Dear Subscribers:
The cold is holding on here in North Florida as I reported last year at this time, but it appears to be more extreme with temperatures expected to be up to 50 below zero in some northern parts of the country in the next few days It’s only expected to be in the high 30’s and low 40’s here, but is still delaying everything associated with beekeeping. The red or swamp maples are delayed in blooming. It will be interesting to see if this hangs on, and whether that will affect the huge migration of honey bees on tractor trailers that is expected to begin in February. Each year, more and more beekeepers are making the move. When rental of a qualified colony nets in excess of $180, there’s big incentive to get the bees to the almonds. Certainly honey bees, like humans, will have to hunker down to survive the expected extreme cold.
The government shut down can’t do much about the nasty weather, unless you’d like to get a reasonable forecast. One pundit applauded this situation because it reveals how important government actually is to people. His observation is that many folks have no idea nor appreciation for the remarkable services governmental employees provide society in general. Instead, he says, many citizens seem convinced that the government is the problem and not the solution to what ails the country. It appears to be their conclusion that we can all get along fine without all those bureaucrats who are overpaid causing regulatory headaches.
Hmmm! Are you willing to fly without FAA inspected aircraft or limited TSA security inspection at airports? Do you consider food safe from contamination without testing? Perhaps, but let something go awry with any of these vital services and you can bet it will be a “katy bar the door” event
Bee Culture editor Kim Flottum exclaims, “What a mess.” Specifically from the beekeeper’s standpoint, he lists the following consequences: Government employees are not allowed to communicate with anybody in their capacity as USDA; presenters at both of the annual bee meetings are not showing up; scientific cooperation facilitated by USDA funds or personnel is on hold; and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research and diagnostic labs are at a stand still. Fortunately as I write this, the shut down has been lifted at least temporarily and hopefully on a permanent basis.
Contributor Ron Miksha appears to be enamored of Mattel’s beekeeping Barbie doll, calling it a “super cool beekeeping babe with her own bee hive and honey stand complete with an honor system cash register.” .
Maybe he hasn’t seen Target’s Our Generation Professional Beekeeper Doll named “Melina.” Ooops! She’s a little different, categorized as “latina” or “hispanic,” whereas Barbie clearly appears to be a “gringa,” although a brunette, with the following details:
The Barbie Beekeeper Doll and Playset comes with a beehive that has cool features and accessories to play out sweet aspirations; Barbie has also partnered with Tynker to encourage hands-on exploration with its creative computing platform and inspire new ways to play, like using coding concepts to learn about bee behavior and create a bee game!
The colorful bee-keeping structure has a blue beehive with bees kids can spin and a honeycomb they can slide in and out
Red and pink flowers, as well as the top of the beehive frame, have slots that can hold the included bees to play out pollination
Additional accessories include a computer monitor and 2 honey bears.
Highlights for Melina include: Suggested Age: 3 Years and up; Brown hair / brown eyes, with: 1 pair of undies, 1 pair of gloves, 1 pair of boots, 1 jumpsuit, 1 beekeeper hat, 1 bee smoker, 1 bee brush, 1 bee hive, 1 bee feeder and 1 bee poster, and the following back story:
“Look out, World, our generation of girls is here to stay. (Yet, we’re constantly on the go!)
We’re teaching our families to recycle, planting gardens and helping out at the local animal shelter. And when we’re not saving the world, we’re busy running down grassy hills as fast as gravity will take us, arms outstretched to the world. Sure, we might tumble, but bouncing back up can be fun, too.
“This world is ours for the taking. We just have to go and get it. What lies ahead for us? We can’t even imagine yet, but whatever it is, it’s all up to us. Yep. This is our time. This is our story.
Ron’s listing of “hot bee topics” for 2018 is worth a look. His reflections on Canadian beekeeping legend Don Peer are worth reading, but keep in mind that the advice is all about Canadian conditions and will not apply to many areas in the U.S. when attempting to predict honey flows.
Thus, he concludes: “Nevertheless, we have to be able to make plans. What’s an ‘average’ honey crop? How many supers do we need? When do we remove the last boxes before fall/winter? Although there can be wild fluctuations around the average, we gain some sense for what to expect. You don’t need to rely only on your own experiences- beekeepers are notoriously helpful and willing to share what they know.
