APIS Volume 13, Number 5, May 1995
In this issue
- Floridian a Winner in 4-H Contest
- Mineral Nutrients of Honey Bees
- Eastern Apiculture Society-Year of the Hive
- Interest in Beekeeping on Upswing?
- Georgia Beekeeping Institute
FLORIDIAN A WINNER IN 4-H CONTEST
Sixth grader Audrey Powell, age twelve, of Havana, FL is the third-place winner in this year's 4-H Essay Contest, sponsored by the American Beekeeping Federation. Audrey's essay, "A Honey of a Day," tells the story of seven-year-old Rosa Fleming, who tags along with her father one day to gather honey from the bees. Congratulations to Audrey, who wins the $50.00 third prize, as well as a bee book for her efforts.
In the June 1994 issue of this newsletter, I said that Florida has had very few entries in this contest over the last several years. Well, that trend was reversed in 1994. A total of fourteen essays were submitted. This renewed interest is gratifying, and I hope it will continue.
It's not too early to begin thinking about the 1996 contest. The title is "How Honey Bees Ensure Our Food Supply." This essay should detail the range of crops that require bees for pollination and what particular things (i.e. increase yield, quality, cosmetics) bee pollination does for each. The guidelines also state that this question be addressed: "If honey bees are not native to the United States, why are they essential to the cultivation of our food crops?" For a complete copy of the rules, contact this office or the American Beekeeping Federation, P.O. Box 1038, Jesup, GA 31545, ph 912/427-8447.
MINUSCULE MINERALS
Every once in a while, I am told by beekeepers that they find the addition of salt to the bees' diet to be beneficial. Perhaps the beekeeper perceives this as true, but there is evidence to the contrary. In the 1992 The Hive and the Honey Bee, the chapter by E. Herbert on nutrition provides some information. Unfortunately, the author says "Less is known about the mineral requirement of honey bees than the other classes of nutrients." He goes on to say that salt mixtures used in vertebrate feeding often contain excessive amounts of calcium and sodium and insufficient amounts of potassium. Studies using Wesson's salts, for example, showed less diet consumed and less brood reared when compared with those fortified with ash (minerals) from pollen. The most striking feature was the sodium level in Wesson's salts (3.3%) compared to pollen ash (.22%).
Recently, there was a discussion about the effects of iron on honey bees across the Internet. Allen Dick, a Canadian beekeeper, writes: "Our water system gives out rusty water sometimes and this may be the only water convenient for diluting syrup. Additionally barrels used for storing syrup tend to get rusty after a few years of intermittent use. Is there a danger of toxicity to bees from rust, or is it only elemental iron that is dangerous?"
Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk at the University of Montana replied via the Bee-L Internet discussion list:
"Like any element, bees, mammals, people, have more or less fixed tolerance ranges. Within the tolerance range, the body can probably regulate the levels in tissues via a variety of mechanisms, such as excreting excessive amounts. Elements like iron generally have to be present at some minimal level for healthy bees, but too much is not necessarily better or good."
Should one use rusty equipment? Dr. Bromenshenk says no, not because there is evidence of harm, but because he is not in favor of introducing high levels of any chemical into a food- producing system. He knows no way to determine how much might get into honey, most likely to happen if you are providing water on hot days in rusty containers. The effects of high iron content on colonies, if any, according to Dr. Bromenshenk, are likely to be subtle and hard to identify, although they could be economically costly. Dr. Bromenshenk concludes, therefore, that unless you really dose them with iron, one won't see piles of dead bees.
Even fluoride (F) poisoning rarely results in the typical scenario described above for pesticide kills, according to Dr. Bromenshenk. Fluoride accumulation is a hotly debated issue, he says, but there is evidence in the older U.S. and European literature that this element is not good for bees and concentrates in their tissues.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Bromenshenk has found that beekeepers near aluminum smelters, oil refineries, phosphate plants, or in areas where the water is high in fluoride (either naturally, such as occurs in deep artesian wells in Montana or fluoridated, as in city water supplies) have "elevated" levels of F in their bees. On a dry weight basis, any with concentrations of more than 40 (ppm) or parts per million (40/1,000,000=.000004 or .00004 percent), he says, is elevated. Bees near refineries tend to range from 40-80 ppm; those close to phosphate plants may show 120 ppm or more. On an island between Canada and New York, with aluminum smelters on both sides, the F levels were found to be over 200 ppm.
Bees appear to get most F from the air, according to Dr. Bromenshenk, and levels will be about twice as high in forager bees as in nurse bees, while not detectable in larvae or pupae. He and his students have followed F dispersion for 60 to 90 miles from a large industrial source. However, as noted above, high levels could also come from an artesian spring or fluoridated water supply.
