The Piping Queen NABA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS DONATIONS TENNESSEE AGRICULTURAL ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (TAEP) HONEY BEE LOSSES & CCD MARK YOUR CALENDAR

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1 The Piping Queen May DONATIONS George Bullard and Jim Primus donated $100 to the NABA Youth Fund that they received for participation in Travelers Rest Spring Sampler on April 25th. An anonymous honey bee breeder in the mid-state donated a package of 4.9mm bees with queen to the NABA apiary. The breeder also donated two queens for requeening of two NABA colonies. NABA WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS Suleyman Chalky Wib Magli* Faye Baldwin* & Daniel Dobkins* George Koller* Art Vincent Franklin Dickson *completed recent NABA Introductory Beekeeping MARK YOUR CALENDAR The June Meeting will be the Field Day on June 7th (first Saturday). We will not meet June 8th at the usual second Sunday time. See page 5 1 TENNESSEE AGRICULTURAL ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (TAEP) Beekeepers can apply for cost-sharing grants under the Producer Diversification Program administered by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture. Eligible items for bees include apiary expansion, honey processing equipment, and trailers for pollination service. The minimum requirements to participate are 3 years beekeeping experience and 5 existing colonies. The minimum request amount is $250. Under this program there is a 35% costshare (state will reimburse 35%) with a maximum cost share of $10,000. There is also a 50% Priority Area costshare but this has a special requirement of completion of the UT Extension Master Bee Course prior to program reimbursement deadline. The application period is June 2 - August 1, Reimbursement deadline is May 1, The Master Bee Course is given in Knoxville by Dr. John Skinner, Tennessee State Apiculturist, usually once a year around March. Dr. Skinner says that the course be may given again this year. However, completion of the course next spring would meet the reimbursement deadline. More information can be found at: h t t p : / / w w w. s t a t e. t n. u s / a g r i c u l t u r e / e n h a n c e m e n t / p r o d _ d i v ers.html HONEY BEE LOSSES & CCD Early this month, preliminary findings of a national honey bee loss survey by Apiary Inspectors of American and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Honey Bee Lab at Beltsville, Md., were released. The survey was based on interviews of commercial beekeepers, mostly migratory pollinators, who manage about 18% of the country s 2.44 million colonies. The survey did not produce good news for honey bees or researchers and others who are trying to ride the CCD mania to some type of reward. The surveyed beekeepers lost 35% of their colonies this last winter, up 10% from last year although it is unclear if the same beekeepers were surveyed each year. Perhaps unexpectantly, the survey discovered that at least 71% of all colony bee losses could be attributed to non-ccd causes. Bad news for bees because of the overall losses, bad news for CCD researchers since it seems that honey bee disappearing disease may be disappearing. (continue on page 4)

2 IN THE NEWS! Scientists discover why honey sticks to the spoon Ever wondered why honey sticks to your spoon when you take it out of the bottle? This is a question that has long been debated and now it seems scientists have reached a consensus, claiming everybody was right with their theory about the stickiness of the viscous fluid. According to an international team of researchers, sugar molecules in honey move like how cars move in a traffic jam- molecules can change lane but cannot move forward very far. Australian researcher Associate Professor Glenn Hefter of Murdoch University in Perth and colleagues have said that sugar molecules do and don't slow down the water molecules in this thick fluid, it depends on your perspective. Basically, honey and other syrups are water-containing high concentration of sugars and different scientists have different explanations for the stickiness of honey. Chemist Dr. Ian Larson of Monash University in Melbourne said that many researchers believe that such fluids are sticky because sugar molecules slow down the water molecules; however, others do not find any evidence to prove the same. In order to explain this, scientists led by Hefter used salt in place of sugar, which behaves in a similar way but is easier to study. They examined two types of water molecule movement: translational motion, or movement from A to B, and rotational motion, or spinning on an axis, and found that in syrup-like