journal texas beekeepers association · 2016-10-11 · perfect follow-up of beekeeping for dummies....

May/June 2013 Issue 13-3www.texasbeekeepers.org

The Texas Beekeepers Association

ournalJTexas - Honey Flow

THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION22 Issue 13-3

THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION 3May/June 2013

President’s Reportfrom Blake Shook

The Traits of Success

What a wonderful turnout at this year’s summer clinic! A huge thank you is due to Dick Counts for arranging the clinic, the Walkers for being the perfect hosts, the sponsoring Association, Williamson County Area Beekepers Association and to Jimmie and Kay Oakley. We were honored to have Dr. and Mrs. Ragsdale in attendance as well as Dr. Juliana Rangel, our new bee research leader at A&M. I was also very excited to see many new faces at the clinic. There were representatives from 4 brand new beekeeping clubs! It is exciting to see beekeeping continue to grow in our state. Dr. John Thomas, former Entomologist from A&M, asked a very interesting and thought provoking question during the summer clinic. He asked why we see so many beekeepers currently going bankrupt and yet we see other beekeeping companies thriving, expanding, and doing well during what seems to be such a challenging time for our industry. As I thought about that question I realized that many successful beekeeping operations share similar traits. Here are a few of the many positive traits I have noticed as I have observed successful beekeeping companies:

1. Adaptability. If the honey flow is a bust in one area, they are able to quickly go elsewhere. No need for their bees in California? No problem; they make an early honey crop instead, or make more splits to make a larger honey crop, later in the year. Neither they, nor their bees are ever idle, and a back up plan is always at hand. 2. Hard Workers. All of the successful beekeepers I know have an incredible work ethic. No matter what it takes to take proper care of their bees, they will make it happen regardless of weather or anything that stands in the way. Rain, snow, hot or cold, they are always ready to do what is best for their hives. 3. Long term mindset. If a hive is weak, they don’t spend

money on syrup, treatment, etc. They combine it and move on. They take their losses early rather than babying “welfare” hives. Money is spent to feed bees syrup and protein and there is no skimping care of vibrant hives. Everything is done with the bees’ long-term health in mind. It’s all about strong hives. Ten strong hives will out produce 50 weak hives anytime. They are not normally willing to spare any expense to sacrifice short-term gain when it will hinder the next event the bees need to be strong for. 4. Strong relationships. We often overlook the importance of friends. Many successful beekeepers have a huge network of friends, who at a moment’s notice will help in any way. Money can never buy those types of relationships, and our small industry is in many ways, built upon those personal relationships. 5. Care for hives in a timely manner. Again, the bees come first in their business. When they need care, no matter what it takes, no matter the weather, the bees get the care they need. This includes feeding on time, treating for mites on time and moving them to or from a honey crop on time. As difficult as it is to raise healthy bees these days, there is no room for error when it comes to dealing with the essentials. 6. Never straying too far from the basics. Remembering the basic needs bees have will make a huge difference in any operation. Things such as food, water, space and health are things beekeepers must constantly pay close attention to.

There are many other factors that make up a successful beekeeping operation, but those are a few quick common factors you will often notice. The bottom line is, take care of your bees, and they will take care of you. It was wonderful to see many of you at our Summer Clinic, and I look forward to seeing you in November at our Annual Convention! Best of luck on your honey crop this year!

In This IssuePresident’s Report.......................................................... 3Vice-President’s Report.................................................. 4Director’s Report............................................................ 5Book Review................................................................... 5The Buds and the Bees..................................................... 6Honey Bees at Center of Controversy............................... 8Update from Honey Bee Lab...........................................10The Brantley Column.....................................................12Defending Managed and Native Pollinators....................13Beekeeping Tips............................................................14

Honey Laundering - A Primer..........................................15Honey Queen Report......................................................16Summer Clinic Report.................................................... 18Nacogdoches Fire Dept. Tackles Bees...............................20Winter Loss Survey.........................................................21Plight of the Honey Bee...................................................224-H Beekeeping Essay Contest.........................................26Local Associations’ Listing...............................................28Membership Report.........................................................30


Vice President’s Reportfrom Chris Moore

Plan B.....Again

Q: How’s the bee business ? A: It’s Sticky…. in a lot of ways

Plan B…… Again

Like I have said, in beekeeping, you have to roll with the punches. From last July to this spring, we lost 42% of our hives. Unfortunately, 30-50% losses have become normal since CCD in 2006 for most commercial beekeepers. The issue we are facing this year is that our remaining 58% were not strong enough to make up our losses. So the plan this year is to not just split in the spring, but again in the summer. This equates to less income and more expenses this year, but I am hoping we will benefit next year. Yet another gamble, if only I had a crystal ball. Our honey flow here on the coast started two weeks late this year. It gave the hives more time to grow, which is good, but how long will the flow last? It’s to early to tell. Reports from the Huajilla (Wa-hee-Ya) flow have not been

good. Not much was produced. I hope your area in more productive My conversations with TDA about the Go Texan program have once again gone cold. I am still sitting on my article titled “TDA “Go Texan” program hurts Texas Agriculture !!!” at the request of TDA. It may however be in the next journal. We’ll see. We may need to pursue some changes via Texas Legislature. Be sure and put the TBA Convention on your calendar and reserve a room. We will have Randy Oliver this year. Randy is great at bridging the gap between scientists and beekeepers. He takes scientific data, applies it to beekeeping and explains it in a practical manner that even I can understand.

Repetitive Tip : I know it’s getting hot, but ya’ll get out and pull your honey as soon as your flow is over. Leaving honey on any longer than necessary or for winter food will attract Small Hive Beatles. You are better off pulling it and then feeding light sugar syrup when needed. Be sure and treat or at least check for Varroa mites too.

Calendar of Events

Texas Beekeepers Association at theState Fair of Texas......................Sept./Oct. 2013

Texas Beekeepers Association Annual Conventionin Plano, TX...............November 7th-10th, 2013

Texas Beekeepers Association Winter Delegates Meeting in Salado, TX........February 15th, 2014

Annual Convention 2013November 7th - 10thfrom Russell Swinney

This is going to be HUGE!

Yes. We are taking about the 2013 TBA convention which will be held at the Southfork Hotel in Plano this November 7 thru 10, 2013. The plan is to focus on beekeeping and getting the basics right with expert speakers who have extensive beekeeping experience. We also are excited about programs for new beekeepers and opening up the KLAB booths to the public on Saturday. I believe this will be a tremendous opportunity to help get out the good word about honeybees which should not only help the public have a better understanding of their importance but also encourage more individuals to start beekeeping as well. Excitement is already building like comb from a newly captured swarm.

Watch for more info on programs and registration detail coming soon.

I look forward to welcoming all of you to Collin County in November.


Director’s Reportfrom Eddie Collins

East Texas, Pineywoods, Walker County

Hello fellow bee farmers! Or if you are like me this time of the year maybe I should call you a “bee meteorologist”. As a beekeeper I’m constantly watching the weather and hoping it will be cool during splitting, then rain, then good weather during mating flights, then rain, then cool when I’m feeding , then warm so the hive will expand, then rain, then no rain and hot during the honey flow. (As I type this I can’t help to think “wow, am I really expecting all this to happen”). Well this year in the Tyler area between the late cold snaps and the rain during our primary honey flow the weather has been all over the place and not what I was hoping for. The jury is still out on how all the cold weather and rain is going to impact our honey production. As for the South East Part of Area 4 the expectation for the

Tallow flows are looking promising. The blooms are running a couple weeks late and there is a wide diversity in the range from some trees starting the bloom process and some just thinking about starting. If your hives survived all the rain they received down there then it’s all looking to be a great year for Tallow! The local clubs continue to increase bee awareness and are seeing a record number in interest and attendance. My local club, the East Texas Beekeepers, is up to a record 300+ members with an average of 120 attending the monthly meetings. The queens are doing a great job getting out there and promoting beekeeping and the clubs. By the time you read this I should be harvesting! I hope to see you at the summer clinic

The Beekeeper’s Handbook, 4th Edition is published by Cornell University. This book has been around since the late 70s and the 4th Edition is the most recent, updated version. This book is the perfect follow-up of Beekeeping for Dummies. It provides step-by-step directions and includes over 100 illustrations to help a beekeeper set up hives, learn how to handle bees and learn what to do season-to-season to maintain a healthy colony of bees. Healthy bees, of course, produce a generous supply of honey.

The 4th Edition has been thoroughly redesigned and updated to include information on Integrated Pest Management, explanations of Colony Collapse Disorder, as well as discussing options for colony care that you as a beekeeper may choose to do. It is a very user-friendly book. The Beekeeper’s Handbook is clear and concise and is an essential how-to guide for any level of beekeeping.

