Beekeeping Magazines for All Levels of Beekeeping
Bee Culture Magazine's 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. At finer newsstands everywhere.
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Published monthly, Bee Culture magazine offers articles, advice and information for every level beekeeper, from not-yet-started to the commercial operator. Every January, you will receive a FREE beekeeping calendar, unavailable from any other industry source. Click to subscribe: http://tinyurl.com/zh5xjcu
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The American Bee Journal was established in 1861 by Samuel Wagner and has been published continuously since that time, except for a brief period during the Civil War. The Journal has the honor of being the oldest English language beekeeping publication in the world. Click to subscribe: http://tinyurl.com/qfzdm52
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2017 Beginner Beekeeping Classes & Sessions
Community Ed Classes
(with Jeff Bergland & Kebin Duesman - click for info) Here's your introduction to the basics of beekeeping, taught by two veteran Treasure Valley Beekeepers. Dates:
Fee: $21.00 Please bring a note pad and pen to class. Online registration for Winter Community Education sessions begins in January 2017.
Sign up on-line through Boise Community Education (http://tinyurl.com/nga3a44). |
"Buzz" into this class for an overview on the basics of beekeeping. Our veteran keepers will teach you how to start and maintain a healthy hive and provide material sources and information about local clubs.
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"Build It & They Will Come!"
(with TVBC mentors) Back by popular demand, the TVBC's most popular class makes a return in 2017! Times & Places will be on the TVBC Events Calendar! Learn from experienced Treasure Valley beekeepers about how to construct your beekeeping equipment, so that the stuff works and lasts for years. Plan on attending the TVBC January meeting (http://www.idabees.org) and signing up for one of our three sessions, specially designed for the beginning beekeeper. |
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"Beekeeping 101" Class (with Uncle Frank)
Times & Places to Be Announced in Early-2017. Stay Tuned! Details, including price, will be found at http://www.idahohoneybee.com/ This class covers the basics of beginning beekeeping, what the different bees are in the hive and how they function. Frank Grover explains what you need in order to start a hive of bees, along with the how's and where's to set your new hives up, even in town. Information on sources of supplies and what you need to get started are handed out. You will learn where and when to get the bees, and how to install them into the hive. This 2 hour class will explain a first year plan for managing a beehive from purchase of bees in spring, and managing them through fall and winter. The equipment and tools you will need will be shown, explained, and handouts given for where to get them. Learn from an experienced beekeeper with 25 years experience. Uncle Frank can speed up your learning curve. If you can't make his January class, look for the February and March classes at http://www.idahohoneybee.com/. |
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February and March
February and August have historically been the two months on the opposite sides of the nectar flow to treat for Varroa mites, but this is not written in stone. There are new mite control options and they have different temperature range requirements and honey super withdrawal times.
• In a nutshell, we do not want our Varroa mite populations to get too high – 3,200 has been cited as the economic threshold for the U.S. And, we do not want to skip a treatment window, if that means the threshold number will be exceeded before the next treatment window.
• The need to treat should be based on your current mite population. If you have a high mite population, you should treat immediately. In early February your option is Hopguard 2 or Apivar (Amitraz). If you have a low mite population, you can delay and treat in March or April with controls that require shorter withdrawal times before supering but higher daily high temperatures for use. Mite Away Quick Strips (formic acid) can be used between 50-92 degrees F and Apiguard or ApiLife Var (thymol) between 64-95 degrees F.
• Our most efficacious mite controls buys you about 4 months which includes the treatment period before you need to treat again. Note that this period can be extended by using mite tolerant stock, screen bottom boards, drone brood removal, powder sugar, etc.
• A word of caution on mite management: Unless you are positive that you know your mite loads and are following a closely monitored plan, one application of any mite management agent ("hard" or "soft" chemicals), once a year has proven to be ineffective. There is no "Silver Bullet" nor a "Stake Through the Heart," when you are dealing with Varroa mites.
