Central Beekeepers Alliance : Are Honey Bees Hooked on Caffeine and Nicotine?

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Are Honey Bees Hooked on Caffeine and Nicotine? Posted: 08 Apr 2010 04:00 PM PDT Have you noticed your honeybees buzzing around the coffee grounds in your compost pile on a warm day in early spring? it turns out, there may be a reason for this common behaviour — the bees might be seeking a hit of caffeine! Researchers at the University of Haifa-Oranim have learned that bees are attracted to nectar with microscopic amounts of caffeine or nicotine. Is this evolution’s way of getting bees addicted to certain plants that contain those substances? Flowers produce nectar, a sweet substance composed of mostly sugars, as a way of attracting pollinators to the plant. But some species of plants produce nectar that contains very tiny amounts of substances known to be toxic. The garden perennial Nicotiana, also known as “flowering tobacco,” for example, has tiny amounts of nicotine in its nectar, and caffeine is present in small concentrations in the nectar of citrus flowers, especially grapefruit flowers. Bees are attracted to nectar with microscopic amounts of caffeine or nicotine… Is this evolution’s way of getting bees addicted to certain plants? The research team at the Department of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Science Education of the University of Haifa-Oranim, headed by Professor Ido Izhaki, have discovered that bees actively prefer the “addictive” nectar over “clean” nectar. While it’s difficult to know for sure whether the addictive substances in nectar evolved as a way to make pollination more efficient, they say, the study does suggest that “the plants that survived natural selection are those that developed ‘correct’ levels of these addictive substances, enabling them to attract and not repel bees, thereby giving them a significant advantage over other plants.” Whether the bees actually become addicted to nicotine and caffeine, however, is still a matter for future study. Photo credit: ‘Spring‘ by: David McLeish Released under an Attribution-ShareAlike License Are Honey Bees Hooked on Caffeine and Nicotine? was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com. No Related Post

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CATCH THE BUZZ - Movento Cancelled...Kind Of

CATCH THE BUZZ

Movento Cancelled. Kind of.

From Mary Clock-Rust

 

By Bill Pritchard

EPA Cancels Spirotetramat Registrations,
   Could Issue New Approval for the Insecticide

 

The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final order
   cancelling the registration of all products containing the
   insecticide spirotetramat following a federal court decision vacating
   the 2008 registration because EPA had failed to follow proper
   notice-and-comment procedures.

   Although the agency is canceling the registration in accordance with
   the December 2009 ruling by the federal court in New York, EPA also
   said it is proceeding on a possible new registration of spirotetramat
   because it appears to be less risky than alternative pesticides.
   EPA said in the April 5 order that it will allow sale, distribution,
   and use of existing stocks by persons other than spirotetramat's
   registrant, Bayer CropScience. “Use of existing stocks is permitted
   provided such use is consistent in all respects with the
   previously-approved labeling for the product,” it said.
   The agency also said it is proceeding on a possible new registration
   of spirotetramat.

 Bayer CropScience developed the insecticide to combat crop pests such
   as aphids, whiteflies, scales, mealybugs, and gall midges in crops
   including vegetables, cotton, and soybean, according to the company
   website. The chemical is the active ingredient in the Bayer
   CropScience products Movento, Spirotetramat Technical, and Ultor.

   Possible New Registration of Product
   EPA said it is treating as new the applications for spirotetramat
   registration that Bayer CropScience filed in 2008. EPA said it is
   also reviewing public comments submitted since the court vacated the
   registration and will “determine whether the spirotetramat
   applications for registration should be granted [and] what license
   conditions and label language would be appropriate.”

   The pesticide “appears to be less risky to the environment and to
   human health than many of the alternative insecticides used on the
   sites for which spirotetramat was approved,” it said.

   The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in
   December upheld claims by the Natural Resources Defense Council and
   the Xerces Society that the agency failed to publish Federal Register
   notices or provide for public comment before approving the pesticide
   (NRDC v. EPA, S.D.N.Y., No. 09cv4317, 12/23/09; 247 DEN A-6, 12/30/09).

   In a fact sheet on spirotetramat, EPA said that it “did not publish a
   notice of registration in the Federal Register for any of these
   decisions until August 6, 2009, three months after the plaintiffs
   filed this lawsuit,” according to court documents.
   In a March 22 statement, the NRDC also called spirotetramat a
   “bee-toxic pesticide” that should not be sold until its effects are
   evaluated.

