2009 Newsletter Collection by Missouri State Beekeepers Association

2009 Newsletter Collection Sponsored By:

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

February 2009

P.O. Box 448 Oak Grove, MO 64075 Eugene Makovec

www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Editor

Missouri and Kansas beekeepers to hold joint Spring Meeting March 6-7 in Overland Park, Kansas The last time the Missouri State Beekeepers Association joined forces with the Kansas Honey Producers Association, over 270 attendees filled the host hotel’s rooms and meeting facilities to enjoy two full days of lectures and activities. Leaders of both groups pronounced that March 2006 meeting a rousing success and vowed to do it again sometime. That time has come. Join us on Friday and Saturday, March 6-7, 2009, as a variety of entomologists, research scientists and other experts lecture on honeybee biology, disease prevention and beekeeping methods.We’ll also have a number of breakout workshops on topics ranging from soap and lotion making to agritourism. We are again meeting at the:

Overland Park Marriott 10800 Metcalf (I-435 & Exit 169 Highway-Metcalf) 800-228-9290 or 913-451-8000

Make reservations by February 12 to get our group rate of $85.00 plus tax. (Reference group code American Beekeepers.) Our guest speakers include: Dr. Clarence Collison, professor of Entomology and head of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University. Prior to moving to Dr. Clarence Collison Mississippi he was an extension entomologist at The Pennsylvania State University, where he served as a beekeeping/pollination specialist. He began writing his monthly column “Do You Know?” for Bee Culture magazine in 1984. See “Spring Meeting” on page 9

Here comes the sun ... The days are getting longer, and your bees have already begun their Spring preparations. Queens are laying and, on warm days, workers can be seen carrying in pollen. You can help with a few early-season chores. If it’s honey production you want, see page 4 for tips on what you can do in February to achieve a strong field force in June.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: From the president Scott Moser

Cookin’ with honey! Honey oatmeal cookies

Early Spring management

Meeting vendor list

Website update

Spring Meeting registration

Spring Meeting program

8-9

Local club information

Membership application

Pick up your order at the meeting!

Honey Queen report

Eastern beginners workshop 6

Directory of officers

Page 2

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

From the President by Scott Moser As I sit here typing this, the temperature outside is a balmy 15 degrees, and the wind is howling. I can’t help but wonder about how my bees are faring in this kind of weather. Over thousands of years, Mother Nature has given them the skill to survive such weather, and in actuality, this brutal cold is probably more of a problem for the beekeeper than for the bees. While sitting nice and warm in front of the woodstove with my dogs, I began to tick off a mental list of things I wanted to accomplish in the upcoming New Year. Some of those things were beekeeping related, while some of them were not. It seems like each of us begins to make resolutions this time of the year, so it seemed only logical that I make up a “to-do list” for the year. One of the things that I would like to do is to let the MSBA membership know a little bit about me. Many of you have seen me at the meetings, but as is often the case, it is hard to take the time to stop and talk beekeeping or just visit with so much going on in such a short time. I have been keeping bees for about 11 years now, and like many of you, I began with just a couple hives in the backyard. By the end of the first season, those two hives had become eight, and 11 years later, that number has swelled to almost 100 colonies spread all over Jefferson and Franklin counties. Since I often feel that beekeeping is a full-time job, I guess you could say that my part time job is teaching 7th grade science. In between the bees and teaching, I like to spend time in the outdoors. Due to my varied interests, I am comfortable talking hunting, fishing, honeybees, or even the mysterious world of the modern 7th grader. Another one of the items on my “to-do” list is to focus on one of the main goals of the MSBA, and that is education of others, be it the public or beekeepers. It is important that we share our wealth of knowledge with others.Throughout my 11 years, I have relied on many different beekeepers for suggestions and advice. I want to take a moment to thank Jim Buxton,Ted Jansen, Ray Batton and Ray Nabors for all the advice, information, suggestions, help and support that they have given me throughout this journey. Without them, I don’t think I would be where I am today. It is important for us to help other beekeepers whenever possible, so that we have more successes and fewer failures. In addition, we each need to pass on what we know so that when we are gone our knowledge is not lost. Before their passing, beekeepers like Howard Hileman and Walter Smith were a wealth of information for many beekeepers, but unfortunately much of that information went with them.They knew that educating newcomers was important to bringing in and keeping new beekeepers. I still miss them, and always will because of what I learned from them. Local associations have always been the backbone of beekeeping and the MSBA.At the Fall Meeting, I looked at the map of local associations, and one thing I noted, like several other people did, was the lack of local associations north of the Missouri River. It struck me that here was some of the state’s prime beekeeping habitat, and there were a large number of beekeepers who were not being served by local associations. One of my goals during my upcoming two years in office is to start at least two new locals north of the river. In addition, I challenge any other local to “pay it forward” and

help start at least one local association on their own. It isn’t that difficult to do, because the Jefferson County Beekeepers, with the help of Mary Reed, helped get the Parkland Beekeepers started, and they have a large and hard-working membership in the Farmington area. There is no reason that every county in the state could not support a local association. I am aware that many established local associations fear that a neighboring local may drain membership from them, but I have found the opposite to be true, and in fact, membership often goes up in both the established and the new local. How many of you are members of two or more local associations? Finally, I would like to see more local associations represented at the MSBA executive meetings and the general membership meetings.The MSBA does some really wonderful things that beekeepers should take advantage of. How often has your local association brought in guest speakers like Jim Tew, Marion Ellis, Marla Spivak, Dianna Sammataro and Dewey Caron, to name a few. The MSBA meetings offer the beekeeper the opportunity to meet and talk with some of the best known beekeepers in the state and from around the country. In an effort to spread the word more, I am going to try and make it to as many local meetings as I can in the next couple of years. If I can’t make it, I would like to call on my directors to touch base with the locals in their area in an effort to let beekeepers know what we do. In closing, I want to thank all of you for your support of me and the MSBA. A few years ago, I was a bit apprehensive about running for Secretary of the MSBA, and even more apprehensive about becoming the Vice President, knowing that I was thus destined to become President in two years. One of the things that helped ease my mind was the fact that I knew I was going to be giving back to the beekeeping community in a meaningful and satisfying way. It was time for me to “pay forward” for what I had learned and the friends that I had made. I want to thank Ken Norman and Ron Vivian for encouraging me and helping me out when needed. It is my goal to build on the foundation of previous presidents, and to make the MSBA an even better association that can help any beekeeper, be it the hobbyist or the large scale producer. I am looking forward to serving all of you as President. Now, it is time to throw another log into the stove, and get back to that “to-do” list. Hmmm… I think I will move “more fishing time” to the top of that list! Happy New Year to you and yours! Scott

THE HAWLEY HONEY COMPANY 220 North Elm Iola, KS 66749 620-365-5956 (After 8 pm 620-365-7919) White clover honey strained in 5-gallon buckets. We will pack it in your jars for an extra fee. Bee Equipment - New and Used - Used Extractors Corn syrup, sugar syrup and SUGAR Bees -- Frames of brood Call for prices. Can deliver to Kansas City, Joplin or Butler, MO

February 2009

Cookin’ with honey!

Page 3

by Carrie Sayers

Honey Oatmeal Cookies

Method

-- from The Pooh Cookbook, by Virginia Ellison

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Use Silpat, parchment paper or butter baking sheets. Blend the butter, oil, brown sugar, honey, egg and water thoroughly. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together, then add the rolled oats. Stir and blend the oats mixture with the liquid mixture. Finally, mix in whatever goodies you chose. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes on sheet, then remove with spatula to wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Yield 2-1/2 to 3 dozen cookies Prep time including baking: One-ish hours Ingredients 2 T Butter (room temperature) 1 T Vegetable Oil ½ C Brown Sugar ¼ C Honey 1 Egg 1 T Water ½ C All Purpose Flour (sifted) ½ t Salt ¼ t Baking Soda 1-1/2 C Rolled Oats ½ to ¾ C of the following: Your choice goodies to add: Chopped dates, figs, apples, raisins, craisins, chocolate chips, chopped nuts -- or mix them up!

Carrie Sayers (www.sayerscatering.com) is a first-year beekeeper and a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association and the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association. She lives in Glendale, MO, and has been cooking with honey for years.

Page 4

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Early Spring management

by Eugene Makovec

Get a jump on the beekeeping pre-season, and your bees will jump on the honey flow The following is based on a method taught by Ted Jansen over the past several years, and is designed to bring your colony’s field populations to a peak just in time for the main honey flow.The dates used are based on an average season in St. Louis County. Mid-February: Reduce your two-story hive to one story. This should be done on a warm, sunny day (55+ degrees), as soon after February 15 as possible. Begin by setting both boxes to one side on an inverted outer cover. Clean debris from the bottom board, and set one empty hive box on it. Take the frames containing the broodnest from the overwintered colony and place them in the center of the empty box. Place two frames of empty, drawn comb on each side of the brood nest. Next, place one frame of pollen on each side. Finally, fill out the rest of the box with honey frames.

Two to four weeks later (depending on weather):When you pop the lid and most of the frames are covered with bees, it's time to add the second story (or pull out the inner cover dividing the two stories).This gives the bees a full story for upward expansion, thus discouraging the swarm impulse. Mid-April: About six weeks before the peak of the main honey flow, equalize your colonies so that each hive has about four full frames of bees and brood, adequate stores, and a healthy queen. Move bees/brood from overpopulated hives to lighter hives to reduce the probability of the strong colonies swarming. If your strong hives outnumber the weak, the same thing can be accomplished by making splits.

This process has two benefits. First, this early Spring manipulation stimulates brood production. Secondly, it provides a perfect opportunity for you to cull old and damaged comb from your hive.

There are two methods of splitting a colony. (Okay, if you’ve attended a few beekeeping meetings, you know that there are hundreds of methods, but we’re dealing in generalizations here.) One is to take excess bees and brood from one or more strong colonies and introduce a queen or swarm cell to them.

Here's one of Ted's handy tips: If you have enough good frames with you, place the second box (with empty comb and/or foundation) back on top, with the inner cover in between.The bees will not move up through the inner cover, and your upper story will be in place for the next step.

If you do not have a source for queens in April, or prefer to raise your own, then place those same excess bees and all stages of brood (including eggs) in an empty hive or nucleus box with a frame of pollen and at least one of honey, and let them do their thing.Your goal here is a colony for next year, but this is nature at its finest!

