Thursday 14 May 2009

Apis Newsletter May 14, 2009




Dear Subscribers,

The Santa Fe and Suwanee rivers appear to have receded from flood levels.  We continue dry here in Florida, however, and there are many more wild fires this season than last.  Fortunately, most are now under control http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/13/florida.wildfires/.

The hottest honey bee news is that the White House will have a hive on the lawn.  “An organic garden and beehives at the White house...it doesn't get much better, does it?”  So  the American Beekeeping Federation says http://www.abfnet.org/node/59 .This will be great public relations for the industry it seems; the White House Hive graces the front of the May 2009 Bee Culture.  And a swarm of bees was collected also http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/white-house-hit-by-swarm_n_185442.html, The comments provoked by this site are worth a laugh or two.

Big news that has flown under the radar concerns changes at the American Beekeeping Federation, Inc. (ABF)  Current Executive Director Troy Fore, Jr. has sent a letter to state association leaders that ABF Management is being transferred to Media Expectations, Inc., 3525 Piedmont Rd., Bldg. 5, Ste. 300, Atlanta, GA 30305, ph 404-760-2875 http://www.meetingexpectations.com/home.aspx .  He will continue as ABF’s Governmental and Media Relations contact, and also serve as Executive Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees http://www.honeybeepreservation.org/ .  These reduced responsibilities will also him to devote more time to publishing The Speedy Bee, which is being converted to a quarterly publication with a web presence http: //thespeedybee.com/.

According to the Federation’s March/April 2009 newsletter, “Meeting Expectations (ME) provides management services for some 40 regional and national associations.  For ABF, ME will be handling associations management, convention management, newsletter publication, website http://abfnet.org , membership and member marketing and financial activities.”  The shift is due to be completed by start of the new fiscal and membership year on July 1, 2009.

This is a significant change for the nation’s oldest national bee association.  Traditionally the Executive Director has been someone intimately acquainted with the beekeeping industry.  Troy Fore has been a beekeeper all his life, publishes a beekeeping newspaper, and has been Executive Director since 1988.  Previous directors include Bob Banker in Minnesota and Frank Robinson here in Gainesville Florida.  They all knew many of the beekeeper members in the Association and were ready to accept phone calls at a moment’s notice concerning issues of importance to the industry.  Given its colorful history, the new executive director association will have to really live up to its name.  I have provided reviews of Federation conventions over the years for The Speedy Bee and other publications.  http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/sanford/apis/papers/NASHVILLE.HTM.  Also see http://www.squidoo.com/beekeeping_associations

Decision making in insects and other organisms is being looked at carefully, especially by Dr. Tom Seeley who has written for Bee Culture in the past.  “Bees, ants, locusts and plenty of other animals collectively make life-or-death choices.  The biologists studying animal groups are finding strange lab fellows these days in economists, social scientists, even money market specialists.  They are trading tales of humans and of nonhuman animals to understand collective behavior and what makes it go right or wrong.  “There is a new excitement in this whole field of decision making these days,” says ant biologist Nigel Franks of the University of Bristol in England.  Franks and Seeley organized a multidisciplinary conference on collective decision making held in January at the Santa Fe Institute in New Mexico. And both biologists contributed to a special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (March 27) on the same topic. The issue considers insects as well as the European Parliament.”  Professor Seeley is due to have a book out on the subject soon.  http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2009/05/12/how-bees-ants-and-other-animals-ace-group-decision-making.html

I continue to get e-mails to update the Global Beekeeping Calendar initiative at http://my.calendars.net/bee_culture.  The Apis Newsletter in conjunction with Bee Culture magazine continues this ambitious project is an attempt to collect all the events in the beekeeping world at one place.  I would be interested in your reflections on this effort and keep forwarding to me entries as they arise.

It looks like the swine flu situation has been controlled to a low level.  But an outbreak of American foulbrood in South Africa http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1682848/thousands_of_african_bees_at_risk_for_disease/  reveals that the epidemic of movement of biological organisms continues around the world.  How it will be dealt with is an ongoing question. 

Emerging markets are looking more carefully at beekeeping as reported in India http://www.sindhtoday.net/business/93546.htm and elsewhere like Ethiopia http://www.jimmatimes.com/article/Latest_News/Latest_News/Invest_in_Ethiopia_Land_of_wax_and_honey/32162 ..

For a collection of web sites I’ve selected this month, check out http://www.publish2.com/newsgroups/may-2009/ .  Included are titles like Bees for Development :: What We DoHoneybee or Honey Bee? | Archetype; Africanized Honey Bees in Florida | Nuisance Wildlife Removal Inc.; Honeybee Collapse Strikes Japan, Up to Fifty Percent of Honeybees Gone 26; Apitherapy News: Manuka Honey Producers Split on Medicinal Test Standard, and others.  

