Hexes & Ohs! Photo courtesy of Carl Filipapp.newpanda.com/.../1234979276/Documents/...2016.pdf · awarded funding will yield some really interesting info on medicinal herbs for bee

ISSUE 69: MAY 2016

From the Queen's Court by Melanie Kirby ABeeCs by Phill Remick Field Day: June 4th—Come Join Us!Just the FAQs by Dennis Brown XYZs by Liz Walsh Bee Health: My Trip to Rome by Lady Cerelli Meet the Beekeeper: Kirsten TraynorApitherapy: American Apitherapy Association ConferenceBeekeeping 'Round the Globe: James Nulick & George BristolBee Thinking About: Conferences & WorskhopsUpcoming Events

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Kelley Beekeeping • Issue 69: May 2016 2

This spring weather has me jumping for joy one minute and then running to grab a coat the next! We’ve had some late snow and frost as usual but the fruit bloom is holding so far…we’ll see what this next blast of blustery spring weather does for us. As I write this, I am within minutes of heading out the door to unload our early season nucs. My partner Mark has just finished a 24 hour drive with our precious cargo and so, once I get him rested over the weekend, we’ll begin going through our initial batches and flagging those that are ready. Then we’ll begin scheduling pick ups.

I just did my first southern Rocky Mountain graft for queens a few days ago, so then in about a week and a half, we’ll start stocking more nucs and placing them in our northern Rio Grande corridor for mating. We like to leave our nucs alone during the critical mating and laying posture establishment period so we won’t check back in on them for another 3 weeks after stocking. Then, same as before, and as the decade of spring seasons, we’ll begin going through them as well and flagging those that are ready to schedule pick ups and start harvesting queens for queen requests.

I’ll be grafting every 4 days and hope to integrate a couple more grafts each week for royal jelly production. Plus, this is the time of year when everyone from the Albuqerquer Bio Park to local elementary schools and county ag extension folks are lining up for presentations and workshops. Boy…the task list doesn’t end but no complaints on my end…I love the busy-ness of the bee season and also want to do my part to share the wonders and perils of bee husbandry.

I’m also working on a couple of research grant proposals- which if awarded funding will yield some really interesting info on medicinal herbs for bee health and value added products for human wellness. These are indeed very exciting times to be in the industry and also very challenging.

From the Queen’s Courtby Melanie Kirby

EditorMelanie [email protected]

Design & LayoutJon Weaver, Johnny4Eyes.com

Website & EcommerceKelleyBees.com

Address807 W. Main St.P.O. Box 240Clarkson, KY 42726

Phone270-242-2012 800-233-2899

© 2016 Kelley Beekeeping All rights reserved.

CALL FOR PHOTOSWant to see your bee-related photo on the cover of this newsletter? Send photos to [email protected]


And no doubt, it takes a team to get it all done! The first team being that of the superorganism hive. So many little bodies busily visiting flowers and feeding their young which in turn helps us humans to feed our livestock and our own young (and old). Then there’s the farmers, orchardists, gardeners and ranchers who are planting and watering and growing a variety of cultivars for human and animal consumption. Then there’s the researchers and scientist and universities and organizations all working together to decipher how we can better support pollinator health and our industry.

Then, there’s you! Our pool of readers has grown exponentially over the past few years and we couldn’t do this newsletter without you! You are the reason that bees are so beloved, valued and honored. Speaking of honoring, the last week of April I held a pot luck lunch and bee blessing at my home farm in the mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. There was a great turnout and folks seemed pleased to take time to honor our beloved pollinators and their stewards.

May everyone have a blessed bee season! Keep up the good work- the bees need you….and we need them, too!

Yours in beekeeping,Melanie Kirby

Queen’s Court cont'd

Melanie has been keeping bees professionally for 20 years, first starting as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer stationed in South America. She has had the blessed opportunities to work with bees and their keepers in 5 countries, 4 states and 2 continents. She runs a longevity-based queen breeding program and provides pollination for her area, from farms to forest lands while promoting conscientious beekeeping management and consilience research. Reach her at [email protected]

One of our girls on a holly bush. Photo courtesy of Carl Filip

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER, CARL FILIPGreetings! Attached are a few pictures for your consideration to include in the Kelley Beekeeping newsletter.

I and my wife Loretta currently have three hives right here in Grayson County KY (Caneyville). We began our Beekeeping experience taking the Beekeeping 101 class at Kelley's in January of 2014 and started two hives and added our third hive in the spring of 2015.

The first picture is one of our girls on a holly bush that decorates our home....turns out holly is a BIG draw for our bees. Other two pictures are of an early hive inspection and of one of our girls gathering nectar from a wildflower.Enjoy, Carl Filip

www.kelleybees.com1-800-233-2899

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A•Bee•CsBeginning Beekeeping

Q: I’d like know more about boxes, when to put them on and how many. The bee club says you should put many on at once so you don’t have to keep coming back. What do you think? RC, Pensacola, FL

A: You’re one lucky dude if you are forced to “Keep coming back” RC. That could indicate a strong honey flow. Thanks for writing, now, let’s get some background on ‘boxes.’

Above, over and beyond - that is the definition of ‘super’. Yes, those items so many refer to as boxes stacked on beehives are actually called Supers. Terminology is essential in beekeeping; notably when describing a situation or condition you’d like analyzed and require guidance with. Instead of referring to ‘boxes’, let’s relate to them as ‘supers’.

As an aside: The so-called, ‘Father of modern beekeeping,’ is the Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth. His last name is not pronounced, ‘Lang-streth, Lang-worth, Lang-strom, or Lom-strom; it is Langstroth. Please pin it to your desk top note pad.

Countless beekeepers presume one must have vast caverns of room above the hive body to allow honey bees to thrive and expand. Bees excel in vertically defined tight spaces, as in their natural habitat - trees. The colony moves up and down for food or space or both. I don’t recommend stacking several supers on a five frame nuc. I do advise placing an extra super on a hive displaying at least seven solid frames of bees, in a steady nectar flow, which could easily swarm if left unattended. Rule of thumb: Avoid overcrowding, but, don’t over super.

Mr. Langstroth observed that bees would not ‘burr comb’, that is, wax in any area measuring 3/8-inch throughout their hives/supers - keeping them free of blockage. These expanses are dubbed the bee way or bee space. For example: there is a bee way directly above the top bars allowing easy passage on the top of frames from end to end, along all the sides and in between frames. If it is less than ¼ -inch space, bees tend to fill it in with propolis.

Since Langstroth is largely credited with debuting (although he did not invent) the movable frame, a perfect environment was constructed for the frames to function in: no more cross-combing, cutting comb out, gassing (killing) bees to harvest honey, or awkward hive inspections. One could smoothly remove each individual frame, secure in the feeling that it was not likely to be adhered to the bottom board.