solutions, while the translational movement of water molecules is slowed down, rotational movement remains unaffected. Larson compared this behavior with cars in traffic jams, where they can change the lanes (rotational motion) but can't move forward (translational motion). In fact, he said that the contradictory findings in previous research are not contradictory at all, because different researchers measure different kinds of water molecule movement. "Depending on what type of experiment you do, you can either measure rotational motion or translational motion. Source: Australian News.Net, 10th May 10, 2008 Buzz grows over beekeeping; Soaring enrollment in county `bee schools' reflects a national trend All morning one cool, drizzly April Sunday, cars pull up to the Reseska Apiaries warehouse in Holliston - one driven by an attorney, one carrying a plumber and a machinist, another a yoga studio owner. The occasion is the arrival by truck of 270 three-pound boxes of honeybees from Georgia, all ready for pick-up by a diverse and burgeoning cadre of backyard beekeepers. "When I signed up for bee school, I thought there would be six people," says Kristina 2 Ward, a 38-year-old landscape designer from Norfolk. "It turned out there's a whole subculture." Subculture indeed. Ward is among almost four dozen aspiring beekeepers who recently completed the Norfolk County Beekeepers Association introductory "bee school," up from 17 two years ago. Across Massachusetts and beyond, interest in beekeeping is exploding. Plymouth County's bee school had 40 students this spring, up from about two dozen two years ago. Worcester County, home of the nation's oldest county beekeepers' association, attracted 200 to its most recent course, almost double its 2005 enrollment. Essex County turned away some 40 aspiring beekeepers this year and taught another 93, a dramatic increase in interest over 2007, when 90 students enrolled, and well above the 60 or 70 typical before that. The Massachusetts Beekeepers Association has 320 members with 2,000 hives, up from 93 members with an estimated 1,500 hives in Spurred in part by news of the mysterious colony collapse disorder that has decimated the nation's commercial honeybee population and in part by the ongoing popularity of gardening, the surge reflects a rising interest around the country. [Editor s Note: NABA members Roger and Diana Senechal moved to Joelton last year from Massachusetts. Roger directed the Worcester County bee school. NABA s enrollment in its bee school this spring was over twice that of last year s.] Source: Boston Globe, April 28, 2008 Inscent, Inc. Receives Federal Grant to Develop Honeybee Repellents Inscent, Inc. has received a Small Business Innovative Research grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to continue the testing and development of novel honeybee repellents using the proprietary Attenu high throughput assay system. The pioneering research performed by Inscent, Inc. has resulted in highly efficient processes that allow the rapid development of revolutionary insect control products suited for the modern age. Inscent's groundbreaking paradigm shift away from traditional insecticides and toward products based on behavior alteration of targeted species has been supported extensively by federal research grants and private industry funds. NSF reviewers described the honeybee repellent project as "fascinating" and "highly desirable," and new federal funding commences in July Inscent, Inc. is designing environmentally responsible insect control products that will eclipse the current generation of insecticides. The company's latest efforts focus on the honeybee for the development of a new array of insect control products based on behavior alteration. Inscent's honeybee repellent project was originally funded by the Citrus Research Board. Although the initial use of the (continue on page 3)

3 News (continued from page 2) repellent will be to prevent seediness in mandarins, it will also provide a solution for keeping bees out of fields that have been treated with insecticides. Honeybees are threatened by insecticide use and recent incidents of colony collapse have caused great concern among the farming and apiculture industries. These factors have combined to generate an urgent need for effective products that are safe to humans and insects alike. Source: PR Newswire, April 28, STATE FAIR NEEDS TO EXPAND REACH TO DRAW CROWDS, CONSULTANT SAYS The Tennessee State Fair should consider reinventing itself as a true statewide event rather than a -oriented one so it can become more relevant and competitive, a consultant says in a report. A new focus for the fair would require major changes to