The Carroll BeeCarroll County Beekeepers Association

January 2018

Message from the President

It's that time of year, when we are preparing for our annual Beekeeping Class. This event takes a lot of help from many CCBA members. The agenda has been set, the textbooks have arrived and final preparations are being completed. How can you help? Please consider being a mentor to a new beekeeper. We have over 60 students enrolled so far and will need more help than ever. Remember the guidance you received when first starting out and help pass it on. “How Bout This Weather?“With the unusually warm weather we have been having, I took the chance to treat my hives with oxalic acid vaporization. (see picture on right) I knew my mite loads going into winter were low, but I decided that with the bees out of cluster and very little brood present, it was a good time for a noninvasive treatment. I have been hearing many reports of dead-outs and several beekeepers losing their entire apiary. One of our members lost three out of four hives even though he treated in fall. He found piles of dead bees on his bottom board and decided to send a sample to the Bee Lab. The results were a high mite load of 18 per 100 bees. Knowing why they most likely passed helps, but we must make sure to recheck our mite loads as late as we can in fall or early winter. The testing of the bees was free and took around 1 week. We will NOT be having a February meeting due to the Bee Class. Our website Meetings/Events page has a calendar showing all upcoming dates. At our March meeting, we will be having a review of the Bee Class as well as covering other topics.

I hope to see you there. Larry Truchon

Here’s the Buzz….

Important Dates:

NO February Meeting Beekeeping Basics Class: Wednesdays, Feb. 7-March 14 / 7:30-9:30pm

CCC, Washington Road CampusSaturday, Feb. 17 / 9am- noon / Hashawa Apiary

March meeting: March 21st @ 7:30pm

Read This!Here is an excellent article and source of information on Restocking Winterkilled Hives by James E. Tew.http://www.beeculture.com/restocking-

winterkilled-hives/

CCBA meets at 7:30pm the 3rd Wednesday of the month at Bear Branch Nature Center 300 John Owings Road Questions? Comments? Westminster, MD 21158 carrollbeekeepers@gmail.com

Visit our new website! www.carrollcountybeekeepers.orgCheck us out on Facebook! Carroll County Beekeepers Association. Join the page to post photos, articles, ask questions, etc. Anyone can view!

January Meeting Minutesby Monica Schmitt, Secretary

Club News*Remember to pay dues – Jody *Preparing for bee class Beginners beekeeping Class at CCC beginning February 7th, 2018 *Introduction of

new members *CCBA Emails – If you’re not receiving emails about upcoming events and other happenings please let Larry Fritz know and he can make sure your email is in all list. *CCBA Library There is an extensive library available to members of the club all we ask is the you borrow/sign

them out for 30 days see if anyone else is interested in the book if not you may borrow for another 30 days.

Speaker: Mike Kehs Heads our Educational outreach He spoke about needing volunteers to help at our educational outreach events with groups like the girl scouts and boy scouts etc. Volunteers needed for the apiary especially when groups are brought in for hands on open hive demonstrations.

Activities: *Something New, Something Blue, Something to look forward to *Larry T. Spoke about his experience with his nucs this past season and then went on to read the index cards of members responses *One member spoke about making sure your bees are fed.*Different members expanded on the comment with how they fed coming into the winter.

Open Discussion: *We discussed different methods we used for insulating.

*Recommended to the members to take a peak inside to look at food stores, check to see if food stores are close to the cluster.*Mite control using Drone Comb

Spring time is best time for drone comb, remember you must check every 25 days after drawn comb.

*Make sure to order Bees early *Check out Bee Informed blog on Deadout*Make sure to monitor Hives before and after mite treatment. *We all discussed have a unified mite treatment day if anyone has input or is interested in doing this lets keep this discussion alive.

Dates To Remember *Next MSBA meeting February 17th, 2018

*Next CCBA Meeting is March 21st, 2018

Vegetable Gardening for Honeybeesby Connie Young

These cold winter days don’t allow for much gardening time. Like many of you, I’ve been considering the possibilities that spring planting offers lately, particularly as seed catalogs pile up and lure me into their pages with colorful spreads of summer’s bounty. Last week, it was warm enough for bees to fly. I went out back without the restrictions of a heavy coat, feeling as light and carefree as my honey bees navigating and searching for any available food sources. I let the chickens out, watched my honey bees flying for a while and considered garden options for the spring. I even brought a nice cup of hot tea outside, sweetened with my girls’ honey, of course. I set the cup down on the patio table and wandered over to my vegetable garden where my chickens were busily turning the soil for me. I wondered what to grow in that lovely, dark soil. I like to try at least one new vegetable each year. As I tallied up the available raised beds and reconciled them with my mental list of proposed plants, I realized that I’m out of room, again. I need a bigger space (or perhaps, a more tailored list). Disillusioned, I returned to my patio for a sip of tea while I considered my options. Before sinking spade or shovel into any of the ground around my home, carefully nourished garden soil or otherwise, I always consider how a plant will support pollinators and wildlife in my landscape now that I’m a beekeeper. Vegetable gardening is a bit different than my landscape offerings where I opt mostly for native plants that are longer lived. However, there still exists an opportunity to add plants that provide nutrition to honey bees in the vegetable garden.

