August 2016
Nelson County Beekeepers nelsconcountybeekeepers@gmail.com
What’s The Buzz
Volume 2, Issue 8
Meeting Dr Larry Connor Q & A Webinar August 18th @ 6:30 p. m. Have your question ready on a 3 X 5 card. They will be collected at the door. You can also pre-send your question to our email address “nelsoncountybeekeepers@gmail.com”.
Officers President-Doug Brink
POT LUCK – Bring what you would like to share – Mains – Sides - Desserts.
Vice President-David Donathan Secretary-Pat Swartz Treasurer & Editor-Susan Zhunga Hospitality-Debbie Ritchie
SALE TABLE We will keep the “For Sale” table open each month for after the meetings. If you have something for sale Beekeeping related, clean it, bring it, price it, barter and/or sell at the end of the evening.
Newsletter Publisher– Georganne Collins Inside this issue:
Robbie Smith County Extension Agent for Horticulture
Honey Bottling Labels
2
Meeting Minutes
3
August Beekeeping Calendar
4
USDA bans honeybee-saving environmentalists from yearly Pollinator Festival; invites chemical industry instead
6
Oxalic acid Treatment For Varroa Mite Control
6
ELECTIONS FOR 2017
7
Page 2 Honey Bottling Labels If you intend to sell your honey you must use proper labeling. What the label must include: The identity of the product: HONEY Net quantity: For honey this is customarily stated in weight ‒ ounces and grams ‒ not volume. A one-pound jar label should read Net Wt. 1 lb. (454 g). A two-pound jar should read Net Wt. 2 lb. (908 g). ‒ A one-pint jar should read Net Wt. 22 ounces (624 g) or Net Wt. 1.37 lb. (624 g). A one-quart jar should read Net Wt. 44 ounces (1.2 kg) or Net Wt. 2.75 lb. (1.2 kg). Name of manufacturer: This is your name or your company’s name, also required with your name is your complete address, including street address, city, state, and ZIP, and possibly your phone number.
Metric To Grams Conversion Chart 1oz ......................28g
2016 Retail Honey Prices (Kentucky State Fair) Extracted Honey
8oz ................... 226g
8 ounce jar ........ $ 7.00
12oz ................. 340g
1 lb. jar ............ $ 10.00
16oz ................. 453g
Pint jar ............. $ 13.00
22oz ................. 623g
1.5 lb. jar ......... $ 13.00
24oz ................. 680g
2 lb. jar ............ $ 18.00
32oz ................. 907g
2.5 lb. jar ......... $ 20.00
40oz .............. 1.13kg
Quart jar .......... $ 24.00
48oz .............. 1.36kg
5 lb. jar ............ $ 33.00
64oz .................1.8kg
8 oz. bear .......... $ 7.00
80oz .................2.3kg
12 oz. bear ........ $ 9.00 2 oz. bear .......... $ 3.50 16 oz. .............. $ 17.00 Comb Honey 1 lb. jar ............ $ 12.00 2 lb.jar .............. $20.00 Pint jar .............. $16.00 2.5 lb. jar .......... $22.00 Quart jar ........... $24.00 1 lb. box............ $11.00 Creamed Honey 8 oz. jar .............. $9.00 1 lb. jar ............. $12.00 Pollen Honey 8 oz. .................. $10.00
Page 3
Nelson County Beekeepers Minutes Nelson County Bee Club July 21, 2016
A Big “Thank you” to Pat Swartz for hosting our July meeting. Great food and good conversation. A good group of people came together and added to the feast that Pat had prepared for us.