the 117-acre Tennessee State Fairgrounds south of downtown or even moving the event to a new site, Markin Consulting says. But it would allow the fair to build on Tennessee's "strong agriculture base" and draw bigger crowds. "By expanding the reach of the fair, and increasing the overall attendance by residents throughout the state of Tennessee, the fair becomes an attractor not only for the fair itself, but for the entire /Davidson County area," the report says. The fair's board of commissioners, which is part of Metro government, hired Markin late last year to study the best long-term use of the fairgrounds. The Minnesota-based consultant will recommend several options for the land in a few weeks, then gauge interest from potential developers and sponsors before providing a final ranking of the options in August. Before getting those reports, the fair board wanted to understand the viability of the fair itself, Chairman James Weaver said. "It was a question we had to ask and have answered before thinking about the current fairgrounds and its long-term use," Weaver said. The consultant "has suggested that the fair in its current configuration is going to continue to experience problems, particularly with attendance," he added. The 10-day event drew just 100,518 paid customers out of 192,130 overall last September, according to Markin's report. The Wilson County Fair, held over nine days in August, drew 234,650 paid customers out of 366,641 overall. The report says the Tennessee State Fair is "noticeably missing" some programming that would be expected at a state fair, including statewide participation, "major concerts and spectator events," showcases of state products and "larger educational exhibitions and demonstrations." It also cites competition for families' time and money, including sporting events, festivals and the fact that schools are in session in September. But the study also says Tennessee had more farms than all but two other states in 2002 and ranked 14th in the number of beef and dairy cows a centerpiece of any large agricultural exhibition. Metro Councilwoman Anna Page, who heads the council's Codes, Fair and Farmers Market Committee, said the fair could use a makeover. The fairgrounds' hilly topography presents a challenge for some people, and "it's not really a pretty property with all the fencing and asphalt and so forth," Page said. Councilwoman Sandra Moore, who represents the district that includes the fairgrounds and has attended the fair since she was a child, said the event, which doesn't receive Metro tax dollars, needs to make more money. Source: The Tennessean, May 6, 2008 FL A S H A P P L I C AT I O N M E T H O D F O R F O R M I C ACID Mite Away II formic acid pads are placed on colonies for three weeks for treatment of Varroa. As with other treatments for Varroa that must be left in the colony for weeks, it is difficult to treat during a nectar flow unless honey supers are removed for extended periods of time. Early removal of supers can also cause an overall shortage of space and the storage of nectar in cells that would normally be available for brood production, thus causing a decrease in the adult bee population. Extended periods of hot weather can also prevent the use of formic acid at a time when Varroa counts demonstrate the need to treat. In 2004, Jean-Pierre Chapleau of Quebec, Canada posted a method for short-term treatment with formic acid < h t t p : / / w w w. r e i n e s c h a p l e a u. w d 1. n e t / a r t i c l e s / f l a s h. e n. h t m l>. His method was based on a short term (4 days) application procedure developed by the Swiss Bee Institute. In Chapleau s method, formic acid (40 milliliters of 65% formic acid) is applied to a paper towel pad that is placed either on the top bars or on the bottom board. The pad is left in place for 24 hours, then removed. Supers are removed for this period of time. When administered at 68 F, he found that there was a 60% reduction in mite fall without any damage to brood or queens. Chapleau points out that the level of efficacy obtained was a result of formic acid s ability to kill Varroa in capped brood cells. Formic acid is the only varroacide that can kill mites in capped brood. He comments that the flash method reduces mite populations to a sufficient level that enables delaying more extensive application periods until cooler weather arrives or honey supers are no longer in place. (continue on page 5) 3