   “We remain hopeful” that the insecticide will ultimately be
   registered, Bayer CropScience spokesman Jack Boyne told BNA April 7.
   “It's a very effective product.”

  The company has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second
   Circuit to review the district court's order. The circuit court has
   yet to schedule a hearing, according to its docket, but last month it
   denied the company's motion to stay the district court's ruling
   pending appeal (NRDC v. EPA, 2d Cir., No. 10-253, motion denied
   3/10/10).

  Comments Favor Spirotetramat
   EPA said slightly less than 90 percent of the remarks submitted
   during a Feb. 26-March 29 comment period following the court ruling
   favored continued use and distribution of existing stocks of the
   insecticide. Those remarks “cited a number of situations in which
   spirotetramat has replaced older, more toxic chemistries, including
   organophosphates and carbamates,” the agency said.

   For example, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said “there
   is no justification to burden businesses, and individuals currently
   in possession of products thought to be properly registered,”
   according to a March 4 EPA publication, “Spirotetramat—Comments
   received on the sale, distribution, and/or use of existing stocks.”

   The National Potato Council said that “providing for the continued
   use of existing stocks of spirotetramat is critical to not needlessly
   disrupting the on farm decision making process due to procedural
   issues in the legal system and with no demonstration of evidence
   against the safety of the use of spirotetramat.”

 Threat to Honey Bee Colonies?
   However, the National Honeybee Advisory Board said the pesticide
   “represents a threat to insect pollinators and specifically managed
   honey bee colonies.” The board asked EPA to “require the registrant
   (Bayer) to recall all existing product.”

   Aaron Colangelo, a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense
   Council, said in the organization's March 22 statement that “our
   national bee emergency continues, with estimates of winter colony
   losses topping 30 percent again this year. We simply cannot afford to
   run an unregulated experiment on the pollinators that are central to
   our food system.”

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Protein feeding pays off with better bee health, better survival, better production, and better wintering.  Learn More.

 

 Find out What’s New At Mann Lake right Here

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here For a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

Got a NO BUZZ ZONE? Can’t keep bees where you live, or know someplace that beekeepers can’t be?

Send me an email, with NO BUZZ in the subject line and tell me where, with your first and last name…Bee Culture Magazine, thedailygreen.com and Haagan Daz Ice Cream want to know. Send to Kim@BeeCulture.com today!

 

 

Central Beekeepers Alliance : The Secret of Hive Temperature Control: Heater Bees

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The Secret of Hive Temperature Control: Heater Bees Posted: 05 Apr 2010 06:00 AM PDT It’s long been understood that different bees have a range of different jobs within the colony. We also know that bees fan their wings to move air around in the hive to regulate the temperature and cluster over the brood to keep it warm. By carefully regulating the temperature of each pupae, they change the way it develops and the likelihood of the role it will fulfill when it emerges as an adult. Now, bee researchers have learned special “heater bees” act like a “living radiator” to carefully control the brood temperatures to determine what role the mature bees will fill in the colony — and those empty cells aren’t a problem but a necessary part of how the heater bees function. According to Dr Jurgen Tautz, head of the bee group at Würzburg University in Germany and author of The Buzz About Bees: Biology of a Superorganism, “By carefully regulating the temperature of each pupae, they change the way it develops and the likelihood of the role it will fulfil when it emerges as an adult.” Developing bees that are kept at 34°C in their sealed cells will grow up to be housekeeping bees, the ones who clean the hive and feed the brood. Just one degree higher in temperature, and the bees will grow up to be foragers, going out into the fields to find nectar and pollen to bring back to the hive. And it is the “heater bees” who fine-tune the temperature for the developing brood, and effectively decide what roles will be filled by each, making sure that enough bees will be available to fill each important job in the colony. Now we know that these empty cells are important, then bee keepers can try to avoid selecting for queens that don’t leave these cells empty. “By creeping into empty cells, one heater bee can transmit heat to 70 pupae around them. It is a central heating system for the colony,” Dr Tautz told the UK Telegraph, in a recent article, Honey bees secret world of heat revealed. “Now we know that these empty cells are important, then bee keepers can try to avoid selecting for queens that don’t leave these cells empty. It can help to ensure that colonies can regulate their temperature properly and have the right mix of individuals.” The Secret of Hive Temperature Control: Heater Bees was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com. No Related Post

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CATCH THE BUZZ - THE BIGGEST GETS BIGGER

CATCH THE BUZZ

Groeb Farms Inc., a portfolio company of Horizon Partners, has acquired Miller’s American Honey Inc., a Colton, Calif.-based honey producer. No financial terms were disclosed. Houlihan Smith & Co. advised Miller’s American Honey on the deal.

