American Bee Journal

Volume 156 No. 4

Editor-Joe M. Graham Advertising Manager-Marta Menn Email

[email protected] Web

www.americanbeejournal.com

Stephen Repasky, author of Swarm Essentials, took this nice photo of a swarm. The photo appears in Larry Connor’s article this month entitled “Apiary Management with Integrity— Part II”. Mr. Repasky’s book on swarming may be ordered from www.wicwas.com.

Publishing Department- Dianne Behnke & Susan Nichols

The American Bee Journal ISSN 0002-7626

THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL (ISSN 002-7626) is published monthly at American Bee Journal, 51 S. 2nd Street, Hamilton, IL 62341. Periodicals Postage 3DLGDW+DPLOWRQ,/DQGDWDGGLWLRQDOPDLOLQJRI¿FHV POSTMASTER: Send address changes to American Bee Journal, 51 S. 2nd Street, Hamilton, IL 62341. In the United States, $28.00 a year; two years, $53.00 and three years, $75.00. Canada $45.00 a year; two years $88.00. Foreign $52.00 a year; two years $99.00. Subscriptions stop at expiration date printed on label.

$YDLODEOHLQPLFUR¿OPIRUPDWPRGHUDWHSULFHVE\ZULW-ing to National Archive Publish$YDLODEOHLQPLFUR¿OPIRUPDWPRGHUDWHSULFHVE\ZULW-ing Co., 300 N. Zeeb Road, P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106. 1-800-420-6272. ©Copyright Dadant & Sons, Inc., 2015. All rights reserved, printed in USA. The Publish-ers cannot guarantee advertisements in this magazine, but we ask that any advertising complaints be made known to us, so we can further check the company’s reliability. Opinions expressed in articles are not neces-sarily those of the publisher. American Bee Journal, 51 S. 2nd St., Hamilton, IL 62341. (217) 847-3324. Fax (217) 847-3660.

April 2016

Columns

Ron Phipps . . . 391

භ A Review of the New Edition of The Hive and the Honey Bee

Peter Loring Borst . . . 397

භ Making a Bee Trailer

Craig Cella . . . 415

භ Understanding Colony Buildup and Decline—Part 11— Varroa and the Late Season Collapse

Randy Oliver . . . 419

භ Colony Collapse Disorder Eight Years Later—Part II

Kirsten Traynor . . . 425

භ Bringing Up Bees from Packages and Nucs

Peter Loring Borst . . . 431

භ Avocados and Bees

Dewey M. Caron . . . 439

භ Biloxi’s Ken Parker Attributes His Beekeeping Start to BP’s Gulf Oil Spill

Cecil Hicks. . . 443

භ How to Become a Beekeeper (The Not-so-Straightforward Way): Part I

William Blomstedt. . . 447

භ The Adventures of Pollination Habitat

Terry Lieberman-Smith and Michele Colopy . . . 453

භ Bees Helping Boys

Steve “Mac” McNair . . . 457

භ Winning the Urban Customer

Howard Scott. . . 465

භ It’s on the Tip of My Tongue

William J. Powers . . . 467

C

C

ontents

ontents

Honey Bee Biology Explained — 405

Making a Bee Trailer— 415

A

rticles

D

epartments

April Cover Picture

International Honey Market

Update — 391

The Classroom

Jerry Hayes . . . 399

Field Guide to Beekeeping

Jamie Ellis. . . 405

For the Love of Bees and Beekeeping

Keith Delaplane. . . 437

Honey Bee Biology

Wyatt A. Mangum . . . 459

Beekeeping Topics - My Homemade Feeder Board

Ray Nabors. . . .463

Apiary Management with Integrity - Part II

Larry Connor . . . .471

The Other Side of Beekeeping

373

etters to the Editor

L

times by aggressive Russian bees. I was proud to help a guy with a violent drinking problem to recover from this dependency and to lean on the bees—to focus his life on bees. This man started as an assistant, and not once did he let me down during WKHKHFWLFWLPHRIWKHPDLQÀRZ+RZHYHU he then became addicted to beekeeping. He even gave up his drinking habits, and after 5 years, started his own beekeeping operation.

This year, I worked with a new guy who had moved to my town recently. His name is Victor. But, despite his name, he has not been victorious all his life. He is 58 years old now. He was lucky enough to enter a naval academy in the 1970’s with a brilliant future ahead of him. However, everything had changed in one night. He accidentally NLOOHG VRPHRQH LQ D EDU ¿JKW $V LQ PRVW cases, booze was the main culprit in the accident. He was sentenced, and served many years in a Soviet prison camp. He served his entire term, was released and by now has acquired a good reputation as a driver and construction worker--no alcohol or tobacco dependencies--a very decent and dependable man. He created respect in my eyes because he hadn’t broken down in prison, and even more so because he succeeded in adjusting to his new life after it. It was not the money that attracted him to help me, although at the time, he was between jobs. I run a small apiary and

cannot afford to pay much. We immediately became friends when we met. He was similar to me in one way--he just hated to be idle. At ¿UVWKHKHOSHGPH¿[XSP\ZLQWHULQJFHOODU and then he started to help me with my bees. I felt that his second reason for continuing to work with me was that in some mysterious way he was spellbound with the bees and beekeeping. During our long drives to my outyards in my small truck, he explained the reason for this to me.

He shared with me many unforgettable memories, dating back to the time when he was an inmate in prison. It would take Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky to do it justice; it would make a great novel. When he was in the so-called labor camp, or “zone,” he was, as were the rest of the inmates, employed with construction work, felling trees, or farming. During his fourth year in prison, a new inmate was sent to their labor camp. He had been sentenced to 15 years for murder. This man turned out to be a great asset to the labor camp! He happened to be an experienced beekeeper from somewhere in Siberia, and was about 40 years old.

The prison was functioning as a kind of state-owned enterprise, or self-sustainable social entity, lost in the vast territories of WKH WDLJD FRYHUHG ZLWK SLQH DQG ¿U WUHHV Different shops produced timber, bricks, and pieces of furniture. There was even a farm to cater to this small state. Every inmate was assigned to a special shop. My friend spent most of this time working with a building team. The head of this prison was a colonel, the “master” as he was nicknamed, but not

to his face. He was kind of like a tsar for this

place. The population had developed a stable social hierarchy, a pecking order, you might VD\7KHRUGHUZDVEDVHGRQVHYHUHRI¿FLDO UXOHV DQG RQ HYHQ PRUH VHYHUH XQRI¿FLDO rules developed by the inmates during the decades. Some survived under it, and some on the other hand, broke down.

The new inmate, a beekeeper, asked for an audience with the “master,” and in a year or two, life at the prison started to change. My friend, Victor, was sent to build a wintering cellar for an apiary that was set up by this correctional institution. As Victor recalls, it was built with all the materials at hand; stones, birch-tree bark, logs, moss for the insulation, and a very sophisticated system of vent pipes. The vegetation of the area supplied sources of nectar that were short-lived, but very intense, if the weather was favorable. I’ve been to a place nearby this location, and was greatly impressed with its nectar potential. Even willow trees can produce surplus honey. Due to the hills, the blooming period of every species is

PEOPLE ARE AS INTERESTING AS BEES

A BEEKEEPING STORYFROM RUSSIA

The 2015 season was awful for the beekeepers in the vast territory of the Ural Mountains, including Baskiria, and the Perm region, which are famous for their honey and vast yields. This Perm region will be the scene of a story that comes later. Most of the beekeepers received nothing from their bees. We had a rainy summer, and day temperatures averaged around 20 degrees Celsius in my town. It was only due to my 35 years of experience, as well as one stubborn farmer, who sticks to planting canola, that I managed to yield half of the ton of canola honey that makes up half of my average harvest. I moved more than half RIP\RSHUDWLRQWRWKHVHFDQROD¿HOGVDQG put the hives in the farmer’s orchard.