4 CCD (continued from page 1) Our Canadian neighbors found that the overwintering mortality in the spring of 2007 was higher than normal at 29%. Long-term average overwintering mortality in Canada is approximately 15%. This represents 1.9x the rate of normal winter losses. Any unusually high losses were investigated by provincial apicultural specialists. Initial indications suggest that high wintering losses may be attributed to some identifiable causes: 1. Ineffective control for the parasitic mite Varroa destructor; 2. Unusual fall and winter weather; and 3. A late wet spring in most areas prolonging winter conditions for bees and their access to suitable spring forage. It seems that both in Canada and the US, the old nemesis, Varroa, remains to be the greatest threat to honey bee health. Elements of the bee community along with certain federal politicians have been attempting to capitalize on the CCD mania in seeking appropriations for CCD as witnessed by a Senate briefing last month. What have the researchers, and in particular, the USDA, done in the past 20 years in solving the Varroa problem, a problem with a very defined cause? Sadly, very little. But now they believe that money with help them solve another problem, CCD, a problem with an ill-defined cause(s). The best studies concerning the causes of CCD originate not from the US, but from Spain and England. Last fall, the CCD working group led by Cox-Foster (Pennsylvannia State University), Va n E n g e l d o r p (Pennsylvannia Department of Agriculture) and Jeff Pettis (USDA) all but claimed in their Science publication that the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) caused CCD. Earlier issues of this newsletter discussed the merits of the latter study. Has anything new emerged since last fall concerning IAPV? An accepted manuscript (J. Virology, doi: /jvi ) by the CCD working group shows that there are at least three different types of IAPV, two of which appear in the US. In a note posted on the MAAREC web site < the CCD working group also summarizes some of its other findings; most notable are 1) Not all colonies with IAPV are in poor health; 2) IAPV can move from uninfected to infected colonies within an apiary; and 3) IAPV has been found in at least 19 states. The most striking comment made in the note is: considering all these factors, undue concern over IAPV detection is not warranted. This certainly shows an about-face by the group on the possible involvement of IAPV as a causative factor for CCD. Does IAPV affect honey bee health at all? Although the CCD group claims that IAPV can affect adult bee health based on research here and in Israel, it should be noted that experimental studies on this issue have not been published to date. The other candidate for causing CCD is the microsporidian, Nosema ceranae. Studies carried out by Higes and colleagues in Spain and Paxton and co-workers in England have shown that N. ceranae infection is associated with reduced honey production and increased colony mortality. It also highly affects adult bee health when injected experimentally into honey bees. At a meeting in the US this year, Higes reported that nurse bees would appear to be uninfected during spring and summer, but as late summer and fall approached, the bees inside the hive would start to build up spore levels, as well as foragers. When nearly all the house bees were infected, the adult population would abandon the hive. This seems similar to what is called CCD. In the US, N. ceranae has been detected in honey bee samples in 12 states including Tennessee dating back to Of interest, Nosema apis, the only Nosema species previuosly thought to be of some concern for European honey bees, was not found in any of the samples analyzed in the latter study. Canadian researchers found N. ceranae in 5 of 8 samples of honey bees collected from Minnesota and Canada. N. apis was found in three samples. Early in 2007 when N. ceranae was proposed as a possible causative factor in CCD, recommendations appeared for beekeepers to use Fumagilin-B despite the lack of any evidence that fumagilin had any affect on N. ceranae. Since fumagilin does not affect the closely related N. bombi that infects bumble bees, the same could be true for N. ceranae. Now it may not cause any harm to use Fumagillin, although this is uncertain, using it may give beekeepers a false sense of security in which they think they are implementing a possible control for N. ceranae. There are other factors to consider. Worker honey bees infected with N. ceranae do not take feed such as syrup or patties, the usual way for administering fumagilin to honey bees. The medication needs to be applied directly to the bee s body, forcing the bees to clean themselves off and in turn ingesting the medication. Higes recommends that four treatments are administered at one week intervals because only a small amount of fumagilin is applied by direct treatment. Another major difference between treating N. apis and N. ceranae is the dosage of fumagillin. Higes recommends that the dosage should be about times higher than that used for N. apis. Fumagilin-B is imported into the US from a Canadian company, Medivet. One needs to read the label carefully because the fall use of the product is the same as the instructions for the old Fumidil-B. The spring application instructions differ in that the dosage for N. ceranae is about 2.5 times stronger than that for N. apis. Now to the important question of Fumagillin-B (continue on page 5) 4