If you have a question you would like to share, email it to [email protected]

by Phill Remick


What size super is ideal for you? The standard hive body (aka brood nest) is a common 9 5/8-inch, full depth, the second super (or first story) is likewise, full depth.

I run all full depth. However, this is where the division of concepts often occurs. There are shallow supers, medium supers and the aforementioned full depth as options. Agreed, shallows and mediums are lighter and easier to manipulate, with each presenting their pros and cons. The catch is these differences frequently can’t be determined until you’ve worked with them yourself for a season or so.

Shallow supers (5 ¾-inches) are used for comb honey primarily. Shallows typically have only 100% pure beeswax foundation, since plastic foundation is a bit tough to chew. A shallow will hold around 25 pounds of filled and capped honey, depending on the floral source. BTW, this can be an excellent vehicle for those wishing to attempt to ‘isolate’ different varietals – that is IF you are lucky enough to reside in region with a dominate nectar source. Consider running two mediums and slap an excluder on to keep both super’s queen free.

The medium super is a bit larger than the shallow, measuring 6 5/8 –inches deep. It can weigh in at 65-70 pounds fully capped. The Langstroth full depth can exceed 90 pounds. But, you don’t have to take the entire super off at one time and transfer ALL of the honey! Remove only a frame or two at a time to lighten the load.

So when it comes to supers; less is more, in my estimation.

ABCs continued

Phill Remick is a former commercial beekeeper and seasonal apiary inspector who teaches beekeeping, offers year round apiary consulting and sells supplies near Edgewood, NM. Contact: [email protected]


Just the FAQsQuestions & Answersby Dennis Brown

Hi Dennis,I’m going to set up my hives this weekend in preparation to receive my nucs next weekend. Initially I plan to build a stand out of 4x4 treated wood. Is there a preferred length to provide any sort of separation between two hives? I read in one book that it’s good to separate the hives in spring/summer and put them together in the winter. Also am I safe to assume that initially, I’ll have only one brood box (with six new frames to go with the four with brood from the nuc.) to house the nuc with an empty box on top to house a sugar syrup feeder? Does the feeder just sit on top of the frames? Once the feeding has stopped should I remove the upper box or wait to add new frames once the bottom frames are drawn? Diane K.

Hello Diane,The stand dimensions that I have come up with over the years are; four feet long, eighteen inches high and sixteen inches wide. I can place two hives on each stand that are about six inches apart. (I don't move them close together in winter time. It doesn't get that cold in our part of Texas.) I can work each hive from at least one side and the height is good on my old back.

Sometimes your nuc will come with three frames and a feeder so you will need seven frames to add to the box. Yes, the feeder that I like to use does sit on top of the frames on the top box. I place an empty brood box around the feeder. (I use a one gallon quail waterier) Then, above that, I place the top back on the hive. Keep feeding until the box has all the frames drawn-out. (Remove any comb the bees start producing in the spacer box.)When the bees have drawn out the first brood box and if there is no honey flow going on, remove the feeder, place the second brood box on top and replace the feeder on top of that second box so the bees can begin to draw-out the frames. (If there is a strong honey flow going on, remove the feeder and let the bees produce wax from the nectar that they are gathering.) When the second box is completely drawn-out and the bees have enough to eat, remove the feeder and spacer box. If the bees don't have enough to eat, continue feeding until they do. (Never feed bees when there is a “surplus honey super” on the hive because you don't want to contaminate the honey super with sugar water.)

OK, last question. My property has several Eastern Bluebird boxes and a Purple Martin condo. Is there any problem locating the hives near these since both of these birds eat insects? To me that sounds like a silly question, but I just have no idea how birds and bees interact and my most promising location has both houses nearby.

Diane,There is no problem with having bird houses near a bee yard. I have about a dozen bird houses. Some birds will pick off a few bees but, usually not enough to make a difference.

I hope this helps. Enjoy your bees! Dennis BrownDennis Brown is the author of “Beekeeping: A Personal Journey” and “Beekeeping: Questions and Answers." Contact Dennis at www.lonestarfarms.net.

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X•Y•ZsAdvanced Beekeepingby Liz Walsh

Varroa, miticides, and IPM for beginning, intermediate, and advanced beekeepers In 1987, varroa mites first made it to the U.S. They caused devastation in the beekeeping industry and general panic. The feral honey bee population has since dropped almost 90%--a loss attributed to varroa mites—and beekeeping, as you will find from talking to any beekeeper from that period, became much harder. It is no surprise that we, as a community, want our honey bees sans varroa mites. In the initial effort to kill varroa mites, we used fluvalinate—trade named Mavrik or Apistan—as our miticide of choice. While we initially illegally used this product, it did eventually became the first legal miticide under a Section 18 Emergency Ag Exemption. While fluvalinate was initially highly successful in controlling varroa mites, the mite quickly developed a resistance to it and by 1994 it had largely fallen out of favor in the beekeeping community. This may have actually been a good thing in the long run, as fluvalinate has since been shown to cause lower numbers of sperm inside of queen spermathecae (the queen sperm storage organ) among other problems. Then beekeepers began to use coumaphos, an organophosphate. Coumaphos was the second miticide to be legally used by the beekeeping industry after it was also granted a Section 18 Emergency Ag Exemption in 1999. Coumaphos, tradename Checkmite+, killed varroa by inhibiting nerve signaling and function, causing tremors—or T-syndrome—in the mites and paralysis which eventually lead to death. Coumaphos also has a half life of 5 years when in beeswax. Varroa quickly developed a tolerance and eventual resistance to coumaphos as early as 2001. As with fluvalinate, this may have been a blessing in disguise. Honey bees can tolerate some exposure to coumaphos, but it has individually been shown to cause queens to be of smaller size and cause higher queen mortality.

It’s important to note that the years I’m reporting here are what the academic literature reports. Beekeepers have given me different numbers when I’ve spoken to them, and I’m sure many of you will have different numbers as well, but these are the numbers that the government and academia has chosen to publish, so they are what I am using. Now, with both fluvalinate and coumaphos out of commission, the beekeeping community began doing things it shouldn’t have. There was always some illegal use of miticides—using ones which weren’t legal, not buying miticides mixed for honey bee use, etc.—but when both fluvalinate and coumaphos stopped working very well, we seem to have completely lost our sense. We started doubling the amount of each product in hopes that higher levels of the product would give us the varroa kills it initially did, we started using both fluvalinate and coumaphos simultaneously in honey bee colonies, and we did other off-label and illegal use of other products. Eventually, other


XYZs continued

miticides were developed, most notably amitraz, formic acid, thymol, and oxalic acid. We used these products before they were legal in relatively high dosages and then were surprised when they didn’t work as well as anticipated at legal levels later on.