In the beginning of August, all hope of a good harvest had died; it seemed as if even the bees were reconciled with their fate, and had started to expel drones. Then, all of the sudden, the weather changed and the skies cleared, despite the forecast. I was away, and unfortunately couldn’t observe the weather change, but according to the farmer, it was a great show! By 10 a.m. on the 9th _of

August, millions of bees climbed up into the air, making kind of a vertical tube or dome over the orchard and rushed to the canola, which was past the peak of its bloom. I was lucky enough to have put on extra supers and extracted the incoming honey within 10 days to prevent its granulation. “I was lucky,” not because I don’t know how to do this job, but because of my changing attitude to the business. And, the terrible summer weather had added to it. My prevailing interests had drifted from farming to other things, like the English speaking clubs, functioning in Ekaterinburg and set up by American missionaries of the Baptist and Mormon churches. Lately, I had found it as interesting and captivating to observe different humans, as to follow the life of bees. So, as soon as my wife “issues a permit” and lets me go, I travel to Ekaterinburg and stay there two or three days. The following story concerns both men and beekeeping.

******************************** Last year, I had a new man help me with my hives. I have had many farmhands ranging from 16 to 60 years of age during my beekeeping career. I had even raised two young fatherless boys, sharing with them all of the hard work, and teaching them not WRLPSXOVLYHO\ÀHHDIWHUEHLQJVWXQJPDQ\

Holding the February 1990 American

Bee Journal with my photo on the

American Bee Journal

374

PXFKORQJHUWKDQRQWKHÀDWDUHD,WVWDUWV from the southern slopes, then goes to the western slopes, and ends up on the northern VLGHV 7KHUH DUH PDQ\ UDVSEHUU\ ¿UHZHHG and basswood trees; though the last is very temperature and humidity sensitive, so does QRWFRQWULEXWHWRWKHPDLQÀRZYHU\RIWHQ

The first years of beekeeping were successful, the apiary was expanded, and six other cellars followed. A large workshop produced all of the necessary woodenware, and some of the excess hives were even sent to be sold through state-owned bee-supply shops (remember: it was the Soviet era). It seemed that the whole life of the prison started to revolve around bees. One team of inmates produced hives year-round, and another team made thousands of frames and wired them. It was impossible for them to order queens from the south, so three teams of young inmates would catch swarms during June and July. Some of these young men even picked up beekeeping as a future profession.

Many buckets of honey were sent to “the mainland” from this island lost in the taiga and every inmate had a bottle of honey on his nightstand, among his scarce belongings. The inmate beekeeper was given a jeep, an army vehicle, to get around to all of the outyards. The “master” would even hold out his hand to greet the man! However, it was not done publicly since it could have ruined the reputation of the inmate in the eyes of the other inmates. It was strictly prohibited by XQRI¿FLDOUXOHVWREHRQIULHQGO\WHUPVZLWK the administration of the camp.

Later, in the middle of his term, this man was suddenly released on parole. This was very unusual for inmates serving long terms. Maybe the numerous buckets of honey that were produced sweetened this decision given from the top? Nobody really knows the reason. My farmhand, Victor, has seen a lot happen in his lifetime. However, the amazing career of this prison beekeeper left an impression on him that he would never forget. Unfortunately, Victor doesn’t know what happened to this gentleman after he was released. This was just a piece of his former life, which came from nowhere and went nowhere.

Yuri Gan Alapaevsk, Russia

email: [email protected]

THE WONDERFUL ARTICLES BY JAMIE ELLIS

The articles that Jamie Ellis has been con- WULEXWLQJKDYH¿OOHGPHZLWKDZHDQGZRQ-der. I would highly recommend them to any reader who has missed them.

Jamie goes into detail on the bee, its home, external and internal anatomy, (I especially liked the hooks between the fore and aft wings that can be used to join them together), the tasks of the worker bee, swarming behavior, mating biology, the bee

sting, ( I noted that there are 50 compounds in bee venom ). I see that here in February he will write about Thermoregulation and the Honey Bee Dance Language. Then in March, bees as superorganisms. I can’t wait.

As a scientist, all these amazing discover-ies, and details must be attributed to evolu-tion. I on the other hand am not a scientist so I can look at these wonders, and see a Creator. There are so many things that are interdependent with bees, they would have all had to happen at the same time for them to survive. If any one thing were missing, (say making wax, how do they do that?) what would they do?

I know that no one can “prove” God, with empirical evidence. The only way we will know for sure is when we die, and meet our Maker, or not. But when I look at the bee, and the details Jamie Ellis shares with us, I have to thank God for His creation.

Thanks for the ABJ, bees are amazing.

Garth Banks

UNCAPPED HONEY

After reading the article “Dealing with Uncapped Honey” in your January edition, I was puzzled that no one mentioned simply extracting the uncapped honey separately. I’m just a backyard beekeeper with a single hive, so perhaps this technique doesn’t scale, but last fall I had many frames that were SDUWLDOO\FDSSHGVR,VSXQWKHP¿UVWZLWK-out uncapping them, and stored the resulting not-quite-honey separately, for use in cook-ing, mead-makcook-ing, and short-term eating.

Then I scratched off the cappings and ex-WUDFWHGWKHIXOO\¿QLVKHGKRQH\LQWKHXVXDO way, knowing that it had the proper moisture level and would keep for a long time.

Anne Bennett, Montreal Canada

THE AMERICAN HONEY BEE GERMPLASM REPOSITORY PROGRAM

At the 2016 American Honey Producers Association and American Beekeeping Fed-eration respective conferences, introductory meetings were held for the initiation of the

American Honey Bee Germplasm Repository Program. Various researchers, bee

geneti-FLVWV TXHHQ SURGXFHUV DQG 86'$ RI¿FLDOV convened to discuss the initiation of the pro-gram and to begin a dialogue on the preser-vation of various subspecies strains of Apis

mellifera found in the United States. The

program, initiated by Dr. Robert G. Danka- Research Entomologist for the USDA Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory of the USDA-ARS Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Dr. Harvey Blackburn of the National Center for Genetic Resources

Pres-ervation in Fort Collins, Colorado brought together stakeholders to discuss the impor-tance and process of establishing a honeybee genetics germplasm program. The program would allow those involved in the American queen breeding, research, and production in-dustries to deposit selected strains for preser-vation and future propagation.

The USDA Germplasm Center utilizes cryopreservation to retain and store ge-netic samples for breeding and distribution. Cryopreservation involves deep-freezing to better preserve genetic samples. In the case of honey bees, drone semen would be col-lected and frozen, depositing a historical ge-netic component “in stasis” with the ability to be reintroduced in present times and in the future. These semen samples can then be thawed and shared for utilization of instru-mental insemination breeding programs in various areas of the country.

These initial meetings focused on the history of the USDA’s National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, as well as the available germplasm programs which include genetic samples of swine, cattle, tur-keys, chickens and other livestock breeds. The inclusion of honey bee germplasms would allow the industry to better preserve healthy mite-resistant stock lines among other sought-after characteristic traits. It will also promote collaborative participation and multidisciplinary projects among research-ers, institutions and producers for lab and ¿HOGDSSOLFDWLRQV

Each collection of species is managed by a directorial committee composed of various stakeholders. The inaugural group of volun-teer board members has not been selected as of this date; but once determined, will then be responsible for establishing and maintain-ing the program and composmaintain-ing protocol and policies for selection of subspecies and their crosses, sampling procedures, storage and distribution. The USDA National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation has commit-ted to fund the American Honeybee Germ-plasm Program.

For additional information, visit: http:// agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/2016/jan/ bees/.

