Smoker Signals Coming this month‌ COBA Board Meeting May 9, 2011 at 7:00 pm Rothenbuler Lab, OSU Waterman Farms, 2501 Carmack Rd Columbus, OH 43210 All members are invited to attend. COBA Annual Pancake Breakfast and Plant Swap 9:00 am - 12:00 noon, Northland Masonic Temple, 5885 Cleveland Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43229 .
Volu
May 2011
Honey Characteristics Contributed by Joy Voorhees
It is important for beekeepers to understand honey characteristics. The most critical is moisture (water) content. Honey should have a moisture content less than 18.6% for storage and quality. Ninety-five percent of the solids (non-water part) in honey are carbohydrates, which are primarily simple sugars (mono-saccharides). The sugar composition is dependent upon the type of nectar and the effects of the bee’s enzymes and acids on the honey.. Honey also contains acids which are predominately gluconic acid, which is a product of converting nectar into honey. This gives honey an average pH of 3.9 (pH ranges from 0 to 14, with a neutral pH of 7). There are also very small trace amounts of minerals, including ash. Darker honeys have a higher mineral content than lighter honeys. Honey contains some enzymes, predominately invertase (which converts sucrose to free glucose) and glucose oxidase (which converts glucose to gluconolactone), which are added by the bees to convert nectar to honey. In addition, there are small quantities of proteins, the amounts and types of which are dependent upon the kind of honey. Finally, honey does contain some B vitamins and vitamin C.
Inside this issue:
COBA Tee Shirts Presidents Corner
2
Honey Trivia
3
Bee Garden
4
Anyone who would like to order a yellow COBA tee shirt or sweat shirt (this is a fund raiser for the club) please print the online order form and mail to Kim Flippen with your payment. We need to order a minimum of 10 items to place the order we currently have 2 items ordered. Once we have the number or items needed I will send an email asking for any last orders before submitting the order. I will advise when the orders will be ready. If you are not able to attend the monthly meeting or one of the bee yard meetings I will make other arrangements to get your shirts to you. My home address and phone numbers are listed below. If you have any questions please feel free to call or email me. Prices are as follows: short sleeve tee shirts $12.00, long sleeve tee shirts $14.00, sweat shirts $20.00, For more information, and to order one of the t-shirts, please visit our Membership Information page.
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Smoker
Presidents Corner Dana Stahlman, President
COBA Annual Pancake Breakfast 9:00 am - 12:00 noon Northland Masonic Temple, 5885 Cleveland Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43229. There will also be a plant swap at the same time.
May is an important month in the “beekeeping year.” By this time, most of you have either replaced your bees if you experienced a “dead-out” over the winter, or have started a new hive if you are a first-time beekeeper. COBA has a vested interest in helping you succeed as a beekeeper. Success depends upon a number of things. Honey bees require attention, and if you do not give attention at the right times, honey bees in many cases will go into winter in poor shape to survive the long Ohio winter. COBA’s greatest asset is its BeeYard located at Waterman Farm on the OSU campus, and the education which the BeeYard provides to members. “Fun in the BeeYard” is now in its third year. Everyone who has visited the BeeYard comes away with practical beekeeping experience, which supplements classroom instruction. Our BeeYard leaders, John George and Bill Tolliver, have an understanding of issues facing new and experienced beekeepers. Using demonstrations with COBA bees, they help members grow their knowledge of bees and learn what to expect from their own bees. COBA has a great team of leaders. I will be using the newsletter as an opportunity to introduce you to and highlight the skills of the various leaders in our club. First is Jody Croley Jones, our Web Manager. When I became president of COBA, one of my first priorities was to improve communication with the membership. Prior to last year, our Web Site was static and our newsletter was published sporadically. Jody has been instrumental in making our Web Site a valuable resource which both informs members about our club, and also provides links to information about other clubs, organizations, and resources. She and her husband Mike are “second year” members of COBA.
We are fortunate to have found someone with the ability to develop and maintain an interactive Web Site. Jody is a professional Web developer who works at OSU. Keeping a Web Site current is a difficult job, and Jody and her husband Mike put in many hours on behalf of COBA. Jody is currently working on revisions to the Web Site to make it more functional for members, and she is preparing new Web Site material for the COBA board to review. She is also in the process of assisting with the development of a membership roster with photos of members so that members can get to know each other. This is becoming more important as our organization is growing. . On behalf of COBA, I would like to thank Jody for the significant improvement she has made to our Web Site and overall improved COBA communications and outreach. We look forward to the continued improvements she will make to our Web Site. Next month I would like to share information about the expanded role of our secretary, Gail Walter. She is also a new member to the COBA board having been elected last fall for a two year term. You will hear me talking a lot about people who make COBA a “we” organization rather than an “I” organization. We are looking for the future leaders of COBA. Regardless of how long you have been a member of COBA, seniority is not a criteria for running for a COBA office, or being a chairperson of one of our many committees. If you have a skill you want to share with us, please feel free to approach me and discuss your desire to be more involved.
