To see photos of Gardner Apiaries click here 
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See Deborah & Mr. Charlie remove bees from a tall church steeple click here
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To download a PDF copy of the April and May 2010 newsletter click here
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New web page for beekeepers who would like to buy, sell or trade bees , honey or beekeeping equipment.
If you would like to post your an ad regarding honeybee stuff please send the information to aikenbeekeeper@gmail.com . There is no charge for the ad. Click here to display that page
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Aiken Beekeepers
Association Newsletter
The Buzz
The Education Hub for Practical Beekeeping
http://aikenbeekeepers.org June and July 2010
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Meetings will be the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm
in the Aiken County Agriculture Building at 1555 Richland Ave. Aiken, SC Please join us!
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President David McNeely a10ac_boy@tds.net
803-266-4627 c-803-640-4628
Vice President Jim Irons jcirons@gforcecable.com
803-593-4068 c-803-335-8727
Treasurer Karen McNeely beecipe@earthlink.net
803-266-4627
Secretary Deborah Sasser dsasser3@comcast.net
706-855-5240
Webmaster Jon Hill aikenbeekeeper@gmail.com
803-648-6957
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Presidents Bees-ness Buzz from the Hive David McNeely
Well the honey is flowing y’all. I know everybody is just as busy as their bees. The new beekeepers still need our help. The new bees came late this year. It seems Aiken Beekeepers is not the only Beekeepers Association growing. To add to this, last year was a poor crop worldwide. There also were severe losses of honeybees due to suspected CCD to the commercial growers out west.
The new beekeepers can contact their mentors or call any ABA member to ask for help. In the beginning it is important to get experience. The best way to do this is to get with other beekeepers. No matter how many years they have been caring for honeybees. A good example is our Treasure, in the beginning of her beekeeping, she called up one of the original ABA members and said you don’t know me, but will you show me how to care for honeybees, I will work for the experience. After she got into beekeeping and having me help, the Bees-ness end of beekeeping stung me.
I want to hear from all the ABA members and friends on how good of a honey-flow we have this year. I hope everyone has a good spring to summer. Remember to read the Beekeeping Chores to remind yourself what needs to be done. The Summer State Beekeepers meeting is July 15-17th at Clemson, if time and work permits please try to attend.
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Beekeeping Chores
June & July:
Make sure your bees have enough room and are kept busy. Be prepared to “Super up”.
Monitor the hive for queen cups and cells. It’s especially important to watch for swarm cells. These cells usually are found at the bottom of the frame and are an indication that the hive may be too crowded and ready to swarm.
If feeding your hive, keep eye on the volume, remove feeder if they are not taking the sugar solution.
For a new hive, monitor how much comb has been drawn out in the hive bodies. Add a super once 8 frames have been drawn out in the hive body.
For older hives, it may be time to check the frames and see if you need to swap out some pollen and honey filled frames for new ones. This gives the bees an opportunity to be busy as well as increase some of the space in the hive and improve circulation.
Remove the entrance reducer and allow the bees to have free access in and out, they are going to be busy and you don’t want to slow down the movement of honey and pollen in and out of the hive.
Hot, dry summers can be stressful on bees. Make sure your bees have plenty of water.
Fire ants may get aggressive in drought conditions, you can respond with mound treatments of Amdro or similar fire ant baits.
For small hive beetles now is a good time to treat soil surrounding hives with the nematodes, Steinernema Riobrave and Heterorhabditis Indica available from organic gardening catalogs.
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Honey Recipe
Maybe you’d like to get your calcium through a fruit smoothie made with milk rather than by taking a calcium pill. The following recipe is easy to make and of course, is delicious!
Fruity Honey Smoothie
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries (Any fresh fruit will do)
1 banana
1/3 cup honey
1 cup skim or nonfat milk
½ cup plain or vanilla low-fat yogurt
In blender, combine all ingredients; process until smooth.
Makes 2 to large servings
Nutrition information per serving: Calories: 332; Protein; 9g;
Carbohydrates: 76 g; Fat: 2g; Saturated Fat: 1g; Calcium: 281mg;
Potassium: 747 mg; Sodium 110 mg
Honey is composed primarily of carbohydrates and water, and also includes small amounts of a wide array of vitamins and minerals, including B vitamins such as niacin, riboflavin, and pantothenic acid, along with minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.
Mr. Charlie Says….. June & July 2010
This has been a very busy spring. The weather has been surprisingly cool. I have been working in my yards planting flowers, shrubs and trees that the bees will like. I have hard rocky clay soil so digging a hole is a big job. I hope to have my yard full of bee friendly plants soon. Thank you, Jon Hill for the beautiful plants from your greenhouse.
I lost several hives this winter. I have replaced my lost colonies with swarms. I also won a three pound package of bees at the South Carolina State meeting in March. I could not pick them up until May 17th. We drove down to Gardner’s Apiaries/Spell Bee in Baxley, Georgia to pick them up. The Apiary was bustling. It was very interesting to watch the making of queen cells. I was fascinated with the entire process. I put some of the photos on the Aiken Beekeeper web site. If you get a chance you should try to visit Gardner’s Apiaries you will be amazed at all that goes into getting your package of bees ready.