For questions on the USDA National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation, contact [email protected].

For questions and inquiries of interest on the American Honeybee Germplasm Re-pository Program, contact Dr. Bob Danka at

[email protected].

Melanie Kirby Zia Queen Bees Truchas, NM

8TH CARIBBEAN BEEKEEPING CONGRESS

Further to our announcement of, and invi-tation to attend the 8th Caribbean Beekeep-ing Congress from 12-16th September 2016 at the Rovanel’s Resort and Conference

375

Centre, Store Bay, Tobago, as well as the pre congress Queen Rearing Course and the post congress Africanised Bee Tour of Trini-dad, it is my pleasure to inform you of the launch of our joint Association of Caribbean Beekeepers’ Organisations / 8th Caribbean Beekeeping Congress website.

Please visit the site at www.acboonline. com and kindly note, amongst other things our “Call for Papers.”

The congress and related events present a unique opportunity to visit the Caribbean if you reside outside the region, and to visit Tobago if you reside within the Caribbean. In the event that you reside in Trinidad and Tobago, I urge you to support this indige-nous initiative and be our guest and our visi-tors co-hosting at the same time.

A warm Welcome awaits you.

Gladstone Solomon Chairman, Local Organizing Committees

CHILLED BEES

I am in my seventh year of beekeeping and look forward to receiving the American

Bee Journal each month. I learn something

new every time I read the articles. I particu-larly enjoy articles by Jamie Ellis. In the recent issue, February 2015, the article by Jamie Ellis “Colony Level Thermoregula-tion and the Honey Bee Dance Language,” he states on page 148 that, “Bees chilled below 18° C (64° F) cannot generate the DFWLRQSRWHQWLDOQHHGHGWRÀ\%HORZ° C (50° F), bees become immobile and enter a chill coma.”

On March 29 of last year, I was walking past my apiary at 12:45 p.m. when I noticed Hive #2 was very active. Bees were coming and going as if it were a warm summer day. It was 37° F ! To make sure that my digital thermometer was correct, I checked the of-¿FLDO'D\WRQ0DU\ODQGZHDWKHUVLWHZKLFK showed that it was 35° F.

$W¿UVW,WKRXJKWWKDWWKHUHPLJKWEHDSURE-lem in this hive. But, after observing the bees a few minutes, I saw them taking in pollen. It had been a long cold winter here in Dayton, and I guess that the bees decided it was time to forage despite the cold air. It was a calm bright sunny day and not a cloud in the sky.

The Dadant publication “The Hive and the Honey Bee” states that, “The minimum temperature for active foraging is approxi-mately 13° C” (55.4° F). Another case where the bees don’t read the manuals.

I consulted with a master beekeeper who is also a past president of the Maryland State Beekeeper’s Association, and he said a strong hive will forage at these low temperatures. However, if bees get wet or go into the shade, they will not make it back to the hive. I talked to another beekeeper at our Howard County Beekeeper’s Association meeting, and he said his bees were out foraging the same day.

Ross Englehart Maryland

BUTLER OBITUARY CORRECTION

Scientists strive to document their re-search, not only to share information with the world, but to be recognized for their discoveries. However, sometimes mistakes are made. On page 262 of the March issue, in the obituary for Colin Butler, the discov-ery that queen substance (9-oxo-2-decenoic acid) is a sex attractant pheromone was mistakenly credited to Dr. Butler. In fact, I made this discovery and published it in DSUHVWLJLRXVVFLHQWL¿FMRXUQDO*DU\1( 1962. Chemical mating attractants in the queen honey bee. Science 136(3518):773-774). None of Dr. Butler’s research in-volved aerial displays and observations of mating behavior until after he learned about my research success.

,ZDVWKH¿UVWUHVHDUFKHUWRGHYHORSDQ apparatus that permitted direct observations of mating behavior high in the air where À\LQJGURQHVFRXOGEHREVHUYHG7KLVDS-paratus permitted the display of multiple pheromones to determine the relative at-WUDFWLRQRIGURQHV)RUWKH¿UVWWLPHYLUJLQ TXHHQVWHWKHUHGIRUOLPLWHGÀLJKWFRXOGEH observed interacting with drones. It was DWKULOOWREHWKH¿UVWKXPDQEHLQJWRRE-VHUYHPXOWLSOHPDWLQJRIDWHWKHUHGÀ\LQJ queen with 11 drones! Aerial display of queens by this apparatus, as well as helium balloons, provided new tools that enabled the discovery of drone congregation areas, GHWHUPLQLQJWKHÀLJKWUDQJHRIGURQHVDV well as other honey bee mating behavior. Using the aerial apparatus I was able to PDNHWKH¿UVWVFLHQWL¿FGRFXPHQWDU\¿OP of mating behavior, “Mating behavior of WKH KRQH\ EHH´ $HULDO À\LQJ GURQH WUDSV ZHUHGRFXPHQWHGIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQWKLV ¿OP,WZDVVKRZQDWWKH;;,,WK,QWHUQD-tional Congress of Apiculture in 1969 in Munich, Germany.

Norman Gary, Ph.D. Professor of Entomology and

Apiculture (Retired) Dept. of Entomology University of California Davis, CA

HONEY BEE POEM

I am the author of a half-dozen properly published books, which may be seen on Am-azon.com. One of my books is WHIMSY AND WRY, a collection of commentary and rhyming poems.

The attached poem, “WINNOWING” is related to the bee crisis. It was published in one Bee Culture magazine and a British magazine of the same type. It is also in my above-cited book.

When you read it, kindly read it aloud. Its true beauty improves with the vocal rendering.

You may agree, that it has captured the nectar of my pen.

Guy Graybill

WINNOWING

BY GUY GRAYBILL

We don’t need the mice An’ we don’t need rats.

If there are no mice, We don’t need the cats. We don’t need ‘possum An’ we don’t need hogs. We don’t need the ticks

Or the polliwogs. We don’t need roaches An’ we don’t need bears.

We don’t need spiders. An’ we don’t need hares. We don’t need ‘skeeters’ An’ we don’t need gnats. Without them ‘skeeters’, We’ll never need bats. We don’t need the wasps

Or the centipedes; We don’t need the sharks

Or the canine breeds. We don’t need tigers $Q¶ZHGRQ¶WQHHGÀHDV

We need only us... An’ the honey bees!

© Guy Graybill 1423 Church Road Middleburg, PA 17842 [email protected]

THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER FOR BEES

We have all read the bee books and maga-zines that tell us bees collect water and need water in their hives. Some leave the subject at that and many folks don’t really go to the effort to supply their bees a water source. 0DQ\ EHOLHYH WKH EHHV ZLOO ¿QG ZKDWHYHU water they need so they don’t see this as an important subject.

I think if you want to be a successful bee-keeper you need to think about every aspect of beekeeping and take the actions necessary to make the life of your bees as easy as pos-sible and supplying water is very important. Sometimes you will have neighbors complain about your bees invading their swimming pool or gathering around their birdbath. This is a situation that should and can be avoided if you take the time to do your homework and supply your bees with a water source.

It can be anything from a small dish of water or a dripping faucet if you only have

American Bee Journal

376

one or two hives. But what if you have hun-dreds or even thousands of hives, now what? Have you ever heard the expression, “Loca-tion, Loca“Loca-tion, Location is everything?” This applies to your apiary as well. If you have thousands of hives, you might be searching for a river or pond near your planned site for your apiary.

If you are moving bees for pollination, you are mapping out the truck stops with a place to water your bees. Water is always important for honey bees.

Some do not realize how much bees need water in the winter. Sure they cluster and sometimes ice will build up on the cover lid only to melt when it gets warm. Tilting hives is the easiest way to avoid having ice water drip onto the bees. As it melts, it will run to the down side and drip out without causing too much damage to the bees.

