CARROLL COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOC.

Transcription

1 CARROLL COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOC. THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 Note the Contents lines are links to within the Newsletter. Just point and click! Contents DECEMBER MEETING MINUTES... 2 JANUARY 18, 2017 MEETING... 2 JANUARY TO-DO LIST... 2 THREE EASY WAYS TO PAY 2017 DUES... 3 APIARY REGISTRATION... 3 JOIN THE MARYLAND STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION... 4 BEEKEEPING IN WINTER?... 4 DISCOUNT SUBSCRIPTION TO AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL... 5 SUBSCRIBE TO BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE... 5 HOW TO MAKE CANDY BOARD BOX FEEDERS... 5 HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION... 6 BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE LAUNCHES BRAND NEW BEEKEEPING MAGAZINE FOCUSING ON BEGINNERS... 6 BEE CANDY (FONDANT) RECIPE... 7 MEDICINAL USES FOR HONEY... 8 CAN YOU FIND THE QUEEN IN THIS PHOTO?... 9 BRUSHY MOUNTAIN BEE FARM DISTRIBUTOR H.T. KRANTZ 3 LB PACKAGES AND QUEENS FOR SALE - CCBA T-SHIRTS APIARY MAPPING SITE SAVE THE DATES CHECK OUT THE CCBA WEBSITE CCBA FACEBOOK PAGE CCBA 2017 OFFICERS January Meeting: Wednesday, January 18 th February Meeting: CANCELED Please help to spread the word about the Short Course.

2 Page 2 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 DECEMBER MEETING MINUTES By Terri Hemelt, Secretary CCBA There was no meeting in December. The next general meeting will be at 7:30 on January 18, 2017, at Bear Branch Nature Center. JANUARY 18, 2017 MEETING Plan to attend the January Meeting which will feature a new "Give & Take Activity". This will be both educational and fun for all beekeepers. For now, we can only say... Something new, something blue. Something that you can look forward to! Bring your leftover Christmas cookies and fruitcake. Beekeepers are always hungry! JANUARY TO-DO LIST Attend the January 18 th CCBA meeting. The room is warm, the coffee hot, and the cookies are tasty! Pay 2017 CCBA annual dues - $15 per family - more information in newsletter REGISTER YOUR COLONIES - more information in newsletter Join MSBA more information in newsletter Keep hive entrances free from ice and snow Entrance reducer removed or, if in, large opening up. When bees are not flying, remove entrance reducer and scrape out any dead bees from the bottom board to prevent blocking the entrance. Screened bottom boards closed % Provide top ventilation - remember, it s vital to keep your bees dry. ALWAYS provide top ventilation. Order 2017catalogs You can quickly inspect hives if temperature is over 55 and wind around hives is calm, but don t pull out frames. If the bottom of inner cover is damp, more ventilation is needed. If the cluster is in the top box, your colony is probably running out of food. It s time to add fondant** or bee candy unless you are absolutely certain that there are enough honey stores. Even so, why risk it for a few pounds of sugar? When the nectar flow starts, unused sugar can be removed to make syrup to feed splits. A recipe from Bill & Angie Troup is included in this newsletter. Order pollen patties but wait until the first of February to install. If you stored frames with foundation in a warm area (e.g. basement), check for wax moths. Repair and paint equipment Inventory equipment and order new as needed Recruit members for the Short Course Order packages, nucs, and/or queens Subscribe to Bee Culture and/or American Bee Journal (see how-to in this Newsletter) Read, read, read as much as possible ** Commercial fondant made from corn fruticose may not be as healthy for your bees as fondant made from cane sugar.

3 Page 3 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 THREE EASY WAYS TO PAY 2017 DUES $15/family or $150 Life Membership Mail check payable to CCBA, to... Jody King 1435 Uniontown Rd Westminster Click on Buzzy, above, and follow directions to pay with PayPal Give your check to Jody at the next CCBA meeting APIARY REGISTRATION By Larry Fritz In accordance with Maryland law, very Beekeeper must register their bees. This for the owner s benefit, as well as for fellow Beekeepers. The inspector is a friend, not a foe. Their job is to detect and prevent the spread of honey bee diseases. For example, one colony with American Foul Brood can infect colonies within a 3-mile radius. These in turn could infect additional colonies in a 3-mile radius, and so on. That being said, there have been no recent cases of AFB in Carroll County. The Carroll County inspector is a Master Beekeeper Cybil Preston. She is very personable, and is an extremely knowledgeable inspector/beekeeper. Beekeepers who happen to be home when Cybil shows up for an inspection are treated to a wealth of information as she dissects a hive. If not home, Cybil s inspection report alerts the Beekeeper to any colony anomalies that require attention. If you suspect any type of colony disease, her at cybil.preston@maryland.gov.. Even if you currently have no colonies but plan to purchase a package or nuc this spring, send in the form indicating your intentions. List the number of live colonies you have right now. Zero is an acceptable number! The cost is a postage stamp the benefits are enormous! Click here to download the application for Registration of Honey Bee Colonies. (online registration is planned for 2018, so be sure to include your address)

