2016 Newsletter Collection by Missouri State Beekeepers Association

2016 Newsletter Collection Sponsored By:

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

February 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

Randy Oliver to headline Fall Conference October 14-15 at Lake of the Ozarks Save the date! Our annual MSBA Fall Conference has been scheduled for October 14-15 at Lodge of the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Missouri. This conference will be heavy on the latest research. Confirmed speakers include: Randy Oliver, commercial beekeeper, long-running American Bee Journal author, field researcher and research analyst. Check out his work at scientificbeekeeping.com Mel Disselkoen, independent honeybee researcher and promoter of innovative queen-rearing techniques. Read more at mdasplitter.com More details to come!

photo by Mimi Higgins

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the President ............ 2 Local club workshops ......... 5 Report from Albuquerque 6 AHPA Annual Conference Tom Seeley coming to STL 7 BeeSpeakSTL Speaker Series

Confessions of a beginner ... 9 Twenty years later Local associations .......... 8-9 Is there a club near you? Membership application ... 10 Directory of Officers ........ 11

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January 19, 2016 Hello Everyone. Hope your holidays were good and your hives have survived so far. While you are mixing up fondants for your bees and searching the supplier catalogs for good deals on woodenware, your MSBA Executive Committee has been making plans for the upcoming years. This past weekend, we got together and discussed how beekeeping has changed, how WE need to change and what we can do to be of service to our industry. We discussed streamlining memberships, what we can do to provide better communication with our members and what other products could we offer as part of your membership package. We talked about MU’s plans on having a Master Pollinator Program and a Master Certified Beekeeper Program, neither of which have been finalized yet, but both seem very interesting. There were a couple of things we did decide. Starting in 2017, we will be adding a Spring Learning Session and we will be rotating the location of the Fall Conference so more folks can attend. The 2016 Fall Conference will be held at the Lake of the Ozarks, so mark your calendars. Check this and upcoming newsletters for more information. Speaking of conferences, the Great Plains Growers Conference was held in St. Joseph, MO this past January. It is an annual event that draws folks in from Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Wyoming. This year, Dr. Larry Connors did an all-day talk on honeybees so Jim and I took turns listening to his thoughts on honeybees and queen rearing and nectar-rich plants … very interesting. Dr. Jaime Pinero with Lincoln University is doing some interesting research on Vegetable Integrated Pest Management. He has partnered up with Jim and me for a few beekeeping classes, so I was familiar with his research and did a class on IPM in St. Joe. During one of his discussions, he mentioned how difficult it was to control beetles, but that there were fungi that seemed promising. Clayton and I chatted with him after the meeting, and asked him his thoughts on Small Hive Beetles. He provided us with the name of a fungus that was currently being tested. I did a little researching on it this morning and found that, in 2004, Australia found this and another fungi appeared very effective, not harmful to the bees and didn’t poison the honey. There is more research being done to figure out how much, when to use and how to apply, but how exciting is that! I’m going to talk with Dr. Pinero to see if we can get any Missouri research projects going with this … in my spare time, of course. The point I am making is three-fold; First, there is research being conducted for all types of honeybee pests but it seems like it is being underreported to the public. Second, sometimes we need to think outside the “smash and spray” box for answers to difficult problems. And finally, it is encouraging to find there are opportunities for us, as beekeepers of all levels, to get involved with these researchers to have conversations on what we are seeing in the fields. For those of you that are new to beekeeping, the things you will get to learn will astound you. Bees are affected by so many different things and it is important you have a basic understanding of the important ones to grow. You need to know how a flower works, what is involved in pollination, the life cycle of a number of insects and fungi and a little bit of chemistry. Of course, one could say that you need this knowledge to be a good gardener or a great chef, too. So, now is the time to expand your education. If you haven’t taken a class lately … please do so. Check the events calendar on our webpage for upcoming classes in your area. If you are hosting a class and want it to be added, send us a note and we will do that as soon as we are able. And, watch for those MSBA newsletters and emails to keep up with the ever changing world of beekeeping. Thank you for being a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association. Valerie

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

photo by Valerie Duever

Local clubs, schools announce beekeeping workshops Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks will conduct a class for beginning beekeepers at the MSU Darr School of Agriculture Springfield campus in The Bond Learning Center, 2401 S Kansas Expressway Feb 2, 9, 16, and March 1. 6:30-8:30. You must be pre-registered to attend due to space limitations. You can register for the classes through our website. Our annual club membership is included in the class registration fee. www.ozarksbeekeepers.org North Central Missouri Beekeepers Association and Crooked Hill Beekeeping LLC are sponsoring a Beginner’s Beekeeping Class on February 20 from 9am to 4pm, at the Macon High School cafeteria in Macon, Missouri. Cost is $40.00 Instructors are Jim and Valerie Duever. The Duevers were MSBA Beekeepers of the Year in 2009, and Valerie is currently MSBA President. They have together taught numerous beekeeping classes throughout the state in conjunction with UM Extension offices. Please RSVP to Bill or Tammy George at: (660) 214-0132 or georges@chbeekeeping.com Registration is now open for Rolla Bee Club’s second year beekeeping class Saturday, February 20, 2016 at 1341 California, Rolla, Missouri from 9am to 3pm. The class will cover what second year beekeepers need to know to manage bees during their second spring including splitting hives, preventing swarming and managing for the honey flow. Cost is $45 and includes class materials and catered lunch. To preregister, email rollabees@gmail.com or call (573) 578-0561 by February 5, 2016. #mobeekeepingclasses The Buchanan County MU Extension office will hold a Beginning Beekeeping Workshop on Saturday, March 5, from 8:30 am to 5pm, at irst Christian Church, 318 N. Pine St., Cameron MO 64429. This workshop is being taught by beekeepers from the Midwestern Beekeepers Association, as well as several area beekeepers. Cost is $25.00 and includes lunch, refreshments, the book First Lessons in Beekeeping, and handouts. Checks can be made payable to University of Missouri Extension and mailed to 4125 Mitchell Ave St. Joseph, MO 64507. Registrations are accepted at the door, but will not include the book or handouts. Call the Extension at 816-279-1691 for more information. Midwestern Beekeepers holds its 21st Annual Beginning Beekeeping Class on Saturday March 12, 2016, 8am – 5 pm at Lakewood Oaks Golf Club in Lee’s Summit. The agenda will include: Bee Biology; Equipment; Acquiring bees; Spring, Fall, and Winter Management; Bee Diseases and Pest Management; Educational Opportunities; Hive Location; Honey Plants; Extracting Honey; Beekeeping Etiquette; Questions and Answers; Door Prizes; and a chance to win a complete colony of honey bees. The $65 Pre-registration Fee includes a Beekeeping Handbook, membership in the association, a monthly newsletter, refreshments, and lunch. For more info: Cathy Misko (660) 656-3485 cathymisko@earthlink.net or Ezekiel Amador (816) 616-7619 zekeamador@aol.com Visit www.midwesternbeekeepers.org St. Clair Beekeepers will host a Beginning Beekeeping Class on March 12 at the St. Clair County Farm Bureau, 1478 Ill. Rte 15, Belleville IL. Contact club secretary Vickie Piel, at beesrgr8@att.net or 618-978-4369 to register or for more info. A Natural Beekeeping Workshop will be held March 19-20 in Rockbridge, Missouri. It includes a full two days of in-depth information on natural beekeeping plus a visit to a treatment-free apiary. This comprehensive workshop is hosted by Dr Leo Sharashkin - regular contributor to American Bee Journal, Bee Culture, and other major publications. He is editor of “Keeping Bees With a Smile”, a definitive resource on natural beekeeping and horizontal hives. His apiary of 20 hives is composed of resilient survivor stock obtained from Ozark feral colonies. Dr Leo has given over 300 presentations on four continents, and his course attracts participants from all over the US and abroad. For complete program and registration (as well as free plans and natural beekeeping information) visit www.HorizontalHive.com MSBA members enjoy a $100 registration discount if you register by February 14 - use coupon code: SHOWMEBEES when you register at www.HorizontalHive.com This discount can be combined with another $100 off per person for 2 or more people registering together.

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Report from the 2016 American Honey Producers Conference January 5-9 in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Phil Ebert In a nutshell, the main focus of this meeting was Varroa mites and insecticides. Dennis Van Englesdorp characterized the fall increase in Varroa population as the “Varroa Bomb.” Every time he mentioned this, he showed a slide depicting a nuclear explosion. They are blaming the high mite counts on mite-carrying bees migrating in from colonies that are crashing, because it doesn’t meet the model they have on population development. This may be but we have been seeing this fall mite jump for years. Most of our yards are in areas where there are no other beekeepers. Whatever the cause, the mite load will jump exponentially in the fall. If you do not control this, your bees will die. The rule of thumb for some years has been that half of the mites are in the brood. It can be much higher than that. Researchers now acknowledge this. If you hit a cycle where 80% of the mites are in the brood, your mite count can jump form 3% to 15% in the time it takes for the brood to emerge. That’s from day 9 to day 24 if you include the drone brood. The likelihood of saving that colony is pretty remote. Conventional wisdom now says that your bees will die if the mite load gets over 5%. While it has been my goal for some years to stay below that level, it didn’t happen this year. Our load ran 5% to 6% through the fall. We got the mites knocked down but it took three treatments. We fed syrup and protein supplement and they brooded up after the final mite treatment but we don’t know if we have enough young healthy bees to get through the winter. We will know when we tally the death loss in the spring. It has been found that high levels of CO2 can be detrimental to mites. Confined winter clusters can raise the CO2 level to 6% or 7%. Bees can withstand 8% but may die at 12%. There was a story about a beekeeper driving his loader into a winter storage building to take the bees out. The loader died because there was not enough oxygen left in the air. The bees were okay, though. A researcher at BYU is looking at phages as a possible solution to American Foulbrood. AFB is caused by bacteria. A phage is the worst enemy that bacteria has. It was described as looking like a microscopic lunar lander. It attaches itself to the bacteria and kills it. Each phage will only attach itself to specific bacteria. The research is in the early stage but it does work. Honeybees have a proventriculus behind their honey stomach that can filter out some of the

foulbrood spores. When the spores become too numerous, they wind up getting fed to the larvae and foulbrood results. There were reports of neonics being found in surface water. This was no big surprise since they are water soluble and move with the ground water. At the present time, insecticides are not my major problem. Down the road, it is my fear that we are creating a toxic cocktail in the ground. I am not against insecticides but I think we need to be lot smarter about how we use them. Jonathan Lungren was a presenter at the meeting. He worked for the USDA in South Dakota (note past tense). His research suggested that neonics posed a threat to pollinators. He gave interviews to this effect. This made him a bad boy in the eyes of the USDA. Harassment began. In the end, he walked away from his job as a lead scientist. He has instigated a whistle blower case against the USDA. This was all covered in an article in the Washington Post. Jonathan also worked with farmers to produce an environment favorable to pollinators and improve soil health. These farmers were able to increase their revenue per acre. He is now trying to raise funds to continue his work on a private basis. Check him out at www.bluedasher.farm or www.ecdysis.bio. He is a very dynamic guy. I sent him a few bucks. Jonathan’s fate is similar to what befell Jeff Pettis. Jeff was asked to resign as the head of the Beltsville lab. It was another case of getting the “wrong” results. The last session of the final day covered what was happening with honey prices and the flood of imported “honey” coming into the US. Annual US consumption is somewhere north of 400,000,000 pounds. Imports will probably exceed that amount in 2016 if the present rate continues. This is in addition to a US crop of somewhere around 140,000,000 pounds. If you are a big producer with a warehouse full of honey, you have a problem. Good local honey can still bring top dollar, though. Think Spring. It will be here before we know it!!

photo by Grant Gillard

February 2016

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Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8336

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday of month, Church of Christ, Poplar Bluff Contact Cory Stevens 573-225-6935 wells.ernie@gmail.com

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett Kevin Young, President 417-847-5464

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho 1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Eugene Makovec 314-703-7650

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters

2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com Gerald Auffert, President 660-944-2535

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Chris Bilbrey 573-692-0698 twaace01@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy President Eric Reid quadcountybeekeepers.com

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association

1st Monday, Area Career Center, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 646-3354, www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued next page) (continued from previous page)

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

33 EZ Beekeeping 3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan No dues, focus on Horizontal Hives. Contact Jim Roe 636-357-7658 or email jim.roe@asemonline.org. This group has an open group on Yahoo to exchange information. (Yahoo account needed.)

Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 conroythegeek@gmail.com

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6:00 pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Caldwell County Beekeepers 4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club 1st Tuesday, 7pm, Scott Laden’s house in Dexter Contact Dorothy at djhooten@yahoo.com, or Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. February meeting at Gregg Tivnan’s workshop near Bunker; call for other months. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

Confessions of a beginning beekeeper - 20 years later by Eugene Makovec I recently ran across the old notebook in which I kept copious notes of my first couple of years as a beekeeper. As I told attendees of our Three Rivers Beginning Beekeeping Workshop last weekend, my first season was a comedy of errors. But enough time has passed that I am willing to share the story with you. My father kept bees for over 50 years, but I had little interest when I was growing up. After moving to Missouri in the early ‘80s, I made a habit of returning from every trek home to Wisconsin with a supply of crystallized honey, usually scooped from one of two galvanized milk cans stored at the top of the stairs. (Why he lugged them up there I’ll never understand.) After poor health and mites cut Dad’s hobby short, I decided that buying my honey at the grocery store was just not the same. So in April of 1996 I drove with a friend up to Wisconsin and picked up a 1941 Dadant four-frame extractor and a stack of miscellaneous boxes and frames from Dad. With that equipment, and a beginner’s class at Jefferson County Beekeepers, I felt ready to begin my own new hobby. As you will see from the following story, I was not. [Changes and additions to the original notes appear in bracketed text.] May 21, 1996 (Tuesday) - Package of Italians shipped from Rossman Apiaries in Georgia. May 24 - Post office called about 7:30am. I was at work (my first week on days), but [my father-in-law] picked them up for me. [My wife] called me around noon and told me. I asked, “Well, how do they look? What are they doing?” She said, “I don’t know - I didn’t really look at them. They’re on the front porch, and I just walked past them and said, ‘Ooh, icky!’ And Tony [our two-year-old] said, ‘Ooh, icky!’ and we walked into the house.” [My ex-wife would not mind me saying that she was not a fan of the bees.] Bees were milling around in box - sprayed down a couple times with

sugar water. Left on front porch overnight. Checked on around 10pm - they were all pushed up against screen and more or less immobile - this worried me so I fed with sugar water again for good measure. In the morning they were bustling with activity again. May 25 - Installed - Set up hive at Ray’s [a co-worker who live about an hour away in Troy]. Per Dad’s instructions, I sprayed down bees with sugar water and set into bottom brood chamber, displacing three frames. Pulled top closure off and lifted syrup can out - it was still about one-third full. Most of the bees stayed inside but a few dozen were buzzing around me - it was rather exhilarating! Plus, I had an audience - Ray and Denise, a couple kids and neighbors - I kept busy explaining things as I was working - it’s amazing how much I know about bees, yet how much I need to learn. The queen case was setting, unattached, down in the midst of the workers, and I reached in with gloved hand and pulled it out. She was marked with a blue dot on her back. She was also clipped, which was lucky, because I pulled the wrong cork out of her cage. (I didn’t really even think about it, but there was a block of candy inside one cork - like Dad had said - that allowed the workers to release her later.) Anyway, she crawled out and several workers crawled around her. I set her cage on top of frames and watched her crawl out, then set next brood chamber on top with three missing frames in the middle, and set the syrup can upside down on top of bee shipping box so

they could eat the rest. The queen had disappeared for a couple minutes, but there she was again. I grabbed my camera [a Canon Ftb] with closeup filter, but she was gone again. I closed up hive and left. I didn’t feed anything else, since Dad had given me several frames with honey in them. I left hive with two brood boxes (including 5-6 honeycontinued on page 11

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February 2016 A beginner’s confessions continued from page 9

filled frames and a few empty frames, and 2-3 foundations) and one super of empty frames, with queen excluder [below it]. I closed off only about one-third of entrance with a piece of wood. May 28 - This is where the education begins. Per Dad’s advice, I went back after three days to pull shipping container out and replace with frames. He said if I waited too long they might cement it in with propolis. Well, that wasn’t a problem, but what they did was start building honeycomb down from the queen excluder within the space of missing frames in second brood chamber - they had three irregular sections built down from the top, and between two of these sections, 3-4 bees had waxed themselves together to form a bridge (presumably for structural support) while dozens of other bees were building honeycomb. Denise took some pictures of this. The other thing that amazed me was how incredibly docile these creatures are. Only once, when I physically tried to push a bunch of bees off outer box edges (to avoid crushing them with the next box), did they seem perturbed at my efforts, and a dozen or so

Page 11

Directory of Officers President: Valerie Duever 314-402-4841 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 president@mostatebeekeepers.org Vice President: Clayton Lee 573-864-5172 90 E. Pope Lane, Smithville, MO 64089 vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Secretary: Charlotte Wiggins 573-426-3510 secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org 1001 Bluebird Ln, Rolla, MO 65401 Treasurer: Steve Moeller 573-886-0662 PO Box 7514, Columbia MO 65205 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org Membership Chair: VACANT membership@mostatebeekeepers.org Past-President: John Timmons 636-940-8202 952 Greenleaf Drive, St. Charles MO 63303 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Northwestern Director: Roger Nichols cell 816-456-6983 northwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Northeastern Director: Dan Lake 636-724-5937 48 Sterling Pointe Dr., St. Charles MO 63301 northeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southeastern Director: Gregg Hitchings southeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southwestern Director: Bruce Snavely 417-732-5219 508 Casady, Republic, MO 65738 southwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Central Director: Bob Brammer 660-415-6480 31649 Lake St., Macon MO 63552 centraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org

Filling a vacuum: The bees suspend comb from a queen excluder, taking advantage of the space left by missing combs. photo by Denise Phipps

Program Chairperson: Jim Duever 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 program@mostatebeekeepers.org

started dive-bombing me and bouncing off my veil. Otherwise, the bees just went about their business as if I wasn’t even there.

Vendor Liaison: Tim Hyde tim.hyde@yahoo.com

The only other indication of stress was the raised volume of buzzing whenever I’d smoke the entrance or top of hive.

Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 135 Alex Dr., Foley MO 63347 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

I looked around a little but couldn’t locate queen. I observed that they had already put some honey into some combs in one empty frame. To be continued ... Next issue: June 14 - Boy, did I make a mistake!

314-703-7650

Queen Chairperson: VACANT queenchair@mostatebeekeepers.org State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Is time getting the better of your bee barns? Now is the time to upgrade for the spring season. And what better way than to leaf through this issue and support the advertisers who make it possible! photo by Eugene Makovec

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. Advertising rates are as follows:

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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.

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

April 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the President ............ 2 Honey crop down in 2015 ... 4 USDA shows slight colony decline

Eugene Makovec

Fall Conference preview .... 5 Annual winter loss survey 5 BIP responses due April 30 Around the State ............. 6-7 Reports from the local level State Fair heads-up ............ 7 Confessions of a beginner ... 9 Twenty years later Local associations .......... 8-9 Is there a club near you? Membership application ... 10 Directory of Officers ........ 11

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association From the President by Valerie Duever

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From the President… Last year around late Spring, Jim and I went to the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas. This is normally a typical company buying trip to see what is the latest and greatest in the world of gardening and landscaping. Except this time, we came across two or three vendors that were selling beekeeping supplies. We stopped and chatted with them and pretty much talked about bees and how the beekeeping industry is really taking off. I didn’t think too much about this event until yesterday, when we were in a national chain farm supply retail outlet in the metro St. Louis area…we needed chicken feed, and guess what we found? Yeap, beekeeping supplies. Not just a little four-foot display, but a pretty sizable presentation of ready-to-go hives and bee suits. Really took us by surprise. Of course, my first reaction was, “Hey, this is kind of cool!” Beekeeping is finally becoming mainstream. No longer does a newbee have to secretly hunt down suppliers to purchase their supplies, it is now in their own backyard. But then I started to think about the impact of a larger national chain offering supplies to new beekeepers. Did this retail outlet also offer training for their employees or are they just out there making money on the latest agriculture craze? I truly don’t know. I don’t fault them for seeing an opportunity to service their customers, but it is concerning to think that there probably isn’t someone qualified to answer even basic questions when it comes to beekeeping supplies. I could be wrong. There very well could be someone that has been managing hives for a number of years that is their go-to person. I am old enough to remember when “big box stores” started carrying bedding plants on a consistent basis. They didn’t have educated folks to help with the decision making process because they didn’t feel it was necessary. It took a number of years but eventually they understood that it is the education that sells the products, not the other way around. As one of our excellent suppliers mentioned during a previous conversation, “... you can get woodenware anywhere, but you can’t buy the education we have to offer… at any price.” They are so right. All things being equal, I prefer to choose a supplier that really understands the industry, someone that has kept hives and can relate to the experiences of keeping managed bees over someone that has not. The suppliers that advertise in our newsletter are just that; experienced beekeepers. What they have to offer in the way of observation and advice is invaluable. Remember that when you are shopping for your needed supplies and services. With any emerging market comes excitement and creative thinking. We, as an industry, are going through growing pains as there seems to be more and more folks interested in keeping bees but there are fewer qualified folks to mentor and teach about managing hives. Remember to ask questions before purchasing products or attending classes. Make sure you are getting the best value in goods and services from an experienced beekeeping professional. It used to be that the MSBA had two meetings a year, but the logistics of organizing these two events became overwhelming. The Board has had many discussions on this topic and we are pleased to announce that we are going to, again, start having two meetings a year; a Fall Awards Conference and Banquet, and a one-day Spring educational program. We want to provide a good platform of quality educational opportunities for our members by beekeepers recognized as specialists in their field of study. Program Director Jim has provided “hold-the-date” information concerning these two events in this newsletter, so mark your calendars. Keep an eye on those hives as it seems like Spring build-up is happening early this year. There are already rumors that the girls are starting to swarm in warmer areas of the state. Make sure your equipment is assembled and ready to go. And, if you are in need of quality products and expert advice, please see one of our newsletter sponsors. Thank you for being a member of the MO State Beekeepers Association. Valerie

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

U.S. Honey Production Down 12 Percent for Operations with Five or More Colonies

Production from fewer than five colonies counted for the first time in 2015 Released March 22, 2016, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Special Note: Beginning with this publication, a new table has been added with estimates for operations with less than five colonies. Estimates published for these operations are: Number of honey producing colonies, yield per colony, and production. This is new data, and does not alter any of the Honey report’s existing data series. Please contact the Livestock Branch at (202) 720-3570 or email at HQ_SD_LB@nass.usda.gov with any questions or concerns. United States honey production in 2015 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 157 million pounds, down 12 percent [after rising 19 percent in 2014]. There were 2.66 million colonies from which honey was harvested in 2015, down 3 percent from 2.74 million [again, following a 2014 increase of 4 percent]. Yield of honey harvested per colony averaged 58.9 pounds, down 10 percent from the 65.1 pounds in 2014. Colonies which produced honey in more than one State were counted in each State where the honey was produced. Therefore, at the United States level yield per colony may be understated, but total production would not be impacted. Colonies were not included if honey was not harvested. Producer honey stocks were 42.2 million pounds on December 15, 2015, up 2 percent from a year earlier. Stocks held by producers exclude those held under the commodity loan program. Operations with Less than Five Colonies Produced 720 Thousand Pounds of Honey in 2015 United States honey production in 2015 from producers with less than five colonies totaled 720 thousand pounds.