In the hot summer time your bees need water to cool the hive. They do this by plac-ing droplets around the nest and fannplac-ing their wings to cause evaporation and cool-ing. This helps them thermoregulate the hive so it doesn’t get too hot and cause the wax to melt or the brood to get overheated.

When the larvae are developing, it is very important not to overheat or chill them. Queen cells are even more sensitive to tem-perature changes and humidity.

The average hive will collect and use about a quart of water or more during the hot months. They use it for more than a cool drink. Sometimes they use it to dissolve crystallized honey, or dilute thick honey so they can eat it or feed it to the brood. Brood food contains up to 80% water when they ¿UVW VWDUW WR IHHG 7KH\ ZLOO VSUHDG ZDWHU around the edges of brood cells and fan to keep the right temperature on the brood. This also helps keep the humidity in the hive right as well.

When the nurse bees are using their Hy-popharyngeal gland to produce food for the brood, they need water just like humans do. I think doctors tell us to drink eight glasses of water a day. I wonder how much a bee needs daily. The point being that if it is available, they will get what they need.

During winter or cold snaps some bee-keepers will dump sugar on the top bars or place fondants in hives for feeding. Bees need water to help them use these food sources. Can you picture a bee chewing on a lump of sugar and trying to swallow it?

I also wonder if anyone will do research on how water can help bees excrete toxins and help them resist other pests and diseases. If we get dehydrated, we can suffer from all kinds of ills as humans. Maybe bees do too.

And what about her majesty laying all those eggs. Lubrication must be very impor-tant to her and water aids with that.

Bees don’t store a lot of water in the comb, but bring it in as needed. To make water available and the only time I would ever use a Boardman feeder would be to sup-ply a hive with water if there was no other water sources nearby.

If you don’t make sure your bees have water, they may end up in the ditch literally.

The roadside ditches may be a water source, but the water may contain runoff from farms and be full of insecticides, pesticides or fun-gicides. And, we all know the deleterious ef-fect these chemicals have on our bees. And, now that we have the scare of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, the sprays will be everywhere.

Chappie McChesney

[email protected]

Florida

XENTARI FOR WAX MOTH

Regarding my article on wax moths, ABJ January 2016, Mr. Scott Ward, in a Letter to the Editor, ABJ March, states that I made a glaring omission and was surprised that I GLGQ¶WPHQWLRQXVLQJWKHSHVWLFLGH;HQ7DUL to kill wax moth larvae. For the record, this insecticide is labeled for legal use on cer-tain vegetables and row crops. It has not been vetted, tested or evaluated nor regis-tered for use on honey bees or combs by the Environmental Protection Agency and therefore doesn’t appear on the label of the product.

)RUYHUL¿FDWLRQRQHFDQFKHFNZLWKWKH pesticide regulations of the EPA as well as with Valent U.S.A. Corporation that han-GOHV;HQ7DUL,WLVLOOHJDODQGDYLRODWLRQRI federal law to use a pesticide inconsistent with its label. Beekeepers beware.

Robert Weast Johnston, Iowa Editor’s note: The product, Certan,

now called B401, is a concentrated solu-tion of Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies

aizawai, a micro-organism, harmless to

man & honeybee alike. It is produced and sold by Vita Europe, http://www.vita-eu-rope.com/products/b401/ for use against wax moths on stored combs. However, it is not currently registered for use in the United States. A similar product called ;HQ7DULLVVROGLQWKH86EXWLVQRWOD-beled for use to treat wax moths on stored honey combs.

MITE-BITING BEHAVIOR RESEARCH

I have recently been awarded a USDA 6$5(JUDQWDQGKDYHFRPSOHWHGWKH¿HOG work, and written the report. I would like to submit it for publication to the ABJ. Here is the summary:

This project tested if there is a rela-tionship between Mite-biting Behavior (MBB) levels and the total number of Varroa mites in a honey bee colony. MBB is a recently described grooming behav-ior trait that has been documented at high levels in some honey bee stocks, but it has

yet to be proven as effective and practical tool for controlling/reducing Varroa mite populations.

The study group encompassed Pennsyl-vania, Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana, consisting of 35 colonies of bees, from these we collected and evaluated 127 sam-ples. A formal statistical analysis was per-formed, and resulting conclusions are: 1) Mite biting behavior negatively/inversely correlates to mite drops/populations, and 2) Purdue/MBB genetic parentage positively correlates to MBB percent-ages. Although, the statistical correlation VWUHQJWKZDVZHDNLWLVVWLOOVLJQL¿FDQW There are several possibilities that can explain increased vigor. The 2015 season was marked regionally with substantial fall losses due to being overwhelmed by mites; the MBB bees stole the remaining honey from collapsing neighboring hives, and also brought back hitchhiker mites with them, and guard bees groomed them off, killed them, and left them in piles next to the entrance. This leads us to conclude, that more work is warranted, but with a different experimental design.

Jeff Berta Always Summer Herbs 724.735.4700 HEARTLAND HONEY BEE

BREED-ERS COOP: STATE BREEDING PROGRAMS START TESTING FOR

MITE-BITING BEHAVIOR

Did you ever wish that your bees were healthier and more productive? Did you wonder why there did not seem to be any-body locally, in your state, or regionally de-veloping better bees? If you felt alone and frustrated, so did we. Until 2013 that is how several of us felt as small bee breeders work-ing tirelessly, relatively isolated in our own respective beeyards, without any organized

Varroa mite with legs

sĂƌƌŽĂŵŝƚĞǁŝƚŚůĞŐƐĐŚĞǁĞĚŽīďLJ the bees

377

help from our clubs or state organizations. Several of us got together and formed the Heartland Honey Bee Breeder Cooperative HHBBC which started with Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and later Pennsylvania. The HHBBC works closely and with the guidance of bee geneticist Dr. Greg Hunt at Purdue University. As bee breeders we have been working on improving survivor stock in our own states, and now we have been able to add Mite-biting Behavior. Mite-bit-ing Behavior (MBB) is a recently described grooming behavioral trait that has been documented at high levels in some honey-bee stocks bred at Purdue by Dr. Hunt. The MBB trait is when the honey bees bite off one or more legs from a varroa mite; bitten mites will then bleed to death. Because of this behavior, they have also been loosely re-ferred to as “Indiana Leg-chewers” or “Pur-due Ankle-biters.”

Jeff Berta, a HHBBC breeder from Penn-sylvania wrote a grant proposal to the USDA Northeast SARE program under the spon-sorship of Dr. Christina Grozinger of Penn State. The project was awarded, and the hard work began in June 2015. This project mea-sured relationship between MBB levels and the total number of Varroa mites in a honey bee colony. This study evaluated if MBB is an effective and practical tool for control-ling/reducing Varroa mite populations. Dur-ing the 2015 season, we measured MBB percentages in 35 colonies located in: Penn-sylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana, and performed by members of the Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop (HHBBC).

Ideally, if MBB can reduce mite counts, selecting for this trait in honey bee popu-lations will increase the sustainability of beekeeping by reducing pesticide and labor inputs, and increasing bee health, honey pro-GXFWLRQDQGSUR¿WDELOLW\

The method we used during the test was an assay developed by Dr. Hunt, and has two major components: collection of mites, and evaluation of chewed legs. The collection of PLWHV LQ WKH ¿HOG E\ EHHNHHSHUV LV VLPSOH (1) an oiled board is inserted over the bottom board, allowed to remain for 12-48 hours, then the mites are scraped off, and onto a petri dish; (2) view each mite on the slide under a ORZ SRZHU PLFURVFRSH;KDQGOHQVH DQG count how many mites have chewed/missing legs, then calculate the MBB, as a percent-age, (example: 12 chewed mite/ 36 total = 33%). We compared three groups: 1) HH-%%&EUHG TXHHQV $UWL¿FLDOO\ ,QVHPLQDWHG with semen from MBB stocks raised in Pur-due 2) queens from best local survivor stock (overwintered) from the HHBBC (3) queens obtained from commercial breeder.

