NEWSLETTER. President s Message November 2012 Richard Ellis

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1 President s Message November 2012 Richard Ellis We have come to the close of another year of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association. It has been my privilege to serve as your president for the past two years. I want to thank the officers who served so well and faithfully to make this past year a success. It is with your attendance at the meeting that we were able to have such a good success. Without your attendance we could not function as a organization. We want to thank you the members for your helping to make the Wasatch Beekeepers Association a great organization. Thanks to all of you for attending the last meeting of the year. Because of you we had a great pot luck dinner. Wishing you the best with for the coming holidays and may you have a prosperous new year. See you all next year. November 2012 NEWSLETTER Bait Hive Challenge Utah 2013 Season We will be operating on the honor system. This is a challenge to capture swarms in nucs, hive boxes or something that you have physically and intentionally placed there for the purpose of a swarm capture. The bees must move into your trap on their own. Catching one of your own swarms is ok as long as they move into your bait hive that was intentionally placed before the swarm began. Swarm removals/extractions do not count. Manual capture of swarm does not count. Sign up on Facebook to participate. George Denton South Jordan, UT Cell/Text jorge.denton@gmail.com The limits of my language mean the limits of my world. ~Ludwig Wittgenstein

2 Wasatch Beekeepers Association 2013 Presidency Elected by the members at the annual pot luck dinner on Thursday, November 15th, Bevin Weed President Dana Smith Treasurer Brent Carlisle Vice-President Alert Chubak Program Director Linda Parker Secretary Denise B. Hunsaker Public Relations

3 How To Winterize Your Hive Even In Very Cold Weather by Ron Upshaw founder of WorldOfBeekeeping.com First thing you should know about winterizing bees is that bees don t hibernate. They cluster into a ball the size of a soccer ball, or melon. The bees on the inside stay warm, and the bees on the outside vibrate their wings to generate warmth. They take turns being on the inside and the outside. (The queen remains in the middle.) Throughout the winter, the bees move through the hive and eat up their honey stores. Hopefully you ve got enough pollen and honey or have given them enough sugar water to help them build up their stores through the previous months of the year. You should do a few things to help them stay warm through the winter. First you may want to get some grease patties which help prevent mites from hurting your bees. The bees really don t like these patties and will slowly break them up and that s what you want to have happen so they spread these patties around and therefore help prevent mites. Here s How To Make Grease Patties One batch will treat 8-10 hives. You can easily increase or decrease the recipe size depending on your needs. Ingredients: 4.4 pounds (2 kg) granulated sugar 3 ounces (90 ml) corn oil or Canola Oil 1.5 pounds (0.7 kg) vegetable shortening (Crisco) 1 pound (454 g) honey 1/2 pound (227 g) mineral salt (pink color) 2.2 ounces (65 ml) wintergreen oil (or tea tree oil) How To Put It All Together: Step 1: Mash up the salt so that it mixes evenly throughout the patty. This also prevents water droplets from forming around salt crystals. Step 2: Mix all the ingredients really well using protective gloves. Step 3: Make patties the size of small hamburgers. Step 4: Store in freezer until ready to use. You want to put about 2 patties on top of the frames per hive. Why should you care about air flow in the winter? Because the bees

4 keep the temperature of their huddle at about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That causes condensation at the top of the hive cover. And that condensation can drip back down on the bees, can cause other problems. So you want the air to be able to get out of the top of the hive. So whatever you do, let the top of your hive breathe. Again though, it s not necessary to use tar paper even. Most of the time the bees will do fine without unless you re in really cold environments. (I don t always use tar paper because I m in the Seattle Washington area, and we usually have fairly mild winters, plus where I keep my hives is very protected against the wind with trees on all sides.) Also, a lot of your bees will die over the winter, it just happens. There s very little to nothing you can do about it. You ll want to go take some trips out to the hive and clear out the bottom entrance. Sadly, there will be dead bees in the entrance. If it s snowed, you ll want to clear that out as well. A bent coat hanger works great for that purpose. As beekeepers we want to do everything we can to have healthy and happy bees. And we can do a lot for our bees. At the same time, remember that bees are part of our environment, and they often live through the winter just fine without our help in the wild (in natural hives all around.) That being said, we should obviously do our best to help, just remember to do your best and then trust in nature and the bees to do the rest. Photo by Mariusz Nikiciuk Ogrodniki, Podlaskie

5 Door Prizes Eco Bee Box Much requested Spinach Dip Recipe 2-8 oz. packages of cream cheese 1-10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach(thawed, remove all moisture) 2 c. Italian flavored shredded cheese blend 1 T. Red Hot hot sauce 1 T. garlic powder 2 T. olive oil 3/4 c. milk Combine in slow cooker over med-low heat until melted From Emilee Parry Knight Family Honey: 3 lb. package of Italian Bees 4 lb. package of Italian Bees Veil Green top & bottom boards 1/2 off second step lessons Jones Bees: 4-$10 Gift certificates Bee Culture Magazine: ABC-XYZ of Beekeeping Book Mann-Lake: Multiple hive tools Multiple queen excluders many, many beekeeping items Eco Bee Box: Camouflage beehive Totems Bar & Grill: $25 gift certificate Crone s Hollow: Gift certificate for personal reading and many many more prizes