MAY 2, 2010

For the most part, a swarm has the old queen that has swarmed out of the hive with sometimes half of the bees. This process has always been a mystery as to why they do this. Mainly it is due to one of two reasons: lack of space and the old queen is failing to keep up with her 1200 eggs/day production.  This second reason should be of concern for the beekeepers who catch a swarm.

 
After giving them about a week to settle in to their new home, it would be good to check on the laying habits of your “new” queen. If the brood pattern is spotty, then you may have to replace her, but you did get a lot of support bees. Right? The main thing for the beekeeper is to have some boxes at the ready. One year, I had a 20’ extension ladder permanently tied to the top of my Suburban. For you “newbees”, be alert to your surroundings and call one of us to help.

Special Thanks
I wanted to extend a very special “thank you” for all of those that helped man the Mule Day Booth. Dick Brickner did a Herculean effort by heading up the project. He took care of all the details. As for those of you that worked the booth, Don Lockhart, Steve Barnhill, Sheila Barrho, Leon Nellinger and his running mate (I keep forgetting her name, sorry), Tim Rowe, Alex Domkowski and Gene Graham THANK YOU!! We could not have done it without you. If I forgot someone, I apologize.

 
We received the CABA T-shirts on Friday. Dick is handing them out and taking care of the payments. We did get some extra ones.

Finally, John Seaborn and I went down to C.W. Higdon’s farm Thursday and brought back 33 barrels of sugar. Most of you that had ordered sugar have already picked it up. That is good, because Jason will not be able to store it for us this year. If you have not picked it up, please call Jason at (931) 698-4959 and “get-r-done “ by Sat. at 9:00 a.m. Another very special thanks is due for Jon Sharpe our new beekeepers from 2009. Jon stayed Thursday and helped load the barrels onto people’s trucks until just about all of the sugar was gone. Jon, you are amazing!

NEWS FROM TBA:   According to the TBA newsletter, Maury County has 313 registered colonies in TN. Davidson Co. has 574. While Williamson Co. has 212. There are 52 registered apiaries in Maury Co. with Davidson Co. having 56 and Williamson Co. having 60. As far as registered beekeepers, the following stats apply: Maury Co. 23, Williamson Co. 52, and Davidson Co. have 55. We beekeepers have come a long way in Maury County.

NABA NEWS
On a sad note, Jim Primus has been ill for the past six months (or more). He has had a pace maker since the 90’s and has been taking a drug for the past 20 years.  The “fibrilator” has been replaced and the drug has become ineffective.  He is now on two drugs that have caused him to be disorientated and unable to focus on tasks which include driving and of course, composing the NABA Newsletter.  It was through Jim’s and his wife, Jean Simpson’s efforts that NABA has become one of the largest associations in the state today.  We wish him all the best and a quick recovery. Incidentally, it was because of both of their encouragement that CABA was formed.  Jean said that, “Jack had swarmed from NABA” to start up CABA.  Tim Rowe also “swarmed” to become my vice president.

 
MASTER BEEKEEPER’S COURSE
Jim Primus and Judy Woodruff have told me that the John Skinner Master Beekeeper course was a great success.  Although CABA was not included in Skinner’s plans to have it, I am sure that it was a worthwhile venture for our newbees.  I had called Mike Studer (skinner’s apprentice) on the third week in March , and he knew nothing about it.  The next thing that I knew was our county agent, Richard Groce, was sending out a mailing on April 5th telling us that the course would be held for three days starting April 22nd!!  Last year, when the course was offered, they gave us six months to promote it.  This year we got less then three weeks and Mule Day took up one of those weeks.  Way to go, John Skinner!  I still have not heard from our so-called state api-asst. Enough said.

LOCAL NEWS
Don Lockhart has told me that Chapel Hill wants to form a beekeeping association.  Beth Massey, a CABA member, lives in that area.  I hope that she will keep us informed as to who will head this up.  Beth helped us out a great deal in advertising our workshop this year.  She will prove to be a great asset for any organization.

BEEKEEPING IN OHIO
A friend of mine who lives just north of Dayton called me the other day and read me an article in the local paper.  It said that according to the Ohio Dept. of Ag. that Ohio’s 44 million dollar ag. crops are in jeopardy, because they have suffered a 50% to 70% loss of their bees!  I guess that now there will be an even greater demand for bee packages.