The beeyard locations used are in the HHBBC members respective states: Jeff Berta PA, Mark Gingrich PA, Dan O›Hanlon WV, Dwight Wells OH, and Dave Schene-feld IN. Each yard had 4 colonies from each group. We measured the project colonies on 3 timepoints, starting in August, and ending in October, approximately 2 weeks apart.

We had a Penn State graduate student, Mehmet Ali Doke, perform a formal

statisti-cal analysis. The following is an excerpt of the results:

Varroa biting rates – Group 1 had

the highest percentage of chewed Var-roa mites (38.68%) within the total that had dropped on sticky boards, Group 2 was intermediate (32.06%), and Group 3 had the lowest percentage (20.91%) (p=0.0074) (Rsq=0.087).

Varroa drop numbers vs. biting rate

– Biting rates of colonies in this study were negatively correlated with number of Varroa mites dropped by the colonies (p=0.0035, Rsq=0.066),(i.e. drop num-bers and biting rate). A larger slope of WKH ¿W OLQH KHQFH WKH 5VT YDOXH LQGL-cates stronger correlation between the variables.” (Mehmet Ali Doke, personal communication, Penn State 2016). Although the formal statistical analyses showed only weak relationships between MBB, and total mite counts; there are sev-HUDO DQHFGRWDO ¿HOG REVHUYDWLRQV WKDW DUH important:

1. It seems as the mite population went up, so did MBB. Historically, mite populations skyrocket in August through October, and the bees seemed to respond to the threat by more biting of mites.

2. We observed piles of dead mites near the entrances of the colonies. Possibly the bees were setting up a ‘battle line’ E\JURRPLQJ¿HOGEHHVDVWKH\UHWXUQHG from ‘robbing out’ collapsing hives in the area. The 2015 season was marked regionally with substantial fall losses due to being overwhelmed by mites; the MBB bees stole the remaining honey from collapsing neighboring hives, and also brought back hitchhiker mites with them, and guard bees groomed them off, killed them, and left them in piles next to the entrance.

3. Control group (Group 3) showed MBB, which diluted the statistical analysis and correlation. Upon further investigation of group 3, there was his-tory of them biting and chewing mites at times in the past. This is a very im-portant discovery.

Two major contributions will be long-standing from this project:

1) Improved honey bee genetics—which

now have the MBB trait added to our HHBBC “foundation stock” queen bees.

2) HHBBC’s relationship with local

bee clubs and backyard beekeepers. Many of the HHBBC breeders have been contacted and are now an inte-gral part of their respective honey bee improvement programs. For example, D ³TXHHQ PDWLQJ QXF SURGXFLQJ ¿HOG day” in Linesville, PA. Almost 100 queens were mated using MBB genet-ics using queen cell cups inserted into participants’ own nucleus colonies which they brought. Over 65 local beekeepers attended. Another smaller workshop was held in Slippery Rock with queen producers from local clubs, where we exchanged queen cells and grafted larvae for the MBB breeders queens into cups, then gave them away.

Summary

This project tested if there is a relation-ship between Mite-biting Behavior (MBB) levels and the total number of Varroa mites in a honey bee colony. A formal statistical analysis was performed, and resulting con-clusions are: 1) Mite biting behavior nega-tively/inversely correlates to mite drops/ populations, and 2) Purdue/MBB genetic parentage positively correlates to MBB per-centages. Although, the statistical correla-WLRQVWUHQJWKZDVZHDNLWLVVWLOOVLJQL¿FDQW There are several possibilities that can ex-plain this outcome, which we are currently investigating. Anecdotally, we observed that MBB colonies produced more honey, and with overall increased vigor. And, we found the presence of MBB in stocks outside of the Purdue breeding program, which was unexpected genetic treasure. Bees that bite back; this very exciting news, one more tool in the toolbox for healthier bees!

Author Jeff Berta, Always Summer Herbs,

[email protected] HHBBC members:

Dwight Wells Dan O’Hanlon Mark Gingrich

CREDIT: This work was funded by USDA

USDA RESEARCH

IDENTI-FIES FACTORS CAUSING

PREMATURE COMMERCIAL

HONEY BEE QUEEN FAILURE

by Kim Kaplan ARS News Service, USDA

BELTSVILLE, Md., Feb. 10, 2016— Temperature extremes during shipping and elevated pathogen levels may be contribut-ing to honey bee queens failcontribut-ing faster today than in the past, according to a study just published by U.S. Department of Agricul-ture (USDA) scientists in the scientific jour-nal PLOS One.

“Either stress individually or in combina-tion could be part of the reason beekeep-ers have reported having to replace queens about every six months in recent years when queens have generally lasted one to two years,” explained entomologist Jeff Pettis with the Bee Research Laboratory in Belts-ville, Maryland, who led the study. The Bee

Research Laboratory is part of USDA’s Ag-ricultural Research Service.

Queens only mate in the first few weeks of life. Then they use the stored semen to fertilize eggs laid throughout their life. Queen failure occurs when the queen dies or when the queen does not produce enough viable eggs to maintain the adult worker population in the colony. Replacing queens cost about $15 each, a significant cost per colony for beekeepers.

Commercial beekeepers usually order their replacement queens already mated, and the queens are shipped to apiaries from March through October. Researchers questioned whether temperature extremes during shipping could damage the sperm a queen has stored in her body. During simulated shipping in the lab, inseminated queens exposed to 104° F (40° C) for 1-2 hours or to 41° F (5° C) for 1-4 hours had sperm viability drop to 20 percent from about 90 percent.

In real-world testing, queens, along with thermometers that recorded the temperature every 10 minutes, were shipped from Cali-fornia, Georgia and Hawaii to the Beltsville lab by either U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail or United Parcel Service Next Day Delivery in July and September. Research-ers found that as many as 20 percent of the shipments experienced temperature spikes that approached extremes of 105.8° F and 46.4° F for more than 2 hours at a time. Those exposed to extreme high or low tem-peratures during shipping had sperm viabil-ity reduced by 50 percent.

“The good news is with fairly simple im-provements in packaging and shipping con-ditions, we could have a significant impact on improving queens and, in turn, improv-ing colony survival,” Pettis said.

Assessments of the queens sent in by bee-keepers for this study found that almost all of them had a high incidence of deformed wing virus; Nosema ceranae was the next most commonly found pathogen.

Beekeepers had also been asked to rate the performance of each colony from which a queen came as either in good or poor health. A clear link was found between colonies rated as better performing and queens with higher sperm viability. Poorer performing colonies strongly correlated to queens with lower sperm viability.

“We saw wide variation in both pathogen levels and sperm viability in the queens that were sent in to us, and sometimes between queens from the same apiary in July and September, so there is still more research to do. But getting queens back to lasting two years may well be one of the links in getting our beekeeping industry back to a sustain-able level,” Pettis said.

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research agency. The Agency’s job is finding solutions to agricultural problems that affect Americans every day from field to table. ARS conducts research to develop and transfer solutions to agricultural problems of high national

priority and provide information access and dissemination to ensure high-quality, safe food, and other agricultural products; assess the nutritional needs of Americans; sustain a competitive agricultural economy; enhance the natural resource base and the environment and provide economic oppor-tunities for rural citizens, communities, and society as a whole.