FOR SALE

FUNCTIONING APIARY Prefer to sell as a unit but will divide. Honey operation including 40x40 Morton building, retail store with apartment and second floor office, customer website, bottling system and equipment, bee equipment, extracting equipment, creamed honey equipment. For more company information, visit www.logchain.com. For more information, contact: Ann Garber logchain@grm.net Log Chain Honey Box 36 Allerton, Iowa 50008 641-873-4119

February 2009 Heartland Honey and Beekeeping Supplies

Page 5

HONEY AND WAX FOR SALE

Spring Hill, KS 66061

3 cases Ross Round comb honey (54 count) 1 case Basswood section honey (36 count) Light amber honey in 5-gallon pails Light wax in 15-pound blocks

913-856-8356

Andrew Honey Farm 217-938-4975

www.heartlandhoney.com

Near Hamilton, IL -- or can deliver at the Spring Meeting in Overland Park

WEAVER’S FAMOUS QUEENS

FOR SALE:

19201 South Clare Road

And Package Bees

PACKAGE BEES

Buckfast & All-American

For pickup in Lynnville, IA or Hamilton, IL. 2# and 3# packages from C.F. Koehnen and Sons. Your choice of Carniolan or Italian queens. Delivery in early April. Contact Phil Ebert 641-527-2639 or e-mail

OVER 121 YEARS OF SERVICE THE R WEAVER APIARIES, INC. 16495 C.R. 319, NAVASOTA, TX 77868 Phone (936) 825-2333 FAX (936) 825-3642 EMAIL: rweaver@rweaver.com WEBSITE: www.rweaver.com

ehoney37@netins.net

Support our meeting vendors and advertisers As of press time, the following vendors had confirmed plans to attend the meeting.You can save on shipping costs by placing orders with these vendors ahead of time to be picked up during the meeting. Walk-About Acres (Vera and Art Gelder) All beekeeping supplies 573-474-8837 walkaboutacres@agristar.net Femme Osage Apiary (Ian and Pam Brown) Handcrafted woodenware and other supplies 636-398-5014 femmeosage1@aol.com Draper’s Super Bee* (Larry and Brenda Draper) All beekeeping supplies 402-274-3725 Hawley Honey Company* Honey, corn syrup and beekeeping Supplies 620-365-5956 Dadant and Sons* All beekeeping supplies

888-922-1293 www.dadant.com

Heartland Honey and Beekeeping* (Joli Winer and Cecil Sweeney) Candlemaking and beekeeping supplies 913-856-8356 www.heartlandhoney.com Andrew Honey Farm* Honey (comb and liquid) and wax magic@adams.net *See ad in this issue

217-938-4975

Page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Eastern MO Beekeepers to host 2nd annual beekeeping workshop Leading educators to present courses for beginners and experienced beekeepers The Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association will offer full-day courses of instruction for beginning and experienced beekeepers on Saturday, February 21, 2009, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Maritz in Fenton, Missouri. The courses will be led by two nationally recognized beekeeping educators: Dewey M. Caron, PhD., Professor of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, and Visiting Scientist at Oregon State University, and Phil Craft, Kentucky State Apiarist. Dr. Caron is the author of numerous papers and teaching publications, including Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping. In addition to his teaching and research, he founded and chaired the Mid-Atlantic Apicultural Research and Extension Cooperative (MAAREC), the country’s leading university beekeeping cooperative research and teaching facility, and is active in beekeeping development abroad. Dr. Caron is the 2001 recipient of the Eastern Apicultural Society Roger A. Morse Outstanding Teaching Award. Mr. Craft, a graduate of Oberlin College, is a past president of the Apiary Inspectors of America, has served as Program Chairman for the Eastern Apicultural Society, and is currently the Chairman of the Heartland Apicultural Society. Mr. Craft has extensive experience as a director and faculty member at national and regional beekeeping schools and meetings, and is much in demand as a speaker for beekeeping organizations.

The Beginner’s Class is specially designed to provide everything necessary for beginners to learn how to keep bees and make honey in 2009. The Experienced Class is intended for beekeepers who have kept bees for at least a season, and wish to continue or expand their beekeeping.The courses will be followed throughout the beekeeping year by a series of field workshops at a teaching apiary maintained by the Association. The cost of each course is $55 for an individual, or $75 for a couple (one packet of materials), with lunch and refreshments.The registration packets include instructional materials, beekeeping periodicals, and equipment catalogs. Registration is available at www.easternmobeekeepers.com/workshop, or by completing and mailing the downloadable registration form. Space is limited, and will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis. Registration closes February 15th. More information is available at www.easternmobeekers.com, or by calling 314-894-8737. The Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association has been supporting beekeeping in the St. Louis metro area since 1939.

MSBA Web Page -- What’s New? by Scott Moser If you haven’t checked out the MSBA website lately, you really should take the time to do so.There have been a lot of new features added, and more are on the way. One of the new things that have been added is an interactive map that lists various things pertaining to the MSBA. One of the things you will find on the map is the location of each of the current local associations. In addition, it is possible to show individual members on the map as well. If you would like your name to appear on the map, just drop me a note or an email, and I will update the map as soon as possible. This would be a great way for others to find you, and they can even get turn by turn directions to your door. In addition, it would also be possible to list products you sell, or services that you offer. What a great way to get your information out to others! Another new feature that you will find there is our new MSBA discussion forum.The forum provides individuals with an opportunity to ask questions, provide information, list services, buy and sell, and learn more about the MSBA.The forum service is free, and open to the public. Reading the postings is open to anyone, but to post a question, or respond to a post, you must register. Registration is quick and easy to do, and only takes a couple of moments.After you register, stop by the “Introduce Yourself” forum and tell us a bit about you and your operation.Also, take a few moments and look over the “Rules of the Road” forum as well.What a great way for us to learn and share information with one another! Coming soon to the website will be a page of downloadable information that you might find interesting and handy to have. All files posted there will be in PDF format, so be sure to download Adobe

Acrobat Reader, so you can take advantage of that.That page should be up and running this Spring. Finally, at the bottom of the Home page, you will find a sponsored hotlink to Walter Kelley Beekeeping Supply. Beginning this year, it will be possible to post a dedicated link to your business website for a nominal fee. Clubs and non-profit informational sites will still be listed on the “Links” page for free. For information about having a hotlink to your website, email me, and I will give you the details. There is a lot of good information there on our website. It is a wonderful way to get important information out to the membership and others. If you would like to have your name on the map, or would be interested in a business hotlink, you can email me at: smoser1963@hotmail.com, or from the “Officers” page of the site.

Kansas’ Honey Producers Association & Missouri State Beekeepers Spring 2009 Meeting Registration Form For additional forms go to www.nekba.org or www.mostatebeekeepers.org or call 913-856-8356 NAME_______________________________________________________ ADDRESS____________________________________________________ CITY___________________STATE_________ZIP+4_________________ PHONE________________________E-MAIL ____________________________

Pre-registration Fees: Must be received by February 23rd, 2009 Member -- 2-day, per person

$25.00 X________=__________

Member Family -- 2-day (i.e. husband & wife, father & son etc.)

$35.00 X________=__________

Non-member -- 2-day, per person

$35.00 X________=__________

Registrations made after February 23rd: Member -- 2-day, per person Member Family – 2-day (i.e. husband & wife, father & son etc.) Non-member -- 2-day, per person

$35.00 X________ =___________ $45.00 X________=__________ $45.00 X________=____________

Friday Night Banquet & Entertainment: Honey-orange chicken, rice, salad, vegetable, dessert Adult - $27.00/person Child - $12.00/person ages 4 and older This is Lent if you prefer fish tell us how many _________ Friday, Deli Plate Lunch Adult - $20.00/person Child - $10.00/person ages 4 and older This is Lent if you prefer fish tell us how many _________ Saturday, Deli Plate Lunch Adult - $20.00/person Child - $10.00/person ages 4 and older Membership for Kansas’ Honey Producers Association: Youth Membership ‘09 KHP (18 years of age or under)

($27.00 x _____) = ($12.00 x _____) =

_______ _______

($20.00 x _____) = ($10.00 x _____) =

_______ _______

($20.00 x _____) = ($10.00 x _____) =

_______ _______

Renewal Renewal

New New

Membership 2009 Missouri State Beekeepers Assn. Individual: Renewal New Membership 2009 Missouri State Beekeepers Assn. Family: Renewal New

$15.00_______ $7.50________ $15.00_______ $20.00_______

Donation to Missouri Queen Fund Donation to Kansas Honey Producers Youth Scholarship Fund

$ ___________ $ ___________ Total $___________ Please make checks payable to: Kansas’ Honey Producers Assn or KHPA. Send to Robert Burns, 7601 w 54TH Terr. Overland Park, KS 66202 913-831-6096 email rburns@kc.rr.com (Registration will not be accepted by email.) If you pre-register and then cannot attend, your registration fee will be considered a

donation and no refunds will be made. If you pay for meals and we are able to sell them you will be refunded for those.

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Page 8

KHPA/MSBA Spring 2009 Meeting Program Thursday night, March 5th: Board meeting for the Missouri State Beekeepers, 8:00 p.m., Sunflower Room Board meeting for the Kansas Honey Producers, 8:30 p.m., Conference Room 922

Friday, March 6th 7:30-8:30 8:30-8:45 8:45-9:30 9:30-10:15 10:15-10:45 10:45-11:30 11:30-12:15 12:15-1:15 1:15-2:00 2:05-2:45 2:45-3:15 3:15-4:00 4:05-4:50 6:30

Registration, coffee & tea Welcome & announcements Clarence Collison Swarm Management – Are you Winning the Battle? Nancy Gentry How to Get a Standard of Identity for Honey for Your State Break Deb Smith NGO (Non Governmental Agency) Bees for Development Rudolf Jander Honeybees Smartly Decide When and Where to Forage Lunch on your own or Deli Luncheon paid extra with registration Danny Najera The Honeybee Waggle Dances: History & Cognition Ron Fessenden The Honey Revolution Break — visit vendors Clarence Collison Factors Affecting Colony Buildup in the Spring Jerry Brown State of the Industry Banquet & Entertainment

Saturday, March 7th 7:45-8:15 8:15-8:25 8:25-9:10 9:15-10:00

10:00-10:25 10:25-11:10

11:15-12:00

12:00-1:00 1:00-1:45

Registration, coffee, set up for silent auction in Quail 1 Welcome & announcements Clarence Collison Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) - What do We Know? Main Ballroom: Installing a Package of Bees, Steve Tipton Quail 2: Plants for Honeybees, Vera Gelder Quail 3: Making Mead, Bob Finck Quail 4: Sunflower: Break Main Ballroom: Removing Swarms from Buildings, Mike Allen & Glenn Davis Quail 2: Walk at Walk About Acres—Exploring Agritourism, Art & Vera Gelder Quail 3: Bee Photography -- Shooting and Optimizing for Web and Print, Eugene Makovec Quail 4: Producing Comb Honey Sunflower: Main Ballroom: Honeybee Biology, Gary Ross Quail 2: Communication Among Beekeeping Groups, Jerry Brown Quail 3: Food Safety to Include Audits and Licensing, Jacquie Rowan Quail 4: Soapmaking 101 — Getting Started, Becky Tipton Sunflower: Lunch on your own or Deli Luncheon (paid extra with registration) Vendors will be packing up at this time Main Ballroom: Installing a Package of Bees, Steve Tipton

February 2009

Page 9

KHPA/MSBA Spring 2009 Meeting Program (continued)

1:50-2:35

2:35-2:55 2:55-3:40

3:45-4:30

4:35-

Quail 2: The Energy Auditor/Beekeeper and Infrared Views — Energy conservation measures one can do or consider in the Honey House (or your own home): Hidden heat loses, look ing at some hives during the winter using an I.R. camera to evaluate winter survival, Greg Swob Quail 3: Youth Scholarship Program — Are You Interested in Starting a Program in Your Club? Presentation from several of the 2008 Kansas Youth Scholarship recipients, Becky Tipton moderates Quail 4: Honeybee Diseas Q&A, Scott Moser Sunflower: Main Ballroom: Requeening & Making Splits, Kristi Sanderson Quail 2: Making Creamed Honey, Cecil Sweeney Quail 3: Nancy Gentry, Topic to be announced Quail 4: Sunflower: Break, End of Silent Auction Main Ballroom: Quail 2: Ron Fessenden, The Honey Revolution — Focusing on Diabetes, Sleep Disorders and Antibiotic Use Quail 3: Making Honey Beers Quail 4: Making Balms and Lotions, Sharon Gibbons & MO Honey Queen Tara Fisher Sunflower: Preparing Honey for Competition from a Judge’s Viewpoint, Gary Ross Main Ballroom: Clarence Collison, What if? Quail 2: Electronic Media, Scott Moser Quail 3: Quail 4: Advanced Beeswax, Sharon Rowan Sunflower: Door Prizes & Raffle Drawings, Main Ball room

Program and Speakers Subject to Change

Spring Meeting program loaded with apicultural intellect continued from page 1

Dr. Ron Fessenden, MD, MPH, is a retired medical doctor. Dr. Fessenden received his MD from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in 1970, and his Masters in Public Health from the University of Hawaii in 1982. For the past two years he has been researching and writing about the health benefits of honey. He is co-author of The Honey Revolution: Restoring the Health of Future Generations. Dr. Fessenden is Co-Chair of the Committee for the Promotion of Honey and Health, an international organization committed to communicating the message of honey and health, encouraging research on honey, and establishing honey quality standards worldwide. Dr. Rudolf Jander is the last doctoral student of Karl Von Frisch,

of waggle dance fame. His research focuses on experimental analysis of behavioral mechanisms and reconstruction of behavioral macro-evolution. This work emphasizes social insects, and includes a variety of arthropod and non-arthropod taxa. Danny Najera is a current PhD candidate in entomology, and holds a BS in biology from the University of Kansas. His research interests include honeybee cognition and comparative cognition. Dr. Deborah Smith received her PhD from Cornell University, and is currently at KU in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is one of the foremost authorities on Bees of the World. Nancy Gentry is president of the Northeast Florida Honey Bee Association and director of public relations for the Florida State Beekeepers Association.

