Hive Vibes. Newsletter of the Appalachian Beekeepers. VOL VI March No. 3. Meeting the First Monday of Each Month

Transcription

1 Hive Vibes Newsletter of the Appalachian Beekeepers VOL VI March No. 3 Meeting the First Monday of Each Month 7 p.m. at Andrews Community Center Andrews, NC From the President: As the only person running for president, I got off easy I get to win the election without making any campaign promises! First off, I d like to tip my hat to Fred for the job he s done serving as president for the last several years. Fred has done a great job trying to keep the club active and moving. Thanks for all your hard work, Fred! It has not gone un-noticed or unappreciated. The club order of package bees will be arriving sometime during the last few days of March or first few days of April. Larry s supplier does not yet know the exact date the order will arrive. So look for an and/or phone call announcing the exact arrival date. The announcement may come less than a week before the order arrives. Thanks again, Larry, for getting the order together in the first place and then wrangling your supplier for the additional packages we needed! With package bees on the way soon, there are only a few weeks left during which to prepare for their arrival. You need to have everything ready before the packages arrive to ensure the easiest start possible for your bees (and yourself!). I have been known to go out the night before bees arrive and start preparing the spot where I plan to put the hive(s). Trust me, having the location picked out and set up days in advance is much better. Thank you, everyone who brought in photos of their hive locations for discussion. Hopefully the new-bees have a better idea of what to look for and consider when picking a hive location. Think it through carefully, because re-locating colonies can sometimes be a bit of a process. This is also the time to make sure you have all of the other supplies you ll need for the early season. Every year, I place an order for various equipment and supplies from Brushy Mountain and I usually wait too long before placing it and they usually have run out of at least one item I ordered. With the growing interest in beekeeping in the region, I would not be surprised if suppliers sell out of some things earlier than normal this year. If the company you normally order from has run out of what you need, start looking at other companies. 1 P a g e

2 Secretary's Notes from the March meeting...? We had 25 attendees. Hats are ordered. Woodenware for sale handout passed around. BeeWell Honey Farm may have packages left ($77 for a mated queen and 3# of bees). Watkins of Shadow Ridge had 10 nucs available last week. Brushy Mountain Beginner's class online. Check out hive installation videos on Youtube. Passed around contact sheet. Treasurer's report: $ after $41 deposit. Next meeting is April 4. Feeder discussion: Is fermentation a problem? Bag feeding: Pin holes will close up--use slits. Wax in a top feeder will prevent drowning--better bee grip. Boardman feeders (entrance feeders with the jar): Easy to use, easy to monitor. Problems with yellow jackets, can drip out relentlessly. Use a glass jar vs. a plastic jar with an entrance feeder. Frame feeders Lots of drowning. When to feed? Bees prefer natural food sources, so don't worry about over-feeding. There is NO WAGGLE DANCE for feeder sources; bees will have to stumble upon it by themselves. Bees need salt. Scatter some table salt for them. Photos of hive locations: discussions. Larry Stalcup demonstrated how to install horizontal support wires and crimp wire foundation. Election for VP: Larry Stalcup prevailed. Ron Hensley will make a giant honey dipper out of oak for the Office of the Presidency. 2 P a g e

3 Zack Stockbridge won the door prize: skep napkin holder. Next month, dues are due. April meeting (April 4) Being new on the job, I m not quite as on-the-ball as Fred has been in regards to planning out the agenda for the up-coming month s meeting so far in advance. Although a full agenda is not yet worked out, these things will be happening for certain: Welcome new slate of officers Discussion Points: How soon can I do a split? How do I do a split? Demo, especially for new-bees: Firing up a smoker (bring your smoker for practice) in the parking lot Swarm identification and prevention What type of care do I need to give my bees this early in the season (whether they are the packages which were just installed or hives coming out of winter?) Hat pricing B s Notes (My last one people) Thank you to all who have helped make my Presidency an enjoyable one. Congrats to our new slate of officers. The only change is that Zack is the Club s new President. Zack asked me to do a smoker demonstration at our April 4 meeting. I am asking for a couple more members to join me. We can show the new-bees that there is a myriad of usable items for cool smoke. March Hive Management Advice Make sure you have room for incoming nectar Install beetle traps Check for room-to-grow-at-the-top Add drone comb now Make sure screened bottom boards are open Bee Culture Calendar Have frames ready to replace any that you may cull during Spring cleaning. Replace 1/3 of the oldest frames each year 3 P a g e

