January, 2001

Bee Tidings is a cooperative publication of the University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and the Nebraska Beekeepers Association. The newsletter announces events of interest to beekeepers, provides timely advice, and summarizes current research that beekeepers can use.

In this Issue:

• Nebraska Beekeepers Association Highlights
• Marketing Honey, 1972 -- A Year to Remember
• A Status Report on Resistance to Varroa Mites in the U.S.
• Beginning Beekeeping Workshops in Kearney and Omaha
• Master Beekeeping Workshop
• Successful Queen Rearing Short Course
• Subscription Information

The Nebraska Beekeepers Association has an annual meeting the weekend before Thanksgiving that features invited speakers, a banquet, a silent auction, a honey cookie contest, beekeeping equipment displays, and lots of time for fellowship. This year's meeting was hosted by Michelle and Dennis Stenner in Omaha.

Invited speakers included Dr. Greg Hunt, a Professor from Purdue University, Steve Condon, an innovative producer-packer from West Virginia, Marlene Thomas, Past President of the Eastern Apicultural Society, Chris Baldwin, a South Dakota honey producer, and Fletcher Miller, a beekeeper from Alaska.

Dr. Greg Hunt

Dr. Hunt presented his work on the genetics of stinging behavior. Many beekeepers were surprised to learn that guard bees do not sting intruders. Dr. Hunt's studies show that the role of guard bees is to incite other bees to sting intruders. He found that Africanized bees become guards at an earlier age, and that they express guarding behavior longer than European bees. His studies suggest that the highly defensive behavior of Africanized bees is triggered by their guards arousing more bees to defend their hive than are aroused by European guards. Dr. Hunt has also mapped genes related to stinging behavior that can used in bee breeding. In addition to presenting his research, Dr. Hunt reviewed the experiments that have been done in the last century to examine learning and intelligence in honey bees in a presentation titled, "Are Bees Smart?" Like all good scientists, he presented the evidence and challenged his audience to decide for themselves.

Steve Condon shared many innovative marketing ideas that have worked for him in his producer- packer business. I found his specialty packs for weddings, political candidates, tour companies, and other special interest groups exceptionally creative. He packs a variety of value added products and specializes in small quantity packages such as his 4 oz. comb honey package. Steve recommends a book by Spencer Johnson titled, Who Moved My Cheese? to all beekeepers who pack all or some of their product for market. It is widely used in training programs by both wholesale and retail merchants, and it has a good message about thriving in a changing market.

Marlene Thomas presented strategies that she and her husband, Glen, have developed to produce and market lotions and potions that they formulate from bee products. I have to agree with her that this is a neglected opportunity for marketing bee products at a premium price. Simple lip balms, hand creams, soaps, etc... are not difficult to produce. They require simple processing equipment, and they are superior to many of the alternative products that consumers currently purchase at a high price.

Chris Baldwin discussed the different ways he has made nucs or increase colonies during his 35 years of beekeeping experience. He has resolved that the easiest method is to shake the bees from combs of brood and return the brood above a queen excluder. He gives the bees a day for the young nurse bees to come through the excluder and cover the brood. He then places the brood and adhering bees into nuc boxes being careful to have a mix of both sealed and open brood. He moves the nuc to a new location in the apiary or to another apiary and then immediately introduces a caged queen or ripe queen cell.

Fletcher Miller keeps bees in what I would term an "extreme zone" where temperatures dip lower than I can imagine. He shares the editor's passion for old beekeeping literature, and with temperatures below -50ºF. in winter, he has many good days to sit by the fire and read. Mr. Miller's father and mother were beekeepers in Colorado in the 1920's. He shared information from a journal titled, The Beekeeper's Item, about the history of the Nebraska Beekeepers Association. It was one of numerous beekeeping journals published at the time.