This is the point where it’s important to note that the law is not always right. That said, products are illegal for livestock and food product use for a reason. You shouldn’t use off-label miticides. It’s illegal to do so. These are not two exclusive things. I would recommend legal beekeeping not to avoid illegal activities, but because of the reasons those activities are illegal. If the EPA or FDA, two agencies that I do not necessarily think highly of, say it’s not safe to use a product when they said it was safe to use DDT, when they say that organophosphates are a necessary evil, when …I could keep going. The point is that if the EPA or FDA has finally said that something is too dangerous to be used, then that makes me sit up and take notice because they are ok with a lot of products that seem dangerous to me. (To people who want to tell me how soft or non-harmful the product they are illegally using is, I would like to preemptively ask: say what studies? Say what experts? How do you know what you say you know?)

This cycle, of miticide use, varroa resistance to a miticide, miticide misuse, emergency exemptions, etc. collectively puts us, as an industry, on the “chemical treadmill.” The chemical treadmill is one that is difficult to get off of. We can’t completely stop miticide use, as that would mean colossal colony loss to varroa mites. We shouldn’t keep prophylactically treating for mites either, as we’ll just be continuing to breed a “super mite.” This is a difficult situation with no easy answers, but perhaps the best place to start would be to admit that we have a problem. After admitting we have a problem, maybe we should seriously wonder if we are ever going to find the silver bullet for varroa mites.

After all, it is a silver bullet that we are looking for, right? I’ve only been a beekeeper for 8 or 9 years and in that time I’ve seen how excited we all were about amitraz, formic acid, oxalic acid, etc. We think that the next best miticide is going to solve all of our varroa problems. That just isn’t realistic.

It seems to me that, instead of continuing to look for a silver bullet, we should instead work on our IPM strategy. IPM is “integrated pest management” and here is a lovely depiction of the IPM pyramid from one of Dr. Elina Niño’s 2015 newsletters. As you can see, chemical use is the last thing we should be doing to control pests. We should first start with cultural controls (rearing hygienic bees, breaking up the brood cycle by caging the queen or splitting, etc.) Then we move up the pyramid. We try screened bottom boards, drone frames, etc. Then we try biological controls—where we try to look for a varroa mite’s natural enemy. This step is easier said than done, but universities nationally and internationally are looking for biological controls for varroa mites. Only after all of these options are exhausted should we be turning to soft chemicals and only after those should we be turning to hard chemicals. It is vital to note that you should only move on to the next step of the pyramid if your varroa levels exceed your economic thresholds,


XYZs continued

something that you can only discover by sampling. Break out your ether rolls, powdered sugar rolls, screened bottom board trays, etc. You need to sample often and accurately to determine if you need to use additional varroa control methods or not. As a side note, if you are not sampling or exhausting other options before using chemicals, then you are not practicing IPM and I and those other beekeepers who do practice IPM would appreciate it if you didn’t say you were. If you willfully choose not to practice IPM because it is “cheaper,” “more efficient,” etc., then I would like to state that I believe you are part of the problem. Yes, you are saving dollars in the short term, but you are also killing everyone’s bees in the long term.

We should also notice that we’ve been going about varroa control backwards. We started with the

hard chemicals (fluvalinate, coumaphos, etc.) and then we worked our way down the pyramid. This is partly why we struggle so much with the varroa mite. We’ve bred it to be a very difficult pest to control. We’ve also destroyed the quality of our beeswax in the process. Studies have shown that the majority of honey bee colonies in the United States exhibit contaminated beeswax, some of which contain alarming levels of these acaricides. Mullin et al. (2010) did a survey of commercial honey bee colonies across the U.S. and found 87 different pesticides and their metabolites in 259 wax samples and the most contaminated sample had 39 different pesticides and their metabolites. The average wax sample had 8 different pesticide residues in it, with almost half (49.9%) containing one or more systemic pesticides. The miticides fluvalinate and coumaphos were primarily found in conjunction with each other and were in 77.7% of all the bee, pollen, or wax samples surveyed, while amitraz, or its metabolites DMPF or DMA, were in the top ten most


XYZs continued

something that you can only discover by sampling. Break out your ether rolls, powdered sugar rolls, screened bottom board trays, etc. You need to sample often and accurately to determine if you need to use additional varroa control methods or not. As a side note, if you are not sampling or exhausting other options before using chemicals, then you are not practicing IPM and I and those other beekeepers who do practice IPM would appreciate it if you didn’t say you were. If you willfully choose not to practice IPM because it is “cheaper,” “more efficient,” etc., then I would like to state that I believe you are part of the problem. Yes, you are saving dollars in the short term, but you are also killing everyone’s bees in the long term.

We should also notice that we’ve been going about varroa control backwards. We started with the hard chemicals (fluvalinate, coumaphos, etc.) and then we worked our way down the pyramid. This is partly why we struggle so much with the varroa mite. We’ve bred it to be a very difficult pest to control. We’ve also destroyed the quality of our beeswax in the process. Studies have shown that the majority of honey bee colonies in the United States exhibit contaminated beeswax, some of which contain alarming levels of these acaricides. Mullin et al. (2010) did a survey of commercial honey bee colonies across the U.S. and found 87 different pesticides and their metabolites in 259 wax samples and the most contaminated sample had 39 different pesticides and their metabolites. The average wax sample had 8 different pesticide residues in it, with almost half (49.9%) containing one or more systemic pesticides. The miticides fluvalinate and coumaphos were primarily found in conjunction with each other and were in 77.7% of all the bee, pollen, or wax samples surveyed, while amitraz, or its metabolites DMPF or DMA, were in the top ten most ubiquitously present wax contaminates. Beekeepers of all ages had contaminated wax, even if they had never used fluvalinate or coumaphos in their own operations. This is likely due to buying foundation that was pre-contaminated with wax companies bought from beekeepers who did use these products. Please note the year this study was done, 2010. It is possible that a similar survey would have slightly different findings now.

As an industry and a community, perhaps we should take a long and hard look at our own operations before complaining about others. Unless you sample for varroa often, unless you utilize the IPM pyramid from the bottom up, then please don’t complain about the farmer next door and their chemical use, a lack of chemical-free bee forage, or other things of that nature. It doesn’t make sense to hold others to higher standards than we are holding ourselves to. That said, if you are not practicing IPM please let me know why. I won’t ridicule you, but no one has given me a solid reason not to practice IPM yet and I’m curious if one exists.

