Swarm Prevention by Demaree Method

OH MY!??!!  I'm feeling ENLIGHTENED!  What if I told you - you could PREVENT SWARMING and thereby MAINTAIN YOUR HONEY PRODUCTION!??!  and/or - you could raise a queen to split/replace - without slowing your hive down?!!?

I'm thinking of "tearing" into one of my hives right now to try this!  (more for the queen production part than the swarm prevention part)

read it / print it / KEEP it!
http://countryrubes.com/images/Swarm_Prevention_By_Demaree_Method.pdf

russian queen cells

member, beekeeper FRED is raising Russian queens in small quantities.  Russians are reputed to be resistant to both tracheal and varroa mites. He is an amateur at this endeavor, but will eventually be selling any surplus mated queens for a nominal price to cover his costs.  If interested email him at:  fredransome@aol.com 

Keeping Neonics out of your Garden...

here's a nice "brochure" from the XERCES society - download and print for future reference:
keeping neonics out of the garden

a DIRECT LINK to USDA BEE RESEARCH PAGE

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.htm?modecode=12-45-33-00

browse around in there - you can really get into some good articles, like:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jul09/mites0709.htm
I WANT a MITE LURE/TRAP!  article was from 2009. FIVE YEARS AGO, what's holding back this line of thought???

queen rearing class...OHIO

http://blog.beeculture.com/index.php/queen-rearing-class/

link: tell the FDA what you think about honey laundering

http://act.foodandwaterwatch.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=40521&em_id=33821.0

meet-up with the bee inspector

Wow!  It was great, having the bee inspector at the field day.  Thanks Craig!  Craig did a "show n tell" - doing the powdered sugar roll for VARROA MITE.  He also pulled some drone brood from cells to take a look for VARROA.  He talked about what he's seen so far this year - our "winter for the record books"....getting packages up and running....lots of "bee stuff".  Some good questions arose about NOSEMA - and a discussion about the "NEW" NOSEMA.  I'm personally rethinking the fall sugar syrup/fumagilin treatment.  Craig's method of treatment is a DRY recipe - and it made a lot more sense to me as far as getting the DOSE right - and DIRECTLY to the bees when they need it.  He mentioned about how it's been shown that fumagilin taken in sugar syrup in the fall and stored for winter - breaks down. Meaning it's EFFICACY is questionable.

CRAIG'S RECIPE (and people who were there - please correct me if this is wrong!):  2 Cups POWDERED SUGAR, 10 tsp FUMAGILIN B.  (shaken and stirred up and stored away someplace dry - AND LABELED!  you do not want to accidentally use this for frosting!!!!)  THE DOSE: 1/8 cup sprinkled directly on top of the cluster!

ANY DAY OVER THE LATE FALL/WINTER/EARLY SPRING MONTHS, when you get high 30's, 40's - a bright sunny day - when you can QUICKLY CRACK THE HIVE OPEN...you treat (and get out quickly)

So my preparations for this fall - add this powdered sugar recipe to my STASH of bee stuff....along with sugar cakes.  I'll likely still put fumagilin in the SPRING sugar syrup, because I like to also give them some HONEY B HEALTHY.

Another GREAT IDEA brought up was to MOVE RECIPES...to a RECIPE TAB.  Which I'll work on.

homemade pesticide link

http://tipnut.com/natural-pesticides/
great collection!  and easy to PRINT OUT.....

What's up SUGAR CAKES?

http://www.honeybeesuite.com/candy-board-feeders-for-honey-bees/
http://www.gardenfork.tv/sugar-cake-recipe-for-honeybees

i know it's CRAZY to be thinking about this now...but I'm thinking NOW IS THE TIME
to stock up on "containers" at goodwill and rummage sales, etc.

instead of making HEAVY sugar boards - make SUGAR CAKES.  I've recently seen some examples of sugar cakes that were probably poured in a BREAD PAN or an 8 x 8 PAN. You could really pour these into ANY container - but remember - you need to POUR SHALLOW - so you have the right depth for your spacers.  The one gal uses a cooking spray for release - the example I saw was poured into a WAX PAPER LINED container - wax paper still intact upon extraction.  Which I think would be a good thing to keep your "cakes" separate and ready-to-apply.

And by all means - GOOGLE - "sugar board" recipes - there are a TON out there.

here's a youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD-dwW7ryAA

Beekeeper Fred is WEIGHING his hive....

I have placed a hive on an old baggage scale.  This will permit me to measure the hive weight change daily.  Thus I should be able to identify the dates of the major honey flows in my area.  Bees enter and exit the indoor hive via two PVC pipes plumbed through the honey house wall. 

The data has been compiling since 4/22/2014

Click to view spreadsheet:  File update: 6/16/2014

ECWBA newsletter May 31

ECWBA Meeting Schedule 2014
• June 7, 2014.  Start time is 2:00 pm.  Location is at Denise Palkovich’s apiary.  See “field day” note below for meeting details.
• August 2, 2014.  Location is Ripon Public Library, Silver Creek Room.  Start time is 9:30 am.
• September, 2014.  Location will be Fond du Lac.  Date and time to be determined.

June Field Day
This year’s field day will be hosted by Denise Palkovich at her apiary on June 7, 2014.  We will get started at 2:00 pm.  Unless something comes up, there is not a formal meeting to take place, just a few announcements.  Denise will show us her beehives.  Then at about 3:00 pm, Craig Petros, the State Apiary Inspector, will arrive to demonstrate his process of inspecting beehives for the state.

Address and Driving directions:  Address is:  N7928 County Road WH, Fond du Lac.  To drive there:  On the east side of Fond du Lac, travel north on Highway 151.  There is a stop light at the intersection of Hwy. 151 and Hwy. WH.  Turn and travel east on WH from off of Hwy. 151.  Go up and around the corner staying on WH. Denise will try to post a sign out front.  (Denise has already posted a map on the ECWBA website - under the PLACES tab.)

FULL BEEKEEPING ATTIRE is REQUIRED if you're going to participate in the beekeeping.  It's not a bad idea to bring a chair for yourself as well.


Beeswax Wanted
Mary Rechek is looking for beeswax for some craft projects.  If you have extra beeswax, you can work out the details with Mary by e-mail at  rechek@epi.ophth.wisc.edu .

ECWBA Library
The ECWBA maintains a library from which members can check out beekeeping books.  Andy Krueger has been doing a great job as our association librarian.  If you have ECWBA books, please bring them back so we can keep those books circulating.  If you are exploring something new in beekeeping, the library probably has a book or DVD for you to check out.  This is a valuable resource – use it to your advantage!!!


Beekeeping Notes:
• This is prime swarm season.  Give the honey bees plenty of room in the way of an extra brood chamber or added supers.  Splitting colonies also helps to prevent swarms.
• Summer has come along quickly this year.  And so, the nectar flow in on.  Be prepared with plenty of supers ready to go to capture the harvest.
• Also, start planning in advance about how you will handle the honey harvest this year.  Arrange for extracting equipment, comb honey handling equipment, storage containers (small jars up to 5 gal. pails), etc.


Best of Beekeeping,
Jeff Champeau