Dear Subscribers,
A belated Happy New Year from Gainesville, Florida, home of the Apis Information Resource Information Center.
It’s been colder than normal the last couple of weeks. No way to check our forlorn nuc that we’ve been nursing through the winter. I thought there was a warming trend in the offing, but that is proven to be ephemeral. Unseasonable cold continues into February. Our first pollen source, the swamp maple (Acer rubrum) has just now began to bloom; it is two, going on three weeks later than the last couple of years. I’m afraid for all our colonies here due to these circumstances. Again, this emphasizes the dictum that all beekeeping is local and conditions can vary greatly. One thirty-year study shows this well.
I have finally launched my patreon campaign. The details of this effort are fully described on the the page itself. Currently the following posts are available at https://patreon.com/beeactor.
First Queen Rearing Station in the Middle East—paid
Charged to patrons on Jan 22, 2018
The Latest on Colony Collapse Disorder—Free
Posted January 18, 2018
Pesticides and Sugar: Lethal Combination—paid
Charged to patrons on Jan 13, 2018
Bee Audacious Program – One Year Later—free
Posted January 12, 2018
Thomas Carrol’s Video on why keep honey bees—free
Posted January 12, 2018
National Honey Show Lecture Videos—free
Posted January 11, 2018
ABF Conference and Trade Show—paid
Charged to patrons on Jan 9, 2018
The seven posts above (three paid) (four free) are published for the month of January as test of the new platform. The free posts on this list are rather straightforward, being not much more than standard one-dimensional releases that are routinely published via the World Wide Web in a number of venues.
Paid posts, on the other hand, consist of several information resources compiled into a “digest form.” These are accessible to patrons only (those honey bee larvae that have pledged support) and more comprehensive in nature, meriting the requested $1 donation.
I have provided an example of a paid post in the list above that readers can access for free at the present time in order to compare the two types (The Latest on Colony Collapse Disorder). Like the others, it is a “digest,” which includes a summary of the latest information on CCD, linked to a wikipedia post on the subject, a listing of scientific papers published about the condition, and finally linking to an article from the website discussing the historical occurrence and significance of unexplained bee kills in general.
The digest format provides space for comments from the readership, which will add to the information presented, making it more of a “community resource.” It’s also less ephemeral than this newsletter; the first paid post in February 2018 will in fact be a replication of what was presented in last month’s release, concerning Robert Owen’s research on how beekeeping and beekeeper activity affect honey bee health. The discussion about organic honey found in last month’s newsletter will also be fashioned into a paid Patreon post in February.
In summary, the digest format is a work in progress that is complimentary to both this newsletter and its parent website, the Apis Information Resource Center. Again the plan is for the Patreon posts to be a collection of resources oriented to beekeepers not be found elsewhere on the world wide web.
According to a Bee Culture “Catch the Buzz,” Manuka honey from New Zealand is coming to the U.S. via Costco Corporation: “Comvita, the global leader in Manuka Honey and a pioneer in the natural health and wellness category, announces today its U.S. and Canadian retail expansion with availability in Costco and a new store on Amazon.com. The world’s largest producer of Certified UMF® Manuka Honey with over 40,000 hives, Comvita has spent four decades perfecting its beekeeping craft to provide health conscious consumers with sustainably sourced, premium Manuka Honey that is used in wound and skincare applications, as well as consumed by the spoonful or added to tea, yogurt, oatmeal and smoothies under the Comvita brand.
“Comvita’s top selling Certified UMF® 5+ Manuka Honey has rolled out to over 200 U.S. Costco locations, including but not limited to: Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. Comvita’s Manuka Honey is also available in Costco warehouses throughout Canada.”
It’s being sold as a health food it seems. There’s just a hint in the post concerning it’s reputation as a wound-healing agent. This may be a bridge too far at the moment in terms of promoting the sweet in a supermarket. In response to this, a reply has been posted showing some manuka honey on the market selling at around $40 for a 45 oz jar and single-line conclusion, “I’m in the wrong business.” Perhaps, but the manuka question has taken on a new dimension now that Australians, specifically Tasmanians, are claiming they own the right to the name, not New Zealanders.