There were 23 thousand colonies from which honey was harvested in 2015, with an average yield of 31.3 pounds harvested per colony. This yield is 27.6 pounds less than what was pulled per colony on operations with five or more colonies. Comparisons to 2014 are unavailable because no data prior to 2015 was collected for operations with less than five colonies. Honey Prices Down 4 Percent for Operations with Five or More Colonies United States honey prices decreased during 2015 to 209.0 cents per pound, down 4 percent from a record high of 217.3 cents per pound in 2014. United States and State level prices reflect the portions of honey sold through cooperatives, private, and retail channels. Prices for each color class are derived by weighting the quantities sold for each marketing channel. Prices for the 2014 crop reflect honey sold in 2014 and 2015. Some 2014 honey was sold in 2015, which caused some revisions to the 2014 honey prices. Price data was not collected for operations with less than five colonies. Editor’s Note: Missouri colonies decrease by 17 percent, honey prices by 4 percent The entire report, found at http://www.usda.gov/nass/PUBS/ TODAYRPT/hony0316.pdf, also provides statistical breakdown per state, though only for operations with five or more colonies. Missouri is shown to have approximately 10,000 managed hives, dropping back to 2013 levels after rising to 12,000 in 2014. Honey production per hive rose to 52 pounds per hive (from 47 in 2014), but the average selling price dropped from $3.63 to $3.50 per pound. All told, our state produced 520,000 pounds of honey, worth $1,820,000!

April 2016

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Randy Oliver to headline Fall Conference October 14-15 at Lake of the Ozarks by Jim Duever, Program Director We are excited to announce the headline speaker for the 2016 Missouri State Beekeepers Association Fall Conference! Randy Oliver, owner of the web page scientificbeekeeping.com, will be discussing a variety of subjects, including current research. Additional sessions will be presented by Mel Disselkoen and regional beekeepers on topics ranging from small hive beetle to getting ready for your second year. You can visit Mel’s website at www.mdasplitter.com. The 2016 conference will be at the Lodge of the Four Seasons in the Lake of the Ozarks. Many improvements have been made since we last held the event at this location. We secured the main ballroom, which will be divided into 3 large meeting rooms. We are planning a dual track conference with something of interest for all levels of beekeepers. More details will be announced in the June newsletter and posted on Facebook.

Does my forehead feel warm to you? Workers use the fronts of their heads to pack pollen into cells, but it’s rare - and kind of funny - for it to stick like this. I don’t know what this colony was working, but I saw numerous bees with red pollen stuck to their faces, even their eyes, while there were none in the adjoining hives. photo by Eugene Makovec

Bee Informed Partnership ... National Loss Survey Underway Dear Beekeeper, We need you! We know it is one of the busiest times of the year for beekeepers and we thank you for taking valuable time from your colonies to participate in the National Colony Loss and Management Survey created by the Bee Informed Partnership and sponsored by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Please go to our online survey at http://10.selectsurvey.net/ beeinformed/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=BIP2016 and complete the survey there. It will be live on April 1st and close on April 30th. Please do not complete the survey more than once. Information about past Winter Loss and National Management Surveys and the annual reports can be found online at http://beeinformed.org/. The Colony Loss Survey has evolved from our winter loss survey conducted 10 years ago. Now we monitor summer losses as well. Last year, for the first time in the history of this survey, beekeepers reported higher losses in the summer than in the winter. The National Management Survey is conducted annually in conjunction with the Colony Loss Survey. The two surveys are aimed at looking for relationships between colony losses and colony management (including disease treatment strategies, supplemental feeding, etc.) and/or other factors that may influence colony health

(such as colony location, honey production, and forage type). Your participation in this research is voluntary and your responses will be kept confidential. In any publication or presentation resulting from this research, no personally identifiable information will be disclosed. We are also thrilled to release our Best Management Practices in the next few months. Please check back on our website soon for those exciting results! Some of you may be contacted independently by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the USDA to participate in their first quarterly colony loss survey. We encourage all beekeepers contacted by NASS to answer both BIP and NASS surveys. But we need your responses! If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at askbeeinformed@gmail.com. Once again thank you for your participation. Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp President, Bee Informed Partnership, Inc. University of Maryland Karen Rennich Executive Director, Bee Informed Partnership, Inc. University of Maryland

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Around the state ... by Eugene Makovec In addition to the usual late-winter workshops, local clubs have featured some exciting extra-curricular activity over the past couple of months: Saint Louis Beekeepers held its fourth annual Honey, Mead and Wine Tasting on Friday, February 26th, at the Culinary Institute at Hickey College. The event featured a wide range of wines, meads and beers, paired with complementary varietal honeys from around the world. Hors d’oeuvres were presented by the Institute’s students and staff. BeeSpeak STL drew beekeepers from around the state and beyond to see renowned honeybee researcher and author Tom Seeley on Saturday, February 26th, at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Dr. Seeley signed copies of Honeybee Democracy, his seminal work on the bee swarm mechanism, and gave several talks, including “The Wisdom of the Hive”, “The Bee Colony as a Honey Factory” and “The Thirst of the Hive - Colony Water Intake”. I learned several interesting things from Dr. Seeley, including: • The number of wild colonies in the Arnot Forest in New York is roughly the same now as when Seeley studied them in 1978 (an estimated 18 total), but DNA analysis indicates that the number of queen lineages dropped from 23 then to only four now. This suggests a drastic genetic bottleneck due to massive genetic mortality (think varroa). • Comb analysis shows that the survivor colonies build cells measuring ever-so-slightly smaller now than in 1978, but nowhere near the “small cell” dimensions promoted by some for mite control. • Honeybees appear to prefer nesting sites about the size of one deep hive body, with a bottom entrance measuring 3-4 square inches. • Winter condensation is widely considered a cause of colony mortality, but Tom cast some doubt on this theory. Wild colonies tend to seal the upper cracks in the hive, he said, while leaving lower cracks open. Not only does the colony need water during winter as in summer, but due to the warmth of the colony, surplus condensation tends to drip down the side walls of the hive rather than raining down upon the bees as is often suggested. The Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association hosted another giant in the industry, Dewey Caron, on Saturday, March 19 at Maritz in Fenton. Dr. Caron signed copies of his classic text Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping. He began with a discussion of various methods of swarm control. Later, he gave a great instructional lecture on “Resource Hives” - the use of nucleus colonies in the management of the apiary. The event concluded with Dewey moderating an extended question-and-answer session featuring an all-star trio of Beekeeper Bobs: Bob Sears, Bob Finck and Bob Graham - who between them probably have close to a century of experience.

Dewey Caron. left, presides over a wide-ranging question-and-answer session with the help of Bob Sears, Bob Finck and Bob Graham. Topics were not limited to Dewey’s lecture subjects, but covered everything from relative dangers of household pesticides to the nutritional value of overwintered pollen stores. photo by Ray Marklin

April 2016

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Around the state ... Upcoming Events Three Rivers Beekeepers holds its annual Queen Rearing Class, featuring Cory Stevens, in St. Peters on May 14th, from 8am to 6pm. Cost is $85.00. More information and registration are available at http:// threeriversbeekeepers.com/qrw/. Boone Regional Beekeepers holds a Queen Rearing Class, also featuring Cory Stevens, in Columbia on June 4th, from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Cost is $90.00 individual or $155.00 couple. More information is available at boonebees.org, or by emailing Marty Comstock at treasurer@boonebees.org. North Central Missouri Beekeepers, along with Adair County MU Extension Center and Crooked Hill Beekeeping, are sponsoring a Year Two Beekeeping Class. Instructed by Jim and Valerie Duever, this event will be held Wednesday, June 1st from 9am to 3:30pm in Macon. For more information contact Jennifer Schutter at schutterjl@missouri. edu.

State Fair is just around the corner Honey entries due a day earlier this year by Wanda Johnston

It’s time to start thinking about your Missouri State Fair entries. There is a change this year that everyone entering items in the competition needs to know. All contest items will need to be brought to the Agriculture Building by 5pm on Monday, August 8. The judge will complete the competition judging on Tuesday, August 9. The Fair begins on Thursday, August 11 and will run through Sunday, August 21. Please contact Dean Sanders at 816-456-4683 to sign up to work the MSBA booth. Your club may volunteer as a group for a full day; please contact Dean to secure your day. Again, Tuesday is judging day, so no entries will be accepted after 5pm on Monday, August 8.

Too young for mead or wine, this youngster has his work cut out for him sampling the many types of honey available at February’s Honey, Mead and Wine Tasting in St. Louis. photo by Scott Klein

Dr. Tom Seeley expounds on “The Wisdom of the Hive” at a recent event held by BeeSpeak STL. photo by Ray Marklin

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8236

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday of month, Church of Christ, Poplar Bluff Contact Cory Stevens 573-225-6935 wells.ernie@gmail.com

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett Kevin Young, President 417-847-5464

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho 1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Eugene Makovec 314-703-7650

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters

2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com Gerald Auffert, President 660-944-2535

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Rodney Angell (573) 259-5811 bee143@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy President Eric Reid quadcountybeekeepers.com

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association

1st Monday, Area Career Center, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 646-3354, www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued next page) (continued from previous page)

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6:00 pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Greenhills Bee Club 4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club 1st Tuesday, 7pm, Scott Laden’s house in Dexter Contact Dorothy at djhooten@yahoo.com, or Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. February meeting at Gregg Tivnan’s workshop near Bunker; call for other months. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

Confessions of a beginning beekeeper - 20 years later (second installment) by Eugene Makovec Continued from February [Changes and additions to the original notes appear in bracketed text.] June 14, 1996 (Tuesday) - Boy, did I make a mistake! I was so fascinated by my bees’ architecture that I left it in place and packed the other frames around it. I went to a Jefferson County Beekeepers’ meeting on the 9th, and was told I should have pulled it out: “The queen won’t lay eggs in there; it won’t have the proper ‘bee space’” - or something like that. So I went back to check it out. When I picked up the queen excluder, the homemade section broke off about 2-3 inches down - it was filled with larvae and nectar. I set it aside and all I could see below was bees, bees, bees. But when I picked up the top brood box, THUNK! The fullsized, perfectly shaped homemade honeycomb fell out on the ground. It was chock full of larvae and weighed 5-10 lbs. Upon further investigation, I found that not only was the queen willing to work in the homemade portion, but that was the only place she had worked. They had barely touched one of my foundations, had put a touch of nectar in a couple of the other empties, and I couldn’t find larvae anywhere else. I felt like I’d just destroyed all their work to date. Not knowing what else to do, I took a couple of photos of some larvae I’d exposed via my destruction, and in a desperate attempt at salvaging something I shifted a bunch of frames around, picked up the homemade one (very carefully - it was quite pliable) and kind of leaned it up in the bottom brood box with one frame to the outside. Hopefully, I thought, they’ll be able to save some of these brood.

In the meantime, I had searched everywhere for the queen, to no avail. Oh, and they were anything but docile today! Boy, did I make them mad! They obviously are protective of their young - at least when someone throws them around the way I did. They also seem to hate the bee brush. Ray was standing 12-15 feet away and a couple bees started harassing him and wouldn’t leave him alone, so he left. And thank heavens for my bee suit - I was being dive-bombed by scores of them for the last 10 minutes or so, but none found their way in. (Of course, whenever I put my smoker down, it goes out.) When I put it all back together, there were a dozen or two bees clustered on the side of the hive, and I was afraid I’d dumped out the queen, but I couldn’t see her. There were also 20-30 bees clustered around the entrance. I walked back there about 20 minutes later and they were still there - they were also still upset - a couple came to harass me about 10 feet away and I finally had to trot off to shake them. Dad’s advice was that he’d have told me the same as Jim Buxton and friends at JeffCo Beekeepers. He was surprised she had done all her work in the homemade section, but upon reflection observed, “They always do seem to like their own construction.” He also said he’d have done the same as me in trying to salvage it. June 23 - Ray and I went to the [Eastern Missouri Beekeepers] picnic - He brought Joey and Sam along. We had a blast. I got to suit up and check out a dozen hives there (Little Creek Wildlife Area, off Dunn Road) with Sharon continued on page 11

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April 2016 A beginner’s confessions continued from page 9

Page 11

Directory of Officers President: Valerie Duever

314-402-4841

Gibbons (the owner) and a few others. She said the clustering 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 was probably just from the heat, and if the queen did get dumped president@mostatebeekeepers.org out she should find her way back in. (I didn’t say anything else Vice President: Clayton Lee 573-864-5172 about my fiasco.) 90 E. Pope Lane, Smithville, MO 64089 vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org They also had a smoker lighting contest - the longest burner was Marshall Creech, with burlap, so I decided to try blue jean Secretary: Charlotte Wiggins 573-426-3510 denim - I’d already begun to cut up a pair I had thrown out. secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org [I still use blue jean denim to this day.] I also won a $5.00 gift 1001 Bluebird Ln, Rolla, MO 65401 certificate, by guessing the weight of a nuc box. It was 34# lbs. Treasurer: Steve Moeller 573-886-0662 - I guessed 33 lbs, 12 oz. PO Box 7514, Columbia MO 65205 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org June 29 - The bees seem to be doing okay. The homemade section is still in place where I left it - kind of attached to the Membership Chair: VACANT outside frame but not really. (When I tried to lift the outside membership@mostatebeekeepers.org one, it was obvious that the homemade one would break free, Past-President: John Timmons 636-940-8202 so I left well enough alone.) 952 Greenleaf Drive, St. Charles MO 63303 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org They had drawn out two of my three foundations, and had a few larvae and nectar (and about one-fourth honey on one side) Northwestern Director: Roger Nichols in each. But they hadn’t touched the 3rd, or the super. Nor had cell 816-456-6983 they done much else in the super - there were maybe a half northwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org dozen bees crawling around on each frame, and small amounts Northeastern Director: Dan Lake 636-724-5937 of nectar here and there, but that was all. 48 Sterling Pointe Dr., St. Charles MO 63301 northeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org I couldn’t find the queen again - though I couldn’t really check the homemade construction. Southeastern Director: Gregg Hitchings southeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org I did get to see baby bees cutting out of their cells - I watched about four of them working with their little antennae poking out, and saw one dig out altogether. I had noticed some smaller Southwestern Director: Bruce Snavely 417-732-5219 508 Casady, Republic, MO 65738 looking bees working around the combs, and this brand new southwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org one was about two-thirds the size of a full-grown bee. It was really neat - just like I’d seen in bee movies! Central Director: Bob Brammer 660-415-6480 31649 Lake St., Macon MO 63552

I also ran across 6-7 queen cells, and destroyed them, since centraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org that’s what I kept hearing and reading to do. (I sure hope my queen is alright - I’m not sure just how fast she’s supposed to Program Chairperson: Jim Duever 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 be working, but if she’s spent much of her time working the program@mostatebeekeepers.org remade portion that I half-destroyed, then I guess she’s doing okay. Only time will tell. Vendor Liaison: Tim Hyde tim.hyde@yahoo.com The good news today is my smoker worked great - I lit it with a wrap of cardboard and a couple pieces of denim and it smoked Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 135 Alex Dr., Foley MO 63347 for a half hour - it was just dying down as I was finishing up.

314-703-7650

editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

One more observation: For the first time, when I lifted the outer cover off it was not crawling with little black ants - apparently Queen Chairperson: VACANT queenchair@mostatebeekeepers.org the colony has gained enough strength to keep them away. To be continued ... Next issue: July 1 - Well, I goofed again!

State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

Well, isn’t that just peachy? Peach blossoms are a welcome early-Spring nectar source. This happy bee is head-first in the anthers of a dwarf Elberta peach tree in my Foley garden, while the front page shows its companion, a dwarf red haven. Both trees hit full bloom the last week of March and, despite gusty winds that made photography a challenge, were buzzing with honeybees and several other pollinators. Nectar appeared to be the main attraction, as my bees did not appear to be collecting much in the way of pollen from this source. photo by Eugene Makovec

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

June 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

(See story on page 8.)

From the President ............ 2 Wanna â&#x20AC;&#x153;save the beesâ&#x20AC;?? 4 It may be harder than you think Annual BIP loss survey 5 Summer/winter loss 44 percent Around the State ........ 6-7 Reports from the local level Join us at the State Fair ... 8 Booth volunteers needed

Fall Conference preview .... 9 Did we mention Randy Oliver? Local associations ............ 10 Find a club near you! Confessions of a beginner 11 Twenty years later Membership application ... 12 Directory of Officers ........ 13

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association From the President by Valerie Duever

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Hello Everyone. Man, what a busy, busy, busy two months this has been. Everything is green and lush. Lots of plants are blooming so our girls have plenty to eat and store as excess. And the swarming … don’t get me started on the swarming. If I get one message a day, seems like I get three. Swarms are not a bad thing, especially for the honey bees. This natural occurrence provides a break in the egg-laying/varroa mite cycle. It introduces a new queen to the area and allows you to increase the number of colonies in your bee yard, if you are prepared enough to catch or trap them when they swarm. And, the event itself is very cool to watch. Tom Seeley has been promoting his new book, “Following the Wild Bees, The Craft and Science of bee Hunting”, and I was able to catch part of his interview on our local NPR station last week. It was interesting, to say the least. It wasn’t 30 minutes later that I received a phone call from a journalism student, wanting to discuss swarms, so we talked for about 20 minutes or so. At the end of the conversation, she requested to be contacted when a swarm took place, near her home, so she could come out and experience the sights and sounds. I kind of chuckled at that thought because if we knew when bees were going to swarm, we wouldn’t be losing as many to the wilderness or to our neighbors! This past couple of weeks have been one interview after another. You can certainly tell when it is “testing time” for these students. Some do a fantastic job. Some want you to do all the work, even requesting that you come up with the questions. Never a dull moment. Mike McMillen and I made a trip down to Jefferson City to present Representative Jay Houghton with a very nice plaque and a couple of bottles of local honey. If you remember, Representative Houghton is one of the folks that helped get our honey bill passed last year. I have been involved with a number of early discussions on how different groups can help the beekeepers of Missouri; from the Department of Conservation, to the Department of Agriculture, to a number of colleges and universities. Everyone wants to help in some way, shape and form. We have some great information in this newsletter issue and even more information is available on our website: www.mostatebeekeepers.org so please check it out. We will be posting updates to a number of projects and events that are happening around the state that could help you be a better beekeeper. As the weather warms up, start making plans to do regular mite checks. It is better to catch them sooner (2-3% infestation) rather than later. Unfortunately, as the honey bee population begins to drop over the summer, the varroa mite population begins to dramatically climb. Contact your local beekeeping club, or drop us an email if you need help with this process. Good luck with catching those swarms. Let’s hope the honey crop this year is just as abundant as the honey bees have been over the past two months. Thank you for being a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association. Valerie

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

So you wanna be a beekeeper ... It’s easier than ever to get started, but harder than ever to survive by Eugene Makovec “The bee population is declining,” begins the description on the package, which contains a complete, pre-assembled beehive and sits on the shelf of my local Orsheln Farm & Home store. Then comes the obligatory statement that a third of our food supply depends on their survival. But finally, the good news: Keeping bees is “simpler than you think!” Just add bees, and “only minimal management is required. The bees know what to do!” Let’s begin with the fact that the bee population is not, in fact, declining – a little detail that I seem to reiterate to someone about once a week on average. While feral colonies in this country were mostly wiped out in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s by tracheal and varroa mites and have yet to recover substantially, managed colonies have been rising in the United States for a decade or more, and for a half century worldwide – as reflected in ongoing surveys by the USDA and FAO. As for the food supply, the largest demand for pollination by far in this country is almonds, and this year’s crop is expected to rise by about six percent. That said, it is clear to anyone who has done this for awhile that it has gotten increasingly difficult to keep bee colonies alive from year to year. It’s also clear that the primary culprit is the parasitic varroa mite, with its voracious appetite and attendant viruses. (Again, something I spend entirely too much time explaining to both the general public and - sadly - even some beekeepers.) It’s not cell phones. It’s not GMOs. It’s not neonics. It’s not even global warming, as was lately suggested by one or another of the myriad interest groups who have in recent years glommed onto the phenomenon of “colony collapse” as a means of promoting their own varied agendas. Another population that is expanding, and quite rapidly, is that of grant-writers. One species seeks tax money for “research” to “save the bees”. This endowment is typically used to feed enormous quantities of some substance or other to captive pollinators, watch them die, and then trumpet dubious findings to the media – always prefaced with dire warnings of the danger that disappearing bees present to our food supply, and ending with the caveat, “More research is needed.” A different variant seeks money for beekeeper “training”, and I put that word within quotes for a reason. From what I’ve seen offered, this education can encompass as little as four hours, often without benefit of a nearby association for meetings or mentoring – and even in some cases without an actual beekeeper in the role of instructor! Can the graduate of this course, who subsequently spends his time on Facebook inquiring about the difference between a queen and a drone, really be considered a beekeeper? Or is he one of those people whom George Imirie famously termed “bee havers”? As the folks at the Bee Informed Partnership report (see facing page), small-time beekeepers with no plan in place for varroa control may well be skewing the annual colony loss numbers by doing harm not only to their own colonies but to those of others nearby. And then you have this new breed of equipment vendors who market their wares at farm and hardware stores, which I’ll admit is rather refreshing on the surface beekeeping is becoming mainstream! (Valerie Duever addressed the pros and cons of this very well in April’s From the President column in this newsletter.) After all, beekeeping is not a secret society, and about 40 years ago one could purchase this stuff through the Sears Roebuck catalog. But this is not your grandfather’s beekeeping. Our problems for the most part are much more challenging than before. It’s nice that bees are now a bit more accessible, but let’s face it: Putting bees in a box in the yard does not make one a beekeeper. And unless you live on an island, when your neglected bees swarm, they end up in the neighbor’s tree, and possibly her attic. When they crash in the fall, your problems become the problems of every other beekeeper in a couple-mile radius. You are your neighbor’s beekeeper. I’m certainly not here to discourage anyone from keeping bees. I’ve done my share of teaching and mentoring over the past few years, and will continue to do so. But if you’re one of those who think you can “help save the bees” just by giving them a place to live and then leaving them alone, I say go for it. Just please, don’t do it in my neighborhood.