Liz Walsh is a graduate student at the Rangel Honey Bee Lab, Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University. She can be reached at [email protected]


Bee HealthDr. Giovanni Formato, My Visit in Rome

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April 2016 Newsletter#2 Lady Spirit Moon

Are you Listening? Part of BEe Perspective Beekeeping practices is listening to the bees every time you approach the hive, when you are in the hive for an inspection, and listening after you close them up. The sound usually tells you what is going in the hive. No matter how much research I read, how many stories I hear, or how many times I go into my own hives, I know there is more to know. Last December I had the opportunity of visiting a Bee Veterinarian in Rome, Italy at an institute that does research safe and food research for animals. On this particular occasion there was a study being done on using ozone gas to kill mites and bad bacteria. While scientists are in the back of the hive and doing their thing, I like going to the front to watch and listen. During the study I observed and heard a phenomenon never before witnessed because folks don’t take the time to watch the behavior and listen to the sounds of the bees. Please read the interview with Dr. Giovanni Formato that follows.

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Dr. Giovanni Formato Lady Spirit Moon

My Visit in Rome Dr. Giovanni Formato, Veterinarian, is head of the Beekeeping Laboratory, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale, del Lazio e della Toscana "Mariano Aleandri." We connected through the TECA forum,

facilitated by FOA, regarding the use of lactobacillus for EFB. He informed me they had used a Lactobacillus in their experimental yard in 2014. And here I thought I was the first to use the bacteria in my beehive nearly 4 years ago with 100% success. I emailed Giovanni about visiting him in Rome and we met on Dec. 18th. Talk about getting a time frame messed up. I thought it only took 2 hours for the bullet train to reach Rome from Turin. It was 4 hours and they held up an experiment until my arrival. There wasn’t much time for much of anything else.

BEe Healing Guild


Bee Health continued

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I was introduced to the engineer, Saverio Quartucci, owner of STAR srl and to his partner, who created the machine that would produce ozone adapted for beehives. You can have more information about the treatment at this link ozone. We ate lunch at the institute’s cafeteria when we all had a small discussion getting to know each other before going out to the yard. I never saw a yellow bee suit before, so when given the choice…. In the Field

Looking like it was about the size of the largest USPS First Class mailer, the ozone box had 5 connected hoses, which one hose placed into the top of each hive. I was told that this procedure should be done in the evening after all the bees were in from the fields. The purpose of the experiment would run about 20 minutes was to kill Varroa. Everyone else was at the box at the back of the hives, but I went to the front

as I wanted to watch the bees and listen. A curious thing happened. A few bees came out of the hive 1 then back in. Nothing was seen in hives 2-4. Hive 5, a few of the bees came out as if to say, “What the….!!??” And with my imagination I could almost hear the conversation between them. “Hazel, what is the stuff coming in from the ceiling?” “I don’t know. It seems cold. What do you think?” “I don’t know. It hasn’t hurt. I’m going back in. I’m curious.” And back into the hive Hazel went, along with a few others. Hive 3 & 4 did the same thing and I could almost hear the same conversation. Again, in hive 5, I later learned was the strongest hive, bees came out in a large group then gradually went back in. Fewer bees came out of the entrance until there were none on the porches. Only a very few came in from the fields. This was about 4 PM and we knew the sun was going to set in about an hour. About 10 minutes into the experiment, no bees were seen and the sound dramatically changed. I leaned in closer.



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During the first 10 minutes the bees buzzed within their own hives, each hive having their own tonal sound when singing their song. At 10 minutes the buzz became louder and began to be uniform in tonal quality. It was truly awesome to hear as the buzzing fluctuated but all the hives buzzed in unison as though all the hives had combined into one hive. The hives buzzed in a monotone sound, in unison, for 10 minutes. When they stopped the machine, the scientists said they wouldn’t be out because it was nearing sunset. I said, “No, they’ll be out.” And smiled because I knew what I would see. Sure enough, not 30 seconds after the machine stopped, the bees in hive 5 came onto their porch, slowly moving and a couple staggering a bit. None flew away, but they stayed on the porch for a while before slowly, one by one, walking back into the hive. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear they were on a high. The uniformed buzzing is what fascinated me the most and stays with me even to today. Test Results

Giovanni was generous enough to send the results of the experiment.

Ozone acaricide efficacy.

Left – acaricide efficacy obtained in hives treated with ozone

Right – natural mite fall counted in the untreated hives (control group) Interview Q&A Before My Arrival Before going to Italy, I emailed some questions for Giovanni. L: In what field is your study?



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G: I’m a veterinarian and I work in the honey bee pathologies and food safety of the hive products. L: How long have you worked for the Italian Government Laboratory? G: I have been working at IZSLT, an Italian Animal Health and Food Safety Government Laboratory, for 16 years. We have had an apiculture unit for 5 years dedicated specifically to the honeybees and their products. L: Do you do bee research in your lab? If so, what kind of research…diseases…bee health…? G: Yes, we do bee research, especially in the field of therapy of honeybee diseases. L: What prompted you to use lactobacillus and what kind? G: At the request of a pharmaceutical company of organic veterinary medicines to test Lactobacillus plantarum against American and European Foulbrood. L: I use a combination probiotic containing 10 different strains for EFB. How many strains of bacteria are there in the honeybee’s gut? And will one strain support another? G: In the honeybees’ gut it has been observed bacteria such as Lactic bacteria: e.g. L. deulbreckii, Entrobacteriaceae, Bacillus spp. and gram negative bacillus not Enterobacteriaceae, Bacillus sp, Streptococcus, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Proteus and several fungi: e.g. Rhizopus, Alternaria, and Epicoccum. L: Will the probiotics help with AFB? G: In the field trials that we did in 2014, we could not observe any statistical difference to contain AFB disease between the treated and the control (untreated) group. But results were very different with EFB, where Lactobacillus spp. were able to prevent 50% of new cases of this disease in the treated hives with respect to the control (untreated) hives. L: What else can you suggest to maintain honeybee health? G: To adopt all the good beekeeping practices to prevent the honeybee disease. L: What is the number of honeybee deaths for the 2015 in Italy? G: According to the Eu Project “Epilobee,” a pan-European epidemiological study on honeybee colony losses, in Italy we have had a yearly average colony mortality of 5-10% for 2012-2014. (NOTE: Concerning the pan-European epidemiological study on honeybee colony losses realized in 2012-2014, you can find the report here). I later asked:



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L: Were the bees dead before you tested them? Or were the bees healthy and you tested for the sake of looking for gut microbiota? Does the diversity of the gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria in the bee gut indicate a true balance? And does one gram–positive bacterium support another, or do human and honeybees need a balanced gut microbial system for autoimmune system? Giovanni Referred Me to His Microbiologist G and Marcella, Microbiologists: Of course in the honey bee gut there is a typical microflora (with balanced population of gram positive and gram negative) of the healthy bees; and of course it is different from the typical microflora of healthy humans, even considering the different kind of food they eat. A balance in honeybee gut microflora is basic for a proper, effective immune response. Of course there are some strains that support other strains and that inhibit others. In the honeybee’s gut we found Corynebacteria, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, Rhizobium, Pasteurella, Enterococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, ecc. We found those in live bees to verify the honeybees’ gut microbiota. L: Do you know anything about mushrooms? Dr. Paul Stamets and Dr. Steve Sheppard are doing research regarding honeybees and mushroom mycelium. Paul found a lot of honeybees ingesting the mycelium on his mushroom pile. My thoughts are they are ingesting something for their autoimmune system they can’t find anywhere else. Do you have any thoughts on this? G: It has been shown that bees are able to get mushroom yeasts and bacteria to increase the digeribility of pollen, giving an example. Probably they make something similar to increase their immune system, too. (ED NOTE: There is an article elsewhere in this newsletter regarding Mycelium.) Giovanni took me to the train station and we parted with the idea of when I came back I would make arrangements of spending the night in Rome and spend more time with him in his lab and with his staff. Usually when I speak with scientists it would be about a theory or study done to prove a concept. Giovanni impressed me as a scientist who maintains an open mind to any possibility while allowing a study to take him through to the outcome without preconceived notions. Refreshing.

