T H E H O N E Y B E E T I M E

Transcription

1 #1435 Vol 3 Iss 2 T H E H O N E Y B E E T I M E S OFFICERS President Larry Theurer larry1724@aol.com Vice-President Paul Buser buserpaul@yahoo.com Treasurer Tony Indovina indotnbs@yahoo.com Secretary Julie Haumschild jhaumschild52@gmail.com GCBA P.O. Box Middleburg Hts., OH greaterclevelandbeekeepers.com DIRECTORS Mark Vandayburg markvandayburg@gmail.com Gary Laisy garya.laisy@energizer.com Mike Gallagher Past President Dennis Eck denscritters@yahoo.com Web Master: Kathy Smith ksmith@lakenetwork.net Editor: Allyson Kozak GCBAeditor@gmail.com Table of Contents President s Message 2 Upcoming Events 3 Facebook Page 3 Update from Department of 3-4 Agriculture Page 1 of 5

2 President s Message Hello Fellow BeeKeepers! It's February and only a short time until it's finally Spring. It has been a very strange Winter so far. Even though it has been kind of warm, there seems to be a large number of hive losses this year; we will have to wait until Spring for a final count and assess any of our losses. At this time, I would like to introduce some special people who stepped up to fill the vacant Officer positions: Mike Gallagher for taking over Tony Indovina's 1 year Director term and Julie Haumschild who will be our Secretary. Both positions were approved by the Board of Directors. Next, the Officers would like to congratulate our Scholarship winners for 2017 Isaac Wilhelm Vitu and Corbin Werry. It was a very difficult decision as all of the entries were very informative, entertaining and put together nicely. Let's all work to help both of these young people succeed. Also, thank you to Stephanie Smith for volunteering to be our Field Day Chairperson, to Michael Gallagher for chairing our July Pic-nic and to Phil & Gayle Bartosh who will head up the Earth Day Event on April 22, 2017 (Actual Earth Day this year) at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds in Berea, Ohio. If you can help out at ANY of these Events, please contact them to sign up. Once again GCBA will be raffling off TWO (2) three pound packages of bees and ONE (1) three pound package of bees INSTALLED in a Basic Hive. More details will be at the Classes and the Monthly Meeting. Finally, welcome to our New Member Families and all of our returning Members. Over the years our love and enjoyment of beekeeping has let to some close and lasting friendships with many of our membership and we hope this will also be the case for our newest members. The Members who have contributed with Pastry & Goodies is greatly appreciated!!! We have some great Speakers lined up for 2017, so please make sure that we have a LEGIBLE address so that you can see what is coming up. We would also like to make sure you check out our Website at and our FaceBook page at (you do not have to have a FaceBook subscription to access our page, this just means you cannot comment on any of the Posts). I'm looking forward to seeing you each month. Larry Page 2 of 5

3 Upcoming Events GCBA Beginning Beekeeping Classes Rocky River Nature Center Wednesdays in February 2017: Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22 7 to 9 PM Rocky River Nature Center, Cleveland Metroparks Valley Parkway, North Olmsted, Ohio Check out our Facebook Page! Please check out the Club s Facebook page so much interesting information updated frequently!!! Update from Ohio Department of Agriculture Honey Bees Need Winter Attention With potentially warmer temperatures this coming week, beekeepers should take the time to check their bees. Steps can be taken now to reduce losses or at least avoid further losses. Research has shown that with a warmer, prolonged fall and early winter months, honey bees Page 3 of 5

4 continue to be active and hunt for food. Once the floral sources are gone, they scavenge weaker colonies. As they are robbing, varroa mites on the weaker colonies grab onto the robbers and are taken to the strong hive. Even small brood nests can be infested with several mites crawling into each larval cell and reproducing. With a smaller cluster of honey bees, the mites can cause a great deal of damage to the brood and adult bees. It has been shown that bees in the fall have higher levels and more types of viruses that are vectored by the mites, so honey bees at this time of year can have very high levels of viruses. Sick bees will fly from the nest to die, thus gradually the number of bees in the hive drops to a small grapefruit sized cluster that can no longer keep the colony warm. Even if you treated for mites in October- early November, the mite population can be extremely high now. This weekend, sample your hives for mites. Check the sticky board under the hive or test bees. The only miticide available this time of year is oxalic acid which can be used as vapor or as a dribble. Follow label directions and protect yourself if you plan to treat. Move frames of honey from the outside walls to the center of each box, and place boxes of honey on top of the cluster. Bees tend to move straight up and can die with honey one frame away from the cluster. Provide fondant or dry sugar if the bees have consumed all their honey. Do NOT feed honey from other sources to your bees as they can contract American foulbrood from other bees honey, even store bought honey. These tips may prevent more managed hives from dying. Since ODA does not have all the s of beekeepers, please pass this message along to your beekeeper contacts. If you have any questions please see my contact information below. Thank you! Barbara Bloetscher State Apiarist/Entomologist Ohio Department of Agriculture Plant Health Bldg # East Main St. Reynoldsburg, OH ODA Apiary website: Fax BBloetscher@agri.ohio.gov Page 4 of 5

5 Page 5 of 5