Catch The Buzz Memphis Area Beekeepers Association P.O. Box 38028, Germantown, TN 38183 www.memphisbeekeepers.com

Meeting Location: 7777 Walnut Grove Rd # C, Memphis, TN 38120 Meeting Date & Time: Oct. 10th at 7pm Bring your questions, write your questions and put them in the box they will be answered. Is it time to harvest your honey? Contact Bob Haskett, email: RHas4852@aol.com, phone: 901.872.0074

This month Bob Whitworth will help new beekeepers prepare for the NOVEMBER HONEY SHOW!!! Get your honey ready for the show!!!! A Honey Storage Tip from Robert Hodum: So you harvested your honey and you have it in buckets. Put a flat board on top of the

bucket on the bottom, remember that honey is heavier than water and will break a plastic lid. Use wood between buckets when

stacking bucket atop buckets. DO NOT STACK HONEY BUCKETS ON TOP OF EACH OTHER WITHOUT A BOARD

BETWEEN.

The beekeepers calendar for fall. Fall is the season when your queen bee's egg laying is dramatically reduced, the drones begin disappearing and your hive population decreases. However, be aware too that this is the time that other bees could be on the lookout for honey and could end up robbing your hive! If you have done your job of beehive maintenance in summer, when autumn comes around, all you have to worry about is extracting the main bulk of the honey. Harvesting the honey is done from late summer or early fall / autumn. It is always wise not to rob the beehive of too many frames of honey. This is because the honey is really for the bees to tide them over winter and if you remove all the honey your bees will die. Leave at least 60 pounds of honey behind if you have very cold winters, and in addition, make up a sugar syrup for them; 2 lbs of sugar to 500 ml of water. Check to see if you need to fill up the feeder with more syrup if necessary.

Fall is also the time that you should guard against the varroa mite by placing some medicated strips of plastic into the hive. Suspend 2 such strips in the brood chamber between the frames of the brood and remove them after 6 weeks.

OCTOBER AND THE BEEKEEPER: The goal is to have the bees fill the upper brood chamber during the fall flow, forcing the queen down into the bottom brood chamber. If you do not have enough room, the bees will fill the upper AND lower brood chambers with honey and deprive the colony of space for brood rearing. If this happens, instead of having lots of young bees for the winter, you will have lots of older bees, and the colony will not successfully winter. Always err on the side of too much room, rather than too little. Prepare your hives for winter. Entrance reducers or RAT STICKS should be placed in the front opening, to restrict mice from entering the hive. A large, healthy hive will not die from cold weather. Bees can survive cold but not moisture. They can survive extreme cold weather. But, moisture can develop within the hive as bees do give off moisture like we do. If this moisture gathers above them, it can drip onto the cluster. This is what can kill bees during the winter. They are much like us. We can be cold and get by. But, we cannot stay alive long if we become wet and cold. Bees can get wet in the summer and it is not a problem. But you must prevent your hive from becoming cold and wet from condensation developing within the hive. Here's how: Use screen bottom boards, fully opened, without restriction or covers for the winter. Don’t place additional gaps near the top cover. The open screen bottom board allows enough ventilation within the hive to alleviate moisture build up Winter winds can be strong, so place a heavy concrete block on your hives.

CATCH THE BUZZ – How a prebiotic honey provides health and wellness benefits to

consumers. And it’s the only one that does! EMPLOYEES at Australia’s largest honey company

have been working like busy little bees for the launch of the world’s first clinically-tested prebiotic honey.

Capilano Honey has unveiled its sweet new product, Beetoic, which has been formulated to raise the levels of good

bacteria and suppress potentially harmful bacteria in a person’s digestive system.

Capilano worked closely with researchers from the University of New South Wales over a number of years to confirm

how a prebiotic honey could provide health and wellness benefits to consumers.

Speaking at their Richlands head office and manufacturing warehouse, Capilano managing director Dr Ben McKee said

his company had made a considerable investment into developing industry-first testing methods to identify honeys that

deliver the prebiotic content.

“Each batch of Beeotic honey is independently tested using our pioneering technology which we are in the process of

patenting,” he said.

