Tidewater Beekeepers Association

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1 Tidewater Beekeepers Association Volume 10, Number 9 September 2013 INSIDE THIS ISSUE September Yard Notes AFB in Hampton Roads Meeting Recap: Fall Management New-bee Corner 3 In the Kitchen 4 BEEKEEPING EVENTS Next Meeting: Topic: Ask the Expert Open Forum (Bring your questions for the experts!) Date: Thursday, October 3, 2013 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: Towne Bank Hall 137 Mt. Pleasant Road Chesapeake, VA Virginia State Beekeeper s Meeting: VSBA 2013 Fall Conference Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013 Place: Blue Ridge Community College, Weyers Cave, VA Hosted by: Shenandoah Valley Beekeepers Association CLUB OFFICERS President: Leif Berner VP: Buck Hodges Treasurer: John Steffel Secretary: Deborah Simms Newsletter Editors: Pat Knight and Erika Frydenlund September Yard Notes By Pat Knight, Qualified Master Beekeeper Well, it s that time of year again! As we learned last month, this is the beginning of the year in the bee yard. The things you do now to prepare your bees for winter will help you emerge in spring with a healthy hive! The baby bees hatching now will live through the winter and become strong foragers next spring. Here in Suffolk, we are lucky to have a fall honey harvest from cotton. The farmer who rents our land planted cotton here this year. Some of you brought hives out to reap some of this golden bounty. It s time to come pick them up at your convenience. I pulled my honey supers last Saturday with the help of new beekeeper, Larry Bilby, and my faithful husband, Leon. It was full day of work and laughter, including lots of shared knowledge and new ideas. If any of you have been keeping bees for more than a year you should sign up to be a mentor. It benefits everyone! You get to share ideas and knowledge, you get helping hands, the newbie gets to learn lots of new stuff he can then go home and try on his bees. After pulling my honey supers, I have several things I do to get my bees ready for winter. After pulling supers and extracting honey I put the supers back on a hive for a few days. It gives the bees a quick food source, something to do now that honey flow is over, and they enjoy their job. After a few days, I pull the supers and bag them up in garbage bags and put mothballs in each bag. Be sure the mothballs are para-diclorobenzene. There are other kinds, but these are the old-fashioned type available everywhere. We place a handful in a coffee filter on the top of Virginia s Largest Beekeeping Organization Benefits of a mentor relationship: New beekeeper Larry Bilby helps Leon & Pat Knight extract honey each box. You can get 2-3 honey supers in a bag. This will keep all the moths and other critters out until spring. I ve heard other ideas, but this is what works for me. Store your boxes out of the way until spring. Next, I check for pests and signs of disease. I get my hives into my winter configuration during this inspection. I run 8-frame medium hive bodies, 3-4 boxes deep depending on amount of bees in hive. I find the queen and mark her (again), and put her box on the bottom next to the screened bottom board. I am careful to keep the brood in the center of each box, with honey stores on the outside frames. The hive will cluster over the brood and queen and move up over time consuming these stores. If all looks good I dust each box with powder sugar to cut down on mites. Mites fall