“I’ve had commercial honey farms in six different areas over the years (Appalachian Pennsylvania, Florida, Wisconsin, grasslands southern Saskatchewan, parkland central Saskatchewan, mountain foothills in Alberta) and I am very grateful for the advice which smarter and older beekeepers have given me. I would have never lived long enough to learn beekeeping in six vastly disparate geographies. I needed the help of locals.”
Beyond seasoned beekeeping advice, he recommends using a “universal tool,” that should be in every beekeepers bag of tricks. “An average hive, sitting on an old fashioned platform scale, can tell you a lot. If you keep records of the daily change in weight, you will have real-time data to guide you. If you keep those records for a few years, you can spot trends which will help you predict your crops.” For one study based on these measurements see this page.
The scale hive has become a lot more powerful in recent years. As discussed at the recent meeting of the Eastern Apicultural Society in Hampton, Virginia, this tool, as one of the internet of things, is being creatively adapted in a number of ways to assist beekeepers.
Propolis is getting respect, becoming more recognized as an important component of honey bee health. The material is often simply called honey bee “glue,” but is much more than that. Collected as a variety of resins from plants, propolis has been implicated in a number of beneficial ways to keep both humans and honey bees healthy. Its wikipedia page states:
“Propolis properties may include:
1. reinforce the structural stability and provide thermal insulation to the hive
2. reduce vibration
3. make the hive more defensible by narrowing the existing entrance (in wild colonies) to a single “choke point”
4. make the hive more defensible by sealing holes: a hive will have a propolis cache (as much as 1 pound) for emergency patch jobs
5. prevent diseases and parasites from entering the hive, and to inhibit fungal and bacterial growth
6. mitigate putrefaction within the hive. Bees usually carry waste out of and away from the hive. However, if a small lizard or mouse, for example, finds its way into the hive and dies there, bees may be unable to carry it out through the hive entrance. In that case, they would attempt instead to seal the carcass in propolis, essentially mummifying it and making it odorless and harmless.”
A major review paper looks at this substance in some detail, concluding: “While numerous studies have investigated the chemical components of propolis that could be used to treat human diseases,there is a lack of information on the importance of propolis in regards to bee health. This review serves to provide a compilation of recent research concerning the behavior of bees in relation to resins and propolis,focusing more on the bees themselves and the potential evolutionary benefits of resin collection.
“Future research goals are also established in order to create a new focus within the literature on the natural history of resin use among the social insects and role that propolis plays in disease resistance.” Propolis and bee health: the natural history and significanceof resin use by honey bees by Michael Simone-Finstrom and MarlaSpivak at the University of Minnesota.
Now comes a Bee Culture Catch the Buzz looking at how beekeepers might influence collection of propolis by honey bees: “Three researchers—Cynthia Hodges, master beekeeper and co-owner of Hodges Honey Apiaries in Dunwoody, Georgia; Keith Delaplane, Ph.D., entomology professor at the University of Georgia; and Berry Brosi, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental science at Emory University in Atlanta—looked at four different ways to enhance propolis growth in bee hives.
“The team found that three surface modifications—plastic trap material on the hive wall interior, parallel saw cuts on hive wall interior, and brush-roughened wall interiors—were all equally capable of resulting in increased propolis production, compared to a fourth method, a control, in which the hive wall interiors we left unmodified.
“While all treatments resulted in more propolis deposition, the researchers point to the roughened interior of the hive walls as the best method for encouraging deposition. In fact, leaving lumber naturally rough, with no planning or sanding, would provide a simple and effective surface for boosting propolis,” they write.
“ ‘We come down in favor of roughened or un-planed wood,’ says Delaplane, ‘because, unlike the plastic trap, it will not subtract from the bee space engineered around the walls and combs. What you see in our pictures is the work of a steel brush. Naturally un-planed wood would be much rougher and, I would expect, even better at stimulating propolis deposition.’
“ ‘ I don’t know of any beekeepers deliberately encouraging their bees to collect propolis,’ says Delaplane, adding that many keepers in the past have tried to clear propolis from their hives. ‘But today we know that this bias is misdirected. I believe encouraging propolis deposition is one more thing beekeepers can do to partner with biology instead of ignore it.’ ”. Contributor to the Apis Information Resource News Rusty Burlew also takes a deep dive into the propolis discussion.
