The Buzz Newsletter

Page 8

The Beeyard Report

It’s Sept. 16th and we’ve started to strip the yards and put out feed. We have received very little fall flow. What we have gotten has gone into the brood nest. I’m guessing most of the doubles weigh around 100#. I like to get them to 120# for winter. Varroa count has run from low to moderate. It has been anywhere from 0 to 19 on a 300 bee sample. 7 to 10 has been the average. Remember that two-thirds of the mites are in the brood. Mite population usually spikes when all the brood emerges. We are not planning to treat unless we find higher levels.

I find it hard to be motivated in the fall. Fatigue is usually a factor. This year has been different in that the boys have done most of the work. Now, I have to shift gears and get back in the saddle. Adam is in his last semester at Iowa State, He is still around a couple of days a week. Alex is here to help me pull the yards. It seemed like we didn’t have too much left. Then, I made a list and found we still have 15 to pull. The problem is that my building is full. We can only bring in so many boxes and then we have to extract to make room for the next lot. I am not going to have room to put my empty honey boxes in the main building. My neighbor across the road offered me one of his buildings but, as yet, he hasn’t gotten his equipment out of it. It seems rather inhospitable to ask him to hurry up.

My customer from Japan called me the other day. It was 10:00 AM in Lynnville but midnight in Japan. We have established good personal repor but I was still amazed that he called. He doesn’t speak very good English so the conversation was a little limited. It was still exciting. My last honey shipment to him had arrived in Yokahama the day before and was quarantined for what he termed a medical inspection. It sounded bad to me but he didn’t seem very worried. The language barrier was a bit of an obstacle on this subject.

Fees for almond pollination are approaching $150 per colony. I’ve been debating whether or not I should put some bees on pallets and send them west. The whole thing gives me a lot of anxiety. For guys who put bees on semis all the time, it’s nothing. It gives me a lot of anxiety since I have never been around it. Another thing that deters me is that I have not been having a bad Varroa problem. If I send bees to California, it changes the whole scenario. The bees brood up two or three months earlier. The longer brood cycle equates to more mites. The bees sit in holding yards in California. The bees drift and I may wind up with mites that are resistant to everything. I guess if somebody showed up with a semi and some pallets, I would think about sending a couple hundred.

There is hope that the loophole in the anti-dumping bill that allows new shippers to send honey into the U.S. without posting a cash deposit may be closed. The war in Iraq, the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and the unwillingness of our elected representatives to address hard issues may result in this being put on the back burner. Richard Adee is heading up a legislative group scheduled to be in Washington, D.C. this month

Marketing reports say that the Chinese have already dumped most of their honey in anticipation of the loophole being closed. Apparently the Argentines followed the Chinese into the market place and sold most of their honey. Argentine producers took a beating. Prices to Argentine producers got as low as thirty cents per pound. I’ve said this before but I’m going to say it again, honey is a unique local product. If you are not selling it by the semi load, the prices you hear don’t mean anything. Value your product!!!!!!

Submitted by
Phil Ebert

The Southeast Iowa Beekeepers latest meeting was held at Tom Phelps near Mt. Pleasant. They looked over his queen rearing equipment and watched a video on the subject. There was a good turn out of around 20 people who also enjoyed a potluck supper with grilled hamburgers.