Dear Subscribers,
The rains continue here in North Central Florida. We are now into June, when showers come regularly in the p.m., and are concerned that whatever nectar might have been left to forage for in May got washed away in the daily deluge of that record rainfall month. The temperature is more or less normal, breaking into the 90s, but as usual seems hotter due to moisture in the air, giving the “feel” of over a hundred humiture (heat index) most days. Our senior softball team here is suffering during the morning in the full Florida sun. Hurricane season is upon us here as we continue to cock our eye toward the tropics.
My partner has talked me into attending Dr. Leo Sharashkin’s two-day seminar in the Missouri Ozarks in September. He continues building equipment for his horizontal hive operation, attempting to instruct me in the finer details of wood working. The downside of using equipment that is not “standard” is often apparent as he struggles to control the bees entering and exiting the hive in places they are not “supposed” to. These insects will brook no part in his creative process.
Good news here in Gainesville is the official opening of the Honey Bee Research and Extension Laboratory’s brand spanking-new facility. Right now it’s all about “those windows.” The lab is composed of three buildings and has to be one of the biggest complexes of its kind in the country. Follow what’s happening real time on the facebook page and consider donating to the facility.
The release of the second edition to Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees is now slated for July 10, 2018. It’s been updated with photographs replacing many of the current drawings. The stories of beekeeping experiences have also been reworked and I’ve added a section, on additional strategies, looking at different archetypes of the craft. These alternative practices are becoming more predominant given the wide range of people who are becoming interested in not only the apicultural craft, but honey bees themselves. The publisher has cobbled together ten editorial reviews by trusted names in beekeeping to help promote the volume that can be viewed at the bottom of the Amazon web site. I plan an official roll out of the edition at EAS 2018 in Hampton, Virginia in August. As a side note, I am looking for possible room mate for the full event. See my entry under EAS 2018.
.
Several special presentations will be on tap in Virginia beyond the main conference. Frank Linton has put togettheir activities: .
“RHBA members will provide specific information regarding the history, breeding program, and management of the Russianher another issue of the successful electronic colony monitoring workshoAmazon web site. I plan an official roll out of the edition at EAS 2018 in Hampton, Virginia in August. As a side note, I am looking for possible room mate for the full event. See my entry under EAS 2018.
.
Several special presentations will be on tap in Virginia beyond the main conference. Frank Linton has put togetp, attended by a gaggle of interested folks in Missoula, Montana in 2014. The Russian Honey Bee Breeders (RHBA) will have a discussion of honey bee. We will also be presenting general information to help participants rear queens. Although our focus will be on smaller apiaries, RHBA members represent operations of several hundred to more then ten thousand colonies. RHBA members also represent diverse demographics including states with long winters and extremely hot summers.”
I have previously written about the RHBA’s promise, concluding that this program “…could be the envy of other queen breeders around the U.S. and perhaps the world. This opportunity has been provided to a great extent by the vision and effort of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, which continues to do the testing. It will be up to the certified’ members of the RHBA to maintain the stock’s integrity. All beekeepers should be cheering them on.”
National Pollinator Week is in full swing. Many are stepping up to the plate, including Bayer, which is partnering with Bee Culture and Project Apis m to put on some relevant webinars. Bee Culture is also offering some webinars of its own.
Loyal reader Al Summers sends the following:
“I’m forwarding you the latest announcement from FieldWatch..which is celebrating its’ 10th year of operation. Also in commemoration of National Pollinator Week.
“Colorado and I personally have been associated with FieldWatch since its’ inception..and I believe it to be an excellent, if not the best, example of all relevant stakeholders working together to arrive at mutually beneficial solutions for agricultural as well as pollinator sustainability in the U.S. FieldWatch developed a registry program specifically for beekeepers called BeeCheck I’d also like to suggest that you check-out the growing good neighbors initiative, which I believe helps illustrate how much more beneficial a neighborly approach is rather than ignoring or taking an adversarial approach toward our fellow stakeholders.”
“your honey,” which then can be used as promotional tool. The sky appears to be the limit here .
