President’s message

The Nevada County Beekeepers Association
June 2007
President’s Message
(same building where meetings are held, office is upstairs.) or bring to the meeting. There is no cost if you Shane Mathias, our President, reports that the weather has been great for beekeeping! The blackberries have just opened at his yards, and all of his colonies are doing Raffle Items Wanted
very well. He’s put honey supers on about 60% of them (some of the splits are not strong enough yet). He hopes everyone’s bees are doing well, and says he looks Karla Hanson, raffle chair, is looking for items for the forward to seeing you on June 4th for a great program raffle. Support the club raffle by bringing in your old bee equipment (new, old, or not wanted), plants, knick- knacks (bee related stuff is nice, but not necessary)-- anything that might earn a buck for our club. Our club brings in between $150 and $350 a year with our raffles and this money goes directly to club enhancements like June 4th Program
books and videos for our library. If you have a question about raffle items, please call Karla at 265-3756. Are you getting ready for the Nevada County Fair Honey Judging in August? Can't tell your light honey from your dark? Wondering what the judges are looking for? Our special guest, past award winner for honey and honey products Lois McClaughy, will give a talk about preparing your honey for judging and a demonstration (These are excerpts from Randy’s upcoming article in on baskets and tips on how to win the blue ribbons. Join the American Bee Journal. Please read the full article our lively regular question and answer session starting when it comes out, as there is significant detail omitted promptly at 7 PM followed by a brief meeting and I remember when beekeepers would argue if we should If you have any questions, please call our president, ever put any chemical into our hives. Most of us would reluctantly use Terramycin, or possibly Fumidil. But the thought of intentionally putting synthetic pyrethroids, Register, Register, and
organophosphates, or other toxic-smelling agricultural chemicals into our hives would have been unthinkable. Register!
Funny how one little mite changed all that! Nowadays, commercial beekeepers play miticide roulette: use a chemical until it doesn’t work, then treat All beekeepers must register their apiary locations in with a second or third chemical which may interact with Nevada County. This is to your advantage, since you the first and hurt your bees; perhaps find out that you’ve will be notified of pesticide spraying. It is also to the contaminated your combs to the point that they are advantage of beekeepers in general, since registration worthless; or get your honey rejected by the packer; or, gives us a political voice. A registration form is worst of all, make the headlines with your contaminated attached, please fill out and return directly to the farm honey, and ruin the honey market for all of us. advisor at 255 South Auburn Street in Grass Valley How did we get to this point in just 12 years? When we Likely, though, you will need chemical help from time first used Apistan® strips to save our colonies, we to time, especially if you are exposed to major mite stepped onto a slippery slope. The “active ingredient” immigration from outside your operation. Commercial (tau-fluvalinate) appeared to be a dream come true, the operators will understandably look for the most cost answer to our prayers. It was simultaneously the best effective methods, and chemical treatments are relatively thing to happen to beekeepers, and the worst thing. It inexpensive, as long as they are efficacious. Scientific was safe to handle, didn’t contaminate honey, didn’t research and consumer demand are pointing us toward appear to hurt the bees, and really killed mites. Take “natural” chemicals such as formic and oxalic acids, and two strips and the mites are gone! It allowed us to the essential oils such as thymol. I will cover these in largely ignore the mite, and continue keeping bees the the next article. In this article, I’ll inspect the synthetic way we always had, with just the addition of a yearly There are now three registered synthetic miticides for The flip side was that it gave us the fleeting illusion that varroa control in the U.S. All three have different modes we had varroa under control, and didn’t need to invest of action, and thereby should theoretically be able to be any effort in developing alternative methods of mite rotated in order to delay mite resistance. There is management, removed the economic incentive for the currently widespread mite resistance to fluvalinate and development of resistant bee stocks, and insidiously coumaphos. Fenproximate (Hivastan) has just entered contaminated our combs. But worst of all, it got us into the market. There is also considerable off-label use of a the Silver Bullet model of giving the mite free rein to fourth miticide—amitraz, again with a different mode of build up all season, knowing that we had a weapon in our holster that we could use to blast the mite to Their safety to humans is in the order (from safest to Kingdom Come at the end of the season, giving us what most toxic) fluvalinate, amitraz, fenproximate, appeared to be a fresh start each winter. coumaphos. In this author’s opinion, coumaphos should Beekeepers worldwide embraced fluvalinate. Apistan be phased out, and amitraz should gain registration. strips seemed pricey to many, so application by dipping Varroa’s main strength is its ability to rapidly evolve a stick into the ag formulation Mavrik® was quickly resistance to chemical miticides. The mite has beaten us (and illegally) adopted. Mite control was cheap and at the chemical game time and again, yet we keep playing into its hand by trying to fight it at its strong The first signs that the party was about to end appeared point! Miticides can be very useful tools in varroa in 1992, in the Lombardy region of Italy. After four management, but only if we don’t overuse them. year’s use, fluvalinate no longer killed the mite, and the Clearly, coumaphos is very rough on queens, and