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Are You Watching?

In the previous article, 2 microbiologists stated:

“It has been shown that bees are able to get mushroom yeasts and bacteria to increase the digestibility of pollen, giving an example. Probably they make something similar to increase their immune system, too.”

The statement fascinated me and further attested what I assumed the bees were after in a pile of mushrooms that Dr. Paul Stamets, the mushroom man, spoke about at the Center’s “Bee in Balance” event September 26, 2015. He spoke on how surprised he was at finding honeybees filling his box of composted mycelium pile. He has since teamed with Dr. Steve Sheppard, Entomologist, WSU, to study why honeybees were on the pile.

It’s a known fact that beebread is a fermented product in the hive made of bee pollen, honey, with lactic acid added by the bees. This beebread is the honeybees’ probiotic needed for their immune system.

The HuffPost Healthy Living writes about Dr. Stamets speaking at a TEDMED talk in 2008 where he stated:

“What single drug can benefit you by:

1) supporting and strengthening your immune system?

2) providing anti-inflammatory properties?

3) providing anti-oxidant properties?

4) restricting blood vessel growth feeding tumors (“anti-angiogenesis”)?

5) causing programmed cell death of cancer cells (“apoptosis”)?

6) providing antiviral effects?

7) restricting the growth of pathogenic bacteria?

8) assisting conventional anti-cancer drugs to work more effectively at lower doses? NONE. “Mushrooms provide all these benefits, and they are not drugs. These are ‘functional foods’ and/or ‘dietary ingredients,’ which help support the immune system on a fundamental, multi-factorial level….”

Dr. Stamets goes on to say:

“Moreover, the mycelium – the filamentous cobweb-like cells that give rise to the mushrooms (the mushrooms are the ‘fruit’ of the mycelium) – have uniquely



7

amplified properties, especially against viruses and bacteria. My team and I have discovered, over decades of study, that mushroom mycelium is a rich resource of new antimicrobial compounds, which work in concert, helping protect the mushrooms – and us – from microbial pathogens.”

I ask you, are the honeybees really so smart, they knew this; whereas, we did not unless told by a scientist?

On the Arden Light website, you will find.

“Over the last fifty years, scientists have begun to validate how the proteins, trace minerals, polysaccharides, amino acids, fiber, and other compounds of over 300 different mushroom species provide many health benefits such as:

Optimizing immune function Promoting normal cellular growth Protecting against environmental stressors Supporting your body’s normal detoxification process Preserving cellular structure Supporting healthy gut flora Promoting optimal digestion

In other words, mushrooms are increasingly thought to play many different roles: adaptogens, antioxidants, detoxifying agents just to name a few.”

On many websites there are charts showing what diseases mushrooms are good for healing various human ailments. Again, the honeybee is showing humans what to ingest for a healthy immune system. Are you watching?

*** Like I said, we don’t know as much as we think when it comes to the honeybee. But do learn to watch them in front of their hives and listen to the different tonal qualities of their sounds while doing your inspection. Listen at the beginning when you open the hive and listen a few minutes after they have settled down a little while during your inspection. What do you hear?


Meet the BeekeeperKristen Shoshanna Traynor

Name: Kirsten Shoshanna Traynor

Occupation: Post-doctoral researcher at the University of MarylandEditor of Bee World, published by the International Bee Research AssociationAuthor of Two Million Blossoms: Discovering the Medicinal Benefits of Honey and Simple, Smart Beekeeping, an illustrated guide to beekeeping with 190+ images taken in the field. Owner of Flickerwood Apiary, a boutique apiary producing high quality nucs and gourmet honey

Work: University of Maryland, College Park

Apiary: Middletown, MD a gorgeous valley home to the Appalachian Trail and the National Pike, the first paved road in the US.

How did you get your start in beekeeping and what inspired you to seek to study them? I had just graduated a year early from Kenyon College with a BA in English and wanted pollinators for my wildflowers. I enrolled in a beekeeping short course with my husband Michael to learn more about honey bees and we won our first hive in a raffle. Not the bees, just the box. We started with three nucleus colonies, which quickly grew into a dozen hives. I was selected as a German Chancellor Fellow to study the differences between European and American beekeeping. We travelled throughout Western Europe documenting the bee industry and publishing articles on our travels in American Bee Journal. Loving the work, I enrolled in graduate school and completed my PhD in honey bee biology at Arizona State University with Dr. Robert Page.

What is some past research or programs that you worked with? Oh, that’s a long list. Michael and I have been on the road for the last nine years, globetrotting in a beeline. We drove over 55,000 miles by car throughout Western Europe to meet with bee breeders, beekeepers and bee scientists. We returned to Europe during my PhD when I was awarded a Fulbright to work with Dr. Yves le Conte in France. My PhD research focused on how honey bees communicate via pheromones. My current work in the lab of Dr. vanEngelsdorp looks at the impacts of pesticides on honey bee health. While there has been a lot of focus on neonicotinoids, these actually appear infrequently in the hive. However, we’re finding a lot of fungicides.

What are you currently working on? I’m now investigating the role of pesticides, especially fungicides, in declining colony health. We’re about to publish three big


Meet the Beekeeper cont'd

papers on honey bee health, looking at varroa, nosema and pesticides levels in apiaries around the nation.

Where do you see the next few years of research or beekeeping management leading? I think beekeepers will have to seriously address the escalating impacts of varroa. Without intervention, varroa populations quickly grow and can kill the hive. Everyone has varroa, but most beekeepers don’t monitor varroa populations regularly. By the time you see varroa on adult bees, it’s often too late to rescue the hive. Beekeepers who don’t control their varroa populations are probably helping to kill their neighbor’s hive. Nearby healthy colonies rob out weak ones, picking up and bringing home varroa. Although most beekeepers are very individualistic, beekeeping is a community endeavor, especially for most hobbyists. In nature the density of feral colonies is quite low, which buffers against the spread of disease and parasites.

