In the News
Sue Cobey, originator of the New World Carniolan
line, is moving from Ohio State University to the University of
California at Davis. I don’t know everything behind this
move but Eric Mussen is approaching retirement and that chair
is endowed. There is a movement among some of the California Beekeepers
to increase the size of the endowment. Apparently, university
support for a bee program has been lagging in recent years. The
hope is that increased funds will accelerate the program. I was
a little surprised that Roger Hoopingarner(Michigan State) and
Jerry Bromenshank(University of Montana) thought is was a poor
idea to entrust funds to the university. They favored placement
of funds for specific projects. At any rate, we wish Sue well
in her new undertaking.
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The class scheduled for DMACC in Ankeny was cancelled. We only
had three people sign up for it. Marshalltown is slated to start
Jan24th if we get enough enrollment. Ron Wehr and Vern Ramsey
have a class in Washington due to start Feb 6th. Contact Kirkwood
College for this one. 319-653-4655 Pat Randol is holding a class
at the Winterset Library beginning Feb 28th. Contact Pat at 515-210-7745
Something is going to happen in the Spencer area but I am not
totally sure what it is yet.
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Lee Heine has graciously agreed to donate the bees for all of
the participants in the Youth Mentoring Program. Lee was on the
interviewing committee. We were really impressed with all of the
candidates. There was some discussion as to whether we had the
financial capability to accept all of the candidates. At this
point, Lee offered to donate the bees. That really sealed the
deal. Lee comes to represent the Honey Board but he puts a lot
more into it than he has to. It adds a lot to our meeting. Thanks
Lee!!!!
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There is a new mite control soon to be on the market. It’s
from the same company that gave us Apistan. The new product is
called Hivastan. It is a pyrozol. It’s a metabolic inhibitor
that kills by contact. It currently has other uses in the food
industry. It is applied as a patty spread on wax paper for 4 weeks.
The patty contains honey to improve bee activity. The honey has
been irradiated to kill foul brood spores. Product will be available
in 3 gallon buckets(25#). That will treat 50 colonies. Material
is to be spread thinly on wax paper and applied between the brood
boxes. It will leave some residue. Data will be available on this.
Trails were conducted within a temp range of 60 to 100 degrees.
Nebraska has already submitted a request to the EA to use this
product.
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Last month I noted that I had seen what appeared to be pollen
coming in during the month of November. Ivan Rickers sent me a
note that he had seen the same thing. He had also observed a very
short dandelion with two flower heads that was blooming in November
long after we had a hard freeze. There really was pollen in November.
This may explain why there was so much brood late in the year.
Submitted by Phil Ebert