June 2016

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Nation’s Beekeepers Lost 44 Percent of Bees in 2015-16 Summer losses rival winter losses for the second year running

May 10, 2016, The Bee Informed Team among backyard beekeepers (defined as those who manage Beekeepers across the United States lost 44 percent of their fewer than 50 colonies). honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2015 to “Many backyard beekeepers don’t have any varroa control April 2016, according to the latest preliminary results of strategies in place. We think this results in colonies collapsing an annual nationwide survey. Rates of both winter loss and and spreading mites to neighboring colonies that are otherwise summer loss—and consequently, total annual losses— well-managed for mites,” said Nathalie Steinhauer, a graduate worsened compared with last year. This marks the second student in the UMD Department of Entomology who leads consecutive survey year that summer loss rates rivaled winter the data collection efforts for the annual survey. “We are loss rates. seeing more evidence to suggest that good beekeepers who The survey, which asks both commercial and small-scale take the right steps to control mites are losing colonies in this beekeepers to track the health and survival rates of their honey way, through no fault of their own.” bee colonies, is conducted each year by the Bee Informed This is the tenth year of the winter loss survey, and the sixth Partnership in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of year to include summer and annual losses in addition to America, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture winter loss data. More than 5,700 beekeepers from 48 states (USDA). Survey results for this year and all previous years are responded to this year’s survey. All told, these beekeepers publicly available on the Bee Informed website. are responsible for about 15 percent of the nation’s estimated “We’re now in the second year of high rates of summer 2.66 million managed honey bee colonies. loss, which is cause for serious concern,” said Dennis The survey is part of a larger research effort to understand vanEngelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at the why honey bee colonies are in such poor health, and what University of Maryland and project director can be done to manage the situation. Some for the Bee Informed Partnership. “Some “Many backyard beekeepers crops, such as almonds, depend entirely on winter losses are normal and expected. But don’t have any varroa honey bees for pollination. Estimates of the the fact that beekeepers are losing bees in control strategies in place. total economic value of honey bee pollination the summer, when bees should be at their We think this results services range between $10 billion and $15 in colonies collapsing billion annually. healthiest, is quite alarming.” and spreading mites to Beekeepers who responded to the survey neighboring colonies that “The high rate of loss over the entire year lost a total of 44.1 percent of their colonies are otherwise well-managed means that beekeepers are working overtime over the course of the year. This marks an for mites.” to constantly replace their losses,” said Jeffery increase of 3.5 percent over the previous Pettis, a senior entomologist at the USDA and study year (2014-15), when loss rates were a co-coordinator of the survey. “These losses found to be 40.6 percent. Winter loss rates increased from cost the beekeeper time and money. More importantly, the 22.3 percent in the previous winter to 28.1 percent this past industry needs these bees to meet the growing demand for winter, while summer loss rates increased from 25.3 percent pollination services. We urgently need solutions to slow the to 28.1 percent. rate of both winter and summer colony losses.” The researchers note that many factors are contributing The Bee Informed Partnership is a collaboration of efforts across to colony losses. A clear culprit is the varroa mite, a lethal the country from some of the leading research labs and universities parasite that can easily spread between colonies. Pesticides in agriculture and science to better understand honey bee declines and malnutrition caused by changing land use patterns are also in the United States. Supported by the United States Department likely taking a toll, especially among commercial beekeepers. of Agriculture and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, A recent study, published online in the journal Apidologie we’re working with beekeepers to better understand how we can on April 20, 2016, provided the first multi-year assessment keep healthier bees. The key to our success is the true partnership of honey bee parasites and disease in both commercial and we maintain across a wide range of disciplines including traditional backyard beekeeping operations. Among other findings honey bee science, economics, statistics, and medical research (summarized in a recent University of that makes all these tools available to this important research. Maryland press release), that study found And just as important as the tools are the people. We not only that the varroa mite is far more abundant have the leading researchers in the honey bee industry, we also than previous estimates indicate and is have advisory boards from the commercial beekeeping industries, closely linked to several damaging viruses. almond and other commercial growers, as well as naturalists and Varroa is a particularly challenging problem conservationists from across the country.

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Around the state ... In addition to the usual late-winter workshops, our local clubs have a lot of interesting things going on: Green Hills Club recently gave presentations to Braymer FFA and grades 5 through 8, and at the Breckenridge Elementary on the Life of the Honeybee. North Central Missouri Beekeepers Association held an Advanced Beekeeping Class on June 1st at Macon Career Center. Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Association of Neosho recently added 10 new members. They meet at the Neosho High School FFA Building on the first Tuesday of each month with Thelma Ross leading their group. Southern Missouri Beekeepers of Monett hosted Dr. Leo Sharashkin during their May meeting. They have a unique meeting format with a pot-luck meal every month. They currently have approximately 80 members and they meet at The United Methodist Church, Hwy 37, in Monett. John Schmidt

leads this club along with other officers. During the month of July they’re meeting at a local park and enjoying a picnic meal together. They give out information on a Facebook Page called K & B Honeybees. Wright County Beekeepers Association, which meets in Hartville at the Laclede Electric Building on the 2nd Thursday of each month, has been asked to give presentations for the Wright County Library during their summer program for children. They will give these talks on July 6, 10:00 am at the Hartville Community Building; July 6, 1:00 pm at the Mountain Grove Library; and July 13, 10:00 am at the Mansfield Library. More information is on their Facebook Page called Wright County Beekeepers. Busy Bee Club in Stockton reports new beekeepers have joined their club this Spring. Led by Neil Brunner, they have about 15 – 20 participants who meet each month in an continued next page

Cory Stevens uncaps a queen cell to show the almost fully-developed queen to attendees of his Queen Rearing Workshop in St. Peters. Three Rivers Beekeepers was the first club in the state to host Cory’s workshop, and it has become an annual event at clubs around the state. photo by Eugene Makovec

June 2016

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Around the state ... continued from previous page

that make us all want to put “Dexter Bee Club, 6:00 pm” on the 1st Tuesday of each month on our calendars. Cory Stevens is the contact person at (573) 225-6935. The SEMO Honey Producers are going through some changes. Currently they are looking for a new meeting facility in the Poplar Bluff area. They do plan to continue meeting on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 6:30 pm. New meeting location and contact person will be announced soon. The Parkland Beekeepers Association continues to grow. In order to better serve both the beginning beekeepers and more advanced beekeepers of the group, beginners in the mentoring program are attending a meeting for themselves the 1st Tuesday of each month. The “newbees” can discuss pertinent and timely “beginning” issues with experienced beekeepers while having access to five hives maintained on the campus of Mineral Area College. This hands on experience is considered valuable for those just learning the ins and outs of hive inspections and management techniques. The regular monthly meeting, often dealing with more advanced beekeeping topics and open to all members, continues to be held the 3rd Tuesday.

informal meeting to discuss their beekeeping challenges, answer questions and help out new beekeepers Golden Valley Beekeepers Association meets at the Golden Corral Restaurant on the 2nd Monday evening of each month. They recently had Terry Storment speak in their May meeting on Queen Issues in a colony. For more info see their website http://goldenvalleybeekeepers. com/Meetings.html West Central Beekeepers in Sedalia MO is the newest beekeeping club in the Southwest Missouri region, meeting at State Fair Community College on the 2nd Wednesday evening of each month. Mike Conroy leads this group and has also accepted the position of Webmaster for Missouri State Beekeepers Association. In their May meeting, Cathy Hemme of the Farm Service Agency in Sedalia informed the club about various new programs available to beekeepers, including honey crop and colony insurance, the availability of microloans to support local small farming operations, and other programs of interest. They have approximately 45 members. Bees Alive Club in Nixa is presenting their First Annual Bee Day Workshop on Saturday, June 25th. Announcing ... Registration begins at 7am at the Christian County Elks Lodge, 2400 N 18th St., Ozark, MO 65721. There The Heartland Beekeeping Partnership are over 12 speakers to present seminars covering Heartland Beekeeping Partnership was recently founded by Bruce Bird topics like beekeeping basics, organic gardening, (Sedalia) and Cathy Misko (Centerview) who both share a passion for natural beekeeping, advanced beekeeping topics, education and investing in others. live Q&A Panel, even using all the products from the hive. Dr Leo Sharashkin is the keynote speaker Bruce is a very knowledgeable and seasoned beekeeper, Past will be presenting a great seminar of horizontal hives President of West Central Beekeepers Association, and State Fair and natural beekeeping. You can visit their Facebook College beekeeping instructor. Cathy is Immediate Past President of Event Page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/ Midwestern Beekeepers Association, and a beekeeper of 27 years events/1164519003560285/ or their website: www. who thrives on community outreach. beesaliveclub.org Acknowledging the “Beekeeping Revolution,” the Heartland Beekeeping Association of the Ozarks in Beekeeping Partnership (or “HBeeP”) has been established for the Springfield recently hosted approximately 50 new purpose of bringing advanced workshops, professional speakers beekeepers in their annual series of classes for and noteworthy topics bi-annually to western and central Missouri beginning beekeepers. May 21 they will host their beekeepers, regional clubs and associations. HBeeP’s initial inspiration 3rd Annual Queen Workshop with keynote speaker was gleaned from the respected BeeSpeakSTL organization, coCory Stevens at MSU’s Darr Agriculture Center in founded by John Timmons and Jane Sueme. Springfield. BAO conducts Field Day experiences HBeeP looks forward to collaboration with regional clubs and each month. For more info see their website www. beekeepers via input of topics to insure beekeeping enrichment, ozarksbeekeepers.org or visit their Facebook pages therefore making Heartland Beekeeping Partnership a true partnership. Ozarks Beekeepers or Beekeepers Association of the No membership is required. However, communication of ideas to help Ozarks. meet continuing educational needs while respecting State Conference We would like to welcome a new club to the schedules is encouraged. Southeast Region. The Dexter Bee Club has been HBeeP’s first launch is a Queen Rearing Advanced Workshop in existence for less than a year and is doing quite instructed by Certified Master Beekeeper and VSH Queen Breeder well. At one of the latest gatherings at “Scott Laden’s Cory Stevens July 9th, 2016 @ Powell Gardens, Kingsville MO. Place”, over seventy were in attendance to enjoy a fish fry and fine beekeeper camaraderie. Reports like For more info contact cathymisko@earthlink.net or bird1@mac.com

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Join us at the Missouri State Fair in August! Volunteers needed in our Honey Booth August 11-21 With the slogan, “See What Crops Up”, the Missouri State Fair runs this year from August 11-21 in Sedalia. The 400-acre fairgrounds will present premier livestock shows and competitive exhibits, and first-class entertainment. Mark your calendar for the summer’s best family vacation experience! The fair will showcase the best of Missouri agriculture; competitions from bull riding to tractor pulls; professional entertainment from 3 Doors Down, Steppenwolf, Molly Hatchet and many others; rural lifestyle experiences; hands-on science, technology and innovation; family-friendly amenities for everyone from infants to mature adults; and other action-packed activities. And did we mention corn dogs? The Missouri State Fair is the perfect blend of activities for a memorable family outing. The midway carnival includes games and rides for children and thrill seekers of all ages. The nightlife on the fairgrounds kicks up each evening with free music on the Budweiser Stage and music stars performing on the stage of the Pepsi Grandstand. Admission at the gate: $10; age 60+, $7; ages 6-12, $2; 5 and under free. Tickets can be purchased in advance for a discount. See www. mostatefair.com for schedules and details. Booth volunteers needed: Please consider volunteering at our MSBA Booth this year. The booth is in the airconditioned Ag Building on the southeast side of the fairgrounds. (A fairgrounds map is available at http://www.mostatefair.com/plan/hours-map-directions/.) If you sign up to help (four hours minimum), your FREE admission ticket can be picked up at the information shed (formerly the red caboose) located on Hwy 65 (outside the fairgrounds), just North of Gate #11. Go onto the fairgrounds at this entrance and park your vehicle. We need five to six people in the booth each day, from 9am to 9pm. As always, we encourage local clubs to sign up to run the booth for a day, sporting their own club logo apparel if desired. Call Dean Sanders (816-456-4683) or Wanda Johnston (816-392-4960) and sign up for as many hours/days as you can. Arrangement for overnight accommodations nearby is available for you to reserve dates of your choice. Jobs in the booth include answering questions at our observation hive, selling honey, ice cream, honey sticks and other honey related by-products, plus educating the public about honeybees. If you’ve never worked at or been to the Fair, try it for a day. You get to meet and work with other beekeepers, and Dean and Wanda or other experienced workers will be there to help answer any of your questions. See you at the Fair! Enter your honey and other products: Even if you are unable to help out at our booth, you can still participate in the Honey Competition. The list of products to enter includes cut comb, bulk comb, light and dark extracted honey, sealed honey frames, candied (creamed) honey, beeswax blocks, art and candles, and “the queen & her bees” (observation hive). Judging of honey entries will include degree of density, moisture content, free from crystals, clarity, cleanliness of containers, flavor & aroma, color, appearance of containers, and uniformity of volume. The Score Sheet for judging items and more specific guidelines plus an entry form can be found on the State Fair web site at http://www.mostatefair.com/competitions/how-to-enter-premium-guide/. Under “Agriculture and Home Economics” you will find “Agriculture Rules and Classes” (with Apiculture beginning on page 2) and the “Agriculture Entry Blank”. Start planning now and decide what to enter. Get your jars selected (preferably glass, but not a requirement) and get your creamed honey started by early July. Even if you are just beginning your beekeeping adventure, please consider entering your honey products for judging. You get a score sheet for each item you enter and it’s a great way to see how you’re doing in preparing your honey for sale or even to give to your friends and neighbors. If you are unable to deliver your entries to Sedalia yourself, maybe your local club can help find someone. Let’s fill up the showcase this year and let the public see our beautiful bounty from all over Missouri.

June 2016

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SAVE THE DATE! Mark your calendars for the annual

MSBA Fall Conference October 14th and 15th 2016 Join your fellow beekeepers at one of Missouri’s favorite vacation destinations! Scheduled speakers will be: ¾ Randy Oliver with Scientific Beekeeping, ¾ Mel Disselkoen, EAS Master Beekeeper and Raiser of Queens, ¾ And a number of local experts who will be discussing your favorite honeybee subjects. A few of the topics will be: ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾ ¾

Philosophy and Future of Beekeeping Reading the Comb (5 Causes of Hive Failure) Honeybee Pest and Disease Identification Breeding for Mite Management … and much more.

This is your chance to show your skill at Cooking and Bee Art. Entry form will soon be available online. There are three categories: ¾ Bee art (Jewelry, wax, needlework and miscellaneous art) ¾ Cookies and bread ¾ Open food. Come visit your favorite vendors and see what is new in bee supplies. Place orders early and pick them up at the Conference. There will be local associations to talk to about what is going on in their parts of the state. Come see if the Flow Hive worked, as we will have Missouri beekeepers talk about their experiences with this highly talked about item. Don’t forget to register for the Awards Dinner and Auction on Friday night. This is always one of the highlights of the Fall Conference. If you have not been to the Awards Dinner and Auction, this will be your chance. Online registration should be available in July. The Conference will be held at the Lodge of The Four Seasons. Rooms can be booked any time directly with the Lodge. They need to be reserved prior to September 18th, 2016. Call toll-free at 888265-5500 and let them know you are with the MO State Beekeepers Association.

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8236

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday of month, 6:30pm Location and contact info to be announced

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett John Schmidt, President 417-830-9141

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho 1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Eugene Makovec 314-703-7650

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters

2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com Gerald Auffert, President 660-944-2535

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Rodney Angell (573) 259-5811 bee143@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy President Eric Reid quadcountybeekeepers.com

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association 1st Monday, Macon High School, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 214-0132 georges@chbeekeeping.com www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

(continued next page)

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued from previous page)

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

33 Northland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday at 7pm, Smithville Library-Highway 169 Contact: Clayton Lee at leeland55@gmail.com or 573-864-5172

Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Greenhills Bee Club 4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club 1st Tuesday, 6pm, Scott Laden’s house 9265 County Road 627, Dexter Contact Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com or 573-225-6935

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers (Dent County) 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. Contact for meeting locations. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333 Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

Confessions of a beginning beekeeper - 20 years later (Part 3 of 3) by Eugene Makovec Continued from April

three weeks to raise a bee!

July 15, 1996 - Well, I goofed again! The queen cells I destroyed were laying crossways on the comb, and Marshall Creech told me those were not swarm cells, but supersedure cells - a sign that maybe the queen is not okay. (Apparently swarm cells are located along the bottom of frames, hanging down.) So today, when I checked, my fears were confirmed - no eggs, no larvae, no new bees digging out.

I took pictures and Joey and Sammy each got to don Ray’s veil and gloves and come up close. Joey got to watch bees climbing out of brood cells. Oh, and Ray got stung twice on the shoulder - that’ll teach him to wear a tank top with just a veil and gloves.

In looking at my calendar, I decided I’d probably killed the queen when I dropped that homemade honeycomb out on the ground. When I’d gone back after two weeks there were young bees climbing out, but supersedure cells to replace the queen. But after two more weeks, no larvae, since I’d destroyed the supersedure cells. I called Creech and he ordered me a queen, to be delivered by Friday - $10.00 including Express Mail shipping - obviously, he’s just helping me out - no profit for him here. 7-20 (Saturday) - Queen came Friday - I went out with Ray - he bought a veil and I lent him Dad’s old gloves - and installed her. 7-23 (Tuesday) - Ray took out the queen box, since I was at Trout Lodge. He said she’d been released okay. 8-3 (Saturday) - Good news - Tons of larvae and some more honey in upper brood chamber. Ray and I saw eggs in cells, and larvae in cells - and here’s the puzzling part - baby bees cutting out of cells. How can this be, when the new queen’s only been in for two weeks? Supposedly it takes

[The wife] seems to have taken slight interest now. Having told me I should have just “let nature take its course,” she says that obviously I missed one queen cell - this is quite possible since I couldn’t check the homemade construction. But this is still puzzling - If I missed a queen cell, a new queen should have come out 20 days from the old one’s death [actually more like 11-12, knowing what I know now]. Twenty days from June 14 would be July 4. Why no signs of eggs or larvae on July 15 - 11 days later? How long does it take a new queen, from the time she cuts out of her cell, to when she starts laying eggs in earnest? The instructions for my mail-order queen said to check for eggs or brood after eight days. But then she came already mated and at least a few days old. Also - it’s very possible that I wouldn’t have seen eggs on July 15 - I was just upset that there were no larvae or bees digging out like the previous time, and I didn’t even consider that there might be a new queen beginning work, or I might lave looked more closely for eggs. 8-16 - Everything seems to be fine now. The bees seem to be busier and more numerous than ever. When I took the lid off, it was wall-to-wall bees below. There’s continued on page 13

Page 12

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June 2016 A beginner’s confessions continued from page 11

still no sign of honey in the super - just the usual couple of caretaker bees on each frame up there.