Houlihan Smith & Company, Inc. (Houlihan Smith) acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Miller’s American Honey, Inc. in their sale to Groeb Farms, Inc., a portfolio company of Horizon Partners Ltd. The announcement was made by Charles Botchway, Group Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Houlihan Smith. The transaction was led by Houlihan Smith Managing Director Lester (Jay) Rodgers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

George Murdock, Miller’s American Honey’s Board Chairman, issued the following statement: “The deal team at Houlihan Smith made extraordinary efforts to work towards “win-win” solutions in effecting our sale to Groeb Farms. Their approach cautiously avoided hyperbole, relying instead on honest, straightforward presentation of facts, supported by their ability to communicate complex financial data into evidence of true value.”

In announcing the acquisition, Ernie Groeb, Groeb Farms President and Chief Executive Officer said “Merging these two businesses who share a common family legacy of commitment to the production of high-quality products will benefit our customers and their consumers.” He continued: “We are honored that the Murdock family has entrusted the Miller legacy to us”.

Houlihan Smith Vice President Matthew Thomason stated: “We are pleased to have had the opportunity to assist the Murdock family achieve their goals and realize an outcome fitting of the rich, 116-year heritage of Miller’s American Honey.”

About Houlihan Smith & Company
Houlihan Smith & Company, Inc. is a specialized investment banking firm that provides financial advisory and valuation services to public and private businesses. Houlihan Smith is a registered broker-dealer and also a member of FINRA/SIPC.

Houlihan Smith understands the time sensitivity related to corporate finance transactions and responds quickly and effectively to new opportunities. The Houlihan Smith approach creates corporate finance transactions in which business owners and investors mutually benefit. Having the knowledge, experience and relationships to match buyers and sellers, as well as the ability to match the appropriate financing and capitalization structure to each unique client situation, is a strength that differentiates Houlihan Smith from the competition. Houlihan Smith provides cost-effective fairness and solvency opinions, as well as valuations for tax reporting and financial reporting for some of the largest NYSE/NASDAQ companies and small private businesses. (www.houlihansmith.com)

About Groeb Farms, Inc.
Groeb Farms, Inc. (www.groebfarms.com) began as a family-owned business in 1973. In 2007, the company joined forces with private equity company, Horizon Partners. Groeb Farms is the world’s largest Industrial and Foodservice processor of honey, selling approximately 70M pounds of honey in 2009. In addition to honey, Groeb Farms also distributes peanut butter, molasses, mustard and vinegar. These Groeb Farms products are used for direct consumption or as ingredients in products such as salad dressings, sauces, snacks, bread, cookies, crackers, beverages, and meat. Groeb Farms, Inc. is headquartered in Onsted, MI, with locations in Belleview, FL and Baytown, TX.

About Miller’s American Honey Company
Miller’s American Honey Company is a family owned business which began in 1894. From humble beginnings as a Beekeeping enterprise, Miller’s has grown into a $30M operation, with domestic as well as international customers. The Company’s primary product line is honey; however, customers are also serviced with products, such as, peanut butter, molasses and agave syrup. Products range from retail packages for grocery store shelves to tanker loads of honey for bakeries. Miller’s American Honey Company is headquartered in Colton, CA with a second location in Oakland, CA.

Find out What’s New At Mann Lake right Here

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here For a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company. Is beekeeping not legal where you are, or do you know somewhere it's not? Help us help beekeepers everywhere...tell us the name of the city, town, or county and we'll get it on the list. Send an email to Kim@Beeculture.com today!

 

 

CATCH THE BUZZ - 2 Year Rule Set

CATCH THE BUZZ

Egg Laying Union Set To Strike. Two Years And Out Rule Contested.

 EGGLAYERS UNION SETS STRIKE VOTE: Mandatory Retirement Age at Issue

Submitted by Eugene Makovec, Newsletter Editor, Missouri State Beekeepers Association, April 1, 2010, St. Louis, Missouri

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Members of the International Sisterhood of Egglayers, Local 1851, are set to vote this week on a strike action against SweetBee Honey Corporation.

