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Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter July 2004 |
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The Bee Yard Report One of the cardinal rules of beekeeping is "Take the high ground". I violated this rule and gained the opportunity to walk through the water to pick up one of our yards when the levee along the South Skunk broke. I was trying to keep my Russian bees grouped together so I could control the drone pool. I had the other yards set up and really needed another location so I set the bees in a place that I shouldn't have. The boys had just supered them the week before and the bees had moved right into the supers. Picking them up was no fun at all. We have really had a nice early flow despite the rain. As I write this in early June, the yards that are in the timber are on their 2nd or 3rd super. The yards that are on the pasture ground or along the highways are just coming into the supers. Swarming hasn't been too bad. We are probably averaging two or three per yard in yards have between 20 to 30 colonies. Going without queen excluders has been a bit of a mixed bag. Most of the queens have stayed down but there are some that we had to put the excluders back in. One day Eric pulled the lid off of a colony with three supers and found the queen walking around on the inner cover. Fortunately, that is not the norm. Adam is spending six weeks in Spain as part of a program with Iowa State. The plan was for him to be back home in time to help pull honey but I don't think he is going to make it in time for the beginning. Last year we had no honey at all until the third week of July but this year is running way ahead. I am sure we will be pulling some before the end of June I always rest a lot easier after that first box is filled and I know I'm going to make expenses. Anthony, who has been bottling our honey since the fourth grade, leaves for college this fall. He is breaking in the Rozendaal boys who live down the road, to take over the job. Our failure rate of over wintered queens is much higher than normal. This probably gets back to the lousy mating weather that they had in California last year. We had about 40 small nucs made up with a frame of brood and a frame of bees. We use these to re-queen. By the time we got around to using them they had a good three frames of bees. We insert them on one side of the upper brood box and smoke everything real good. It's almost 100%. Heres hoping we get some hot dry weather. Submitted by Phil Ebert
Greetings from your Iowa Honey Queen! Bees are "a buzz" around East Amana! My hive is alive and well and last week Matt Stewart and I got to add another super. Thank you to Matt, Donna Brahms and Phil Meyer for keeping me informed on what is happening regarding educational opportunities. It was exciting to complete my high school career and promote the honey industry through an article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, as a hobbyist beekeeper and the role I play representing the Honey Industry as your State Queen. The Gazette reaches many across Eastern Iowa and I received many inquiries about honey and bees. Since my role as Southeast Iowa Honey Queen expired upon my becoming State Queen, I encouraged a young, fellow member of my 4-H club to represent the Southeast region, Miss Liesl Burgher. She is in the process of meeting the SE Iowa Beekeepers, but has helped me at several parades, visited the honey booth at the State Fair and studied my 4-H presentations in the years past. WE both have a long history of beekeepers in our Amana Heritage which we both believe needs to be perpetuated as part of our culture. Liesl accompanied me to Des Moines on June 5 to promote honey at the Des Moines Farmers Market. Phil Meyer was kind enough to host us for the day and had the opportunity to present a gift of honey to Oprah Winfrey's personal chef, Art Smith! We were interviewed with him and it was an honor to represent all of you! My graduation from Williamsburg High School ended with a party at my home with a honey theme. Pots were decorated with cookie flowers surrounded by bees and mini jars of honey were table centerpieces. We even had a honey cake that was shaped as a skep which was glazed with honey and buzzing with bees! In June my travels will take me to educate teachers at the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation which sponsored a Teachers Academy Resource Fair in Hiawatha and Peosta. I will give several 20 minute presentations about the honey industry, the importance of pollination, and share some educational posters. I look forward to seeing many of you at the Iowa State Fair in August. Sweet regards for a "Bee-utiful" summer. Maria Zuber
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