Page 13

Directory of Officers President: Valerie Duever 314-402-4841 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 president@mostatebeekeepers.org

Ray was laid up with a bum knee and couldn’t help me today. Vice President: Clayton Lee

573-864-5172 90 E. Pope Lane, Smithville, MO 64089 vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org

9-1 - Today the whole family went to Ray’s, along with Libby and Dan, for Bees and Barbeque! We went fishing - I 573-426-3510 caught a huge large-mouth bass - the first REAL fish I’ve ever Secretary: Charlotte Wiggins secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org caught - with a worm, five feet from the dock! Ray’s got a 1001 Bluebird Ln, Rolla, MO 65401 pony now, so the kids got to ride it. Bonnie caught four fish Treasurer: Steve Moeller 573-886-0662 and Tony caught two! Again, the bees were extremely busy and populous, and I put on a little seminar of sorts for our visitors - it was fun.

PO Box 7514, Columbia MO 65205 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org

Membership Chair: Wanda Johnston

Unfortunately, it is now clear that I won’t be getting honey membership@mostatebeekeepers.org 816-392-4960 this year. I probably even need to feed my bees to get them Past-President: John Timmons 636-940-8202 through the winter. 952 Greenleaf Drive, St. Charles MO 63303 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org 1-23-97 - It was 50 degrees and sunny today, so I checked on the bees. They’re doing fine! This is a relief since Northwestern Director: Roger Nichols cell 816-456-6983 we just got through an extended cold spell - about a week northwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org without getting above freezing, and several nights below 636-724-5937 zero. But I guess if they can survive in Wisconsin, I should Northeastern Director: Dan Lake 48 Sterling Pointe Dr., St. Charles MO 63301 have nothing to worry about in Missouri. northeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org

There were a lot of dead bees out front - I think they had just carried them out when the weather warmed up. There were Southeastern Director: Gregg Hitchings southeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org also a lot of young bees inside - a good sign. My best estimate is twenty to thirty thousand bees inside - two hive boxes Southwestern Director: Bruce Snavely 417-732-5219 both with large concentrations of bees about one-third to 508 Casady, Republic, MO 65738 halfway across. southwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Oh, and there was a mouse nest in the bottom, but no mouse Central Director: Bob Brammer 660-415-6480 - just lots of hay and stuff, and one frame had a four-inch hole 31649 Lake St., Macon MO 63552 chewed in the wax at the bottom. There were also a bunch centraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org of acorn shells strewn around the bottom of the hive. The Program Chairperson: Jim Duever top box was pretty heavy - 20 pounds or so. Apparently they 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 have food left for awhile. program@mostatebeekeepers.org Vendor Liaison: Tim Hyde tim.hyde@yahoo.com

Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 135 Alex Dr., Foley MO 63347 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

314-703-7650

Webmaster: Mike Conroy hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

It’s blackberry season! Okay, that comes later for humans, and involves buckets, bug spray and maybe calamine lotion. But for now, the bees are bringing in little buckets of nectar, which they will hopefully turn into big buckets of honey for the landlord! front and back cover photos by Eugene Makovec

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

August 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the President ............ 2 MSBA withholds endorsement for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Master Beekeepingâ&#x20AC;? program State Fair judging results 4 Kenneth Heitkamp, Three Rivers take individual, club honors Letter to the Editor ............ 5 Neonics, GMOs our top problem Website update .................. 5 New MSBA Facebook group 5

New research on neonics .... 6 Studies give conflicting views By-Laws changes proposed 7 Members to vote in October Fall Conference speakers 8 Conference registration 9-10 Conference agenda ........... 11 Local associations ............ 12 Membership application ... 14 Directory of Officers ........ 15

Page 2

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Wow! What a busy, busy month this has been. I am very proud of our Executive Committee as they all have been working very hard to update a number of MSBA items. First, we have changed the membership structure, applying the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Silly). Beginning in July, only individual membership levels will be available at a cost of $10 per year. This will allow all correspondence to go directly to each member, reduce the cost for all individuals and simplify the registration process at our Fall Conference. All people currently enrolled in a family membership will be provided a second user name with the same expiration date. Please be patient with us as we transition to the new membership structure. We have had to do a number of upgrades to the website and are still doing the finishing detail work. Second, we created a new Facebook Group page so you can post and share questions, ideas, pictures, etc. Here is that link: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/msbainfo/ so you can update your favorites bar. Bruce Snavely, MSBA Southwest regional director, and Mike Conroy, MSBA webmaster, will be our monitors and we thank them for volunteering to keep spam postings off the page, and to Charlotte Ekker Wiggins, MSBA secretary, for setting up and cruising the group to answer questions. Third, during our last Board meeting, we met with Dr. Moneen Jones, Entomologist Researcher with the Delta Fisher Research Center, and Dr. James English, Division Director of Plant Sciences with the University of Missouri. Dr Jones gave a detailed presentation on her proposed Missouri Master Beekeeping Program and our Board was actively engaged; asking a number of questions for better understanding and clarification. After discussing the pros and cons of the one class that is currently being offered and what is being proposed by Dr. Jones, our MSBA Board has made a decision. MSBA supports having a professionally-managed and fully vetted Missouri certified master beekeeper program. At this time, MSBA cannot endorse Dr. Moneen Jones’ proposed program. From what Dr. Jones told the MSBA Executive Committee August 6, 2016, only a prerequisite class for the 5-year proposed program has been developed, the training does not currently include Missouri-specific beekeeping related issues and Dr. Jones does not have the professional beekeeping experience to provide program direction. As per our Mission Statement, the Missouri State Beekeepers Association will continue to explore opportunities to partner with and support educational programs that benefit the beekeeping community. Fourth, a big THANK YOU shout-out to Dean Sanders, Wes and Wanda Johnston and everyone who volunteered at the Missouri State Fair MSBA booth. Jim and I spent the first Saturday down there with our Boone Regional group and had a blast. We can’t do what we do, especially at the State Fair, without our volunteers, so THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Fifth, the Board voted on some proposed By-Laws changes to take to our general membership for a formal vote in October. The complete copy of our current MSBA By-Laws with the proposed changes specifically indicated is available on our webpage. Here is a summary of those changes: This proposal would require the Executive Committee to support By-Laws changes with a 2/3 vote prior to taking those proposed changes to membership, expand regions from 5 to 6, expand the Queen program to include Ambassadors, define the transition from Vice President to President, identify the Executive Committee’s responsibility to establish/set dues, and remove the Auxiliary Representative from the Executive Committee. Sixth and finally, it is Fall Conference time! The 2016 Fall Conference and Annual Membership meeting will be held at Lodge of the Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, MO on October 14 and 15, 2016. This year we have Randy Oliver (scientificbeekeeping.com) and Mel Disselkoen (www.mdasplitter.com) as our featured speakers, along with our very own Wes and Wanda Johnston. Registration forms, agenda, hotel accommodations, etc., are all in this newsletter, or can be found on our webpage. If you register before October 1, not only will you save a bunch of money but you get extra chances to win the Grand Prize of a 50” big screen TV! Well, that’s it for this time. As always, thank you for being a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association. See you at the Conference in October! Valerie

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MISSOURI STATE FAIR APICULTURE ENTRIES FOR 2016 DIVISION A: HONEY (INDIVIDUAL CLASS) Light Amber Extracted Honey 1st Kenneth Heitkamp 5th Madonna Bogacki 2nd Tim Fredricks 6th Michael Godfrey 3rd Corinne Collins 7th Mary Ellen Raymond 4th Katy Ciola Evans 8th Bob Finck Dark Extracted Honey 1st Charles Mattingly 4th Eugene Makovec 2nd Kenneth Heitkamp 5th Jeremy Dillon 3rd Nancy Giofre 6th Tim Hyde Sealed Honey, White, Brood Depth Honey Frame 1st Amelia Schneider 2nd Kenneth Heitkamp Sealed Honey, White, Shallow/Med Depth Honey Frame 1st Tim Fredricks 3rd Kenneth Heitkamp 2nd Jeremy Dillon 4th Charles Mattingly Cut Comb Honey in Plastic Boxes 1st Tim Fredricks 2nd Corinne Collins Light Bulk Comb Honey, 2 or 2.5 lbs 1st Tim Fredricks 2nd Tim Hyde Candied Honey 1st Corinne Collins 3rd Tim Hyde 2nd Yvonne Von Der Ahe Yellow Beeswax, approximately 3 lbs 1st Kenneth Heitkamp 3rd Laura Faust 2nd Bob Finck 4th Charles Mattingly Queen and Her Bees 1st Michael Godfrey 3rd Tim Hyde 2nd Katy Ciola Evans 4th Wanda Johnston DIVISION B: APICULTURAL PRODUCTS (INDIVIDUAL CLASS) Art Designs in Beewax 1st Yvonne Von Der Ahe 2nd Corinne Collins Beeswax Candles Molded or Dip 1st Tim Fredricks 2nd Yvonne Von Der Ahe DIVISION C: HONEY (GROUP COMPETITION) Light Amber Extracted Honey 1st Three Rivers Bob Finck 5th Three Rivers Corinne Collins 2nd Eastern Michael Godfrey 6th Eastern Madonna Bogacki 3rd Three Rivers Martin Wedge 7th Three Rivers Mary Ellen Raymond 4th Eastern Tim Hyde 8th Three Rivers Debra NewooldÍ²Dowden Dark Extracted Honey 1st Eastern Kenneth Heitkamp 3rd Three Rivers Scott Hitchcock 2nd Eastern Tim Hyde 4th Three Rivers Corinne Collins Light Bulk Comb 1st Three Rivers Tim Fredricks Yellow Beeswax, approximately 3 lbs 1st Three Rivers Bob Finck 3rd Three Rivers Murrary Pickard 2nd Eastern Kenneth Heitkamp 4th Three Rivers Tim Fredricks

2016 Grand Champion (Individual): KENNETH HEITKAMP 2016 Grand Champion (Group): THREE RIVERS BEEKEEPERS

August 2016

Page 5

Letter to the editor

GMOs, neonicotinoids “biggest problem” we face today by Victor Imgarten I will not go into how I do not use chemicals on my bees. Using powdered sugar, different queen types and an infrared camera helps In the June Missouri State Beekeepers Newsletter keep my hive lost ratio in line with published statics. my friend Eugene Makovec’s article, “So you wanna be a beekeeper”, started out with what I would say See page 6 of this newsletter I encourage everyone who wants to be a beekeeper most of us who have been keeping bees for a while for summaries of, and links to just do it, but research your options and read, would agree on. It is difficult and takes commitment to, three recent research read, and read some more. Join a club or start one. studies on farm chemicals Go to the state meeting, or go to Sedalia and help to be a responsible beekeeper. and pollinators - including in the booth. Get a mentor and take everything you Yes it is more challenging than ever, and yes it is the Swiss study referenced hear and read as information but not always as fact. not as easy as many people and sources would have by Vic in this commentary. Do what works for you. Even when friends disagree, you believe. It is without a doubt much harder than know that you are still a beekeeper and part of a it was when I helped one of our older beekeepers special group. years ago with his hives. Split, add supers, take full supers, extract repeat. The days of lifting full supers as the only work are gone and Now about that climate change comment………… probably will not return in the near future. Having said that I find it is a very rewarding fun hobby and it’s as good for you as it is the environment. There is nothing like hearing people tell you it’s the by Mike Conroy best honey they ever tasted. A few paragraphs into the article he made several statements which The website is undergoing an update. are at the least misleading or possibly false and may confuse the Per direction from the Executive Board, the membership levels beekeeper. For every article you read you will find another article have been eliminated, and only an individual membership level is that will contradict the findings dealing with the problem with bees. available. The fee for an annual membership has been reduced to With a little research you will probably find one of the big chemical $10. This will allow those couples who, previously, had a family companies behind the “Our products are safe” line. membership, to register both at the same price as the former $20 Within the last couple of weeks a Swiss study confirmed that family membership fee. Neonicotinoids are lowering the sperm count on the male honey Along with this fee change, the join and renew methods online bee. Another study showed that neonicotinoid was reducing the have been simplified, with fewer steps needed to register or honey bee nutritional status. renew. In the near future, a bank draft option will also be available, I will not go into the details of each study. You can find the information allowing new or renewing members to process a payment directly on line or most likely in one of the bee magazines. Both studies from their bank account, rather than having to send in a check by provide additional information pointing to GMOs and Neonicotinoids mail. For those who still wish to send a check by mail, this option as being a part of the problem. Personally, I feel they are the biggest problem combined with the way our farming practices have changed still exists. in the last 50 years. Speculation on my part? Maybe, but then again it’s The website has also been updated to better protect our just what I think based on what I read. I encourage everyone to read members. A security certificate has been obtained to secure the connection between our members and the MSBA. We have also and become an informed beekeeper. Yes I believe we need more studies, preferably without tax money installed software to better protect the website from hackers. People who visit the site should now see https in front of the web and without big business funding as well. As an owner of a service business I see a fair amount of abandoned address, and, depending on their browser setup, a lock icon or hives (free bees). I always try to talk the homeowner out of the old similar, indicating the website security certificate is active. hive, most times with no luck. Usually they are a homeowner who used to keep bees or they are just people who bought a house and the bees came with it. Many times they just never had anyone take an interest in the bees and did not know what to do. The bees have become a part of their landscape and they take care of themselves. Of course they have heard about the bees needing help and so they just MSBA has started a new Facebook group page where members can left them alone. On a side note it’s pretty easy to get the uninformed share information and stories: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ homeowner to a club meeting to see if taking care of the hive is really msbainfo/ for them. The old Facebook page was taken down on August 20, 2016. The new Any of us who keep bees know that no matter what we do, we group page is being administered by MSBA Secretary Charlotte Ekker will have the occasional swarm. I am waiting on the study of hive Wiggins with the help of moderators Bruce Snavely, Southwestern production the year after a hive swarms. My swarm hives appear to Director, and Mike Conroy, MSBA Webmaster. We will be posting be better honey producers the next year. I also await the next best upcoming conference information as well as what is new with the answer or fancy new product on how to stop them from swarming. MSBA, so please join us there.

Website Update

MSBA Has New Facebook Group Page

Page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Research gives conflicting views of effects of neonics on bee populations Swiss study shows neonic-infused pollen patties WSU W study suggests minimal neonic risk to reduce drones’ reproductive value honeybees in the field h Proceedings of the Royal Society B, July 2016 http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1835/20160506 Funding: Financial support was provided by the Bundesamt für Umwelt (BAFU) to L.S., P.N., and G.R.W., by Agroscope to G.R.W., by the Vinetum Foundation to P.N., by ETH Global (People Exchange Grant) to K.K. and by Chiang Mai University Fund to P.N. and G.R.W. Abstract: We show that two neonicotinoids significantly reduce the reproductive capacity of male honeybees. Drones were obtained from colonies exposed to the neonicotinoid insecticides or controls, and subsequently maintained in laboratory cages until they reached sexual maturity. While no significant effects were observed for male teneral (newly emerged adult) body mass and sperm quantity, the data clearly showed reduced drone lifespan, as well as reduced sperm viability (percentage living versus dead) and living sperm quantity by 39%. Our results demonstrate for the first time that neonicotinoid insecticides can negatively affect male insect reproductive capacity, and provide a possible mechanistic explanation for managed honeybee queen failure and wild insect pollinator decline. Excerpts: “The study was performed in Bern, Switzerland, between April and September 2015 using 20 A. mellifera L. honeybee colonies that were established at the beginning of the experimental period using the shook swarm method to source drones and workers.” “Insecticide Exposure: In early May 2015, colonies were randomly assigned to one of two treatments (insecticide or control). Each colony was provided daily with 100 g pollen paste (60% fresh honeybee corbicular pollen, 10% organic honey, and 30% powder sugar). Pollen paste for insecticide colonies additionally contained 4.5 ppb thiamethoxam and 1.5 ppb clothianidin (both Sigma-Aldrich), which represents field-realistic concentrations found in plant pollen.... Pollen paste feeding occurred over a period of 50 days to ensure colonies would be exposed to at least two complete brood cycles.... During the entire period, each colony was equipped with an entrance pollen trap to partially restrict foragercollected corbicular pollen entering the hive in order to promote pollen paste feeding.” “Median longevity of insecticide drones (15 ± 15–15 days) was significantly lower than controls (22 ± 21–22 days). Furthermore, insecticide drone survival was significantly reduced compared with controls for up to 14 days (point of sexual maturity); mortality was 16.82 ± 0.02% and 32.08 ± 0.03% for controls and insecticides, respectively, which represents an approximately 50% difference.” “Sperm viability was significantly different between the two treatment groups, with insecticide drones having lower sperm viability than controls. Sperm viability was 92 ± 90–94% and 83.5 ± 80–86% in the controls and insecticides, respectively. No correlation was observed between sperm quantity and sperm viability. In addition, a significant difference was observed between control and insecticide treatments for total living sperm quantity, [with] approximately 39% less living sperm in insecticides compared with controls.” “Although only a small proportion of transferred sperm is stored by the queen, any decrease in sperm quality could have negative consequences.” “It is not known if the insecticides had a direct effect on the male’s reproductive traits via contaminated pollen, or an indirect effect because of poor nursing quality and reduced hypopharyngeal gland activity of young, exposed workers.”

Jo Journal of Economic Entomology, January 2016 hhttps://sharepoint.cahnrs.wsu.edu/extadmin/bookshelf/Shared%20Documents/ LLawrence,%20Tim%20-%20Promotion%20Documents/Lawrence%20 SSupporting%20Materials/lawrence%20et%20al%20-%20neonics.pdf Funding: The authors of this publication received research support F fo for this study from Washington State Bee Advisory Committee, the W Washington State Department of Agriculture, and The Washington SState Commission on Pesticide Registration. No additional funds were uused or accepted in conducting this research including any support from chemical companies or environmental organizations. Access to fr bbee hives was granted by willing beekeepers. All samples were collected bby the authors or individuals directly under their supervision following pprescribed protocol. [Co-author] Timothy Lawrence is on the board of tthe Washington State Pesticide Advisory Committee and a member of tthe Washington State Managed Pollinator Protection Committee. A Abstract: A comparative assessment of apiaries in urban, rural, aand agricultural areas was undertaken in 2013 and 2014 to examine ppotential honey bee colony exposure to neonicotinoid insecticides fr from pollen foraging. Apiaries ranged in size from one to hundreds o of honey bee colonies, and included those operated by commercial, ssideline (semicommercial), and hobbyist beekeepers. Residues in and on w wax and beebread (stored pollen in the hive) were evaluated for the nnitro-substituted neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid and its olefin m metabolite and the active ingredients clothianidin, thiamethoxam, and d dinotefuran. Beebread and comb wax collected from hives in agricultural la landscapes were more likely to have detectable residues of thiamethoxam aand clothianidin than that collected from hives in rural or urban areas ((50% of samples vs. <10%). The maximum neonicotinoid residue detected in either wax or beebread was 3.9 ppb imidacloprid. A probabilistic risk aassessment was conducted on the residues recovered from beebread in apiaries located in commercial, urban, and rural landscapes. The ccalculated risk quotient based on a dietary no observable adverse effect cconcentration (NOAEC) suggested low potential for negative effects on bbee behavior or colony health. E Excerpts: “Sampling occurred from September through October of 22013 and May of 2014 through August 2014. Beekeepers were selected fr from a combined list of members of local beekeeping organizations. A ttotal of 92 cooperating Washington state beekeepers provided access fo for collection of hive samples from 149 apiaries that are representative o of bee forage areas throughout the State.” ““We found that over a one-year period, neonicotinoid residues were d detected in less than 5% of the apiaries located in rural and urban la landscapes in Washington State. About 50% of beebread samples ccollected from apiaries in agricultural landscapes contained the in insecticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam. However, most of the rresidues detected at concentrations above the method LOD (Limit of D Detection) were below the LOQ (Limit of Quantitation). A probabilistic rrisk characterization using the distribution of residues and an array of N NOAECs (No Observable Adverse Effect Concentration) for sublethal in individual bee and colony level toxicity indicates a low likelihood of aadverse effects.” ““Our probabilistic risk assessment based on residues we detected in bbeebread from apiaries around Washington State suggest nil risk of ssublethal effects in rural and urban landscapes and arguably very low

continued on page 15

August 2016

Page 7

Missouri State Beekeepers Association By-Laws -- Proposed 2016 Changes -What follows is a proposed revision of the MSBA By-Laws. Only the sections with proposed changes are shown here due to space limitations. The entire By-Laws with proposed changes are available on our website. Per the current bylaws, such changes need to be submitted to the membership 30 days prior to a ratification vote at our annual meeting, to be held this year on October 15, at the close of our Fall Conference. This proposal would require the Executive Committee to support Bylaw changes with a 2/3 vote prior to taking those proposed changes to membership, expand regions from 5 to 6, expand the Queen program to include Ambassadors, defines the transition from Vice President to President, identifies the Executive Committee to establish/set dues, and removes the Auxiliary Representative from the Executive Committee.

Article 3: Basic Policies The following are the basic policies of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association: L.

The bylaws of this Association may only be amended by two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members present at a regular meeting of the Association, provided members present are not less than thirty (30). Announcement of this meeting and the proposed change must be published in the Association newsletter or other suitable medium (i.e. internet) thirty (30) days prior to the meeting date. The bylaws of this Association may only be revised and/or amended by both a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Executive Committee followed by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members present at a regular meeting of the Association, provided members present are not less than thirty (30). Announcement of this member meeting and the proposed change must be published in the Association newsletter or other suitable medium (i.e. email, website) thirty (30) days prior to the meeting date.

