The Texas Beekeepers Association Journal Nov / Dec 2013 www.texasbeekeepers.org Issue 13-6 2 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION Issue 13-6 President’s Report from Blake Shook Post Convention Projects for Texas Beekeepers Association Merry Christmas! Free New Beekeeper Membership Project By the time you read this we will be past Thanksgiving and nearing Christmas. Finally a time when beekeepers can catch Beginning in 2014 TBA hopes to offer a free, 1 year a quick breath before the coming year begins to speed our membership to brand new, 1st year beekeepers. This project lives back up again. As many of you know, we had an amazing is still in the works, and will be administered through local convention last month. We had record attendance and, I believe, beekeeping clubs and local beekeeping classes. Watch for more the best program we have ever had thanks to Chris Moore’s hard details in the coming months via your local club. work. I believe TBA is on a path for many years of growth and greater service to the beekeeping industry. It was wonderful to TBA Job Description Project see so many of you at the convention and already we are looking forward to planning to see all of you in 2014 in the Houston This project’s goal is to clearly define the role of each TBA area. I also appreciate being re-elected as your president. It is a Board member, especially the directors. We hope to be able great honor to be able to serve the industry and people who have to get even more accomplished by being more organized and given so much to me. spreading the work load evenly among our board members. Many of you may see TBA as an organization whose sole purpose is to plan and execute a convention once a year. I would TBA Website Project like to share with all of you some of the projects we will be working on throughout the coming year. TBA does so much As many of you already know, we are doing a lot of wonderful more than simply assemble a convention, and as members, things on our website. The site will become very educational, we want you to know that we work to ensure the beekeeping filled with videos, “how-to’s” , interactive maps, and much more. industry in Texas is as strong and vibrant as possible. What follows is a list of projects, and a brief outline of a few of the TAIS Project things we will be working towards in 2014: We continue to work with Texas A&M University to shape Texas Bee Law Project and mold the Texas Apiary Inspection service into a program that is both beneficial and non-intrusive to beekeepers of all Over the next 18 months this committee will be taking a sizes. This is a huge project, of which TBA does not necessarily careful look at the current outdated bee laws, and be ready to have full control, but we are working as hard as we can to ensure update/simplify them in 2015. that whatever program does emerge is best for the beekeeping industry. TBA Convention Handbook Project We are working on several other projects as well, in addition In the next 10 months this group will assemble a handbook to the day to day maintenance and operations of TBA. We really detailing everything that needs to be done in order to make a want to be a service to all beekeepers, and forever welcome your TBA convention happen. This will also include a handbook that input, opinion, ideas, criticism and your help. If you would like to can be given to host bee clubs in order to let them know what is assist us with any one of these projects, just let me know. We can expected of them. always use more help! In This Issue President’s Report.......................................................... 3 Bee Reproduction Signals...............................................14 Vice-President’s Report.................................................. 4 Bayer Opens Clayton Bee Care Facility............................15 Director’s Reports.........................................................4-5 National Pollinator Defense Fund Changes Name...........17 The Buds and the Bees...................................................6-7 Don’t buy Illegal Honey..................................................17 The Brantley Column.......................................................9 BEE-SHIELD..............................................................18 Dinosaur Impact Also Destroyed Bees.............................10 Honey Queens and Honey Chair Reports...................22-25 British Beekeepers Association Survey.............................12 Convention Report...................................................26-37 Nov / Dec 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION 3 Vice President’s Report from Chris Moore Wow, what a great turnout at the convention! Dr Jeff Pettis for next year’s convention. Jeff is a biologist and I would like to thank all those who helped out behind entomologist known for his extensive research on honeybee the scenes – CCBA did an outstanding job as our local host behavior. He is currently the research leader at the United States association. Department of Agriculture’s Beltsville Bee Laboratory. One of Thanks also all our guest speakers; Randy Oliver, Jerry Hayes, his more recent projects is : “Managing Diseases and Pests of Audrey Sheridan, Les Crowder and our local Texas speakers; Honey Bees to Improve Queen and Colony Health.” We all need Dean Cook, Clint Walker, Blake Shook, and Eddie Collins. to learn how to do that. Please let me have some constructive feedback from you We are excited to have Cameron Crane volunteer to be our about what you liked, what you didn’t like and any suggestions local convention liaison/coordinator. Cameron is a member/ for improvement in the future. After all, it is your Association. officer at several of the Houston area associations. We look Mark your calendars now. Next years convention is set for forward to working with him and the local associations. Nov 7th & 8th in the Houston Area. I have tentatively booked TBA has big plans for 2014. Director’s Report from Jim Rowe Disambiguation regarding the term “Beekeeper”. As a responsible beekeeper we provide care and nurturing A Beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees. I spent a for a creature that today is anything but “kept”. As any little time on the internet one evening and searched out the Beekeeper knows, honeybees are not domesticated and we term “Beekeeper”. With further exploration I quickly found that have little if any control over our bees. The best we can do is the term Beekeeper leads to classifications and then types of to provide a clean, dark and sheltered abode. Given all of the Beekeepers. It was all together very concise and academic. It was problems with the various fatal diseases our best can often come as if I had entered “lion tamer” and found that a lion tamer is one up short of our expectations. As we shift from fall to winter, who tames lions. Simple, clean, no doubt about what a lion tamer (such as it is in North Texas), the feedings of sugar syrup, pollen is and does. patties, and previous verroa mite treatments are usually the best As with most definitions, a good deal of information is hope for successfully insuring our hives will survive till spring. missing with regard to what a Beekeeper does in the course of The unseen effort of Beekeeping is the work done over “Beekeeping”. Those of us who pursue this somewhat unusual the winter in anticipation of the next year. Cleaning and re- activity tend to be viewed as unique and perhaps a little....odd. painting dead outs, repair of bottom boards or pallets, repair or That being said, there must be lots of unique, (odd), people replace hive lids and perhaps begin assembly of new hives and out there as the Beekeeping clubs and organizations seem to be equipment to expand our hive count. It all seems a bit much for gaining members year after year. There is no doubt that clubs an insect who just needs space in which to thrive. For the general and organizations are the single most important avenue through public who see us as unique - if they only knew, they would think which new Beekeepers come to join our collection of unique, of us much more than just a bit odd. (odd) individuals. With that in mind, I congratulate the staff and As winter approaches, lets do our best for the bees and remain members of TBA for an outstanding 2013 convention. I’ve never just a bit ....odd. seen so many unique, (odd), people gathered together to share information and gain further understanding of this wonderful insect. 4 THE JOURNAL OF THE TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION Issue 13-6 Director’s Report from Wendy Riggs I’m going to veer off the subject of bees, honey or anything Care to guess how they know? Yep, it’s the nose. The nose knows. beekeeping related for this column. Well, I’ll come back to Blood glucose levels affect the body chemistry, as do seizures. A bees in a moment. If you were at the annual Texas Beekeepers dog is able to detect these changes. Studies have even indicated Convention, I have no doubt you saw me, even if you didn’t meet that some dogs are able to detect certain cancers. Then, of course, me. Actually, you may not have even noticed me, but I bet you there are the PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) dogs, noticed my companion. I was the one that had a yellow Labrador bomb-sniffing dogs, drug detection dogs, cadaver dogs and Retriever wearing a royal blue jacket with me everywhere I went. search-and-rescue dogs, all of which rely on their sense of smell That was Essie, my third puppy to raise for Guide Dogs of Texas, in order to do their job.