4 Page 4 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 JOIN THE MARYLAND STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION As well as belonging to an association of fellow beekeepers of all ages, backgrounds and experience, there are a number of tangible benefits to this membership: Several association meetings each year where experts from across the country make presentations on a diverse range of subjects including beekeeping, bee biology and genetics as well as a host of other related topics. Regular publications of the association's newsletter, the 'Beeline', keeping you up to date with beekeeping news and events First notification of additional educational and workshop events. These benefits make membership of MSBA very worthwhile - please support your association and encourage beekeepers you know to join and support us as well. The cost is $10/year. Click here for the membership application. The application also gives us an opportunity to donate to MDA s Apiary Inspection Fund. Donations will help to cover the expenses of our state honeybee colony inspectors who work long hours for low pay. These folks are a beekeeper s friend! Many other states charge us for their services, but in Maryland it is still free of charge. Our contributions demonstrate to the MDA how we feel about this valuable service, and encourages MDA to retain state funding. BEEKEEPING IN WINTER? By Anna Poladian-Prior You may be wondering if there s really any beekeeping to be done in the winter but there are a few things you could and should do: check on the status of the hives and order nucs or packages if needed; make sugar patties or sugar fondant to be ready for emergency feeding; make or buy pollen patties; repair old equipment and assemble new. Your hives may look like the picture, but the colony is busy raising brood and will start to go through all those stores you thought would last them until the dandelions bloom. The queen started laying eggs after the December 21 st winter solstice and that first round of brood will emerge ready to replace their aging sisters 21 days later (January 11 th ). She will increase the number of eggs she lays, and raising brood will rapidly use up their stores of honey and pollen, so stay on your toes! How can you check on the bees to make sure they re alive? There are two options: remove the top and blow through the frames to hear any reaction or, my preferred method, put an ear on the outside of the hive and rap the hive bodies, you should hear a very satisfying buzzing response. Don t do a deeper hive check by removing any frames, this will break the cluster. If you want to assess their stores, you need to wait until temps hit at least 50 degrees and personally, I would also make sure the bees were flying before disturbing them. First week of February the bees will get a pollen patty and a sugar patty as a precaution. Then extra hive bodies, frames and nucs will be assembled to provide splits for any hives that have perished. If you think you ve lost all of your hives, order bees NOW!

5 Page 5 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 DISCOUNT SUBSCRIPTION TO AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL One year-$28. Mention that you are a member of CCBA and the discount price is $21. This is applies to renewals as well as new subscriptions. Stop by the Carroll County Public Library for a look at this excellent magazine. Phone SUBSCRIBE TO BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE 1 year of the print edition for $25. Stop by the Carroll County Public Library for a look at this excellent magazine. Click here. HOW TO MAKE CANDY BOARD BOX FEEDERS By Larry Fritz This YouTube video... provides a good description of how to make a no-cookcandy Candy Board Box Feeder that I found quite easy to make. The described candy recipe works well and the sugar hardens enough so that the Box can be transported to your hive w/o the sugar falling through the ½ inch hardware cloth. I put a 2x4 block face down on the screen before adding the candy mix. Remove it after the candy is packed into place and there will be a space to put a piece of a pollen patty. Two shims are put on the frames of the top hive-box, followed by the Candy Board Box, then the Inner Cover, then the Telescoping Cover. In the video, a Hive Top Feeder was added over the Candy Board Box. The two sides of the feeder are filled with dry wood shavings which converts the feeder into a moisture absorbing Quilt Box a clever idea. The photo is of a feeder for the Nuc that is the winter home to the club s Observation Hive colony. Spring is Coming Just Believe

6 Page 6 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION Leading the Discussion on Honey Bee Health January The Honey Bee Health Coalition is made up of more than 40 organizations, businesses, and nonprofits and includes many leading experts on pollinator health issues. That s why it is no surprise that Coalition members will be delivering key presentations throughout the 2017 North American Beekeeping Conference in Galveston, Texas. In addition to these speaking roles and sessions see below for a full listing the Coalition also will have a booth at the tradeshow from noon on Wednesday, Jan. 11, through 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13. Come visit us at table No. 25 and help us discuss the Coalition s work with beekeepers. Register for the conference by visiting Read the full conference agenda by clicking here Newsletter Varroa Videos & Guide Update The Coalition s Tool for Varroa Management Guide has helped beekeepers utilize best practices for detecting, monitoring, and confronting parasite infestations. The Coalition has updated its wildly popular guide, which continues to be downloaded and used by thousands of beekeepers. Check out the fifth edition by visiting In an effort to make the Tool for Varroa Management Guide even easier to use, the Coalition produced a series of videos to demonstrate integrated pest management and the methods described in the guide. The videos, which can be found alongside the guide on the Coalition s website, provide practical demonstrations of how to measure Varroa mite infestations in their hives and select appropriate control methods. The Coalition also has developed an integrated pest monitoring spreadsheet to help beekeepers implement the strategies discussed in the guide and video. BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE LAUNCHES BRAND NEW BEEKEEPING MAGAZINE FOCUSING ON BEGINNERS Bee Culture Magazine is proud to announce the launch of their brand new beginner s magazine entitled BEEkeeping Your First Three Years. A quarterly, newsstand-only offering, the very first issue has articles aimed specifically at brand new, and not quite so brand new beekeepers looking for solid, factual and reliable beekeeping information from sources that they can trust. It s a big day for the Root Company, and for Bee Culture magazine, said Brad Root, President of Root Candles, publisher of both BEEkeeping and Bee Culture magazines. There hasn t been a regular, new magazine produced for beginning beekeepers since A.I. Root came out with Gleanings In Bee Culture, more than 140 years ago, and that was aimed directly at the expanding population of brand new and inexperienced beekeepers he said. This was the first audience A. I. had, and it s good to see that tradition return. Click here to read more.