rough term “resistance” entered the beekeeping lexicon. We on workers, and resistant mites are common. Fluvalinate Americans were slow to listen to the Italians, and is rough on drones, and may have some sublethal effects suffered our own crashes when resistant mites appeared. and immune response issues. Fluvalinate-resistant mites Some beekeepers started increasing the doses of are also common. Amitraz, though not registered for use fluvalinate applied, others (myself included) used the in the U.S., shuts down the queen’s egglaying scary-smelling Checkmite+® strips, promising that we’d temporarily, but does not appear to cause other major try to rotate chemicals to avoid resistance. It only took problems. Amitraz appears to be less effective than it the mites a few years to laugh at Checkmite, also. was a few years ago. Beekeepers who use the latter two At that point, the Industry cried for new treatments, and chemicals judiciously, and don’t ramp up the dosages, we were belatedly granted ApiLife Var®--a shift toward the European model of “soft” or “natural” treatments. The effects of miticides in the colony appear to lie Many beekeepers, however, turned into kitchen somewhere between the Chicken Little shouting that chemists, and tried every concoction of agricultural, they are the cause of all our problems, and the chemical acidic, or aromatic chemicals imaginable. Many industry’s soothing assurance that colony health is colonies did not survive the experimentation. The mites dependent upon them. My current opinion (subject to revision) is that beekeepers who choose to use synthetic As readers of this series know, bee scientists are telling miticides should dump coumaphos, avoid repeated use us that it’s time to move on to mite management that is of fluvalinate, especially in high doses, perhaps try not based 100 percent upon chemical treatments. That’s Hivastan, or better yet, give the bees a break by using not to say that chemicals are necessarily excluded from one or more of the “natural” treatments that we know varroa integrated pest management, but only used don’t leave residues in the combs (remember, I’m not sparingly, if at all. For the hobbyist or sideliner, I’ve dispensing pesticide advice—consult with the proper detailed alternative methods that involve no chemicals. Pollinator Habitat
May Minutes
Protection Act of 2007
President Shane Mathias opened with Q&A: If you Introduced to Senate
added a queen cell to your colony, leave the plastic base in place--it may be used for a new queen cell later. Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and Senator Saxby Removing queen cells will prevent swarming--but you Chambliss (R-GA) along with 28 other co-sponsors must find each one. Swarm season's coming. Australia including both California U.S. Senators, introduced the and Hawaii seem to have escaped Varroa infestation Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 into the Senate recently. This bill allows existing conservation programs to provide enhanced habitat for pollinators. Apr Start $1357.02; Inc 189.50; Exp 0; April End Bal The European honey bee is -- and will continue to be -- PROGRAM Randy Oliver: "Rules for moving colonies the most important single crop pollinator in the United on your pickup:" 1) Prepare with full gear-smoker, States. However, with the decline in the number of gloves, ropes, tools. 2) Move at dusk, never in the dark. managed honey bee colonies from diseases, parasitic Unload at dawn. 3) Give helpers full gear that fits them mites, and Africanized bees - as well as from Colony 4) Don't allow either end of a hive to be dropped, even Collapse Disorder - it is important to increase the use of one inch. Set down gently! 5) Protect ankles native bees in our agricultural system as well. Providing completely, including boots, and tie cuffs or use elastic habitat for these pollinators is vital to this effort. rings from motorcycle inner tube. 6) Don't pound staples to hold supers together. Use ratchet-tightened The Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 is aimed at straps. 7) Strap tight enough to prevent sliding on farm improving habitat and food sources for pollinators. This roads and potholes. 8) Gas up before loading bees; carry bill utilizes existing Farm Bill conservation programs to spare gas in metal cans. Never stop en route. 9) Don't strengthen both native and managed pollinator block hive entrances in warm weather. Bees may panic habitat. It does not cost additional money, or create a and try to escape, killing them all. Cover load with loose new program. It simply requires existing conservation netting or use screened bottom boards. 10) If unable to programs to acknowledge pollinator habitat as a unload at once, spray them--they'll think it's a storm. conservation resource and rewards producers whose conservation practices are beneficial for pollinators. 'neonicotinoid', the most common insecticide worldwide, applied as seed coating, may release the toxin into the Hundreds of species of native bees are potentially plant nectars. May impair bees' memory and learning, available for crop pollination. Research from across the country demonstrates that a wide range of native bees help with crop pollination, in some cases providing all of the pollination required. These free, unmanaged bees provide a valuable service, estimated recently to be The Pollinator Protection Act of 2007 recognizes that conserving America’s pollinators will require economic incentives for private landowners. The bill would create incentives for farmers to protect, restore and enhance pollinator habitat on and around farms. Fully integrating native pollinators into Farm Bill programs can have a wide impact. For example, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) allocated over $1 billion in financial and technical assistance to farmers in 2006, and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) retired over 36 million acres of farmland, 4.5 million of which was specifically for wildlife habitat that could be tailored to provide the greatest benefit for pollinators.
Partners for Sustainable
Pollination