Up k c o t S the r o f Now Season! New

As our a k about woodssembled enwa DADANT MANUFACTURING SPECIALTY— re!

QUALITY WOODENWARE

—A

Hive Bodies And Honey Supers Dadant Super Construction . . . Small Details Make A Big Difference Ponderosa Pine Wood Products Our woodenware is manufactured from hand selected ponderosa pine. Each board has been carefully moisture-metered to assure its proper moisture content before it is precision milled into the finished product. All our supers have “predrilled” holes for nails to prevent splitting during assembly.

3 Basic Grades Select: A grade that is truly “selected” which allows only very small tight knots and no deviations in the dovetail, rabbets, or hand holds. Commercial: The most widely used by commercial beekeepers. Tight knots are allowed where they occur except in the Dovetail and Rabbet. Economy: The same precise fit as the other two grades but is a lower wood quality. Does not pass quality standards for “select” or “commercial” but is a good serviceable box. Layer knots and knots with crack or splits are allowed.

• Handholds tapered cut for easy gripping • Moisture Metering before cutting to prevent warping • Uniform Dovetails to prevent cracking • Predrilled Nail Holes to prevent splitting

• Box Joint Construction for superior strength • Ponderosa Pine from the Northwest. The best wood for the job. • Uniform Frame Rests provides the proper “Bee Space”

Dadant Quality Frames Dadant Frame Construction

—2 Frame Styles— Wedge Top Bar

• 18% more wood in end bars (Full 3/8'' thickness)

Grooved Top Bar

• Grooved bottom bar stronger and easier to use

me? for ti r d e s Pres about ou s Ask ed frame bl assem beeswax- l with plasticel d coate dation. foun

1) Wood wedge is removed from frame. 2) Foundation is placed in frame. 3) Wood wedge is held firmly against foundation and nailed or stapled in place.

Foundation is placed in bottombar groove and top-bar groove. This frame works best with a rigid foundation such as Duragilt or Plasticell.

NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, frames with grooved bottom bars will be shipped. SOLID AND SLOTTED BOTTOM BARS ARE AVAILABLE IN 100 OR MORE QUANTITY. Please specify bottom bar desired.

Dadant & Sons, Inc. 51 S. 2nd St., Hamilton, IL 62341 1-888-922-1293 Fax 1-217-847-3660 www.dadant.com or your nearest Dadant branch location

February 2009 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. The Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell, Springfield www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

Boone Regional Beekeepers Association 3rd Sunday of odd months, 1:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia Contact Art Gelder 573-474-8837 http://beekeeper.missouri.org

Busy Bee Club 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., Cedar County Health Center, Owens Mill Road, Stockton Neal Lee 417-276-3090 Neil Brunner 314-276-4252 grnthumb@alltel.net

Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association 2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., Powder Valley Nature Center 11715 Craigwold Rd., Kirkwood Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

Jackson Area Beekeepers 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. First Pres. of Jackson, 206 E.Washington Contact Grant Gillard 573-243-6568 gillard5@charter.net

Jefferson County Beekeepers Association 2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Scott Moser 636-285-7295

Joplin Area Beekeepers Association Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Gene Foley 417-624-6831

Mid Missouri Beekeepers 3rd Sunday of each month, 2 pm, St. James Tourist Ctr. Contact Don Moore 573-265-8706

Midwestern Beekeepers Association Nov-March, 3rd Sunday of each month, 2:30 p.m. April-Oct, 3rd Thursday of each month, 7:00 p.m. Bass Pro Shop, Independence, Conservation Room Cecil Sweeney, President 913-856-8356

Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Debi Bridgman 573-439-5228

Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association 3rd Monday of each month, 7:00 p.m. Scenic Regional Library, Union Contact Rodney Angell 573-764-2922 bee143@fidnet.com

Parkland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday of each month, 108 Harrison, Farmington Contact Gene Wood 573-431-1436

Page 11 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers 2ndThursday of each month, 7 pm Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Bessi Shryer 417-745-2527

South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop,West Plains Steve Teeple, President 417-261-2210

Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett (â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. Monett High School VO-AG Building Robert Sperandio, President 417-235-6959

Southwest Beekeepers Association 1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Building Contact Herb Spencer 417-472-7743

Four-frame nucs for sale Young 2009 queens. Ready early to mid May. No frame swap. $80.00 each, you pick up (Cedar Hill area). Contact Scott Moser 636-285-7295.

Five-frame nucs for sale Ready early Spring. $85 in cardboard box.Will deliver from central Florida to St. Louis or Columbia (for $5 if I get a truckload.) 20% deposit John Sauls 407-431-3714 or hahunltd@att.net

Page 12

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

February 2009 Honey Queen Report by Tara Fisher

Page 13 Directory of Officers President: Scott Moser 636-285-7295 6600 Davis Lane, Cedar Hill, MO 63016 president@mostatebeekeepers.org

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday! For Christmas this year my mom and I took on the task of making lotion bars and lip balms in various flavors! Needless to say, they were fun and very easy to make! My friends and family sure enjoyed receiving them as gifts!! I encourage everyone who has wax sitting around to give it a try!! In December, I attended the Midwestern Beekeepers Christmas Dinner.They had a wonderful pot luck dinner with almost five tables of food!! After a great meal, Roger and Sue Nichols gave a very interesting presentation on their trip to Australia last year when they attended the Apimondia. They had all kinds of souvenirs they shared and a wonderful slide show of pictures! I also finished another semester of school! While I was on my break (which was 5 weeks long!!) I worked on scrapbooking the events that I have attended as the 2009 Missouri Honey Queen! I feel like I am running out of pictures!! With that being said, I would love to add more pictures to my collection! As the 2009 Missouri Honey Queen, I am here to promote honey and beekeeping! If you have any fairs, festivals, meetings, or activities that you would like for me to attend, please contact Joyce Justice, Queen Chairperson. Her contact information appears in the column at right. Again, Happy New Year and I hope you all have a very healthy and happy 2009!! Tara When you start planning your markets and special events remember to make arrangements to have our Honey Queen attend. Please contact me as early as possible so she can work the timing into her schedule.

Vice President: Grant Gillard 573 243-6568 3721 North High Street, Jackson, MO 63755 vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Secretary: Ken Sona 314-303-4646 19 McClay Crossing, St. Peters, MO 63376 secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org Treasurer: Ron Vivian 816-690-7516 443 Fricke Road, Bates City, MO 64011-8280 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org Past-President: Ken Norman 417-669-4452 3634 Shiloh Church Road, Marionville, MO 65705 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Western Area Director: Glenn Davis 816-690-8007 4618 Highway Z, Bates City, MO 64011 westdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southern Area Director: Marlin Trout 417-830-7749 20445 Lawrence 2070, Ash Grove, MO 65604 southwdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Eastern Area Director: Steve Harris 636-946-5520 1224 Sherbrooke Road, St. Charles, MO 63303 eastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southeastern Area Director: Ray Batton 573-686-4888 3032 N. 14th St., Poplar Bluff, MO 63901 southedir@mostatebeekeepers.org Program Chairperson: Sharon Gibbons 636-394-5395 314 Quinnmoor Dr., Ballwin, MO 63011 sgibbs314@earthlink.net Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 314-965-4631 643 Pearl Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

Joyce Justice Queen Chairperson

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Auxiliary Treasurer: Dolores Vivian 816-690-7516 443 Fricke Road, Bates City, MO 64011-8280 H1ybee@aol.com Queen Chairperson: Joyce Justice 816-358-3893 P.O. Box 16566, Raytown, MO 64133-0566 queenchair@mostatebeekeepers.org State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders cell 816-456-4683 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove, MO 64075 Assist. Prof. Entomology/Extension Spec.: Dr. Richard Houseman 1-87 Agricultural Building, University of MissouriColumbia, Columbia, MO 65211

Missouri State Beekeepers Association P.O. Box 448 Oak Grove, MO 64075 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

A little paint and some nails ... ... and it’s good as new, right? Okay, maybe a lot of paint, a big bucket of nails and a great deal of new wood. In all probability, this old barn has been abandoned because it’s no longer needed, and the landowner has neither the time nor the money to tear it down and haul it away. Do you have a beeyard that looks like it’s been abandoned? Are your bees barely making it because there are too many “entrances” to protect from intruders or the weather? If you’re a city beekeeper, do your neighbors really need another reason to complain about your peculiar form of agriculture? Now is the perfect time to upgrade your equipment. Contact one of our advertisers and place your order before things get really busy. See inside for details on which vendors are attending the upcoming Spring Meeting, and you can arrange to pick up your order there, sans shipping charges.

nt? curre

-- photo by Eugene Makovec

you your $ Are have not pailildbe your If you es, this w er. du ett 2009 ast newsl l

This newsletter is published six times per year, in even months. Submissions are due by the 15th of the month prior to publication. The email edition is in color, and contains hyperlinks and bonus back-page material, while the print version is in black-and-white. If you are a member currently receiving the printed newsletter and you wish to upgrade, just send an email to editor@mostatebeekeepers.org with “email newsletter” in the subject line. I’ll reply with confirmation, and add you to my list. Business card size $15.00 Half page $50.00 Advertising rates are as follows: Quarter page $35.00 Full page $100.00 Classified Ads: Advertise one to three beekeeping-related items in a one-line ad at no charge.This service is for non-commercial MSBA members only, and is limited to one ad per item per calendar year. Honey Trading Post: This is a free service to members wishing to buy or sell honey on a wholesale basis. Just email or call the editor with contact information and whether you are buying or selling. Pricing is between the interested parties.