Article 4: Officers and Elections Section 2: The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, Vice President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Chairperson, Program Chairperson, Editor, and five (5) directors. These offices shall make up, in part, the Executive committee of this Association as described in Article 6, Section 1 below. Section 2: The officers of this Association shall consist of a President, Vice President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Chairperson, Program Chairperson, Editor, and six (6) directors. These offices shall make up, in part, the Executive committee of this Association as described in Article 6, Section 1 below. Section 5: Tenure C. The state shall be divided into five (5) sections, northeast, northwest, and south east, south west, and central. Each Director shall be an advisor to their section of the State reporting to the Past President/Director any pertinent issues of concern. The state shall be divided into six (6) regions as defined by the Regional Directors. Each Director shall be an advisor to their region of the State reporting to the Past President any pertinent issues of concern.

Article 5: Duty of Officers Section 2: The Vice President shall: A. Perform the duties of the President in his absence; Perform the duties of the President in his/her absence; B. Shall assume the office of President if it should become vacant; Assume the office as the new President following the expiration of the term of the President.

(continued on page 13)

Missouri State Beekeepers Association 2016 Fall Membership Conference October 14-15, 2016 Lodge of the Four Seasons Lake Ozark, MO 06%$ &RQIHUHQFH 5RRP 5DWH RI RII *RRG XQWLO ^ĞƉƚ ϭϯ͕ ϮϬϭϲ͘

ϴϴϴͲϮϲϱͲϱϱϬϬ KWWS ZZZ VHDVRQVUHVRUW FRP

Featuring Presentations by: Randy Oliver ŚƚƚƉ͗ͬͬƐĐŝĞŶƚŝĨŝĐďĞĞŬĞĞƉŝŶŐ͘ĐŽŵͬ ZĂŶĚǇ ƐƚĂƌƚĞĚ ŬĞĞƉŝŶŐ ďĞĞƐ ĂƐ Ă ŚŽďďǇŝƐƚ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ ϭϵϲϲ͕ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞŶ ǁĞŶƚ ŽŶ ƚŽ ŐĞƚ ƵŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚǇ ĚĞŐƌĞĞƐ ŝŶ ďŝŽůŽŐŝĐĂů ƐĐŝĞŶĐĞƐ͕ ƐƉĞĐŝĂůŝǌŝŶŐ ŝŶ ĞŶƚŽŵŽůŽŐǇ͘ ,Ğ ƐƚĂƌƚĞĚ ǁƌŝƚŝŶŐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ŵĞƌŝĐĂŶ ĞĞ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ŝŶ ϮϬϬϲ͕ ĂŶĚ ŚĂƐ ƐƵďŵŝƚƚĞĚ ĂƌƚŝĐůĞƐ ŶĞĂƌůǇ ĞǀĞƌǇ ŵŽŶƚŚ ƐŝŶĐĞ ƚŚĂƚ ƚŝŵĞ͘ ,ŝƐ ǁƌŝƚŝŶŐƐ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ :ŽƵƌŶĂů ďƌŽƵŐŚƚ ƌĞƋƵĞƐƚƐ ƚŽ ƐƉĞĂŬ Ăƚ ďĞĞŬĞĞƉŝŶŐ ĐŽŶǀĞŶƚŝŽŶƐ͕ ǁŚŝĐŚ ŚĂƐ ĂůƐŽ ĂůůŽǁĞĚ Śŝŵ ƚŚĞ ĐŚĂŶĐĞ ƚŽ ǀŝƐŝƚ ďĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ĨƌŽŵ Ăůů ŽǀĞƌ EŽƌƚŚ ŵĞƌŝĐĂ ĂŶĚ ƐĞǀĞƌĂů ŽƚŚĞƌ ĐŽŶƚŝŶĞŶƚƐ͘

Mel Disselkoen

Vendor Hall

ŚƚƚƉ͗ͬͬǁǁǁ͘ŵĚĂƐƉůŝƚƚĞƌ͘ĐŽŵͬ

DĞů ĞŶũŽǇƐ ŽďƐĞƌǀŝŶŐ ŚŽŶĞǇďĞĞ ďĞŚĂǀŝŽƌ ĂŶĚ ƚĞĂĐŚŝŶŐ ďĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ŚŽǁ ƚŽ ƵƐĞ ŚŝƐ KŶ dŚĞ ^ƉŽƚ ;Kd^Ϳ ƋƵĞĞŶ ƌĞĂƌŝŶŐ ŵĞƚŚŽĚ ƚŽ ƐĞůĨͲƐƵĨĨŝĐŝĞŶƚůǇ ƌĞĂĐŚ ƚŚĞŝƌ ŽďũĞĐƚŝǀĞƐ͘ ,Ğ ƐƚƌŝǀĞƐ ƚŽ ŝĚĞŶƚŝĨǇ ƚŚĞ ŶĂƚƵƌĂů ďĞŚĂǀŝŽƌƐ ĂŶĚ ƐĞĂƐŽŶĂů ƌĞƉƌŽĚƵĐƚŝǀĞ ĐǇĐůĞƐ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ ŚŽŶĞǇďĞĞ ĂŶĚ ƚŚĞŶ ĚŝƌĞĐƚƐ ƚŚŽƐĞ ďĞŚĂǀŝŽƌƐ ƚŽǁĂƌĚ Ă ƉƌŽĨŝƚĂďůĞ ŽďũĞĐƚŝǀĞ͘

Cooking and Art Contest

Wanda Johnston

Awards Dinner

tĂŶĚĂ :ŽŚŶƐƚŽŶ ŝƐ Ă ϲƚŚ ǇĞĂƌ ďĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌ͘ tĂŶĚĂ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ DĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ ŚĂŝƌƉĞƌƐŽŶ ĨŽƌ DŝƐƐŽƵƌŝ ^ƚĂƚĞ ĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ƐƐŽĐŝĂƚŝŽŶ͘ ^ŚĞ ƐĞƌǀĞƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ D^ ^ƚĂƚĞ &Ăŝƌ ŽŵŵŝƚƚĞĞ ĂŶĚ ŝƐ WĂƐƚ ,ŽŶĞǇ YƵĞĞŶ ŚĂŝƌƉĞƌƐŽŶ͘ tĂŶĚĂ ĂůƐŽ ƐĞƌǀĞƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďŽĂƌĚ ŽĨ DŝĚǁĞƐƚĞƌŶ ĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ƐƐŽĐŝĂƚŝŽŶ ĂƐ ƚŚĞ ϮŶĚ sŝĐĞ WƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚ ʹ DĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ͘ ^ŝŶĐĞ ŽǆĂůŝĐ ĂĐŝĚ ƐƵďůŝŵĂƚŝŽŶ ďĞĐĂŵĞ ůĞŐĂů ŝŶ DĂƌĐŚ ϮϬϭϱ͕ tĂŶĚĂ ŚĂƐ ĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞĚ ϭϬϮ ĂƉƉůŝĐĂƚŝŽŶƐ͘ ƵƌƌĞŶƚůǇ tĂŶĚĂ ĂŶĚ ŚĞƌ ŚƵƐďĂŶĚ tĞƐůĞǇ ŵĂŶĂŐĞ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ Ă ĚŽǌĞŶ ŚŝǀĞƐ͘ dŚĞǇ ůŝǀĞ ŝŶ &ĞƌƌĞůǀŝĞǁ͕ DK ĂŶĚ ŵĂŶĂŐĞ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƵƌďĂŶ ĂƉŝĂƌǇ ƉůƵƐ ƚŚĞǇ ŚĂǀĞ ĂŶ ĂƉŝĂƌǇ ŝŶ ƌƵƌĂů dƌŝŵďůĞ͕ DK͘

Wes Johnston

tĞƐůĞǇ :ŽŚŶƐƚŽŶ ŝƐ Ă ϲƚŚ ǇĞĂƌ ďĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌ͘ tĞƐůĞǇ ŝƐ ƚŚĞ ĐƵƌƌĞŶƚ dƌĞĂƐƵƌĞƌ ĨŽƌ DŝĚǁĞƐƚĞƌŶ ĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ƐƐŽĐŝĂƚŝŽŶ͘ ,Ğ ŝƐ ĂĐƚŝǀĞ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ DŝƐƐŽƵƌŝ ^ƚĂƚĞ &Ăŝƌ ŽŵŵŝƚƚĞĞ ĂŶĚ ĂƐƐŝƐƚĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ ƚŚĞ D^ ƵĚŝƚ ŽŵŵŝƚƚĞĞ ĨŽƌ ϮϬϭϱ͘ ƵƌƌĞŶƚůǇ tĞƐůĞǇ ĂŶĚ ŚŝƐ ǁŝĨĞ tĂŶĚĂ ŵĂŶĂŐĞ ĂƌŽƵŶĚ Ă ĚŽǌĞŶ ŚŝǀĞƐ͘ dŚĞǇ ůŝǀĞ ŝŶ &ĞƌƌĞůǀŝĞǁ͕ DK ĂŶĚ ŵĂŶĂŐĞ ƚŚĞŝƌ ƵƌďĂŶ ĂƉŝĂƌǇ ƉůƵƐ ƚŚĞǇ ŚĂǀĞ ĂŶ ĂƉŝĂƌǇ ŝŶ ƌƵƌĂů dƌŝŵďůĞ͕ DK͘

Door Prizes 50/50 Drawings Wes Johnston

Grand Prize Big Screen TV

Missouri State Beekeepers Association KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭϰ Ͳ ϭϱ͕ ϮϬϭϲ dŚĞ >ŽĚŐĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ &ŽƵƌ ^ĞĂƐŽŶƐ͕ >ĂŬĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ KǌĂƌŬƐ͕ DK

ϮϬϭϲ &Ăůů DĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ ŽŶĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ ZĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƚŝŽŶ /ŶĨŽƌŵĂƚŝŽŶ

dǁŽ ǁĂǇƐ ƚŽ ZĞŐŝƐƚĞƌ! A. KŶůŝŶĞ Ăƚ ǁǁǁ͘DK^ƚĂƚĞ ĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ͘ŽƌŐ ďǇ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭ͕ ϮϬϭϲ ƚŽ ŐĞƚ ƚǁŽ ;ϮͿ &Z ƚŝĐŬĞƚƐ ĨŽƌ ƉƌŝǌĞ ĚƌĂǁŝŶŐƐ͊͊͊ ͘ DĂŝůͲ ŝŶ ƌĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƚŝŽŶ͘ &Žƌŵ ŝƐ ŽŶ ƚŚĞ ďĂĐŬ͘ Ă͘ KŶĞ ůŝŶĞ ƉĞƌ ĂƚƚĞŶĚĞĞ͕ ĨŽƵƌ ƚŽƚĂů ƉĞƌ ƉĂŐĞ͘ ^ĂǀĞ Ψ ϱϬ͘ϬϬ͊ ď͘ WůĞĂƐĞ ƉƌŝŶƚ ĐůĞĂƌůǇ͘ EĂŵĞ ďĂĚŐĞƐ ĂƌĞ ĐƌĞĂƚĞĚ ĨƌŽŵ ƚŚŝƐ ĨŽƌŵ Đ͘ ŵĂŝů ŽĨ ŵĞŵďĞƌ ŵƵƐƚ ďĞ ƌĞŐŝƐƚĞƌĞĚ ǁŝƚŚ D^ ƚŽ ŐĞƚ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ ĚŝƐĐŽƵŶƚĞĚ ƉƌŝĐŝŶŐ͘

Please Note: As of July 1, 2016, our MSBA membership dues have changed. $ 10.00 per year per individual only.

Want to Join the MSBA? Online at www.MoStateBeekeepers.org or Contact Wanda Johnston at 816-392-4960

Mail-in Registrations:

DK ^ƚĂƚĞ ĞĞŬĞĞƉĞƌƐ ƐƐŽĐŝĂƚŝŽŶ͘

Make checks payable to the

Send check and completed registration form to: ůĂǇƚŽŶ >ĞĞ͕ ϵϬ ĂƐƚ WŽƉĞ >ĂŶĞ͕

^ŵŝƚŚǀŝůůĞ͕ DŝƐƐŽƵƌŝ ϲϰϬϴϵ. Email required for registration acknowledgement.

Don’t Forget Your Hotel Room!

Mention the MSBA Conference and receive our

$104.00 room rate. Good until ^ĞƉƚ ϭϯ͕ ϮϬϭϲ͘

>ŽĚŐĞ ŽĨ ƚŚĞ &ŽƵƌ ^ĞĂƐŽŶ ϴϴϴͲϮϲϱͲϱϱϬϬ http://www.4seasonsresort.com/

dĞůĞƉŚŽŶĞ͗ (____) _____________

&ŝƌƐƚ ĂŶĚ >ĂƐƚ EĂŵĞ͗ ______________________________________ ŵĂŝů͗ ________________________________ dĞůĞƉŚŽŶĞ͗ (____) _____________

KƚŚĞƌ ƚƚĞŶĚĞĞƐ Ăƚ ƚŚĞ ƐĂŵĞ ƐƚƌĞĞƚ ĂĚĚƌĞƐƐ͕ ƵƉ ƚŽ ϯ͘ WůĞĂƐĞ ƵƐĞ Ă ƐĞƉĂƌĂƚĞ ĨŽƌŵ ŝĨ ĚŝĨĨĞƌĞŶƚ ŵĂŝůŝŶŐ ĂĚĚƌĞƐƐ͕ Žƌ ŵŽƌĞ ƚŚĂŶ ϰ ĂƚƚĞŶĚĞĞƐ &ŝƌƐƚ ĂŶĚ >ĂƐƚ EĂŵĞ͗ ______________________________________ ŵĂŝů͗ ________________________________ dĞůĞƉŚŽŶĞ͗ (____) _____________

zŽƵƌ >ŽĐĂů ĞĞŬĞĞƉŝŶŐ ƐƐŶ͗ ________________________________________________________________

^ƚƌĞĞƚ ĚĚƌĞƐƐ͗ ______________________________________________ ŝƚǇ͗ ________________________________ ^ƚĂƚĞ͗ _____ ŝƉ ŽĚĞ͗ ________

&ŝƌƐƚ ĂŶĚ >ĂƐƚ EĂŵĞ͗ ______________________________________ ŵĂŝů͗ ________________________________

ϮϬϭϲ D^ &Ăůů ŽŶĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ ZĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƚŝŽŶ DĂŝůͲŝŶ &Žƌŵ

August 2016

Page 11

ϮϬϭϲ D^ &Ăůů ŽŶĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ ŐĞŶĚĂ Lodge of the Four Seasons Lake Ozark, MO October 14-15, 2016 ;^ƵďũĞĐƚ ƚŽ ĐŚĂŶŐĞͿ

dŚƵƌƐĚĂǇͲ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭϯ͕ ϮϬϭϲ Ϯ͗ϬϬ WD ϲ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϭϬ͗ϬϬ WD

sĞŶĚŽƌ ^ĞƚƵƉ ĞŐŝŶƐ ǆĞĐƵƚŝǀĞ ŽĂƌĚ DĞĞƚŝŶŐ sĞŶĚŽƌ ^ĞƚƵƉ ůŽƐĞƐ

&ƌŝĚĂǇͲ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭϰ͕ ϮϬϭϲ ϳ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϴ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϴ͗ϰϱ Ăŵ ϵ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϭϬ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϭϬ͗ϯϬ Ăŵ ϭϬ͗ϰϱ Ăŵ ϭϭ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ

sĞŶĚŽƌ ^ĞƚƵƉ ŽŶƚŝŶƵĞƐ ZĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƚŝŽŶ KƉĞŶƐ sĞŶĚŽƌ ,Ăůů KƉĞŶƐ ŽŶƚĞƐƚ ZŽŽŵ KƉĞŶƐ ĨŽƌ ŶƚƌǇ ^ĞƚƵƉ WƌĞƐŝĚĞŶƚ͛Ɛ KƉĞŶŝŶŐ ŽŵŵĞŶƚƐ WŚŝůŽƐŽƉŚǇ ĂŶĚ &ƵƚƵƌĞ ŽĨ ĞĞŬĞĞƉŝŶŐͲZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ ^ŵĂůů ,ŝǀĞ ĞĞƚůĞƐͲ tĞƐ :ŽŚŶƐƚŽŶ WƌŽĨĞƐƐŝŽŶĂů :ƵĚŐŝŶŐ ĞŐŝŶƐ ^ŝůĞŶƚ ƵĐƚŝŽŶ ĞŐŝŶƐ ƌĞĂŬ ZĞĂĚŝŶŐ ƚŚĞ ŽŵďƐ KǀĞƌǀŝĞǁͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ

ϭϮ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϭ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ Ϯ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ Ϯ͗ϰϱ Ɖŵ ϯ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ

ϯ͗ϰϱ Ɖŵ ϰ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϱ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϲ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ

WĞŽƉůĞ͛Ɛ ŚŽŝĐĞ :ƵĚŐŝŶŐ ĞŐŝŶƐ ƵĨĨĞƚ >ƵŶĐŚ ĞŐŝŶƐ ,ŽŶĞǇďĞĞ WĞƐƚ ĂŶĚ ŝƐĞĂƐĞͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ KǆĂůŝĐ ĐŝĚ ŽŶ DŝƚĞƐͲ tĂŶĚĂ :ŽŚŶƐƚŽŶ ƌĞĂŬ dŝƉƐ ĨŽƌ tŽƌŬŝŶŐ ĞĞƐ ĂŶĚ DŝŶŝŵŝǌŝŶŐ ^ƚŝŶŐƐͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ WĞŽƉůĞ͛Ɛ ŚŽŝĐĞ :ƵĚŐŝŶŐ ŶĚƐ ƌĞĂŬ ŵĂŝů YƵĞƐƚŝŽŶƐͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ ƌĞĂŬ ĨŽƌ ƚŚĞ ĂǇ ǁĂƌĚƐ ŝŶŶĞƌ ĂŶĚ ƵĐƚŝŽŶ

^ĂƚƵƌĚĂǇͲ KĐƚŽďĞƌ ϭϱ͕ ϮϬϭϲ ϳ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϳ͗ϰϱ Ăŵ ϴ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϵ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϵ͗ϭϱ Ăŵ ϭϬ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ ϭϬ͗ϰϱ Ăŵ ϭϭ͗ϬϬ Ăŵ

sĞŶĚŽƌ ^ĞƚƵƉ ŽŶƚŝŶƵĞƐ ZĞŐŝƐƚƌĂƚŝŽŶ KƉĞŶƐ sĞŶĚŽƌ ,Ăůů KƉĞŶƐ Kd^ ;KŶ ƚŚĞ ^ƉŽƚͿ YƵĞĞŶ ZĞĂƌŝŶŐͲ WĂƌƚ ϭͲ DĞů ŝƐƐĞůŬŽĞŶ ƌĞĂŬ DŝƚĞ DĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ ƌĞĞĚŝŶŐ ĨŽƌ DŝƚĞ DĂŶĂŐĞŵĞŶƚͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ ƌĞĂŬ Kd^ ;KŶ ƚŚĞ ^ƉŽƚͿ YƵĞĞŶ ZĞĂƌŝŶŐͲ WĂƌƚ Ϯ ʹDĞů ŝƐƐĞůŬŽĞŶ

ϭϮ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϭ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ Ϯ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ Ϯ͗ϯϬ Ɖŵ ϯ͗ϬϬ Ɖŵ ϯ͗ϯϬ Ɖŵ ϰ͗ϯϬ Ɖŵ

ƵĨĨĞƚ >ƵŶĐŚ Kd^ ;KŶ ƚŚĞ ^ƉŽƚͿ YƵĞĞŶ ZĞĂƌŝŶŐ Ͳ WĂƌƚ ϯͲ DĞů ŝƐƐĞůŬŽĞŶ ƌĞĂŬ 'DKƐ ĂŶĚ ,ŽŶĞǇ ďĞĞƐͲ ZĂŶĚǇ KůŝǀĞƌ sĞŶĚŽƌ ,Ăůů ůŽƐĞƐ ^ŝůĞŶƚ ƵĐƚŝŽŶ ŶĚƐ 'ĞŶĞƌĂů DĞŵďĞƌƐŚŝƉ ŶŶƵĂů DĞĞƚŝŶŐ WƌŝǌĞ ƌĂǁŝŶŐƐ ĂŶĚ ůŽƐŝŶŐ ZĞŵĂƌŬƐ

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8236 http://www.parklandbeekeepersassociation.org/

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday 6:30pm, Zion Lutheran Church, 450 N. Main St., Poplar Bluff. Contact Ray Batton, 573-785-1980, 573-778-6475 cell or sbatton6@gmail.com

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett John Schmidt, President 417-830-9141

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho

1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Eugene Makovec 314-703-7650

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters 2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Rodney Angell (573) 259-5811 bee143@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy quadcountybeekeepers.com President Eric Reid

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association 1st Monday, Macon High School, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 214-0132 georges@chbeekeeping.com www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

(continued next page)

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued from previous page)

Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Greenhills Bee Club

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club

33 Northland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday at 7pm, Smithville Library-Highway 169 Contact: Clayton Lee at leeland55@gmail.com or 573-864-5172

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers (Dent County) 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. Contact for meeting locations. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333 Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia

1st Tuesday, 6pm, Scott Ladenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house 9265 County Road 627, Dexter Contact Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com or 573-225-6935

39 Iberia Area Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday, 6:30pm. Iberia Library Contact: Ray Shadow, 573-286-5289 or trynbeez@outlook.com www.facebook.com/trynbeez/

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

Missouri State Beekeepers Assiociation By-Laws Proposed 2016 Changes (continued from page 7)

Article 6: Executive Committee Section 1: The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Vice President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor, Membership Chairperson, Program Chairperson, Auxiliary Representative, Fair Chairperson, Queen Chairperson, and Directors. Section 1: The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, Vice President, Past President, Secretary, Treasurer, Editor, Membership Chairperson, Program Chairperson, Fair Chairperson, Queen/Ambassador Chairperson, and Directors.

