Vol. 15 No. 3                    September 2004

Do you still need a reason to attend this year’s fall meeting? How about the Friday night crab boil and awards dinner. For the past two years Mr. & Mrs. JM Sikes have provided the best low country crab boil this side of the Mississippi. This year they plan to do it again. If you haven’t had a chance to attend a GBA meeting in the past, this would be the meeting not to miss.

Another rewarding opportunity at this year’s GBA meeting is the annual Georgia state Honey Show. Honey show classes include extracted light, amber and dark honey, chunk honey, cut or section comb honey, black jar, molded or dipped candles, beeswax block and mead. Participants may enter in one or all of the classes with only one entry per class. All honey and beeswax must have been produced by the submitter within the last 12 months except for mead. All honey entries are to be submitted in 3 matching jars except for the black jar which will be provided. Submit extracted honey in standard one pound plastic or glass containers. Chunk honey may be in one pound chunk honey jars or pints. All beeswax entries must be 100% pure beeswax. Do not label the entries in any way. Stickers will be provided and numbers assigned by the registration Steward. All entries must be submitted by noon, Friday, September 24 to qualify. Even if you have never entered your bee products in a honey show before, there is no time like the present. An award ceremony, which will include best in show, will follow the low country crab boil Friday evening.

Several vendors plan to attend the meeting as well. Rossman apiaries and Dadant & Sons plan to bring beekeeping supplies and equipment. You can purchase equipment on the spot or order it from them directly to be shipped to you later.

The Board of Directors will meet Thursday, September 23 at 7:00pm at the UGA bee lab. All GBA officers, directors, and association members are encouraged to attend.

The GBA has blocked off a number of rooms at the Microtel Inn located in Athens. The room rate is $55.00 for a double and will be available until September 13th. Call now to reserve your room at (706) 548-5676 or toll free at (877) 663-8737. There are many other hotels in the Athens area to choose from if the Microtel Inn doesn’t suit your needs.

Directions to bee lab:

From the Athens perimeter: Proceed to the south side of the Athens perimeter and take the exit for Watkinsville (441) south. Go to Hog Mountain Rd. (the 4th red light with a RaceTrac gas station on the corner) and take a right. Just up the road on your left will be a sign for the UGA Horticulture Farm. Turn onto the dirt road just before the white house and follow the lane back to the white building with blue windows.

From the south: Head north on 441. Continue past the exit for State road 53 to Watkinsville. Turn left at the second red light past the exit for 53. This will be Hog Mountain Rd. There will be a RaceTrac gas station on your left. Just up the road on your left will be a sign for the UGA Horticulture Farm. Turn onto the dirt road just before the white house and follow the lane back to the white building with blue windows
Applicants to any level are asked to check their intention on the registration form and pay the appropriate fee. Questions about the program may be addressed to GMBP director Robert Brewer at (706) 896-2024.

Jerry Shumans, commercial beekeeper in Baxley, reported a yard of bees stolen sometime the night of August 26-27. A total of 38 hives were removed from the site, with hive stands thrown aside to make room for a truck which rutted the site with tracks. The Appling County Sheriff's department has collected evidence from the scene. Jerry reports that the 38 hives were all 10-frame equipment, mostly new, and all branded "Shumans." He suspects that the thieves may try to rent or sell the hives to area farmers for cucumber pollination. Any information about these stolen hives can be directed to the Appling County Sheriff's department at (912) 367-8120, Appling County Extension director James Clark at (912) 367-8130, or Mr. Shumans at (912) 367-2243.

Two years ago the UGA honey bee lab undertook an ambitious, long-term breeding project to combat some of the issues facing beekeepers today. Our goal is to reduce pesticide use in the beekeeping industry while simultaneously selecting for traits of economic interest. The program design consists of a closed population breeding scheme to select simultaneously for (1) reduced colony Varroa populations, (2) hygienic behavior, (3) increased brood production, (4) brood solidness, (5) high honey production, and (6) gentleness. With mite resistance on the rise for coumaphos (CheckMite™) and fluvalinate (Apistan™) it is imperative that a mite resistant stock be developed while still retaining other important qualities like honey production.