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

April 2009

P.O. Box 448 Oak Grove, MO 64075 Eugene Makovec

www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Editor

Missouri-Kansas joint meeting draws huge crowd to Overland Park Close to 300 beekeepers gather to hear Clarence Collison, other noted speakers

Bob Finck of Fenton, MO, presents a course on meadmaking to about 30 beekeepers. His was one of over two dozen breakout workshops offered during the Saturday session of the two-day Spring Meeting.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

by Eugene Makovec Around 275 beekeepers, some from the far reaches of Missouri, Kansas and even some surrounding states, gathered in Overland Park, KS in early March to meet with colleagues, pick up supplies for the coming year and benefit from the latest research on honeybees and beekeeping. Our headline speaker was Dr. Clarence Collison, professor of Entomology and head of the Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University. But attendees see “Spring Meeting” on page 8

From the president

MSBA merchandise

Beekeeping of yesteryear Study of genetics holds promise

Managing for increase

Ode to the hive tool

Beekeeper of the year Ken Norman

Cookin’ with honey

Healthy beeswax candles

Local club information

Membership application

Honey Queen report

Directory of officers

Page 2

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

From the President by Scott Moser The last time I wrote this, it was 15 degrees out and the wind was blowing. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high was 80 degrees with wonderfully clear skies. Such a change in just a couple months' time! I spent the last three days checking on how my hives have done so far, and surprisingly, they did very well, and it looks like I will need to take honey away from some or they may become honey bound. As expected, the Italians came through winter a bit light, but with plenty of bees, and the Carniolans came through with plenty of stores and many fewer bees, though with them, that status will change quickly. Hopefully all of you who attended the Kansas Honey Producers Association and Missouri State Beekeepers Association joint meeting returned home safely. It was a wonderful meeting, with a large turnout and wonderful weather. I made a suggestion in my opening comments about some of us having a fishing breakout session, but no one took me up on the offer. I told my wife later that I think that was the largest crowd I have ever gotten up in front of and had to speak.And still, that was easier than facing thirty 7th graders in one room! As always, the speakers did a wonderful job. Dr. Collison spoke on several different topics, Danny Najera spoke about the dance of the honeybee, and Dr. Ron Fessenden stole the show when he talked about the benefits of honey, about which he writes in his book The Honey Revolution. Once again, Sharon and Joli did a wonderful job setting up the speakers, making arrangements, and seeing to it that it all went off well. Thanks and great job, ladies! From what I hear, Sharon has another great meeting planned for the fall in Jefferson City. By now, the weather has been nice enough to go through hives, check stores and take inventory of what needs to be done in your yards. Take the time to care for your bees, because they have gotten through a tough winter, and we are going to be asking a lot of them in the near future. Around here, a variety of trees are in bloom, and the bees are bringing in some nectar already. It won't be long until the dandelions get going, and the bees will really take off! Even though the past couple of days have been nice, I still think Mother Nature has a taste of winter up her sleeve, but the good thing is by this time of the year, it will be short lived. Since the last time I sat down to write this the agricultural community in Missouri is facing a crisis. By now, many of you have heard that the governor has proposed a large cut to the funding of the University of Missouri Outreach and Extension Service. Many of us in agriculture know how hard the Extension office works for us, but those in non-agricultural endeavors often do not realize what the Extension office has to offer. In addition to agricultural programs, the Extension service offers nutritional counselling to grade school children, financial management for families and businesses, home economics information for households, emergency preparedness for rural areas, and many other important services. Due to a large response from constituents, the legislature found some money to help offset the cut, but it still isn't enough to fully fund the programs offered through the local Extension office. I urge you to take the time to see what the University Outreach and Extension Service can do for you, and to contact your local senators and representatives, and urge them to fully fund the University of Missouri

Outreach and Extension Service. Finally, I have mentioned it before, and I will mention it once again. If you look at the state map on our web page, you will notice that there are very few locals north of the Missouri River. This isn't due to a lack of beekeepers in that area, just a lack of local associations. If you live in the northern half of the state, and would like to be served by a local association, please feel free to contact me, and I will tell you how to get a local association started. It doesn't take any money, and just a little time. Once again, it was great to see so many of you at the meeting in Overland Park, Kansas. It is a wonderful opportunity to learn a variety of tips and techniques from such a large pool of knowledge. I know that every time I have been to an MSBA meeting, I leave having learned something new, or something that I want to try with my hive. Plan now to attend our fall meeting in Jefferson City, October 30-31 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel. In addition, there will be an Executive Board Meeting on June 27, 2009 from 9 am to 1 pm at the Ryan's Restaurant in Jefferson City. Each local is entitled to send one designate to the meeting. It is a wonderful way for your local association's voice to be heard, and learn more about the workings of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association. Happy Beekeeping! Scott

April 2009

Beekeeping

Page 3

Yesteryear

A look back at the literature of the last century Is the study of pure genetics in honey bees of practical value? Report of the Iowa State Apiarist for the year ending December 31, 1948 Walter C Rothenbuhler, Ames, Iowa

breeding program as well as in genetic research. The work of several years of inbreeding can be lost through one misplaced individual. Something even more serious is the fact that the breeder might now know about the mistake. By such an error he could have a hopelessly entangled set of breeding stocks. The breederâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal of an economically superior stock would be delayed or made impossible, while the scientist trying to learn facts to convey to the breeder would find his data to be worthless.

Perhaps every reader of this title has at some time heard a scientist discuss certain research work that seemed wholly useless. For instance you may have heard a research worker talk earnestly and at great length about the inheritance in an insect of a certain body color, the inheritance of crooked bristles, the inheritance of black feet or the inheritance of red eyes. There is a method by It is logical for one not involved in genetic research which we can be sure (research on principles of heredity) to wonder every drone, what can possibly be the use of this. If a knowledge that or worker of these characters is unimportant, it is a shameful queen, waste of money and human energy to study them. belongs to one inbred

How can we mark our bees? Their legs are a bit small for metal bands, they have no ears and perhaps we need to be able to distinguish ten, twenty, or thirty inbred strains.There is a method by which we can be sure that every drone, queen, or worker belongs to one inbred line and to no other. By this method there can be no doubt. Furthermore should any unknown mismating ever occur (even Some of us who are interested in breeding a better line and to no other. with artificial insemination this could happen by bee believe a knowledge of these seemingly unimuse of a contaminated syringe) it could be detectportant characters is worth far more than the cost ed instantly in the offspring.This would seem to be exactly what we involved. This knowledge has value in many different ways. One want. extremely practical application is discussed in the following paraA call upon the apparently worthless characteristics must be made. graphs. Black eyes, white feet, and straight bristles are normal. For the purConsider the poultry breeder who has a number of pens of inbred pose of this discussion we shall assume that red eyes, black feet, and White Leghorns. He exercises due precaution that no chickens shall crooked bristles are what the geneticist calls recessive. With relaleave their own pen and get tive ease one of these recessive characters can be bred into one of into another. Does he stop at our future inbred lines. There could be found perhaps dozens of that? Absolutely not. He puts other factors, all usable in this way, so that dozens of inbred lines bands on the legs of these could be marked. chickens â&#x20AC;&#x201C; markers by which he can determine to which In this method, line X would have recessive black feet while all inbred line each one belongs. other lines would have normal white feet. Therefore if a mating Thus he has no identification occurred between a queen with black feet and a drone of any other problem when one of his line, the offspring would all have white feet.The marker characterchickens gets out, and he can istic would not show and the breeder would know that this progedefinitely return it to the ny is not desirable for further inbreeding. As another illustration, line Y would have recessive bent bristles while all other lines includproper pen. ing line X would have normal straight bristles.Therefore any mating Does the hog breeder rely outside the Y line would result in progeny having straight bristles. solely on his fences to main- Any accidental outside mating could be instantly detected. tain the purity and identity of his various lines of inbred The method outlined is based upon the use of so-called marker hogs? No, hogs have ears, and genes. These marker genes produce the distinctive characteristics the hog breeder marks the by which individual strains can be recognized. By this method a ears so that he can identify stray queen need never be confused as to strain.There is no excuse each hog. Consequently if for using a drone from any but the desired line. If by any remote there is ever any question as chance a mismating occurred, the progeny would reveal the error to where a certain pig with a so that no further harm could be done. yen for wandering belongs, Before these recessive marker genes can be used, they must be disthe hog breeder looks at the covered and by rather simple breeding experiments proved to be mark in the ear and the ques- recessive. Can we not conclude from this one extremely practical tion is answered. use that the search for these recessive genes and the study of them This is very important in a is more than justified?

Page 4

Missouri State Beekeepers Association Apitherapy News ... Beeswax candles recommended for asthma, allergies Do Beeswax Candles Clean the Air?

will be deposited in the wax around the wick.” So interesting! Now I must test for soot on my sweet little beeswax votives.

By Valerie Reiss, Beliefnet.com 3/23/2009

Beeswax candles also don’t drip, don’t smoke, and because of their high melting point, burn a whole lot slower.They also smell nice, naturally. The Nutrition and Healing article even says that “people with allergies, sinus problems, and asthma have reported significant improvement in their symptoms, breathing better and sleeping better after burning the 100 percent beeswax candles in their bedrooms for three to four hours before bedtime. One person who burned a beeswax candle all day when she was home reported that her asthma gradually went away completely ...”

There’s something so soothing about a nice flickering candle -- in the tub, at dinner, before bed, or on your altar if you have one. But for years now I’ve been careful to avoid burning anything but soy wax and beeswax because of the polluting nature of regular paraffin candles -- both in the larger environmental sense and the home/body toxin sense. According to an article in the MD-written Nutrition and Healing newsletter,“Paraffin is made from the sludge at the bottom of barrels of crude oil, which is then treated and bleached with benzene and other chemical solvents to ‘clean it up’ for use in candles” and “the soot, smoke, and chemical residue from ‘regular’ candles can stick to walls, ceilings, and ventilation ducts and gets re-circulated whenever the heating/cooling system is in action, exposing you to these pollutants even when the paraffin candles aren’t burning.” Eww. Not the greenest. But what I learned this weekend when I went to the awesome store Candlestock in Woodstock, New York, is that beeswax candles not only don’t pollute, they may actually clean the air by emitting negative ions. I hit the Googlebrary when I got home and found some info to back this up. One article on Care2.com says, “Beeswax candle fuel is the only fuel that actually produces negative ions, which not only helps remove pollution from the air but increases the ratio of negative ions to positive ions, the ideal and necessary scenario for clean air.” In laywoman’s terms, this means they cause charged gunk (dust, pollen, odors, toxins, etc.) to fall from the air onto the floor via static electricity. Another site that sells beeswax candles (so take with a grain of wax) says, “A pure beeswax candle burns the dust and toxic fumes from the air as they are convected through the halo’d flame, much like a catalytic converter. The dustier your house, the more ‘black debris’

Cookin’ with honey! by Carrie Sayers

"Can't wait for Summer" Salad Dressing This dressing is perfect over a cucumber/tomato salad. Let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour before serving -- not too much longer or it will get soggy. This recipe works well with 1 cuke peeled & sliced and 2 medium tomatoes sliced/diced as you prefer. Serves 4-6. Whisk together all below ingredients: 2 cloves fresh garlic -- mashed/minced (do not use the pre-minced jar stuff!) 2-3 T Balsamic Vinegar 1/2 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1 t Dill Weed 1 T honey (or more !) Enjoy!

Carrie Sayers (www.sayerscatering.com) is a first-year beekeeper in Glendale, MO, and has been cooking with honey for years.

Ken Norman named Beekeeper of the Year for 2008 by Scott Moser This was the first time that I can remember in which the Beekeeper of the Year was not announced at the Spring Banquet.The person selected for this year's award has been a member of the MSBA for many years. He has worked hard to help in a variety of ways, and have worn many hats (veils?) over they years. When called upon, he stepped forward to help out when the MSBA was having a difficult time getting members to participate in decisionmaking positions on the Executive Board. In addition, this person worked to improve the goals and ideals of the MSBA and further define what the Association stood for. His work helped us gain an improved State Fair Booth, Kenny Norman

and even focus more on the educational aspect of beekeeping. The reason we didn't present a Beekeeper of the Year award this year at the Spring Banquet was because the recipient was unable to make it to the meeting, and it was decided that he would learn of the award the same time as the general membership, through the newsletter. When called upon, this person stepped up to become Vice President, and later President of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association. I am very proud to announce that the 2008 Missouri State Beekeeper of the Year is Ken Norman! Congratulations, Ken, and thanks!

Obituary -- Tony Hartman Tony Hartman, one of our MSBA members, was killed in a threevehicle head-on collision near California, MO where he lived. He died instantly while his wife Marilyn and daughters Julia and Sara had minor injuries.Tony's father, John Hartman, served as our club librarian and liaison representative for us with Missouri State government officials for many years. --Ron Vivian

April 2009 Order your MO Beekeepers merchandise! Now available ... shirts, jackets and other merchandise with our MO Beekeepers logo.You may have seen some of our members walking around with MSBA logo shirts and hats, a very limited number of which were available for purchase at our last couple of state meetings. Now you can order them online in a wider variety of styles and colors. Just visit our website, www.mostatebeekeepers.org, and look for the link.