5 CCD (continued from page 4) efficacy against N. ceranae. Geoffrey Williams and colleagues at Acadia University and Wildwood Labs Inc. in Canada have a manuscript accepted by the Journal of Invertebrate Pathology ( /j.jip ) that provides evidence that fumagilin is effective against N. cer - anae. They treated bees according to the label instructions in the fall so it may be assumed that they used the lower dosage of medication. The manner of application, by feeding or spraying, was not specified. They found that colonies (# = 94) treated with fumagilin in the fall had lower Nosema intensity (spore level) in the spring than colonies (# = 51) that received no treatment. Thus, Fumagilin-B appears to reduce N. ceranae infection levels. Nosema levels became similar between treated and untreated colonies by late summer, suggesting that infected, untreated colonies are able to recover naturally during the summer. The authors comment that one reason that N. cer - anae appears to be displacing N. apis in colony prevalence may be due to the greater sensitivity of N. apis to fumagilin. The possibility then is that treatment with fumagilin, especially at higher doses, may actually favor the overall incidence of N. ceranae rather than reducing it. Flash Method (continued from page 3) A recent study by VanEngelsdorp and co-workers at Pennsylvannia State University and the Pennsylvannia Department of Agriculture that appears in the Journal of Economic Entolmology (vol. 101, page 256, 2008) confirms Chapleau s findings. The latter study used a 17 hour application of 75 milliliters of 50% formic acid that was placed onto a fumigation board positioned on the top of the upper brood chamber. The short-term treatment killed greater than 60% of Varroa mites in capped worker brood without harming brood or queens. It also killed mites on adult bees. Interestingly, these researchers were either not aware of Chapleau s earlier work or failed to recognize it. Officers *Randolph Richards, President, ; aura@nctc.com *George Bullard, Vice President, , geobullard@aol.com *Jim Primus, Secretary/Treasurer, jim_primus@bellsouth.net NABA Directors *Jim Primus , jim_primus@bellsouth.net *Alan Williams, , ar.williams@comcast.net *Steve McGee, , geesbees@bellsouth.net The Piping Queen is a monthly newsletter of the Area Beekeepers Association. Submissions to Jim Primus, Editor, 5348 Indian Valley Rd., Franklin, TN jim_primus@bellsouth.net 5 FIELD DAY A field day will be held between 10 A.M. and 2 P.M. on June 7th, and will replace the regularly scheduled meeting for June 8th. Activities will center around the resident colonies at Ellington. Joe Sides, Alan Williams, Jean Simpson, John Seaborn, and Jim Primus have so far offered to be presenters. The field day is primarily directed towards first and second year beekeepers, and some of the possible topics that will be covered include: 1) Small size comb & bees 2) Finding & marking queens 3) Varroa monitoring 4) Managing the small hive beetle 5) Reconditioning frames 6) Requeening 7) Disease diagnosis The number of participants who attend will determine how many stations are utilized in order to minimize the number of people at each topic. If the weather brings rain, the event will be held in the Jones Auditorium. Drinks will be available but you will need to provide your own nourisment if desired. If you have any suggestions for topics or would like to be a presenter, contact Jim Primus. THE APIARY IN MAY Activity in the colony now is at a frenzy. The nectar and pollen is coming in fast, although the recent cool and rainy weather probably will slow production some. Add another super when the super on the colony is one-half to two-thirds filled. Remove and extract capped supers from the colonies if you need additional supers. Inspect colonies twice. Check for diseases, mites, and queenrightness. Join weak colonies or split strong ones. The queen is reaching her greatest rate of egg laying. Monitor colonies for queen cells; watch for swarming and act to control it. ( Visit Hivetool.com's Guide to Beekeeping at Bee Yard Available Neppie Keraft, Green Hills (Leland & Woodmont)