Tony Hogg of the Florida State Beekeepers Association is putting out the word in the Sunshine State that a “go fund me” effort is being launched to help Puerto Rican beekeepers. It’s currently raised over $18,000 of the stated goal ($50,000) to send replacement bee food and housing to the island.
The “Bad Beekeeping Blogger” Ron Miksha is at it again. Here’s one of his best stories in 201 featuring a Mexican outfit, called Miel Carlota. He concludes that not much is remembered about the outfit (I was lucky to visit this outfit in the 1970’s), founded by German immigrants to Mexico. They had over 50,000 hives. Then their company disappeared.”
I was privileged to visit Miel Carlota near Cuernavaca, Mexico during its heyday and the company also took part in an Apimondia Management Symposium I reported on that took place in San Antonio, Texas back in the 1977.
Fran Bach continues publishing “Items of Interest to Beekeepers” from her desk at the Western Apicultural Society (WAS)
APIMONDIA 2019 IN MONTREAL, REGISTRATION & ACCOMMODATION INFORMATION
MORE ON THE ELD SITUATION (electronic logs for truckers haulingbees)
GUT BACTERIA IN BEES SPREAD ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT GENES TO EACH OTHER
HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION CONGRATULATES WINNERS OF NUTRITION COMPETITION
AGRICULTURAL FUNGICIDE ATTRACTS HONEY BEES
HONEY BEE VIRAL PREVALENCE MAP
RESEARCH JOBS
NATIONAL HONEY BOARD APPOINTMENTS
BAYER OPENS NEW GREENHOUSE FOR INSECTICIDE RESEARCH IN GERMANY
There’s a brouhaha being generated in New Jersey over the possibility of new regulations on beekeepers. Discussion continues and there appears to be some time to come up with modifications. Although the state does have an apiary law, it’s not clear how robust the New Jersey beekeeping inspection service is.
Some time ago, the Florida State Beekeepers Association was able to convince the state legislature to develop legislation making Florida Department of Agriculture bee inspection the ultimate arbiter concerning beekeeping best management practices and their relationship to local disputes. This could only have happened, however, due to the robust health of regular bee inspection in the Sunshine State, which continues to be one of the best services of its kind in the nation.
An American Bee Journal EXTRA electronic release asks: “Is the Future of Farming Female?”
“Ten years ago men dominated beekeeping meetings, but the demographics are shifting. Many more women are getting into bees, especially on the small scale or sideliner side. In Montana, there is a drive to expand women in agricultural leadership positions. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Statistics and United States Department of Agriculture show while women constitute less than 1 percent of the nation’s agricultural scientists, engineers and policymakers, they occupy the majority, about 60 percent, of lower-paid agricultural jobs on America’s farms and ranches.
Six female professors at Montana State University and Flathead Valley Community College hope to increase the percentage of women agricultural scientists, engineers and policymakers by way of a $94,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant, “Empowering Women in Agriculture.”
It is now increasingly clear to me that beyond beekeepers extension, regulatory, research and other endeavors involving honey bees are also increasingly female. A laundry list of talented women includes among others Dr. Marla Spivak, apiculture’s only McArthur Genius Award winner, at the University of Minnesota, Sue Cobey and others at Washington State University the CEOs of both the National Honey Board and Project Apis m, several bee inspectors (Hawaii and a few other states) and an increasing number of university faculty members (California, South Carolina, Texas, etc). Florida’s own Ashley Mortensen a graduate of the honey bee lab at the University of Florida has now been hired away by New Zealand.
With the provocative title, “Accidental Discovery Could Save Bees from Varroa,” questions proliferate. It’s a long story, but the bottom line seems to be that something called lithium chloride may be the key.
“According to the researchers, lithium chloride could be put to use very quickly as it is easily applied via feeding, will not accumulate in beeswax, has a low toxicity for mammals, and is reasonably priced. However, wider studies on free-flying colonies testing long-term side effects are required first, as well as analyses of potential residues in honey.”
