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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter April 2004 |
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Featured Beekeeper of the Month This month our featured beekeeper is Dave Fassbinder.
He operates Yellow River Apiaries in Monona, Iowa, which is located
in the NE corner of our state. He writes and says in 1978 he and
his wife decided they’d had enough of the city life and
thanks to an older brother in the business, decided to give beekeeping
a try. With no regrets Dave now tends 900-1000 colonies. He supplies
three grocery stores with honey and makes candles for two health
food stores. He sells a few nucs locally but gave up selling pollen
because it was too time consuming. Unfortunately Dave lost his wife to AIDS but he credits his three children and the bees for helping him through the difficult times. He says caring for the bees and watching the honey come in and the supers fill is a great antidepressant. Dave doesn’t belong to any local beekeeping groups, but has attended some Wisconsin meetings. He gives us his advice for wintering. He says he and his brother have devised an insulating pillow that is stapled over the top of the hive for winter protection. It’s made of black plastic sewn together with insulation stuffed inside. Winter losses can be kept under 10-15 percent unless the mite treatment didn’t get done well enough. Dave says “I believe it’s more important having insulation over the cluster than around it”. Thanks Dave for your hard work and advice. Keep us posted on your improved bees. Submitted by Ron Wehr Classified Ads :
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Dave’s
future plans are to be free of chemicals through genetics and
keep bees till he drops. He likes devising a plan for beekeeping
in the dead of winter, watching it fall apart as spring wears
on and still managing to pull out a descent crop. Queen rearing
the last few years has given him much joy. Dave says, “I’ve
been purchasing what are supposed to be the best genetics and
am trying to wean the bees off the chemicals. Working with these
genetics has been quite eye opening. I buy a Minnesota Hygienic
breeder, which turns out to be very ornery and unproductive. I
decide to graft about 100 cells until I’m telling myself
I’m crazy and I switch to a breeder of my own, but the daughters
of the Minnesota Hygienic end up being very calm, very productive,
and winter great. The next year I graft from another purchased
breeder that’s a superb colony and the daughters are rather
ho hum. My thoughts now are to try and establish mite and disease
resistance with a healthy drone population and then worry about
improving honey production later. Seems like whatever you think
“should be” in beekeeping turns out to be something
else, which always keeps you thinking and planning. I love the
challenge of surviving in the bee business with the odds seemingly
to be against you.”|
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