Book Reviewfrom Ginny Stubblefield


THE BUDS AND THE BEESBuzzworthy Herbs

by Becky Bender, Texas Master Naturalist If you’ve never attended a plant sale hosted by one of your local nature centers, picture this: Families line up an hour before the “gates” open, clutching plant lists they are still discussing, googling and editing. Carts and wagons are in short supply but enthusiasm is overflowing as shoppers launch into a botanical treasure hunt. I volunteered to work at the Heard Wildlife Sanctuary’s Spring Plant Sale this year with hopes of answering questions about nectar plants. But nobody asked about nectar......or pollinators.....or bees! So I turned my efforts instead to the whirl of activity and questions at the herb tables. Some shoppers hunted for recipe herbs. Others allowed their nose to make the choice. One lady asked me to point out only rabbit-proof herbs and filled her cart accordingly. Personally, I love herbs to cook with, herbs that smell good and herbs that are still standing after a rabbit raid. But I espe-cially love herbs that my bees love. I’ve been watching my honey bees on different herbs for several years and find a few especially buzzworthy.

“Which ones?” Thanks for asking….

CATNIP or CATMINT (Nepeta cataria)

Many of us don’t think of catnip as an herb. Though this fragrant perennial herb in the Mint Family is best known as a playful stimulant for cats, the leaves are used to brew a soothing tea (with honey of course). Who doesn’t love an easy, hardy perennial that makes you appear to have a green thumb? My honey bees, along with native bees and butterflies, cover the lavender-blue catnip blossoms as soon as they appear in early April. With a little pruning, catnip will continue to bloom and vibrate with bees all summer and into the fall. It grows from 2 to 3 feet high and regrows reliably

every year. Catnip is hardy in all of the Texas growing zones. The variety I love is Walker’s Low Catmint (Nepeta X faassenii).The renowned beekeeper, Moses Quinby, one of the first com-mercial beekeepers in the United States, is said to have pro-claimed catnip as the one plant he would grow extensively for honey. It is said to yield a large amount of nectar when cultivated though I’ve not heard of anyone doing this.

MEXICAN MINT MARIGOLD (Tagetes lucida)

This licorice-scented perennial herb in the Aster Family (no, not really a mint) is also called Mexican or Texas Tarragon. Na-ture has blessed Texans with this substitute for the culinary herb French Tarragon which won’t survive our heat and humidity. The leaves of mint marigold add a mild, delicious flavor to fish, chicken, eggs and many vegetables. Mexican mint marigold attracts honey bees during late sum-mer and fall just as other blooms are fading. Some years it will still be in bloom to delight your Thanksgiving guests as well as your bees. When planted in full sun, slender stems with deep glossy green leaves rise to about 2 ½ feet tall, producing small, happy, yellow-orange flowers. In all but our most northern Texas counties, it regrows reliably each year and also spreads by reseed-ing (starting new plants) close to existing plants. Reseeded plants are easy to dig up and place in a new location or share with a friend.

ROSEMARY (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Five words will have you drooling for this herb – evergreen, winter flowers, shish kabobs. This versatile herb is a year-round conversation piece in my herb garden. Rosemary is a low-growing perennial shrub in the Mint Fam-ily. Its small light blue-to-purple blooms appear from late winter

Walker’s Low Catmint, Texas Spring Landscape

Mexican Mint Marigold, Texas Fall Landscape


Arp Rosemary, Texas Winter Landscape

to early spring when other blooms have faded. Rosemary will grow 3 to 5 feet high and 2 to 3 feet wide. It should be planted as an evergreen hedge more often along porches or walkways for its visual beauty and fragrance as well as for bee forage. My fam-ily enjoys using the woody branches of Rosemary as skewers for grilling shrimp or chicken shish kabobs. The legendary herbalist, cook and writer, Madalene Hill, of Round Top, Texas, found an extremely hardy rosemary plant growing in the small north Texas town of Arp in 1972. She successfully propagated and introduced it to the botanical trade. Known as Arp Rosemary, it is widely appreciated today as the hardiest rosemary variety. In my own herb garden, I’ve had great luck with both Arp Rosemary and Hill Hardy Rosemary, a culti-vated variety of Arp named in Ms. Hill’s honor.

With a variety of herbs, an herb garden can provide blooms with pollen and nectar every month of the year! Herbs are sun-loving and easy to grow. You can create an herb garden, grow herbs in pots or mix them with landscape plants. Unlike trees and shrubs, herbs will usually give you instant gratification by blooming the same year you plant them. Some herbs, like lavender, can give honey a distinctive flavor. But unless you have a lavender farm, bees will not collect enough nectar to impart a recognizable taste.

By the way, there’s no need to line up with those crazy plant people like me at a nature center to get your herbs. Your local nurseries stock them every spring. And since you asked, consider these additional buzzworthy herbs for a diverse herb garden: mint, basil, thyme, onion chives, garlic chives, lavender, bee balm, borage and hyssop.

Thanks again for asking!

Send questions, comments and bee plant observations to Becky Bender at [email protected]

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Neonicotinoids are toxic to bees and otherpollinators, especially when sprayed directly.

Applications of neonicotinoids directly toflowering plants during daylight hours should

be avoided, per label directions

Honey Bees at Center of Controversyfrom Michael E Merchant, PhD, BCE, Professor and Extension Urban

Entomologist, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service

What could present a more peaceful, bucolic image than the scene of beekeepers tending their bee hives? Beekeepers are traditionally seen as the gentlest of agriculturalists, not killing anything for food but merely reaping the labor of an industrious insect in exchange for nurture and protection. Yet there is little peaceful about the verbal and political battle swirling about beekeepers and honey bees at the moment. In case you haven’t heard, the domestic bee industry in the U.S. and in other countries around the world was hit hard in 2006 with puzzling bee and colony losses, since referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). In a typical year beekeepers expect to lose 10-15% of their colonies to disease and various stresses. Since CCD arrived, colony losses have averaged 30% each winter, a significant increase. Despite dire headlines warning of the doom of agriculture, according to one 2012 report, the costs of CCD to consumers so far seem to be minimal (i) and honey bee colony losses have been compensated for effectively by beekeepers themselves. Nevertheless, something seems wrong with the world if bees are dying. And when a possible cause of bee declines is a pesticide, the debate is sure to get lively. The USDA, university researchers and EPA have been mostly united for several years in the position that CCD is the result of multiple causes (ii) including parasites, lack of nectar source diversity, diseases, and overworked bees. However some recent research on neonicotinoid insecticides (iii) has raised alarm bells for critics, and has even led to a temporary ban on this group of insecticides in Europe (iv). The research in question includes laboratory studies with bees and field studies with bumblebees, thought to be more sensitive to insecticides than honey bees because of their smaller colony size. The smoking gun for environmentalists opposed to neonicotinoids came in the form of studies reported last year that show that one of the sub-lethal effects of low exposure neonicotinoids (v) include loss of the bees’ sophisticated ability to find their way back home. This loss of homing ability would account for one of the more distinctive symptoms of CCD, namely colonies that slowly decline with no signs of dead bees around the hive. Other forms of colony decline typically include dead bees around the colony entrance. While there is no doubt that neonicotinoids are toxic to bees at high enough doses, scientists are still divided on the question of whether bees that forage on neonicotinoid-treated crops are exposed to high enough levels of toxicant to suffer from flight disorientation, and whether there is even a correlation between CCD and neonicotinoid use. Indeed, in some parts of the world where neonicotinoids are extensively used, such as Australia, CCD is not reported to be a problem. No one wants to be a bee killer. So does this mean that homeowners and professionals should stop using neonicotinoids in residential areas to protect bees?

If scientists who study bees are divided on the cause of bee risks from pesticides, it’s likely that the answer to this question will be complex. But here are some points that might be useful as you and your neighbors struggle with this issue.

• Both the USDA and EPA recently issued a report (vi)summarizing positions that CCD is a result of multiple factors, not just pesticides. • All labels are approved on the basis that when used according to label directions the pesticide must not pose unreasonable adverse to humans or the environment, including honey bees. The EPA has recently reviewed registrations for some of these insecticides (vii) and stands by its risk/benefit assessment that these products can be used safely if the label is followed.


• While research is suggestive of a potential risk to bees from agricultural uses of neonicotinoids, the case is far from proven. And so far, to my knowledge, no credible sources have suggested that urban residential uses of neonicotinoids pose any unusual risk to bee colonies in urban areas. • The greatest potential risk to bees from neonicotinoids appears to be in agricultural settings, where bee colonies are exposed to large acreages of treated plants. The diversity of plants and the relatively low use of pesticides in urban settings argues for lower potential risks in residential and commercial landscapes. • Although neonicotinoids, like most nervous system toxins, are relatively toxic to birds, there is no pattern of bird deaths associated with appropriate use of neonicotinoids, as claimed by some (viii). • Neonicotinoid insecticides (ix) are moderately low in toxicity to people and mammals due to some unique nerve junction differences between us and insects. Just because an insecticide is toxic to bees doesn’t mean that it has broad ecological toxicity. • Use of neonicotinoid sprays should be avoided on flowering plants during daylight hours. Bees are at high risk when sprayed directly, or if they contact wet spray deposits. In residential and commercial landscapes, neonicotinoids can often be applied effectively through root injection, greatly minimizing risks to pollinators like bees.

Neonicotinoids are effective and valuable insecticides for a variety of structural and landscape pests. For some landscape pests there are no highly effective alternatives. It’s up to all of us to ensure that these products are used safely and in accordance with label instructions. Good product stewardship is essential if we want to keep the use of neonicotinoids and protect our bees.