Article 7: Standing Committees Section 1: The standing committees of this Association shall be the Program Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Auditing Committee, and the Queen Committee. Section 1: The standing committees of this Association shall be the Program Committee, the Nominating Committee, the Auditing Committee, and the Queen/Ambassador Committee.

Article 8: Membership and Dues Section 5: Membership dues shall be in an amount to support the annual budget of this Association as determined by the Executive Committee. Section 5: Membership dues shall be in an amount as determined by the Executive Committee.

Page 14

Missouri State Beekeepers Association MSBA Membership Application

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Dues $10 per individual Mail check to: Missouri State Beekeepers Association P.O. Box 7514 Columbia, MO 65205

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August 2016 Conflicting research on pesticides continued from page 6 risks from exposure in agricultural landscapes.... Our conclusion does have some validation from field and semifield scale studies wherein either forager behavior or colony-level effects have been compared for hives placed within fields planted with seed treatments or untreated fields. The majority of these published studies have not found any significant adverse behavioral or colony health effects.”

Native pollinators abundant in farm fields Environmental Entomology, from Catch the Buzz (Bee Culture), August 20, 2016 http://ee.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/08/03/ee.nvw087 Although corn and soybeans do not need insects for pollination, they do offer floral resources that are used by insect pollinators. Researchers from Iowa State University used modified pan traps to compare the insect communities found in the two crops. All in all, they captured 6,704 individual insects representing at least 60 species. Thirty-four species were collected in both crops, 19 were collected only in corn, and seven were collected only in soybean. The most abundant insects were solitary, ground-nesting bees, which accounted for 65% of the insect pollinators collected from both crops. Surprisingly, honey bees and bumble bees accounted for only 0.5 percent of all insects captured. “Even though production agriculture includes practices that negatively impact pollinators, a community of pollinators persists within them,” the authors wrote. “Despite a reduction in plant diversity that has come with the production of corn and soybeans, there may still be biodiversity that could respond to conservation efforts.” Since most of the pollinators found in the survey were ground-nesting bees, the researchers suggest that increasing the adoption of no-till practices may increase their numbers since tillage can destroy their nests. This could potentially help soybean farmers, as previous studies have shown that unmanaged bees can increase yields by as much as 6 percent. From the study: “Previous studies have observed a positive impact of landscape diversity on the beneficial insect communities found in corn and soybean fields.... Like our study, these studies were conducted in crop fields managed for production within a landscape dominated by annual crop production. So even though production agriculture includes practices that negatively impact pollinators, a community of pollinators persists within them. The results of the pMANOVA suggest that the composition of the pollinator communities within each crop are distinct.... This suggests that a subset of this pollinator community are cultural species capable of persisting in central Iowa despite the focus on production of annual crops.”

Page 15

816-392-4960

Past-President: John Timmons 636-940-8202 952 Greenleaf Drive, St. Charles MO 63303 pastpresident@mostatebeekeepers.org Northwestern Director: Roger Nichols cell 816-456-6983 northwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Northeastern Director: Dan Lake 636-724-5937 48 Sterling Pointe Dr., St. Charles MO 63301 northeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southeastern Director: Gregg Hitchings southeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southwestern Director: Bruce Snavely 417-732-5219 508 Casady, Republic, MO 65738 southwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Central Director: Bob Brammer 660-415-6480 31649 Lake St., Macon MO 63552 centraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org Program Chairperson: Jim Duever 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 program@mostatebeekeepers.org Vendor Liaison: Tim Hyde tim.hyde@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 135 Alex Dr., Foley MO 63347 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

314-703-7650

Webmaster: Mike Conroy hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

State Fair workers have a chance to relax and chat the morning of the second Saturday of the Fair. That afternoon, a steady stream of visitors kept us hopping. At left, Yvonne Von Der Ahe’s beeswax art entry took a blue ribbon, while Corinne Collins took a second-place red. Otherwise, this year’s entries were dominated by upstarts. Kenneth Heitkamp was a first-time Individual Grand Champion, while Three Rivers Beekeepers pulled down the Group Grand Champion award, which for the past decade has been passed back and forth by cross-state rivals Eastern Missouri Beekeepers and Midwestern Beekeepers. photos by Eugene Makovec

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

October 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the President ............ 2 Around the state ................. 4 Local club activities Newsletter Editor needed ... 5 Pesticides in hives tell story 6 Fungicides the worst culprits? Fall Conference vendors ... 7 Order early - save on shipping!

Fall Conference speakers 8 Conference registration 9-10 Conference agenda ........... 11 Local associations ............ 12 Membership application ... 14 Directory of Officers ........ 15 Conference contests ........ 16

Page 2

Missouri State Beekeepers Association From the President by Valerie Duever

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Did you hear the one about the football game between Mizzou and Kansas? (Full disclosure…I graduated from MU back in the 80’s.) Seems like Kansas was on top of their game and beat Mizzou pretty badly. But, Mizzou is known for their Journalism School and those talented folks figured out a way to report the loss in a better light, without lying. The headline read: “Mizzou Comes in Second. Kansas, Next to Last!” Not really sure if that is true or not…but it is funny and does a great job of illustrating a point. If given enough time and clever resources, facts can be presented in such a way that they are correct but a bit misleading. In advertising, it is called spinning. Happens a lot during political campaigns… as we all know. The reason I bring this up is because there have been many, many articles written about the impact of various chemicals and outside pressures on our honey bees. All of them contain facts from one study or another, but many are spun to reflect the opinions of the reporting media. Any of us that subscribe to Facebook understand what I am describing. Those that don’t use the internet for their information are also exposed to these spun reports. I have a friend and fellow beekeeping scientist that has now taken to sending our local bee group a copy of the Popular Press article, as well as the Scientific article that was referenced in the popular press. It is really interesting to read both to get the entire story. As our State Association continues to expand and grow, we are striving to provide good information for our members so they can make well researched management decisions when it comes to keeping their bees. You will see these changes happening on our website over the next few months. Our newsletter will continue to bring you information concerning our upcoming conferences and learning sessions. We will continue to send out the Waggle Dance Data email as a way of communicating between newsletter publications. We are in the process of expanding what is available on our website so you have a good source to find articles and information that is both timely and wellresearched. For $10.00 per year, I would say that is a very good value. As one of Missouri’s all-volunteer organizations, we have a number of beekeepers that are also scientists, engineers, researchers, journalists, botanists, horticulturists … and commercial beekeepers who are willing to help make sure that what you are reading has reliable, documented research to back up those claims. As with any all-volunteer organization, much of the workload falls onto the shoulders of a few. The more volunteers we have to help … even if it is just a little, the easier and more timely we can make things happen. Please think about a way you can volunteer to help make your MSBA better. Looking forward to meeting all of you that can join us at the 2016 Fall Conference on October 14th and 15th. The Lodge of the Four Seasons is a beautiful resort and our four speakers Randy Oliver, Mel Disselkoen, Wes Johnston and Wanda Johnston - are going to be providing good, usable information. And, like many of you, my favorite part of keeping bees is there is still so much to learn. Thank you for being a member of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association! Valerie

Page 4

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Around the state ... Southeast Region Report by Gregg Hitchings

Small hive beetles seem to be the news in Southeast Missouri.

There for several years we grew accustomed to seeing one or two of these little black bugs, which somewhat resemble itty bitty black Volkswagens, when we popped the top on a hive. That’s tolerable. This year, however, has really been quite another story. From the flatlands of the Bootheel to the region’s Cory Stevens gives a quick demonstration of queen introduction during a late summer meeting of the Northern hills, many beekeepers Dexter Bee Club. Can you pick out Cory? Hint: He’s the smart one … wearing a veil! photo by Gregg Hitchings are finding population explosions of these unwelcome insect and the pros and cons of this trap over that trap or even pests within some of their colonies. When beekeepers get the effectiveness of Swiffer pads. together the discussions often involve mite management I was able to make it to several local association meetings this summer. Although much different in meeting times, meeting facilities or topics discussed, there was one constant present in all of them. Each group had the benefit of one or more experienced beekeepers willing to answer questions and coach those who were in the early stages of learning about the craft. This has always been the strength of our local bee groups. Thanks to you beekeeping veterans. Elsewhere around the state ...

Saint Louis Beekeepers hosted a Honey, Mead and Wine Tour on September 18. Including members of Three Rivers Beekeepers, the group of about 35 hopped a charter bus and enjoyed lunch and wine tastings at Noboleis and Augusta Wineries in Augusta, then mead and honey tasting at Martin “Comb honey is my hobby,” says Bernie Andrew. “The liquid is my business.” Brothers Winery/Meadery in Bernie drove September 19th from Lorraine, Illinois, where he currently runs about a hundred hives, to St. Peters, Missouri, where he spoke to Three Rivers Beekeepers about comb honey production, beekeeping as a Hermann. sideline business, and winter feeding with “Missouri crabby patties”.

photo by Eugene Makovec

continued next page

October 2016

Page 5

Around the state ... continued from previous page Phil Davis and Patty Donze enjoy the offerings at Noboleis Winery in Augusta on September 18th, as part of the Saint Louis Beekeepers Honey, Mead and Wine Tour. Later, the group took a scenic bus route through the back country of St. Charles County to Martin Brothers Winery/Meadery outside of Hermann. Photo below by Jane Sueme, at right courtesy of Martin Bros.

Help H l wanted: d

Newsletter Editor, Missouri State Beekeepers Association Description and duties: • Produce six issues per year, about 12-16 pages • Produce and/or coordinate articles and photos • Attend Executive Board meetings as a voting member • Attend and document annual Membership Conferences Candidate should possess: • Attention to detail • Basic computer, design and photography skills • Competent spelling, grammar and proofreading skills • Passion for and knowledge of beekeeping a plus! I designed the current format from scratch when I started. You can follow it or use your own. I use InDesign, but that is also your choice. I will be happy to work with you during the changeover. For information call Eugene Makovec at 314-703-7650, or email editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

Page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

High numbers of in-hive pesticides linked to poor colony health Study tracks 91 migratory colonies through the year The high number of pesticides in bee colonies are being linked pesticide residues in every sample of bee bread that exceeded a to honey bee deaths and some compounds regarded as “bee- hazard quotient’s safety threshold. safe” could be a major contributor to honey bee colony losses The highest number of pesticides accumulated in the colonies in North America. early on, shortly after beekeepers placed A new study is the first to systematically assess Some fungicides could colonies into early season flowering crops multiple pesticides that accumulate within bee have toxic effects on like apples and blueberries. Honey production colonies. Previously most scientific studies have colony survival in the stopovers and holding areas offered the bees looked at pesticides one at a time, rather than field.... Pesticides with a some respite from further contamination. investigating the effects of multiple real-world particular mode of action The study results also suggest that some also corresponded to higher fungicides, which have led to the mortality of pesticide exposures within a colony. honey bee larvae in lab studies, could have toxic The researchers found that the number of colony mortality. effects on colony survival in the field. In the different pesticides within a colony—regardless of dose—closely correlates with colony death. The results also current study, pesticides with a particular mode of action also suggest that some fungicides, often regarded as safe for bees, corresponded to higher colony mortality. correlate with high rates of colony deaths. For example, the fungicides most closely linked to queen deaths The study appeared online in the journal Nature Scientific Reports. and colony mortality disrupted sterols - compounds that are “Our results fly in the face of one of the basic tenets of essential for fungal development and survival. toxicology: that the dose makes the poison,” says senior author “We were surprised to find such an abundance of fungicides Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an assistant professor of entomology at inside the hives, but it was even more surprising to find that fungicides are linked to imminent colony mortality,” said Kirsten the University of Maryland. “We found that the number of different compounds was highly Traynor, a postdoctoral researcher in entomology at UMD and predictive of colony death, which suggests that the addition of lead author on the study. more compounds somehow overwhelms the bees’ ability to “These compounds have long been thought to be safe for bees. We’re seeing them at higher doses than the chemicals detoxify themselves.” The researchers followed 91 honey bee colonies, owned by beekeepers apply directly to the colonies to control Varroa three different migratory commercial beekeepers, for an entire mites. So that is particularly concerning.” agricultural season. The colonies began their journey in Florida The study borrows a concept from human cancer research: and moved up the East Coast, providing pollination services for the “exposome,” or the sum total of chemicals an organism is exposed to over its lifetime. But instead of looking at different crops along the way. They also spent time in locations meant for honey production, individual bees, the researchers assessed each colony as a single as well as “holding areas” where beekeepers prepare large “superorganism” that functions as a single, cohesive unit. Within this framework, the researchers tracked the death of numbers of colonies for upcoming pollination contracts. A total of 93 different pesticide compounds found their way queen bees, which is a life-threatening event for the colony as into the colonies over the course of the season, accumulating a whole. In some cases, a colony is able to create a new queen, but if those efforts fail the entire colony will die. in the wax, in processed pollen known as bee “We just did not find In the study, colonies with very low pesticide bread and in the bodies of nurse bees. in the contamination in the wax experienced no queen At every stop along the beekeepers’ itinerary, neonicotinoids colonies,” vanEngelsdorp events, while all colonies with high pesticide the researchers assessed three different says. “There were some trace parameters within each colony: the total residues of neonicotinoids contamination in the wax lost a queen during number of pesticides; the total number of in a few samples, but not the beekeeping season. “relevant” pesticides (defined as those above nearly on par with other Traynor says this is a huge problem for beekeepers. a minimum threshold of toxicity); and each compounds.” colony’s “hazard quotient,” a measure devised “Not long ago, a queen would typically last by other researchers to integrate the total up to two years,” he says. “But now many hazard posed to each colony by the cumulative toxicity of all commercial beekeepers replace the queens in at least half of pesticides present. their colonies every spring in the hopes that this will prevent All three measures correlated with a higher probability of premature queen deaths. colony death or queen failure. “Even with such measures, many queens still don’t make it In addition, the researchers found between five and 20 different continued on page 15

October 2016

Page 7

Support our conference vendors and advertisers As of this time, the following vendors have confirmed plans to attend the Fall Conference. You may be able to save on shipping costs by placing orders ahead of time to be picked up during the meeting.

Dadant & Sons (see ad page 3)

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Used beekeeping equipment Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975 magic@adams.net

Femme Osage Apiaries (see ad page 14)

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Isabees Authorized Walter T. Kelley Dealer All beekeeping supplies Jane Sueme 314-504-4424 jane@isabees.com

Bees and equipment Bill and Tammy George 660-214-0132 www.chbeekeeping.com

Ebert Honey Package bees, queens, woodenware and honey. Buying beeswax. Phil Ebert ehoney37@netins.net

HorizontalHive.com Beekeeping books and miscellaneous Leo Sharashkin lsharashkin@yahoo.com

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Please Note: As of July 1, 2016, our MSBA membership dues have changed. $ 10.00 per year per individual only.

Want to Join the MSBA? Online at www.MoStateBeekeepers.org or Contact Wanda Johnston at 816-392-4960

Mail-in Registrations:

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August 2016

Page 11

ϮϬϭϲ D^ &Ăůů ŽŶĨĞƌĞŶĐĞ ŐĞŶĚĂ Lodge of the Four Seasons Lake Ozark, MO October 14-15, 2016 ;^ƵďũĞĐƚ ƚŽ ĐŚĂŶŐĞͿ

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Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8236 http://www.parklandbeekeepersassociation.org/

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday 6:30pm, Zion Lutheran Church, 450 N. Main St., Poplar Bluff. Contact Ray Batton, 573-785-1980, 573-778-6475 cell or sbatton6@gmail.com

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett John Schmidt, President 417-830-9141

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho

1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Eugene Makovec 314-703-7650

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters 2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Rodney Angell (573) 259-5811 bee143@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy quadcountybeekeepers.com President Eric Reid

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association 1st Monday, Macon High School, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 214-0132 georges@chbeekeeping.com www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

(continued next page)

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued from previous page)

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

33 Northland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday at 7pm, Smithville Library-Highway 169 Contact: Clayton Lee at leeland55@gmail.com or 573-864-5172

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers (Dent County) 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. Contact for meeting locations. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333 Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Greenhills Bee Club 4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club 1st Tuesday, 6pm, Scott Ladenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house 9265 County Road 627, Dexter Contact Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com or 573-225-6935

39 Iberia Area Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday, 6:30pm. Iberia Library Contact: Ray Shadow, 573-286-5289 or trynbeez@outlook.com www.facebook.com/trynbeez/

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

PA C K A G E B E E S

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Page 14

Missouri State Beekeepers Association MSBA Membership Application

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October 2016 Conflicting research on pesticides continued from page 6

through one season.” The research team did not find a significant contribution from neonicotinoid pesticides. These compounds, derived from nicotine, are some of the most common pesticides in use globally. Because of their ubiquitous use, neonicotinoids have received significant media attention for their potential role in honey bee declines. “We just did not find neonicotinoids in the colonies,” vanEngelsdorp says. “There were some trace residues of neonicotinoids in a few samples, but not nearly on par with other compounds. However, it’s possible we did not test the right matrix—we did not test nectar, for example—or that the product breaks down faster than others in the collection process or that neonicotinoids are simply not very prevalent when crops are flowering.” Because industrial practices have changed since the researchers collected the data for this study, Traynor and vanEngelsdorp acknowledge that further research could reveal new patterns in the relationship between pesticides and honey bee health. But the current study nonetheless offers some important insights for beekeepers and farmers alike. “We have to figure out ways to reduce the amount of products that bees are exposed to while still helping farmers produce their crops,” vanEngelsdorp says. “This will require careful examination of spray plans, to make sure we only use the products we need, when we need them, in order to reduce the number of products bees are exposed to while pollinating different crops.” In addition to Traynor and vanEngelsdorp, study co-authors include Jeffery Pettis (U.S. Department of Agriculture), David Tarpy (North Carolina State University), and Christopher Mullin, James Frazier and Maryann Frazier (Pennsylvania State University). The full report can be seen at http://www.nature.com/articles/ srep33207 Story courtesy of Catch the Buzz, at beeculture.com

Page 15

816-392-4960

Newsletter Editor: Eugene Makovec 135 Alex Dr., Foley MO 63347 editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

314-703-7650

Webmaster: Mike Conroy hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075

Missouri State Beekeepers Association PO Box 7514 Columbia, Missouri 65205 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

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Classified Ads: Advertise one to three beekeeping-related items in a one-line ad at no charge. This service is for MSBA members only, and is limited to one ad per item per calendar year.