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Page 5

Heartland Honey and Beekeeping Supplies 19201 South Clare Road Spring Hill, KS 66061 913-856-8356 www.heartlandhoney.com FOR SALE:

PACKAGE BEES For pickup in Lynnville, IA or Hamilton, IL. 2# and 3# packages from C.F. Koehnen and Sons. Your choice of Carniolan or Italian queens. Delivery in early April. Contact Phil Ebert 641-527-2639 or e-mail

ehoney37@netins.net

Page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Managing 2nd and 3rd year colonies for increase and swarm prevention by Dewey Caron, PhD Editor’s note:The following is a summary of a lecture Dewey Caron gave at a recent beginning/intermediate beekeepers workshop in St. Louis for the Eastern MO Beekeepers Association. Dr Caron spoke with me at the workshop and graciously offered to put this talk into writing for this newsletter. This year Phil Craft, state apiarist of Kentucky, and I offered an Intermediate Bee School at EMBA directed toward 2nd/3rd year beekeepers. I started by asking if colonies survived after establishment last season and many of the 80+ in attendance indicated they had live colonies. I then asked what was learned the first season? Did you … feed your newly established colony (and did you learn of a GOOD way to feed? -Fig 1 The bee annual cycle good for you that is!), did you show them off (to family, friends, but hide from neighbors?), did you get to taste some of their honey (seldom is enough stored to call first season honey ours with newly established colonies) and did you get STUNG! - (You can keep bees without a sting certainly but stings can be part of the learning experience).

Fig 2:The ideal mid-Spring colony

(B=Brood, H=Honey, HS=Honey Super)

So what will our 2nd/3rd season objective(s) be for a successfully overwintered colony established last year? Recall that bees have an annual cycle (Figure 1).We seek to guide colonies to synch their maximum size for a target (nectar flow or flowering of target pollination). Overwintered colonies know Spring is coming but packages or queen stock from the south or California do not know St Louis Springs and they might need MORE attention than overwintered colonies kept in the area for several years. So in our stewardship we could stimulate slowly developing or colonies weak in stores or adult population. Then later we might need to keep the colony from swarming AND of course we need to provide some room for storage of surplus honey that we will (hopefully) take from them THIS SEASON. Our IDEAL mid-spring expanded colony should look like figure 2 (black=brood, 2 frames equivalent honey, + super over queen excluder -- if you use QE). The key to management success of the IDEAL 2nd/3rd season colony is INCREASE Management. Many (est. 70%) successful overwintered colonies will seek to replace their queen via swarming as the colony expands and brood nest space becomes congested. Older 2nd year queens are unable to provide enough queen substance to her growing daughter population (&/or queen substance distribution becomes less efficient with the increased congestion/population). Our signal is seeing developing queen cells (look between brood boxes for cells)

-- colonies will not inevitably swarm if cells are present but they MIGHT. We can use this signal to make up spring divides. Alternately we can remove frames of brood to bolster weak colonies or move full frames of brood into boxes arranging the colony with cells so it has two brood areas. Queen cells can be used as queen Looking between brood boxes for resource for the new divides, pro- swarm cells – cells visible in Spring vided a population of drones are mean colony MIGHT swarm. present. Severe divides (called deep or Mississippi Divides) produces three or four nucs each with minimum of 3 frames of brood (at least one frame should be capped brood). One unit keeps the original mated queen and queen cells are distributed to all the divides so those without the queen can continue to raise a new virgin. Since each unit is now much diminished in size the chance of a swarm emerging is practically zero (queen cells left in unit with the queen mother are usually aborted). This is the quickest method of dividing but is also severe and unless Spring colonies continue rapid expansion, nectar flow is a summer/fall event and weather cooperates NONE of the divides will be productive this season. Divides can be reunited at end of Spring expansion to obtain a proper nectar harvesting or winter-ready colony. Less severe Spring divides can be obtained from populous Spring colonies that begin rearing queen cells. Usually a minimum of two but better three frames are removed from the strong colony and set in another box (a divided standard hive body or special smaller nuc box.) Leave queen cells intact on removed frames BUT ALL queen cells in original MUST be removed to halt potential swarming in the mother colony. If re-inspection 7-10 days later reveals another batch of queen cells, a 2nd divide can be taken.The original colony frames removed can be replaced with foundation frames if no drawn frames are available from storage and the brood area should be opened up (spread out) to relieve congestion. IF favorable conditions continue, the original colony should provide a honey harvest and the nuc(s) managed to become adequate for overwintering or 2-3 combined Successful increase management. Original colony later to produce a (center) provides honey in supers and 2 divides (left colony adequate for and right) can be managed as increase or best one honey production. united back to original after nectar flow/harvest to NOTE: One varia- requeen for next season. tion is to put divide continued next page

April 2009 Ode to the Hive Tool

Page 7

by Eugene Makovec

Managing overwintered colonies for increase continued from previous page on top of original colony either above queen excluder and early super (colony with 2 brood areas) or above double screen and later removed to manage as separate unit. If Spring colonies are NOT managed, a third to half MAY swarm.You can increase colony numbers by swarm capture - a system whereby the bees manage the beekeeper rather than the beekeeper managing the bees. Swarms from other beekeeper hives or feral nest swarms are good increase opportunities as well. Replace the queen after hiving - the bees will anyway if you do not. Swarms are excellent colonies to produce honey in the comb or draw foundation - you can combine swarms with divides to produce stronger colonies for honey production. Yet another increase management opportunity is to make summer divides from your best colonies. Requeen these divides with purchased queens or rear your own. These divides, with their young queens, can be united with existing colonies for overwintering. Since colonies will then have young queens, swarming next spring is greatly reduced. In addition you are locally selecting from your most suc-

cessful stock. Excess divides can be combined to produce colonies capable of overwintering or overwintered and survivors used next spring. For more information on this topic, see HONEY BEE BIOLOGY & BEEKEEPING by author (dmcaron@udel.edu) and INCREASE ESSENTIALS by Larry Connor, Wicwas Press (ljconnor@aol.com).

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Page 8

Spring Meeting brings Missouri, Kansas beekeepers together continued from page 1 were also treated to lectures by several other PhDs, doctoral students and even an MD specializing in the use of honey in medicine. As if that weren’t enough, Kansas and Missouri beekeepers conducted over a dozen breakout sessions on topics ranging from candle and soap making to website design. It would be impossible to touch on all of the weekend’s activities in this newsletter, so what follows is essentially a short list of “things I learned at the Spring Meeting”: The swarming mechanism Dr. Collison said studies have shown that twenty percent of swarms, at least from managed colonies, occur in the Fall. The reason is not clear, but may have something to do with dumping excess population late in the season. (I personally told a couple of people last year that no, that was not really a swarm they saw that late in the season, that there must have been some other reason the bees clustered where they did.) Two-year-old queens are more than twice as likely to swarm as one-yearolds. Prior to a swarm, a colony will exhibit 4-6 weeks of declining production, as the queen is put on a diet and egg production drops. Workers also begin to engorge on honey to stimulate production of the wax glands needed for comb-building in their future home. Not only does this discourage foraging, but scout bees also begin searching for nesting sites instead of nectar sources. Dr. Clarence Collison

Queen cups are a common sight in the hive, and are made of old wax.When new, white wax is added, look out! And once a queen cell is capped, the swarm will usually be gone within 24 hours. Contrary to the old thinking, the parent colony’s new queen is not always the first to emerge. While this heir apparent may in fact kill her rivals and take over, it’s also possible that she will instead lead a secondary swarm, and there may in fact be several of these. Such an “after swarm” tends to cluster longer on the tree branch or other resting place, as most of the scout bees left with the primary swarm. Spring colony buildup According to Dr. Collison, it takes a pound of honey to make 1000 bees. As a result, 150-175# of honey are consumed per year by the colony just to produce bees. As bee population increases, a smaller proportion of bees is needed for brood rearing, meaning a larger percentage can be devoted to honey production: Population

Field Force

10,000

2,000

30,000

10,000

60,000

30,000

The queen reaches her maximum egg-laying potential at a colony size of about 40,000 bees.

As a result, during a two-week honey flow, one colony with 60,000 bees will produce 50% more honey than four 15,000bee colonies. It’s four o’clock HST (Honeybee Standard Time) Dr. Rudolf Jander cited a study showing that bees forage by their own internal clock rather than any external time: Bees were trained to visit a food source the same time every day in Paris. After being transported Dr. Rudolf Jander to New York, they expected the food source at the same time of day Paris time. The bees were cooled to a temperature just above freezing for three hours following one of these foraging trips.The next day they arrived at the aforementioned food source three hours late, evidence that their internal time had been interrupted. Waggle software

dance

Danny Najera, a doctoral student studying under Jander, demonstrated a software program he has created to demonstrate the honeybee waggle dance, a mechanism commonly believed to be used by bees to communicate Dr. Ron Fessenden spatial direction and distance to nectar/pollen sources and potential nesting sites. Designed as a teaching tool, the software explains and demonstrates the dance patterns and how they relate to a described location.Then, for fun, it allows the user to place the sun and the nectar source at arbitrary locations on a map (with the colony at a fixed position in the map’s cent e r ) , whereupon an animated honeybee From left to right, MO Honey Queen Tara Fisher, IA Honey “maps” the Queen Shiliah Spaulding and American Honey Queen Diane l o c a t i o n Jurchen enjoy the Friday night banquet festivities.

April 2009

Page 9

Fessenden touts honey’s health benefits to huge audience continued from previous page with a waggle dance. To obtain the software, you can contact Danny at danny_shadow@yahoo.com. Honey and health

the past 40 years. Moreover, artificial sweeteners, while promoted for weight loss, usually have the opposite effect, as they in fact trigger an insulin response that causes fat storage. Many of today’s health problems result from sucrose in the diet.These include diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s, which was virtually unheard of before 1960. Sucrose, says Fessenden, would not be approved by the FDA as a food additive.

Ron Fessenden, MD, is co-author of The Honey Revolution: Restoring the Health of Future Generations, and has spent the last two years promoting the health benefits of honey. Those benefits include weight loss, improved sleep According to Dr. Jander, the honeybee’s HFCS has now replaced sucrose in all major habits, improved liver function and the regula- biological clock operates very much like beverages and most processed foods, and may tion of blood sugar levels. He is also an outspo- that of a human. be even worse than sucrose. Whereas honey ken critic of sucrose and high fructose corn provides fructose at levels easily metabolized by syrup (HFCS) in the American diet. the liver, which converts it to glycogen for the brain and other Dr. Fessenden drew a crowd whenever he spoke, and defended quite convincingly the following claims:

organs, HFCS floods the liver with fructose levels that overpower it, resulting in the sugar’s conversion to triglycerides.

Fat in the human diet does not cause fat in the body.The body creates fat from carbohydrates. In fact, obesity in America today results from a steady shift from fats to carbs in our diet over

To illustrate the point: One teaspoon of honey, said Fessenden, contains 8.5 grams of fructose, compared with 80 grams in a 44 oz. soda commonly gulped down by teenagers. Per capita consumption of honey is 1.1 pounds, compared with 160 pounds of sucrose and HFCS combined.

Honey regulates blood sugar by promoting glycogen formation in the liver, removing glucose from circulation and lowering blood sugar levels. But it ... and a good time was had by all! Martha Evans of Webster Groves, MO, also stabilizes those levels, preYvonne Von der Ahe of Fenton, MO and Cindy Mueller of Bethany, MO have venting them from falling too a little fun with banquet centerpieces. low. A tablespoon of honey before bedtime feeds the liver, which in turn feeds the brain and improves sleep.

Danny Najera

Steve Tipton of Meriden, Kansas, conducts a workshop on the installation and care of package bees.

Honey is an effective wound treatment, in part because it releases hydrogen peroxide. A 90/10 ratio of water to honey kills staph on contact.

Art Gelder and other members of Boone Regional Beekeepers present Tara Fisher with a $100 check to help cover ongoing expenses of the Queen Program.