NOTE: Neonicotinoid insecticides are a relatively new class of systemic insecticides that make up approximately 20% of the global pesticide market. The first neonicotinoid to be introduced to the urban pest control market in the U.S. was Premise®, the first non-repellent termiticide. The active ingredient in Premise®, imidacloprid, remains at the center of the CCD controversy because of its widespread use in agriculture and in the ornamental landscape market. Other common neonicotinoids mentioned in the bee controversies include chlothianidin (Arena®), thiamethoxam (Optigard®), and to a lesser extent, acetamiprid (Transport®). Neonicotinoids are important insecticides for the control of termites, fleas, and bed bugs, and outdoors against sap-feeding insects such as scales, aphids and whiteflies.

(i) Property and Environment Research Center (PERC). 2012. Colony Collapse Disorder: The Market Response to Bee Disease. http://perc.org/sites/default/files/ps50.pdf

(ii) US Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service. Honey bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. http://www.ars.usda.gov/News/docs.htm?docid=15572#research

(iii) Erik Stokstad. How Big a Role Should Neonicotinoids Play in Food Security? Science 10 May 2013: 675 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/340/6133/674

(iv) David Jolly. Europe Bans Pesticides Thought Harmful to Bees. New York Times. Apr. 29, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/30/business/global/30iht-eubees30.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1368630300-rP+rY2CG3DeQwG3l3AvQxw&_r=1&

(v) Carl Zimmer. Two Studies Point to Common Pesticide as a Culprit in Declining Bee Colonies. New York Times. Mar. 29, 2012. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/science/neocotinoid-pesticides-play-a-role-in-bees-decline-2-studies-find.html

(vi) US Department of Agriculture. 2013. Report on the National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health. http://www.usda.gov/documents/ReportHoneyBeeHealth.pdf

(vii) e.g., US Environmental Protection Agency. 2012. Clothianidin – Registration Status and Related Information. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/about/intheworks/clothianidin-registration-status.html

(viii) Sum Of Us. Stop Selling the Bee-poisoning Neonicotinoids. http://action.sumofus.org/a/home-depot-lowes-bees-neonicotinoids/3/2/?sub=homepage

(ix) Frederick Fishel. Pesticide Toxicity Profile: Neonicotinoid Pesticides. University of Florida IFAS Publication PI-80. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pi117

This article is modified slightly from a May 15, Insects in the City blog post, http://insectsinthecity.blogspot.com


Update from the Honey Bee Lab at Texas A&M Universityfrom Dr. Juliana Rangel, Assistant Professor of Apiculture, Department of Entomology

Howdy TBA members! It’s that time of the year when most of you might be getting pretty busy keeping your bees. The weather in Brazos County has been unusually cool for this time of year, and thus some of the queen-rearing efforts have been delayed a bit in our apiary. But we are seeing our colonies grow, with workers bringing in all kinds of nectar and pollen from wild flowers. Speaking of honey and pollen, I want to bring to your attention a recent paper that came out of Dr. May Berenbaum’s laboratory in the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The article is titled “Honey constituents up-regulate detoxification and immunity genes in the western honey bee Apis mellifera” and was published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (published ahead of print in PNAS May 3, 2013, doi:10.1073/pnas.1306617110). Honey bees, like many other insects, use a group of enzymes called P450 monooxygenases to break down and digest many chemicals, including pesticides and compounds found in plants (a.k.a. phytochemicals). Honey bees have relatively few of these P450 genes (a total of 46 for the species compared to more than 80 for other insects) that are used for detoxification. Previous research from the same lab found that honey bees metabolize phytochemicals found in honey and pollen, as well as miticides, using different types of the P450 enzymes. Because the diet of honey bees depends largely on the availability of different floral sources throughout the season, the genes used for detoxification of their dietary phytochemicals may vary depending on the type of food they are bringing into the hive. “Bees feed on hundreds of different types of nectar and pollen, and are potentially exposed to thousands of different types of phytochemicals, yet they only have one-third to one-half the inventory of enzymes that break down these toxins compared to other species,” Berenbaum has said regarding the study. The researchers used several methods to identify that four constituents found in honey, namely p-coumaric acid, pinocembrin, pinobanksin, and pinobanksin 5-methyl ether, are used by bees to turn on detoxification genes. These components are usually found in pollen (not nectar), such in the case of p-coumaric acid, which is one of the main constituents of the cell walls of pollen grains. The other three compounds are generally found in propolis, a resinous material bees gather from trees to line inside walls of hives. In particular, the research group found that p-coumaric acid turns on detoxification as well as antimicrobial genes in bees. For instance, when bees were fed a sugar diet rich in p-coumaric, their midgut detoxification of the in-hive miticide coumaphos, was activated by 60%. Thus, the study shows that by having a honey diet rich in these compounds, bees are turning on their detoxification genes to help them metabolize pesticides and other phytochemicals that would otherwise be detrimental to their health. The research team concludes that the use of honey substitutes, a common practice in commercial apiculture, might be lacking some of the major nutrients needed for bees to maintain a healthy metabolism.

On our own research front, we have been very busy this season establishing mating nucs for the introduction of experimental honey bee queens (see photo of queen banks). We had the luxury of inviting Ms. Sue Cobey to College Station to train us on artificial insemination of honey bee queens. Her help was instrumental in setting up one of our experiments, and we have already established all the colonies with the inseminated queens for that project! We are also expecting the visit of two

Ms. Sue Cobey inseminating honey bee queens at the bee

lab in April

undergraduate students, one from Ripon College, and the other one from the University of Pennsylvania, who will be conducting independent projects as part of their 10-week Research Experience for Undergraduates internship with the Department of Entomology at TAMU. We hope that results from their projects will be presented at this year’s Entomological Society of America meeting in Austin, TX. Lastly, I wanted to announce the official launch of the Texas A&M University Honey Bee lab website, honeybeelab.tamu.edu The site features the new Janice and John G. Thomas ’59 Honey Bee Facility and all the folks at the Lab: Mr. E.T. Ash, Romeo Montalvo, Neeta Parajulee, Jason Gould, Chelsea Gould, and myself. The lab also has a pretty neat facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/TAMUhoneybeelab Both the web site and the facebook page have the picture shown above of the lab staff with Dr. John Thomas outside the new lab. Please like our Facebook page and visit our sites often for updates on the latest news on our research. I hope to see some of you at the May meetings in Williamson and Walker counties, or the Summer Clinic on 1 June, where I will be teaching about honey bee queen biology. And as always, if you have any suggestions for potential research questions, or if you want to contact me for any reason, please do not hesitate to email me at [email protected]. Happy beekeeping!


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The Brantley Columnfrom S. S. Brantley

East Texas Beekeepers Association

June is a wonderful month! The bees have new honey in the supers, mostly capped and ready for you to remove and extract. Honey is ready to be extracted when most of the cells in the comb are capped. The general rule of thumb is 80% capped. If in doubt, hold the frame upside down and give it a hard downward shake. If the honey does not “rain” out of the frame, it should be safe to extract. Extract as soon as possible, same day is best, no later than early tomorrow if you can’t extract today. Do not leave the supers setting for several days in the honey house or garage. The hive beetles will find them quickly. Just because you do not see them, don’t think that beetles are not present. They are naturally present in the environment and will be drawn to the smell of your supers. Without the protection of the bees, the beetles can ruin a box of honey very quickly. After extraction, you may want to return the supers to the hive for the bees to clean up. Do this late in the day to reduce the risk of starting a robbing frenzy. This gives the bees all night to clean up the sticky supers and be calmed down by morning. If you wait until July to extract, then you could consider storing them “wet” with paramoth crystal to protect against wax moths. Check periodically and add additional paramoth crystals as they evaporate. Since I work alone now, I have to be “smarter than the aver-age bear” when working my hives. I use a fume board to push most of the bees out of the super into the boxes underneath. After the fume board has time to work, I remove the super and stand it on end (short side down), with the bottom bars facing me, and blow out the remaining bees with a small gas-powered leaf blower. Do not blow from the top bar side as this will cause the bees to get stuck in the burr comb that is inevitably built on the bottom of the frames. While the super is still standing on end, I slip my metal drip pan against the bottom, tilt the box and pan back against my leg, slip it in my waiting two wheeled cart, and take it to the pickup. After the super is in the truck bed, I cover it with a tow sack to keep robbing bees off of it. If your bees are in a double brood box and did not put much honey in your super, you may want to consider taking the three outside frames from each side of a 10-frame box (two frames from each side of an 8-frame box). The frames can be extracted

or stored in a freezer and put back in the box for winter stores later in the year. Replace the frames with drawn comb or new foundation if you do not have drawn comb. This should be done only in the top brood box, giving the queen more room to move upward and lay. I have written about the growing interest in using all medium boxes to build a hive. Last week, another beekeeper told me that he had read my articles and understood the concept but he just ran into the reality of it in his beeyard. He had one hive with a deep and a medium brood box; the medium box was the top brood box. The bees had filled the medium brood box with honey before starting to put it in the super above a queen excluder. In other words, his brood box was now honey-bound. However, since both the top brood box and the super were mediums, he switched several frames of honey from the brood box with empty frames from the super, giving the queen more room to lay. In his next hive, the top brood box was also full of honey. However, it was a deep. He could not swap frames with the super which was medium. Here is a reminder of a basic fact when putting together a hive. Be sure the frames and the box match. Deep frames in deep boxes, medium frames in medium boxes, and shallow frames in shallow boxes. If you are a newbee and are not sure, tilt the box up and look at the frames from underneath. The bottom bars should be very close to the bottom of the box. If one or more of the bottom bars is not within 1/2 inch of the bottom of the box, you have the wrong sized frames. Bees will fill the space between the bottom of a “too short’ frame and the top of the frame in the next box with a mass of burr comb and propolis, essentially gluing everything together. Looking toward the upcoming hot and dry season, unless we have some unusual rains, we can expect to see forage diminishing and the beginning of the season of “dearth”. As natural forage wanes, bees will become more opportunistic about robbing weaker hives. If you have hives that are not strong, consider putting on the entrance reducer to help them guard against robbing. Feed new or weaker hives as needed. Make sure all hives have access to water. Hives will begin to use more water for cooling as the summer temperatures rise.