Missouri State Beekeepers Association 401 NW Heady Avenue, Ferrelview, MO 64163 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

December 2016 Eugene Makovec Editor editor@mostatebeekeepers.org

This beautiful fountain swimming pool is one of the many amenities offered by the recently remodeled Lodge of the Four Seasons in Lake Ozark. While midAutumn was not the season for outdoor swimming, Fall Conference weather was great for a walk around the grounds between lectures. Conference coverage begins on page 5. photo by Eugene Makovec

INSIDE THIS ISSUE From the President ............ 2 Around the state ................. 4 Local club activities Fall Conference wrap-up ... 5 Oliver, Disselkoen don’t dissappoint

Did Einstien really say that? 6 “Four years”quote investigated Spring Learning Session ... 7 Join us March 4 in Columbia

Beekeeper of the Year ... 11 Erin Mullins honored Youth Beekeeper Award ... 13 Alejandro Reed is first recipient Local associations ............ 12 Membership application ... 14 Directory of Officers ........ 15 Desloge bee law on hold ... 15 MSBA will have a say

Page 2

Missouri State Beekeepers Association From the President by Valerie Duever

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Well, that conference was just excellent, wasn’t it? Randy Oliver is such a dynamic speaker and is so interesting with all of his research projects. All of you should continue to follow him on his webpage: scientificbeekeeping.com as it is always changing. Mel Disselkoen was also very good with his MDA splitter method of raising honey bees. His website is mdasplitter.com if you want to know more about that method. As always, there are so many folks to thank for helping. The Fall Conference truly ran like a well-oiled machine and the exit surveys were the proof that we “done good” this year. Thank you! My favorite part of the Conference is the Awards Presentation during dinner on Friday night. Working with an all-volunteer organization, it sometimes becomes very difficult to make sure those that do help are properly recognized for their efforts. Erin Mullins was so surprised to be selected as the MSBA 2016 Beekeeper of the Year, but those of us that have worked with her know, she was an obvious choice. From her reign as Honey Queen to her current position as Contest Coordinator, Erin has done so much to promote managed beekeeping with the younger generation. That is what we need as an industry today…younger folks exploring managed beekeeping. With folks like Erin, it will happen. Speaking of younger beekeepers, we were so excited to have such an excellent candidate for MSBA 2016 Young Beekeeper of the Year. Alejandro Reed was nominated by a Past MSBA President and his current mentor, Ray Nabors. Congratulations, Alejandro! You, too, are an inspiration to young beekeepers everywhere. Keep up the wonderful spirit and curious attitude! Wow…my last letter as President of the MSBA. The past two years have just flown by! Together, we have accomplished so much! We were able to get a Honey Bill passed. We have been working with a number of professional organizations to get additional educational programs started that will help bring in more beekeepers for Missouri. We have expanded our organization with another area director because of the growth in this industry. We have updated our Queen Program to include Ambassadors so young men and women can learn about beekeeping. And there is more to come. My focus, for the next few years anyway, will be to work with the MSBA Education Committee. We are brand new this year and have lots of great ideas that need exploration. The folks that have volunteered to be on that committee are well-educated and very dedicated to managed beekeeping. Since we haven’t had the opportunity to have our first meeting, there isn’t much to present at this time. Let’s just say that we are all excited about bringing more focus to the educational opportunities available around the state. More to come on this subject as it develops… As a closing statement, I just want to say “thank you”. I have been very proud to have been selected (yeap…selected. Took Mr. Timmons three tries to talk me into this position…) to lead this organization. Two years is a very short time to accomplish much, but I feel very happy in all that we have done and all the plans we are making for the future. I am thrilled to be passing the proverbial baton to Clayton Lee. Clayton has been working very closely with me as your Vice President and he is an excellent leader. The new board is very impressive and I think you are going to be happy with the upcoming progress they will make. It really has been sweet! Thanks for being a part of the Missouri State Beekeepers Association! Valerie

Page 4

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Around the state ... Wright County Beekeepers will be conducting a Beginning Beekeeping course January 5, 12, 19 and 26, with additional dates reserved for makeup days, if needed, due to bad weather. Classes are Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 9:00 PM at the Laclede Electric Co-Op, 5900 Highway 5, in Hartville. Students will learn what is needed to start with bees and how to manage them successfully. There is no charge for the course, but preregistration is encouraged. For questions or to register, email WrightCountyBeekeepers@Gmail.com or call (417) 324-6850. Northwest Missouri Beebusters is having a Beginning Beekeeping class on January 7th from 1-4 pm at the Maryville High school. Cost is 12 dollars. Advanced beekeeping class is February 4th from 1-4 pm at the Maryville high school. Cost is 12 dollars. For more info, email beebusters2012@gmail.com Golden Valley Beekeepers will offer a Beginning Beekeeping Workshop on Mondays Jan 9, 16, 23 and 30 from 7-9 pm each night at First Assembly of God Church, 1506 E Ohio, Clinton (at the east jct of Hwys 7 and 13, in front of Walmart). Registration fee is $35 per household, including textbook. Preregistration requested, but walk-ins welcome. Raffle tickets for beekeeping supplies will also be sold. For more info, visit www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com, find Golden Valley Beekeepers on Facebook, or call Jerry or Jamie Perry at 660-383-1355. SW Missouri Beekeepers of Neosho has a beginner course January 14 and January 21, from 1pm to 5pm at the Neosho High School Ag building. Cost is $15 for materials. Interested people can contact Maxwell Helm at 417-439-3709 or maxwellhelm1@ gmail.com. The Parkland Beekeepers Association will be having their annual Bee Day on Saturday, January 21 at Mineral Area College in Park Hills. An introduction to beginning beekeeping will be presented as well as more advanced topics for established beekeepers. Vendors of beekeeping supplies will be invited to attend and display their wares. For more information, watch for local news releases or contact Ray Politte at 573/631-8236. Boone Regional Beekeepers has their annual Beginning Beekeeping Classes In Columbia on January 21st. For more information see Boonebees.org Three Rivers Beekeepers is offering a Beginning Beekeeping Workshop on January 27th and 28th (Friday 6:00 pm â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 9:30 pm and Saturday 9:00 am to 6:00 pm). The classes will cover the following topics: Honeybee Biology; Basics of the Hive; Basic Beekeeping Equipment; Purchasing and Assembling Hive Equipment; Obtaining and Installing Honeybees; Inspecting and Managing the Hives; Solving Common Beekeeping Problems; and Preparing Your Hives for Honey Collection. Cost is $75, including a book, refreshments and Saturday lunch.

The workshop will be held at the St. Charles County Extension Center in St. Peters. Register online at www. ThreeRiversBeekeepers.com The Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association will offer a full day of professional beekeeping instruction for beginners and experienced beekeepers on Saturday, February 11 at Maritz in Fenton, Missouri. Registrants are encouraged to attend the Fifth Annual EMBA St. Louis Beekeepers Mardi Gras Banquet the evening before the workshop on Friday, February 10, at Maritz. Leading beekeeping educators, and honey bee health specialists at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, and the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph will be among the visiting faculty leading the workshop. The Experienced Beekeepers course will be tailored towards intermediate and expert level beekeepers and will place special emphasis on hive management and honey bee health issues. The Beginners Beekeeping course is intended for novice beekeepers and persons with no prior beekeeping experience. The class will cover all aspects of basic beekeeping to prepare students to start keeping bees in 2017. Tuition for the workshop is $85 per person if registered by January 22, 2017. Tuition is $95 per person for those registering on or after January 23rd. Banquet registration costs $30. Registration closes February 5th. Lunch, refreshments and a reference book are included with the workshop. Registration packets will include course materials, beekeeping periodicals, and equipment catalogs. The Friday evening banquet features New Orleans style food and music, a cash bar, door prizes, including nucs, queens and beekeeping equipment, and a keynote speaker. The cost of the banquet is in addition to the workshop. Registration is available online at www.easternmobeekeepers.com. More information is available by email to info@easternmobeekeepers.com or calling 314-669-1828. The Midwestern Beekeepers Association will have their 22nd Beginning Beekeeping Workshop on Saturday, February 25, 2017 at Burr Oak Woods Nature Center, 1401 NW Park Rd, Blue Springs, MO 64015. The workshop registration fee is $35 and includes the workshop, presentation notes and First Lessons in Beekeeping by Keith S. Delaplane. Registration will begin at 8 am and the workshop will be from 9 AM to 5 pm with a break for lunch. Beekeeping suppliers will be on site to take orders for bees and supplies. The class size is limited to 60. To register, please visit http://www.midwesternbeekeepers.org/ to download a registration form. For more information, please call Bob Williams at 816-331-6634.

continued on page 15

December 2016

Page 5

Fall Conference offers hefty helping of beekeeping science Randy Oliver headlines, lives up to his reputation Story and photos by Eugene Makovec Randy Oliver is a commercial beekeeper who resides in California and, together with two sons, runs several hundred colonies for pollination, breeding, and a variety of research on everything from mite treatments to agricultural pesticides. Diane and I had the good fortune to be asked to pick him up at the airport on Thursday afternoon and drive him down to the Lake for the Conference. We jumped at the chance; what beekeeper wouldn’t relish the opportunity to spend 2-3 hours with one of the premier honeybee experts in the country? I’d been following Randy in the American Bee Journal, at scientificbeekeeping.com and on the Bee-L beekeeing list for years, and knew that he was both opinionated and extremely well-versed in the science of beekeeping. During the drive down, we got a head start on our education, along with some great conversation on everything from family to politics. I will not attempt to report every bit of knowledge imparted by Randy or the other speakers at our Conference, but will hit on what I thought interesting or new: Randy Oliver GMOs “GMOs and Honey Bees” was the listed topic, on an agenda heavy with Randy Oliver. (I don’t know what we paid him for the weekend, but I’m certain we got our money’s worth.) Randy commented on this over breakfast on Friday: “I’ve never had a group of beekeepers ask me to talk about this.” I explained that genetically modified organisms, along with pesticides, continually come up in conversations among both beekeepers and the public regarding the health of our bees. Randy had already mentioned that he was taking liberties with the schedule, so I suggested that if he wanted to just work the subject into another talk I was sure that would be fine. But he said he had prepared a PowerPoint on it and was ready to go. And as it turned out, this subject generated the most questions and comments of any of his lectures. Among the points he made: • “‘GMO’ is a meaningless term in biology, because everything is genetically modified,” via natural selection and/or human crossWe offer fast and courteous service to all beekeepers. We breeding. What has changed are the methods, which are much more sell beekeeping supplies, containers, bee pollen and hon- exacting and controlled, involving the alteration of a plant’s DNA in ey for those who run short. Order is shipped the same day the lab to add specific traits to that plant. • For many years, crops have been altered via a process called as received in most cases. “mutation breeding”, whereby seeds are bombarded with radiation Free catalog on request. Pick up orders at our warehouse or chemicals to cause mutations. While results can be random and must be pre-ordered and picked up by appointment only. highly unpredictable, beneficial mutations are saved and developed for the commercial market. (Oddly enough, not only are crops Business hours: Mon-Thurs 8-5, closed 12-1 resulting from this type of gene manipulation not subject to the Brenda and Larry Draper intense regulatory scrutiny of GMOs, but some are even certified as Draper’s Super Bee “organic”.) 914 “S” Street, Auburn, NE 68305 402-274-3725 • GMOs are in fact the “most thoroughly tested” crops on the m market, Randy said, adding, “I have not seen any evidence that GMO c crops cause harm to bees.” • While Big Ag companies are commonly accused of foisting GMOs o farmers for profit, Randy said most such cultivars are produced by on u university or government scientists to benefit small farmers. • One common GM type is Bt, wherein a gene sequence from a b bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis is engineered into the genetic c code of the plant. There are many strains of Bt, each targeted to a s specifi c insect pest and binding to a specific receptor in the insect gut a killing it. Non-target species are not affected, and simply digest it and a a protein. All of these crops have been specifically tested for safety as o honeybees. (Bt is also commonly used in spray form by organic on f farmers.) continued on page 8

DRAPER’S SUPER BEE

Page 6

Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Four years to live - did Albert Einstein really say that? Quote Investigator finds no evidence that the famous physicist made dire statement about bees -- Excerpted for space; entire article available at: In 1859 the landmark scientific treatise “On the Origin of Species” by Charles Darwin was published, and it included a section discussing a http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/27/einstein-bees/ Dear Quote Investigator: A dramatic quotation about the complex ecological web of interactions between cats, mice, humbledangers of environmental upheaval is attributed to the bees, heartsease and red clover. Humble-bees are now referred to as bumblebees, and Darwin pointed out that some important plant brilliant physicist Albert Einstein. Here are two versions: species would face extinction if the bumblebee were to disappear: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the “Hence, we may infer as highly probable that if the globe then man would only have four years of “No cats, many mice; whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or life left. No more bees, no more pollination, many mice, no bumblevery rare in England, the heartsease and red clover no more plants, no more animals, no more would become very rare, or wholly disappear.” bees; no bees, no clover; no man.” clover, no cattle; no cattle, In 1887 the British Bee Journal reprinted an article “If the bee disappears from the surface of no beef; and without from the American Bee Journal that presented a the earth, man would have no more than beef where would the cascade of ecological interactions showing that the four years to live.” Englishman be?” - Prof. W. population of cattle was dependent on population Some commentators are skeptical about W. Cooke, American Bee of cats. The chain also showed that cattle were this ascription. Could you examine this dependent on bumblebees. Most of the living Journal, 1887 expression? things mentioned in this passage and the style of Quote Investigator: There is no substantive reasoning were based on Darwin’s analysis: evidence that Einstein ever made a remark of this type about “The safety of England depends on the number of cats she keeps. bees. Alice Calaprice, the editor of the important collection “The He proves his proposition thus: Without the aid of bumble-bees the Ultimate Quotable Einstein”, placed the saying in the “Probably Not red clover could not be fertilised. Bumble-bees make their nests on by Einstein” section of her reference. the ground, where they are the prey of mice. Cats destroy the mice The earliest evidence known to QI of a connection between Einstein and give the bees a chance to live. Hence he reasons, no cats, many and disastrous environmental scenarios caused by the disappearance mice; many mice, no bumble-bees; no bees, no clover; no clover, of bees was published in the Canadian Bee Journal in 1941: no cattle; no cattle, no beef; and without beef where would the “If I remember well, it was Einstein who said: ‘Remove the bee from Englishman be?—Prof. W. W. Cooke” the earth and at the same stroke you remove at least one hundred In 1901 the prominent Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck published thousand plants that will not survive.’” “The Life of the Bee”, and he helped to popularize the idea that QI has located no supporting evidence that Einstein made the the bee was a vital ecological linchpin. The work was originally remark above. Instead, QI has determined that a statement of this written in French and was translated into English by Alfred Sutro. type was made by the major literary figure Maurice Maeterlinck Maeterlinck’s reputation grew when he was awarded the Nobel in his work “The Life of the Bee” in 1901. The saying was widely Prize in Literature in 1911. Maeterlinck provocatively suggested that disseminated in the decades afterwards. Details are given further we owed our civilization to the bee, and some readers may have below. concluded that the extinction of the bee would lead to the collapse In 1966 “The Irish Beekeeper” published a comment ascribed to of civilization: Einstein that presented the grim four year time “You will probably more than once have seen limit for humanity. The journal cited a 1965 issue of “If I remember well, it was her fluttering about the bushes, in a deserted a French periodical for beekeepers called “Abeilles Einstein who said: ‘Remove corner of your garden, without realising that you et Fleurs” for justification of the attribution. This is the bee from the earth were carelessly watching the venerable ancestor the earliest evidence known to QI of a connection and at the same stroke to whom we probably owe most of our flowers between Einstein who died in 1955 and the dire you remove at least one and fruits (for it is actually estimated that more time limit: hundred thousand plants than a hundred thousand varieties of plants would “Professor Einstein, the learned scientist, once that will not survive.’” - disappear if the bees did not visit them), and calculated that if all bees disappeared off the Canadian Bee Journal, possibly even our civilisation, for in these mysteries all things intertwine.” earth, four years later all humans would also have 1941 disappeared.” The assertion that 100,000 varieties of plants were dependent on the ministrations of the bee Below is a selected chronological sequence of citations that attempt to roughly outline the evolution of this for continued existence was spellbinding, and it has been regularly expression and its conceptual formation. Because this task is difficult repeated for more than a hundred years. and the available information is fragmentary this entry is lengthy. QI In 1908 the textbook “Animal Life” spoke of the deep dependence is indebted to the pioneering research of Bonnie Taylor-Blake and of agriculture and human civilization on bees: Ray Girvan who explored this topic and located many important citations including the two given previously. continued on page 7

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Einstein: Four more years? Gossip, exageration and misattribution did not begin with the Internet remove at least one hundred thousand plants that will not survive.’” “The history of flowers would almost be a blank, but for the In 1951 a group of schoolchildren wrote to Einstein and asked Prosopis and her vast following; a hundred thousand varieties whether there “would be living things on the earth if the sun burnt would disappear if the bees did not visit them; and if we reflect how out,” and he replied: much human civilisation in its critical pastoral and tribal stages has “Without sunlight there is: no wheat, no bread, no grass, no cattle, depended on agriculture we realise how greatly we are indebted to no meat, no milk, and everything would be frozen. No LIFE.” Note this question and reply did not concern bees; however, these honey-suckers and pollen gatherers.” In 1914 a Denver, Colorado newspaper repeated the adage that a Einstein’s letter did include a cascade of events that was reminiscent of some passages about bee extinction. Einstein had already been “hundred thousand varieties of plants” were dependent on bees: “But that little wild bee, half starved, ignorant, is the ancestor of all linked by 1941 to a quote about bee loss. So, it is not clear whether the civilized bees. And, what is more important, as the scientists this interesting letter contributed further to misattributions. point out, it is probably to her that we owe nearly all of our flowers In 1962 the viewer of an educational film titled “City of Bees” and fruit. A hundred thousand varieties of plants would disappear commented on the danger to mankind if the bee disappeared: “If some catastrophe destroyed all the bees on our planet, some from the earth if the bees did not visit them, carrying the pollen.” In 1921 a San Jose, California newspaper reiterated the adage about 100,000 species of plants would disappear and man would be hard put to eke out a living.” plants and bees: “It is interesting to know it has been accurately estimated, that In 1966 The Irish Beekeeper printed a remark attributed to more than 100,000 varieties of our plants would disappear if they Einstein that gave a time limit for mankind. This important citation were not visited by the bees. Our blossoms-covered valley owes acknowledged the French periodical Abeilles et Fleurs for the quotation. Currently, this is the earliest piece of a large part of its wonderful fruition, to the little evidence known to QI containing a time limit: people of the hive.” “Without sunlight there In 1939 the columnist Ernest A. Fortin writing is: no wheat, no bread, no “Professor Einstein, the learned scientist, once in the Canadian Bee Journal referred to the grass, no cattle, no meat, calculated that if all bees disappeared off the dependence of “one hundred thousand plants” on no milk, and everything earth, four years later all humans would also have the bee. He attributed this claim to “one of the would be frozen. No LIFE.” disappeared. In 1971 a syndicated humor column called “The most celebrated naturalists the world has ever - Albert Einstein, 1951 Lighter Side” discussed the honeybee: produced”. Indeed, this assertion about the bee has sometimes been ascribed to famed naturalist “In my Earth Day remarks, I observed that Charles Darwin though QI has found no supporting evidence for America had created the most complex, highly advanced technology this linkage. Oddly, Fortin was not referring to Darwin as shown in history. Yet we are almost totally dependent on a measly little in the important 1941 citation given further below. In this 1939 flying insect. If anything happened to the honeybee, many of our passage the naturalist was unnamed: most important plants would disappear and our entire civilization “The bee has a wider range of utility and is, in reality, one of the main likely would collapse.” keystones of agriculture. One of the most celebrated naturalists the During a 1994 demonstration by beekeepers in Brussels, pamphlets world has ever produced once declared this: Suppress the bee from with the saying credited to Einstein were disseminated: the earth, and by so doing you will suppress at least one hundred “Crops such as apples, pears, beans and oilseeds need bees for thousand plants that will not survive. Remember that the milk and pollination. British beekeepers estimate that 85 per cent of Europe’s cattle industry are largely dependent on the bee for the fertilization wildflowers are pollinated by bees and the death of the flowers of the clovers. How many crops of different fruits are dependent could have a major impact on wildlife.... It’s going to be a chain on the bee for success? The bee is one of the main links of that reaction.” wonderful chain forged by nature, and wherever that link is broken, A pamphlet distributed by the National Union of French Apiculture there is bound to be trouble somewhere.” quoted Albert Einstein. “If the bee disappears from the surface of In 1941 Ernest A. Fortin wrote on this subject again in the Canadian the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No Bee Journal. Fortin assigned the remark about plants and bees to more bees, no more pollination … no more men!” Albert Einstein, and this is the earliest known connection between In conclusion, QI has not located any support for attributing Einstein and the topic of ecological damage caused by bee extinction. a doom-laden statement about bees to Albert Einstein. Note that this quotation does not directly foretell the speedy doom The first evidence known to QI linking Einstein to an illof mankind: fated bee-less world appeared in 1941. The writer Ernest “Yes, every kind of animal or insect is a link in the endless chain of A. Fortin probably confused Charles Darwin, Maurice nature and, if a link is removed, it is a long time before the chain Maeterlinck, and Albert Einstein. QI does not believe that serves again its full purpose. If I remember well, it was Einstein who Fortin’s ascription was deliberately deceptive. said: ‘Remove the bee from the earth and at the same stroke you continued from page 6

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Missouri State Beekeepers Association

Fall Conference wrap-up continued from page 5 • Another GM type is Roundup Ready, which is engineered to be resistant to Monsanto’s popular weedkiller of the same name. The farmer can thus spray Roundup on the field and kill the weeds without affecting the crop. This in turn reduces tillage, which saves fuel and protects the soil. The downside is loss of wildlife habitat, as it is now easier to wipe out weeds between fields and along roadsides. To make matters worse, Randy said, many food companies and even government agencies direct farmers to remove weeds and wildlife from crop areas to reduce the risk of E coli contamination. Pesticides • “It’s way better than it was in the 1970s,” Randy said, referring to improvements in the types and application of agricultural chemicals. But where beekeepers used to be very antipesticide, the war against varroa has made us the main source of them in our hives. • The vast majority of toxins we eat are naturally present in plants. Many of our foods were more toxic in their “natural” form, but we’ve bred most of those traits out over the years. Unfortunately this makes plants more susceptible to pests that did not kill them before. Bee biology Cathy Misko jumps on the opportunity to stock up on supplies for next Spring. • The life of the colony is one of Recruitment (the raising of new bees) and Attrition (the flying off to die of old bees). Management (beekeeping) is about maximizing recruitment and minimizing attrition. Successful beekeepers are the ones who have too many bees every Spring. They are “generally the quietest ones, and the ones who drive nice new trucks”. • Nurse bees (3-15 days old) are the only ones who produce the enzymes that make pollen digestion possible. They control protein transfer (to brood and adults) via transfer of royal jelly. Fresh pollen stimulates jelly production. • Colony development follows pollen availability, not daylight hours or temperatures. • Winter cluster: Bees on the outside stay at 50°F, heads in cells, “pumping blood from head to tail” to generate heat to the cluster. • Spring Turnover: As long-lived winter bees revert to nurse bees, they become short-lived bees. As a result, the adult population drops precipitously as brood develops to replace them. The challenge is to have enough adults to keep the brood warm. A cold spell during Spring Turnover quickly causes them to run out of protein. They respond by eating the eggs, then the larvae - leaving only the pupae, which need neither food nor warmth. The beekeeper can determine protein levels by checking for wet brood (larvae “swimming in jelly”). If brood is d feed pollen substitute immediately. dry, • Fall Turnover: As short-lived summer bees die off, fall bees develop differently, packing their bodies with vitogellin (fat bodies). This allows them to live until Spring T Turnover, when they spend the remainder o those reserves on recruitment. of V Varroa Treatments Randy stressed that it is best to keep mite levels down throughout the season rather t than have to knock them down from high levels. He briefly shared with us a recent study he has done comparing mite t treatments. I did not take down a lot of the d details, as he expects to publish results in t near future, but I will report here some the o his comments and observations: of MSBA Treasurer Steve Moeller, at right, keeps track of bids at the annual Queen Auction during the • Oxalic Acid: This should be used Friday evening banquet. At left, auctioneer Bernie Andrew pauses while Erin Mullins presents a new continued on page 9 item for bidding. The auction raised $1370.00 for the Queen/Ambassador program.

