We've had some warm temps lately, allowing our bees the opportunity for cleansing flights. Usually we have snow on the ground at this time of year and the cleansing flights are evidenced by yellow/brown spots in the snow. This year there's no snow, but two of my hives are pretty well marked by brown streaks caused by Nosema apis. That's a concern, but there's nothing I can do about it at this point. One member, also experiencing Nosema apis in some of his hives, is going to try mixing Fumagilin-B with sugar patties to see if that helps.
I treated all of my colonies with Fumagilin-B in their first feeding last fall, but apparently it didn't help those two colonies. If the Nosema load becomes too great in a bee, the bee may die. But even with less of a spore load the bee is weakened and its lifespan is decreased because it cannot absorb sufficient nutrients to stay healthy. The spores are spread throughout the colony through feces (when the bees can't get out for cleansing flights), and gets into the food supply. Other bees ingest the spores, and it's fed to the larvae through royal jelly. Eventually the whole colony can become sick and die. I'm hoping the essential oils in the sugar discs will help. Fumagilin-B is the only medication available for combating Nosema apis, which is a fungal disease that is brought into the hive on pollen. Fumagilin-B does not kill the spores, but it inhibits spore reproduction, thereby limiting the growth and spread of the disease. However; the University of Minnesota Bee Lab advises not to use it because it can exacerbate the disease. The UMN Bee Lab advises no treatment, just let it run its course. While running its course some of the bees, including the queen, may die. So it's a choice whether to treat or not. Our bees also carry Nosema cerenae spores. which is becoming more widespread than Nosema apis, and it was brought to our bees by the same folks that brought them Varroa Destructor, the Eastern (Asian) honey bee. And, like with the mite, our Western (European) honey bees have no adaptive defense or immunity.....yet. It is now thought by researchers that many of the instances of Colony Collapse Disorder and 'dwindling away' are due to Nosema cerenae. But because there's no streaks or other visible signs that the bees are carrying Nosema cerenae spores, we can only know by squashing bees and looking at their guts through a 400x microscope.
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As is oft repeated, "Ask 10 beekeepers a question, get 11 answers".
Yesterday, at our January 20 meeting, Daniel Ziehli, Wisconsin State Apiary Inspector, presented us with a talk on honey bee diseases and pests, and recommended an assortment of commercially available products to combat them. If I was a new beekeeper, or thinking of becoming a beekeeper, I’d have been overwhelmed with the various treatments and timetables for treatments, not to mention the expense. Because I found some his recommendations disturbing, and in conflict with Best Management Practices as I know them, I am sending this link to a pdf on the University of Minnesota Bee Lab's website. This pdf has to do with what their current research shows to be the best practices for prevention and control of diseases and pests. Some is in agreement with what we heard yesterday, and some of it is in direct contradiction. Another (albeit researched) opinion. https://www.beelab.umn.edu/sites/beelab.umn.edu/files/_2016_disease_pdf_version_s.pdf If you're new to the sport of beekeeping, don't get discouraged and overwhelmed. Study what's available and keep coming to the meetings. We discuss numerous alternative practices, and each beekeeper decides for her/him self which avenue they want to pursue. Gerard I'd like to remind everyone that hasn't already paid their 2018 annual ECWBA membership dues of $10.00 that it is payable to either George or Patti. Hopefully both will be at Saturday's meeting, or you can mail your dues to either. (I'll ask Patti to include mailing addresses in the Minutes she writes for the meeting which will be attached to the meeting recap newsletter.) Each paid membership entitles the member to one vote in officer elections and for any activities and expenditures where a vote is deemed necessary.