A new video has been released on the synergistic effects of pesticides. This presentation contributes to the discussion in my article in the October 2019 issue of Bee Culture magazine, featuring a discussion about what are called LD50 levels, provoking the following conclusion:
“In the current environment, testing for toxicity has become increasingly complex with increased use of formulated products, sometimes more risky than their main active ingredient alone. Potential registrants are also now being asked to look at larval versus adult honey bees, along with sub-lethal and /or chronic effects, and increasingly, exposure of non-target species. Fortunately, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to modify its risk assessment for pollinators, including bees. The current application environment also sports a bewildering number of tank mixes and various adjuvant possibilities that pose practical consequences when deployed in the field. After-the-fact mixing is possibly the most troubling application area, exacerbated by “pesticide cocktails” administered by “chemigation.” See the full article here.
Thanks again to Rosanna Mattingly (rosannamattingly@gmail.com) for continuing the efforts that Fran Bach put in over the years to bring the Western Apicultural Society’s News From the World of Bees to the wider beekeeping community.
I list below the title for each of the linked documents. They cannot be accessed directly from this newsletter. Some of the links may also be referenced in the actual text of this document.
Opinion: Will Mushrooms Be Magic for Threatened Bees?
Famed ‘bee man’ urges limits on home hives
Vaccine for Honeybees Could Be a Tool to Fight Population Decline
Male and female bees have radically different taste in flowers
We discovered more about the honeybee ‘wake-up call’ — and it could help save them
Genome Published of the Small Hive Beetle, a Major Honey Bee Parasite
SU Students Update Council On Berlin’s Bee Friendly Efforts
Honeybee foraging in differentially structured landscapes
Master Gardeners: A look at the nature and necessity of bees
FROM CATCH THE BUZZ
1. HONEY BEE GYNANDROMORPH WITH TWO FATHERS AND NO MOTHER
2. AG CROPS WILL SUFFER
3. EAS CALLS FOR AWARD NOMINATIONS AND RESEARCH PROPOSALS
4. What Soybean Farmers Should Do To Prevent Dicamba Damage
5. INSECTICIDE, MADE FROM OLIVE OIL, CREATES A BUZZ AROUND EUROPE
6. Plants’ Defense Against Insects is a Bouquet of Weapons
7. Major Pesticide Kill in South Africa with Fipronil – an Ant Poison
8. Farm bill mostly neutral on pollinators
9. France is the First Country to Ban all 5 Neonic Pesticides
10. Organic Food Worse for the Climate than Conventional Farming
11. Sioux Honey to Showcase Who Their Honey Comes From
Honey Bee Research in the US
Turning altruism into selfish behavior among honey bees
Dim the lights for some natural pollination
Pathogen shifts in a honeybee predator following the arrival of Varroa
Dietary Phytochemicals, Honey Bee Longevity and Pathogen Tolerance
Johnny Appleseed, Bees And The Changing Landscape
New Solar Farms Could Offer Sweet Source of Salvation
The role of city gardens in pollinator conservation
Flowers Sweeten Up When They Sense Bees Buzzing
88 Bee Genomes and 10 Years of Studying Apples and the Future of Pollinators
Bee surveys in newest US national park could aid pollinator studies
Wasps, cockroaches and crickets are pollinators too
Honey Bee Geneticist Robert E. Page Jr. Named UC Davis Distinguished Emeritus
UNL Bee Lab to offer beekeeping classes, educate
Woodland abuzzz over becoming a bee city
FROM Catch the Buzz:
1. COMPUTERS COULD TELL FARMERS AND OTHER LANDOWNERS WHERE TO PLANT
2. RESEARCH OFFERS INSIGHTS OF HONEY BEE CHROMOSOMES
3. RAW HONEY IS DRIVING NET GROWTH DUE TO THE POPULARITY OF THE PALEO DIET
4. MAKE SURE THE WORKERS ARE FED, AND THEY’LL TAKE CARE OF THE QUEEN
5. CALIFORNIA MONARCH BUTTERFLY POPULATION DOWN 86 PERCENT IN ONE YEAR
The above listing, though valuable to some, has been criticized for increasing this digest’s length. I am considering eliminating or reducing it, and wonder how the readership feels about that.
The organizers of the 46th Apimondia in Montreal (8-12 September) are pulling out all the stops to achieve a good attendance. An Ambassador Program has been created to jump start registrations. Ambassador-recruited attendees get a ten percent break on registration. The targeted date is 30 March 2019. This digest is applying to become an ambassador. Stay tuned and see full details of the program here.