I was thinking about such things as I reached for my tea cup, but I was derailed by the very insects over which I mused. Five industrious honey bees were investigating my tea! Two were swimming in the honey infused tea and needed to be fished out, one was navigating the rim of the cup, and two more were preparing to land. With so much attention to their own sweet honey, I resorted to quickly finishing up the nectar they provided me, else I’d have bees everywhere! The very fact that I was drinking tea with their honey delighted me and fueled the fire to carefully consider my vegetable garden offerings.

My vegetable garden is conveniently located next to my beehives, allowing for a quick jaunt from the hive on a less than optimal foraging day. It’s fenced in to deter deer and keep out bunnies. Along the sides next to the fencing, I grow brambles which attract a lot of bee attention. In fact, blackberries are listed as an important nectar source in Maryland for honey bee forage per NASA (https://honeybeenet.gsfc.nasa.gov/Honeybees/ForageRegion.php?StReg=MD_11).

I grow blackberries, raspberries and blueberries and it is not just a delicious endeavor but an entertaining one given the volume of bee activity these blooms garner. But a word of caution: all brambles require diligent care else they do exactly as their name suggests and take over. They are easy to grow, but they require annual pruning so if you don’t want to take time to do this, skip them.

In addition to vegetable garden staples like tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, squashes and lettuces, I enjoy growing herbs, not just for their culinary interest but because I find herbs to be useful to my honey bees. In fact, I reserve several raised beds for just such purposes, planting more each season. Some, like lavender, oregano, sage, thyme, and tarragon, return yearly ; others need new starts, like temperature sensitive basil. As gardeners, we tend to clip our herbs back to keep them productive, but if we grow some specifically for our pollinators, then it’s important to allow them, or at least some of them, to go to bloom and nourish our bees.

continued on next page…

Book ReviewBy Russell Sprangel

Once everyone has read our class textbook, “The Beekeeper’s Handbook” by Diana Sammataro, cover to cover, another excellent book to tackle is Dewey Caron’s “Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping”. This text is designed as a resource for a college class so you know it is packed with detailed information. It covers the historyof beekeeping to modern practices. There is a specific chapter for each season that covers detailed information on what to watch out for and what is coming next. At the end of every chapter are discussion questions to lead a group, and exercises you can do with family or friends to dig into the topics at an even more detailed level. Chapters on pollination and plants walk you through what to consider for planting around your property and the timing of when the plant produces pollen and/or nectar, so you can have a smorgasbord of available options across all the seasons. Want more honey production, better queens or more revenue from your hives? It is all covered. If you are also inclined, since it is setup for a college text, it is a great resource you can use to create a stack of flash cards to keep the terms and definitions fresh in your mind. EveryoneI know that owns this book has read it more than once. Shouldn’t you give it a chance?

Beekeeping Book Sharing

I grow a variety of basil but I’ve found the blooms of Thai basil to be particularly interesting to honey bees. I also grow a lot of thyme, not just in my vegetable garden but as a ground cover in various other places in my landscape where I allow it to bloom freely. Those pale purple clusters of tiny flowers will practically sway with so much honey bee activity, particularly late summer.Borage is a fan favorite in my vegetable garden also. I like to snack on the pretty blue blooms, the taste reminiscent of cucumbers, and toss them into salads. Bees love it too, bumbles frequently sleeping upside down on the blooms, holding theirforaging spots for the next day. It readily reseeds but is easily pulled up. Garlic chives are similarly undisciplined and readily reseed but are a bit more work to pull up should you not like their advances. Not only do I like the appearance of the bunches of tall stems holding clusters of little white, star-shaped flowers,but they come into their blooms in late summer when bees are searching for food.Of all my herbs, I suspect my girls’ favorite to be hyssop. I started with a two by ten-foot patch of anise hyssop a few years ago

which I’ve allowed to spread to various other parts of my landscape. These aromatic plants grow about three feet tall and

literally team with pollinator life that covers the plants, often several pollinators per bloom working harmoniously side by side.

Each slender purple spike contains a myriad of tiny blossoms that the bees work one at a time, cordially moving out of the way

when necessary to share the bounty with their pollinating kin.