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April 2009

Page 11

Local Club Information Is there a group near you? Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. The Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell, Springfield www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

Busy Bee Club 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., Cedar County Health Center, Owens Mill Road, Stockton Neal Lee 417-276-3090 Neil Brunner 314-276-4252 grnthumb@alltel.net

Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association 2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., Powder Valley Nature Center 11715 Craigwold Rd., Kirkwood Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

Parkland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday of each month, 108 Harrison, Farmington Contact Gene Wood 573-431-1436

Pomme de Terre Beekeepers 2ndThursday of each month, 7 pm Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Bessi Shryer 417-745-2527

South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop,West Plains Steve Teeple, President 417-261-2210

Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett (“MOBees”) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. Monett High School VO-AG Building Robert Sperandio, President 417-235-6959

Southwest Beekeepers Association 1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Building Contact Herb Spencer 417-472-7743

Jackson Area Beekeepers 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. First Pres. of Jackson, 206 E.Washington Contact Grant Gillard 573-243-6568 gillard5@charter.net

Jefferson County Beekeepers Association 2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Scott Moser 636-285-7295

Joplin Area Beekeepers Association Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Gene Foley 417-624-6831

Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday of each month, 2 pm, St. James Tourist Ctr. Contact Don Moore 573-265-8706

Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Debi Bridgman 573-439-5228

Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association 3rd Monday of each month, 7:00 p.m. Scenic Regional Library, Union Contact Rodney Angell 573-764-2922 bee143@fidnet.com

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Page 12

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

April 2009 Honey Queen Report by Tara Fisher Hello! I hope that the beginning of Spring is treating everyone wonderful! I know that I am enjoying the warmer weather, especially when I am walking to my classes!! I hope that everyone is enjoying the flowers and trees that are starting to bud! It was nice seeing many of the beekeepers that I had met last October at the Missouri/Kansas meeting a few weeks ago! I also enjoyed meeting many new beekeepers from Kansas, Iowa and Colorado! While the meetings were going on during the day on Friday, I was traveling around to different elementary schools giving demonstrations on the importance of honeybees with the American Honey Queen and the Iowa Honey Queen.We had a lot of fun! Overall, we shared the importance of beekeeping with over one hundred students and teachers! On Saturday, I gave a presentation on making lip balms and lotion bars with Sharon Gibbons! We were encouraging everyone to give it a try! As always, I am available for any fairs, festivals, meetings or other activities that you would like me to attend! Contact Queen Chairperson Joyce Justice to confirm any plans! Her contact information is in the column to the right. Again, I hope that you enjoy the weather and have a Happy Spring! Tara

From the Queen Chair by Joyce Justice Beekeepers: Remember we have a great Missouri Honey Queen. She would like to promote honey in your area. Look at your schedule of events and see if she can help you. Let us know the date and time of the event so we can work out the timing. It would be great at the end of her reign if she could tell us how many clubs she visited. The Boone Regional Beekeepers presented to the Missouri Queen program at the Spring Meeting a check for $100.00.Thank you Boone Regional Beekeepers -- we will use the funds to help the expenses of the Queen, and she in turn will help you to promote your honey. The silent auction made $559.00. Everyone is so good to bring and buy items. November 2009 will end the reign of Tara Fisher as your Queen. It is our desire that Tara will go on to compete in the American Beekeeping Federation queen program.This brings us to the job of looking in our clubs or areas for a new queen. Your help is needed. Joyce

Page 13 Directory of Officers President: Scott Moser 636-285-7295 6600 Davis Lane, Cedar Hill, MO 63016 president@mostatebeekeepers.org Vice President: Grant Gillard 573 243-6568 3721 North High Street, Jackson, MO 63755 vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Secretary: Ken Sona 314-303-4646 19 McClay Crossing, St. Peters, MO 63376 secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org Treasurer: Ron Vivian 816-690-7516 443 Fricke Road, Bates City, MO 64011-8280 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org Past-President: Ken Norman 417-669-4452 3634 Shiloh Church Road, Marionville, MO 65705 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Western Area Director: Glenn Davis 816-690-8007 4618 Highway Z, Bates City, MO 64011 westdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southern Area Director: Marlin Trout 417-830-7749 20445 Lawrence 2070, Ash Grove, MO 65604 southwdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Eastern Area Director: Steve Harris 636-946-5520 1224 Sherbrooke Road, St. Charles, MO 63303 eastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southeastern Area Director: Ray Batton 573-686-4888 3032 N. 14th St., Poplar Bluff, MO 63901 southedir@mostatebeekeepers.org Program Chairperson: Sharon Gibbons 636-394-5395 314 Quinnmoor Dr., Ballwin, MO 63011 sgibbs314@earthlink.net Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 314-965-4631 643 Pearl Ave., Kirkwood, MO 63122 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org Auxiliary Treasurer: Dolores Vivian 816-690-7516 443 Fricke Road, Bates City, MO 64011-8280 H1ybee@aol.com Queen Chairperson: Joyce Justice 816-358-3893 P.O. Box 16566, Raytown, MO 64133-0566 queenchair@mostatebeekeepers.org State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders cell 816-456-4683 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove, MO 64075 Assist. Prof. Entomology/Extension Spec.: Dr. Richard Houseman 1-87 Agricultural Building, University of MissouriColumbia, Columbia, MO 65211

Missouri State Beekeepers Association P.O. Box 448 Oak Grove, MO 64075 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Don’t cry for me ... Magnificent yet unobtrusive, the snow fountain weeping cherry (prunus x) can find a place in almost any yard. Also known as higan cherry, it thrives best in full to partial sun, and is very resisistant to disease and insect damage. It grows slowly, reaching a height of 12-15 feet with a 6-8 foot spread. Best of all, it breaks out in March with cascades of snowy flowers ... and bees! But the early bloom means it sometimes is covered, appropriately at left, with actual snow. photos by Eugene Makovec

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

June 2009

P.O. Box 448 Oak Grove, MO 64075 Eugene Makovec

www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Editor

Blueberries and bees -- a pollination primer Editor’s note:The following was adapted from the May 2009 newsletter of the Blueberry Council of Missouri. Howard Thompson is a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association and past President of the Joplin Area Beekeepers Association. As May rolls around, the blueberries have either just started to bloom if you are in the north, or have been blooming for the last few weeks if you are in the south. For Southwest Missouri, Earliblues to Nelson are in bloom with Earliblue and Legacy nearly finished blooming and the Nelson being a mixture of buds and flowers.This shows me that although I had some frost during the early bloom stage, the temp did not get down below 28 degrees F. It looks like I have dodged the bullet this year and am likely going to have an acceptable season. It looks like I will start picking around Memorial Day. I hope this holds true for the rest of the members.

Missouri State Fair August 13-23 Enter your hive products in competition, and join us in Sedalia! The 2009 Missouri State Fair will be held August 13-23 in Sedalia. With the theme “MOre Fun Than Ever!”, the annual event will feature carnival rides and games, continued on page 9

by Howard Thompson

As I was taking advantage of a pause in the rain on a weekend when we got four inches, I walked/waded through the field to remove flowers from my immature Dukes and Earliblues. The Dukes were planted in October 2007 and the Earliblues last October. During this walk, I roughly dissected a few flowers. Coming up through the middle is a single slender, almost translucent, light green, tubular structure that arises from the base of the flower and slightly flares at the other end.This structure, the style, is part of the female part of the flower, the pistil, which has the ovary (what becomes the fruit) at its base and the stigma at its tip. The stigma is slightly sticky to capture the pollen granules, the male gametes. When you look further at that flower you will see a band of yellow that is about midway between the base and the stigma.These are the stamens, the male part of the flower.The yellow part is the continued on page 7

INSIDE THIS ISSUE: From the president

Bees time forage to flowers 8

Beekeeping of yesteryear Trials of the Hobbyist, 1973

Cookin’ with honey

State Fair bid sheet Supplier bids due June 26

Three Rivers Beekeepers 5 New local in St. Charles County

Local club information

Membership application

Honey Queen report

Directory of officers

Page 2

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

From the President by Scott Moser Spring has finally sprung! The birds are singing and building nests, the trees are beginning to leaf out, the flowers are starting to bloom, the rain is raining, and the bees are swarming. In the past couple of weeks, I have heard about a swarm a day. Every time we manage to get a nice sunny day, I always expect to get a swarm call or two. Hopefully, it isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t your bees that I am coming out to collect. With proper management, swarming is a fairly easy problem to avoid. So much is going on right now in the Missouri beekeeping community already this year. One of the things I said when I took office this year was that I would like to see two new beekeeping associations formed north of the Missouri River. I am proud to announce that at least half of this goal has been met for this year! I want to welcome one new local to our beekeeping family.Three Rivers Beekeepers was recently formed in St. Peters, Missouri. They were formed to meet the needs of an existing and increasing number of beekeepers in the St. Louis metropolitan area.Three Rivers Beekeepers will be meeting at the University of Missouri Extension office in St. Peters.Their first meeting was held on Monday, May 18, at 7:00 pm.After that meeting, their regular meeting night will be the third Monday of the month. You can visit their website at www.threeriversbeekeepers.com. In addition, there has been talk of a new local association forming in northwestern part of the state.The Northwest Missouri Beekeepers Association may form in Maryville, Missouri. Ray Werner is the contact, and can be reached at 660-937-2204. As the summer approaches, things begin to really get busy in the world of honeybees and beekeeping. There are more and more opportunities to spread the word about beekeeping, honeybees and honey. Upcoming fairs and farmers markets are great ways to get out and meet and greet people and inform them about the world of beekeeping. Use every chance that you can to explain about bees, beekeeping and honey. I often find that once you begin talking about bees, you quickly draw a crowd. A perfect time to talk bees is at the Missouri State Fair. Last year, several Missouri beekeepers signed up to help out at the Missouri State Beekeepers booth. In addition to individuals, several clubs picked days to man the booth. Club days are perfect opportunities for your club to be recognized and get the word out to others who may be in your area and interested in keeping bees. If you have never spent time helping out at the State Fair, it is a lot of fun, and we could really use your help. If you or your local association would like to sign up to work the fair, contact Dean Sanders, our Fair Manager, at 816-4564683. What a great way to volunteer your time, and help out the MSBA at the same time. In closing, I have just a couple of reminders for our members and the local associations. First, each local in the state of Missouri is given two free memberships to the MSBA. You may use these as door prizes for meetings or beekeeping classes that you may be presenting. Please try and give these away early in the year, so that we can get the good word out about our state association. Next, be looking for upcoming information about our Fall Meeting. It will be held in Jefferson City on October 30-31, 2009.We will have a lot of exciting things planned for that meeting, including a tour of the Missouri State Capitol.

Finally, we will be holding an EBoard meeting on June 27 from 9am to 1pm, at the Ryanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Restaurant at 730 W Stadium Blvd in Jefferson City. Each local association may send an officer to attend the meeting on behalf of their local. I hope to see a representative from each local at the meeting. Happy Beekeeping! Scott

June 2009

Beekeeping

Page 3

Yesteryear

A look back at the literature of the last century Trials and tribulations of the hobbyist beekeeper by Elmer Headlee, newsletter editor, MO State Beekeepers Association September 1973

When I got back into the business after I retired in the late 60s, I said I would have no more than four hives. Well, this year I have 12½. There is just no way one can compare the work and trouble between 2-3 good hives and 12. I am going back to four next year. (Maybe.)

I am a hobbyist and have had a lot of time and experience to observe beekeeping by people who do not do it as a source of livelihood, but who hope to make part or all of the expenses on their hobby.

I have written the following progress report of a hobbyist beekeeper since I have seen these things happen to so many people.

I talked to Joe Maher, Secretary of the MSBA, about writing an editorial in this newsletter about the problems and pitfalls of the hobbyist beekeeper. Joe told me that I dare not do it, since each beekeeper in the state would think that I was referring to him. If I am pointing anyone out, it is myself, for I have been guilty of many of the errors I am talking about.

The moths have had a banquet on four of them that were weak.You may be late on spring care such as feeding, checking the queens, providing medication, taking out entrance boards, checking for queen cells, and putting on supers. The moths have ruined the comb in about half the supers left in the garage without moth killer. Such calamities dampen the spirit and hinder the work.

