Welcome!!! From the Nelson County Beekeepers, of Kentucky

Time: Meetings are on the 3rd Thursday each month

Place: Nelson County Extension Office, 317 S 3rd St., Bardstown, KY 40004 502-348-9204

Food: Pot Luck Suppers !!! Always a great surprise!

Monthly Meeting

May 21st—Michele Colopy– The Pollinator Stewardship Council. “Pollinator Stewardship Council

Collaborations: Education, Advocacy, Action”

June 18th—Farida Olden—Honey bee nutrition effects on bee genetic

Dr. Lee Towsend– Effects of pesticides on Honeybees

July 16th—Field Day at Pat Swartz

August 20th—Tavia Cathcart—How Flowers Flirt & Flourish

September 17th—Dr. Ric Bessin—Preparing for winter

October 15th—-Dr. Tom Webester– expert in mites. Officer nominations.

November 19th—Thanksgiving Meal, The Famous Honey-Bourbon Turkey prepared by Robbie

Smith. Officer elections.

December 17th Christmas Party

What’s The Buzz Nelson County Beekeepers

Volume 1, Issue 1 A

pri

l 2

015

Inside this issue:

Colony Loss- 2013-2014:

Preliminary Results

2

Oxalic Acid registered by

EPA for use against Varroa

3

The Life Cycle of a Bee 3

Up Coming Events 3

Reminder 4

Officers

President-Paul Kiener

paul.kiener@gmail.com

Vice President-Doug Brink

Secretary-Helen Fenske

Treasurer-Susan Zhunga

with burr comb. Drone

production increases greatly

and many drones fly out on

sunny afternoons in search of

the mating areas.

Swarming becomes a very

important factor. May is the

ideal time for a colony to

reproduce, and most colonies

will produce “swarm cells”, or

queen cells that will mature in

time for swarms to issue from

the hive. There are three

reasons to keep your bees from

swarming : (1) Your hive will be

weakened and the potential for

honey production much less;

(2) Your queen will be replaced

by a daughter queen which may

not be as good as the original;

and (3) Your swarming bees

can be a nuisance to the

neighbors.

The possibility of tracheal mite

and nosema problems is very

low by now. Only the very

weakest hives are still fighting

them. Varroa mites should be

at very low levels, but be aware

that they are starting to

increase now that the

treatments are out of the hive.

Beekeeper Chores

Check your hives weekly and

add supers as needed. Be sure

there is plenty of space above

the brood nest for honey.

Frames with new foundation

should go in. A strong hive will

draw out the foundation into

new comb in just a few days if

the weather is good.

In a hive with two deep brood

boxes, the bees will often move

to the upper brood box, leaving

the lower box relatively empty.

This is an inefficient use of

space in the hive and can

lead to swarming. In May or

June it is useful to “reverse”

these brood boxes. This means

removing all of the boxes,

(Continued on page 2)

What’s Happening Inside The

Hive?

In May and June you and the

bees are rewarded, or

disappointed, by how well you

prepared for the honey flow.

You may also be busy keeping

up with your bees. Serious

beekeepers do not take long

vacations in May.

If your bees are healthy,

everything happens

this month. The hive is full of

young bees, the weather is

almost perfect, and honey

plants are blooming

everywhere. The queen is laying

eggs day and night, often over

1000 daily. There are now

enough bees to take care of all

the brood. The hive is making

honey very quickly, even

several pounds daily. If the

bees need to make wax they

will do this quickly by building

onto foundation in your frames

or by filling in empty spaces

May

Robbie Smith

County Extension

Agent for Horticulture

Special Event Big Congratulations to Darrel

Hester. Winner (again) of the

2015 Chili Cook-off. This time

we were able to present him

with his very own, engraved

Hive Tool. Way to go Dave!!!!!

thicken and ripen it into honey.

Swarm collecting has been a

favorite pastime of beekeepers

for centuries. If you are

interested in doing this, have a

few empty hives on hand. Some

beekeepers locate empty “trap

hives” or “bait hives” near their

own hives. Often, a swarm

flying out of one of your own

hives will move into the trap

hive, since it is much like what

the bees are searching for. In

this way, the beekeeper

manages to catch and save the

bees, although the source hive

is weakened.

http://www.nkybeekeepers.co

m/uploads/beecalendar.pdf

placing the second box on the

bottom board where the first

box had been, and placing the

first box above it. This may

break the brood cluster. So

check the weather forecast and

do this when at least two warm

days are coming. The bees will

need to rearrange their cluster,

and less brood will be lost in

the process if it is not exposed

to cool weather much b low

50o.

Observations and Ideas

Hold a honey frame horizontally

and shake it over the hive. If

nectar sprinkles out, your bees

are on a honey flow. The nectar

is still dilute and watery. With

time, the bees will either

consume it or continue to

(Continued from page 1)

Page 2 W

ha

t’s

Th

e B

uzz

V

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me

1, I

ss

ue

1

Be sure to keep an

eye on the

weather

Figure 1: Summary of the total

overwinter colony loss

(October 1 – April 1) of man-

aged honey bee colonies in

the US across the 8 annual

national surveys (red bars).

The acceptable range (blue

bars) is the average percent-

age of acceptable loss de-

clared by the survey partici-

pants in each of the 8 years of

the survey.

Info from: Beeinformed.org.

For the winter of 2013/14,

23.2% of managed honey bee

colonies in the U.S. died.

Nearly two-thirds of the re-

spondents (65.4%) experi-

enced winter colony loss rates

greater than the average self-

reported acceptable winter

mortality rate of 18.9%. The

2013/14 winter colony loss

rate of 23.2% is 7.3 points (or

23.9%) lower than the previ-

ous years’ (2012/13) esti-

mate of 30.5% loss. (Figure 1)

and is notably lower than the

8-year average total loss of

29.6% .

