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PUBLISHED BY MICHIANA BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION MICHJANABEES.ORG

JULY 2013

luc. miiiig M eeting

Time Ives will be hosting our next meeting Saturday, July 20th at The Apple Patch Orchard in. North. Liberty. This is another one of our surer field meetings so bring a veil and chairs. Tri Stmei

The address is 65681 Sycamore Rd, North Liberty, IN 46554_

The Apple Patch Orchard is the first farm house North or SR4 on Sycamore Road_

FROM THE US 20 RwAss • Take the North Liberty/IN-23 exit • Head Southwest on IN-23 S • In 5 miles turn left on Redwood Rd • In 3 miles turn right on Osborne Rd • In 1 mile turn left on Sycamore Rd • The orchard is % miles South

MBA CONTACTS

PREillArd Bab Baughman 574-Z76-3959 EklIttleb.baughnlarigskeabal_itet

Vitt Prmiairr &

RECORMIG SK(IEF.411Y Tim Ives 574-914-00601 Ilquidgold20110@arrilwqrriall_carn

TREASURER David Emerson 574-295-1855 orrmirnon3434@rrisni.cp-rn

HISTORIAN

Danny Slabaugh 574-315-S506 {klabauFfripp-mbriTsnall.cpari

Enrroi Henry* Harris 574.875-9647 IterM4.7i40.1toll 1:,C0111,

Mr* kd

IN

North Ltherty June Meeting - Bob Baughman MBA_ President

Many thanks to our host, Carol Shaw, and to Roger Deacon who presented many useful and traditional beekeeping

items during the meeting. Roger shared his wax rendering To Walkerton methods and other gadgets he has made up to assist him in his

beekeeping activities. Thank you Roger for all the time spent gathering up the demo equipment and preparing the site for our meeting. Thank you to Jim Kendall for lending a hand during Roger's presentation and for helping Tim Ives during his.

Tim Ives opened a hive and explained and educated as he worked his way through that hive. Many folks got to see Tim in action as well as one of his towering colonies on the inside, thank you Tim. An estimated 52 people attended the June meeting. Thank you all for the continued support of the Michiana Beekeepers Association. It is our intent to share our beekeeping experience with the local community, so please continue to ask questions. See you in North Liberty on July 20th with our host, Tim Ives.

May Meeting - Bob Baughman M.BA. President

The Michiana Beekeepers Association Annual May Auction / Meeting was a success in many ways. Some folks came from the Grand Rapids, Michigan area and others from Chicago, Illinois. One couple drove from New York State, Don and Cindy Seames. Our appreciation goes to the Lehman Family for offering their home and for the many hours of setup and baking that allowed the club to hold the event once again in such a great location (with perfect weather no less). Our club was deeply honored to have speakers Krispn Givens and Dr. Larry Connors and they gave wonderful presentation& Both speakers remained after lunch to address questions.

EZ Recipe for a Five Frame Nuc: • From your best hives (keeping the best genetics)

o 2 frames of eggs and larvae o 2 frames of honey o 1 frame with some pollen

• Shake in extra bees off of other brood frames • Make SURE you have not gotten the queen • Set the nuc off away from the big colonies • Let them raise their own queen

Notes: Alternately, you can speed things along by purchasing a queen cell, virgin queen, or mated queens from our queen rearing members. Also, we recommend an entrance reducer on the small opening to help the nucs defend themselves from robbers. Finally, medium nucs are a great idea too since some people use only mediums. In that case we recommend two stories (10 medium frames).

Our gratitude goes to Mike Ross, Danny Slabaugh, and Henry Harris for our raffle items. Thanks to Steve Hite who won the "Mike Ross" Garden Hive with Bees in the raffle, only to re-gift it back to the club for the auction. We need to extend our thanks to Roger Graham, our auctioneer, who provided the humor and such that added to the success of the actual auction. To Norm Lehman's brother-in-law, Dave, who clerked our auction with such expertise and professionalism once again. Behind the scene, we have many people who worked hard to make the day fun and successful for all! Our thanks and appreciation go to: Tim Ives who supplied the pop and water_ Greatly appreciated and once again consumed in vigor by our attendees. To Diana and Dave Emerson for the effort of registering our guests and accepting new memberships, awesome job_ To Deb Baughman and Amber Cecil on name tags and raffle tickets.