“The tests look for particular sugar profiles in order to identify which honeys contain the required prebiotic components.

Nothing is added, nothing is taken away. Beeotic is just 100 per cent pure Australian honey.

“Best of all this premium quality prebiotic honey is made right here in Australia, collected by our network of Australian

beekeepers.”

This product, which has been made in Richlands with honey provided by Australian beekeepers, will be distributed to

supermarkets both nationally and internationally.

Capilano Honey has been manufacturing its products out of Richlands for six decades. Its warehouse employs more than

180 people, with roughly 150 of those workers residing in the south-west region.

http://www.beeculture.com/catch-buzz-prebiotic-honey-provides-health-wellness-benefits-consumers-

one/?utm_source=Catch+The+Buzz&utm_campaign=4f5695cf21-Catch_The_Buzz_4_29_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0272f190ab-

4f5695cf21-256261941

October Photo Contest Enter here: http://www.beeculture.com/photo-contest-2016/ Show us your photos of displays

of honey at farmers markets, in the honey stand at home, in stores, collections of labels, jar types and anywhere you sell honey.

CATCH THE BUZZ – US winter forecast: Frequent snow to blast Northeast; Freeze may damage citrus crop in South Meanwhile, drier and milder weather will focus on the majority of the southern half of the nation. The Southeast may

mark the exception as a chilly January threatens to damage the region’s citrus crop. Frequent storms to bring above-

normal snowfall to northeastern US.

Frequent storms across the northeastern U.S. this winter may lead to an above-normal season for snowfall. “I think the

Northeast is going to see more than just a few, maybe several, systems in the course of the season,” AccuWeather Long-

Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said. Unlike last season, in which most of winter’s snowfall came from a few heavy-

hitting storms, this winter will last into the early or middle part of spring and will feature frequent snow events.

According to Pastelok, accumulation may be limited in areas south of New York City, such as Philadelphia, D.C. and

Baltimore. These areas will see a handful of changeover systems, where falling snow transitions to rain and sleet.

“But still, Boston, Hartford, along the coastal areas up into Connecticut and southern New England, they can still have a

fair amount of snow,” he said. Overall, it’s predicted that the region will total a below-normal number of subzero days,

though the temperature will average 3-5 degrees Fahrenheit lower than last year.

Damaging freeze may threaten citrus crop in southeastern US Winter will slowly creep into the Southeast this season, as

very mild air hangs on throughout the month of December. However, the new year will usher in a pattern change as a

sudden burst of cold air penetrates the region. “I am afraid that we have a shot at seeing a damaging freeze in central

Florida in mid- to late January this year,” Pastelok said. The chill could spell disaster for the area’s citrus farmers.

Cold air will once again retreat following January and the threat is predicted to shift to severe weather.

“Places like Atlanta, Chattanooga, even up into Roanoke, they could have some severe weather,” Pastelok said. “But if the

storm track is a little farther east, then you’re looking more like Tallahassee to Savannah and, maybe, Charleston.”

Bitter cold to grip the northern Plains, Midwest Old man winter won’t hold back in the northern Plains this season with

shots of brutally cold air predicted to slice through the region.

Developing snowpack in early December may contribute to even colder weather. Temperatures will plummet as the

season goes on, averaging 6 to 9 degrees lower overall than last winter. “…There are going to be some nights, especially

if there’s snowcover in the heart of winter, that could get down to 20 or 30 below, especially in parts of Minnesota like

International Falls and Duluth and parts of the Dakotas,” Pastelok said. Cold air will also remain entrenched across the

Midwest after arriving in late November. Coupled with warmer waters over the Great Lakes, an early start to lake-effect

season is in store. “I do feel we’re going to kick this season off pretty quick, especially the western lakes. But I think even

the eastern lakes will get involved and it will extend all the way out to January,” he said.

Winter to get late start across southern Plains, Gulf Coast

Fall-like weather will linger into the winter season across the southern Plains and Gulf Coast, but a change will loom on

the horizon. “A turnaround could come into late December and January as chillier air masses work down from the north,”

Pastelok said. Though the milder weather will retreat, dryness will stick around, becoming a major theme of the season.