At issue is SweetBee’s new mandatory retirement age of two years for queen bees. The policy was announced on March 1, and drew an ominous hum of indignation from egglayers across the company’s 1200-hive operation.

“It’s completely arbitrary – it’s not even a matter of individual ability,” buzzed Myrtle, a 26-month-old queen who declined to give her last name. “They just assume we’re too old and can no longer do the job.”

Myrtle was summarily dismissed as she reached her second anniversary at SweetBee, just weeks after the new policy took effect. She was able to find work in a nearby observation hive, and while she considers herself lucky, she acknowledges that this is a huge demotion for her. “This used to be where old, worn-out queens went to die,” she mused. “I love my hive-mates and am treated well by my keeper, but it’s not the same as running a full-scale production hive. I need to be challenged.”

“It’s just not fair,” complained Rosie Romano-Ortis-Petrova-Schultz-Bertolli-Bremer-Maggiano-Boehner-Milosevic-Anderssen-Bommarito-Yurovich-Hegel, a 22-month-old single mother of 54,371. “I feel like I’m just coming into prime production age. I’ve got a lot of mouths to feed, and now I have to worry about one day being plucked out of my work station like some yellow jacket, and tossed out into the grass … or worse.”

SweetBee officials declined to comment for the record, citing ongoing negotiations. But one high-level manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, called it “a matter of simple economics…. It is true that you can’t put a definitive age on productivity,” he said. “But the simple fact is, once they get beyond that two-year point, it’s really hit-or-miss.” And since the union has consistently resisted the idea of its older members submitting to viability testing, he added, “This was our only option.”

Another company official concurred. “Close to 50 percent of queens experience significant production declines in their third year, and the worst part is, it’s so unpredictable. You have a queen who looks to be doing a great job, and suddenly she starts producing nothing but drones. It’s very difficult, and very expensive, to replace her when that happens in mid-season.”

It is widely acknowledged that queen productivity declines with age, often during the third year and almost always by the fourth. The reasons are complex, but experts agree that the largest issue is a decreasing supply of sperm in the egg-layer’s spermatheca. This organ is supplied on a mating flight within the first two weeks of a queen’s life, and is never replenished. (Sperm is required for fertilization of worker eggs, while unfertilized eggs develop into drones.)

In previous labor negotiations, management has floated the idea of requiring queens to make additional mating flights, possibly annually, in order to circumvent this supply issue. But while drones have generally supported that proposal, the egglayers’ union has been vehemently opposed. Some members object on ethical grounds. “It’s just not natural,” said one queen. “No queen in nature has ever been subjected to this ritual more than once, and we shouldn’t have to start now.”

Then there is the safety issue.  There are occasional reports of virgin queens falling victim to birds or other predators during mating flights. “Foragers deal with this danger as a part of their job,” said Myrtle, “but they’re also more nimble than we are, and have extensive flight training to boot.” After mating, the only time a queen would typically leave the hive is in a swarm, when she’s surrounded by a large contingent of workers.

The last time the apiculture industry saw open labor strife was in 1962, when the International Union of Drones (DUI) declared a general strike, protesting the industry-wide policy of releasing drones in the autumn months in preparation for the winter dearth period. But the ill-fated strike occurred in late September, at a time when apiaries had little to gain from negotiation with the union. The action was settled within days in a humiliating defeat for the union. In an effort to save face, and in exchange for a promise not to strike the following spring when a work stoppage would have had more serious repercussions, DUI leaders asked for and obtained an unrelated concession -- the free-agent status that their membership enjoys to this day. (Some conspiracy theorists maintain that this was the result the union had in mind at the outset, though most experts agree that drones are just not that intelligent.)

Under the free agent policy, drones are allowed to drift from hive to hive as they see fit. It is not uncommon for a drone to leave his home hive in the morning, visit several drone congregation areas during the course of the day and then follow other drones back to a different hive in the evening. In recent years this state of affairs has been blamed in part for the spread of mites and disease conditions between hives, but there has been no serious discussion about amending the policy.