In 1931, there were 13 regional beekeeping associations in Nebraska plus a state-wide organization, The Nebraska Honey Producers Association. The officers included O.S. Bare, Secretary and Myron Swenk, Vice President. O.S. Bare also served as the State Extension Agent in Beekeeping and Myron Swenk contributed research publications on bees and honey plants. Myron Swenk was also the Head of the University of Nebraska Department of Entomology. It is interesting that two of the state's most prominent entomologists focused on bees and beekeeping. At the same time, L.M. Gates served as the State Apiary Inspector. He had a staff of 25 regional inspectors. All beekeepers paid a tax of 10 cents per colony to support inspection. All colonies in selected counties were inspected in a given year. Inspectors then focused on other counties the next year. All colonies were inspected every three years, and beekeepers had high hopes that American foulbrood would be eradicated from the state.

Extensive areas of sweet clover covered the plains, and beekeepers worried about the price of honey and how to market their crop. J.H. Sturdevant of St. Paul, Nebraska, reported success at marketing small squares of granulated honey dipped in chocolate and then wrapped in cellophane. You will find a lot of treasures in older beekeeping books. It is fun to read recent publications, but I especially enjoy reading the old books. After all, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. Thanks, Fletcher, for sharing your family's library and beekeeping history with us.

The National Honey Board is charged with developing and enhancing markets for honey bee products. Increasingly, they are shifting their sponsored research and advertising efforts to promoting the health benefits of bee products. This emphasis reflects a general trend in the marketing of food products with many commodity boards stressing health benefits rather than nutritional value. You can visit the National Honey Board's web site to learn more about their research and promotion programs at http://nhb.org/

Emphasis on nutrition and flavor can provide steady growth to a commodity market, but associating health benefits with a food product has the potential to provide rapid growth. In 1970, Dr. D.C. Jarvis, a Vermont physician, published a book titled, Folk Medicine: A Vermont Doctor's Guide to Good Health (Fawcett Publications, Greenwich, Connecticut). Dr. Jarvis promoted a daily dose of honey as a key element in the good health enjoyed by native Vermonters. The book was widely read and the price of bulk honey jumped from 19 cents per pound in 1971 to 45 cents per pound in 1973. Likewise, the value of honey bee colonies doubled during the same period.

I highly recommend that all beekeepers read Dr. Jarvis' book. The National Honey Board has directed many of their resources towards trying to recreate the "Dr. Jarvis" miracle that breathed new life into a struggling bee industry in the early 1970's. With a per capita consumption of only 1.2 pounds, a small miracle could do wonders for the honey market. I purchased my first colonies of bees shortly before Dr. Jarvis' book was published. When the value of my colonies and the price of the honey doubled in just two years, my interest in bees and beekeeping grew by leaps and bounds. I hope every young beekeeper will experience the same joy that I did in seeing my investment grow while the customers came looking for me. Read the book, or better yet, write a modern day version yourself.

Varroa mites have been in the U.S. for 14 years. Bee Tidings and almost every other beekeeping publication has included articles about varroa in every issue since its discovery in the U.S. The following is a review of what we have learned about living with varroa.

The status of varroa-resistant bees in the U.S. can be divided into three categories: (1) stock imported from Russia, (2) improved domestic stocks, and (3) migrating Africanized honey bees. The USDA's Baton Rouge Laboratory, led by Dr. Tom Rinderer, has released stock to breeders that they developed from queens imported from Russia. The stock is not able to survive indefinitely without treatment, but varroa populations do not increase as rapidly as they do in most domestic stocks. Dr. Rinderer has observed that the stock also frequently exhibits another unusual trait. Queen cells can be found in many of the colonies throughout the brood rearing season. Dr. Rinderer reports that many colonies maintain queen cells with larvae throughout the active season and routinely tear them down if not needed. Some beekeepers who have used the stock feared that the presence of queen cells indicated preparations to swarm, but they found that the bees did not swarm excessively if properly managed.

