August, and that means treating our bee colonies for Varroa if we want them to have a chance at overwintering. The Fat Bees won't be born until September, and the idea is to have their nurse bees as virus-free as possible so they don't pass viruses on to the Fat Bees which need to live through a Wisconsin winter. To do that, the colonies need to be treated for Varroa by mid-August. We'll talk about treating the Fat Bees for Varroa as we approach late fall. I treated all of my colonies on July 29 with FormicPro. From the results of using FormicPro in early June, I'd say it works quite well. I did some 24 hour sticky board samplings recently and the results varied from zero to eight mites, well below the treatment threshold after two months. It's important to treat all colonies in an apiary at the same time, even if a mite count is zero. A zero mite count in a sampling does not mean the hive is mite-free. It isn't. It just means the level is very low, and that's a good thing. Untreated colonies are incubators for mites, and the populations will explode exponentially during August and September. Knock them down now. A phenomenon that can occur if a hive is left untreated is the Varroa Bomb. With exponential growth in August and September the population of mites can overwhelm the colony and the bees abandon their mite infested home (abscond). This is not swarming, or anything like it. This is bees taking off in a hurry, abandoning brood and food, and finding new homes in other hives and bringing their mites with them. That's why even those of us that treat in August also need to treat in September and October/November. And that's why I, and others, suggest that if you don't treat for Varroa to pour soapy water over the bees in your hive in early September to sacrifice that one colony to save many more. Beekeepers need to be responsible not only for the bees in their hives, but for all honey bee colonies, both managed and feral. I, for one, have declared war on Varroa. Besides the two FormicPro treatments this year, I have Apiguard (thymol based) on order for a September treatment and lots of oxalic acid for vapor treatments in late fall/early winter. There are other Varroa treatments available, these are just the ones I chose for this year. I hope they help. Looking around my area, there's sunflowers, sweet white clover, black-eyed Susans, coneflowers, purple loosestrife, and a bunch of other plants in bloom. Bull thistle and goldenrod are still a few weeks off, and those herald the end of the honey season. We may get a good flow with goldenrod, but that will be pretty much all She wrote for this year. Then it's harvest time for those that harvest at the end of the season. We talked about harvesting techniques at our last meeting, and I did get a fume board to try out this year. Bees are not happy with us stealing their honey ever, but in fall they get really upset. They see the honey as their winter food and will defend it. By using some of the techniques we discussed at the meeting we reduce the likelihood of a major sting event. For those of you who are pretty happy that you didn't have to use your smoker once this year and that your bees are calm and gentle, I'd have it lit and at the ready, just in case. For a little more sting protection insurance, I just washed my gear (again) with added bleach. I really like the feel of a fresh bee jacket and bee britches, but mostly I wanted to get the alarm pheromones washed out. I had noticed several spots on the back of the jacket and on the veil where bees had stung, and the "sting here" pheromones would still be present. Weakened, but still present. Any ECWBA member that would like to use the ECWBA extractor located at the Rushford Meadery and Winery, contact Pam to coordinate dates and times with Shane. [email protected] Now is the time to start keeping a watch out for yellow jackets around your hives. As we head into fall they will try to get into the hives for larvae. Wasps eat mostly sugars during the spring and summer, much like bees, but in fall they need lots of protein, much like bees. Yellow jackets can mimic the scent of a hive and gain entrance. If they like what they sense in the hive, they go and get the rest of their colony and can completely decimate a colony in a few hours. Our only defense mechanism (that I'm aware of) to help the bees guard their hive is to install an entrance reducer. This is always a tricky time for me. I don't want to reduce the entrance if there's a flow on, and I don't want them exposed if the yellow jackets are hunting. (I want the bees to have as easy access as possible to maximize building up stores of honey and pollen.) So I visit the bees often and watch. When yellow jackets start going in and out with impunity, the reducers go on, regardless. So far I haven't lost any colonies to yellow jackets, but a friend lost 3 out of 4 colonies when he was late checking on his bees. Don't be late. Our next meeting is on National Honey Bee Day, August 18. We do not have an Event scheduled, but Linda DeNell, director of the Caestecker Library, had offered us the use of the library if we wanted to hold something there. Nothing was forthcoming, so it will be a regular meeting at 9:30 a.m. The meeting will be a good time to talk about Fat Bees, their need for protein and how we can help, and other winter preparations. By mid-September our bees will be in a dearth of nectar and pollen that will last until May, with only a very few plants able to provide them with anything until the first killing freeze arrives. Feeding will become important to make sure they get to winter weight and strength. We'll be talking about that. We'll pick up the conversation then. I have attached the current apparel list. If you're interested in any ECWBA gear, contact Laurie and she will try to have it ready at the next meeting (if ordered far enough in advance). These are custom ordered, so order ahead. You can contact Laurie at: [email protected] or [email protected] I'll see some of you at the Fair, and hopefully more at the meeting. Gerard
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This is a very short newsletter, mainly to get Patti's meeting notes from the July 21 meeting, and the Green Lake County Fair sign-up sheet, to all of you. Notice in Patti's meeting notes under new business that the ECWBA is considering not participating in future Events due to lack of participation by the membership. Part of the mission of the ECWBA is to bring what we know about bees and beekeeping to the general public, and it would be good to have several members representing the ECWBA at all times during the Event. It's a poor message to the general public when the booth has no members present (as happened at Walleye Weekend). That said, this is your opportunity to vote for the continuation of having a presence at Events by signing up for the Green Lake County Fair on Aug. 2 - 5. Sign up for one or several slots if you can. The more members in the booth at any given time, the more the general public will view this as something of interest. This will be discussed more at upcoming meetings and a formal vote taken within the next several months. It would be sad to see our visibility at Events come to an end, but the ECWBA can't continue to depend on only 6 or 7 members to carry the load. Sincerely, Gerard Schubert, President attachments: July 21 Minutes; GLCF sign-up sheet
I didn't make it to the morning session of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association summer convention on Saturday, but I did make the afternoon session with Dr. Dennis vonEnglesdorp. It seems every time I attend one of these sessions I have to unlearn something. This time it was comb, and that collected data shows that bees have a higher survival rate on 5 year old comb. Changing comb after 3 years is not a good practice anymore, according to the data.