Our annual May event is only a success due to the support of our club members, who not only provide items for the auction, but purchase others items in return. Thank you for your generosity.

Mark your calendar for May 17, 2014 for next year's gathering_ We have Dr. Jami Ellis as our speaker!

Hive Insurance

(Mid-Summer Nucs) by Henry Harris & Ken Cecil

We are strongly encouraging all of our members to take the time to create AT LEAST ONE NUCLEUS COLONY

(Nuc) this month. The goal is to over winter them as an insurance policy against winter losses. July may seem like a strange time to talk about replacing winter killed colonies but it is actually the perfect time. There is still time to start nucs and build them up to go through winter_ Even new beekeepers can try this as an experiment to gain experience over wintering a nuc. Make sure your colonies are strong to start with and ask your mentor for advice.

Both speakers we had at our previous two fall banquets are big proponents of creating mid-summer nucs to offset colony losses. Kent Williams (2012 Fall Banquet) recommends you have at least one nuc for every three full sized hives if not more. He keeps at least one-for-one since he also sells a lot of nucs in the spring. This really makes sense when you consider that nationally beekeepers are experiencing about to Element lnss cwpr

The nucs you make this month (or even into the end of August with a mated queen) can come in very handy. For example if you notice you have a queenless colony late this fall you can just combine your established nuc and queen into that colony to rescue it Next spring your nucs will tend to build up faster and have a stronger colony going into the honey flow than traditional methods of making up for colony losses (April packages, May nucs, or your own splits).

If you make it through the winter with fewer losses than anticipated, then good for you! You have an enjoyable problem to deal with_ What to do with the extra nucs? You can get more equipment and run them as a full colony, you could just use the queen the nuc raised as a replacement for your older failing queens, or you can sell them to other members (maybe as a donation at the 2014 May auction).

This nuc will have a very low mite count, only those that are on the workers you put in the nue. Mites are only found in cells that are capped so if you are starling this nuc with only eggs and larvae it is going to be about as clean

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MAWS PEE P omen OVER SEVEN MILLION EMPLOYEES

HONEY QUEENS

P".

SWARMS REMOVED

NUCS

&Aga MARV 10910 ANDERSON ROAD ll ^ $E4INE PROMET0iii. GRANGER, IN 46530 AlitiVAGT

H: (574) 674-9327 1: (174) 292-0604

C: (574) 210-7986 STAGNIAN0004gYANOCC6M

RD APIARIES

Doug & Robin VanZile

63593 Union Rd.

Vandalia, MI 49095

Cell (574) 206-6007

E-mail

rclapiaries@gm ail corn

Michigan Mated

Queens & Nucs

Beekeeping Supplies

Wooden Ware

ROSS

Mike Ross

574-586-3083

Beekeeping

Equipment

Wooden Ware

Including 8 Frame

Honey

Bees Wax

71700 E. U.S. 6

Walkerton, IN 46574

Slabaugh Apiaries Honey and Supply

Danny Sfabaugh 26123 County Road 52

Nappanee, IN 46550-9135

Home (574) 773-2345

Cell (574) 315-5586

E-mail dslabughgembarqmag.axn

1.1301I Honey

Select Km Bodies

Select Deep and Medium Flames

Screened IPM Bottom Boards

toed Matted Queens, Queen Cells

Honey Swan

Telescoping Covers

Inner Covers

Candy Boards

Pierce Snap In Foundation

Indiana 5 Frame Huss

as you can get. Even if you put a frame of capped brood in the hive there will not be many mites in one of those capped cells.

You can let the nuc build itself up if there is a good nectar flow. Traditionally in our area we get a decent flow from Goldenrod in September/October. Some beekeepers add a second story (or third for medium nucs) for additional honey storage capacity when overwintering nucs. You may consider supplemental feed with sugar syrup or borrow frames of honey from other colonies to bring it up to winter form.

This nuc-turned-into-colony will be healthy and have a much better chance of surviving winter than your old honey producers.

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFC). by George Ruble (georub@frontier.com)

How could something sweet leave a sour taste in your mouth? HFC is sold by dextrose equivalent (DE) 42 DE or 55 DE (dextrose= glucose).

My bees will not accept pure 42 DE until some regular table sugar is added to it at a five to one ratio_ Most bee keepers prefer 55 DE but, in my area, the only

place to get HFC is from my local bakery and it is the 42 DE. The 55 DE is obtained through extra processing and costs more.