Calendula, nasturtium, lemon balm and mountain mint are other herbs well-liked by bees in my yard but bear in mind that just because bees are said to like a particular plant, they may not show up, depending on what other options are available to them. That’s okay because we welcome all pollinators to the table anyhow! And before you get too carried away like me and exhaust your allotted space, take care to research the growing habits of what you’d like to add, else you plant something that reseeds too much for your taste. As we anticipate warmer days, warm enough to grow our food and reap the benefits of raising honey bees, consider what you’d like to add to your vegetable garden. Carefully chosen plants in a vegetable garden can offer good nutrition to our honey bees when the primary nectar flow ends. While you’re at it, savor some of your honey in a steaming cup of tea, pull out those seed catalogs and dream of honey bees bringing in nectar again this year, just as nature intended.

Did You Know?Submitted by Larry Fritz

WHAT COLORS DO BEES SEE? 1. “A bee’s color perception is comparable to that of humans, but with a shift away from the red toward the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. For that reason bees cannot distinguish red from black (colorless), but they can distinguish the colors white, yellow, blue and violet. Color pigments which reflect UV radiation expand the spectrum of colors which can be differentiated. For example, several blossoms which may appear to humans to be of the same yellow color will appear to bees as having different colors (multicolored patterns) because of their different proportions of ultraviolet.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_von_Frisch#Bee_perception2. “This Hive Portal is uniquely colored to maximize your honeybee's ability to locate its unique home. Based on the principles laid out by the late Dr. Karl Von Frisch's pioneering work in honeybee vision, this Hive Portal is offered in Violet, Blue, Orange and Yellow. These colors are the most recognizable to honeybees, helping them locate their hive. Frisch's work was instrumental in establishing both that honeybees can see not only specific colors, but also that their behavior can be modified. Each color of the Hive Portal was selected and tested to help the bees return to the home colony.

Hive Portals sold by the Betterbee, LLChttp://www.betterbee.com

WHAT COLOR SHOULD I PAINT MY HIVE BODIES? Many beekeepers paint their hives white which is great to reflect the hot summer sun. Some like a slightly darker color, such as light tan, to absorb some of the sun’s rays in the winter, yet it will reflect some of the hot summer sun. While it may seem that a dark color would be ideal for winter, the problem is that if the hive heats up too much, the bees may decide that it’s warm enough to fly out of the hive where they could freeze to death before realizing their mistake. Then in the summer months the dark color will increase the interior temperature beyond the point where the bees are able to cool the interior and they could abscond. Light colors are a better choice. Unfortunately another consideration may be the need to choose a color that reduces the visibility of your apiary to make it less likely to be seen by potential vandals. Another consideration for color is to prevent “drifting”. This can occur if the beekeeper has a straight line of closely spaced hives. A bee exiting a hive can become confused upon returning from foraging and may “drift” to the wrong hive. This is especially disastrous if a virgin queen is returning from her mating flight. If the hives can’t be spaced or oriented to prevent this, different colored telescoping covers and/or hive bodies will help orient the bees when they exit the hive. To reduce drifting, hive bodies can be painted different colors to help bees to return to their correct home.

PAINTING HIVE BODIESThe snow is falling and the wind is howling, and beekeepers are busy preparing for the spring nectar flow.We are buying new hive bodies and repairing and painting older ones. Moisture is a big culprit for shortening the life of expensive woodenware. Consider these tips to prolong the life of your investment.1. Most hive bodies are pine which must be painted to prevent rotting caused by moisture. Cedar hives do not require painting.2. Consider repainting woodenware every 3 years to keep it in top condition and looking good. Use a hive tool to scrape off propolis, dirt, and flaking paint. A final brushing with a wire brush is helpful for removing anything missed by the scraper.3. Do not paint the interior surfaces of hive bodies. It’s very important to paint both sides of the bottom board. Paint the edges and the exposed sides the inner cover and all outside and inside exposed wood surfaces of the telescoping cover.4. Paint all exterior surfaces, including the top and bottom edges, with good quality exterior latex paint. DO NOT USE OIL-BASED PAINT.a. Apply 1 coat of primer/sealer. This can be skipped if you are using exterior latex advertisedas being a primer/paint. However, if the woodenware contains knots, 1 to 2 coats of a primer/sealer is a good idea to keep the knots from bleeding through the paint.b. For added precaution against moisture, you could seal all exterior seams with paintable exterior latex caulk before painting.The bees will seal the inside seams with propolis.c. Apply 2 coats of good quality exterior latex paint.d. A small roller will speed up the process.5. Before painting hive bodies, consider slightly beveling the outside of the top edges. Why? – When 2 boxes are stacked, rain running down the side of the upper box will run in the seam between the boxes. The bees will seal the inside seam with propolis keeping the interior dry. A slight bevel will reduce the moisture that collects between the two boxes, and moisture promotes rot. Check out the file Equipment – Gargoyles are Useful and Free.pdf in the CCBA Digital Library by clicking here.6. What color(s) to paint? Check out the file Equipment - Colors to Paint Hive Bodies.pdf in the CCBA Digital Library by clicking here.