He did say that the higher mortality rate associated with newer comb could be due to less experienced beekeepers having newer comb (new beekeepers), but there's thought now that older comb contains more propolis and perhaps fungi, and other things, that are beneficial. He, and his researchers, are starting to look at comb as a living thing with a beneficial relationship to bees. And his recommendation for dead-outs? Put the comb on a colony (a split, package, whatever) right away. If you don't have an immediate use for it, freeze it until you do. I missed his talk on Varroa, but he reiterated some of the major points from his morning session. He mentioned about how Varroa attach themselves to the underside of the bees (the left side, specifically) and feed on the bees' "fat bodies". The fat body is an organ, and plays an important role in fighting disease and sustaining the "Fat Bees" through winter. His recommendation: treat at least 3, better 4, times per year, and alternate treatments. He suggested Apivar in early spring before the honey flow, formic acid later in the summer to mid August, a thymol based product after the supers are off and the honey season is over, and an oxalic acid treatment in late fall/early winter. Pretty much what our State Apiary Inspector, Dan Ziehli, said when he spoke at our early spring meeting. I wrote a bit about Fat Bees last year, and once again, these are the bees that will make it through winter, or not. It's imperative that they're healthy and well fed from egg stage on in order to have a chance. The Fat Bees will develop in September in our region, and the bees that raise them need to be disease free so as to not pass viruses on to the developing Fat Bees through royal jelly. The Fat Bees will need tons of protein to develop the fat bodies that will nourish them in the winter cluster, and help them to fight disease. These fat bodies are also essential for the bees to have protein to feed developing larvae through the winter and in early spring. In order to help them out, we, the beekeepers, need to treat our colonies to bring down the mite load to reduce the risk of transmission of viruses by mid-August. This will help the bees, that will be nurse bees for the Fat Bees, to have fewer viruses. Then, when the flowers are dwindling as winter approaches, we can offer the Fat Bees pollen patties or other forms of protein. In September, after the honey supers are off, a thymol treatment will help to bring down the mite level again. And in late October/early November an oxalic treatment should knock down any mites that have gotten into our hives from other colonies absconding (CCD) and taking up residence in our hives. (Beekeepers that are not going to treat their colonies for mites can help prevent this by pouring soapy water over their bees when the supers are off. A dead bee can't relocate.) So even though the honey supers aren't off yet and the bees are still making honey, we must look ahead and prepare for the next step. Decide on a management strategy and get the supplies you'll be needing. If you have just a few colonies that will be going into winter, buddy up with another beekeeper to share the cost of supplies to buy in larger, usually cheaper, quantities. Helping bees to stay alive in their current environment takes time and money, but if they survive the winter, that's money in your pocket with a colony that will build up faster, and be more productive, than yet another package. At our August 21 meeting (this coming Saturday) we'll talk about harvesting honey and fall Varroa treatments. We will also be discussing our Green Lake County Fair booth and signing up for time slots to represent the ECWBA during the Fair's run August 2 - 5. And if there's any interest in holding an Event of some sort on National Honey Bee Day, August 18, bring your ideas up at the meeting. August 18 is our scheduled meeting day for August, but perhaps a presence at some venue in the area would be nice. July 21 meeting: Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m. That's all I've got for now. See you Saturday. Gerard I hope that everyone that made it to D's Field Day found it fun and informative. Thank-you D! I didn't attend because I had scheduled Saturday morning to do hive checks in my home apiary. Unfortunately, with a day job and life's other obligations, I can only participate in so many activities.