Financial Statment As Of 6/30/16 Start
$2799.21
Expense
706.85
Income
631.00
Balance
$2723.36
Treasurer Report Susan Zhunga
INSIDER INFO
FOR SALE The Club has NCB T-Shirts $11.00 Hooded Sweatshirts $23.00 Janet Brown is selling NCB Hats and Visors for $10.00. The club gets $2.00 from each sale. Larry Marks is selling the Marks' Frames for $12.00 for a set of three frames. Comes with instructions. Gene Englert is selling Hive Beetle Vacuum's made to order see Gene for pricing. Susan Zhunga is selling Done Frames – New and Used. $3.00 new $2.00 used
Page 4 August Beekeeping Calendar What’s Happening Inside The Hive? This month is much like July. The bees are still rearing brood, but storing little honey. And they still need water. Late summer is the time for bees to try to rob honey from other hives. This is because of the dearth of nectar. If you have more than one hive, don’t open a hive for more than a few minutes. Unguarded honey leads to a “robbing frenzy”. Even if you then close the hive, the robbing bees remain in the same frame of mind. Stronger hives will do their best to fight their way into the weaker hives. Watch for fighting bees at the entrances of the hives. August is a serious month for varroa mites. The mites have been reproducing rapidly in the brood cells since spring. Their numbers can build up without any apparent signs of trouble and then suddenly destroy a hive within a few weeks. Beekeeper Chores: If you haven’t looked for varroa this summer, do so now (as described for July). August is the month to begin thinking about winter.
A weak hive should be dequeened and united with a stronger hive. Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are small, reddish-brown tick like pests which feed on the hemolymph (“blood”) of the honey bees. It will create cuts on your bees that can gain infection as well as transmit viruses. The reproduction of the mite is directly tied to bee reproduction. Treatment Method results are noted in this publication. Observations and Ideas: Kentucky beekeepers work together at the honey booth at the state fair each August in Louisville. The fair is a good opportunity to sell your honey and to meet with other beekeepers. This activity is planned by the Kentucky State Beekeeping Association. By this time of year, you and your beekeeping friends nearby know whether you have had a good year. Compare notes on honey production, queens, mite problems and other concerns. Note the sources of the best queens purchased by other
beekeepers. Word of mouth is often the best way to find good queen and package bee producers. regular contributor to Bee Culture and the American Bee Journal magazines. Non- Club members please RSVP the Extension Office (502348-9204) Robbie Smith, so we have an idea of food preparation for our pot-luck dinner.
UP COMING EVENTS Looking forward to our September Meeting, our guest speaker will be Kevin Hale. He will be talking about OverWintering Hives and feeding.
We will be working the State Fair Tuesday the 23rd. In the Evening from 3 pm to 9 pm. Further
Page 5 announcements at the meeting.
USDA bans honeybee-saving environmentalists from yearly Pollinator Festival; invites chemical industry instead
At the State Fair - Bud Spath has agreed to be the assistant superintendent of the Bees and Honey exhibit. The Bees and Honey judge is Ginni Mitchell, who studied under Dr. Marion Ellis at the University of Nebraska. She judges honey shows in Kansas, Illinois, and Iowa; this is her first time to judge in Kentucky. For the Honey Culinary Showcase, Jill True and her team will be judging. American Honey Princess Tabitha Mansker will arrive Aug. 18 and depart Aug. 24.
Advocates of independent science, who call for study and restriction of neonicotinoid insecticides, were dis-invited from the USDA's important event. In their place this year was the Pollinator Partnership, which represents the chemical industry. Syngenta, Bayer, CropLife and BASF have all sponsored the Pollinator Partnership. This means that the very ones destroying pollinators will be the ones influencing the government and offering "solutions" to the problems they themselves are creating.
KSBA members who want to sell honey should plan to bring it Sunday, Aug. 14. After that, members may bring honey to sell at the State Fair, but it will not be accepted after 6 pm.