And then there’s the Bee DowFinally, Ron Miksha in his Bad Beekeeping Blog looks at some of the history of the celebration
and shows how to find out exactly what your governor proclaimed or didn’t about National Pollinator week. Governor Rick Scott of Florida put out pretty much of a boilerplate statement, but did at least do something.
It’s worth consulting other posts by Mr. Miksha.. See his comments on the new Canadian Honey Bee stamps that are: “Colourful and comical, yet ominous in portending a future where robotic bees will do our pollinating after these bees are extinct. At least, the bumble bees on these stamps look like robotic bees to me. Nevertheless, these are “Bee” stamps, as it declares on my purchase receipt. You can decide if these images look more like robots than fuzzy buzzers, or if the artwork reflects the cubistic intent of its maker, Toronto artist Dave Murray. I’ll admit that I like the design, irregular though it may bee.”
More and more outfits are renting and/or installing honey bees for the general public. This makes some sense given the craft of beekeeping has become increasingly more difficult and complex.
The French outfit “Bee Label” is looking to sponsor colonies, by actively managing them, installing hives on roofs if wanted, and connecting them via electronic monitoring devices. They will even custom extract and bottlentown model, selling custom hives that are “hand painted by local artists with the company’s logo displayed front and center.” Hives are managed by one of their “full time Bee Downtown beekeepers.” A fail-safe policy ensures that struggling colonies will be replaced.
“All honey produced by your hive is yours to keep. Think of it as a ‘sweet treat’ from the bees! We collect and extract the honey from your hive and store it in food grade buckets. You have the choice of bottling the honey yourself or, for a small fee, Bee Downtown will bottle and custom label it.”
Finally, “Bee Downtown and participating companies, are collectively working together like a hive, to rebuild the vital bee population with a full service sustainability and employee engagement solution for corporations looking to create a positive environmental impact and bring a one of a kind opportunity for employees to their campus.”
Fran Bach continues to post her “items for beekeepers”:
NATIONAL HONEY BOARD SURVEY – TO MEASURE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF HONEY INDUSTRY – BUT HURRY! (deadlline was June 15—still may be time)
DECODING THE HONEY BEE DANCE COULD LEAD TO HEALTHIER HIVES
HAS MEETS IN ST. LOUIS IN JULY. FANTASTIC LINE-UP OF SPEAKERS!
APPLE GROWER POLLINATION PRACTICES AND PERCEPTIONS OF ALTERNATIVE ALTERNATIVE POLLINATORS IN NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA
BEE JOBS
June 17, 2018:
WHAZZUP WAS! 2018 CONFERENCE AUGUST 3 – 5
BIP LAUNCHES FORST SOCIAL SCIENCE SURVEY – PLEASE PARTICIPATE!
HOW DO VARROA MITES FEED ON BEES?
DRIFT
BEEHIVE SOLAR PROJECT DRAWS OPPOSITION
TWO HEALTHY BEES 2020 WEBINARS DURING POLLINATOR WEEK. COMMERCIAL BEEKEEPING PLANS AND DEFORMED WING VIRUS UPDATE
BEE JOBS
The June 2018 postings for the Bee-L Discussion digest include 24 for “Nursing protects honeybee larvae from secondary metabolites of pollen” and almost as many for “Darwinian Beekeeping.” The latter discussion emanates partly from Dr. Tom Seeley of Honeybee Democracy fame (Seeley TD (2017). Darwinian Beekeeping: an evolutionary approach to apiculture. American Bee Journal), and a more recent paper in Bee World:
(Blacquière, T., & Panziera, D. (2018). A plea for use of honey bees’ natural resilience in beekeeping).
Related to Darwinian Beekeeping is the concept of attempting to conserve so-called “native” honey bees that are better suited to certain environments. If anyone should be able to do it, you would think Scotland might succeed. And “A new project has been launched to identify and count native Scottish honey bees in an effort to save the hardy and ‘mild-tempered’ insects from extinction. Native honey bees have been around since the end of the ice age and are specially adapted to thrive in Scotland’s harsh climate. Research has shown they possess many beneficial traits, including mild temper, above-average activity levels at lower temperatures, good nectar-gathering and improved ability to survive Scottish winters.