Dr. Bromenshenk's observations are based on commercial beekeepers running several thousand colonies near smelters and migratory beekeepers moving bees in and out of these regions. The results are variable, he concludes, as bee kills occur every few years, generally in the spring during buildup or during periods of nectar dearth. The bees always die in the same yards, usually downwind from the industrial source. There is almost always a gradient, with bees at yards closest to the source getting hit the hardest. Residue levels in these dead bees normally exceed 120 ppm F.
In conclusion, according to Dr. Bromenshenk, one can have bees even with 180-200 ppm F levels and no obvious toxicity, but only if they are in good condition. This means not being heavily stressed by other factors such as poor nutrition and mite parasitization. Unfortunately, one cannot easily detect chronic effects of F toxicity because losses may be not be expressed directly, but only in reduced disease resistance and lowered productivity. Would Dr. Bromenshenk put bees where either the water or air had elevated F? NO! Does he think beekeepers suffer losses from F? YES!
If sodium, iron and fluoride levels all bear reexamination in beekeeping, this is probably true for other minerals as well. High mineral levels may be the reason, Dr. Herbert says in The Hive and the Honey Bee, bees winter poorly on honey dew honey which contains about 0.73% ash as opposed to floral honey with 0.17% ash. He concludes, therefore, that "Excessive levels of minerals can be toxic to honey bees..." And, as pointed out by Dr. Bromenshenk, it may not take more than a minuscule amount to make a big difference." For more on Dr. Bromenshenk's work, see the May 1994 APIS.
EAS YEAR OF THE HIVE
The beekeepers of Ohio welcome you to the "Year of the Hive," in Wooster, OH July 30 through August 4, 1995. This is the annual meeting of the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS), arguably one of the largest beekeeping events to be held each year. This meeting promises to be the biggest and best yet. An article on the event will even be featured in the June issue of Modern Maturity Magazine. With a readership in excess of several million persons, if only a few of these retired folks contemplate becoming a beekeeper, this might result in the most attendance ever. This attention translates into one thing. Register early to avoid being left out. Money must be received by June 26 or a late fee of $20.00 is imposed and no reservations will be taken after July 5.
Monday, July 30 through Wednesday morning will be given over to the annual EAS short course, limit 50 participants @ $95.00 each. Overlapping the last day of the short course will be a workshop by the American Apitherapy Association ($30/person). And on Thursday, the Master Beekeeper examination will be held. For details, write Loretta Surprenant, Box 330A, County Home Rd., Essex, NY 12936.
The regular meeting will be held Wednesday a.m., all day Thursday (lectures in the a.m. and seven concurrent clusters of workshops in the p.m.) and Friday (lectures in the a.m and more workshops in the p.m.). The event concludes with the annual banquet Friday night. It is impossible to fully describe all the scheduled events here. The summer 1995 issue of the Ohio State Beekeepers Association News Digest is devoted to this program. For a copy, write this office or Dr. J. Tew, OARDC/Dept. of Entomology, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, ph 216/263-3684; fax 216/262-2720. All the bee journals will also be carrying announcements.
IS BEEKEEPING INTEREST ON THE UPSWING?
Dr. Robert Berthold writes in the May issue of The Speedy Bee that his spring short course had the most attendance since the 1970s. He says that the late Paul Cummings from his state of Pennsylvania observed interest in the craft to be cyclical over the 80 years of his life. I also have seen that enthusiasm for beekeeping appears to be picking up in Florida. There have been two successful yearly seminars in the panhandle, one in Jacksonville and the first ever meeting of New York beekeepers at Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid, FL. The Jacksonville meeting was unique because most of those attending were not beekeepers yet, but were contemplating entering the field. Several have since made the plunge.
Conventional wisdom and experience tells us that a "new" kind of beekeeping will probably rise from the ashes of the "old." It is comforting to know that in spite of Varroa mites, African bees and a host of other problems, human fascination in keeping this social insect does not easily die.
GEORGIA BEEKEEPING INSTITUTE
The Georgia Beekeeping Institute will be held at Young Harris College in Young Harris, GA, June 16-17, 1995. Billed by the informational brochure as the "perfect setting to study bees and beekeeping," this educational event set in the north Georgia mountains caters to both the beginner and advanced beekeeper. It is informal and inexpensive. I am on the program this year along with Drs. Mike Hood and John Harbo. To register and for more information, contact Mrs. Tracy Coker, University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, Athens, GA 30602, ph 706/542-8954; early bird registration expires June 2, 1995.
Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (352) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 352-392-0190
http://www.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
INTERNET Address: MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
©1995 M.T. Sanford "All Rights Reserved