As far as the impending strike vote is concerned, most believe the motion will pass easily. “It’s just too much,” said an executive at another apiary. “SweetBee can’t expect this big a change to go uncontested. But (a strike) won’t last long,” he added. “The company certainly can’t do without the queens’ services this time of year. I’m guessing management will cave quickly – if they let them walk out at all.”

Meanwhile, Romano-Ortis-Petrova-Schultz-Bertolli-Bremer-Maggiano-Boehner-Milosevic-Anderssen-Bommarito-Yurovich-Hegel, the 22-month-old soon-to-be retiree, is busy planning for life after SweetBee. She’s developing a plan for a pheromone-marketing business, and is looking for consulting work.

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Protein feeding pays off with better bee health, better survival, better production, and better wintering.  Learn More.

 Find out What’s New At Mann Lake right Here

Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right here For a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the globe, check out Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping Calendar

This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping, published by the A.I. Root Company.

 

CATCH THE BUZZ - Quarantine Issues in OZ

CATCH THE BUZZ

Who's Mnding The Store? And Who's Looking For Bees?

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The following story was taken from the Editorial Notes section of THE AUSTRALASIAN BEEKEEPER, April, 2010 Edition.

The trucking magazine "Big Rigs" issue of 21 January 2010 contained two reports from truckers who, on going to the wharf (it is not clear what wharf, but one in Australia somewhere), containers being collected were NOT being inspected if collected between 10 PM and 6 AM. One truck driver, leaving the wharf at 5:30 AM was waved through, as the quarantine office was not open until 6 AM. The second driver interviewed pointed out to the quarantine staff the hypocrisy of only being inspected after 6 AM, and was told to take it up with the Federal Government.

To this the Editor of THE AUSTRALAIAN BEEKEEPER added:

"All very well, but what happens when a swarm of Apis mellifera carrying Varroa destructor happens to be on a container leaving the quarantine area at 5:30 AM?"

Australia does not have, and does not want Varroa destructor on its soil.

And to this Bee Culture magazine adds:

"All very well, but what happens when a swarm of Apis cerana, without any mites, viruses, pests, diseases or any problems whatsoever happens to be on a container leaving the quarantine area at 5:30 AM?"

Two years after the first find of A. cerana in Australia authorities still are finding swarms from the initial incursion...yet incidents such as recorded above continue. The issue here isn't only whether there are mites or other problems associated with these bees, but that they can't even find all the bees, and quarantine situations are apparently not considered a serious security issue. And U.S. beekeepers do not want cerana bees in the U.S., nor do U.S. beekeepers want new pests in the U.S. Still, Australian authorities continue to say this cannot occur because the bees are located so far from any areas honey bees are exported from.

Until they get on a truck.

There is currently an ongoing comment period to APHIS on the safety of importing Australian honey bees into the U.S. Find out how to make a commont on how safe you feel about these bees. Got to www.Beeculture.com, click the BUZZ archives link and then the original story with the link to to the APHIS page. How safe do you feel?

Central Beekeepers Alliance : Beekeeper ALERT: March 2010

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Beekeeper ALERT: March 2010 Posted: 30 Mar 2010 10:11 AM PDT Report from Fletcher Colpitts, Chief Apiary Inspector for New Brunswick 30 March, 2010: After checking my own hives in the last warm spell and talking to some of the larger beekeepers, it may be a good idea to make beekeepers aware of the possibility of their colonies running short of food supplies. In this part of NB, in Westmorland County, the pollen in the colonies is almost non-existent, which is unusual before spring brood rearing (April). Syrup and honey supplies are not exhausted yet, however, the present supplies will be quickly used up during brood rearing. Beekeepers should monitor their hives and feed if necessary. Feeding with pollen substitute patties is necessary if beekeepers find their hives in the same conditions as I have been seeing them. If they feed, syrup feeders are not the best to use in cooler temperatures. Frame feeders placed next to the cluster and / or pail feeders above the cluster are best for cool weather feeding. (Temperature less than 10 to 15 degrees Celsius.) The weather this winter has been unusual in every regard which has caused this unusual condition of lack of pollen and little syrup and honey supplies in colonies at this time of year. Fletcher  Beekeeper ALERT: March 2010 was written and published by the Central Beekeepers Alliance - Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada. For more information, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com. 4th Annual Harvey Outdoor Adventure Show Maritime Action Forum on Pollination Research: 19 March 2010 Conditions and Instructions for Apivar Use in Bee Hives

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