Volume 1, Issue 5
Honey Trivia contributed by Dan Wampler
We are pleased to present a whole bunch of trivia in regard to honey! You can truly amaze your teachers, friends, and co-workers with these important facts. How many flowers must honey bees tap to make one pound of honey? About two million flowers, give or take. How far does a hive of bees fly to bring you one pound of honey? More than 55,000 miles. How much honey does the average worker honey bee make in her lifetime? About 1/12 of a teaspoon. How much honey would it take to fuel a bee’s flight around the world? About one ounce (or two Tablespoons); no carry-on luggage is allowed! How fast does a honey bee fly? About 15 miles per hour. What is mead? Mead is wine made from honey. How many sides does each honeycomb cell have? Each cell is a six-sided hexagon. What state is known as the beehive state? Utah. What is the U.S. per capita consumption of honey? On average, each person consumes about 1.31 lbs. How many wings does a honey bee have? Each honey bee has four wings. How many beekeepers are there in the United States? There are an estimated 150,000 hobby beekeepers in the United States. How many honey-producing colonies of bees are there in the United States? The USDA estimates that there are approximately 3 million honey producing colonies in the United States. This estimate is based on beekeepers who manage five or more colonies. How many flowers does a honey bee visit during one collection trip? A worker bee visits about 50-100 flowers during each trip. How do honey bees "communicate" with one another? They communicate by "dancing." Honey bees do a dance which alerts other bees where nectar and pollen are located. The dance explains direction and distance. Bees also communicate with pheromones, a unique odor common to the particular beehive. What does "super" mean to a beekeeper? Supers are the hive boxes in which honey is stored, usually placed above the deeper box called the "hive body", where brood is reared.
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COBA Officers President Dana Stahlman stahlmanapiaries@aol.com Vice President Terry Eddy facilitymanagementsupport@ hotmail.com Secretary Gail Walters gailwalter@columbus.rr.com Treasurer Barry Conrad barry@hiveandhoney.com One-Year Trustees Pat Chamberlain jimpat28@sbcglobal.net Mike Hatter mike.hatter@yahoo.com Joy Voorhees voorhees3@ameritech.net Two-Year Trustees Nina Bagley ninabagley@me.com John George jkgeorge1@roadrunner.com
Central Ohio Beekeepers Association: http://centralohiobeekeepers.org/
Please keep your email address current. If there are any changes in your email address, please send them to COBA Secretary, Gail Walter at gailwalter@columbus.rr.com. Thanks!
Pancake Breakfast and Plant Swap Coming Date:
May 14, 2011
Location: Northland Masonic Temple, 5885 Cleveland Ave., 43229
Columbus, OH
Time: 9:00 to 11:15 a.m. The COBA Pancake Breakfast and Plant Swap is a great time to see your old beekeeper friends that have been hibernating during the long cold winter and all the new beekeepers that have just graduated from our Spring Beginning Beekeeper School. Our breakfast is free to all COBA members and their families and includes sausage, pancakes, coffee, milk, and juice. The timing of the breakfast makes it the perfect occasion for a plant swap. Buy a six pack of veggies but only need four? Working your perennial beds and need to do some thinning? This is a cheap way to add variety to your garden. Bring in your extras and take home something new for your flower bed or garden. Directions: from I-270 take exit #27, Cleveland Ave. Go south 1.1 miles and the building will be on the right. Parking and entrance are in the rear of the building.
Dan Wampler poppawamp@hotmail.com
Summer Meeting of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association: June 11 Location: South Range Middle School 7600 South Range Road, Salem, Ohio, 44460 Coffee, doughnuts and registration will be from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. There is no pre-registration. The meeting be in the form of an all day conference, lasting until 4:00.
We are very lucky to have Dan O’Hanlon as the keynote speaker. He will be speaking on “How to Raise Queens and Save the World.” Dan is one of the most interesting and knowledgeable speakers in the beekeeping industry today. Along with Dan, we will have several wellknown speakers for the breakout sessions. We hope that you can join us for this meeting. Many COBA members attended last year.