Maybe, but don’t get carried away according to the post by an American Bee Journal Extra, which concludes: “Beekeepers are inventive and resourceful. Before you go rushing off to add this to your sugar syrup, we at ABJ highly recommend you wait for some field trials to be conducted and results to be confirmed. It urges a full reading the paper, which is open source.
A post via another Bee Culture Catch The Buzz raises some important questions. How natural are honey bees and what do we know about their activities related to other pollinating insects. Not much it seems according to the authors of a recent study:
“Although they appear to have a disproportionate impact on natural ecosystems, surprisingly we understand very little about the honey bee’s ecological effects in non-agricultural systems,” said study coauthor David Holway, a professor and chair of the Section of Ecology, Behavior and Evolution in Biological Sciences.
“Looking to the future this study raises a lot of new questions. For instance, in San Diego, where honey bees are not native, they are responsible for 75 percent of pollinator visits to native plants, the highest honey bee dominance in the set of networks examined for any continental site in the introduced range of the honey bee. This is despite the fact that there are more than 650 species of native bees in San Diego County as well as many other native pollinating insects.
“The consequences of this phenomenon for both native plants that did not evolve with the honey bee and for populations of native insect pollinators is well worth studying,” said Joshua Kohn, the study’s senior author.
“Our study also nicely confirms something that pollination biologists have known for a long time: even in the presence of a highly abundant species that pollinates many plant species, we still need healthy populations of other pollinators for entire plant communities to receive adequate pollination services.”
Previous discussions of this nature have often degenerated into a zero sum game with honey bee enthusiasts on one side and those advocating native pollinators on the other. The current neonicotinoid debate, however, seems a good opportunity for both sides to come together. Studies showing that honey bees are not as affected by these insecticides as currently claimed in some circles is not enough. The idea that all the other pollinating insects in the ecosystem beyond Apis mellifera may be at risk from these chemicals also needs investigation. More importantly, they need a human constituency that honey bee enthusiasts could readily provide. Pounding the drum about the effects on the full range of pollinators in the environment is probably more productive for honey bees than simply focusing on them as a single agricultural species.
Episode 115 is my pick for this month’s Kiwimana podcast: Practical Beekeeping With Roger Peterson
“Roger Patterson has been beekeeping since 1963, he is from West Sussex in the United Kingdom. Author of the book “Beekeeping – A Practical Guide”, He is a practical beekeeper, concentrating on the basics and keeping things simple. He is also the current president of the Wisborough Green Division of the West Sussex Beekeepers Association.” Roger maintains Dave Cushman’s website, which is also named a contributor to the Apis Information Resource Center.
Important discussion points from the show, with times shown reveals an updated format for this podcast.
Are they any differences in how people keep bees in England 02:51
How Roger got started in beekeeping 06:39
Does Roger still keep WBC Hives? 08:41
Do Bees really care about Hive Types? 09:44
Have Rogers students changed since the 1970’s 19:22
Was everyone was a natural Beekeeper? 22:28
Beekeepers in England did use chemicals before Varroa Mites 22:38
Do EFB and AFB Look Similar??? 24:19
Is it hard to maintain Dave Cushmans Website? 27:08
Is the British Black Bee used in the Breeding Programs 35:31
Importing Bees isn’t the best idea 38:05
Why Observation is so important in Beekeeping 43:54
Observation helped Roger find ‘Chronic bee paralysis virus’ 44:28
How do you get in touch with Roger? 52:54
As always, check the latest extension efforts at the Bee Health Extension site. See the videos produced by the Honey Bee Health Coalition on Varroa management. Read about Michael Wilson supporting USDA programs in bee health including the NIFA project “The Bee Informed Partnership” and the USDA-SCRI, “Pollination Security in the Northeast”.
Sixty six units of Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees were sold on Amazon.com December 27 through January 21, 2017. Denver, Colorado led the way
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