Corn starch is chemically treated to produce HFC and its primary constituents are fructose, the sweetest of sugars and glucose, the least sweet of sugars_ In HFC 42 glucose is the predominant sugar, while HFC 55 contains more fructose than glucose. (Wikipedia)

The theory behind using HFC is that bees must convert table sugar into fructose and glucose, a slow process, while HFC is already there. Feeding HFC would save the bees time and energy converting sugar and would give them an almost immediate food sunnlv.

The other reason to use HFC is cost. I am paying $27.50 for a five gallon pail (601bs) of HFC. This works out to 45.8 cents a pound compared to a 4 pound bag of table sugar for $2.49 which works out to 62.2 cents per pound. The 16.4 cents per pound difference may seem too small savings to take a chance on feeding HFC to your bees but I feed over four hundred pounds of HFC a year to my bees.

I use HFC several different ways with great success. When I add HFC to pollen substitute it keeps the pollen patties nice and moist until the

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bees use it up. I used to throw out almost half of my pollen patties because

they became hard and dry. I also add Honey-B-Healthy to the mixture to keep the pollen substitute fresh. Using a small ice cream scoop with a bail I fill the wax paper envelopes that I get from a local Amish woman who sells fried pies in them. I have heard of beekeepers using a sausage stuffing attachment on their meat grinder to fill wax paper envelopes.

I use iii'cilnutge L&Liscikli k,k,1,,uitgiirt-u, spring or when I start nucs. However I do not use HFC when I breed queens or for winter stores. I have used HFC for winter stores in the past with mixed results.

Hurray for South Bend! by Ken Cecil

On July 8th the South Bend Common Council approved a code amendment to make it easier for South Bend residents to keep bees. It eliminates the acreage requirement Now hives may be kept on the smaller parcels common within the city_

Apparently there are a few stipulations such as a $20 permit and proof that the person has been advised on beekeeping by an entity recognized by the state. Also, there are setback and flyaway barrier requirements.

This opens up beekeeping to a whole new audience. It will present us the opportunity to continue to increase our membership and welcome new beekeepers to the M.B.A. For those of you who have friends or family that live in South Bend make sure you let them know about the change and invite them to become involved with beekeeping.

Urban beekeeping initiatives are becoming more and more popular with the added attention that Colony Collapse Disorder and the media are bringing to bees. Lots of people want to help and take up responsible beekeeping including city dwellers. The measure passed by a landslide 7 to 1 vote.

Congratulations and thank you to all who

played a part in pushing this measure through.

Wandering With An Old Timer by Henry Harris

Bearding

Bees hanging all over the front of the hive is not an indication that the colony is preparing to swarm. It is just too hot inside the hive for all of those bees which would drive the temperature even higher if they were all inside.

Incubating temperature in the brood nest and most of the hive in summer is 94°.

Bees wax melts at about 140 0 but will become soft and cells will begin to sag long before then killing brood and letting honey leak out of cells.

A dry, hot day may not cause as much bearding as a lower temperature day that is more humid because cooling evaporation will

be more difficult.

You can help your bees with ventilation by making sure the entrance is wide open, lifting the outer cover so air can move up and out more easily, and by staggering supers.

To stagger simpers loosen the super all the way around then pull it back just 3/4", that is just the width of the back wall of the box, but not far enough for bees to get out. In the front this will leave a 3/8" gap that bees can expel air between the frame end bars.

If it is advantageous to stagger one super it is a good idea to stagger several. Push some of

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the supers forward rather than backward to avoid unbalancing the hive.

If you are using screened bottom

boards with sticky boards leave the insert out so air will pass up through the open bottom board.

Don't forget to close up the hive when the extreme heat and humidity end.

Take Two Strips and Call Me In The Morning

Garfield sheds_ There is nothing he can do about it. The hairs just pop off of him as he walks, sits, sleeps and eats. We have cats and I can tell you it really does happen that way.

Chemicals inside a bee hive are exactly the same way. Of course that is what they are intended to do the kill mites. The trouble is that bees wax is like a sponge and it soaks up the rliamiralc and them (likes

black cat jumping onto white slacks), not just once but continuously so that there is a build up of these chemicals in the wax.