In 2002 we set up 50 5-frame nucleus colonies with 2 frames of brood and bees and a queen. The queens came from a variety of different sources (purchased and donated), maximizing genetic variation in our initial stock. In 2003 we re-queened the 50 breeder colonies with inseminated daughters from the original mother queens. Next, every colony was tested for each of the parameters in our selection program. After the data were analyzed, four superior queens were selected and over-wintered. Spring 2004, we re-queened each of the breeder colonies with daughters grafted from the four superior queens. These daughters were open mated and once satisfactory egg laying began, testing resumed. In the table below are the results comparing the 2003 and 2004 generations. Between 2003 and 2004 there were significant improvements in net colony weight gain, brood production and hygienic behavior, but no improvements for brood solidness (an indicator of inbreeding), Varroa mite numbers, or gentleness.

Next year we will repeat the same procedure of re-queening, testing and selection. Hopefully, in the near future, we will have genetically-improved queens available to Georgia beekeepers. We will keep you informed.

The summer season is coming to an end; however, there are still numerous tasks that need to be accomplished before winter arrives. This is a critical time of year for our colonies, especially if the nectar flow in your area was marginal. Populations are large which translates into plenty of hungry bodies to feed. Spring or early summer honey stores may be quickly exhausted, therefore colony inspections are crucial. I receive numerous calls this time of year from beekeepers that their colonies have died. Upon inspection, I find they starved. This usually occurs when beekeepers take their colonies a good distance from home to take advantage of particular nectar flows. They leave their colonies assuming a flow is imminent only to return several weeks later to find no flow transpired; therefore their colonies perished. Starvation is particularly disturbing since it can be avoided. If colonies are on the verge of starvation, feed immediately with a 2:1 sugar syrup solution. However, if they have enough stores but will need supplemental feeding before winter arrives, wait to feed until the end of September with a 2:1 sugar syrup solution. You don’t want to stimulate the queen to begin excessive egg-laying with the winter just around the corner. Remember, single hive bodied colonies will need 35 - 40 pounds of honey to last the winter dearth.

Another task is to monitor your colonies’ Varroa mite levels. Not only has your bee population grown over spring and summer, but your pest populations may have grown as well. If your colony has more than 60 mites on a sticky board inserted for 24 hours, it is time to treat. If you are unfamiliar on how to monitor mite populations in your colonies check out http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/Disorders/Varroa_mites.htm. There’s information available on how to examine mite populations along with IPM approaches like using bottom screens to reduce mite infestation levels. Remember…always rotate chemical treatments. If you used CheckMite™ last time, treat with Apistan™ this time. You also have a third option available to you this year, Api-Life VAR. This product uses essential oils as its active ingredient and has shown significant success against Varroa. It is available under a section 18 registration and can be purchased through Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (1-800-233-7929).

You may to consider preventive treatments against AFB and EFB, as well as vegetable oil treatments if you are concerned about tracheal mites. You can learn more about these disorders at http://www.ent.uga.edu/bees/Disorders/Honey_Bee_Disorders.htm. Finally, resolve any queen problems you may have in your colonies. Weak or old queens result in small colonies which rarely survive winter. If colonies are weak, combine them with other weak colonies or add to an existing strong one.

Once again I am hearing reports of a poor sourwood flow from our northern beekeepers. However, there were some spots that did make a few supers of honey, but it was spotty at best. I say again…maybe next year.

Electronic Delivery of Georgia Bee Letter 

If you would like to receive Georgia Bee Letter via email, send me your address at jbee@bugs.ent.uga.edu for the next month. I will be changing addresses soon because I have had too many problems with the “bugs” server. I apologize to those of you who sent me a request in the past few months. Those requests were lost due to a virus in the server. Please send me your address again. Also, notify me if there are changes to your club meeting times or contact persons.If you have sent me your address and not received GBL, please send it again. We sometimes experience computer viruses on campus. Also, notify me if there are changes to your club meeting times or contact persons.

How to Get Georgia Bee Letter

Ask your county Extension agent to put you on the mail list. GBL can be received electronically by emailing your request to jbee@bugs.ent.uga.edu . If you receive multiple copies, please tell your county Extension agent.