What message about bee health and management would you like to share with readers? Don’t blame pesticides for colony losses if you’ve done nothing to control your varroa population. We need to monitor regularly for varroa populations. At bare minimum beekeepers should check their mite populations at least 3-4 times per year, preferably every month during the active beekeeping season.

In temperate climates, if you don’t have a late summer nectar flow, stimulate the colony to rear a big healthy brood nest of winter bees by feeding a 1-to-1 sugar syrup at least 1.5 months prior to your frost date. Make sure the hives have enough stores for winter, especially in the northeast where winters have become more erratic.

Where can we find information about your research/organization? A lot of details on how we keep healthy hives at Flickerwood Apiary is covered in our newest book “Simple, Smart Beekeeping”. It’s illustrated with 190+ detailed photographs taken by my husband Michael, a commercial and fine art photographer. An excerpt is available on our website www.mdbee.com. We offer bulk discounts to clubs wanting to purchase the book for their beekeeping class.

Our research into the medical use of honey is published in “Two Million Blossoms: Discovering the Medicinal Benefits of Honey”. It has over 20 pages of references and is based solely on the published scientific sources. Dr. Peter Molan, who discovered the medicinal use of Manuka honey in New Zealand wrote the foreword.

Anything on or off topic that you find interesting about yourself/organization to share with readers? Articles I’ve written with Michael have appeared from Greece to Australia. We’ve travelled extensively, globetrotting in a beeline. While a German Chancellor Scholar I gave Angela Merkel two jars of honey. Honey is a perfect gift, enjoyed by people from all walks of life. In our travels we’ve found beekeepers very hospitable. Even if we don’t speak the same language, our shared interest in honey bees connects us. We always make an effort to seek out local honey. When they learn we also keep bees, they often pull out a special jar from their stocks. “This is the good stuff I keep for my family. You have to taste it.”

How can readers contact you and get more info on your organization? They can follow me on Twitter @FlowersLoveBees or check out our website www.mdbee.com. They can also sign up for updates on honey bee health at www.beeinformed.org.


Apitherapy2016 Charles Mraz Course and Conference

Contact: TheAmerican Apitherapy Society, [email protected]

2016 Charles Mraz Course and Conference (CMACC)October 21-23, 2016The Redondo Beach Hotel, 400 N. Harbor Drive, Redondo Beach, CA 90277

The American Apitherapy Society proudly announces its 20th annual Charles Mraz Apitherapy Course & Conference to be held in the beautiful beach community of Redondo Beach, CA located just 15 minutes south of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Invest in your health and join us for a weekend of Apitherapy while perhaps extending your stay in the area to enjoy the many ocean front activities this area has to offer.

Medical doctors, a spectrum of holistic health practitioners, veterinarians, researchers, backyard beekeepers, and members of the general public interested in self-reliant health care will convene from all over the United states and the world to learn about apitherapy. Apitherapy, an ancient healing modality, refers to the therapeutic use of products from the beehive: honey, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, and bee venom therapy.

Attendees will receive basic training in the therapeutic properties of each of the hive products including a hands on bee venom therapy session where participants obtain practical experience with this amazing healing practice. Presentations are given by the CMACC faculty who are some of the most prominent and experienced apitherapists in the country. Examples of material covered in these presentations are allergic reactions, techniques of BVT, informed consent and legal issues, propolis and cancer, lyme disease, parkinson’s disease, veterinary apitherapy, wound healing, and much more. Certificates of completion will be available to all participants.

The AAS is a nonprofit membership organization established for the purpose of education in the advancement of Apitherapy. CMACC has been named in memory of Charles Mraz, an American pioneer in the use of bee venom to treat diseases. More information and details will be available soon atwww.apitherapy.org where you will be able to view all CMACC information and register for the course online. Conference information will also be shared and distributed via our free monthly newsletter, you can sign up to receive the newsletter via a link at the bottom of our home page of the website. There will be an early registration incentive with reduced fees for those registering by a certain date which is yet to be determined, so don’t miss out on this opportunity! A Friday night dinner banquet will be held giving attendees the opportunity to mingle with the faculty and others involved with Apitherapy. Membership or a one year renewal to AAS is included with the course fee. For further questions please contact the AAS office at [email protected]


Beekeeping 'Round the GlobeJames Nulick, Obsessed with Beekeeping

Dear Melanie, Here are a few photos I thought you might enjoy. I started beekeeping when I was 10 years old, back in 1980. I kept pestering my father to buy me a hive, and after a few months, he finally relented. I don't know where this interest came from; no one in my family was a beekeeper, and I didn't know any beekeepers. The desire to have a beehive just always seemed to be there. Early one evening as the sun was going down, an old man dropped by in an old Ford pick-up truck and spoke a few words to my father as my beehive sat in the back, waiting for me. I picked the hive up and sat it on an old work bench, wearing nothing but jeans and a t-shirt (I'm not that brave anymore). My father owned his own business, a wrecking yard, and we put my hive behind the office, in full view of the customers... obviously law suits were not an issue back in the late Seventies and early Eighties! I asked the old man for any beekeeping advice he might have. 'Keep your veil tight and your mouth shut, Son.' Sound advice which still holds true today.

So began my lifelong affair with beekeeping... I guess you could say I was a weird kid who was obsessed with honeybees. Sadly, when I was 18 years old, I sold all my hives, well over 20, when I went off to college, which was out of state. That was in 1988. I haven't had any hives since then, but I've always wanted to get back into it. Someday, I keep telling myself, someday, when I own my own home, with a nice backyard, and just enough space to keep a few hives. But I live in a shoebox-sized apartment in one of the most expensive cities in the US (Seattle); and houses aren't cheap here. But one can dream...

In the meantime, I keep my beekeeping jones fairly well-fed by collecting rare / antiquarian beekeeping books. My prize possession is an 1882 copy of Jan Dzierzon's Rational Beekeeping, which cost about what a greenhorn would pay for a ready-made gold dipped top bar hive, or two months rent in Arkansas. And I also keep myself entertained by reading your column every month in the Kelley newsletter, which I always look forward to. I am still houseless and hiveless and without a backyard, however I am always dreaming about the honeybees. Now if I could just win the lottery...