We will be voting for the offices of President and Secretary at our meeting on Saturday. Any member can nominate any other member, or herself/himself. Our current secretary, Patti, will provide voting slips and pencils or pens for ballots, if necessary. Sometimes there's only one candidate standing (the member that was slow in sitting down) and a vote isn't required. For those of you that haven't seen it yet, Fred has posted photos of our 12 frame extractor in its new home, the Rushford Meadery and Winery, on our blog. http://ourbeeblog.blogspot.com/ It's right on the front page for now, so take a look. There's still some cleaning required and some parts to be removed per Shane's request, and hopefully I can get out there within the next couple of days to see what needs to be done. I will also try to set up a date and time when we can convene at the Meadery so that those who want can meet Shane and Laurel and see the extractor up close and personal. But most all, a big thanks to Fred and Al for providing the heavy lifting to get it there! You may recall that in a recent newsletter I wrote about Nosema cerenae affecting our bees and how it's only detectable through a 400x microscope. A member responded to that newsletter and told me that he has a "pretty good" microscope and would be willing share his knowledge of microscopy. That member is Monty Belmer, he's a DVM with knowledge of microscopy......and owns a "pretty good" microscope. Monty has offered to bring his microscope and provide us with a presentation on microscopy at our February 17 meeting. It felt like spring this morning, but that's over with again for awhile. Back into the freezer! The past several days were quite nice and I imagined the bees were busy in the sugar and pollen patties I had gotten into the hives last Saturday in anticipation of the thaw. I'm glad I got it done.
8 of my 11 winter hives are still alive and I'm hoping to not have any further losses. Of course I didn't hope for any losses, but it's unrealistic to think that they'll all make it through a Wisconsin winter. Our bees face a lot of challenges with pests and diseases, and without the queen being able to replace many of the dying bees because they're clustered, the population dwindles and it's hard for them to keep warm. But, every year some colonies make it through to spring and rebuild the colony to full strength and cast off swarms to replace those colonies that were lost. And they've been doing this for 100 million years. That's a long time and a lot of adaptation. To provide us more information on bee pests and diseases, and how to hopefully improve our game, Daniel Ziehli, Wisconsin State Apiary Inspector, will be providing us with a presentation at our meeting on January 20. This is Daniel's off-season from apiary inspections, but he continues to serve the beekeeping community through educational talks. During the season, May through October, Daniel will assist beekeepers with free, voluntary hive inspections on a first come, first serve basis. Daniel will address a variety of issues that we face as beekeepers, and enlighten us on ways to deal with them. Daniel is here for us, when we request him, to analyze problems and offer suggestions for improvement. I've already asked Daniel about Nosema cerenae and if he has a microscope (remember my current obsession?), and although he doesn't personally have a microscope, he will provide us with resources (labs) that we can contact to analyze bee diseases. This extreme and extended cold period has kept the bees pretty tightly clustered, but several of my colonies had bees on the top bars eating sugar in the 10 F temperature today. Since there was no wind, I decided it was a good day to do quick checks of their food supplies before the forecasted January thaw arrives mid next week. They will surely be moving about then, filling up on honey/sugar, and taking cleansing flights, if the predicted 40 F does arrive.
The colonies all had at least ½ of a sugar disc on hand, and I added a second disc (a little over 1 lb. sugar per disc) and a pollen (substitute) patty to all. Some colonies were still in the deeps and hadn’t touched the sugar disc on the top bars, but to those I added a second sugar disc and a pollen patty as well. I’d rather err on the side of plenty. The queens will be laying eggs soon and protein is essential for brood rearing. The Fat Bees will produce royal jelly from the protein reserves in their bodies, and the protein in the patties will supplement the larvae’s need for protein. They may have enough stored pollen to meet their needs, but again, I prefer to err on the side of plenty. Today turned out to be a fortunate day for me to check the hives because there was frost in most of them under the winter covers. The amount varied from a little bit to a whole lot, and by a ‘whole lot’ I mean half the length and width of the winter cover with 1 1/2” thick frost. This gave me the opportunity to scrape it off and get it out of the hives before those warmer temperatures arrive and cause it to melt and drip on the bees. Dripping water with cold temperatures will kill bees. Some moisture is needed by the bees to thin honey and dissolve sugar, but when it builds up to an inch-thick sheet of frost across the bottom of a winter cover, that’s way too much. That’s death waiting to happen, and you may not know what killed your bees come spring. |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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