“Handle a book as a bee does a flower, extract its sweetness but do not damage it.”


The National Pollinator Defense Fund (NPDF) originated at the end of 2012. We are a nonprofit organization with a mission to defend managed and native pollinators vital to a sustainable and affordable food supply from the adverse impacts of pesticides. The NPDF was developed by the American Honey Producers Association to take the lead in the national pesticide policy discussion. Beekeepers across the U.S. have been working with the EPA to make labels readable, understandable, and comprehensible. It is critically important to understand a product label so the use or restrictions are not violated, and so that no entity is harmed. The NPDF believes in the judicious use of crop protection products. However, pollinator toxic pesticides are being applied across the U.S., often against the label directions, including mixing a number of different pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides together. When a crop protection product states clearly on the label that it is not to be used on blooming crops or when bees or other pollinators are present and foraging, the NPDF believes that label directive must be followed. Beekeepers are an integral part of the farming community providing pollination services that contribute to the $200B agricultural industry. NPDF Board members are engaged in a number of state and national committees to address the concerns of pollinator health decline. Board members participated in the “The National Stakeholders Conference on Honey Bee Health,” with the conference report just being released in early May 2013. The National Pollinator Defense Fund is pleased the Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are acknowledging bees are important to the food supply. While pesticides are listed as one of the four major “culprits” to the bee crisis, the report did not connect pathogens to pesticides and the weakening of hives overall. Additionally, the report asks a “most pressing pesticide research” question to determine the actual field-relevant pesticide exposure experienced by bees, and the effects, short-term and long-term, upon the bee and the entire colony. The National Pollinator Defense Fund encourages policy makers, legislators, the public, and anyone who enjoys a strong,

healthy, and diverse food supply to support the actions defined in this report to: provide funding for EPA to enforce pesticide label application guidelines; support beekeepers when bee kills are reported and reimburse them for their losses of colonies; provide funding at public universities for pollinator research; and provide funding to support the development of natural forage areas for pollinators (on farmland and on public lands). The NPDF seeks to work with beekeepers concerning reporting bee kills, such as an incident that occurred in early March. The Florida citrus groves experienced an acute foliar poisoning resulting in severely damaged colonies. One beekeeper’s bees suffered due to the drift application of Montana 2F from a neighboring grove. 1000-1500 colonies were killed, while 10,000-13,000 colonies suffered severe damage. The National Pollinator Defense Fund encourages the EPA and the State Lead Agencies to work with, and support beekeepers who report bee kills. Far too many bee kills are the result of misuse and ignorance of the environmental hazard section of the pesticide label as set-forth under FIFRA. The EPA approves of pesticides and their labels, and under FIFRA guidelines are charged with enforcing the use of pesticides. The National Pollinator Defense Fund firmly states “harvesting the low hanging fruit” is possible through having pesticides applied per the label directions. We believe the short-term and long-term effects upon pollinators would decrease. Pesticides; like insecticides, fungicides and growth regulators, are highly suspect in causing both direct mortality and, with lower doses, may act in pre-lethal ways. Systemic pesticides saturate the entire physical structure of a plant, so the bee is exposed to the pesticide contaminated pollen and nectar. Pollinators experience multiple applications from adjacent fields, and multiple exposures as commercial honey bees are moved to different areas throughout the country to pollinate crops and produce honey. For more information about the NPDF visit www.pollinatordefense.org. With at least one Board member, and the Program Director in every time zone in the contiguous United States, we would be pleased to speak with your group in person or via Skype, email the Program Director, Michele Colopy at [email protected].

Defending Managed and Native Pollinatorsfrom Michele Colopy, Program Director, National Pollinator Defense Fund


Beekeeping Tipsfrom Collin County Beekeepers Association

June1. In North Texas, the honey flow begins winding down with the beginning of June. There may be some nectar coming in from sumac and perhaps horsemint. The main honey flow will end in June or the first part of July.2. The honey harvest can begin in June as soon as you have frames of honey that are at least 3/4 capped. Plan to harvest honey when the weather is dry and warm.3. There are several methods for removing full supers from hives:a. Use a fume board to chase bees from supers. Fume boards work best in very hot weather.b. Use a bee escape board beneath supers. This method requires more than one trip to the bee yard to remove supers.c. Brush bees from the combs one comb at a time. This is a time consuming method and can anger bees.d. Remove supers from hives and blow bees out with a “bee blower”.e. Smoke bees from supers.4. New colonies can be started in the month of June, but new colonies need to be fed more than those started in April. This is because a major honey flow is normally not underway in June.

July

1. Honey extraction should be in full swing provided the honey flow was good. (Little surplus honey will be produced this month unless your bees have access to cotton.) After extracting, put the supers back on the hives for the bees to clean any remaining honey.2. Freeze empty frames of comb for several days to kill waxmoth larvae before storing. Store empty surplus supers and frames with empty comb in a plastic garbage bag. After placing the supers with the frames in them into the garbage bag, pour six tablespoons of paradichlorobenzene (PDB) onto a paper plate and place on top of the frames. Or, empty the crystals into a stocking and suspend the stocking between the frames. Seal the plastic bag tightly. The moth crystals will evaporate over time so check at least monthly to see if they need to be replenished. If the crystals are gone, so is the protection from the moths. Caution! Be sure to only use paradichlorobenzene crystals and not mothballs, which are made from naphthalene. Naphthalene will contaminate the wax and kill your bees when the supers are put back into the hive.3. Maintain a good water source. Bees need water to cool hives during hot weather. Check hives to be sure that bees have plenty of honey. If needed, start feeding sugar water (simple syrup) or high fructose corn syrup.4. Consider shading hives from direct full sun. Ventilate the hive by propping open the telescoping lid. Place a rock or block of wood no bigger than your fist on the inner cover to allow airflow.5. Treat for fire ants around the hives, so the ants do not become a problem in beehives. Examine hives for varroa mites.

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Honey Laundering: A Primerfrom Jesse Hirsch in “Modern Farmer”

So your olive oil might be skin and pit residue. Your high-end fish could be a low-grade bottom-feeder. And of course, who knows what’s in your ground chuck (rats and foxes, perhaps?) Now would be a good time to mention: you should probably keep an eye on your honey, too. Consumer demand and plummeting production (see colony collapse) have combined to make honey the next Bordeaux. “The more expensive the product, the more people are motivated to cheapen production,” says Jill Clark, vice president of sales and marketing at Dutch Gold Honey (makers of the ubiquitous plastic honey bears). “If you buy a box of raisins, you can be pretty sure there’s raisins inside. That’s not true with honey.” Unsurprisingly, China is the epicenter of honey funny business. Chinese honey has been found to contain antibiotics, pesticides, and other nastiness. At the very least, evidence shows it’s often cut with sugar water or corn syrup. To further muck things up, Chinese honey is often shipped to other countries, then relabeled for export. This international shell game is called transshipping, and it spares Chinese honey from hefty import tariffs. In the U.S., our consumption-to-production gap is large: roughly 150 million pounds produced per year, with an annual demand for about 400 million pounds. Obviously, we’re importing a lot of honey. The problem is, there are limited safeguards to ensure your foreign honey is legit. The USDA has a voluntary self-grading system; each company can give its honey whatever grade they choose (A++!) And the FDA has standards for honey content, but rarely enforces them. To be fair, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has cracked down on some illegal honey imports. ICE initiated a series of investigations stings, including one in 2008 that took down two high-level U.S. executives. And this February, two of America’s biggest suppliers — Honey Solutions and Groeb

Professor Vaughn Bryant, Texas A&M, has developed a research specialty pioneered over the course of more than 30 years centered on the pollen analysis of commercial

honey produced in countries throughout the world in an effort to verify both the country of origin and the primary

nectar sources of the honey.

Farms Inc. — admitted to importing illegal honey after an ICE investigation. The outcome of that case, a deferred prosecution agreement and fines, provoked some ill will in the industry. Florida beekeeper Dave Hackenberg called it insulting, a weak slap on the wrist. Two weeks ago, Hackenberg signed onto a class action suit against Groeb and Honey Solutions. “These companies were importing bad honey, and they knew exactly what they were doing,” he said. “It drove down prices for the rest of us.”

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2013 Texas Honey Queen Reportfrom Shelby Kilpatrick

Greetings, fellow Texas beekeepers!