• One possible and viable treatment option for Treasure Valley beekeepers is to use Mite Away Quick Strips in the spring (March/April) and Apiguard in August. Hopefully, one day soon, oxalic acid will be registered for use during winter broodless periods.
• How do you estimate how many mites you have? Here are two techniques: the alcohol wash and the natural drop count.
Heft hives to find any light ones. Provide light hives emergency feed, preferably sugar candy/fondant or frames of honey. This is prime time for starvation, as brood production increases energy demands.
• Look for signs of Nosema infected hives. Symptoms include: slow build-up (best indicator), disjointed wings, distended bloated abdomen, a lot of yellow streaks on the outside of the colony and crawling bees outside of the hive. These symptoms may also be associated with tracheal mites. Make sure suspect hives have good ventilation and as a last resort, be prepared to treat with fumagillin syrup (follow the directions exactly, overdosing does not help, and treat fumagillin with respect, as this material is dangerous stuff).
• Find and remove queenless or dead out colonies. If pollen is actively being brought in, this generally indicates a healthy queen and hive.
• Remove dead outs and find out why the colony succumbed – queenlessness, starvation, disease? If the equipment is disease free and in good shape (frames are not all dark, with thick cell walls, riddled with drone brood cells), store for future use in dry location stacked on end so air and light can penetrate to discourage mold growth and wax moth activity.
• Spring usually brings some of the wildest and windiest weather. Make sure the lids are secured after you break the seals.
• If you feel your area lacks sufficient natural nectar flows and pollen to fuel high-energy growth to make full-sized production colonies in time for the main nectar flow (end of May), feed sugar syrup and pollen substitute when the daily highs exceed 55 degrees.
• Wax moth activity dramatically picks up when the temperatures rise. Keep an extra eye out for stored frames that have had brood and have pollen. Moth crystals (paradichlorobenzene) can be used for control, as well as freezing the frames. Exposing the frames to light can inhibit the moths, too.
• Here’s one last thought: Don’t feed pollen substitutes too early. I would consider too early as January, February, and maybe the first part of March. Brood production will increase, which may exhaust winter food supplies prematurely. Early feeding also increases activity, metabolism, and hive moisture. The weather may be inappropriate for cleansing flights, increasing the likelihood of developing dysentery. Dysentery is the quickest and most effective way of converting a slight Nosema infection into a severe one. Winter should be a time of quiescence for the bees that enables the bees to live to take the colony over the period when little or no brood is being reared. My two cents worth.
The above information was excerpted from the Oregon State Beekeepers Association webpage, found at: http://www.orsba.org/htdocs/home.php (June 2, 2012). The Treasure Valley Beekeepers Club extends a special thanks to Todd Balsiger, Forest Grove, OR for permission to post this information.
February and August have historically been the two months on the opposite sides of the nectar flow to treat for Varroa mites, but this is not written in stone. There are new mite control options and they have different temperature range requirements and honey super withdrawal times.
• In a nutshell, we do not want our Varroa mite populations to get too high – 3,200 has been cited as the economic threshold for the U.S. And, we do not want to skip a treatment window, if that means the threshold number will be exceeded before the next treatment window.
• The need to treat should be based on your current mite population. If you have a high mite population, you should treat immediately. In early February your option is Hopguard 2 or Apivar (Amitraz). If you have a low mite population, you can delay and treat in March or April with controls that require shorter withdrawal times before supering but higher daily high temperatures for use. Mite Away Quick Strips (formic acid) can be used between 50-92 degrees F and Apiguard or ApiLife Var (thymol) between 64-95 degrees F.
• Our most efficacious mite controls buys you about 4 months which includes the treatment period before you need to treat again. Note that this period can be extended by using mite tolerant stock, screen bottom boards, drone brood removal, powder sugar, etc.
• A word of caution on mite management: Unless you are positive that you know your mite loads and are following a closely monitored plan, one application of any mite management agent ("hard" or "soft" chemicals), once a year has proven to be ineffective. There is no "Silver Bullet" nor a "Stake Through the Heart," when you are dealing with Varroa mites.