Mr. Charlie started pulling queen cells from our hives a few weeks ago. We added sixteen new hives this spring. It is interesting how each hive is different. Some hives have many queen cells while others have none. Last week a remarkable thing happened. Mr. Charlie was pulling queen cells from Susan’s hives (a new beekeepers). It is an extremely strong hive. It had many queen cells, he was being very careful not to damage them as he took them out. As he placed the queen cell in her hands something amazing happened. As we were looking at the cell the queen emerged. She was a perfect queen and she was crawling around in my hands. We quickly put her into a jar and took her back to one of Mr. Charlie’s queen less hives. It was the first time I had ever seen a queen emerge and it was awesome to be at the right place at the right time. I felt blessed to have the privilege of holding her in my hands.
Mr. Charlie says . . . we would have lost half the bees from that hive the next day if we had not found her. We will continue to pull queen cells every ten days from all our hives. Which is a lot of hot tedious work but it is worth it . . . not to lose half of your girls. Plus Mr. Charlie says you will be amazed at how much more honey you will make if you keep the queen cells pulled.
It is my hope we are ALL going to have a great honey year!!!
Deb Sasser
Two more meeting in our area you may want to check out:
July 15 – 17th South Carolina Beekeepers meet in Clemson, SC
For more information: www.scstatebeekeepers.org
August 2 – 6th Eastern Apicultural Society Annual Conference in
Boone, NC. For more details: www.easternapiculture.org
Read this….it is very frightening!!
From: >
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Bee Culture Announces 2011 Calendar Theme
“Show me your Bee yard” is the theme for the 2011 Bee Culture Calendar. The yearly project generates more than a 1000 entries from all over the globe. The winning entrants will have their photos published in the 2011 Calendar.
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Please send any comments or suggestions for the website to:
Jon Hill - Webmaster aikenbeekeeper@gmail.com
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If you would like to help with articles, photos, fun facts, etc. for the newsletter. You can e-mail your contribution to Deborah Sasser
dsasser3@comcast.net
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What is the hives favorite Beatles song?
Let it Bee.
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The Association promotes and encourages good beekeeping practices,
enhancement in the knowledge base of novice, intermediate and expert
beekeepers, production of honey bee products, and public education concerning the honey bee and honey.
Any person who has an interest in honey bees and beekeeping is
encouraged to become a member of ABA. Membership is open to anyone;
novice or expert, hobbyist or commercial beekeeper,
and you are encouraged to join us.
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Please come chat with fellow beekeepers at our next meeting,
June 22, 2010 at 7pm
There is always something to learn as we share our knowledge.
I look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting.
Deborah Sasser – Secretary – Aiken Beekeepers Association
Have A Happy Summer !
an
Colony collapse disorder still buzzing in beekeepers' minds
March 08, 2010 10:46:00 PM
By Robert Rodriguez/The Fresno Bee
FRESNO — A mysterious problem that causes bee colonies to decline is once again taking its toll on California's beekeepers.
The problem known as colony collapse disorder is characterized by a sudden drop in a bee colony's population and the inexplicable absence of dead bees.
The disorder has no known cure and appears to be cyclical. After several mild years, it has resurfaced with a vengeance, said Eric Mussen, apiculturist with the University of California at Davis.
"It never went away, but this year a substantial number of beekeepers got walloped again," said Mussen, the state's leading bee expert. "And worse than they had been hit before."
Although Mussen said it is too early to tell exactly how many bees have been lost, a bee industry official said losses in the state vary from 30 percent to 80 percent.
"This is the worst I've seen it," said Harold Dirks, the Sutter County bee inspector, whose own beekeeping operation has shrunk from about 500 to 350 colonies.
Roger Everett, a Tulare County beekeeper and president of the California State Beekeepers Association, lost 50 percent of his nearly 6,000 bee colonies.
"And I consider myself lucky," Everett said. "We thought the worst was over, but for whatever reason, it has reared its ugly head again. It is kind of scary."
The source of colony collapse disorder has remained elusive. In the Mid-Valley, beekeepers like Dirks and Valeri Severson, owner of Strachan Apiaries Inc. in Tierra Buena, pointed to numerous possible factors — from undiscovered pathogens to known ones like Varroa mites to the loss of pollen-producing plants to development and pesticide spraying.
"It all plays together into a Catch-22," said Severson, whose 9,400-colony stock is about 600 fewer than normal. "All these variables have their impact, just like with native species."
Fortunately for Everett and other beekeepers, the healthy bee colonies that remain are busy pollinating thousands of almond acres.
Each year, about 1 million bee colonies are needed to pollinate the state's more than 650,000 acres of almonds. About 500,000 colonies are from California; the remainder come from out of state.
And while almond growers have reported some shortages of bees, industry officials said it appears that most growers will have enough bees to pollinate their trees.
"In the areas that I have looked at, the bees are flying strong," said Dave Baker, director of member relations at Sacramento-based Blue Diamond Growers.
Baker said it is too soon to say if the decline in bee colonies will have any effect on yield.
At this stage of bloom development, growers are also concerned about the potential for freezing temperatures and continued rain.
Growers already have had to apply fungicides to combat moisture-caused problems such as bloom rot.
"There some growers who are applying their third spray, when normally this time of year they may only make two," said David Doll, a U.C. Cooperative Extension farm adviser in Merced.
Appeal-Democrat reporter Howard Yune contributed to this story.
This article from appeal-democrat.com
http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/fresno-92540-beekeepers-minds.html
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