I hope that this edition of the TBA Journal finds you enjoying a beautiful spring season. I have educated the public about honey bees and promoted the Texas Beekeepers Association at 14 different events since my March / April TBA Journal article. I have selected some of the highlights to share with you below. I traveled to the Austin area for two days, March 26th and 27th. Mr. Jimmie and Mrs. Kay Oakley took me to the Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center where I learned about the Center’s education and conservation programs as well as the native plants,

Ms. Samantha Elkinton, Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center Horticulturist and Horticulture Volunteer

Coordinator.wildlife and insects at the Center. Next, we visited the Texas State Capitol and I spoke with key legislative members’ aides about issues affecting the Texas beekeeping industry. I presented them with the 2013 Texas Honey Queen Program honey recipe brochure and the Oakley’s local honey. Please see page 28 of the March / April TBA Journal for details about the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association (WCABA) meeting during my visit. I also assisted in presenting WCABA’s Kids Learning About Bees event in Georgetown. My next event was on April 5th. I presented a Bee Talk to the Girl Scout troops at Hilltop Elementary School in Argyle. Many of the student’s questions focused on how they could help honey bees in their community. I gave them ideas to include planting honey bee-friendly plants, reducing their use of herbicides and pesticides, sharing facts about bees with their friends, supporting local beekeepers and even starting beekeeping themselves! On April 8th, I spoke at the Metro Beekeepers Association meeting in Burleson. I was very excited to share my beekeeping

experiences with the group. I also talked about club level Youth Scholarship and Honey Queen programs as well as the 4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest, which TBA supports. I was able to meet many of the association members, including one of Metro’s Youth Scholarship Students. It was an honor to be a part of their meeting program! You can schedule me to attend an event in your area or your association’s meeting by contacting Texas Honey Queen Program Chair, Rachael Seida, at [email protected] or (214) 578-3477. I had a unique opportunity on May 5th. Mrs. Barbara Corbin, a Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Association member and Friends of Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge volunteer, arranged for me to host a honey tasting event at BirdFest Texoma at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Sherman. I started the program with an introduction to honey

Girl Scout Bee Talk

bees, pollination, beekeeping and hive products. The attendees engaged in the presentation and asked many great questions. Next, Mrs. Corbin instructed the group about the honey tasting process. There were 13 different honey varieties available for sampling; Mesquite, Clover, Date, Lavender, Blackberry, Orange, Heather, Avocado, Buckwheat, Macadamia, Wildflower, Bamboo and Blueberry. This opened everyone’s eyes to the variety of honey flavors and colors available. There are over 300 kinds of honey produced in the United Sates and 3,000 world-wide. The Denton County Master Gardener Association Spring Garden Tour was on May 11th. I was stationed at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area Pollinator Garden, providing education about insect pollinators to visitors. My display included reference materials for identifying insects, a few species of live insects as well as honey bee and beekeeping


supplies. I also exhibited part of my entomology collection, primarily focusing on major pollinator orders: Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants), Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths), Coleoptera (beetles) and Diptera (flies). It was a privilege to share my knowledge with the visitors during the day.

Denton County Master Gardener Association Garden Tour

Birdfest Texoma Honey Tasting

I am looking forward to seeing you at the TBA Summer Clinic on Saturday, June 1st! The Clinic will be held at Walker Honey Farm and Dancing Bee Winery, located in Rogers, Texas. There are many exciting activities planned for the day, including a tour of the facilities and apiary. You will also be able to visit with fellow beekeepers about their experiences. This is an opportunity you will not want to miss. Please visit and follow www.facebook.com/TexasHoneyQueenProgram for up-to-date information on my activities and beekeeping!

Visiting with a Legislator’s Aide at the State Capitol (right) and Reviewing the State’s Budget

with Mr. Hunter Thompson, Clerk of the House Appropriations Committee (above)


Texas Beekeepers Gather at Walker’s for Summer Clinicfrom Jimmie Oakley

The Texas Beekeepers Association held the 2013 Summer Clinic at the Walker Honey Farm Store and Dancing Bee Winery outside of Rogers, Texas, on Saturday, June 1st. The day promised to be hot as beekeepers began to gather early on a sunny clear morning. The crew at Walker’s had worked hard to get the grounds and warehouse spruced up for the event and even with some last minute snafus most everything was ready. With a major facility expansion and remodeling underway at the East Highway 190 facility, the site was still an excellent location to hold the event. Clint Walker, owner and third generation beekeeper, had hoped the new honey store building would be close to ready, and the new wine cellar, cool but yet unoccupied, would be in use. As members of WCABA the host association arrived things began to take shape for the day’s activities. Registration for the one day event was set up in the wine tasting garden near the front of the store, and canopies for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) presentation

Sherry Youngblood,Kay Oakley and Margaret Henson at the Registration Desk

and the Top Bar Hive presentation were set up outside east of the warehouse. Lance Wilson of Austin was slated to do IMP and Dean Cook kindly traveled from Houston to demonstrate construction and management of TBH’s. Registration was handled by Kay Oakley, Sherry and Jennifer Youngblood of WCABA and Margaret Henson of Heart of Texas. A helping hand was received from Janice Thomas from Bryan, Texas.. After registering, the beekeepers, toting their own lawn chairs, began to assemble in the rear warehouse area to visit and fellowship, awaiting the dinner hour. TBA Vice President, Chris Moore, arrived with the newly purchased portable PA system that was promised at the last state convention. The system worked wonderfully as the TBA leadership and event organizers made preliminary announcements to get the lunch crowd headed in the right direction. While the noon meal was being enjoyed, roasted chicken dinner with all the trimmings from TCP Catering in Marlin, Texas, Dick Counts, Delegate Committee Chair, (using the new PA system) welcomed all those in attendance. Blake Shook, TBA President, also addressed those assembled and gave an open invitation to the TBA Convention to be held in Plano, Texas in November. John Talbert spoke on the activity of the TBA Honey Booth at the State Fair of Texas,

TBA Beekeepers Assemble in the Rear Warehousealready looking for volunteers and honey to fill the shelves in the booth. Stanford Brantley, from Jefferson Texas, gave his approval of the new PA system, and announced the exciting news of another beekeepers organization forming in Marshall, Texas that local beekeepers could attend in addition to the East Texas Beekeepers Association (ETBA). Texas Honey Queen, Shelby Kilpatrick from Copper Canyon, Texas, received the opportunity to introduce herself to the beekeepers present and speak a little of her mission and current activities. She was followed by ETBA Honey Queen, Hayden Wolf from Big Sandy, Texas and then ETBA Honey Princess, Martha Jeske from Tyler, Texas. Michael Kelling from the Central Texas Beekeepers Association put in a plug for next year’s Central Texas Bee School in Brenham, and Kacy Cole, the new Branch Manager for Dadant & Sons in Paris, Texas was introduced for those who had not met him. Clint Walker, organizer of the honey house and facility tour, took the microphone to introduce his employees and explain the planned program and rotation of the groups between the various presentations on the tour starting at the front with the finished product and working backward through the facility to the raw product.

Texas Honey Queen, Shelby Kilpatrick, ETBA Honey Queen, Hayden Wolf and ETBA Honey Princess

Martha Jeske


Chelsea Inderwiesen guided the attendees through the retail store, honey, and wine tasting; while Domingo Montalbo demonstrated packing & product manufacturing, including bottled honey, creamed honey and soap making. Jonathan Walker, in the old wine cellar, demonstrated the steps in the finer art of wine or mead making, and how it is aged and bottled. Clint Walker showed how honey was extracted when brought in from the out yards, how it is clarified and stored while waiting for finishing, and how the varietal honeys are kept separated. Blake Butler enlightened us on how the Walker Honey Farm cares for and protects the valuable bees in the honey gathering process, moving hives more than once to capture the various flows that occur throughout the season. The natural, chemical free, treatment for bee disease and pathogens was discussed as we gained valuable information on how to boost the bees’ resistance and longevity through proper nutrition. While the Walker’s tour was taking place inside, an alternate and concurrent program was being conducted outside. The size of the

Clint Walker and Staff Welcome the Crowdcrowd dictated this action. The IPM presentation and the Top Bar Hive demonstration traded off time with Dr. Juliana Rangel’s talks. Dr. Rangel is assistant professor of Entomology and the new head research scientist in the Janice & John G. Thomas Honey Bee Facility at Texas A&M University. She presented a slide presentation in the new (cool) wine cellar on her research into honey queen production and mating. With both programs running simultaneously, the event was able to provide educational presentations for the two hundred plus attending the event. Williamson County Area Beekeepers as the host association provided great support with 60 of its members attending; Collin County Beekeepers had the next most with 35 attendees. Alamo Area Beekeepers was a surprise with 20 of its members present, while East Texas Beekeepers added a dozen. The two Houston clubs, Harris County and Houston Beekeepers combined had ten, and there were seven attending from Heart of Texas. Other clubs represented from around the state were Brazoria County Beekeepers, Central Texas Beekeepers, Concho Valley Beekeepers and Trinity Valley Beekeepers. With the event drawing to a close, almost everyone stopped by the Walker Farm Store before leaving to shop for a special flavor of honey, a tasty wine, a wax candle or a gift pack of delicious spreadables, as Clint offered discounts to those attending the Summer Clinic event. A special thanks again goes to Clint, Janice, Domingo, Jonathan, Chelsie, Blake, and all the others on the Walker team that gave us an informative look at honey production, product development and the marketing that has made this family enterprise so successful.