My strongest colonies are making honey, and I was able to rob them of 6 capped frames. 4 came from Hive 4, the survivor colony that I had made a 1:1 walk-away split from at the end of April, and 2 came from hive 8, the split. My other two survivor colonies, and two package colonies (Buckfasts), have a good number of 55% - 85% capped frames so I'm hoping to be able to do a small extraction in about a week. We are having great honey-making weather. Hot and dry. My records show we had similar weather in 2012, and I extracted 240 lbs. ((20) gallons) from my lone Langstroth hive that year. It was my first year with a Langstroth, and I started it with a 3 lb. package with a Carniolan queen. We haven't had a repeat of that weather until now. May it last. (And I haven't had a repeat of that kind of harvest.) Honey has to be at 17% moisture content, or less, when bottled in order to prevent fermentation. That's the moisture level the bees cap honey at, so if you extract fully capped frames your honey should be fine. (I sometimes take frames at 95% capped as long as I have a majority of frames at 100%, and have never had a problem.) But if you really want to know the moisture level of your honey, the ECWBA owns two refractometers that can be checked out from member Mark Ingram. I'm not sure how to bring the moisture level down if it's too high, but at the end of the season when I have "unripe" honey, I give it away to people that I know will consume it before it has time to ferment. (And I tell them it's not ripe and to use it up quickly. No one has yet refused.) Just for fun, let's do a little math. It takes 2,000,000 blossoms to make 1 lb. of honey. There's 3 lbs. of honey in a quart, so 6,000,000 blossoms are required to produce a quart of honey. An average honey bee can produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. There's 192 teaspoons in a quart. So it takes the lives of 2,306 honey bees to produce that same quart of honey. And this doesn't take into account all of the honey that was produced and consumed to raise the brood, power all of those bees, and build comb. At any given moment, a strong hive has around 50,000 honey bees in residence at the height of summer. Around 30% - 40% of those bees are foragers, but not all are gathering nectar for honey. Some are foraging for water, some for pollen, some for propolis, and some for substances that we don't know what they are.....yet. So it takes a strong, healthy colony to be able to produce "excess" honey which we can harvest, leaving enough for them for winter. Back to D's Field Day. Apparently the State Inspector found some brood that tested positive for American Foul Brood (AFB). It was at a low level and MAYBE could have been turned around with oxytetracycline (requires a prescription from a veterinarian), but D wasn't going to take a chance of it gaining strength and spreading to her other colonies, so she did a burning. I don't know the details, but D said she'll write the story out for us, which I will pass along. AFB is rare today. It was more our grandfather's nemesis than ours. We have Varroa. AFB spores are easily spreadable and can wipe out an entire apiary quickly, and can remain viable for 50 years. Once the spores are in a hive, the nurse bees inadvertently feed them to the larvae which then rot into mush. (AFB only affects larvae.) As the spore count increases and spreads, more larvae succumb, and eventually there's not enough adult bees emerging to carry on and the colony collapses. And as bees come in contact with other bees from other hives, the spores are spread colony to colony. If you see dark, sunken brood cappings, or perforated cappings, and detect a "foul" odor during your inspections, you can either do the "rope test" with a toothpick or call the State Apiary Inspector to check it out. AFB is truly nothing to ignore. It is a devastating disease and won't cure itself. It is also a reportable disease and any incidences must be reported to the State Apiary Inspector. So where did it come from? Perhaps it was carried with the package bees that D started the colony with, perhaps it was from contact with a bee from another apiary. We may never know for sure, but hopefully Dan, the State Apiary Inspector that was at D's Field Day, will trace it back to the source. Next Saturday, July 14, is the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association summer meeting and everyone is invited. There is a $20.00 charge which includes lunch. Sign-in starts at 8:00 a.m. with the proceedings beginning at 9:00 a.m.. The meeting will be held at Lions Hall, 145 Dearborn Street, Redgranite, WI. The keynote speaker is Dr. Dennis van Englesdorp from the University of Maryland and he will be speaking on bee health and Varroa control. For further information visit: https://www.wihoney.org/meetings-and-events/spring-district-meetings/meetings-events/ Also on July 14, Honey Bee Ware is sponsoring a Customer Appreciation picnic at Lions Park, N1089 Municipal Drive, Grennville, WI, 54942 from 11 - 3. It's a family thing, so bring the kids and grandkids if you decide to attend. July 21 we will be returning to our regular meeting schedule on the third Saturday of the month at Caestecker Library in Green Lake at 9:30 a.m. We will have general beekeeping discussions and organizing for the Green Lake County Fair. We will discuss what this year's booth will look like, and Laurie will have a signup sheet available for members to sign up for time slots. There's no limit as to how many you can take. August 2 - 5 is the Green Lake County Fair, and the ECWBA will be there! See you on the 21st! Gerard |
ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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