Dick Brickner sent me an e-mail pertaining to the Boy Scouts of America. it seems that a boy scout, Christopher Stowell, is a beekeeper. he has been trying to reinstate the Beekeeping Merit Badge.  The BSA discontinued that merit badge 15 years ago. this probably came at the time when varroa mites had decimated so many colonies.  With the internet, we now have an opportunity to mentor future beekeepers. here are some things that you can do:
1. Go to the following web site and sign Christopher’s petition: www.expeienceproject.com/beepetition.
2. Please spread the word to your e-mail address book. Even if your friends are not beekeepers, they can support this 13 year old   boy scout.
3. If you are interested in becoming a mentor go to ‘Pledge To Be A BSA Beekeeping Mentor on Beesource at www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?p=521453#521453
4. Finally, if you are an association member, please ask your club to pass this resolution: www.beesource.com/files/bsacl...lution.bsa.pdf

UPCOMING EVENTS
We have two events coming up in June that I would appreciate some help with.
1. The Maury County Extension office will be having the “fruits of the Backyard Program” on June 15th which is a Tuesday.  It begins at 8:30 a.m. so set-up will be an hour before.  I have heard that it will last until 3:00 p.m. (Richard Groce’ office) and 12:30 p.m. (Cindy at U.T. Experiment Station).  It will be held at the Experiment Station. Since it is on a Tuesday, I can help some in the morning to get you set up, but I cannot work the booth.  This would be an excellent opportunity to expand the education of beekeeping to the public.  I hope that some of you will volunteer to work the booth.
2. The Children’s Museum has asked us to do a booth on the 24th from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on the Square in Columbia.  This is a Thursday.  I will be able to work this booth, but will need some help.
For both of these events, I should be able to supply the observation hive, table, and various handouts and signs.  Please let me know if you would be interested in helping by calling (931) 215-5389.

PLANTS FOR THE BEES
In the March 2010 issue of the ABJ (American Bee journal), they had a real good article on plants/trees that are great pollen sources for bees.  It was written by Dr. Steinkraus at the Univ. of Arkansas.  He is quite candid about several plants that we might think are good “bee trees”.  One of them that I am often asked about is Pryus calleryana or flowering Bradford Pear.  He says, “The Bradford pear is top on my list of worthless plants.  The exotic tree is native to China.  The flowers have a foul smell and I have not seen bees visiting them.  The wood is weak and the trees often split and fall apart during storms.  I jokingly call them “Bad Forage Pears”.  Dr. Steinkraus goes on to say that you plant anything but these trees—flowering cherries, crabapples or anything else.
A great pollen provider is Salix discolor or pussy willow.  It is native to North America.  There are two other exotic varieties that are also good providers: S. caprea and S. cinera.  There exist about 160 varieties of pussy willows in our country.  In some cases they will bloom early and provide a “honey flow”.  They also make excellent bouquets or dried flower arrangements.  Personally, I have seen these trees produce suckers that can become invasive.  I would not recommend them as an accent planting next to the house.

CABA NEWS
At the time of this writing, I saw a man named Noah building an arc.  I did not think much of it then, but it appears that our drought is over!  The rains that we had on the weekend broke records all over Middle TN.  James Wade went to the CABA meeting which we had called off and found that he could not get back to the Conference Bldg. because of flooding.  Dick Brickner’s church was flooded and he is spending Sunday and Monday shoveling mud.  Dick and I decided to postpone our meeting until next Sunday, May 9th, but that is Mother’s Day!  We are either going to have it on the 16th or possible on a Thursday evening.  It just so happens that NABA is having their meeting on the 16th which might cause a conflict for some of our members.  Jimmy Cunningham had an excellent SHB presentation prepared and we really should not miss it.  He feels quite fervently about this and is of the opinion that they will be the next bee scourge since the varroa mites.

Finally, the CABA dues are coming around again. If you can prepare yourselves for the payment at our meeting, that would be appreciated. For those “newbees”, you are good to go. 

FEBRUARY 7, 2010

Our time is slipping away. We have less than one month to prepare for our workshop. I want to thank everyone that has helped me thus far. However, I still need volunteers for the woodworking portion of our production. Last year there was not a shortage of people to help with the work stations. There will be the same stations this year: putting boxes together, frame building, wiring frames, and installation of wax foundation.

I have a few speakers for the other sessions, but I still need an individual to go over the costs of the bee keeping equipment and its uses. This slot will basically be covering the protective gear and hive tools that one would need in order to enter into beekeeping. I also would like to have someone to report on sources for bee packages.
This should be a real good workshop. We just need to get the word out. I have made a few flyers hoping that you will take some and post them at your churches and community organizations.

I am sure that we will talk about this more at our meeting this Sunday. We also, have notified the Master Gardeners Club, and the Maury County Extension office. The radio station has a bulletin that is played on 101.6 FM. The Columbia Herald will be promoting our workshop.

GUEST SPEAKER
Our guest speaker today is Bill Mullins. Bill owns “Bill’s Honey Farm” in Meridianville, Alabama. He has a “state of the art” operation that has a first class honey house. Bill has been grafting his own queens for many years. He has over two hundred hives! He has a lot of his family living around him and they too have become beekeepers.