4 Brushy Mountain April Requeen if needed Test for mites - to know your varroa load Watch for swarming behavior Bee Culture Calendar Bee Chronicles Mar 2011 Submitted by Glen Henderson, President of Mountain Beekeepers Try to remember the 19 th of April A not so late killer frost wiped out every blooming plant, both the blossoms and the leaves. Everything had bloomed early due to a similar early spring. The tulip poplar was running nearly a month early. The frost resulted in a complete loss of spring nectar. When the mountain laurel bloomed, there were no tree leaves so it bloomed more profusely than ever observed. The bees that survived collected the most abundant poisonous mountain laurel crop since I say the bees that survived because the hives were in full gear with brood and large populations of foragers. When the nectar flow stopped, immediately it took no time at all for the honey stores to be depleted and the bees to go into starvation mode. Some beekeepers did not react fast enough getting sugar syrup to the hives. Although mountain laurel honey will make people extremely sick, you will wish you could die; it does not bother the bees. You may know that bees go to the most lucrative source of nectar and pollen. Normally, mountain laurel is not an abundant source when the forest is full of other spring blooms. What should we be doing now to get ready for the results of all this good weather? First, keep the long johns handy. Second, expect the bees and blooms to come earlier than normal. This will make you speed up your spring work load such as getting additional hives ready. The queens are already laying eggs here in the southern Appalachian region. Now that henbit weed is blooming and there is new pollen, they will really start laying. This will exhaust the winter honey stores and require syrup feeding at least until the red maple starts to bloom. I only see swelling red buds now. They could bloom as early as three weeks from now (3rd week of March). Make sure you are doing your varroa mite reduction program. Don t let the mite population start growing too soon in the year. Keep them beaten down until honey collection time. Then when you stop treatment during honey collection, your hives will have a chance of not being too infested when the first dearth comes and you can treat again. 4 P a g e

5 You will also have early swarming concerns if the hives start building up earlier. This may be a bonus. Here in the mountains we are usually later in our population build up than south Georgia. The early build up will allow local beekeepers to split hives for themselves or for sale. There is another whole set of lessons of splitting bees for sale, splitting hives to grow new queens, managing hives with maximum population to induce queen growing (for yourself or sale). However, the TARGET is to NOT SWARM. If you let your hives swarm, the old productive queen and the foraging bees leave. This will slow down bee production and honey production in the colony left behind. Young queens don t lay as many eggs and young foragers aren t as industrious or efficient as old ones. This detrimental affect can be great enough to stop excess honey production in the old hive. Hence, no honey to rob for eating or sale. Sounds gloomy, but go out and work on your sun tan and get ready for a really good honey production season. BEE optimistic--the BEES are. In July Hive Vibes, the Hmmm section, I tossed out the thought has anyone looked into using nematodes to combat SHB? Well, according to University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Bulletin 1045, there are two types of predatory nematodes that will do just that. More detail in future issues. Fred I went to the presentation, Backyard Beekeeping at the Georgia Mountain Research and Education Center in Blairesville. It had a sub-title, Basics of Beekeeping. It was directed at not-yet-beekeepers who might want to get started in our hobby. The presenter was Jim Quick, UGA Entomology research professional and Master Beekeeper. It was all basic stuff, but I did get a couple of tidbits, and hopefully we got a few new members. Screen bottom boards - Done to reduce Varroa, may also reduce SHB Bees have to thin honey with water, so their body can process it Footprint pheromone on the landing board--lets arriving bees recognize This is my hive. Not all bees make propolis Fred Bernhardt H H H H H H H H H H H H H H Officers President: Zack Stockbridge Vice President: Larry Stalcup Secretary: Jen Stockbridge Treasurer: Joyce Bernhardt 5 P a g e

6 If you have an interest in bees/beekeeping, we hope you will join us and enjoy meeting and talking with others who share your interest Membership Application For Appalachian Beekeepers Date: Name... Address... City, State, Zip... Phone... Cell Individual-$12 Family-$17 Business-$25 (Ad) Mail to: Joyce Bernhardt, 325 Rolling Oaks Rd., Murphy, NC # RECEIPT Date... Amount $... Received from... For Membership dues prorated from date above to following April 1. Signed:... 6 P a g e

7 Hive Vibes Newsletter of the Appalachian Beekeepers Our Member/Advertisers 7 P a g e