The concentration can become so intense that all the bees may emerge deformed. With workers the effect can be a radically shortened life span so that even though it looks like you have a lot of bees in the hive they are dying before they can make you a crop of honey. With drones and queens this chemical soup is known to cause sterility. Drones and queens will go through the motions but she ends up unable to produce fertilized eggs (a drone layer). Developing queens have been known to die in their cells.

If I have not scared you out of using chemicals to control mites in your hives then at least use them the right way so you and your bees will get the most good out of a bad thing

Mites need to be killed before the colony raises its winter bees, that is the very end of September and into October. Most chemicals

must be in the hive about 4o days to give the best results which means they need to be applied no later than the middle of August.

Take your honey supers off and put your treatment in according to the instructions.

Never break up the treatment. It is not like a ball game put on hold for ro to 20 minutes until the rain lets up. You cannot stop the treatment after 10 or 20 days because a good honey flow starts. The effectiveness of the chemical depends on the mites being exposed for the continuous period.

Then get the chemical out of the hive. Chemicals left in longer tend to produce resistant mites.

Empty!!!

One year in the deep dark past my bees made a beautiful crop of honey. It was

approaching Labor Day when I went out to take my share from the bees and there was nothing left of that honey crop. The supers were empty and so was the upper brood box (I was still using deeps at the time)

The huge population the colonies had raised and maintained to collect that big honey crop had set around during a very dry August with nothing to do and had eaten everything in the hive they had worked so hard to store and were on the point of starvation going 0- u into September.

An individual bee that is sick, is worn out, or with wings frayed too badly to fly will walk off into the sunset (tail grass) and die rather that tax the colony with it's unproductive upkeep. But a healthy field force of 30,000 has no concept of walking off to die to preserve the colony's winter stores.

These were what an unknown beekeeper in the Northwest many years ago called 'welfare bees'.

There is a way to use that excess of bees so that you and your bees come out ahead. Make Imes now to replace inevitable winter losses and provide for increase next year. Surely the honey crop this year has inspired some

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beekeepers to want to expand next year. And if you do not want the increase yourself you can always sell them this fall or next spring for some added profit

I take my honey off at the end of July because of several things.

It is much easier and less uncomfortable to take honey supers away from big colonies of honey bees while they are distracted bringing in nectar than while they are all sitting around the entrance bragging about the size of their Stingers and how fast they can use them.

Also, I agree with Richard Taylor that feeding bees is a messy job that can be avoided if We just let the bees have all the honey from August and September.

Removing Honey by Brushing Combs

Brushing bees from combs can be slow and tedious but if you have only 2 or 3 hives it can be the most economical way of removing honey_ You just need a bee brush, an extra super, and two outer covers or boards 18" x 22"

Set up your covered empty super a step or two to one side of the hive behind where you will stand.

Take a frame of honey out of the top super and holding it in front of the hive give it a docAmward shake. This will dislodge a large number of bees before you start brushing.

Do not brush the bees from one end of the comb to the other as this will only roll and anger them. Flicking in short strokes propels the bees off and out onto the grass.

You can lean a stick or inner cover from the ground to the landing board to help the bees return to the hive.

Once you have all bees off both sides, both ends, and top and bottom bars put it in an empty super. Then cover it.

You do not have to work out of the open hive_ You can stack the supers off on another outer cover or board and work from there.

Do not brush the bees back into the super you are taking frames from as they will just be sitting on the next frame and need to be brushed off again.

Many of you will be aware that I will be stepping down from the Editor's posi-tion with the Bee Line this fall.

Over the years I have offered to step aside if someone would like to take over and no one has ever been interested in replacing me as editor.

Ken Cecil has set up the michianabee- s.org web site for the MBA and has agreed to also be editor of the Bee Line

with help from others writing articles and getting the Bee Line

printed and mailed.

This issue of the Bee Line has been a joint effort with Ken and my-self to help Ken learn the ropes if you elect him as editor at the fall banquet.

I think Ken has done a very good job and I

• hope you do too.

Henry Harris

•

Honey Dry Enough?

Harvesting honey that is holding too much moisture can lead to fermentation. For the new beekeepers (and everyone else) that have harvested some honey, please bring a sample with you to the meeting at Tim's bee yard on the 20th. We will set aside some time to use this special tool called a refractometer, teach you how they are used, and discuss ways of dealing: with honey that is too wet.

Bring a sample! Those of you with refractometers please bring those too!

Thanks to all and Happy Harvesting.

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