Medway & Millis localtownpages
Vol. 2 No. 4
Free to Every Home and Business Every Month
June 1. 2011
Four Towns Out to End Cancer
What’s the Buzz? In Swarming Season, Remember to Protect Beneficial Honeybees BY J.D. O’GARA It’s late spring or early summer. You see something moving, and you realize it’s a cluster of bees. They are swarming. Why do they do it, and what do you do?
3MN Relay for Life June 10-11th at Medway Middle School
According to Tony Luleck, the President of the nonprofit Norfolk County Beekeepers Association (NCBA), the last thing you should do is kill them.
BY J.D. O'GARA Colleen Sullivan is a supertrooper. That's the name of her team in the Relay for Life, benefitting the American Cancer Society, which she has been doing, she says, "since the beginning, in 2003." Sadly, Colleen lost both of her parents to cancer, so when she found out about the Relay for Life, she figured it was the cause she wanted to support.
“A natural thing that happens during the springtime is swarming,” says Luleck, who is also President of the Holliston Garden Club and Director of the Holliston Agricultural Commission. “When that happens, the bees need to take up a residence somewhere. We get a lot of calls to catch swarms.” Luleck says that swarming, which is not something to fear, is very common from about May 15 until July 15. According to the NCBA website, honeybee swarms can be found in trees, homes, barns or sheds. Honeybees, when swarming, are searching for a suitable place to build a hive. In the meantime, they will gather into a tight ball and form a temporary cluster virtually anywhere they can land, while they send out scouts to
Honeybees pollinate about 80% of all planats, and in May were a featured discussion of the Millis Garden Club. Here are Will Cote’s bees, at Bogastow Farm.
find a more permanent hive. Luleck, in his second year as NCBA President, says bees get a bad rap. People commonly mistake wasps and yellow jackets for honeybees. “I’ve already had two calls this spring,” he says. “I’ve asked people to really identify that it’s a honeybee. Both of those were not honeybees, they were another type of bee.”
Luleck says honeybees don’t usually take up residence in homes, but if it does happen, he says, “it is not advisable to kill honeybees at all.” In addition to considering the threat of colony collapse disorder to the bees, he says, “You can’t kill the bees, because the honey will start to run. It will go bad if it’s not capped off (by the bees), and all that stuff in
your wall will rot, and mold will start to grow. You’re not protecting the home if you kill a honeybee while it’s in there. You have to remove it.” According to Bee Culture Magazine, following are differences to look for to tell insects commonly mistaken for honeybees:
BEES
Colleen began volunteering for the Relay for Life in Medfield, which, she said, had its own event for the first seven years. At the same time, Millis and Medway each had their own events. This year, however, all three of these "M" towns have joined with Norfolk in a combined event which will take place at the Medway Middle School, 45 Holliston Street, Medway, from June 10th to 11th, starting at 6 p.m. on the 10th
RELAY FOR LIFE
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