The Buzz Newsletter

May 2007

 

 

Page 4

A Word From the Iowa Honey Queen

As I am writing this letter it is very cold, and somehow snow made it in the forecast! I thought we were all done with snow and we were moving on into spring. The warm weather was nice while it lasted!

I have been getting a lot of questions about the colony collapse disorder. I wasn't really sure how to go about answering the questions. I finally received my April issue of Bee Culture and there was a really great article in there about CCD! It answered a lot of my questions, and now I will be able to lead people in the right direction.

I am really looking forward to the end of the school year. I will be moving back to Perry, and continuing my RN nursing classes at DMACC in Ankeny. It will be nice to be close to my family once again, and get more involved with the Bees.

My dad has been scraping propolis and getting ready to sell it, and on the warmer days he has been trying to get out with the bees and splitting up brood to build up his hives. We can't really do much with the bees until we get rid of the nasty weather.

Until next time, have a great month. Remember I am here to service you, so if you need help with anything please contact me. My phone number is (515) 210-1027, and email Chizel2004@aol.com.

Sincerely,

Chelsa Bronnenberg
2007 Iowa Honey Queen

 

Spencer Beekeeping Class

March 23rd & 24 were the dates for the fourth beginning beekeeping class in seven years at Spencer, IA. During the Clay County Fair as we talked to people we took names of those interested in becoming a beekeeper. As in the past it was put on in conjunction with the Clay County extension office. They did the advertising and sent out postcards to people who had signed up as interested. Larry Boernsen helped also with some phone calls to people who had shown interest at fair time, but hadn’t signed up as the deadline drew near.

Pat Ennis made the class interesting for the eighteen people in attendance. THANKS PAT FOR ALL YOUR WORK! Tova Jessen (one of the youth recipients of bees from the IHPA) and her mother (Karen Jessen) were part of the class. Everyone of the class who wants to get bees are going to be able to get started this year thanks to Larry and Marlene Boernsen who had ordered more packages than they are needing for themselves. Marlene made sure we had plenty of goodies and drink for break time both sessions. The class was a success.

We are close to forty who have started keeping bees in Northwest Iowa because of these classes. Most of them are still beekeepers.

Submitted by Jim Strachan

Spring Preparations

It is April 6 and my bee packages are here and some how I got everything ready for them. All of the used brood boxes got painted, new foundation, screen bottom boards and tops. With the record lows I will hold the packages in my shop until Monday April 9. These packages will be put on small cell foundation with the hope of regressing the bees to a smaller size after a few brood cycles. All bees used to be smaller until someone decided that larger bees would make more honey and made the foundation cell size larger ( 5.4 cell width ). Many beekeepers believe that the smaller bees have less disease and deal with the mites better without any treatments. I am trying both Italian and Carniolan queens on the small cell foundation. I know that it will not be easy and it may take 2 years to regress the bees. I hope this is worth it.

Submitted by Delmar Nelson