Submitted by Kathy Kellison, Sonoma County
Beekeepers Assn.
Partners for Sustainable Pollination (PFSP) was proud to
be among the co-sponsors of the Pollinator Conservation
Act of 2007. If you have not heard of PFSP, it’s a newly
chartered non-profit organization with the mission of pursuing a partner-based, collaborative approach founded on sound science working with willing farmers, beekeepers, and scientists to develop, demonstrate, and Sacramento Beekeeping Supplies
validate ways to improve EHB health while Complete line of all beekeeping supplies incorporating more native pollinators into meeting field Candle making supplies (molds, wicks, dyes, scents) • Glycerin soap making supplies (soap base, molds, scents, crop pollination needs in the U.S. PFSP advocates for the needs of bees and beekeepers to improve the • Honeycomb sheets for rolling candles (50 colors and in conditions and serve everyone's best interest. PFSP is working to promote the benefits of screened bottoms and • Beeswax and paraffin, special container candle wax is also advocating the investigation of the use of packaged Australian bees and their negative impact on the overall beekeeping industry due to lack of mite (916) 451 – 2337 fax (916) 451 – 7008
tolerance. (See current article in this month's Bee Culture for more information on this.) We also want to Open Tuesday through Saturday 9:30 – 5:30 MAIL ORDERS develop a channel for beekeepers to have more say in the research conducted by USFA regarding EHBs. Anyone concerned about pollinators and honeybee health can join PFSP, not only beekeepers, and there is no charge A Quick Funny/Not so
Funny Story.
(Submitted by Randy Oliver as reported from Pennsylvania) One of our local beekeepers who has been losing a battle to township ordinances finally moved his bees from his home yard. A while later, he received a letter threatening a $8,000 fine for hiding a beehive next to the house. One of the township officials took a photo of "the hive" as evidence. After reviewing the “evidence" they all agreed to drop the fine after looking at a photo of his air conditioner. APIARY REGISTRATION
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION IS MONDAY FEBRUARY 28, 2007