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Fall Conference wrap-up continued from page 8

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during broodless periods, which can be created by caging the queen for 12 days, then releasing her, and treating on Day 19. Randy prefers the dribble method over vaporization, in part because it is quicker (especially important for someone with many hives to treat), but also because it is safer. Too many people use vaporizers without the benefit of a mask, and the vapors are dangerous to humans. He did mention that the downside to dribbling is the need to open the hive. Apiguard: The active ingredient, thymol, is not water-soluble, and is therefore dissolved in the same gel used in diapers. It spreads not by evaporation, but by the bees removing the gel and dragging it through the broodnest to get it out of the hive. Formic Acid (MAQS) is the only treatment that Vendors Tammy and Bill George, at right, display some of the offerings from Crooked Hill kills mites in brood cells. It can be used with honey Beekeeping in Chillicothe, Missouri. supers on, but it can cause a brood break and occasionally even cause the bees to ball the queen - though this is usually in weaker colonies. This can be prevented by removing the queen for two days while treating and then putting her back. Oxalic/Glycerin strips. This was one of the new methods that Randy tested. It shows promise, he said, but is a lot of work and not as good as the old standby, Apiguard. Essential Oils: There have been a lot of claims about essential oils for varroa control, but there’s not a lot of research to back them up. Randy tested a commercially available combination of essential oils (he did not share the brand), and found it wholly ineffective. What’s more, he said, bees hate essential oils, which are produced by plants to repel insects.

“MDA Splitter” Mel Disselkoen credits queen-rearing method for low mite counts by Cathy Misko As time has permitted and to protect my investment in bees, I have attended the MO State Beekeepers Conferences for 10 straight years. Each year I treasure gathering with fellow beekeepers to be enlightened and re-booted to help keep my bees using the best management possible. I did miss a few sessions since this trip served a dual purpose, that being a holiday at the luxurious Four Seasons Lodge with my husband. Beekeepers work hard and getting away is well deserved; who can resist the therapeutic opportunity to “re-boot” at the lake, during a full moon, and no chores? Up my alley, Mel Disselkoen introduced his 25 year chemical free management program of OTS (On-the-Spot) Queen Rearing - proclaiming a low colony loss of 10%, low mite loads, and successful income ffrom selling “starts”, honey, and queens. He inspired us all stating, “You cannot get better bees than the ones that you over winter aand that survive in your own yard; breed from those queens.” W When varroa hit the USA bees killing 70%, Mel focused on tthe “why” the other 30% of bees survived. He concluded the reason was because the bees superceded their queen in July. Mel therefore developed his program of artificially superceding colonies in July (noting that he lives in Michigan). Timing takes aadvantage of the summer solstice, a time when bees’ instinct is tto build up (population and honey stores) for winter survival. Queen cells are forced by “notching” brood comb in contrast tto grafting or using the Jenter kit. Mel claims that splitting and “starting” a new colony helps with mite control because of the “broodless and droneless” break in the hive. He claims that in his 42 years of making his own artificial swarms by “spitting” he has not had his bees swarm. OTS program’s quick and skinny: 1) Start in May when drones a Mel Disselkoen answers questions about his On-the-Spot Queen Rearing method are present, 2) Pull the queen to make an artificial swarm, 3) continued on page 11 during a Conference break.

Missouri State Beekeepers Association Spring 2017 Learning Session A Day with Dr. Jay Evans the Research Leader of the Bee Research Laboratory (BRL) in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD

Saturday, March 4, 2017 8:00 am Check-in 9:00 am to 4:00 pm Discussions and hands-on demonstrations Stoney Creek Hotel & Conference Center 2601 S Providence Rd, Columbia, MO 65203 573-442-6400 http://www.stoneycreekhotels.com/hotel/travel/columbia/home.do Dr. Evans was an early proponent of the Honey Bee Genome Project and helped recruit and lead scientists interested in applied genomics for bees. He has received the James Hambleton Bee Research Award from the Eastern Apicultural Society (2011), the BA Early Career Scientist Award (2002), and is on the Council of Fellows for the International Bee Research Association. Dr. Evans holds an AB in Biology from Princeton University and a PhD in Biology from the University of Utah. He has served as Acting Research Leader for the BRL since October, 2014. Dr. Evans joined ARS as a Research Entomologist in 1998. During the ensuing years, his research focused on threats to honey bee health, from bacteria to mites, and on the ways bees and beekeepers can reduce these threats. He published 120 research papers from his work.

Registration is now open until February 15th and seating is limited. There will be no walk-in registrations for this event. Cost for this event is $65.00 for members and $ 75.00 for non-members and does include lunch. Visit www.MoStateBeekeepers.org for more information.

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Fall Conference wrap-up continued from page 9 Notch along proper aged and fed larvae (36 hours) in original colony but now queenless, 4) Wait 5 days - queen cells are moved to multiple queenless starts, 5) Original colony becomes production colony, producing 100 lbs of honey if no brood. Mel communicated a very interesting thought - even when miticides are used and mites fall off the bees, the bees are still left with wounds where mites once were lodged and possibly exposed bees to viral contamination. Mr. Disselkoen claims that the bees get more benefit by broodless cycles preventing mite reproduction. A detailed instruction book is now available for purchase. Another benefit of of the conference was shopping at the multiple vendor tables Wes Johnston and getting “hands on” supplies. I literally filled up a dolly full of equipment to take home, paint, and fill with bees! As Co-Founder of Heartland Beekeeping Partnership, I updated attendees that HBeeP started the ball rolling investigating the possibility to draft legislation to incorporate beekeeping, honey bees, and beekeeping supplies in Missouri Tax Codes to qualify for sales tax exemption under Missouri’s “farm exemption”. I invited beekeepers to contact me with their stories of tax issues and of colony theft/vandalism.

Other Conference speakers Wes Johnston lectured on the biology and control of the Small Hive Beetle. The beetles, he said, are attracted to honey and pollen. They can live for 14 days without food or water, and up to six months on honey. They trick bees into feeding them by rubbing their antennae against the workers’ mandibles. The best defense is a strong colony, but occasionally even that is not enough. Severe infestation results in “slimeout”, as beetles tunnel through cappings, causing fermented honey to run out; the colony will eventually abscond. Beetles survive the winter in the hive, though they reproduce only during warmer months. Infestations can be lessened by placing hives in full sun. Adults do not like light, and dry ground slows reproduction, as the larvae need to burrow into the ground to pupate. Some control methods include Swiffer or dryer sheets placed in the hive (beetles get tangled and die), traps lined with pickling lime (not pickling salt) as a dessicant, and free range chickens which eat larve out front. Wanda Johnson detailed the use of Oxalic Acid Sublimation for varroa treatment. Sublimation is the conversion of a solid to gas via a vaporizer. It is very important, she said, to wear protection to avoid breathing the fumes. Oxalic acid is naturally occuring in plants and leaves no residue in wax. Treatment must be done during broodless periods, and at temperatures above 40 degrees. Wanda sets up the hive the night before, and treats early in the morning before bees head out to forage. She closes the hive, treats for three minutes, waits another 10 minutes and then reopens the entrance.

Erin Mullins named Beekeeper of the Year

2017

Missouri

As Vice President Clayton Lee introduced the Association’s most prestigious award, he described the recipient as “an individual that provides nonstop support and is always promoting beekeeping in Missouri”. Indeed, Erin Mullins has been tireless in her efforts over the past several years. She spent a year as Honey Princess, then another year as Honey Queen. But after stepping down a year ago from the latter position, she did not step down from the MSBA. She remains a fixture at the State Fair, and at our Conferences serving as Contest Coordinator among other things - in addition to her numerous activities at Northwest Missouri Bee Busters. Always upbeat, always energetic, she is always a pleasure to have around. Congratulations, Erin!

Conference coverage continued on page 13 Clayton Lee and Erin Mullins

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri 1 Beekeepers Association of the Ozarks

4th Tuesday of each month, 6-9 p.m. Seminole Baptist Church, 4221 S. National Ave. Springfield MO 65810 Jeffrey Maddox, President maddox65804@yahoo.com www.ozarksbeekeepers.org

2 Boone Regional Beekeepers Association

3rd Sunday of month, 3:00 p.m., Columbia Insurance Group, 2102 Whitegate Dr. (back door), Columbia President Jim Duever, 573-254-3373 www.boonebees.org

3 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

4 Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association

2nd Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m., location changes. Bob Sears, President 314-479-9517 www.easternmobeekeepers.com

5 Golden Valley Beekeepers

2nd Monday of each month, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Golden Corral, Clinton MO. Tom McCormick, President tomm@goldenvalleybeekeepers.com www.goldenvalleybeekeepers.com

6 Jackson Area Beekeepers

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

7 Jefferson County Beekeepers Association

2nd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Hwy B & 21 Jefferson County Extension Center, Hillsboro Contact Marvin Hook 636-274-1759

8 Joplin Area Beekeepers Association

Last Tue. of each month, 7 pm, SM Bank Community Building (7th and Duquesne Rd), Joplin Contact Dale Foley 417-850-0285

9 Mid Missouri Beekeepers

3rd Sunday, 2 pm, Old Train Depot, St. James. Contact Don Moore, dlmoore2@centurytel.net 573-265-8706

10 Midwestern Beekeepers Association

Most meetings: Fellowship Hall at Graceway, 5460 Blue Ridge Cutoff, Kansas City, MO 64133 Visit midwesternbeekeepers.org for meeting calendar President Bob Williams, the beltonbee@gmail.com

11 Mississippi Valley Beekeepers Association

Last Tuesday of Month in Quincy, IL Contact Bernie Andrew 217-938-4975

12 Missouri Valley Beekeepers Association

3rd Monday, 7pm, Union, location varies President Calvin Brandt cvbrandt@landolakes.com

13 Parkland Beekeepers

3rd Tuesday of month, 7pm, North College Center, Mineral Area College, Park Hills. Pres. Ray Politte PBA_President@mineralarea.edu 573-631-8236 http://www.parklandbeekeepersassociation.org/

14 Pomme de Terre Beekeepers

2nd Thursday 7 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Hermitage Contact Rebekah Huddleston Rebekah_421@yahoo.com

15 SEMO Honey Producers

2nd Thursday 6:30pm, Zion Lutheran Church, 450 N. Main St., Poplar Bluff. Contact Ray Batton, 573-785-1980, 573-778-6475 cell or sbatton6@gmail.com

16 South Central Missouri Beekeepers Association 1st Friday of month, Howell Electric Coop, West Plains Monty Wiens, President 417 257-3994

17 Southern MO Beekeepers of Monett â&#x20AC;&#x153;MOBeesâ&#x20AC;?) 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. United Methodist Church, Hwy 37 NW of Monett John Schmidt, President 417-830-9141

18 Southwest Missouri Beekeepers Assn. of Neosho

1st Tuesday of month, Neosho High School FFA Bldg Contact Thelma Ross 417-472-3504 rtross@jscomm.net

19 Three Rivers Beekeepers

3rd Monday, 7pm, University of Missouri Extension, 260 Brown Rd, St. Peters, info@threeriversbeekepers.com President Dwain Jansen 314-910-1251

20 Northwest Missouri Bee Busters 2nd Monday of month, location varies nwmobeebusters.blogspot.com beebusters2012@gmail.com

21 Lake of the Ozarks Beekeepers

3rd Saturday of month, 1:00 p.m. Square Deals Ice Cream Shop,Versailles Contact Garrett Blackwell 573-374-7402

22 Northeast Missouri Beekeepers Association

1st Friday of month, 7 pm, Clark County Courthouse, Lower level, Kahoka (location may vary) (3 miles south of Wayland) Contact Randy Ewart 573-248-5561 rewart@centurytel.net

23 Gasconade Region Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 7:00, First State Comm. Bank, Owensville Pres. Rodney Angell (573) 259-5811 bee143@fidnet.com gasconaderegionbeekeepers@hotmail.com

24 St. Louis Beekeepers

4th Tuesday 6:30, Schlafly Bottleworks contact@saintlouisbeekeepers.com www.saintlouisbeekeepers.com

25 Western Missouri Beekeepers

2nd Tuesday 6:30, Moor-View Community Room, Nevada Caroline Phillips, President 417-321-3587 bcphillips81@gmail.com

26 Meramec Valley Beekeepers First Sunday 2 pm, Peace Lutheran Church in Sullivan Contact Sam Elia 573-732-5597 samnora1@gmail.com, or Laurie Rose at laurierose1219@yahoo.com

27 Quad County Beekeepers

1st Tuesday, 7:00 pm, Missouri Extension Office, Troy quadcountybeekeepers.com President Eric Reid

28 North Central MO Beekeepers Association 1st Monday, Macon High School, Macon, 7:00 pm Contact Bill George (660) 214-0132 georges@chbeekeeping.com www.ncmobees.org

29 Bees Alive (Springfield area) www.beesaliveclub.org 1st Thursday, 7-9pm, Central Bank of the Ozarks, 502 W. Mt. Vernon St., Nixa MO 65714 Dan Barton, dannyohboy@hotmail.com

30 Wright County Beekeepers

2nd Thursday, Laclede Electric building, Hartville, 7 pm Rick Bledsoe, Contact 417-741-7466 wrightcountybeekeepers@gmail.com

(continued next page)

Local Beekeeping Associations in Missouri (continued from previous page)

31 Rolla Bee Club

4th Sunday 2pm, Brownwood Estates Clubhouse, 1341 California, Rolla Contact David Draker (573) 578-0561 rollabees@gmail.com www.rollabeeclub.com

32 Swarm Chasers

% MO Dept. of Conservation, 701 McCarthy Dr., St. Joseph Contact Jason Seetin swarmchasers@gmail.com

33 Northland Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday at 7pm, Smithville Library-Highway 169 Contact: Clayton Lee at leeland55@gmail.com or 573-864-5172

34 Mark Twain Beekeepers (Dent County) 3rd Monday, 6-8 p.m. No dues. Contact for meeting locations. Contacts: Terry Phelps 573-729-3333 Gregg Tivnan (573) 689-2254 or greggtivnan@yahoo.com

35 West Central Beekeeping Association

Second Wednesday, 6:30 pm State Fair Community College, Potter-Ewing Ag Ctr, Sedalia Contact Mike Conroy (573) 301-1394 hunnyhillfarms@gmail.com

36 West Plains Bee Group 3rd Thursday, 6pm Hirsch Feed & Farm Supply, 789 Worley Dr., West Plains Call Carl Fry 417-247-0708 or Dan Cropper 417-372-2602

37 Greenhills Bee Club 4th Monday, 7pm, American Legion Hall in Braymer J.R. Hess. 660-233-9577 or jrhess11@gmail.com

38 Dexter Bee Club 1st Tuesday, 6pm, Scott Laden’s house 9265 County Road 627, Dexter Contact Cory Stevens at corystevens00@yahoo.com or 573-225-6935

39 Iberia Area Beekeepers 3rd Tuesday, 6:30pm. Iberia Library Contact: Ray Shadow, 573-286-5289 or trynbeez@outlook.com www.facebook.com/trynbeez/

See our interactive club map on the website at: http://batchgeo.com/ map/e64a9d35b439c5309794fbea8516f333

Portageville beekeeper receives Youth Beekeeper Award by Gregg Hitchings Congratulations to Alejandro Reed, who at fourteen years of age was the recipient of the first Missouri Youth Beekeeper Award presented at MSBA’s fall conference at Lake of the Ozarks. Although Alejandro had been introduced to honey bees at the age of eight, his interest in the insects and the many aspects of keeping them didn’t really blossom until the ripe old age of ten. Fortunately, Alejandro was blessed to have a very capable and willing beekeeper for a mentor. Dr. Ray Nabors has been front and center in encouraging Alejandro along the way. Besides learning and gaining experience in working the bees Alejandro has been active in outreach, taking advantage of opportunities in his community to share information about the beekeeping craft and value of honey bees. Since obtaining his first two hives, Alejandro’s apiary has grown to nine colonies. Also growing was the interest of Alejandro’s father, Dennis, who too has been learning of bee husbandry alongside Alejandro. Together they have extracted surplus honey crops which Alejandro has marketed in the area. Alejandro, Dennis and mentor Ray Nabors were able to be present at the MSBA awards banquet where Alejandro was surprised with the recognition.

Other Conference awards Several other members were honored at the Friday banquet: Alejandro Reed and Dr Dr. Ray Nabors Past President John Timmons was honored for his years of service, which included modernizing and maintaining the website and membership systems. Tim Hyde received the Volunteer of the Year award for his work as Conference Vendor Liaison. Outgoing President Valerie Duever was given a Sweet Leadership award. Outgoing Treasurer and past Secretary Steve Moeller was honored as MSBA Officer Extraordinaire. Dean Sanders was recognized for his ongoing contributions as State Fair Chairman. Ken Heitkamp was lauded for being named Individual Grand Champion among exhibitors at the Missouri State Fair in August.

Page 14

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WEAVER’S FAMOUS PACKAGE BEES and QUEENS

Buckfast & All-American BEEKEEPING SUPPLIES AND BEGINNER’S KITS THE R WEAVER APIARIES, INC. 16495 C.R. 319, NAVASOTA, TX 77868

Phone (936) 825-2333

EMAIL: rweaver@rweaver.com WEBSITE: www.rweaver.com

December 2016 Elsewhere around the state ... continued from page 4 Proposed Beekeeping Ordinance for Southeast Missouri Community Temporarily Put on Hold

MSBA Southeast Regional Director Gregg Hitchings recently learned that a vote was scheduled by the Desloge Board of Aldermen which could dramatically affect a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to maintain a hive of bees within the city limits. Attending the meeting with Gregg were Ray Politte, President of Parkland Beekeepers, and other members of the local association. They learned that the proposed ordinance which was to be voted on that evening came about not because of any issues, incidents or complaints brought to the city about honey bees, but rather as a result of a city official noting a colony of bees in an area zoned residential. The keeping of bees was only mentioned in Deloge city ordinances regarding agricultural zoned areas. City officials were seeking a way to permit keeping bees within residential areas of their incorporated city but felt certain restrictions were in order for public safety. Included in the proposed ordinance was the requirement of a permit system and set-back distances from adjoining properties and buildings. A potential beekeeper would also be required to document that permission was obtained from the property owners of all adjoining properties prior to applying for a beekeeping permit. The Desloge Board of Aldermen was very open to comments from the public when they took up the matter. No one present in the small group that gathered appeared to support or desire the proposed ordinance. The board graciously accepted a suggestion that the vote on the ordinance be temporarily tabled until the Missouri State Beekeepers Association could review the information and provide input to the Board early next year.

Page 15

Directory of Officers President: Clayton Lee 573-864-5172 90 E. Pope Lane, Smithville, MO 64089 president@mostatebeekeepers.org Vice President: Bill Allinder

816-532-0046 (H) 816-550-5800 (C) vicepresident@mostatebeekeepers.org

Secretary: Charlotte Wiggins 573-426-3510 secretary@mostatebeekeepers.org 1001 Bluebird Ln, Rolla, MO 65401 Treasurer: Wes Johnston 816-392-4960 401 NW Heady Avenue, Ferrelview, MO 64163 treasurer@mostatebeekeepers.org Membership Chair: Wanda Johnston 816-392-4960 401 NW Heady Avenue, Ferrelview, MO 64163 membership@mostatebeekeepers.org Northwestern Director: Roger Nichols cell 816-456-6983 northwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Northeastern Director: Bob Brammer 660-415-6480 31649 Lake St., Macon MO 63552 northeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org West Central Director: Open westcentraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org East Central Director: Dan Lake 636-724-5937 48 Sterling Pointe Dr., St. Charles MO 63301 eastcentraldir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southwestern Director: Bruce Snavely 417-732-5219 508 Casady, Republic, MO 65738 southwestdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Southeastern Director: Gregg Hitchings southeastdir@mostatebeekeepers.org Program Chairperson: Jim Duever 2362 County Road 185, Auxvasse MO 65231 program@mostatebeekeepers.org Vendor Liaison: Tim Hyde tim.hyde@yahoo.com Newsletter Editor: Open editor@mostatebeekeepers.org Webmaster: Open State Fair Chairman: Dean Sanders 816-456-4683 cell 37804 Old Pink Hill Road, Oak Grove MO 64075 Queen/Ambassador Chair: Jason Seetin 386-214-8131 112 N 8th St., Atchison, KS 66002 jason.seetin@gmail.com

MSBA Southeastern Director Gregg Hitchings testifies before the Desloge Board of Aldermen. photo courtesy of Daily Journal

Missouri State Beekeepers Association 401 NW Heady Avenue, Ferrelview, MO 64163 www.mostatebeekeepers.org

The Lodge’s poolside bar was not as crowded as it might have been in August, but it was open and attracted a couple of guests on this cool October evening. photo by Eugene Makovec

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