NEW ARS BEE GENEBANK

WILL PRESERVE HONEY

BEE GENETIC DIVERSITY

AND PROVIDE BREEDING

RESOURCES

The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is organizing a national bee gene-bank as part of the agency’s response to ongoing problems facing the country’s bee-keepers. Average losses of managed honey bee colonies have increased to more than 30 percent per year due to pathogens, pests, parasites, and other pressures including de-ficient nutrition and sublethal impacts of pesticides. These stresses have threatened the continued business sustainability of commercial beekeepers.

The genebank, which will be located in Fort Collins, Colorado, will help preserve the genetic diversity of honey bees, espe-cially for traits such as resistance to pests or diseases and pollination efficiency. It will also provide ARS and other researchers ac-cess to resources from which to breed bet-ter bees, according to entomologist Robert Danka, with the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Danka is help-ing shape the bee genebank—the Russian honey bee and Varroa Sensitive Hygiene lines developed at the Baton Rouge lab will be among those conserved first.

To help make the genebank a practical reality, ARS researchers are developing bet-ter long-bet-term storage techniques for honey bees, including improving cryopreservation of bee sperm and embryos. Their work will include creating a way to reliably revive frozen embryos and grow them into repro-ductively viable adults after storage.

N

ews

N

otes

This honey bee queen (blue dot) has valuable genes so a wing has been ĐůŝƉƉĞĚ ƚŽ ƉƌĞǀĞŶƚ ŚĞƌ ĨƌŽŵ ŇLJŝŶŐ away.

Semen collected from honey bees and cryopreserved (frozen) will form the ďĂƐŝƐŽĨĂŶĞǁŶĂƟŽŶĂůďĞĞŐĞŶĞďĂŶŬ͘

American Bee Journal

380

Another component needed to create the new genebank is a germplasm species com-mittee, which will decide which species and subspecies to collect and preserve. ARS and Washington State University are working with beekeepers on the next steps for the committee.

BEE VIRUS SPREAD

MAN-MADE AND EMANATES

FROM EUROPEAN

HONEY BEES

The spread of a disease that is decimat-ing global bee populations is manmade, and driven by European honeybee

popula-tions, new research has concluded University of Exeter

The spread of a disease that is decimat-ing global bee populations is manmade, and driven by European honeybee populations, new research has concluded.

A study led by the University of Exeter and UC Berkeley and published in the jour-nal Science found that the European hon-eybee Apis mellifera is overwhelmingly the source of cases of the Deformed Wing Virus infecting hives worldwide. The find-ing suggests that the pandemic is manmade rather than naturally occurring, with human trade and transportation of bees for crop pollination driving the spread.

Although separately they are not major threats to bee populations, when the Varroa mite carries the disease, the combination is deadly, and has wiped out millions of hon-eybees over recent decades. Varroa feed on bee larvae while the Deformed Wing Virus kills off bees, a devastating double blow to colonies. The situation is adding to fears over the future of global bee populations, with major implications for biodiversity, agricultural biosecurity, global economies, and human health.

The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and supported by a Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship. It involved collabo-rators from the universities of Sheffield, Cambridge, Salford and California, as well as ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Lead author Dr Lena Wilfert, of the University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation, on the Penryn Campus in Cornwall, said: “This is the first study to conclude that Europe is the backbone of the global spread of the bee killing combination of Deformed Wing Virus and Varroa. This demonstrates that the spread of this combi-nation is largely manmade - if the spread was naturally occurring, we would expect to see transmission between countries that are close to each other, but we found that, for example, the New Zealand virus popula-tion originated in Europe. This significantly strengthens the theory that human transpor-tation of bees is responsible for the spread of this devastating disease. We must now

maintain strict limits on the movement of bees, whether they are known to carry

Var-roa or not. It’s also really important that

beekeepers at all levels take steps to control

Varroa in their hives, as this viral disease

can also affect wild pollinators.”

Researchers analyzed sequence data of Deformed Wing Virus samples across the globe from honeybees and Varroa mites, as well as the occurrence of Varroa. They used the information to reconstruct the spread of Deformed Wing Virus and found that the epidemic largely spread from Eu-rope to North America, Australia and New Zealand. They found some two-way move-ment between Europe and Asia, but none between Asia and Australasia, despite their closer proximity. The team also looked at samples from other species suspected of transmitting the disease, including different species of honeybee, mite and bumblebees, but concluded that the European honeybee was the key transmitter.

Professor Roger Butlin, professor of Evolutionary Biology at the University of Sheffield, said: “Our study has found that the deformed wing virus is a major threat to honeybee populations across the world and this epidemic has been driven by the trade and movement of honeybee colonies.

“Domesticated honeybee colonies are hugely important for our agriculture sys-tems, but this study shows the risks of mov-ing animals and plants around the world. The consequences can be devastating, both for domestic animals and for wildlife. The risk of introducing viruses or other patho-gens is just one of many potential dangers.” Senior author Professor Mike Boots of Exeter and UC Berkeley concluded: “The key insight of our work is that the global virus pandemic in honeybees is manmade not natural. It’s therefore within our hands to mitigate this and future disease problems.”

EPA POSTS LIST OF

PES-TICIDES REGISTERED TO

COMBAT VARROA MITES IN

BEE HIVES

The EPA has posted a list of pesticides reg-istered for use against Varroa mites (http:// www.epa.gov/pollinator-protection/epa- registered-pesticide-products-approved-use-against-varroa-mites-bee-hives) to help beekeepers identify products that can

help fight this invasive species of bee pest. As part of EPA’s role in the National Pol-linator Health Strategy (http://www.epa. gov/pollinator-protection/federal-polli-nator-health-task-force-epas-role), the Agency has expedited its review of registra-tion applicaregistra-tions for new products targeting pests harmful to pollinators.

In 2015, EPA expedited the review of applications for oxalic acid (http://www. epa.gov/pesticides/epa-registers-new-mi-ticide-combat-varroa-mites-bees) and a new biochemical miticide, potassium salts of hops beta acids, to provide more options for beekeepers to combat Varroa mites. More pest control options help avoid the de-velopment of resistance toward other prod-ucts. The list we published makes it that much easier for beekeepers to identify all products that are registered for use against Varroa and helps advance toward the goals in the National Pollinator Health Strategy.

AN EFFECTIVE CONTROL

FOR VARROA

INTERNATIONAL BEE RESEARCH ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE

The parasitic mite Varroa destructor (varroa) is generally agreed to be the great-est threat facing honey bees worldwide. De-spite much research, losses continue due to lack of effective control measures, because the mite has become resistant to several commonly used chemicals. The natural product oxalic acid has been widely used in mainland Europe, but surprisingly, little previous research has directly compared different methods of application, their ef-ficacies, and their adverse effects on bees.

In this paper published in the Journal of

Apicultural Research, Hasan Al Toufailia,

Francis Ratnieks and colleagues from the Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects at the University of Sussex, compared three methods of applying oxalic acid under UK field conditions. They compared trickling, spraying and sublimation at three doses, using 110 honey bee colonies in winter. They found that all three methods could give high varroa mortality, but that the sublimation method (heating crystals to va-porize them inside the hive) was superior, because it gave higher varroa mortality at lower doses. Sublimation using 2.25g of ox-alic acid also resulted in significantly less worker bee mortality in the ten days after application than either trickling or spray-ing, and lower bee colony mortality four months later in mid spring. Colonies treated via sublimation also had greater brood area four months later than colonies treated via trickling, spraying, or control colonies.

The authors conclude that: “This

con-firms that applying oxalic acid via subli-mation in broodless honey bee colonies in winter is a highly effective way of control-ling V. destructor and causes no harm to the colonies.”

contributions and delivered strong support to the program of the laboratory that he leads. Through the years, Dr. Rinderer has engaged in cooperative research with individual bee-keepers as a way to leverage research re-sources and build strong relations with the beekeeping industry.