Dick Counts, Delegates Chair, enjoying lunch with Dr. Rangel

John and Lavada Talbert Lunch in the Sun


Nacogdoches Fire Department Tackles Honey Beesfrom Martha Jeske, ETBA Honey Princess

The City of Nacogdoches recently invested funds in a purchase some might think bizarre – two white bee suits. No, the city does not keep bee hives on the courthouse roof or donate brand new bee suits to beekeepers in need (don’t we all wish!). Instead, these suits belong to the Nacogdoches Fire Department and will be used to benefit locals in need. I recently had a chance to talk with firefighter Ray Cole who informed me that the fire department has always received bee emergency calls funneled to them from 9-1-1. Until recently, they handled the calls by either referring people in need to a local beekeeper who could take care of the bees or spraying the bees with an insecticide foam to kill them. However, as new diseases and strains of bees have crept into the Nacogdoches County area, local beekeepers have become wary of accepting unknown bees.

Firefighters suit up in the Fire Department’s new suits

Since then, the firefighters have begun tackling some of the bee calls themselves. The department uses, when necessary, its two new bee suits, as well as bunker gear and hoods to address bee problems. However, Mr. Cole told me, “Our main purpose is to educate.” When someone calls about a bee problem, the firefighters investigate to see what the situation is. If it is an established hive, the firefighters will refer the caller to a local beekeeper who can remove the hive. One beekeeper on their list comes all the way from Lake Fork to answer bee calls. If the bees are swarming, the firefighters instruct the caller to “leave the bees

alone. They’ll leave in a day or two.” However, if the bees are attacking or stinging people, the firefighters promptly address the issue by spraying the bees. Fire Chief Keith Kiplinger explained to me that although Africanized bees are creeping into the East Texas area, they are skipping Nacogdoches. “They’ve spread out around us and created kind of a pocket around our county.” The fire department does, however, occasionally send samples of honey bees off to a lab to determine whether or not they are Africanized. One entomologist the department has talked with predicts that Africanized bees will continue traveling north until they reach the Texas-Oklahoma border.

A Firefighter examines a hive as part of beekeeping training

The Fire Department makes sure that two firefighters trained to handle insect and other animal emergencies are on staff during every shift. Although they receive only a few honey bee-related calls each year, mostly in the spring and fall, they also handle snake calls. They treat snake calls similarly to the bee calls, only exterminating when necessary. The firefighters often work with an herbalist in Lindale to relocate the snakes, but not kill them. They want to be eco-friendly and not needlessly kill both snakes and honey bees. Mr. Cole summed it up, saying, “We’re just out there to do good.”


Winter Loss Survey 2012 - 2013: Preliminary Resultsfrom Bee Informed Partnership

The Bee Informed Partnership (http://beeinformed.org), in collaboration with the Apiary Inspectors of America (AIA) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is releasing preliminary results for the seventh annual national survey of honey bee colony losses. For the 2012/2013 winter season, a total of 6,287 U.S. beekeepers provided validated responses. Collectively, responding beekeepers managed 599,610 colonies in October 2012, representing about 22.9%1 of the country’s estimated 2.62 million colonies. Preliminary survey results indicate that 31.1% of managed honey bee colonies in the United States were lost during the 2012/2013 winter. This represents an increase in loss of 9.2 points or 42% over the previous 2011/2012 winter’s total losses that were estimated at 21.9% (Figure 1). This level of loss is on par with the 6 year average total loss of 30.5%2. On average, U.S. beekeepers lost 45.1% of the colonies in their operation during the winter of 2012/2013. This is a 19.8 point or 78.2% increase in the average operational loss compared to the previous winter (2011/2012), which was estimated at 25.3%. The difference between average loss and total loss is explained by the respondent pool: while a majority of the respondents (95%) were backyard beekeepers, they managed a small fraction of the colonies represented in the survey (6%). For this reason total loss (which is more heavily influenced by

commercial beekeeper losses) is more representative of national losses. Survey participants indicated that they considered a loss rate of 15% as “acceptable,” but 70% of them suffered losses greater than this.

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The Plight of the Honey Beefrom National Geographic News, Jennifer S Holland

Bees are back in the news this spring, if not back in fields pollinating this summer’s crops. The European Union (EU) has announced that it will ban, for two years, the use of neonicotinoids, the much-maligned pesticide group often fingered in honeybee declines. The U.S. hasn’t followed suit, though this year a group of beekeepers and environmental and consumer groups sued the EPA for not doing enough to protect bees from the pesticide onslaught. For the last several years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle. The current crisis arose during the fall of 2006 as beekeepers around the country reported massive losses—more than a third of hives on average and up to 90 percent in some cases. Bees were flying away and simply not coming back; keepers would find boxes empty of adult bees except for a live queen. No bee corpses remained to tell the tale. The losses were unprecedented and fast. Now it’s five years later, and though colony collapse disorder (CCD)—the name given to the mysterious killer condition—has dwindled in the manner of cyclical diseases, bees are still battling for their lives and their colonies are weaker than ever. The latest data, from the 2012-2013 winter, indicate an average loss of 45.1 percent of hives across all U.S. beekeepers, up 78.2 percent from the previous winter, and a total loss of 31.1 percent of commercial hives, on par with the last six years. (Most keepers now consider a 15 percent loss “acceptable.”)

Unprecedented Pollinator Crisis

Why keep worrying over the fate of a bunch of pesky stinging insects? Bees in their crucial role as pollinators are paramount. Western nations rely heavily on managed honey bees—the “moveable force” of bees that ride in trucks from farm to farm—to keep commercial agriculture productive. About a third of our foods (some 100 key crops) rely on these insects, including apples, nuts, all the favorite summer fruits (like blueberries and strawberries), alfalfa (which cows eat), and guar bean (used in all kinds of products). In total, bees contribute more than $15 billion to U.S. crop production, hardly small potatoes. No, we wouldn’t starve without their services—much of the world lives without managed pollinators. But we’d lose an awful lot of good, healthy food, from cherries and broccoli to onions and almonds. Or we’d pay exorbitant costs for farmers to use some other, less efficient pollination technique to supplement the work that healthy natural pollinators could do. Plus, bee health can tell us a lot about environmental health, and thus about our own well-being. Today’s pollinator crisis, which has also hit Europe and now parts of Asia, is unprecedented. But honey bees have done disappearing acts on and off for more than a century, possibly since humans began domesticating them 4,500 years ago in Egypt. In the United States, unexplained colony declines in the

1880s, the 1920s, and the 1960s baffled farmers, and in 1995-1996 Pennsylvania keepers lost more than half of their colonies without a clear cause. The 1980s and 1990s saw various new parasites that hit bees hard; Varroa and tracheal mites became major killers, and they continue to plague hives and keep beekeepers up at night. When CCD appeared, the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture joined forces to study and fight the assailant, but a half-dozen years later they still lack a smoking gun. Recent work reveals higher loads of pathogens in the guts of bees from collapsed colonies versus healthy ones—making viral infections a likely culprit. But this isn’t a case of one cause, one effect. Bee expert Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland likens the situation to HIV/AIDS in humans. “You don’t die of AIDS; you die of pneumonia or some other condition that hits when your immunity is down,” he says. Today’s bee mortalities may be behaving slightly differently. “But we’re pretty sure in all these cases, diseases are the tipping point” after bees’ immune systems are compromised. So what makes bees vulnerable to those diseases, what’s killing their immunity, continues to be the $15-billion question.

Problems Piling Up

Zac Browning is a fourth-generation beekeeper based in North Dakota. His mostly migratory commercial operation runs about 22,000 hives in three states—meaning he trucks his bees to different locations at different times of year, renting out their pollination services to big farms like those producing almonds in California and canola in Idaho. CCD devastated his hives a few years back, but “we’ve seen losses more recently from everything imaginable,” he says. “Pests, parasites, pesticide exposure, starvation, queen failures, you name it.” In addition to these problems piling up, “our inputs have gone up one-and-a-half times in the last decade,” he says. “We now have to try to sustain bees [with extra food] when natural food is scarce, dearth periods that didn’t exist before.” Part of the problem is keepers have to boost hive numbers to meet demand, “but the carrying capacity of the environment hasn’t changed.” In fact, it’s gone down. The amount of undeveloped land with good bee forage just isn’t enough to sustain the masses, he says. Meanwhile, studies have shown that colonies with access to the best pollens (with more than 25 percent protein plus essential amino acids), which occur in diverse plant habitats once common across the landscape, are more robust and more resistant to disease than those in pollen-poor environments.

