 |
Iowa Honey Producers Association |
The Buzz Newsletter March 2005 |
 |
|
The Beeyard Report It always seems like I no more get done with my column and it’s time to start another one. It’s easy in the spring and summer. I just write down what is on my mind. This time of year, it’s a lot harder. There are plenty of things to think about, but the urgency isn’t there. My mind is wandering around. There are a lot of different scenarios that are possible. They all hinge on what the death loss is and how fast the bees develop in the spring. I have 300 queens on order. When I ordered them, I thought it was too many. Now, that my death loss appears to be light, I wonder if I will have enough. Thirty days down the line, things could look entirely different. I was able to check some of my yards at the beginning of February. It was a 60 degree day, so there was a lot of activity in the yards. With the exception of one yard, I have almost no death loss at this point. There is still plenty of time for it to go the other way, however. I looked at 270 colonies and had 19 dead ones. Ten of the dead ones were in the same yard. It was a yard that I failed to check for tracheal mites. There weren’t any bees left in the hives so I am sure it was a mite problem. The Varroa load was very low so that wasn’t the cause. There are still eleven yards that I haven’t seen yet. I’ve had been debating whether to sit on my extra honey. If I did that I would have extra bees to sell. Now, I’ve had a windfall. I was able to sell eight barrels of my excess honey for a very good price. This puts me somewhere in the middle of my plan. Usually, the plan doesn’t matter that much. It’s all how the bees look when you get there. The necessity is to be prepared for all contingencies. Some of the offering prices for honey are down eighty cents. I think it’s important to value our product. If we don’t, no one else will. If you have to sell your honey by the semi-load, you are more or less at the mercy of the buyers. For those of you selling in smaller lots, remember you have a unique local product. It should command a good price. I remembered one thing I left out of the rewrite last month’s column. One of the concerns of the people at the bee lab in Tucson was the engineering of plants against insects. They were worried that the systemic insecticides would find their way into the pollen of the plants. This would result in the bees hauling poison back to the hives. They are just starting to look at this. The price of wax has taken quite a jump. All I have heard the few years is that the wax market is dead because everybody in using plastic foundation. Well, it’s going somewhere. Dadants are even buying wax. If I remember correctly, the last time they did that was at the Tri-State meeting a couple of years ago. I think that was just a one day deal because there were so many beekeepers in town. One thing I noticed last fall was that the bees on feed remained very active in the hive, even when outside temps were in the low 40’s. The ones without feed would be clustered up. I wonder if this has anything to do with winter survival. In theory, the ones on feed probably have brood longer. I have never looked. I seldom pull a frame after the first week of October. There just isn’t time. That’s all for now. I hope everybody has wintered well. Submitted by Phil Ebert
Summer Field Day Date: July 16 Speaker: Gerry Reynolds a Kansas beekeeper who has been working with the Russian bee both in Kansas and at the Baton Rouge Lab in Louisiana. Part of Gerry’s presentation will be a formal video which Gerry and the Baton Rouge group have made to explain the history of the bee and how it was introduced into the United States and the pros and cons of using the Russian bees. Gerry will also explain and answer questions on his experience working with the bees in his own honey business. Submitted by Steve Hanlin
|
|
|
 |