2016 AMERICAN HONEY

QUEEN & PRINCESS

HAIL FROM

WISCONSIN & TEXAS

(From American Honey Queen Program, Anna L. Kettlewell, Chairperson,

10432 W. Norwich Avenue, Greenfield, WI 53228)

The American Beekeeping Federation is proud to announce that Kim Kester and Tabitha Mansker were selected as the 2016 American Honey Queen and Prin-cess at its annual January convention in Jacksonville, FL.

Queen Kim is the 23-year-old daughter of Jim and Barb Kester of Nekoosa, WI. She is a graduate of the University of Wis-consin-Madison, where she double-majored in dairy science and poultry science. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Agricultural Education at Iowa State Uni-versity. Kim began beekeeping in 2014 and now owns six hives of bees. She previously served as the Wisconsin Honey Queen.

Princess Tabitha is 20-year-old daughter of Gary and Wanda Mansker of Nevada, 7;DQGJUDQGGDXJKWHURI%REE\/RX0DQ-VNHU RI /XEERFN 7; 6KH OLYHV ZLWK KHU family on a small farm and enjoys caring for their many animals. Tabitha was deeply involved in 4-H for more than 8 years and enjoys all aspects of agriculture. Currently, IBRA Science Director Norman Carreck

says: “the publication of this study is very

timely, as an oxalic acid product has for the first time recently been approved in the UK, and beekeepers will want to see these re-sults obtained under UK conditions.”

BATON ROUGE BEE LAB

RESEARCH

LEADER RETIRES

USDA News Release

Dr. Thomas E. Rinderer, Supervisory Re-search Geneticist, retired on Jan. 2, 2016, after a research career of 40+ years. He has been in his assignment as Research Leader of the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since 1977.

Dr. Rinderer’s research has resulted in 312 publications (246 in refereed journals), countless abstracts of papers presented at scientific meetings, 7 supervised theses/ dissertations and research grants exceed-ing $2 million. His range of research topics has included genetics, breeding, behavior, morphology, pathology and toxicology. The range of organisms studied has included several species of honey bees, several spe-cies of mites parasitic on honey bees, sev-eral diseases of honey bees and two pests of bee hives.

Dr. Rinderer is recognized nationally and internationally as an expert in honey bee bi-ology, genetics and breeding. He has served as senior editor of the Journal of

Apicul-tural Research and the journal Bee Science,

has served as a reviewer for numerous other journals, and has served on international, federal, state and industry research panels evaluating funding for research grants. He is an adjunct professor of entomology at Louisiana State University.

A primary focus of the research has been the improvement of honey bees through genetic selection. Most recently, Dr. Rinderer discovered a stock of honey bees in far-eastern Russia, imported it through an APHIS-approved quarantine which he established, and documented its resistance to the parasitic mite V. destructor. The level of resistance was sufficiently high that the need for mite control treatments was re-duced by more than half. Continued selec-tion in multi-state field trials through 12 years, using breeding methods developed specifically for this project, has produced a Russian honey bee stock having consis-tently improved resistance to V. destructor such that colonies rarely require chemical treatment to suppress V. destructor, has maintained resistance to the tracheal mite

A. woodi, and has increased honey

produc-tion to commercially acceptable standards. Technology transfer efforts encouraged 18 commercial honey bee breeders in 2008 to form the “Russian Honeybee Breeders Assoc. Inc.” All lines of the Russian honey bee stock have been transferred to members of the association who are now maintaining and selecting the stock using techniques and procedures obtained from extensive tech-nology transfer efforts by Dr. Rinderer and his team. In addition to developing Russian honey bees into a stock with excellent bee-keeping functionality, Dr. Rinderer has been actively involved in the planning, develop-ment and execution of honey bee breeding programs to produce stocks of honey bees that have improved Varroa sensitive hy-gienic behavior and improved resistance to

Nosema ceranae and Deformed Wing Virus.

Dr. Rinderer’s research accomplishments not only have gained him widespread inter-national and inter-national scientific recognition, but also a universal recognition from the bee-keeping industry of the nation. On a number of occasions the beekeeping industry has ex-pressed their gratitude to Dr. Rinderer for his

Dr. Thomas Rinderer has retired as research leader of the Baton Rouge Bee Lab.

American Bee Journal

382

she is pursuing studies in business and mar-keting and has hopes of becoming a teacher. Tabitha stays busy helping to manage her family’s 16 hives of bees and extracting honey for many commercial beekeeping op-erations. She previously served as the Texas Honey Queen.

Kim and Tabitha will spend the next year promoting the beekeeping industry through-out the United States in a wide variety of venues, including fairs, festivals, schools, and media interviews. To schedule an ap-pearance with American Honey Queen Kim Kester or American Honey Princess Tabitha Mansker, please contact American Honey Queen Program Chairperson Anna Ket-tlewell at 414.545.5514.

GRANDPA’S HIDDEN

GOLD FARM

A new children’s book about beekeep-ing for PreK - Grade 2

Berne, Indiana — Grandpa’s Hidden Gold Farm is an exciting new children’s

book by reading teacher, Sharyl Calhoun. With murmurs of a steady decline in the number of professional beekeepers in the United States, here is a fun way to intro-duce the importance of beekeeping to our youngest generation.

“One would not expect to discover gold on a farm, but Grandpa knows just where to find this hidden treasure. Dig into

Grand-pa’s Hidden Gold Farm for a sweet and

yummy treat!” The humorous illustration on the gold cover invites children into the book, where a clever, tiny bee guides one eagerly through the realistic fiction tale. The 28-page softcover book includes two diagrams: “Parts of a Hive” and “Bee Tools.”

Calhoun and her sister, illustrator Jean Marvel, recall watching their grandmother don her bee suit to collect honeycomb from

her hives for a special treat. Marvel’s family now has several hives of their own.

Sharyl Calhoun has been a teacher of reading for more than 25 years, helping children develop good reading strategies and a love for books. she has published seven children’s books, with the help of illustrators who make the stories fun and lively. Her book titles include Sophia and

the Bully, The Pet Trap, The Farmer and The Groundhog, The Bike, Grandpa’s Tree, Grandma’s Lullaby, and Grandpa’s Hidden Gold Farm.

Purchase Grandpa’s Hidden Gold

Farm from your beekeeping supply store

or at www.grandpastree.com.

THE HONEY BEE

ILLUSTRATED

by Margaret Cowley

A series of annotated diagrams was pub-lished in Bee Craft magazine from 2011 to 2014 to help readers understand honey bee biology. Many who were studying for the British Beekeepers’ Association assess-ments, especially Module 5, Honey Bee

Bi-ology, told us how useful they were, so we

have collected them together in the first of the Bee Craft Reprints series.

The diagams have been carefully drawn to illustrate the different sections of the syl-labus which are numbered from 5.1 to 5.20. They have been kept as simple as possible to allow readers to practice reproducing them. Annotations to the drawings give de-tails of the important points to know about the structures shown.

Contact: bee-craft.com/bee-craft-shop References

Sondgrass, RE (1956). Anatomy of the Honey Bee, Comstock.

Cushman, D. Website: www.dave- cushman.net

Goodman, L (2003). Form and Function in the Honey Bee, International Bee

Re-search Association.

PENNSYLVANIA

The Capital Area Beekeepers’ Associa-tion is offering its 29th Annual Short Course on Saturday, May 7 & 14, 2016.

Part I: Will start at 8:00 AM at the Dauphin

County Agriculture & Natural Resources Center, 1451 Peters Mt. Road, Dauphin, PA 17018.