7 Page 7 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 BEE CANDY (FONDANT) RECIPE

8 Page 8 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 MEDICINAL USES FOR HONEY

9 Page 9 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 CAN YOU FIND THE QUEEN IN THIS PHOTO? Clue look at the bottom of the next page Answer last page in newsletter, but first try hard to find her!

10 Page 10 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 BRUSHY MOUNTAIN BEE FARM DISTRIBUTOR MARYLAND HONEY COMPANY, Inc. BRUSHY MOUNTAIN BEE FARM DISTRIBUTOR FULL SERVICE BEEKEEPING SUPPLIER WOODENWARE (TEN FRAME OR EIGHT FRAME) (UN-ASSEMBLED OR ASSEMBLED) (ENGLISH GARDEN HIVES) FOUNDATION (PLASTIC OR WAX) BEEKEEPER TOOLS (HIVE TOOLS, SMOKERS, ETC.) PROTECTIVE GEAR (BEE SUITS, VEILS, GLOVES) FEEDS & MEDICATIONS EXTRACTING EQUIPMENT (EXTRACTORS, UNCAPPING TANKS AND TOOLS) HONEY CONTAINERS (PLASTIC AND GLASS) WE DON T STOCK IT ALL, BUT WE CAN GET IT STORE LOCATION: 6910 DAMASCUS ROAD GAITHERSBURG, MD marylandhoneycompany2011@gmail.com Pricing is Brushy Mountain Catalog + 8% mark-up and sales tax STORE HOURS: Now: SUNDAYS 10-4 TUESDAYS 12-5 Starting March 1 SUNDAYS 10-5 TUESDAYS 12-7 Can you find the queen clue: Look in the middle of the left side of the photo.

11 Page 11 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 H.T. KRANTZ 3 LB PACKAGES AND QUEENS

12 Page 12 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 FOR SALE - CCBA T-SHIRTS (Navy Blue shown) Short-sleeved navy blue club t-shirts will still be available at meetings or by arrangement with Anna Prior if you can't make it to the meeting. However, some members have expressed interest in having other colors to choose from. To make these alternate colors available with as little fuss as possible, Anna will have a sign-up sheet where you can choose one of two colors (or both!) and your size. Payment will be in advance. Cost depends on how many shirts are ordered but it should be around $ Long-sleeved options are also available. The special order color choices are as follows: Short-sleeve - Heather Cardinal and Prairie Dust Long-sleeve - Navy (same as our short-sleeve club shirts) and Military Green (a darker version of Prairie Dust) Anna will have samples of the Prairie Dust and Heather Cardinal with the sign-up sheet. APIARY MAPPING SITE By Larry Truchon We are building an apiary mapping site for our club members. It will show the appropriate location of participating member's apiaries with one, two and three mile rings. Only participating members will have access. To join please send: Apiary name (example: Wild Acre Apiary) Closest cross streets Number of colonies (not Nucs) Zip Code Send above data to larrytruchon@gmail.com If you are a first year member without bees this year, send info with 0 number of colonies. You will be sent log in info after you are entered into the database.

13 Page 13 of 14 THE CARROLL BEE January 2017 SAVE THE DATES Wednesday, January 18, 7:30 - CCBA Monthly Meeting at Bear Branch Nature Center Wednesday, February 8, 7:30 Start of Short Course at CCC. NO CCBA MEETING AT BEAR BRANCH Wednesday, February 15, 22 March 1, 8, 7:30 Short Course Classes at CCC Saturday, February 18, 9 3:30 MSBA Winter meeting at Howard Co Fairgrounds July 31-August 4 - EAS 2017 University of Delaware, Newark, DE July 29 August 4 Carroll County 4H Fair CHECK OUT THE CCBA WEBSITE Send s to: carrollbeekeepers@gmail.com CCBA FACEBOOK PAGE Check us out on Facebook by searching for Carroll County Beekeepers Association. Join the page to post photos, articles, ask questions, etc. Anyone can view. CCBA 2017 OFFICERS President Fred Sypher frsy4@outlook.com Vice President Larry Truchon ltruchon@comcast.net Treasurer Jody King joseph.king2011@comcast.net Secretary Terri Hemelt themelt58@gmail.com The Carroll Bee Editor Larry Fritz lfritz44@gmail.com

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