Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Lynn S Wilson <wilsonls AT esinc.net>]

"Natural is always best," was Dr. Vanessa Corby-Harris' s theme as she described her Tucson Bee Lab's efforts to improve supplements for bees.  To think about:   spring bees need spring pollen!   Insecticides like Intrepid that are insect growth regulators can activate the same hormonal pathways as starvation does.  One take-away:  how different beekeeping is in the harsh environment of Tucson since there's not much green growing.  The simplest solution to bee nutrition is to plant pollinator-friendly forage, she says.   There is some evidence that "neonics" negatively affect bee behavior, but, she says, a more interesting result of cost-benefit analysis:   neonics aren't helping farmers so much.

Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarly's conclusions from studying the effects of stress on honeybees?  The US trucks twenty billion bees around the country for pollination services ...the only country to truck bees on this scale.   She recommends local beekeeping to provide local pollination services.  

State bee inspectors, led by Don Hopkins, "have not been impressed with the honey flow this year."   Nancy Rupert and other inspectors noted that new beekeepers are struggling.  There's a lot of turnover.  We need new ways of teaching and more mentoring.   Lewis Cauble speculated that the mild winter may have contributed to increases in swarming.    Varroa mite problems have also presented earlier.  Good news:  500 beekeepers have already signed up on FieldWatch, NCDA's new online system for alerting pesticide-sprayers to the presence of bee hives.   

Dr. Marion Ellis instructed beekeepers:   "Spend as much time learning about plants as you do learning about your bees.   Learn to identify the flowers your bees feed on and keep records of bloom times."   The significance of bee friendly forage and pollination services were underscored by several speakers like Bill Sheppard.   More to think about:   bees don't recognize foundation as space.  

In a talk filled with practical steps, Dr. Ellis described how to manage bees for honey production so that the bee population peaks when the flow is on.  If it peaks too early, you'll have swarms; if it peaks too late you'll be feeding bees."  Reassuring for those of us who experienced swarms this summer, he said:   "If you don't have any swarming problems, you're not a very good beekeeper, because good beekeeping walks a fine line between swarming and optimal honey production."    Bees are most efficient, he said, when they focus on one task:   raising brood, swarming, or storing honey.  

Dr. Ellis also provided details of his use of Oxalic Acid, noting that "trickling" is his preferred application method, but emphasizing that it is only effective when there is no brood in the hive...not a very big window in Piedmont NC.   Buy approved-for-bee-use formulas, he said, because Brushy Mountain spent a lot of money to bring this product to market.   He recommends Brushy Mountain's site for all the details on how to use oxalic acid to treat for Varroa mites.   

A standing ovation took the Watauga County Bee Aware team off stage.   Their bee education efforts have taken them all over Watauga County to visit with beekeepers and Christmas tree growers, to Disney World for backstage help with interviewing skills, and to the White House where their stuffed honey bee got snatched by one of the President's family's dogs ... and retrieved by the Secret Service.   Watch this video and be amazed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG50UTPwu_w