The BuzzWord March 2009 Welcome to the Madison County Beekeepers Association s Newsletter. The BuzzWord is published for, and by the members of the Madison County Association, to inform its members of matters pertaining to the business of beekeeping. Edited by Family Bradshaw. The object of this Association shall be to assist in checking the spread of bee diseases; to spread information concerning improved methods of production; to secure recognition of the industry at state and county fairs; to inform the public as to the value of honey as a food; and of the importance of the business of honey production; and the value of bees to other crops; and to elevate the business of beekeeping to a place of eminence among agricultural activities. Presidents Corner The weather has dramatically improved the last week or so. Bradford pears, crabapple, forsythia and other plants are in bloom, with more to soon follow. Now is the time to have your pollen traps on if you plan to harvest pollen. You will still need to check for any weak hives and feed any you find. The Boardman feeder, that is the one that sits outside the hive in a holder with a quart bottle, is not recommended for feeding if there are other stronger hives in the vicinity because the other stronger hives will rob it and may kill the weak colony that you are trying to feed. If you plan to make your own splits, leaving them to raise their own queen, first check some of your hives for the presence of drones to make sure there are plenty of those around to mate with the new virgin queens. Plan to attend our meeting this Thursday and get further updates for your hives from the Beginners Corner by Bobby Fanning. Our Program Speaker this meeting features Denis Barcliff, Chief of the State Apiary Department and who is also one of our favorite speakers. Also, I will announce a new program for the Association wherein each year some Association members will be awarded Certificates for their participation in advancing the goals of the Association. You won t want to miss being among the first to learn of this one-of-a-kind award program for beekeepers in the State of Alabama. And Madison County of course is leading the way on this important effort. Looking Forward To Seeing You All There, Hal Green, Pres., MCBA Beginners Corner Note: See alabees.com for more details An interview with Bob Fanning: Buzzword: In order to prevent swarming using the hive body swap method, what are methods to determine where the hive ball is? Bob: Generally speaking, you gotta pull a frame in the top box and see where the ball is. The frame should be pulled from the center of where the bulk of the bees are. If the box is just full of bees and you can t really see any area of concentration, then pull the frame from the center of the super.
has passed. If the boxes are swapped and there is no food above the cluster (after the swap) and you have a few days of real cold weather, the bees can starve. They tend to eat up and not down. If you make the split using a purchased queen, do it as soon as you can get queens (and that may be too late). If you do a walk away split (no queen let them grow their own) make it anytime after mid March; preferably by the first of April. If it is to be left in the donor yard, shake lots of extra bees because the field bees will go back to the donor hive(s) and may not leave enough bees to cover and keep the brood warm. That is not near as important if the split is moved a mile away as soon as the split is made. What s a Bee Gum? You are right again; it s a bee hive but a kind of special bee hive. The original Bee Gum was a chunk of a hollow tree usually a Black Gum tree. Black Gum trees (Tupelo) grow best in swampy areas. When they die standing, the non cambium layer starts to rot. The center eventually becomes sponge like. When the tree gets hit by lightening (or set fire by a beekeeper) the center often burns leaving the outer cambium layer intact. This produces a hollow Black Gum log. Buzzword: When is the best time to do the swap? Bob: This can get dicey. You need to wait until most of the deep cold weather Beekeepers would cut these Black Gum logs in sections, add a top, bottom and entrance hole and use them for beehives. Thus the name Bee Gum. Incidentally, they placed a cross made from 2 sticks about half way down. Below the cross was the brood chamber and above was the production space from which honey was removed.
This practice continued for a very long time. Then one day, it occurred to an enterprising beekeeper that a square hollow tree might work just as well as a round one. So he set out to build a square one out of wide wood boards. He did and it worked just as well but didn t shed the name Bee Gum. These Be Gums were pretty much the dominant bee box until a fellow by the name of Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth discovered the bee space back around 1851. The bee space discovery led to the development of the modern day Langstroth hive that is pretty much used world wide. It was tagged with the name Langstroth Hive. I ll bet that fact didn t surprise you! Even the Langstroth hive is sometimes called a Bee Gum! Or at least that s the way that I heard it! Submitted By Bob Fanning News and Events Amanda Cambron, 7th grade (daughter of MCBA members Chris and Laura Cambron) and Savannah Ogle, 8th grade (daughter of Allan and Tammy Ogle) will be receiving the Girl Scouts Life-saving Medal of Honor at their Court of Awards next month on April 24, 2009 at 6:00 in the evening at Walnut Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church located at 729 New Hope-Cedar Point Road in New Hope, AL. These two remarkable young ladies assisted to rescue two men from a Class IV hydraulic rapid in the Olympic section of the Ocoee River September 2008 during a whitewater rafting trip. At the time of the event, these girls were 12 and 13 respectively. These