Of special interest are sites which discuss the potential toxic effects of the ubiquitous herbicide Roundup on honey bee brood http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elpais/1-123111-2009-04-13.html and information being put out that the pollination/bee crisis isn’t all it’s cracked up to be "The honey bee decline observed in the USA and in other European countries including Great Britain, which has been attributed in part to parasitic mites and more recently to colony collapse disorder, could be misguiding us to think that this is a global phenomenon,”said Aizen in a statement. "We found here that is not the case."  The Current Biology study finds that farmers worldwide have increased their dependence on domesticated honeybees 300% in the last 50 years to pollinate crops such as plums, raspberries, and ch erries.  The study authors warn that "the rapid expansion in the cultivation of many pollinator-dependent crops has the potential to trigger future pollination problems for both these crops and native species in adjacent areas." http://blogs.usatoday.com/sciencefair/2009/04/honeybee-shortage-only-in-us-europe.html

===========================================

Gleanings from the May 2009 Bee Culture:

Jim Cowan, Aberdeen, WA writes how to calculate the age of worker bees.  Terry Mortnesen, Aberdeen, WA asks who sets the local price of honey and reports that beeswax from a 16th century Spanish galleon continues to wash ashore and is being put into a local museum.  Joseph Fitzpatrick, Blue Bell, PA describes a new small hive beetle trap.  He promises to continue to share his observations on its utility over time.  Glen Stanley, Ames, IA recommends weighing hives to ensure there are adequate stores and provides a description how to do that.  Becky Burdick decries the use of bees and other creatures as experimental subjec ts in the “booze and bees” article previously published.  Daniel T. Collins, Alton, MO still misses Dr. Richard Taylor’s articles.  while attending the 2009 Apimondia Congress http://www.apimondia2009.com/pages/?all=accueil&idl=22 John Kefuss, Toulouse, France invites beekeepers to stop by his place and observe his efforts in breeding Varroa-tolerant bees,.

Editor Flottum fleshes out the bees at the White House story and the official beekeeper in charge, Charlie Brandt.  Read about his philosophy and how the bees will have to “hang tough” just like the Obamas.

New this month are reviews of Plan Bee by Susan Brackney, everything you wanted to know about bees, and Bee Genetics and Breeding by Dr. Tom Rinderer, republished by Northern Bee Books.  Finally, consider the new DVD from Swarm Plus http://swarmplus.com/.

Steve Sheppard reviews a paper by Jeff Harris on the effect of brood type on Varroa sensitive hygiene.  Read how the investigator came to an intriguing conclusion that might show where Varroa tolerance could lead in the future.

Clarence Collison and Audrey Sheridan take a closer look at laying workers.  Read how workers detect and remove (police) eggs  that are not viable and how pheromones are used in the process.

Ross Conrad takes an in-depth look at artificial bee feed, from cane sugar to soy flour.  Read his surprising conclusions. 

Larry Connor takes on the neighbors in his sideline beekeeping column.  They range from the good and bad to the ignorant.  Read his 6 commandments about urban beekeeping designed to keep any bee manager out of trouble with the neighbors.

Volume 1, no 2 of the Science of Bee Culture includes articles on flight activity in Australian package-bee colonies used for almond pollination, overwintering of Russian bees, effect of cellular phone radiation on the behavior of bees and preliminary observations on autumnal feeding of Russian bees.  Editor Flottum asks for reader feedback from this new initiative.

Jim Tew gazes into the future, discussing that he will be 77 in 2025.  Read how beekeeping changed with reference to two pivotal years, 1977, 1993 and might in the year 2025 or how it might stay much the same, according to Bee Culture’s beekeeping Nostradamus. 

Dick Marron takes readers “On the Road Again.”  Read how the bees might view the 12,000-mile journey that hives take from Florida to California to the northeast in the beekeeper’s quest for commercial pollination contracts.

Walt Wright calls propolis another 5 percenter.  Although a problem for the beekeeper, it just might be that it returns over five percent to bees in terms of improved health.  See how this might play out especially by looking at referenced, older articles published at http://beesource.com.

Urban beekeepers are on the rise and Gwen Rosenberg allows we should cultivate them by designing beekeeping around their particular situation.  Read what she suggests from selling full-blown beginner kits to marketing installed packages.

Jason Nelson describes his adventures in collecting pollen for human consumption.  Read how “Mr. Diversity” couldn’t complain due to his wife’s suggestions.  She was after all ordering him to spend time with bees.

Ann Harman discusses the beekeeper as an editor of an association newsletter.  Read about things like deadlines and how editors might have to field complaints.  Getting out a newsletter is no joke; she concludes, directing would be editors to the editorial dilemma check list developed by Kim Flottum

Connie Krochmal looks at coneasters, plants quite popular among bees.  Some 200 species exist.  Read how to purchase and plant them.

In all the news that fits, Oregon State University has a new honey bee researcher, Haagen-dazs makes a $125,000 gift to bee research and over 70 companies have vowed not to use or sell genetically modified beet sugar.

Ed Colby mourns “The Passing of Granny” in the Bottom Board.  She wasn’t his granny, but might have been.  She was 84 and certainly not typical.  How she died was a complete surprise.

Malcolm T. Sanford

Beeactor@apisenterprises.com
http://apis.shorturl.com

Bee sure to Catch The Buzz, Bee Culture's latest releases important to beekeepers at <http://www.beeculture.com/content/catch_buzz.cfm>.  Also access the Apis Information Resource Center <http://www.squidoo.com/apis>, which contains Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford's archived Bee Culture articles at <http://www.squidoo.com/bee_culture/> and check out his blog <http://abeekeepersblog.blogspot.com>.  Finally, take a look at the Global Bee Breeders Association’s efforts to increase honey bee diversity with minimal risk <http://gbba.vze.com>