NAME: _________________________________________________ PHONE: ________________________________
ADDRESS: _______________________________________________________________________________________
CITY: ____________________________________________ STATE: _____________ ZIP CODE: ______________
__ PLEASE CHECK HERE IF ADDRESS HAS CHANGED
__ PLEASE CHECK HERE AND RETURN IF YOU NO LONGER HAVE BEES IN NEVADA COUNTY

LOCATION OF APIARIES IN NEVADA COUNTY AS OF JANUARY 1, 2007

DESCRIBE LOCATION SO IT CAN BE PLOTTED ON COUNTY MAPS USING ROADS, CANALS,
INTERSECTIONS, LANDMARKS AND RANCH NAMES GIVING DIRECTION, DISTANCE AND SIDE OF
ROAD; OR SHOW QUARTER SECTION, SECTION, TOWNSHIP, AND RANGE.

# OF COLONIES LOCATION OF COLONIES


USE ADDITIONAL SHEETS IF NEEDED.
THIS INFORMATION IS ALSO USED FOR TOTALS IN NEVADA COUNTY’S YEARLY CROP REPORTS

REQUEST FOR PESTICIDE NOTIFICATION
I hereby request to be notified before pesticide applications as provided for in Section 29101 of the California Food and Agriculture Code and Title 3 California Code of Regulations, Section 6654. I am available for notification during the two-hour time period from ________ to ______ Monday through Friday by collect call to the following phone numbers(s): ( ) ____________________ or ( ) ________________________ I understand that if I fail to submit my request for pesticide notification to the Agricultural Commissioner IN WRITING within the 72-hour period before relocation, I may not be entitled to recover damages for an injury from pest control operations. I also will not recover damages if I fail to properly post an identification sign at my apiaries or am not available for notifications at the hours I have designated above. I understand that this “REQUEST FOR NOTIFICATION” will expire next December 1st. DATE: ______________________ SIGNATURE: _______________________________________________________ PRINT NAME: ______________________________________________________ DATE RECEIVED BY AGRICULTURE: ________ BY: _________________________________________________ The Nevada County Beekeepers Association is dedicated to apiculture education and promotion of the art and science of beekeeping among beekeepers, agriculturists, and the general President: Shane Mathias……. 308-1376 public. This is a “not for profit” organization. Meetings are held the first Monday of each month at 7 PM at the Grass Valley Veteran’s Memorial Building at 255 South Auburn Street in Grass Valley. All visitors are welcome. The newsletter is Secretary: Jack Meeks………. 432-4429 published monthly as a service to the membership. Articles, recipes, commentary, and news items are welcomed and Treasurer: Janet Brisson….530-913-2724 encouraged. Submission by email is encouraged. Please submit to Leslie Gault at The deadline for the July 2007 edition is June 21st . A limited amount of advertising space (business card size 3” by 2”) is accepted and need not be bee- Past President Gary Wood……… 477-9202 related. Rates are $1 per issue or $7 per year for NCBA members and $16 per year for non-members. All revenue from advertising goes to the Association treasury and helps offset the cost of producing and distributing this newsletter. To receive the Local Buzz via email: please email your request to Swarm Hotline: Karla Hanson……. 265-3756 Lynn Williams …. ………….675-2924 Newsletter Mailing: Gary Wood.….…. 477-9202 Honey Extractors: Karla Hanson…. 265-3756 c/o Gary Wood 10396 Mountain Lion Lane Grass Valley, CA 95949 First Class Mail June 2007 June 4th Meeting Program

Our special guest, past award winner for honey and
honey products Lois McClaughy will give a
preparing your honey for fair judging, plus a
demonstration on baskets and tips on how to win the
blue ribbons!

Source: http://www.countryrubes.com/images/June2007final_2_.pdf