The Buzz Newsletter

August 2006

 

 

Page 6

A GREAT SUMMER FIELD DAY!!
July 8th
Iowa 4-H center
Madrid Iowa

Pat Ennis at this years very successful field day.

Before I get into this too much, I would like to thank everyone who, in some way or another, helped with the field day. Getting the meat, preparing the pot luck table, at the registration table, and all the bee helpers. I couldn’t do this without the helping volunteers. And of course, all who took the time to come to the summer field day. YOU are the reason for the field day. I know summer can be a very busy time, so THANK YOU TO ALL WHO CAME. And a big thanks to our guest speaker, David Vander Dussen.

We first learned about the life cycle of the honey bee with the worker taking 21 days to emerge from an egg and a drone taking 24 days to emerge from an egg.

If you are like me, you have the varroa mite in your hives. Some hives have more than others, you hear of hives crashing because of the varroa mite, or maybe you have had some crash yourself. I treat for the varroa mite. I know some do not. This I feel, is a personal decision as to whether or not to treat. But to make that decision, one should be educated with all the information to make a sound decision for his personal bee operation. This is my personal option; the varroa mite is the largest killer of honey bee hives. That is why I choose to have guest speaker, David Vander Dussen from mite-away II come to our field day to speak to us about the varroa mite.

 

We found out that the varroa mite is a parasite with a life cycle of 80 to 100 days.

We first learned about the life cycle of the honey bee with the worker taking 21 days to emerge from an egg and a drone taking 24 days to emerge from an egg. We should all know about the life cycle of the honey bee, so I will go on.

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