The Threat From Pesticides

Another adversary in the bees’ battle, as the EU reminds us, is pesticides. Pesticides themselves aren’t necessarily a death


“Honey bees are complex,” says Browning. “If you reduce their lives by even just a few days, the colony itself never thrives, never reaches its maximum potential. Sublethal effects that don’t kill adults outright may still render hives weak and lethargic. And those hives might not survive the winter.” What takes down the individual bee doesn’t necessarily wipe out the colony, vanEngelsdorp explains. And pesticides, like other factors, do their worst when combined with other chemicals or stressors, not necessarily all by themselves. “It’s synergism,” he says. “One plus one may equal 10 with the right two products or insults together.” (Samples of bee-collected pollen typically contain residue from numerous pesticides.) In the end, then, an immune-suppressed colony faces a downward spiral, unable to cope with stressors that weren’t a problem during healthier years. The chemicals of modern agriculture have long been vilified, and they certainly represent a vital and active line of inquiry: The number registered for use in the U.S. exceeds 1,200 active ingredients distributed among some 18,000 products, and state pesticide use records are mostly unavailable, leaving a lot of question marks. No one knows much about how low-level exposure to various chemicals over time or how various combinations affect the insects. Meanwhile, migratory colonies likely have very different chemical exposure than those who stay put. The landscape is messy.

A New Concern

In newly worrisome findings, a study from a team at Penn State has revealed that “inert” ingredients (adjuvants) used regularly to boost the effectiveness of pesticides do as much or more harm than the active “toxic” ingredients. In one study adjuvants were shown to impair adult bees’ smelling and navigation abilities, and in a separate study they killed bee larvae outright. The formulas for these other ingredients “are often proprietary information and not disclosed by the companies,” says Penn State’s Maryann Frazier, who wasn’t an author on the study, “so they cannot be independently tested and assessed for toxicity. When [the] EPA screens pesticides for registration, they only consider the active ingredient,” she says. In addition, “there are no requirements by [the] EPA for companies to test the impacts of pesticides on immature stages of pollinators,” she says, “only adults.” The EPA participated in a stakeholder conference last year to

sentence for bees—and debate rages over whether, when properly applied, these chemicals can be used safely among pollinators. But exposure to them seems to open the door to other killers. For example, bees exposed to sublethal doses of neonicotinoids—the type the EU is banning and that are used routinely in the U.S. on wheat, corn, soy, and cotton crops—become more easily infected by the gut parasite Nosema. Meanwhile, last year a French study indicated that this same class of chemicals can fog honey bee brains and alter behavior. And a British study on bumblebees, a natural pollinator in decline in many places, reported neonicotinoids keep bees from supplying their hives with enough food for queen production.

discuss honey bee health (a report is just out from that event). An EPA spokesperson declined to comment on the pending lawsuit but noted that the agency has been working to speed up its review of research related to neonicotinoids and their effect on honeybees. It is also tweaking existing regulatory practices to address various concerns including pesticide dust drift, product label warnings, and enforcement of bee-kill investigations.

Barrage of Stressors

So in addition to a changing climate and bizarre local weather systems, bees are threatened by chemical exposure in untested and unregulated combinations, disappearing foraging habitat with increasing monoculture that requires trucking bees from place to place, and fungal and viral intruders, plus the dreaded Varroa mite. Meanwhile, nature is not sitting still. The diseases that are taking out immune-suppressed bees are quick to evolve resistance to farmers’ attempts to protect their bees. “Based on our management surveys last year, not one commercial product against Varroa worked consistently,” says vanEngelsdorp, citing numerous examples. With the barrage of stressors bees face, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that they’re no longer as resilient as they once were. And honeybees, vanEngelsdorp points out, are among the most robust pollinators. The native insects, such as bumblebees, stingless bees, and flies, may be in worse shape, though their plights—and role in the ecosystem—are far less well known. Meanwhile, the lawsuit against the EPA is just revving up (the first hearing was March 15), and scientists continue to push hard to get more information on the unregulated ingredients in agrochemicals that are proving harmful. “Unless we can get at what’s actually being used on fields, we can’t analyze their effects,” says toxicologist Chris Mullin, a co-author of the Penn State adjuvant study. And some products, he says, “are nearly 100 percent adjuvant. Illogically, they are considered safe until proven otherwise.” Other voices have risen strongly against current land use practices. “Honey bees need habitat,” Browning says. “That’s any floral source with good nutrition. And that’s not wheat, corn, or soy, crops that take up well over 60 percent of U.S. farmland.” We’ve traded bee needs for biofuel, he laments, and we’re paying the price. “We also need good cooperation from [the] EPA—and from farmers and pesticide applicators—to implement and enforce best management practices,” he says. Also on his wish list: a better battery of tools to effectively combat the Varroa mite, the bane of all beekeepers. “Bee culture has adapted to fit monoculture, and that’s not healthy,” says Browning. “If we can instead invest in good sustainable practices in agriculture, we can still thrive.”

But his confidence in the future, along with that of many of his fellow beekeepers, is declining with his hives. “We’re just about tapped out,” he says. “Without some real action we’ll see this industry dwindle away.” And as the industry goes, so go the little yellow insects that put so much good food on our plates.


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The Foundation

for The Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc.SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN BEEKEEPING FEDERATION, INC.

P.O. Box 1445 — Jesup, Georgia 31598-1445

Ph. 912-427-4018— Fax 912-427-8447

Email: [email protected]

2014 4-H BEEKEEPING ESSAY CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT AND RULES

Sponsored by The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc.

AWARDS: Cash Prizes to 3 Top Winners:

•1st Place -- $750.00 •2nd Place -- $500.00 •3rd Place -- $250.00

Each State Winner, including the national winners, receives an appropriate book about

honey bees, beekeeping, or honey.

TOPIC: For the 2014 essay contest, the essay topic is:

“Beekeeping in Colonial Times”To the earliest European settlers in the New World, honey bees were an important part of

their existence. Cargo manifests show that honey bees were among the first shipments of

animals. How were they shipped? Why were they important? Why were they so

important to the colonists? How does that differ from today?

The scope of the research is an essential judging criterion, accounting for 40% of your

score. The number of sources consulted, the authority of the sources, and the variety of

the sources are all evaluated.

Historical research will be important. The more authoritative the source, the better.

Personal interviews with beekeepers and others familiar with the subject are valued

sources of information and should be documented. Sources, which are not cited in the

endnotes, should be listed in a “Resources” or “Bibliography” list.

Note that “honey bee” is properly spelled as two words, even though many otherwise

authoritative references spell it as one word.

NOTE: ONLY ESSAYS SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY WILL BE ACCEPTED.

-- RULES on reverse/next page

4-H Beekeeping Essay Contest - 2014


2014 4-H BEEKEEPING ESSAY CONTEST

The Foundation for The Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc.

Page 2

RULES: 1. Contest is open to active 4-H Club members only. 4-H'ers who have previously

placed first, second, or third at the national level are not eligible; but other state

winners are eligible to re-enter.

2. Requirements (failure to meet any one requirement disqualifies the essay) -

- Write on the designated subject only.

- All factual statements must be referenced with bibliographical-style endnotes.

- A brief biographical sketch of the essayist, including date of birth, gender,

complete mailing address, and telephone number, must accompany the essay.

- Length – the essay proper: 750 to 1000 words.

- The word count does not include the endnotes, the bibliography or references, nor

the essayist's biographical sketch – which should be on a separate page.

- Preparation for National Judging: ELECTRONIC SUBMISSIONS ONLY. Prepare

your essays double-spaced, 12-pt. Times or similar type style, following standard

manuscript format. Submit as a Microsoft Word compatible document.

3. Essays will be judged on (a) scope of research - 40%; (b) accuracy - 30%; (c)

creativity - 10%; (d) conciseness - 10%; and (e) logical development of the topic -

10%.

4. Individual essayists should not forward essays directly to the Foundation

office. Each state 4-H Office is responsible for selecting the state's winner and

should set its deadline so state judging can be completed at the state level in time

for the winning state essay to be mailed to the Foundation office before March 1,

2014. No essay received after March 1 will be considered.

5. Each state may submit only one entry.

6. Final judging and selection of the National Winner will be made by the

Foundation's Essay Committee, whose decision is final.

7. The National Winner will be announced by May 1, 2014.

8. All National entries become the property of the Foundation and may be published

or used as it sees fit. No essay will be returned. National winning essays will be

posted at: http://honeybeepreservation.org.

9. STATE 4-H OFFICE: Email the winning state entries to:

[email protected]. In the subject line: Beekeeping Essay. All entries

received will be promptly acknowledged; if you have not received an

acknowledgment after 3 business days, please resubmit.