Yours,James NulickSeattle, WA

1882 Edition of Dzierzon's Rational Beekeeping

James Nulick, beekeeping at 10 years old


Beekeeping 'Round the GlobeGeorge Bristol, Senior Master Beekeeper

LEH with her Bees (great student) moves bees with fingers. Please note: "NO GLOVES" - gloves prevent you detecting bees walking on your hands and especially between your fingers. Which causes undue 'bumping the bees' which causes them to respond with "Hey, be gentle" (in other words) they bump you back with a little sting. They're unaware their stinger will remain in the glove material & marks you as an enemy, plus, the bees soon learn to associate your personal odor along w/ the alarm pheromone. Next time you show up (suit or not) you're just NOT welcome. Prevent unnecessary Bee defensive behavior by - NOT WEARING GLOVES. Get over your fear, (rubber banding the cuffs of long sleeve shirts) works fine. Bees are not stupid bugs - get sensitive to their feelings and treat them with respect and a whole new world of Beekeeping will open to you. FYI-Bees communicate with pheromones and have a sense of smell that can detect a tree in bloom 6 miles away. That means you are a large, smelly, potential enemy and the way to reduce that potential negative greeting from your bees is to smell like them. So . . . sit for 5 minutes in front of your hive while its making Honey (exhausting air out the door), and you will acquire their odor on your clothing and exposed skin surfaces. Their molecules will stick to your perspiration) and make you smell like a large (super ugly duckling), member of their family. Now the trick is to be gentle and not mash any of them while manipulating their box components. Repeat for each hive you wish to open because bees in colony #1 won't let colony #2 bees in the door either. If you need to move Bees, use a large wing or tail Feather (from chicken or Turkey) and DON'T sweep or brush them with it - just push them. They will run in front of the feather edge. A "Bee-brush" only makes them mad - its too much like the hair of animals which means "Enemy." BTW - always wear a hat to keep bees from getting caught in your hair - Ball Cap works fine.

Laura moves bees with her fingers.

George alos practices falconry.


Beekeeping cont'd

Remember this - Too Dark, Too Windy, Too Cold, or Too Rainy - RULE IS NOT open your bee hives - leave them for another day (or week if necessary). Your Bees will love you for it. You have been granted permission, from the lady fondling her bees (Laura Hazelett) (a relative new comer and my apprentice) . . . to use her photo. As far as a picture of me? I have TWO you might be interested in . . . I started Beekeeping in 1957 in an attempt for Boy Scout merit badge (I never got it). My mother made me be rid of the bees [next door neighbor kid kept kicking the box over] and she feared for HIS life. So 1st Picture you might enjoyis at UC Davis Entomology lab "Idle/Bored Beekeepers do for fun"; and because I'm also a Master Falconer, Picture #2 shows another idle moment. A TRUE man of many talents who carries a "Master" title in both the "BIRDS and the BEES." Lookout Ladies! The much publicized "Most Interesting Man In the World" has nothing on me.

George Bristol - Sr. Master Beekeeper Bay Area Beebusters - (650) 879-0233 PO Box 660, Pescadero, CA. 94060-0660 [email protected] - www.callbeebusters.com

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Bee Thinking AboutInternational Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy

The Penn State Center for Pollinator Research is hosting the third International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy on July 18-20, 2016 with an optional evening welcome reception Sunday, July 17, 2016. Pollinators are essential for the health of agriculture and natural ecosystems, but there have been dramatic declines in key pollinator populations worldwide. A major theme of this year’s conference will be translating the results of recent research advances in the biology and health of pollinators into solutions that can be applied to conserve and expand pollinator populations. Symposium speakers from North and South America, Europe, Africa, and Australia will cover a range of topics in pollinator research, from genomics to ecology, and their application to land use and management, breeding of managed bees, and monitoring of pollinator populations. Recent global initiatives in policy, education, and extension will also be highlighted. This conference will bring together individuals from universities, government agencies, agrochemical companies, non-profit organizations, and several stakeholder groups to engage in a dialog about the research, management, conservation and policy approaches needed to tackle these issues. When this conference was held in 2013, it attracted over 230 participants from 15 countries. For more information about the conference, please contact the conference organizers, Christina Grozinger (Penn State), Shelby Fleischer (Penn State), Neal Williams (UC Davis) and Rufus Isaacs (Michigan State University). For conference logistic and registration questions, contact Kim Swistock ([email protected])

The conference is supported by Penn State's Center for Pollinator Research, Department of Entomology, College of Agricultural Sciences (http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators) and the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.


NEWS RELEASE Contact: Amina Harris April 1, 2016 Director of the Honey and Pollination Center For Immediate Release Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science PH: 530-754-9301 Email: [email protected]

Honey Sensory Experience Debuts at UC Davis

“Varietal honey is popular right now. Really popular,” explains Amina Harris, Director of the Robert Mondavi Institute Honey and Pollination Center at UC Davis. Two years ago, the Center published the Honey Flavor and Aroma Wheel to wide acclaim. Since then, Harris has been promoting honey and honey pairings through varietal tastings all over California.

On Friday and Saturday, May 20 and 22, 2016, participants will learn about the sensory analysis of honey by tasting more than two dozen honeys selected from all over the world. In addition, UC Davis research on bee health and honey nutrition, aroma and pollen analyses will be presented. Other topics to be discussed include honey health benefits, labeling, history, and cooking. .

The short course will feature sensory scientist Sue Langstaff, of Applied Sensory, LLC, who has recently expanded her expertise from olive oil, beer and wine to honey. Langstaff began working with Harris when they convened a 26-person taste panel for the creation of the Honey Flavor Wheel.

Gian Luigi Marcazzan, President of the Italian Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey, will join Langstaff. Marcazzan’s program, based in Bologna, Italy, has been training and certifying tasters in all aspects of Italian varietal honeys for over twenty years.

Langstaff, Harris and Orietta Gianjorio created this course specifically for the American palate. Orietta, well-known throughout California as a professional taster of olive oil, wine and chocolate, is very excited to add honey to her growing list of areas of expertise. “Bringing a course of this caliber to UC Davis is very exciting. We are helping to expand our knowledge about honey by bringing so many experts together,” said Gianjorio.

Consumer interest in a sustainable and natural food supply is growing in the United States and globally and along with it, the consumption of honey. There is significant confusion concerning what constitutes a varietal honey and what that honey should taste like. According to Langstaff, who has developed sensory protocols for olive oil, “Rather than relying on label descriptions, participants will learn to describe the sensory properties of honey and be able to differentiate honeys of various varieties.”

BEe Healing Guild

www.BEeHealing.buzz BEe Healing Guild is a non-profit created to hold several functions and events for the survival of honeybees. We wish to re-establish back-to-basic beekeeping by: 1. Teaching BEe Perspective Beekeeping Methods to:

Raise resistant bees, even in a GMO farming community. Use beehive products to cure beehive diseases. Certify BEe Perspective students Partially or fully fund BEe Perspective Beekeeping programs after the

certified student submits a proposal and it is accepted, based on the Guild’s Guidelines, for a program to teach the BEe Perspective methods to young adults and children.

The BEe Perspective Beekeeping book is presently being created and we hope to hold our first class sometime in the fall. At this time, the book will not be for sale to the general public.