There’s a lot going on in terms of research and development “Down Under.” Details can be found via the January 15, 2019 edition of BeeAware newsletter.
Exercise Bee Prepared is getting ready to face the inevitable, arrival of the Varroa mite sometime in the near future. It would indeed be a miracle if the mite would arrive in OZ and be met by an eradication program already in place featuring a mite-tolerant honey bee! That’s what the goal appears to be:
“The Australian and state governments and the beekeeping industry participated in Exercise Bee Prepared this year to improve their readiness to respond to a detection of varroa mite (Varroa destructor). For the exercise, Plant Health Australia facilitated a series of activities and discussion workshops to test the response to a detection of this serious pest of honey bees.
“The enthusiasm of the 275 participants helped make the exercise a success.
Between March and October 2018, the Australian Government and each state and territory government hosted an Exercise Bee Prepared activity to test varroa response arrangements and availability of resources. Participants worked together on a fictional scenario to develop a response strategy to eradicate varroa mite from a peri-urban environment. ”
Australia has always had a tradition of honey bee nutrition research and this is continuing. A recent report entitled “Reducing the Impact of Nosema and Viruses Through Improved Honey Bee Nutrition,” reveals the following:
“This research analyzed Nosema spp. and viruses in response to supplementary pollen feeding and different autumn foraging environments. The findings highlight the potential for increasing pollen availability in autumn as a disease management strategy, but question the cost-benefit of achieving this through prophylactic use of pollen supplements.
“The results highlight the prevalence of the serious bee disease N. apis, a microsporidial disease of adult bees. This disease has a major impact in terms of reducing the life span of adult bees and thus reducing the overall productivity of bee hives. In addition, the prevalence of Nosema disease during the winter months has the potential to seriously impact on the provision of bees for pollination services.
“This study found that providing supplementary pollen to colonies over autumn was not effective in improving colony health or reducing levels of N. apis, N. ceranae or viruses. However, colonies given access to foraging conditions with high pollen availability showed significant reductions in late winter pathogen levels. This finding supports the importance of natural sources of high quality pollen to reduce the impact of bee diseases. In practical terms, it means beekeepers should consider the nutritional value of the foraging environment when selecting apiary sites.”
And in an article entited: “A Buzzy Year for Honey Bee and Pollination Research,” the following is found linked to the Australian newsletter: “We have 12 unique R&D projects underway that range from increasing the value of Australian honey as a health food to the probiotic development for bees by analyzing gut bacteria in healthy bees, to name just a few.
“One of the year’s highlights was the findings of a three-year study into the small hive beetle (SHB), led by Queensland researcher Dr Diana Leemon, which found that a lantern trap, together with a simple yeast based attractant, could effectively intercept and trap the SHB before it reached an apiary. As the largest and leading apiary pest in warm, damp regions of eastern Australia, the SHB costs the industry $11 million on average per year. The project included the most comprehensive economic analysis of SHB ever undertaken, and provided a tangible outcome for industry to help manage the pest.
“As Chair of the Advisory Panel, Doug Somerville said a key benefit of the Honey Bee and Pollination Program is its ability to bring together industry, leading researchers and government to collectively find solutions.”
This month’s Bee-L discussion list includes 21 messages on the subject “description of honey,” which provides complementary information on the discussion last month relating to honey adulteration. An addition 21 messages look at Dr. Norman Gary’s contention that the urban beekeeping scene may be more crowded than thought, recommending folks limit the number of hives they manage.
This section is unique to this digest. The vast majority of information organs of this nature don’t mention, much less reference the Bee-L discussion list. How does the readership react to this? I am thinking of experimenting with it somewhat in the future to provide an experience not found elsewhere. Your reactions are solicited.
Always, check the latest extension efforts at the Bee Health Extension site. This month, Eric Venturini is featured from the University of Main, who has made a jump from managing fisheries to honey bees it seems. Check out the possibilities of being a citizen scientist associated with honey bees.
One hundred eighty six units of Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees second edition were reported sold on Amazon.com December 24, 2018 through January 20, 2019. Salt Lake City led the way.
From the editorial remarks to the second edition, “In this well-written guide, Dr. Sanford utilizes his years of experience to give straightforward, practical advice for the beginning beekeeper.” — Randy Oliver, ScientificBeekeeping.com