2 Page 2 September Yard Notes (cont.) off or get removed as the bees lick each other and clean the hive while enjoying the tasty treat. Also, it s a good laugh to see the little powder sugar ghost bees flying around! I don t use chemicals on my bees so this is my way of dealing with pests. You can do whatever works for you! I intend to go back in a few days and put 3 drops of Wintergreen essential oil (more than 3 drives the bees out) on a bar coaster and put it on top of the frames in the top box and leave for no more than 3 days. This will drive the hive beetles out of the boxes. Ann Harmon recommended this method, so I am going to try it this year! There are still a lot of flowers blooming that your bees will enjoy. I love seeing all the different colors of pollen coming in! When Goldenrod blooms, the hive smells like it! Enjoy! the Forager Beekeepers need to know what they re looking for so they can detect problems like AFB early detection is key. American Foulbrood in Hampton Roads Early in September, the Nansemond Beekeepers Association hosted a meeting featuring Virginia State Apiarist, Keith Tignor, to dispel rumors about an American Foulbrood (AFB) outbreak in Hampton Roads. The special meeting included several of the local agricultural inspectors and representatives from the local beekeeping clubs. Tignor reported that there are, in fact, four confirmed cases of AFB in Holland, Virginia but emphasized that this is not an outbreak. The meeting was called to address the fact that many beekeepers don t know what they are looking for, and therefore risk future outbreaks of the devastating disease. Agricultural inspectors discovered the first local AFB case after a diligent beekeeper reported it. From there, they began inspecting hives nearby only to find that AFB was present, but the beekeepers were unable to identify it. While there is not currently an AFB outbreak, we must address the fact that beekeepers need to know what they re looking for so they can detect problems like AFB early detection is key. Here are some highlights from the meeting: AFB occurs in other pollinators and is almost certainly inside most hives. Manage spore accumulation by replacing woodenware/ foundation every three to five years (replace 2-3 frames per box per year). During inspections, look for moist, darkened, sunken, or oily cappings with suspicious puncture holes (usually toward the sides). If you notice this, uncap a few. Pearly white larvae inside is a good sign. If you see brown goo, or scales stuck to the side, you have a problem. Know your local/regional inspector. If you suspect AFB, the inspector will prioritize your request to help you identify and control the problem. Caught early, AFB can be controlled and treated. Left unaddressed, the hive will become weak and vulnerable to robbing, which will contaminate nearby hives. If your hive smells bad, it s already too late. Familiarize yourself with signs and symptoms of major hive diseases/ problems, and communicate openly and honestly with local inspectors. To refresh your memory on hive diseases and prevention, you can find resources in the members section of the TBA website. Above: Insert a toothpick and look for a sticky, ropey substance to indicate AFB Below: Look for suspicious holes and sunken, greasy brood cappings that indicate decaying pupae inside

3 the Forager Page 3 New-bee Corner Beeyard Inspection with Tarek and Diana Zaki Top Right: The Zaki garden (soon to be featured in a garden tour, congrats Diana!) and beeyard Above: This is what happens if you forget to put frames back in under the queen excluder Below: carefully working through a topbar hive By Erika Frydenlund, Photos by Emi Frydenlund In the spirit of the New-bee Corner of the newsletter, I m visiting TBA members beeyards to put in a little sweat equity, get to know my fellow club members, and get some advice for my own hives. This month, I m featuring the Zaki beeyard in Virginia Beach. Tarek and Diana invited my mother and me to their house to watch the state inspector go through their many hives (more about him next month). Nearly 4 hours of queen-spotting, broodadmiring, and beetle-squishing (and sweating, sweating, sweating) later, I had a new appreciation for the care and attention it takes to maintain so many healthy hives. Set in a pollinator paradise that only a dedicated Master Gardener (Diana) can manage and maintain, the Zaki honeybees are surrounded by an impressive array of fruiting citrus trees, flowers for every season, and ample access to water. Forget traditional white boxes. Each hive body is hand painted with rainbows of bees, butterflies, and flowers. Together with the state inspector, we went over each hive, stopping only to color some unmarked queens. (I m not sure the color suited them, given the way they ran from the pen.) We even had to chase a fleeing queen around her hive for a few minutes. (Caution: Over-blotting may cause respiratory failure in bees.) While getting my very first bee sting (ever in my life), I learned that if you leave a queen excluder on a box missing frames, the bees will just hang some of their own comb from the metal bars. Voila! Top bar/langstroth hybrid hive! Here s a summary of my Q&A session with Tarek and Diana after the inspection while we sipped their trademark mint limeade drink: How long have you been beekeeping? 3 years Who is your mentor? C. E. Harris (who they tell me manages his hives in shorts and flip-flops-- I have to see that!) How/why did you first get interested in bees? Diana met a Master Gardener who kept bees and thought it sounded interesting. This gardener, TBA member Leilani Ozment, recommended they attend TBA meetings and the rest is history. For them, it s not all about the honey. It s about doing their part for the planet and spreading the word about the importance of honeybees. Can you share an early beekeeping memory? Tarek got a swarm from his mentor, C.E. before he had finished building his hive. The timing was terrible it was the same weekend as their son s wedding but C.E. helped them get it finished in a hurry and got the bees settled into their new home.