First, the hobbyist starts out by buying some equipment and bees. He Every now and then someone starts out with two or three hives and or she has seen pictures of beekeepers working in shirtsleeves and after one or two successful years decides to go into just a veil for protection; so he says to himself,“If he it in a big way.Take the fellow whom I heard about a can, so can I.” The very first thing a beginner should day or so ago. He bought a good hive and got all the There is nothing that buy is a good bee suit and high-top shoes. There is honey he could use and give away to friends and rel- starts the downfall of nothing that starts the downfall of the hobbyist atives. The next year he caught two good swarms the hobbyist faster faster than to get thoroughly stung the first time he and by the third year he had several hundred pounds encounters the bees. Some people find themselves to sell. So he reasoned that if he would build a hun- than to get thoroughly highly allergic to the bee venom so it doesn’t pay to dred hives during the winter, he could catch the stung the first time he take chances.You old-timers can get by with lesser swarms to fill them. So, he bought lumber and encounters the bees. equipment; but keep in mind that some people worked every spare minute. Spring came, but not reach the place where they can longer take the enough swarms; so he did the best he could. Late in stings. I doubt that bee stings are good for what ails the summer he bought honey and set up a stand on weekends out you. on a secondary highway where he did rather well. Now the second year the bees do real well and you get some more. By spring half of his colonies were gone, since the previous summer The work on three is not much more than one, but your wife begins was a poor one and his swarms hadn’t done too well. But he tried to grumble and you spend more time and money. You have to have again with about the same success. In late August, during the busiest an electric knife and an extractor, etc. So, to pay for this, there must time of his highway sales, the be more bees. Subsequently, you register with the city police and varpolice shut him down and this ious other agencies and the swarms start to come in. By the end of left him with a lot of bought the season you have 12 hives. You give them good care during the honey on hand. Also, his bees summer and by fall you have a good supply of honey and the swarms weren’t doing so well, either. look like they will winter well.You treat them with disease preventaCompletely disgusted with tive and give them good winter protection. hard luck, hard work, and high Spring rolls around and you only lost two hives. Feeding and taking costs, he started to liquidate care of 10 hives is more work than you can or care to do. Right here the business. Some time the is where a wise person should wake up and run an ad in the paper next spring and several dollars and sell down to four hives. But he rationalizes, “No, let’s go for in the hole, he left town and another year and make a killing on the honey for the summer.” The my friend who related this weather is cold in the early spring and it turns dry come summer.The story said he had not been bees don’t do so well. Interest begins to lag and you let them go into heard from since. the winter unattended. By the next spring you are down to six hives.

Then, you figure you’ll let them alone and see how they make out. Some of the hives swarm; others have worn-out queens. One hive is trying to get along with a laying worker, and you don’t discover this until July. The dry weather and poor care bring the honey down to less than what two good hives should produce. So you take what you can get and forget them until spring. Mice, moths, disease, and starcontinued on page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association Page 4

ITEM Extracted Honey Gallon 5 lb Jug 2 lb Jar 1 lb Jar 24 oz Bear 12 oz Bear Chunk Honey; Size _____ (Large Jar) Niblet; Size _____ (Small Jar) Comb Honey Cut Comb Ross Rounds Creamed Honey Plain Honey Sticks, assorted flavors

YOUR PRICE EACH

QUANTITY NEEDED 50 pcs

50 pcs

30 pcs 20 pcs

COMMENTS:

ITEM Lip Balm Containing Honey/Beeswax Describe: Hand Lotion Containing Honey/Beeswax Describe: Pollen 8 oz 1 lb Hard Candy Assorted Novelty Items Honey Dippers Honey Pot Style ______________ Style ______________ Clothing Describe: Describe: Describe: Describe: Beekeeping Related Books Describe: Describe: Describe: Describe: Describe:

Missouri State Fair Bid Sheet QUANTITY NEEDED

25 singles 30 singles 10 cases 15 cases 14 cases 17 cases 4 cases 4 cases 200 pcs 50 pcs 200 singles 1 case ea

BEESWAX & BYPRODUCTS Candles Rolled Dipped Molded Novelty Candle Rolling Sheets, assorted Wicking material for candles 1 oz Molded Beeswax (approx wt.) 50 pcs 1 lb Beeswax Block 20 pcs Soap containing honey and/or beeswax 50 pcs Describe: Describe:

YOUR PRICE EACH

June 2009

Page 5

New local association springs to life in St. Charles County Three Rivers Beekeepers draws 75 attendees to inaugural meeting by Eugene Makovec If you've ever witnessed a honeybee swarm in progress, you know how awe-inspiring it can be. Forget for a moment how it affects your parent hive - the birth of a new bee colony is a wonder of nature that is difficult not to appreciate. Last week I had the good fortune of witnessing the birth of a bee club. Three Rivers Beekeepers, based in St. Charles County, came about through the efforts of about a half dozen members of the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association, a long-standing club in neighboring St. Louis County. Members of this unofficial steering committee were quick to insist that the move was not a result of any animosity within the latter organization. It was a simple matter of geography. (I suspect it was also a matter of overcrowding in the parent "hive", which has added well over 100 members in the past 15 months.) Eastern has long served beekeepers in St. Louis (city and county), St. Charles, Jefferson, Lincoln and parts of other Missouri counties, and even a few folks from Southern Illinois. I have always been amazed at how far some people drive for monthly meetings.And judging by last week's 75-head turnout, many of those members will now enjoy a shorter drive to Three Rivers meetings. Other than this impressive opening night attendance, the club began,

I suspect, as most such clubs do, with high hopes and little structure. John Timmons called the meeting and referred to himself as nothing more than a "moderator".A four-year beekeeper along with his wife Jane, John is a veteran of Eastern's board of directors. But the new club, he said, will start out with "no officers, no bylaws â&#x20AC;Ś we'll figure it out as we go." Holding up a shiny paperback book, he intoned: "I have here a book on Robert's Rules of Order." Pause. "I've never opened it." Following some laughter and a smattering of applause, he raised another volume entitled something like "Polite Common Sense", and announced that the principles therein would guide this new organization. As for funding, the club will require no dues for now, relying on a "pass the can" method of fundraising.Timmons said communications will be email- and internet-based, thus avoiding the often-substantial mailing costs incurred by most such organizations. The meeting room, a University of Missouri extension office, is provided at no charge at this time, with an informal understanding that members will help out with the upkeep of the grounds and building. MSBA President Scott Moser and Vice President Grant Gillard both attended the meeting to offer support and advice, while also encouraging attendees to join the state association if they have not already done so.

Page 6

Beekeeping

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Yesteryear

continued from page 3 vation take their toll and by spring there are only three hives left and they are not in good shape.

been cut out last fall and no new foundation put in.We finally found one frame in the first brood chamber that we could get out. It had a good brood pattern, so we judged that the queen was in good shape. The second hive was in the same condition with good brood in it. I took a super, frames and foundation home with me, put in the foundation, and wired it properly.When I returned it, he said that he didn’t know how to put in foundation and wire it properly; so we had a lesson on how to put it in. Later, I visited him and he had caught a swarm and had it in a brood chamber with properly wired frames. He had never belonged to a bee club.

Here is where you should wake up and start being a beekeeper and not just one who “keeps” bees.With some early feeding and medication, these three could be put back on the winning track. You may need some new queens. All you have to do is look at the brood in the hive about March. If there is a good brood pattern, even though it may be small, the queen is adequate. If there are only drones or lots of drones and a poor brood pattern, you had best get a new queen.This should be done around mid- There are literally hundle of March or the first of April. dreds of hives setting

I am not so much concerned about beginners’ mistakes as I am with the people who have had bees for years and do not know or don’t do beekeeping in a reasonable way.

houses that Brood rearing in the cities where there are lots of around early flowering trees, shrubs and plants should be could be producing Last spring, I was called to pick up a swarm. The encouraged by early feeding. Your bees may be storing honey long before their country cousins honey if people cared for lady had two strong hives with one brood chamber and one super each. She said one of her hives begin to get any nectar.This year was a fine spring them in a mindful way. didn’t produce much honey last year because it for the city bees inasmuch as the warm weather got the brood-rearing started early. My bees in Kirkwood were seen swarmed three times. Later, she had another swarm which we put in bringing in pollen from a soft maple tree on February 5th. The bees one of my empty hives and left at her house. I put two supers on her out of town, where they depend on sweet clover, reared so much other hives and they are almost full. I am to get some of the honey brood early that they ate all of the honey and either starved or had for care and extraction. She had never belonged to a bee club. to be fed for about a month. (One Illinois beekeeper reported the There are literally hundreds of hives setting around houses that loss of 100 of his 400 colonies this spring. He attributed this to early could be producing honey if people cared for them in a mindful way. brood-rearing, a May freeze, and starvation.) I have a hive with a horseshoe print on it.The bees got to bothering A person starting out in beekeeping should have some sort of an this man’s wife, so he put the hive in the horse pasture under a tree. advisor or helper who has had some good experience with bees. The end of the story is self-evident. He gave me the hive which had Many of the pitfalls that discourage beginning beekeepers can be a queen excluder on it completely closed by wax and gum. It is now avoided by reading a good book or bee journal before starting. One my best hive, and I have it in front of my house behind some bushes. of the best aids for both beginners and old-timers is a membership The former owner of this hive never belonged to a bee club. in the local and state associations. In the local groups there are Any beekeeper can come up with many stories of neglect of bees. always people with experience who can and will give counsel. Bees can stand a lot of inattention, but if one wants them to do their Everyone who has bees for a year or more becomes an authority on best for him, he must do the best he can for them. how to keep bees. So, a beginner does well to have several with whom he can talk, ask questions, and get help – a stable of experts. Neighbors with bird baths and swimming pools may be bothered by You have noticed that there are usually several ways to do every job bees. It is hard to tell whose bees they are since they don’t wear in beekeeping and the experts can’t agree on which is the best. The labels. Before I had bees where I live, we had bees on the flowers and fellow who attends a bee club and does a reasonable amount of read- garden, and around water. This can be partially avoided by keeping ing and study has a good chance of success if he has the time and is water near the hive, and giving the neighbors a quart of honey now and then. It sure sweetens their disposition toward your hobby. willing to work. Cleanliness is an important part of beekeeping. The bees may not know that they are living in a ghetto, but the accumulation of propolis and old wax in a hive makes the operation much harder. I went through some hives a few weeks ago that had had poor care for several years, and it was an almost impossible job to get the frames out. Had it also been poor equipment there would have been a lot of damage.These hives are now for sale.The buyer will get some good bees and have to do some work to get them into shape. Last spring, one of our local people called and wanted me to come out and see if he had good queens in his hive. He told me that he had never been able to find the queen. I expected to find a new beekeeper. He had kept bees for over 30 years. So, we opened the hives which were in need of nailing and painting.The comb in the one super had

Heartland Honey and Beekeeping Supplies 19201 South Clare Road Spring Hill, KS 66061 913-856-8356 www.heartlandhoney.com

