com!user From: hhickman@ess.harris.com (H. Harris Hickman) Subject: Re: evicting bees? Message-ID: Followup-To: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Sender: usenet@jabba.ess.harris.com (Usenet News Feed) Nntp-Posting-Host: hhickman.ess.harris.com Organization: Harris ESS, Palm Bay Florida References: Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 17:28:52 GMT Lines: 28 In article , wood@kepler.pss.fit.edu (Matt A. Wood) wrote: > I have some bees that have taken up residence in my house, and while > I'd rather not kill them, I really don't want them living under my > roof (one gets inside every couple of weeks). Does anyone know > a local beekeeper that might like to come take them to a more loving > home? > > Thanks for your help. > > -- > Matt A. Wood Assistant Professor > wood@kepler.pss.fit.edu Dept. of Physics and Space Sciences > (407) 768-8000 (x7207) Florida Institute of Technology > http://pss.fit.edu/wood.html Melbourne, FL 32901-6988 Matt In the Melbourne phone book there is a "Mac the Bee Man", listed under BEEKEEPING. Should do the trick. By the way, I live on Edgewood, and I'm thinking about bring some bees down from NC. Would like to keep them in a local orange grove. Any suggestions? Harris Hickman HHickman@harris.com From adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU Thu Aug 25 22:50:26 EDT 1994 Article: 726 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!jussieu.fr!univ-lyon1.fr!swidir.switch.ch!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!uunet!hearst.acc.Virginia.EDU!murdoch!Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU!adamf From: adamf@Hopper.itc.Virginia.EDU (Adam Finkelstein) Subject: Re: evicting bees? Message-ID: Sender: usenet@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU Organization: Public Access Internet at UVa. References: Date: Wed, 24 Aug 1994 20:43:28 GMT Lines: 17 In article , H. Harris Hickman wrote: >By the way, I live on Edgewood, and I'm >thinking about bring some bees down from NC. Would like to keep them in a >local orange grove. Any suggestions? Hummm, I"d make sure you get in touch with the FL dept. of Agriculture, Apiary Inspection before you move bees across state lines. It might be highly illegal to bring bees into FL now, I'm not up on the latest laws, but choosing to ignore them is pretty anti-social and illegal! :) Adam -- ============================================================================ Adam Finkelstein adamf@hopper.itc.virginia.edu adamf@vtaix.cc.vt.edu =============================================== |Bees To Please| ======= From fisher@lyra.hac.com Thu Aug 25 22:50:27 EDT 1994 Article: 727 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!netline-fddi.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!news.cerf.net!hacgate2.hac.com!lyra!root From: root@lyra.hac.com (Dave Fisher) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: What is bee pollen? Date: 25 Aug 1994 00:19:41 GMT Organization: Hughes Aircraft Company Lines: 21 Message-ID: <33go2t$ejl@hacgate2.hac.com> References: <33437e$1tr@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu> Reply-To: fisher@lyra.hac.com NNTP-Posting-Host: lyra.hac.com X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] R S Rodgers (rsrodger@wam.umd.edu) wrote: : lapointe@netcom.com (Douglas LaPointe) writes: : >First I will apologize for asking such a newbee question, but I : >could not find my answer in the FAQ. : >I saw bee pollen for sale in a health food store. Is this pollen : >that has been harvested by honey bees? It was touted as being : >extremely nutritious, "you can live off of this stuff". Is this true? : The current snake oil from health nuts. Right up there with "royal : jelly," "shark cartilege" and other absurdities. In promoting it, the It may or may not have virtues, but I had an alarming experience with this substance once. I ate some "raw" bee pollen about 8 years ago, and instantly lost my voice. It returned after about 30 minutes. Pretty scary, although not too serious. Dave From jts@snowman.Central.Sun.COM Thu Aug 25 22:50:28 EDT 1994 Article: 728 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!inxs.concert.net!taco.cc.ncsu.edu!gatech!