4 Page 4 New-bee Corner (cont.) What advice would you give a new beekeeper? Make sure to show appreciation to your mentor. This can be through sweat equity, baking cookies, or contributing in some other way. Remember it s give and take not take and take. (You don t want them to ignore your calls!) Tarek offered the first swarm he caught to his mentor C.E. who was happy to put them to work. Another important piece of advice: always have extra supplies on hand. You will need extra boxes, frames, feeders, etc. If you re going to make/buy two, then go ahead and just get four. Nothing will be wasted. Thanks, Tarek and Diana, for sharing your urban oasis with me. I learned a lot from your hive management skills, the chance to observe the state inspector, your beautiful garden design, and the rich conversation over refreshments. the Forager Above: VDACS Inspector, Mohamed Abdella works through one of the hives Left: (from left to right) Tarek Zaki, Erika Frydenlund, Diana Zaki, and Mohamed Abdella Meeting Recap: Fall Management with C.E. Harris The theme of September and October is prepping your bees for winter. Here are a few of the many useful suggestions C.E. offered during his presentation: Varroa mites are a big problem in Virginia. Treat for them now, or suffer the consequences of weak bees and vulnerability to disease. Check your population. Winter cluster size should be about as big as a soccer ball. Find your queen! Check every frame. Ensure they have enough food stores to go into winter, but don t overfeed. Keep brood frames close together. Pollen should be on the outer edges, not brood. Wind and moisture are your enemies in winter. Create a windbreak and manage signs of moisture. Winter feed: 2:1 sugar/water ratio For the full notes, see the Meeting Minutes section of the TBA website (Thanks, Deborah Sims!) Below: C.E. Harris conducts fall hive inspections and never misses a chance to share his experience and knowledge.

5 the Forager Pam Williams Honey Cookies featured at the last TBA meeting In the Kitchen Honey Cookies Courtesy of Tom & Pam Williams Dreaming of the Honey Cookies from the last TBA meeting? Here s the recipe: Ingredients 1-1/2 cups shortening 2 cups packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1/2 cup honey 1 teaspoon lemon extract 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Directions In a large bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in honey and extract. Combine the remaining ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Drop rounded teaspoon sized dough on ungreased baking sheets 1 apart. Bake at 350 for minutes or until golden brown. Place on wire racks to cool. Yield: Approximately 8 dozen. French Canelés Courtesy of Janet Westrich Page 5 Looking for a fun way to use beeswax? Try baking with it. Canelés are a French pastry made by melting a one to one ratio of butter and beeswax into a copper mold. The beeswax gives the canelés a crispy (edible) exterior. Officially called Canelés de Bordeaux, the Food Network likens these small pastries to portable crème brûlée due to the contrast between the crispy exterior and custard-like interior. Creating this dessert treat is not for the faint of heart. Food Network advises using copper molds and allowing the batter to rest for the full 12 hours. If the cookware and timing requirements don t deter you, there s an instructional video on YouTube and a full recipe on the Food Network website. If you give it a try, make sure to bring them to the next TBA meeting! Announcements Contribute to the newsletter! Club Polo Shirts Bee Emergency Responders Need Woodenware? We want your input and feedback. Submissions due no later than the 15 th of every month. Please send your ideas, stories, and feedback to Pat and Erika at: lpkpjk@mac.com and hokiestats@gmail.com $20 Each. Available in Bee Belly Yellow or Bee Belly Black (S, M, L, XL, XXL). Purchase at the monthly meeting. Make checks payable to Tidewater Beekeepers Association. Volunteer to be a First Responder for bee swarms, Africanized bee reports, or other bee emergencies. All experience levels welcome. If interested, contact Hodgie Holgerson at hajhi100@cox.net Contact Andy Westrich (jandy618@juno.com) to get a price list/order form for available woodenware and organize pick-up at the monthly meeting. Cash or checks only. We re on the Web! ers.net