# # #


Listing of Local Beekeepers’ Associations in Texas withTBA Delegate and Regular Meeting Information Shown for Each

Please forward any changes and/or additions to John J. Talbert, Executive Secretary, [email protected]

Alamo Area Beekeepers AssociationEdward Priest - (210) [email protected] Maidenstone - San Antonio, TX 78250Meetings: 3rd Tuesday on odd # months; atHelotes Ind. Baptist Church15335 Bandera Rd., Helotes @ 7 pm

Brazoria County Beekeepers AssociationLarry Hoehne - (979) 848-8780 or (979) 236-1385233 Crestwood, Clute TX 77531bcbassociation@gmail.comwww.brazoria-county-beekeepers-association.comMeetings: 2nd Monday of each month at 7pm;Brazoria County Extension Office21017 County Road 171, Angleton TX 77515

Central Texas Beekeepers AssociationMichael Kelling - (979) 277-0411CentralTexasBeekeepers@gmail.comwww.centraltexasbeekeepers.org 1997 Tonckawa Hills Ln - Brenham, TX 77833Meetings: Monthly on the 4th Thursday(except November and December) at the Washington County Fairgrounds Brenham @ 7 pm

Coastal Bend Beekeepers AssociationDeborah Houlihan - (361) [email protected] Parade Dr.,Corpus Christi, TX 78412Meetings: First Thursday of each month at 6:30pm;City of Corpus Garden Senior Center5325 Greely Dr.,Corpus Christi, TX 78412

Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Assn.John J. Talbert - (214) [email protected] O Box 6 - Josephine, TX 75164www.northtexasbeekeepers.orgMeetings: 2nd Monday of each month; Heard Craig Hall, 306 N. Church St, McKinney @ 6:30 pm

Concho Valley Beekeepers AssociationMark F Hedley - (325) 463-53198740 FM 502, Rochelle, TX [email protected]: 3rd Tuesday of each month Jan-NovTexas A&M Research and Extension Center7887 US Hwy 87 N, San Angelo @ 7:30 pm

Dino-Beekeepers AssociationDwain Cleveland - (254) [email protected]: 1st Tuesday of monthChachi’s Mexican RestaurantHighway 67 in Glen Rose @7pm

East Texas Beekeepers AssociationRichard Counts - (903) [email protected] Audrey Lane - Arp, TX 75750www.etba.infoMeetings: 1st Thursday of each month; Whitehouse United Methodist Church,405 West Main (Hwy 346), Whitehouse @ 6:45 pm

Fayette County Beekeepers AssociationEmil Kaluza - (979) [email protected]: First Saturday of the month, Feb, April, June, August, October and DecemberFayette County Agriculture Building240 Svoboda Lane, La Grange, TX 78945

Fort Bend Beekeepers Association1402 Band Road, Rosenberg, TX 77471(281) 633-7029 (during office hours)Jeff McMullan - Secretary - Treasurer(281) 980-2363 (home): (281) 615-5346 (cell)[email protected]: 2nd Tuesday of each month (except December) in the Fort Bend CountyBud O’Shieles Community Center1330 Band Road, Rosenberg, TX 77471

(continued on page 29)


Local Beekeepers’ Associations in Texas(continued from Page 28)

Harris County Beekeepers AssociationCameron Crane - (409) [email protected] Belvedere Dr., Baytown, TX 77520www.harriscountybeekeepers.orgMeetings: 4th Tuesday of each monthGolden Acres Center - 5001 Oak AvenuePasadena @ 7 pm

Heart of Texas Beekeepers AssociationGary Bowles - (254) [email protected]: 4th Tuesday of each month (except December) at A1 Buffet, 301 S. Valley Mills Drive, Waco @ 6:30 pm

Houston Beekeepers AssociationRita Willhite - (832) [email protected] Braeburn Valley Dr. - Houston, TX 77074www.houstonbeekeepers.orgMeetings: 3rd Tuesday of each month; Bayland Community Center, 6400 Bisonnet St.Houston @ 7:30 pm

Metro Beekeepers AssociationStan Key, [email protected] Castle Creek Rd.,North Richland Hills,TX 76182Meetings: 2nd Monday of each month; United Co-op Services Community Room, Bethesda Rd at I 35 W., Burleson @ 6:30 pm

Montgomery County Beekeepers Assn.John Hicks - (936) [email protected]: 3rd Monday of each month at Montgomery County Extension Office @ 7 pm

Pineywoods Beekeepers AssociationCecil Hunt - (936) [email protected] Carriage Dr. - Lufkin, TX 75904Meetings: 2nd Thursday of each monthChamber of Commerce Building, Highway 287 and Highway 58 IntersectionLufkin @ 7:30 pm

Red River Valley Beekeepers Assn.Bennie J. Watson - (940) 767-02071952 - A Hines Blvd.Wichita Falls, TX 76301-7961Meetings: 3rd Tuesday of each month (except December) Bolin Science Hall, Room 209Midwestern St. UniversityWichita Falls @ 7 pm

Rio Grande Valley Beekeepers Assn.Billy Wright - (956) 464-5042Route 5, Box 74 - Donna, TX 78537Meetings: 3rd Tuesday of each month; TAMU Res. and Ext. Center, 2401 E. Highway 83Weslaco @ 7:30 pm

Trinity Valley Beekeepers AssociationAlan Eynon - (972) 231-5702, Ext. [email protected] Vinewood Drive - Dallas, TX 75228www.tvbees.orgMeetings: 1st Wednesday of each month (except August), Continuing Education Center, C.C.Young Facility, 4847 West Lawther Dr.,Dallas, TX 75214 @ 7 - 9 pm

Walker County Area Beekeepers Assn.Steve Kelley - (936) [email protected] Tam Road, Huntsville, TX 77320Meetings: Last Thursday of each month at Walker County Extension Office, #1 Tam Rd.Huntsville @ 7 pm

Williamson County Beekeepers Assn.Jimmie Oakley - (512) [email protected] - www.wcaba.org1799 Goodson Ct. - Round Rock, TX 78664Meetings: 4th Thursday of each month (except December) 1st United Methodist Church - McKinney Ministry Center410 E. University Ave Georgetown , TX 78626 @ 7 pm


Membership Report 13-3 by Jimmie Oakley2013 New Members

3/23 Chapman Patti Cypress, TX 35 3/23 Hadash Nanci Hallettsville, TX 35 3/23 Mathens Mike & Cynthia Houston, TX 50 Family3/23 Shaffer Debbie La Grange, TX 35 3/23 Stephens Tim Corpus Christi, TX 35 4/4 Pardue Candi Ponder, TX 35 4/13 DuBose Gary Houston, TX 35 4/15 Booker Raymond & Connie Brazoria, TX 50 Family4/20 Morrison Robert M. Kingswood, TX 35 4/23 Yeamans Pamela Austin, TX 35 5/23 Willingham Jim Uvalde, TX 35 5/25 Womack Diane Ozone, TX 35

2013 Renewing Members

3/23 Woody John & Cindy Blooming Grove, TX 50 Family3/27 Green James & Mattie Eagle Lake, TX 50 Family4/4 Wilson Wm. T. 'Bill' Summit, UT 35 4/12 Brooks Sondra Spicewood, TX 35 4/13 Breedlove Jerry Wichita Falls, TX 35 4/13 Herbert Dennis & Annette Salado, TX 50 Family4/13 Kuaffman Kurt & Donna Colleyville, TX 50 Family4/15 Smaistela Albert & Margaret East Bernard, TX 50 Family4/24 Sullivan Deonne Wylie, TX 35 5/10 Casey Mack & Peggy Danbury, TX 50 Family5/17 Pollard Brandon & Susan Dallas, TX 50 Family5/23 Hoehne Larry, Norma, Haylie Clute, TX 50 Family5/23 Kohnke Christopher Katy, TX 35 14 5/23 Ware Neel Georgetown, TX 35

2013 New Association Memberships4/13 Fayette County Beekeepers Association La Grange, TX 25

2013 Associations Renewing Membership4/10 Collin County Hobby Beekeepers Assoc. McKinney, TX 50 13-145/23 Brazoria, County Beekeepers Association Brazoria, TX 25

Mail All Renewals/Inquiries to:

Jimmie L. Oakley1799 Goodson Ct.Round Rock, TX 78664-3706

Phone: 512/388-3630e-mail: [email protected]


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Texas Beekeepers AssociationChris Doggett, Editor400 County Road 440Thrall, TX 76578-8701Phone: (512) 898-5500Cell: (512) [email protected]

Return Service Requested PRESORTED STANDARDU.S. POSTAGE PAID

Webster, TXPermit No. 184

TBA Officers-2013PresidentBlake [email protected] Grassmere Ln #1131McKinney, TX 75071(214) 886-6899

Vice PresidentChris [email protected] Bevil Blvd.Kountz, TX 77625(713) 724-7110

Past PresidentEd [email protected] MaidenstoneSan Antonio, TX 78250(210) 722-7380

Executive SecretaryJohn J. [email protected]. Box 6Josephine, TX 75164(214) 532-9241

TreasurerJimmie L. [email protected] Goodson Ct.Round Rock, TX 78664(512) 388-3630

Publications DirectorChris [email protected] County Road 440Thrall, TX 76578(512) 898-5500

Directors -at-Large and Local Associations Served:Wendy [email protected] Blackhill Rd.Floresville, TX 78114-6078(830) 393-2352

Concho ValleyAlamo AreaRio GrandeCoastal Bend

Russell [email protected] W Parker 278-125Plano, TX 75093(214) 619-2050

Collin CountyMetroRed River Valley

Clint [email protected] CR 319Navasota, TX 77868(936) 825-3642

Montgomery CountyHoustonHarris County

Eddie [email protected] Ardis St.Whitehouse, TX 75791(903) 871-2391

East TexasPineywoodsWalker County

Rodney [email protected] Old Hearne RoadHearne, TX 77859(979) 279-2805

Central TexasFort BendBrazoriaWilliamson County

James [email protected] Box 1148Wylie, TX 75098(972) 843-2676

DinoHeart of TexasTrinity Valley

Dreyfus PRINTING/110 W Sealy/Alvin, TX 77511/email: [email protected]/Phone: 281/331-3381 Fax: 281/331-0466

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