APIS Volume 13, Number 9, September 1995

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In this issue

September Seminar
Florida State Beekeepers Meet in Cypress Gardens
National Honey Month
Finding Queens
1996 4-H Essay Contest
Going Online

SEPTEMBER SEMINAR

The third annual beekeeping seminar held in Florida's Panhandle has just been completed. This meeting featured several distinguished speakers, including Dr. Clarence Collison, chairman of the department of entomology, Mississippi State University, former extension apiculturist at Penn State University, and Dr. John Miller, plant (and now honey bee) pathologist with the Division of Plant Industry, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Dr. Collison spoke on swarm management and pollination, whereas Dr. Miller discussed diagnosis of American foulbrood at the laboratory level. The seminar also featured a half-day of open-hive demonstrations. Of special interest was a discussion by one of the younger beekeepers in the region, Mark Bundrick, on his management style and future plans.

The seminar, held as a substitute for the traditional Florida Beekeeper's Institute (see September 1993 APIS), appears to be an idea that is catching on in beekeeping circles around the state. Another was held last spring in Clay County and will be scheduled again next year with an expanded program. In addition, the Central Florida and Tampa Bay beekeepers are considering holding one of their own.

Several key ingredients appear to have contributed to the success of these seminars. Each differs somewhat depending on venue. In Florida's Panhandle, the Escarosa and Tupelo associations combined forces with the local bee inspector, Joe Robinson. In Clay County, the local cooperative extension office was involved, again in conjunction with the inspector in that area, Tomas Mozer. The ideal recipe for an outstanding seminar, therefore, would seem to be for all three entities (local inspector, local Cooperative Extension Office and local association) to work together. In an effort to promote more seminars around the state, a session on this is to be scheduled at the October meeting of the Florida State Beekeepers Association.

FLORIDA STATE BEEKEEPERS MEET IN CYPRESS GARDENS

October 26, 27 and 28 are the dates for the annual Florida State Beekeepers Association convention. This year's event takes place in Cypress Gardens with an expanded program. It is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Thursday, October 26, with a swap meet dedicated to selling or trading beekeeping equipment. The traditional free barbecue will follow at 6 p.m. This is a special meeting because it marks the Association's 75th annual convention. A special registration packet is due to be sent to all members. For further information, contact the executive secretary, Ms. Eloise Cutts, 2237 NW 16th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32605, ph 904/378- 7719.

NATIONAL HONEY MONTH

September and October begin what is traditionally a time of increased honey marketing activity, culminating in the holiday season from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. September is routinely declared National Honey Month and the National Honey Board also increases its efforts at this time of year. A recent news release from the Colorado office says to look for several advertisements featuring the squeeze bear this fall and winter in Family Circle, Woman's Day, Better Homes and Gardens and other magazines.

It is ironic that a bear, considered by many beekeepers to be nothing more than a honey bee colony pest, is an icon that the Board has used with great success to market honey. So much so that Mary Humann, marketing director for the National Honey Board, says research indicates the featured squeeze bear is responsible for better read and remembered ads than those published by many brands that are household names.

Besides doing its own promotions, the Board actively helps beekeepers promote and sell their own honey (see February, March and June, 1995 issues of APIS). It has recently developed sales kits dedicated to selling in foodservice and industrial markets and also is distributing press kits for the upcoming holiday season, and hang tags to brighten up retail packs. This winter, it will put on two marketing seminars. One will be held December 1 and 2 in Minneapolis, MN. Another dedicated to exporting honey, will be conducted Saturday, January 20, 1996 at the Red Lion Hotel/Lloyd Center in Portland, OR, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Beekeeping Federation. For more information on any of the Board's programs, call toll free, 1-800- 553-7162.

FINDING QUEENS

Those new to beekeeping are often surprised that most of the technology of the craft was developed before 1900. Only one, instrumental insemination, evolved after the turn of the century. The next question often asked is what technology is left to be developed. Most beekeepers would say that a quick and effective method of finding a queen would be very high on the list.

In volumes 30 and 31 of Beekeeping & Development, two scientists from Latin America discuss this topic. B.M. Freitas from Brazil suggests a method based on the unique odor of a colony and the intolerance of one queen for another. Beekeepers in that country, faced with extremely defensive Africanized honey bees, had to develop a method that did not overly disturb a colony. In summary, the technique replaces a frame in the colony where the queen is sought with a frame shaken free of clinging bees from another colony. If little smoke has been used in the process, after three to five minutes, the queen, prompted by the different odor, will move to the introduced frame in search of a rival. The beekeeper then only has to look at that one frame for the queen.