June 2009

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Blueberries and honeybees -- a symbiotic relationship continued from page 1

anther where the pollen develops and, when mature, is released. Each anther is attached to the base of the flower by one of the 810 filaments. One source stated that a single blueberry can have up to 65 seeds in that tiny fruit, though usually less than 30. That means at least one grain pollen per eventual seed has to be transported from the anther, UP to the stigma so the pollen grain can tunnel down through the style to the ovules in the ovary to make the seed and trigger fruit development. Since the blueberry flower is pointed to the ground, if the pollen granule is mature at the same time the stigma is receptive, it can fall on the stigma when the blueberry flower is vibrated by the wind or a large vibrating bee, giving rise to self-fertility.There are some cultivars that are only partially self-fertile or sterile, which means the pollen and stigma in that flower are not mature at the same time, or the pollen has to come from a different plant. This requires cross-pollination. Cross-pollination requires six-legged friends and results in a larger berry. Bumblebees, ants and other bees are less concerned about the weather than my girls, the honeybees. (I presently have 30+hives.) The bumbles and their smaller cousins, the carpenter bees, will work in a light mist, at 50 degrees F and overcast. Given the same weather, the honeybee would prefer to be in the hive cuddling with the other bees to stay warm, and may advance no more than a few feet from the hive entrance to go potty. But the native pollinators are neither controllable nor predictable. If your field is in the middle of flat land and miles from a wooded area, your native pollinators are likely going to be lower than a field that abuts the woods. This means that the way to improve pollination is to increase the number of pollinators, i.e., honeybees, that visit the flowers. Even though you may not be able to see the difference, each of the blueberry cultivars has a slightly different shaped flower. If you were the size of a honeybee you would be able to see, feel and taste the difference. This translates to the size of the corolla (the opening) and its relationship to the stigma, anthers and nectaries. In other words, how easy is it for the bee to get into the flower and make contact with the reproductive parts of the flower on its way to and from its ultimate goal, the nectaries? Because of these structural differences, to get optimal pollination one needs different numbers of hives for each culitvar grown. Adapting the list presented yearly by Gary Pavlis, PhD, the Atlantic County Extension Agent in New Jersey who writes weekly in the Blueberry Bulletin for Rutgers University, to the culitvars grown in Missouri, the recommend number of hives per acre becomes: One hive for Rubal, two hives for Bluetta, Blueray and Darrow; 2.5 hives for Duke; three hives for Berkley, Coville and Elliot; and 3.5 hives for Jersey and Earliblue. This recommendation is based on hives that have wintered over and are filled with bees (30,000 or better). If you are thinking of renting bees in the future, that would translate to a laying queen with at least 4+ frames of capped brood and at least 10 frames of bees (10 frames fill a hivebody). This may not occur in many hives in Missouri until the honey flow starts with the white clover bloom, about 2-3 weeks AFTER blueberry bloom. The bees will hit on the more mature flowers, which will have more nectar as compared to the younger flowers. Even though the

bees can forage up to three miles from the hive, they will hit more of the flowers in their “front yard”.To ensure maximum pollination and maximum berry size, the above recommendation is just the minimum standard. It has been shown that having more hives of bees per acre than the minimum results in larger berries, which are what your customer is after. All these pollinators are after the nectar, which is in the nectaries. These nectaries are located in the crevices of the base of the flower where the petals, pistil and filaments meet.This means that unless they drill a hole in the side of the flower (some insects do), they have to pass the stigma and anthers (pollen) coming in, which can lead to cross-pollination from the pollen granules on their bodies from other flowers. On the way out they take pollen from that flower up to the stigma, resulting in self-pollination and continuation of the cross-pollination process on subsequent flowers. From a pollinator’s point of view, they couldn’t care less about pollination.They are after the pollen, which is a protein and fat source for them, but mostly they are after the nectar. As a beekeeper, I especially want them to get the nectar. Nectar is a complex solution made up of glucose, fructose, sucrose (a disaccharide of fructose and glucose), flavonoids, amino acids and salts. The solution is unique to each plant species and cultivar, which the bees will remember and communicate to the colony. This also accounts for the different tastes and colors of different honeys. The field bee might have visited a hundred flowers on her trip away from the hive to fill her honey crop before returning and passing its contents off to a house bee (less mature than field bees), who may place it in a nectar cell or pass it off to another house bee to store it away. With multiple 20-40 microliter (1000ul = 1ml with 28ml/oz) additions, the nectar cell is filled. Due to the enzymes from the bee’s honey crop and via evaporation in the hive, the nectar is converted to honey. Once the water content is down to around 15-17%, the bees will cap the cell.Whatever is NOT stored in the main hive body, but in the extra honey “supers”, is free for thievery, which is likely not until after the 4th of July. A quarter of our members are beekeepers. For a beekeeper nearest you, contract the Missouri State Beekeepers Association at mostatebeekeepers.org.

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Honeybees time foraging trips to exploit daily blooming cycles by Leon Kreitzman NYTimes.com, April 28, 2009 Gardeners know that plants open and close their flowers at set times during the day. For example, the flowers of catmint open between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.; orange hawkweed follows between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m.; field marigolds open at 9:00 a.m. In “Philosophia Botanica” (1751), the great taxonomist Carl Linnaeus proposed that it should be possible to plant a floral clock. He noted that two species of daisy, the hawk’s-beard and the hawkbit, opened and closed at their respective times within about a half-hour each day. He suggested planting these daisies along with St. John’s Wort, marigolds, water-lilies and other species in a circle.The plants’ rhythmic opening and closing would be the effective hands of this clock. Plants have carefully timed routines determined by internally generated rhythms. In 1729, Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, a French astronomer, put a Mimosa plant in a cupboard to see what happened when it was kept in the dark. He peeked in at various times, and although the plant was permanently in the dark its leaves still opened and closed rhythmically, as though it had its own representation of day and night. Its leaves still drooped during its subjective night and stiffened during its subjective day. Furthermore, all the leaves moved at the same time. It took another 230 years or so to come up with the term circadian – about a day – to describe these rhythms. In a similar vein, tobacco plants, stocks and evening primroses release their scent as the sun starts to go down at dusk.These plants attract pollinating moths and night-flying insects.The plants tend to be white or pale. Color vision is difficult under low light, and white best reflects the mainly bluish tinge of evening light.

the light, and pass this information to other bees. In the dark of the hive, they transpose the location of a food source in the horizontal plane through the famous “waggle” dance into communication in the vertical plane of the hive. Honeybees can tell their sisters how far away the food is up to a distance of about 15 kilometers. For good measure, they can also allow for the fact that the sun moves relative to the hive by about 15 degrees an hour and correct for this when they pass on the information. In other words, they have their own built-in global positioning system and a language that enables them to refer to objects and events that are distant in space or time. German scientists in the early part of the last century called this ability of bees to learn the time of day when flowers start secreting nectar and visit the flowers at appropriate times Zeitgedächtnis, or timesense. But the species of flowers in bloom, say, this week, is likely to be replaced by a different species at a different location next week or the week after. The bee needs a flexible, dynamic appointments system that it continually updates, and it has evolved an impressive ability to learn colors, odors, shapes and routes, within a time frame, quickly and accurately. While the initial dance by a returning scout bee informs her sisters of the location and distance of food plants and the quality of their nectar, bees that visit the food source learn to synchronize their behavior with daily floral rhythms, foraging only when nectar and pollen are at their highest levels. At other times, they remain in the hive, conserving energy that otherwise would be exhausted on nonproductive foraging flights.

But plants cannot release their scent in a timely manner simply in response to an environmental cue, like the lowering of the light levels.They need time to produce the oils.To coincide with the appearance of the nocturnal insects, the plant has to anticipate the sunset and produce the scent on a circadian schedule.

Although most animals, including humans, cannot sustain long-lasting periods of activity without circadian rhythms, honeybees have developed a marked flexibility in their circadian rhythm that depends on the job they are doing. Whereas a particular circadian determined behavior is usually fixed to a certain phase of the cycle, in honeybees the circadian rhythm is dependent on the job the bee is doing.

Flowers of a given species all produce nectar at about the same time each day, as this increases the chances of cross-pollination.The trick works because pollinators, which in most cases means the honeybee, concentrate foraging on a particular species into a narrow time-window. In effect the honeybee has a daily diary that can include as many as nine appointments — say, 10:00 a.m., lilac; 11:30 a.m., peonies; and so on.The bees’ time-keeping is accurate to about 20 minutes.

Adult worker bees perform a number of tasks in the hive when they are young, like caring for eggs and larvae, and then shift to foraging for nectar and pollen as they age. However, if the hive has a shortage of foragers, some of the young nurse bees will switch jobs and become foragers. The job transition, whether triggered by age or social cues, involves changes in genes in the honeybee brain; some genes turn on, while others turn off.

The bee can do this because, like the plants and just about every living creature, it has a circadian clock that is reset daily to run in time with the solar cycle. The bee can effectively consult this clock and “check” off the given time and associate this with a particular event.

Young worker bees less than two weeks of age who typically nurse the brood around-the-clock display no circadian rhythms. Older workers (more than three weeks) typically perform foraging activities and have strong circadian rhythms that are needed for the timecompensated sun-compass navigation and timing visits to flowers.

Honeybees really are nature’s little treasures.They are a centimeter or so long, their brains are tiny, and a small set of simple rules can explain the sophisticated social behavior that produces the coordinated activity of a hive.They live by sets of instructions that are familiar to computer programmers as subroutines – do this until the stop code, then into the next subroutine, and so on. These humble little bees have an innate ability to work out the location of a food source from its position in relation to the sun.They do this even on cloudy days by reading the pattern of the polarization of

Recent research in Israel has shown that when young worker bees are removed from caring for the brood and placed in individual cages, they rapidly show circadian rhythms in their behavior. Newly emerged bees isolated in individual cages typically show circadian rhythms in locomotor activity when at 3 days to 14 days old, ages at which most bees in the hive perform around-the-clock nursing activities as mentioned above. Older foragers who revert to nursing duties switch back to around-the-clock brood care activity similar to continued on page 14

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Local clubs needed to staff State Fair beekeepers booth continued from page 1

Booth Workers Needed

rodeos and tractor pulls, musical acts including Brooks & Dunn and Kansas, and a plethora of agricultural exhibits.

As always, our Honey Booth cannot operate without the generous help of MSBA members. Dean Sanders, our Fair Chairman, is recruiting volunteers now. It’s a great excuse to spend a couple of days in Sedalia taking in all that this wonderful state has to offer.

As always, the MSBA will host its Honey Booth to promote honey and beekeeping to the public. Missouri beekeepers will again have an opportunity to supply honey and related products for sale at the booth. Anyone interested is asked to submit bids by June 26 to Ron Vivian, Treasurer; Missouri State Beekeepers Association; PO Box 448; Oak Grove, MO 64075. A bid sheet is printed on page 4 of this newsletter. Beekeepers can also enter the fruits of their labor in competition. Categories include everything from extracted and comb honey to beeswax and even observation hives. For a list of categories, visit www.mostatefair.com/premium.html. Click on “Agriculture, Crafts, Arts and Culinary”, then download the “Agriculture Entry Blank” PDF. Be sure to supply your Social Security number on the form in order to be paid for any winnings. In addition to individual entries, local clubs will compete against each other. Last year’s club winner was the Midwestern Beekeepers Association, based in Raytown, while Midwestern member Roger Nichols took the Individual Grand Champion award.

Last year one local club volunteered to take over the booth for a day, displaying its own signage alongside that of the state organization. Please call Dean at 816-456-4683 to volunteer your time.

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Cookin’ with honey! by Carrie Sayers

Asian Chicken Wings 3# chicken wings 1/3 C soy sauce 2 T veg oil 2 T chili sauce or catsup

1/3 1/2 1/2 1/4

C HONEY t garlic powder t ginger t cayenne

Rinse & pat dry wings - place in large bowl/marinating vessel. Mix all remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl. Pour over wings in vessel, making sure all wings are covered in marinade. Cover and refrigerate up to two days -- tossing occasionally. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet/pan with foil. Place wings on sheet (minus the excess marinade) and bake for 20 minutes. Turn and bake for another 30 minutes. Serve room temp or warm.......enjoy! Carrie Sayers (www.sayerscatering.com) is a second-year beekeeper in Glendale, MO, and has been cooking with honey for years.

Fall Meeting Preview October 30-31, Jefferson City Capitol Plaza Hotel Featuring Marla Spivak, Professor, Apiculture and Social Insects, University of Minnesota. Developer of the Minnesota Hygienic line of varroa-resistant honeybees.

Mark your calendar!

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June 2009

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Local bee associations Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks 4th Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. The Library Center, 4653 S. Campbell, Springfield www.ozarksbeekeepers.org