As a matter of fact, Bill at one time was a source for bee packages. I remember a few years back that Tom Voss, Don Lockhart and I took some deep bodies down with frames and he introduced some bees with a new queen. He wanted us to wait 30 days in order to make certain that the queen was viable and we picked them up. I don’t know if he is still doing this, but it would be a good question to ask him.

MEMBERSHIP NEWS
Don Lockhart has had a bad bout with kidney stones this past month. He is back to beekeeping this week. Good for you, Don.

NEWS OF LOCAL INTEREST
I got an e-mail this week from a lady that had bees in a tree limb which was hanging over her roof. She requested that one of us remove them. Her name is Elise Boggs. She and her husband live at 1106 South High Street in Columbia. They can be reached at (615) 423-2932 or (615) 423-6346. Of course, it is too cold now, but perhaps one of you can contact her and arrange for a removal in the spring.

SUGAR IS SHORT!
According to Jim Primus, the prices of sugar will be increasing over the next few months. In case you have not noticed, it has already gone up some. Jim goes on to say that “Sugar output in Brazil’s Center South, the largest producing region, will be lower than forecast this year on above average rain that cut the yields, Levels of sucrose, the substance in the cane that is processed into either sweetener or ethanol, are expected to be the lowest since records began in 1999. Sugar prices will keep rising as sucrose content is going to be even lower. India’s sugar stocks fell to 2 million tons as of Nov. 1st from 2.4 million tons. China’s sugar output will have a shortfall of as much as 2 million tons.

Last fall, I attempted to get an order up for 30 barrels from Mr. Higdon in Chattanooga, but only got 10 barrels committed. If we have to rent a “bob” truck to get it, there must be at least that many barrels to warrant the expense. John Seaborn offered to drive the truck down there. CABA would pay for the truck being reimbursed by a 10.00/barrel freight charge. As I have stated earlier, as an association we have “buying power” and we should utilize this.

UPCOMING EVENTS
1. NABA will be having its “Introductory Bee Course” at the Ellington Ag. Center from March 17th through the 20th. To me this is really an intermediate course that covers a lot of ground on the honey bee. The cost is $10.00/person and $20.00/family. You may contact Jim Primus at (615) 599-0724 or jim_primus@bellsouth.net
2. The 21st Annual Nashville and Garden Show (www.nashvillelawnandgardenshow.com/ It will be March 4-7th. NABA will have a booth there with demonstrations on honey extraction.
3. CABA Beekeeping Workshop will be Feb. 27th (Saturday) from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free and lunch will be provided.
4. The Allen County Beekeepers Association in Scottsville, KY. will be having their “Beekeeping School” on Feb. 6, 2010 at the Allen County High School. on Hwy. 231. Registration will be 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. A fee of $10.00/person or $15.00/family will be charged. For more info contact John Pace (president) at (270) 651-6507 or jlpace@glasgow-ky.com . There will be several speakers there from Kentucky State and Tennessee. I have printed their schedule, which I will attach to this news letter.

CABA NEWS
Our CABA directory is in the works. Jamie Ledford has been working on it diligently while trying to work her two jobs. I have helped too. Hopefully, everyone will be entered along with their phone #s & e-mail addresses. This should really help our “new-bees” when they need some assistance. If by chance you do not see your name in the final draft, please, let us know.
I have not heard from Jack Coleman on our CABA logo. As you know, we voted on one of his designs last month. Hopefully, we can get that in the pipeline so that we will have shirts and caps for Mule Day. Hmmm.

FEBRUARY PLANT FEATURE
Robinia pseudoacacia—Black locust

 
This is a native tree for Middle Tennessee. It is a fast grower. It will average about 2’ growth per year. I had a seedling pop up on my fence line three or four years ago and it now has about a 3” caliper. It put out blooms last spring. According to Michael Dirr’s book, Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, it will average about 30'-50' ht.with a spread of 20’-35’. The national champion is 96’ by 92’! The flowers are “perfect 1” across, white, extremely fragrant and borne in dense racemes”. These racemes or clusters are 4’-8’ long in mid April to May. Because they are exceedingly fragrant, they are a tremendous “bee attractant” that produce the best honey (to me). I have often said that “It tastes like it has melted butter in it”. It is a light colored honey. Once established, it will send off a myriad of wild shoots that will develop into trees. Europeans treat it like a weed. The Black Locust has needle like thorns that do hurt

 
According to Mr. Dirr, “It is an ‘alley cat’ tree which can survive under the toughest of conditions; good for strip mined areas, highway cuts and fills, sandy, poor soils, shelter plantations and reforestation areas. It is not recommended for the home landscape.” In short, it is good for the bees, but not for the home.
Well, that is about all that I have to report for this month. I will attach Jim Primus’s recipe for making sugar water which should be a 1:1 ratio for spring feeding.

JANUARY 3, 2010