“The area of the country that may miss out on big [snow] storms this year may be Dallas and Little Rock,” he said.

However, a few disruptive ice events are not out of the question. . . . . Dry, warm season in store for Southern California,

Southwest

While moisture aims for the Northwest, warm and dry conditions will span much of the season for central and Southern

California and the Southwest.

“December is [looking] very warm [in the Southwest] and I think we could break some record high temperatures,”

Pastelok said. . . .

CATCH THE BUZZ – Beekeepers vs. beekeepers: Ontario group too focused on neonics? FEVERSHAM — The

issue of neonicotinoid-treated seed use and honeybee health is pitting beekeeper against beekeeper. Or, more pointedly,

pitting hobby beekeepers against commercial beekeepers. The Ontario Beekeepers’ Association (OBA), whose members

are mostly hobbyists and part-time beekeepers, has called for the Canadian Honey Council (CHC) president, Kevin

Nixon, to resign because the association believes he goes too easy on the neonic insecticide.

Nixon, on the other hand, thinks the OBA should consider whether or not it should be a member of the National Honey

Council that represents operators across the country. And a newly formed commercial beekeepers’ organization in Ontario

nearly morphed into an anti-OBA group. In an article in a bee industry publication, Nixon said that money is being wasted

by fingering neonicotinoids when there are a number of other threats to bees.

“We are seeing so many resources wasted on a single item when so many other important topics are being overlooked,” he

wrote. “We believe that there’s many factors that affect bee health, not one single factor.” But OBA president Tibor Szabo

told Farmers Forum: “Neonics are of special importance. It’s an immediate, real issue that’s killing our bees. We can’t

have someone with those kinds of ideas properly representing Canadian beekeepers.”

Szabo also said that Nixon was incapable of being unbiased on the issue of neonicotinoids, because one of his largest

customers for his commercial hive production is a company that produces neonicotinoids. “It does affect his ability to

assess this issue properly.” Unfortunately for Szabo, the science is in Nixon’s favour. Nixon pointed to “some 19 million

acres of canola,” in Western Canada that are being treated with neonicotinoids, “and no beekeepers see a problem with

bee health in and around canola.” He added that “neonics seem to be being used responsibly.” Szabo said that the Western

Canada comparison made no sense, because “the agro-ecosystem is so totally different here in Ontario.” He added, “If

they aren’t experiencing it out there they’re very lucky, because it’s disastrous for any farmer, including beekeepers.”

The OBA claims on its website that Nixon had called on it to quit the national council.

“I’m not necessarily saying that,” Nixon told Farmers Forum. “I’m throwing the question out there. If our mandates are

not the same, why would the OBA continue membership?” Nixon added that some of his comments were directed at the

national board as well. “Why does CHC allow an organization to maintain membership when our values don’t align? If

your values aren’t the same, why try to work together?”

Szabo said that although there’s “quite a bit of sentiment in Ontario to leave and start our own representation,” the OBA

currently has no intention of doing so. “We don’t want to leave; we want to fix the issues.” Commercial beekeeper and

former OBA board member Hugh Simpson, who has commercial hives in Feversham, in Grey County, said “the subject of

bee health over the last 3 to 4 years has been completely overwhelmed by the neonic discussion,” and that “the OBA’s

approach on this has driven a wedge between them and others.”

Simpson pointed to the bee death event of 2012 — when 58 per cent of Ontario’s bees died over a harsh winter — as the

time when anti-pesticide activists saw an opportunity to “start a campaign against the use of pesticides generally.”

The OBA in turn, said Simpson, “saw this as an opportunity to expand its agenda and membership.

“I think what the OBA missed in this is their traditional and important relationship with the farm community. In their zeal

to expand awareness of their agenda that includes bee health, they jumped on a bandwagon that put them in a position of

opposition to farms and farmers. “At the moment some of what’s happening is more reactionary and emotionally driven.”