Part II: Will start at noon at Strites Orchard,

1000 Strites Rd., Harrisburg, PA 17111. The cost of the Short Course is $50 which includes a CABA membership and the Penn State Book, “Fundamentals of Beekeeping.” For additional information visit cabapa.org, or contact John Novinger, 717-365-3215, email [email protected].

PENNSYLVANIA

Queen Rearing Class

Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, PA

Queen rearing Intensive weekend May

7-8, 2016, Saturday 4pm, Sunday 9am-3pm. Queen cell pickup: Monday May 17, 2016 , 6-8pm.

This two-day course will include grafting larvae, the Cloake board method of queen rearing, and the use of mating nucs. Hands on experience with grafting will comple-ment lectures on queen rearing and queen breeding. Each student will receive a queen bar frame, plastic queen cell cups, and a grafting tool; if successful, the student may have queen cells to take home nine days later.

Taught by Master Beekeeper, Vincent J. Aloyo, PhD

For information or to register, see: http:// vincemasterbeekeeper.com/courses/

NEW YORK

The Sullivan County Beekeepers As-sociation will hold its Annual Beekeepers Seminar/Workshop on Saturday April 30, 2016 at the Cornell Cooperative Ext. Bldg., Ferndale Loomis Road, Liberty N.Y. for beekeepers with any level of skill, experi-ence or ability. Workshop will cover basic biology, equipment, how to work the bees, management, bee diseases, honey produc-tion, queen bees, pesticides, swarms, mites and moving bees. Registration begins at 9:30 A.M. Program starts at 10:00 A.M. and ends at 2:00 P.M. Cost is $30.00 per person. To register and for more information con-tact Don Bertholf at 845-807-1036, or Bob Davis 845-423-8906 or e-mail me at [email protected].

NEW YORK

Bee Well Workshop

Malta, NY on April 9: Southern Adiron-dack Beekeepers Association presents their annual all-day seminar. Speakers; Dewey Caron, Chris Harp, Allen Hayes and Grai Rice. Details: www.adirondackbees.org or call Anne Frey 518-258-7503.

NEW YORK

August 5-7, 2016, NY Bee Wellness workshop, Randy Oliver; Dyce Lab, Ithaca NY; Details TBA; contact Pat Bono, info@ mybeewellness.org, 585-820-6619

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Charles Andros, former NH/VT Apiary Inspector, will hold a beekeeping workshop from 1-3:30 PM on Saturday, April 19, at 18 MacLean Road, Alstead, NH 03602. Look for the “BEE” sign on the south side of Wal-pole Valley Road. Topics of discussion will be early spring management: locating apiar-ies, equipment, handling bees, feeding syrup and supplements, making nuclei, reversing, and requeening. Bring a veil, if you have one, as we shall be opening some colonies. We’ll be inside if it is a rainy day. Regis-tration required. email: lindenap@gmail. com or call 603-756-9056.

CONNECTICUT

On April 16, 2016, the Connecticut Bee-keepers Association will hold their April meeting at the Connecticut Agricultural Ex-periment Station, Jones Auditorium in New Haven CT. The meeting begins at 9 am. This time we will be having TWO speakers.

10 AM Betty Mencucci - ”Twenty Seven

Years of Beekeeping and Lessons Learned”

11 AM Carl Jurica - Practical Queen

Pro-duction in the North (part 1)

NOON Pot Luck Lunch

1 PM Betty Mencucci - The Importance

of Record Keeping - Making It Quick and Simple

2 PM Carl Jurica - Practical Queen

Pro-duction in the North (part 2)

Betty Mencucci also known as “The Bee Lady,” is owner of Betty’s Bee Farm, past president of the Rhode Island Beekeepers Association and teaches bee school, which has grown from 12 students a year to 200 students a year.

Carl Jurica, received his PhD under Doc-tor Roger A. Morse, Cornell University. Carl has been raising Northern Queens commercially since the mid 1970’s in

John-stown, New York. After persuing other ac-tivities, he has recently returned to raising queens in the Southern Adirondacks region of New York.

Please bring a dish to share for the pot luck luncheon!

Meeting Notice:

On June 4, 2016, the Connecticut Bee-keepers Association will celebrate its 125th anniversary. This will be held at the Con-necticut Agricultural Experiment Station in Hamden, Connecticut. We invite all other bee clubs to attend, as well as the general public. We will have many activities for everyone to showcase beekeeping in Con-necticut, as well as celebrating the rich his-tory of the CBA. We will have two featured speakers, Dr. Larry Connor and Dr. Diana Sammataro. More details will be posted soon. For additional updates check www. ctbees.com.

CONNECTICUT

BACKYARD BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION

Tuesday April 26: Roberta Glatz, “Swarming”

Much respected Ms. Glatz will share her wisdom & expertise on swarming of the honey bee, the signs, biology & folklore.

Each month we have timely weekend hands-on inspection workshops, bee school, mentor program and more.

Please check our website for the dates and locations or more information at www. backyardbeekeepers.com.

2016 Schedule:

May 24: James Wilkes June 28: Dinner Meeting September 27: Brenna Traver October 27: Anne Frey November 17: Jennifer Tsuruda

VIRGINIA

SPIKENARD HONEYBEE SANCTUARYTOGIVEA TWO-DAYBIODYNAMICBEEKEEPINGWORKSHOP

FRIDAY, APRIL 29 – SATURDAY, APRIL 30

Floyd, Virginia – Professional beekeeper and educator Gunther Hauk, co-founder of Spikenard Honeybee Sanctuary, will give a two-day workshop on the foundations of sustainable/biodynamic beekeeping.

For beginners as well as practicing bee-keepers.

Mr. Hauk and his team will present on the most important topics of beekeeping from the biodynamic perspective, includ-ing hive forms and materials, swarminclud-ing, queen rearing, working without foundation, seasonal tasks, mites and other pests, treat-ments and teas, selecting the best bee forage plants, and more.

Visit www.spikenardfarm.org for regis-tration and more information.

540.745.2153

[email protected]

WEST VIRGINIA

CORRIDOR G BEEKEEPERS AS-SOCIATION is hosting the West Virginia

Beekeepers state spring meeting on April 9, 2016, Saturday at Chapmanville Middle School, 300 Vance St., Chapmanville, WV.

Featured speaker is Michael Bush, one of the leading proponents of treatment-free beekeeping.

Pre- registration is $30.00 and includes lunch with registration before March 18, 2016, registration after $35.00.

To receive a registration form or for more information, contact:

Kathy Watson

[email protected]

304-855-8504 or 304-687-7170

OHIO

2016 BEGINNING BEEKEEPING WORKSHOP

Dale Olson will be presenting this im-portant beginning beekeeping workshop in conjunction with the Geauga County Bee-keeping Association education program. This workshop is designed for people who would like to get started in beekeeping, those who have had previous beekeeping ex-perience and want to get back into beekeep-ing, or those who just want to know more before taking the plunge.

Topics covered will include basic hon-eybee biology, races of bees, package bees versus nucs and where to get bees, how to start a hive, new and used equipment, keep-ing bees in a residential settkeep-ing, feedkeep-ing, in-spections, swarm control, disease and pest management, producing honey and other hive products and over wintering. Informa-tion on package bees, nucs and equipment will be available at the workshop. Price in-cludes a book about bees.

There will be a follow-up meeting May 21, 9am - 4pm to show how to install pack-aged bees and more useful information. Registration and agenda information can be found at: www.kenstoncommunityed.org

Phone (440) 543-2552 Fax (440) 543-2850.

Course Cost: $45.00 per family. Course Dates: April 14, 2015, Time: 7 – 9:30pm

Kenston Middle School, Art room 231, 17425 Snyder Road, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023

ILLINOIS

The Illinois State Beekeepers Association will be holding their 2016 Summer Meet-ing at the Northern Illinois University