2. Hold an Annual Gathering for the purpose of:

Creating “a place for people to share, learn, express, teach, guide, ex-perience, heal, and understand the components of body, mind, and spirit for the sake of and for honeybees, humans, and Mother Earth.” Our first annual Gathering will be September 10 & 11, 2016, in the Spring Creek Community of Hot Springs, NC 28743.

Learning what it takes to help the honeybees, yourself, and Mother Earth. All three elements are needed for all three to survive in our pre-sent environmental scenarios.

Our Tentative cost for both days is $100 for both days for adults over 16, and $40 for those under 16. There will be children’s programs as well.

Go to Gathering website page and scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the link to see who our international presenters are. Check our website regularly in the next few weeks to check for more information and details. We will have registrations for the Gathering and for the Reiki and the Facial Massage sessions, paid separately at a large discount. Part of our funding will be coming from the sale of Apitherapy—from a Bee-keeper’s Perspective, which should be available by the end of March. It will be sold from our website through the Book section of our Publication page. Any questions, contact Lady at [email protected].

BEE CULTURE34 March 2016

A CASE FOR HONEYOur case of honey is lling nicely this winter. Speak-

ers committed so far include Dan Conlon, Warm Colors Apiaries, Massachusetts; Bob Binnie, Blue Ridge Hon-ey Company, Georgia; Dave Shene eld, Clover Blos-som Honey, Indiana; Steve Conlon, ThistleDew Honey, West Virginia; Roger Stark, Howalt-McDowell Insurance, South Dakota, Joann Dunlevey RS, Food Safety Special-ist, Ohio Dept. of Ag; and a Representative of The FDA. Other speakers are rming up travel plans and will be announced as they become known.

This well rounded group has all aspects of this topic well covered. U.S. Producers, Packers, Producer/Pack-ers, Insurance and Risk Brokers, Marketing, and all the new Food Safety rules and regulations from both Federal and State level perspectives

Unfortunately, missing from this discussion will be the National Honey Board, the marketing arm of the honey industry, and those large packers and importers who have chosen to have their annual meeting on the same weekend. The coincidence has not gone unnoticed. The focus of this event will remain on promoting and informing ambitious US Honey Producers and Packers of U.S. Honey.

New this year will be a Friday Night Social held in Bee Culture’s Conference Center, the location of the Two day Conference on Saturday and Sunday. It’s a low-key, meet and greet with the speakers and attendees from 5pm to 7pm on Friday where you can pick up your fold-ers with speaker pro les, conference agenda, and lots of information on Medina’s dining and shopping opportu-nities. Supper afterwards is on your own but you’ll have plenty of places to choose from, and lots of people to join with.

Tuition is $150.00 per person which includes the Friday night social and classes and an exceptional lunch on Saturday and Sunday. On line Registration opens April 1, 2016.

Friday Night Social, October 21, and classes and lunch Saturday and Sunday October 22 & 23, Bee Cul-ture’s Conference Center, 640 W. Liberty St., Medina, Ohio. Register early.

Mark Your Calendars Now!

October 22 and 23, 2016 atBee Culture’s Conference Center

640 West Liberty StreetMedina, Ohio

Watch BeeCulture.com and these pages for program and registration information

Get Ready For BeeCulture’s Next Event

Bee CultureThe Magazine Of American Beekeeping


DON’T MISS OUT!Kelley Beekeeping is

looking for resale partners!

Ask yourself these questions:Is your local beekeeping community strong and active?Do you teach beekeeping classes?Would you like to run a business that aligns with your passion?

If you answered YES, we may have

an opportunity for you!

Contact Us TodayEmail: [email protected]

Or Call: 800-233-2899 ex. 213



May 2016

Washington: Instrumental Insemination Courses with Sue Cobey at WSUMay-July 2016For more info, visit https://honeybeeinsemination.com/Email: [email protected]

New Mexico: Intro to Apiculture, Parts I & II May 7 (Taos) - Bee Family Day - Info www.lettucgrowfarm.comPart I: May 14 (Taos) & May 15 (Santa Fe) Part II: May 22 (Santa Fe) & May 28 (Taos)Info: http://ziaqueenbees.com/zia/intro-to-apiculture-courses-2016/

Ohio: Beginning Beekeeping WorkshopMay 21, 2016Kenston Middle School, Art room 231, 17425 Snyder Road, Chagrin Falls, OH 44023Info: www.kenstoncommunityed.org

Connecticut: Using Technology for Record Keeping with James Wilkes of Hive TracksMay 24, 2016 Norfield Church Community Room 64 Norfield Road, Weston Connecticutwww.backyardbeekeepers.com

New Mexico: Rio Arriba County Extension Intro to Beekeeping with Instructor Melanie Kirby of Zia QueenbeesParts I: May 24 & 26, 2016Abiquiu Extension OfficeParts II: May 31 & June 2- NMSU Alcalde Sustainable Ag Science CenterInfo: http://rioarribaextension.nmsu.edu/ or www.ziaqueenbees.com/zia

June 2016

Virginia: Sustainable Biodynamic Beekeeper TrainingJune 2-4, 2016Spikenard Farm Honeybee Sanctuary401 Hideaway Lane Floyd, VA

Kansas: 125 year celebration of NEKBA featuring Dr. Jamie EllisJune 4, 2016Info: http://www.nekba.org/

Connecticut: 125 year anniversary featuring Dr. Larry Connor & Dr. Diana SammataroJune 11, 2016Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station 123 Huntington St New Haven, CTInfo: www.ctbees.com

Iowa: Iowa Honey Producers Summer Field DayJune 11, 2016Goodell Community Center 315 Broadway Goodell, IowaPat & Peggy Ennis’ Apiary2105 110th St. Goodell, IowaContact: Mary Wiltgen [email protected] Tel: 563-920-9628

Maryland: Intro to Simple, Smart BeekeepingJune 11, 2016Hosted by Kirsten & Michael Traynor of Flickerwood ApiaryInfo: www.mdbee.com

Massachusetts: Western Mass Bee Field DayJune 18, 2016Info: www.massbee.org

New Mexico: Zia Queenbees Farm & Field Institute Monthly Short CoursesJune 18, 2016Info: http://ziaqueenbees.com/zia/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/INTRO-TO-APICULTURE-taos-slip-2016-1.pdf

Nebrasksa: Cooperative Extension Introductory Beekeeping Courses with Judy Wu-Smart, Marion Ellis, Erin Ingram, Natalia Bjorklund, and Warren NelsonJune 25, 2016University of Nebraska 103 Entomology Hall Lincoln, NE 68583-0816Contact: Jeri Cunningham-Department of EntomologyEmail: [email protected] Tel: 402-472-8678http://entomology.unl.edu/2016beeworkshops.pdf

We’d love to share news of your upcoming events. Please send the event name, date, website and/or contact information by the 10th of each month for inclusion in the following month’s issue. [email protected]