Part of the division between the national and provincial organizations, said Simpson, has to do with the different scales of

operations in Ontario and Western Canada. Around the fields of canola out west, “it’s not uncommon to have well over

1,000 hives,” said Simpson. Ontario’s threshold for commercial apiarists is 50 hives. Simpson figured that about 80 per

cent of beekeepers in Ontario are hobbyists.

“Ontario has a very high population of hobby beekeepers, and hobby beekeepers are passionate people who want to do

something but aren’t necessarily the best trained, or know it’s important to practice beekeeping in a way that keeps bees

the most healthy.”

Simpson added that lack of management experience, particularly around the varroa mite which he said organic beekeepers

don’t treat for, can be disastrous for bees. “If you see you have a poor winter survival, sometimes you need to look in the

mirror instead of point fingers.”

Simpson, who founded in Ontario the Independent Commercial Beekeepers Association in 2014, said that he had to dial

back his new organization into more of a club because of the anti-OBA sentiment brewing in it. “It began to feel like it

was taking on an identity of opposition to the OBA.” He added that most of the members of the new commercial

association have anywhere from 250 to 3,000 hives.

The province identifies at least six different bee stressors, including pesticides, disease, genetics, habitat loss, climate

change, and beekeeper management. Commercial beekeepers frequently say the biggest problem among hobbyists is the

hobbyists themselves due to poor management.

http://www.beeculture.com/catch-buzz-beekeepers-vs-beekeepers-ontario-group-focused-

neonics/?utm_source=Catch+The+Buzz&utm_campaign=7181e563f5-

Catch_The_Buzz_4_29_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0272f190ab-7181e563f5-256261941

Unit Honey Prices by Month - Average Retail Price per Pound across all reporting regions - Data from Bee Culture magazine used by permission. Based upon average price across all reporting

regions. Assumes various sizes sold at the same rate

Retail Jan. Feb. March Apr. May June Jul Aug Sep Oct

2016 $6.74 6.91 6.79 $6.79 $6.72 $7.12 $7.01 $6.88 $6.88 $7.12

Average Wholesale Case Price Per Pound Across All Reporting Regions. Data from Bee Culture magazine used by permission. Based upon average price

across all reporting regions. Assumes various sizes sold at the same rate. Wholesale Jan. Feb. March Apr. May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct

2016 $5.04 $5.15 $5.04 $5.20 $4.97 $5.19 $5.09 $5.01 $5.10 $5.31

For Panna Cotta: 1/2 cup – milk `2 cups - heavy cream 1/4 teaspoon - vanilla extract 1/4 cup - granulated sugar 4 envelopes - gelatin powder 1/4 teaspoon - kosher salt 4 cups - yogurt (plain) 2 tablespoons - honey

For Fall Granola: 8-cups – oats 2 cups - pecan pieces, toasted 1 cup - pumpkin seeds

4 tablespoons - butter, unsalted, cold 1/2 cup - all purpose flour 1/4 cup - light brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon - kosher salt 2/3 cup - honey Zest of 1 orange, grated 2 teaspoons - vanilla extract 1/2 cup - cranberries, dried

Yogurt Panna Cotta with Honey and Early Fall Granola Directions

For Panna Cotta: Combine milk, cream, sugar and vanilla extract and heat on the stove until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and whisk in softened gelatin and honey then strain through a fine strainer.

Add salt and chill for just a few minutes stirring constantly until heat is gone, but not as far as beginning to set.

Add the yogurt and stir until it is fully incorporated.

Portion into 8-10 ounce highball glasses in 4-6 ounce portions and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 hours until it

sets.

For Fall Granola: Set the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Toast the oats, pecans and pumpkin seeds for 10 to 12 minutes, then remove and cool.

Spray a sheetpan with non-stick spray.

In a food processor combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt and pulse until mixture is coarse crumbs.

Add that to a large mixing bowl, with the oat/nut mixture.

Add the honey, orange zest and extract together and pour over the top and fold with a spatula until coated.

Sprinkle the mixture onto the sprayed sheetpan and place in the oven stirring every 5 minutes, for 15 to 20

minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Chef David Guas – Spokesperson, National Honey Board