For several years, the USDA included Beyond Pesticides, which is an important group representing consumers, farmers and the environment. This year the USDA dis-invited them. This is a group that The KSBA honey booth highlights the science showing managers will be Ray Tucker how neonicotinoids destroy (KSBA president) the first pollinators. Beyond Pesticides week and Rick Sutton (KSBA has called for a ban on president-elect) the second imidacloprid, clothianidin and week, with Jacob Osborne thiamethoxam, three of the (KSBA vice president) and most destructive former honey booth neonicotinoids. manager Tana Peers (KSBA sergeant-at-arms) pitching in These are the pesticides used as needed. to coat the vast fields of corn and soybean seeds. The
pesticides don't just wash off. They become a part of the plant, remaining in its tissues, pollen and nectar. Despite advocates and beekeepers delivering over 4 million signatures to the EPA, calling for a ban on these pesticides, the government refuses to listen. It's apparent: government "protection" agencies are just front groups working to promote the large chemical industries. Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides said: "We are disappointed that USDA has decided to rescind the offer to participate in the Pollinator Week Festival." He added: "The foundation for a constructive dialogue between federal agencies and the public regarding the decline of our critical pollinator populations rests upon the free exchange of information and viewpoints." Info from: http://www.naturalnews.c om/054623_Pollinator_W eek_Festival_USDA_Beyon d_Pesticides.html
Page 6 Oxalic acid Treatment For Varroa Mite Control Dribbling and sublimation (Gas) were fairly comparable, with some notable differences. At the 2.25 g dose (medium strength dribble, or typical sublimation dose), the efficacy at mite kill (in colonies completely lacking brood) was exactly the same. However, sublimation appeared to be somewhat more “gentle� to the colony, as evidenced by less bee mortality, and more brood in spring. Indeed, colonies appeared to tolerate a 4.5 g dose by sublimation remarkably well. Of particular note is that following January treatment, in early May sublimated colonies tended to have more brood (4.9 frames, compared to 3.9) than dribbled colonies. This suggests that sublimation has less of a lasting negative effect upon the colony than does dribbling (likely of greater impact in cold-winter areas with an extended period of dormancy). Unfortunately, they did not compare a higher-dose dribble to the high dose vaporization. Nor did they
take nosema samples, in order to determine the comparative effect upon nosema by treatment method. Two other practical aspects are operator safety and the amount of time involved in application. The researchers wore vaporizers, but found that if they loaded the hot vaporizer with OA immediately before shoving it into the hive entrance, and then sealed the entrance with foam, that they were exposed to little escaping vapor. Unfortunately, this entails dropping oxalic crystals onto the hot vaporizer at each hive (a safety consideration). As far as the amount of time involved in application, it took them 3 minutes per hive for sublimation, 2.5 minutes for dribbling. I do not know why it took so long for them to dribble since it takes me only 10 seconds to dribble a 10-frame colony (I apply at the calibrated rate of 1 second per seam of bees). My take on their excellent studies is that dribbling or sublimation are both practical methods, each with
advantages and disadvantages: *Dribble is safer to the applicator (and quicker), but a bit harder on the bees. It may be the preferred method in climates with late fall and a short winter, due to its safety to the operator, quickness, and the colonies being able to rapidly recover. *Sublimation (Gas) may be the preferred method where winters are colder and longer, and the cluster is broodless for a longer period. I have no experience with sublimation myself, following my initial test of the effect of inhaling a little oxalic vapor (resulting in gut-wrenching coughing). There are a number of simple vaporizers on the market (several available at http://oxavap.com/). However, when testing in Canada during cold weather, Dr. Medhat Nasr found that such vaporizers may overheat and degrade the oxalic acid (resulting in reduction of efficacy) or not adequately penetrate
Page 7 ELECTIONS FOR 2017 the winter cluster. He found through experimentation that the addition of a blower would help the vapors to penetrate the cluster. At this point, I make no recommendation for any particular vaporizer. Info from http:// scientificbeekeeping.com/ oxalic-acid-powerpointpresentation/
DON’T FORGET TO JOIN US ON FACE BOOK!!
Openings for the upcoming year’s elections are as follows;
treasurers accounting and the Extension Office are in balance.
President – To run meetings. Insure programs are on track. Assist committees assigned to programs, fundraisers, and education.
Education – To assist in setting programs for each month. To promote education either through classes or other outreach programs.
Vice President – To run meetings when the President is absent. To assist President with committees assigned to programs, fundraisers, and education.
Hospitality Chair – To assign food programs. Food set up, and clean up. To assure that supplies (paper plates etc.) are available, if not in stock, replenish supplies as needed. Assign people to help and/or take over if you are absent.
Secretary – To take notes of both the Steering Meeting and the Members meeting. To record in your notes the attendance and the names of any new members. To insure that the notes are forwarded to the editor of the newsletter. Treasurer – To received dues and monies from fundraisers. Keep an accurate account of all monies received. Bring all monies to the Extension Office for depositing. Assure that the
Volunteers/nominees for these positions will be taken at any time before the November election/ nominations. Please give your Name, Position Chosen, to our current President Doug Brink.
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Bardstown KY 40004
317 S Third St
Nelson County
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