Unfortunately, populations of those bees have crashed in recent years due to cross-breeding with other races or subspecies and attacks by a deadly parasite (Varroa destructor). Unfortunately, beekeepers bringing in stock contribute to this process.
This kind of breeding strategy has a better chance of surviving on islands, where introductions can be controlled. Cuban beekeepers have been able to do this principally due to a high degree of regulated activity. This is not an effort to conserve one specific subspecies. Rather Cubans are attempting to simply breed a “criollo” bee that survives certain conditions that exist on the island.
Another smart phone app is being developed in New Zealand. Not released yet, these apps are multiplying like weeds. I am managing a running list of them found on a patreon page
A Canadian report emphasizes that dieg sugar water as replacement can result in dietary stress, along with higher susceptibility to pesticide damage. This is particularly problematic in winter bees, which have a changed gut structure different than found in summer bees. Researchers a looking at feeding so-called “probiotics.”
Pollinating drones are on the horizon it seems. Not everyone is convinced that this is a good idea:
The 2018 Transeair Cuban Beekeeping Tour continues taking registrations. It is scheduled for November 10-18 with limited space is available. Learn all about Honey “Made in Cuba” for Export. “Since the successful November 2017 tour, we have decided to again arrange a unique, customized Tour, featuring visits to apiaries, queen producers, processing plants, research centers, and packaging plants.
“This is a fully inclusive tour arranged with the cooperation of the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture including: island transportation, hotels, meals,and full touring program. Thus you will also visit highlights in the provinces of Havana, Cienfuegos, Matanzas and Santa Clara.” See the itinerary and application.
The furor over what is being called “fake news” is bleeding over into many areas. I recently read The Death of Expertise . Here are three reviews:
“Nichols expands his 2014 article published by The Federalist with a highly researched and impassioned book that’s well timed for this post-election period… strongly researched textbook for laymen will have many political and news junkies nodding their heads in agreement.” — Publishers Weekly
Here is a book that not only acknowledges this reality, but takes it head on. Persuasive and well-written, The Death of Expertise is exactly the book needed for our times.” — Ian Bremmer, President and Founder, Eurasia Group
“Americans are indifferent to real journalism in forming their opinions, hoaxes prove harder to kill than a slasher-flick monster, and the word ‘academic’ is often hurled like a nasty epithet. Tom Nichols has put his finger on what binds these trends together: positive hostility to established knowledge. The Death of Expertise is trying to turn back this tide.” — Dan Murphy, former Middle East and Southeast Asia Bureau Chief, The Christian Science Monitor
One of the ways of dealing with the current information environment is to actually have the option of paying for good information. Crowd sourcing is one of the possibilities. That’s partly what I created with my patreon page, asking potential “patrons” to spend a dollar per creation as a testimony to the validity of the information presented.
Another way to establish legitimacy is to be recommtary issues and pesticide application need more attention when considering honey health. Beekeepers harvesting honey and feedinended by newsletters such as this. For example, a website that doesn’t get a lot of play is in fact one of the most prestigious around and a pioneer in the international apiculture field, Apiservices.biz run by my colleague Gilles Ratia, ex president of The World Apicultural Congress, Apimondia. The number of sponsors is really quite incredible as are the statistics: “The ‘Virtual Beekeeping Gallery’ is the biggest beekeeping server in the world. We have over 400,000 visits per month and it is, for the last 20 years, “THE portal site” for the beekeeping sector! Take it from me, s worth a look!
As usual, visit the Honey Bee Health Extension page to see what is new. The Honey Bee Health coalition’s videos on Varroa control are worth a look.
Sixty four units of Storey’s Guide to Keeping Honey Bees were sold on Amazon.Com May 21 to June 17. Salt Lake City led the way. Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota said the following about the second edition, “Confused by all the different opinions on how best to keep bees? This guide will provide a bright light on your beekeeping journey.”it’