men were thrown into the river when their raft flipped over on a rock. The men missed the rescue ropes, and the girls assisted to paddle their own raft back into the hydraulic, then held the raft steady as the men were pulled out of the river into the raft. The girls are Cadette Girl Scouts with Troop 285 in New Hope, AL. Submitted by: Laura Cambron, Troop Advisor (Amanda s mom) Girl Scout Troop 285 Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama honeybee.lady@yahoo.com MCBA will have a booth at the Earth Day Festivities on 18 Apr from 9 to 5 at Hay Nature Preserve. Hay Nature Preserve is located on the east side off HWY 431 a mile or so south of the Hampton Cove Intersection. The entrance to the Preserve is not too well marked, but if you pay close attention while driving in the area, you will find the entrance. Perhaps it will be marked better at the time of this event. Francis Akridge is taking care of the arrangements for our booth. If you would like to help, please contact Bob Fanning. We will have displays and handouts. One of the handouts will be a list of those who are on the honey sellers list and swarm list on our website. If you are not on the list and want to be, contact Bill Bradshaw to be added to the list. Contact Bill if you are currently on the list and want to be removed from the current list. RECIPE CORNER Classic Honey Flan Serving Size: 4
Ingredients 3 eggs -- beaten 1 1/2 cups 2% low-fat milk 1/2 cup honey -- divided 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon Directions Combine eggs, milk, 1/4 cup honey and vanilla. Beat until mixed but not foamy. Combine remaining 1/4 cup honey and cinnamon in small bowl; mix well. Place 4 (6-ounce) custard cups in 8- inch square baking dish. Spoon 1 tablespoon honey-cinnamon mixture into each custard cup; divide egg mixture into each custard cup. Place baking dish on middle rack of oven; pour boiling water into baking dish around custard cups to 1-inch depth. Bake at 325ºF 30 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Loosen edges of individual custards with spatula or knife; invert onto dessert plates. Serve warm or cold. Source: "The National Honey Board" http://www.honey.com/ To submit articles or items for sale, or if you have comments, send them to Bradshaw@knology.net or: William T. Bradshaw 118 Cheyenne Trl. Huntsville, AL 35806
Madison County Beekeepers Association Meeting Minutes January 15, 2009 I. Call to order II. Hal Green, MCBA president called to order the regular meeting of the Madison County Beekeepers Association at 6:30 p.m. on January 15, 2009 in the Education Room of the Huntsville/Madison County Botanical Gardens. There were 55 members and guest present. New members and guests were welcomed Beginners Corner Beginners Corner was presented by Bob Fanning. Francis Akridge was recognized for her excellent publicity efforts promoting the Beginner s Beekeeping Class. 73 students participated in the first class for 2009. Get medications out of the hives now to prepare for the Spring honey flow. Continue to check the hives for food stores. There needs to be 30 to 60 pounds of honey in the hives. If in doubt, feed the bees!!! Feed a strong sugar solution now and pollen substitute Clean up dead-out equipment. Get frames ready for foundation, but don t put the foundation in the frames yet. Paint new wood now. III. Committee Reports a) Bob Fanning made a motion to accept the secretary's as posted on Alabees.com. Hal Green seconded the motion and the members voted to accept the reports as posted on alabees.com. b) Beth Dunson gave the treasurer s report. c) Bill Mullins gave the ALFA report and announced the upcoming Commodity Conference on 2/3/09. Lionel Evans will be awarded the Commodity Bee & Honey Outstanding Beekeeper award for Limestone County. d) There was no Alabama A&M report. e) Frances Akridge announced that she was accepting donations to give gift baskets to the Marketing Director and President of the Huntsville-Madison County Botanical Gardens. f) Bob Martin gave the alabees.com web page report. MCBA almost exceeded its bandwidth in December. The alabees.com domain name has been secured for the next 10 years. g) Maynard Dalton reported on the YBBP. He reported that the young people in his beekeeping class meet every 6 weeks. The current YBBP was not present to give his report. h) Bob Fanning reported on that given the size of the current Beginning Beekeeping Class, he is now trying to secure additional classroom space to split the class. Walt Wright discussed using Permacomb for feeding. He is selling boxes and Permacomb. i) Lionel Evans announced he has 400 hive body frames and 400 sheets of plastic foundation for sale. V. Old Business 1) Dale Rohe researched plastic honey jars and Lionel Evans researched the cost of jar lids. The pint and quart plastic jars use standard lids. With bulk orders the pint jars can be obtained for 17
VI. VII. VIII. each and the quart jars can be obtained for 23 each. Jar lids can be obtained for 11 each if a minimum of 30 cases are ordered. The minimum order for the jars is 22 pallets or 1 truckload. 8 members present at the meeting voiced interest in purchasing the plastic jars and 15 members present voiced interest in purchasing the lids. Laura Cambron will send out an email to the membership to find out if there is any group interest in purchasing the jars and lids. 2) Information and the applications for the YBBP will be posted on the alabees.com webpage. New Business No new business was discussed. Program 1) Bob Fanning and Roger Owens presented a program on making splits. 2) The next meeting will be March 12, 2009 and Dennis Barcliff, state apiarist will present the program. Adjournment The meeting was adjourned by Hal Green at 8:30pm Minutes submitted by: Laura Cambron (Secretary) FINANCIAL REPORT Checking account thru Feb. 27 is $385.08 Savings account $1179.08