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!nic-nac.CSU.net!charnel.ecst.csuchico.edu!olivea!koriel!newsworthy.West.Sun.COM!cronkite.Central.Sun.COM!snowman!jts From: jts@snowman.Central.Sun.COM (Jim Stewart - Sun Minneapolis SE) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Where do I find a beekeeping suit? Date: 25 Aug 1994 20:08:11 GMT Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. Lines: 17 Distribution: usa Message-ID: <33itnb$reu@cronkite.Central.Sun.COM> Reply-To: jts@snowman.Central.Sun.COM NNTP-Posting-Host: snowman.central.sun.com Does anyone know where I can find a beekeeping suit - as in a suit that you wear that wasps and bumblebees can't sting through? My house sits on 2.5 acres and I've kept most of it natural with tall weeds. However, I'd like to start exposing more of the land and keep it cut to a lawn level. However, when I was using a weed wacker last spring, I stopped short of some weeds, since there was a large (8-10 inch) hole that I wanted to avoid that I assumed belonged to a skunk I had seen wondering around my land. The next few days I noticed some bumblebees hovering over the area and disappearing down into the general vicinity of these weeds. So, I'd like to avoid cutting these tall weeds and surprising a nesting group of bumblebees. I figure that a bee suit will protect me from getting stung. Thanks for your help. From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Sat Aug 27 11:13:03 EDT 1994 Article: 729 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!MathWorks.Com!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: Re: Tips on finding queen? Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 04:05:40 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 29 Message-ID: References: <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au In article <32tema$bu5@jabba.cybernetics.net> crumley@jabba.cybernetics.net (Steve Crumley) writes: >This is my second year of beekeeping and I'm still having trouble >locating the queen. I know what she looks like, and sometimes when In the discussion I have seen going on along this thread, I have not seen anyone mention that it usualy pays to check all the internal walls of the hive as well... The first time I ever searched for a queen, I took out all the frames and shook them all of, and didn't find the queen anywhere. A more experienced beekeeper came and offered his help, and he did exactly the same thing, then found her crawling into a corner to hide. Once all the bees were on the wall surfaces rather than the frames, they clustered around the queen, making her that little bit more obvious. One tip here.... don't do it this way with a single....the bees may be inclined to leave if all their combs dissapear....:-> I am intending to try the "strainer" method when summer arrives down here... This requires attatching a Q.excluder to the bottom of an empty super, sitting this "strainer" on top of an empty (no frames) super, on top of the bottom box of the hive being "strained", with enough space to put in frames as they become emptied of bees. The bees are then shaken from the frames into the empty strainer, and the workers will move through the Q.excluder onto the honey and brood below. The queen, strangely enough, will not fit through the excluder.... :-> Note, the strainer should not be shaken to move the bees through, as this (apparently...I can't imagine why) upsets them. IS THERE A SECTION IN THE FAQ about this???? Adrian (again he tries to be helpful...again the results are debateable) From roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au Sat Aug 27 11:13:04 EDT 1994 Article: 730 of sci.agriculture.beekeeping Path: bigblue.oit.unc.edu!concert!news.duke.edu!convex!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au!roadent From: roadent@halls1.cc.monash.edu.au (Adrian Graham DENT - Rodent) Newsgroups: sci.agriculture.beekeeping Subject: I'm a little annoyed... Date: Fri, 26 Aug 1994 04:48:20 GMT Organization: Halls of Residence, Monash University Lines: 19 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: roberts-1f3-06.cc.monash.edu.au Well....more than a little...In the "halls of residence" (college dorms, call them what you will) where I live, there is a hive of bees (no really?? bees???) in the roof. I offered about three months ago to remove them, but, because I am a resident here, I am not allowed on the roof....so they declined my offer. Now there are great clouds of angry bees flying around because someone (I assume one of the maintenance men) has put a bag of somthing (presumably poison) across the entrance... Now I ask you, what is more dangerous to the general community...me getting up on a flat roof with a two foot high wall all around it to remove the bees, OR a whole bunch of very angry bees, no longer only at roof level, annoying and (not yet...but it is possible) stining passers by? I mean, I have been on heaps of sloped roofs without any sort of safety "net" so I know I can do it...yet, no doubt most of the people that are potential sting victims won't know if they are allergic or not....I wonder if a law suit could be pending somewhere... :-> (yeah...right) Adrian. (not feeling very helpful at the moment...)