• One possible and viable treatment option for Treasure Valley beekeepers is to use Mite Away Quick Strips in the spring (March/April) and Apiguard in August. Hopefully, one day soon, oxalic acid will be registered for use during winter broodless periods.
• How do you estimate how many mites you have? Here are two techniques: the alcohol wash and the natural drop count.
- An alcohol wash can be used to estimate Varroa populations with or without the presence of brood. A mite count is simply a ratio of the number of mites per given number of bees multiplied by the total estimated bee population, and then factoring in the Varroa population hidden in the brood. An estimated ⅔ of the mites are within the capped brood. An example: brood is present, and there are 30,000 adult bees. You find 5 mites in a ¼ cup alcohol wash (about 150 bees). This is equivalent to one mite per 30 bees, or 1000 mites total on the adult bee population. Add the 2/3 hidden in the brood, and you have roughly 3,000 mites, which is close to the economic threshold number of 3,200.
- The natural drop estimate for Varroa population requires full cycles of brood. Incidentally, these numbers for both techniques come from Dave VanderDussen – the Mite Away Quick Strip proprietor. A three day, 24 hour sticky board drop count is best. Each fallen mite represents 1% of the total mite load. This means you multiply the average drop count by 100. An average drop count of 32 mites in 24 hours would equal 3,200 total mites, or the economic treatment threshold.
Heft hives to find any light ones. Provide light hives emergency feed, preferably sugar candy/fondant or frames of honey. This is prime time for starvation, as brood production increases energy demands.
• Look for signs of Nosema infected hives. Symptoms include: slow build-up (best indicator), disjointed wings, distended bloated abdomen, a lot of yellow streaks on the outside of the colony and crawling bees outside of the hive. These symptoms may also be associated with tracheal mites. Make sure suspect hives have good ventilation and as a last resort, be prepared to treat with fumagillin syrup (follow the directions exactly, overdosing does not help, and treat fumagillin with respect, as this material is dangerous stuff).
• Find and remove queenless or dead out colonies. If pollen is actively being brought in, this generally indicates a healthy queen and hive.
• Remove dead outs and find out why the colony succumbed – queenlessness, starvation, disease? If the equipment is disease free and in good shape (frames are not all dark, with thick cell walls, riddled with drone brood cells), store for future use in dry location stacked on end so air and light can penetrate to discourage mold growth and wax moth activity.
• Spring usually brings some of the wildest and windiest weather. Make sure the lids are secured after you break the seals.
• If you feel your area lacks sufficient natural nectar flows and pollen to fuel high-energy growth to make full-sized production colonies in time for the main nectar flow (end of May), feed sugar syrup and pollen substitute when the daily highs exceed 55 degrees.
• Wax moth activity dramatically picks up when the temperatures rise. Keep an extra eye out for stored frames that have had brood and have pollen. Moth crystals (paradichlorobenzene) can be used for control, as well as freezing the frames. Exposing the frames to light can inhibit the moths, too.
• Here’s one last thought: Don’t feed pollen substitutes too early. I would consider too early as January, February, and maybe the first part of March. Brood production will increase, which may exhaust winter food supplies prematurely. Early feeding also increases activity, metabolism, and hive moisture. The weather may be inappropriate for cleansing flights, increasing the likelihood of developing dysentery. Dysentery is the quickest and most effective way of converting a slight Nosema infection into a severe one. Winter should be a time of quiescence for the bees that enables the bees to live to take the colony over the period when little or no brood is being reared. My two cents worth.
The above information was excerpted from the Oregon State Beekeepers Association webpage, found at: http://www.orsba.org/htdocs/home.php (June 2, 2012). The Treasure Valley Beekeepers Club extends a special thanks to Todd Balsiger, Forest Grove, OR for permission to post this information.
Washington State University Apiary Program
WSU offers a couple workshops throughout the year. Please check their website for more information:
http://entomology.wsu.edu/apis/
http://entomology.wsu.edu/apis/