Colony Loss- 2013-2014: Preliminary Results

Any member looking to sell

some of their equipment, we

can list it for you right here in

the newsletter. Contact Susan

Zhunga @ 502-507-8789.

Doug Brink still has t-shirts and

hooded sweatshirts for sale .

See him at the next meeting.

Insider Info

APRIL TRASH PICK-UP

Thank you, thank you, thank

you to all who participated in

this evening's (April 27th)

trash pick-up!!! We had

enough people that we fin-

ished at about 7:20 pm!!!! I

looked at my watch, and kept

asking what areas were cov-

ered, and we had it all done. I

couldn't believe that it went so

quickly!! (OK Henry....you can

now move the mileage mark-

ers back to where they be-

long!!!)There were some mem-

bers who contacted me and

for one reason or another, they

couldn't make it this evening,

but they wanted to help tomor-

row. Thank you for your will-

ingness to help; very much

appreciated. But we have it all

cleaned up for the Spring.

We'll have another chance in

the Fall.

Again, thanks to all!

Paul Kiener - President

We now have two suppliers

of bee equipment in our

area:

Bluegrass Seed & Fertilizer Inc

3345 Bloomfield Rd.

Bardstown, KY 40004

(502) 348-7333

Bardstown Mills

1393 Withrow Ct.

Bardstown, KY 40004

(502) 348-3949

The life stages of a honeybee

are egg, larva, pupa and adult.

Development

from egg to adult takes 16 days

for the queen, 21 days for the

worker and 24 days for the

drone. The length of these stag-

es is set out in the table to the

right.

http://www.purepeihoney.com/

up-

loads/1/1/8/4/11846875/22

59957.jpg

KY State Fair Aug. 20-30, 2015

Louisville, KY We will get details

on participation in Honey Com-

petition and working honey

booths when available.

Road Clean up October more

information to follow.

Christmas Parade—Date to be

determined. We will be looking

for volunteers to decorate and

ride the wagon. Will need you to

wear bee suits, carry smokers

and have a good time. All are

welcome. Contact Henry Wilker-

son.

Up Coming Events

Page 3

Uncapped Honeybee pupa opened

from the side with reddish brown

adult varroa mite and bee-colored

deutonymph (baby) mites Photo

credit: Abdullah Ibrahim.

(Oxalic acid in sugar solution is

trickled between frames and

other spaces)

3. Vapor treatment of Beehives

(Oxalic acid dehydrate is heated

and the vapor sublimates in the

hive.”

**from J.E. Housenger, EPA,

Registration Decision for the

New Active Ingredient Oxalic

Acid

The most useful application

method for side-liner and hobby

beekeepers is trickling the oxal-

ic/sugar syrup mixture between

the frames. The product label

includes important information

on dose and personal protection

equipment including, but not

limited to: gloves, goggles and a

respirator. It is particularly im-

portant to not breathe in the

dust when you are preparing the

solution. Be certain to read and

follow the label directions to

ensure the best results when

treating your bees.

Additionally, treatments can

negatively impact honey bee

larval development and adult

life span and should be applied

only after the mite levels have

crossed the threshold for treat-

ment. That threshold is different

for different operations. It is not

likely that mites will develop

resistance to a naturally occur-

ring compound such as formic

or oxalic acid as these acids

desiccate mites and it is difficult

to see a resistance developed to

this mode of action.

http://

beeinformed.org/2015/03/

oxalic-acid-registered-by-epa-for-

use-against-varroa-mite-on-

honey-bees/

Oxalic acid (CAS #144-62-7) has

just been registered by the EPA

for use on honey bee colonies

here in the US. Oxalic acid has

been legal to use on honeybees

in Europe and Canada and is a

naturally occurring chemical

that can be found in a number

of plants. It also occurs naturally

in honey and is commonly used

as wood bleach.

A few oxalic acid applications

have been registered:

“Application Methods and Label-

ing

Oxalic Acid will be labeled for

application by three different

methods:

1. By Solution to Package Bees

(Oxalic acid in sugar solution is

applied as a spray to the pack-

age)

2. By Solution to the Beehives

Oxalic Acid registered by EPA for use against Varroa mite on Honey bees

Adult female honey bee with a

reddish brown oval shaped varroa

mite on her thorax, between her

wings, Photo credit: Bee Informed

Partnership

The Life Cycle of a Bee

Michele Colopy

Program Director

Pollinator Stewardship Council,

Inc.

WANNA BEE A MEMBER

Annual Dues $12.00

Send your name, address, city &

zip,

Phone & email to :

Susan E. Zhunga

555 King Road

Coxs Creek, KY 40013

SWARM HOT-LINE

Call to report a Honey Bee Swarm

502-203-4136

May 21st 2015 at 6:30 p.m.

Pot Luck -

Bring what you’d like to share

Guest Speaker:

Michele Colopy -

“Pollinator Stewardship Council

Collaborations: Education,

Advocacy, Action”

Participants will learn how we

collaborate with local groups, how

we turn advocacy and education

into action at the individual level,

understanding the bee kill

reporting process, increased

awareness of pesticide labels, and

the value of pollination to crop

yields.

Hey Fellow Beekeepers. For those

of you who want to maintain your

status as a member in good

standing, please send me your

annual dues of $12.00 for the

2015 season. As of June 30th, I

will delete the names of members

who have not paid for this year.

Mail payment to Susan Zhunga,

555 King Road, Coxs Creek, KY

40013.

DON’T FORGET TO JOIN US ON

FACE BOOK!!

Meeting Reminder !!!!!!

Cooperative Extension Service

University of Kentucky

Nelson County

317 S Third Street

Bardstown, KY 40004

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