PAINT DRY AND PAINT CURE TIMES~Two Totally Different Things~You finished painting your new hive bodies and after the paint dried, you stored them in the basement/garage/apiary while eagerly awaiting the arrival of your first honey bees. Finally they arrived and it was time to install them in your sparkling new woodenware. Whoa – the hive parts seem to be propolised together and a hive tool is needed to pry everything apart. Doing so pulled off large pieces of paint from where the painted surfaces touched. How could this happen when the paint was dry?Paint can feel DRY to the touch in as little as 1 or 2 hours; however, CURE time usually takes 3-4 weeks. This is because PAINT DRY and PAINT CURE are two different things.Paint “DRY” happens when the solvents evaporate from your paint coating leaving the paint feeling dry to the touch even though it is not 100% dry.Paint “CURE” happens when your paint coating has reached its maximum hardness and is completely 100% dry.When reading the label on your paint can, it will tell you the DRY time, not the CURE time, so how long does it take Latex paintto dry and cure? Dry Time 1-2 hours – Cure Time 21-30 days!!

Some factors which impact dry/cure time:• The thickness of the paint• The number of coats applied• The surface it’s painted on• The sheen of the paint; e.g., flat / eggshell / satin / semi-gloss / high-gloss• The brand and type of paint• The color of the paint and tints used; e.g., longer drying time for dark colors• The overall condition of where woodenware is left to dry; e.g., air flow / humidity / temperature

To check if your paint is cured, do the fingernail test. In an inconspicuous area, press your fingernail into the paint. If it leaves an indent, your paint is not fully cured.If no indent is visible and the surface is hard, the paint has cured and is safe to contact another surface.Until you are certain that the paint is cured, put small finishing nails in the 4 corners of the boxes to keep the edges fromcoming into contact with another surface. To save space you can easily stack at least 4 boxes high without bending the nails.

By Larry Fritz

CCBA 2018 OFFICERSPresident Larry Truchon ltruchon@comcast.netVice President Russell Sprangel sprangel@comcast.netTreasurer Jody King joseph.king2011@comcast.net Secretary Monica Schmitt littlebitmo@gmail.comThe Carroll Bee Editor Olivia Canfield ocanfield@comcast.net

In my opinion......there are no stupid beekeeping questions.

...last year was a bad year for varroa.

...dead-outs suck.

Since not much is going on in the Apiary it is a good time to get around a microscope!

Top left picHamuli - small hooks on a honey bee’s wings that hold the wings together in flight. The first Velcro.

Bottom picBranched hairs of a honey bee. This one is on a wing.

Beekeeper: Russell Sprangler

Pics of the Month

We want your pics! Please submit your bee picture to the Carroll Bee editor to be included in future publications!

Worker Bee Classifieds

CCBA Beekeepers,

Are you replacing colonies wiped out by yellow jackets? Are you expanding your Apiary? Did you not treat for mites?

Now is the time to order packages for early spring delivery. Check out our vendor list, "Vendor List_Jan2017.pdf" in the CCBA Digital Library,

HT Krantz in Frederick is one of several vendors accepting orders for late March or early April pick up. http://www.htkbeesupply.com/product-page/2018-spring-3lb-package-w-italian-queenApril 1st Pickup$110

Also check out Jim Fraser's Maryland Honey Company at: (301) 518-9678

Larry Fritz

FOR SALE - CCBA T-SHIRTS (Navy Blue shown)Short-sleeved navy blue club t-shirts will still be available at meetings Long-sleeved options are also available.The special order color choices are as follows:Short-sleeve - Heather Cardinal Long-sleeve - Navy (same as our short-sleeve club shirts) and Military Green

JOIN THE MARYLAND STATE BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATIONThe cost is $10/year. Click here for the membership application. The application also gives us an opportunity to donate to MDA’s Apiary Inspection Fund. Donations will help to cover the expenses of our state honeybee colony inspectors who work long hours for low pay. These folks are a beekeeper’s friend! Many other states charge us for their services, but in Maryland it is still free of charge. Our contributions demonstrate to the MDA how we feel about this valuable service, and encourages MDA to retain state funding