Dr. William Ramirez from Costa Rica describes a couple of variations on this theme. He suggests moving all the frames one at a time into another box placed on the original hive stand, in the process scanning each comb for the queen. If she is not seen, the walls of the original box can be examined and, if necessary, the remaining bees can be shaken onto a light-colored board. Should the above method be impossible because of a large, defensive bee population, he says to move the original colony away and put a box with a frame of brood in the old location . Over time, the defensive, older bees will fly back to the original location. Now it is relatively easy to find the queen amongst fewer bees that are younger and less defensive.

Finally, Dr. Ramirez describes two other methods based on queen odor. A spare, live queen can be introduced into a colony using a push-in cage. After a time, the queen being sought will migrate to the cage and attempt to fight with the introduced adversary. In a variation of this, dead queens kept in a freezer can also be pinned to the top bar of a frame. Again, the queen being sought will move toward and attempt to fight with this interloper.

4-H ESSAY CONTEST

Last year, Florida recorded its first winner in a long time in the American Beekeeping Federation's 4-H Essay Contest (See May 1995 APIS). We had a record number of entrants and interest is still high. I look forward to a bumper crop of essays from around the state again this year. Here are the details for 1996:

     Cash prizes to three top winners: 
          1st Place $250.00 
          2nd Place $100.00 
          3rd Place $ 50.00

Each state winner also receives an appropriate book about honey bees, beekeeping or honey.

The title of the essay is: How Honey Bees Ensure Our Food Supply. It should explore the role honey bees play, through the pollination of crops, to insure a plentiful, varied and inexpensive food supply. Part of the effort should include an analysis of the range of crops benefited by honey bee pollination and how that pollination influences the plants' quantity, sometimes called yield, and quality [size, shape, flavor]. Finally, the question of why honey bees are essential to crop cultivation given they are not native to the Americas should be addressed.

Sources: The scope of research will be an essential judging criterion. Personal interviews with beekeepers and farmers should be documented. Sources not cited in endnotes should be listed in a "resources" or "bibliography" list.

RULES:

Contest is open to active 4-H Club members only. 4- H'ers who have previously placed first, second, or third at the national level are not eligible; other state winners are eligible to re-enter. [Editor's note: In the past, I have accepted last-minute mail-in and faxes of entries. However, I often have no way to confirm that those entering were indeed active Florida 4-H members. This year, in order to be considered at all, entries must be forwarded to me through 4-H extension agents.]
Essays must be 750 to 1000 words long, written on the designated subject only. All factual statements must be referenced with endnotes; failure to do so will result in disqualification of the essay. A brief biographical sketch of the essayist, including date of birth, complete mailing address, and telephone number, must accompany the essay. (The word limit does not include the references or the essayist's biographical sketch.)
Essays submitted must be typewritten, double-spaced, on one side of the paper and should follow standard manuscript format. Handwritten essays will not be judged.
Essays will be judged on (a) accuracy, (b) creativity, (c) conciseness, (d) logical development of the topic, and (e) scope of research. [Editor's note: A change in the rules this year mandates that the scope of research will count 75 percent of an essay's rating.]
Essayists in Florida should forward essays directly to 4- H Beekeeping Essay Contest, Dr. M.T. Sanford, Bldg. 970, Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620. The deadline is February 12, 1996.
Each state may submit only one entry.
Final judging and selection of the national winner will be made by the ABF Essay Committee, whose decision is final.
The national winner will be announced by May 1, 1996.
All entries become the property of the American Beekeeping Federation, Inc. and may be published or used as it sees fit. No essay will be returned.

GOING ONLINE

Over the last year, record numbers of persons are going "online" by connecting their computer through a modem attached to a telephone line to what is called a "provider." These range from the very large [America Online(R), Compuserve(R)] to smaller, local providers. Each has a range of services, but all give access to electronic mail which travels the Internet.

An electronic mail address has two parts. The name of person followed by a machine or provider name. The two names are separated by the @ symbol. I will be publishing these as time goes on. If you wish to be listed, send me your address. The following are of significance to Florida beekeepers:

bculture@aol.com: Bee Culture editor, Kim Flottum
ljconnor@aol.com: BeeScience editor, Dr. Larry Connor
bertkelley@aol.com: Florida Beekeepers Association president, Robert Kelley

Sincerely,

Malcolm T. Sanford
Bldg 970, Box 110620
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
Phone (904) 392-1801, Ext. 143 FAX: 904-392-0190
BITNET Address: MTS@IFASGNV
INTERNET Address:MTS@GNV.IFAS.UFL.EDU
APIS on the World Wide Web--
http://gnv.ifas.ufl.edu/~entweb/apis/apis.htm
Copyright (c) M.T. Sanford 1995 "All Rights Reserved"