Domestic stocks are being selected by many beekeepers and a few scientists. There are too many beekeeper-managed selection programs to review in this newsletter. In the scientific community, Drs. John Harbo, USDA Baton Rouge, and Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota, have two of the longest-running breeding programs. Dr. Harbo is selecting for non reproduction or delayed reproduction. He seeks to select colonies with mites that enter brood cells but do not mature viable offspring before the infested brood emerges. He has demonstrated a high degree of resistance in selected single drone-inseminated queens and continues working to fix the trait in breeding populations. Dr. Spivak is selecting for hygienic stocks that detect and remove varroa from brood cells. She has clearly demonstrated the value of hygienic behavior in resistance to brood diseases and has fixed the trait in a breeding population that she has released to bee breeders.

Migrating Africanized bee (AHB) populations reached the U.S. in 1990. Today, Dr. Bill Rubink, USDA Weslaco, reports that varroa mites appear to be accelerating the Africanization process. He has observed that areas where feral European bee populations were devastated by varroa are now populated with Africanized bees. It appears that natural selection in AHB populations is outpacing human-directed selection in European honey bee populations.

Currently, varroa-resistant honey bee stocks can be used to reduce the rate of varroa population growth in colonies. However, beekeepers who purchase resistant stock still need to monitor mite populations and control them occasionally. This raises the question of whether we will be able to develop stocks that resist varroa to the point that colonies require no other measure of protection. Even if we develop a completely resistant bee stock, it will be difficult to maintain the high level of resistance due to the multiple mating strategy of honey bee queens and to the inherent mechanisms that encourage out crossing in honey bees. Beekeepers need to be prepared to employ multiple strategies to reduce varroa injury. Using queens that have been selected for resistance is not a magic bullet to end all varroa problems, but it is a good place to start.

Two Australian researchers, Anderson and Trueman, have provided convincing arguments that Varroa jacobsoni is not the correct scientific name for the parasite that is injuring European honey bee colonies throughout the world. Their research shows that the mite we currently call Varroa jacobsoni is a different mite species that they have named Varroa destructor. While this may seem like a name game, it has important implications for managing the pest.

Varroa jacobsoni was first described in Indonesia where it infests the Indian honey bee, Apis cerana. When varroa was discovered on Apis mellifera, it was assumed to be the same mite. However, Anderson and Trueman's work shows that there are three distinct haplotypes or forms of what we once thought was Varroa jacobsoni. Two are Varroa destructor and can reproduce on European honey bees. The third haplotype is Varroa jacobsoni and can only reproduce on the Indian honey bee. Anderson and Trueman describe the two haplotypes of Varroa destructor as the "Japan" strain and the "Russian" strain. The "Russian" strain is highly virulent. European bees can live with the "Japan" strain.

Why are Anderson and Trueman's findings so important to beekeepers? What appears to be resistance to varroa may be due to a less virulent form of varroa. Both forms of varroa are present in the U.S. When stocks are selected for resistance, breeders need to be certain that they have been challenged with the more virulent "Russian" haplotype. In Brazil, the predominate form of varroa is the "Japan" strain. During a 1996 trip to Piaui, Brazil, I found varroa in some colonies, but I did not see any indications of colony injury. Beekeepers in the region assumed that their colonies were resistant to varroa. Anderson and Trueman's findings suggest that beekeepers in the region could still be severely impacted by the introduction of the more virulent "Russian" haplotype.

Beginning beekeeping workshops are designed to provide the information that new beekeepers need to start and care for a honey bee colony. In two evening sessions, participants will learn about honey bee biology and management. In a subsequent hands-on session, participants will learn how to assemble hives, open and examine colonies, extract honey and prepare hive products for market. Participants can choose either the Kearney or Omaha site for classroom training. Both the Kearney and Omaha groups will meet together for the hands-on session.

Improve your beekeeping skills at an advanced level. The program includes lectures and hands-on training in bee biology and beekeeping. The workshop is designed to provide a level of training that will prepare participants to be leaders in state and local associations and to enhance their skills in presenting information about bees and beekeeping to others. In addition to practical beekeeping, participants will be trained in topics including: pollination biology, dance language, honey bee pheromones, the history of beekeeping, bee anatomy and morphology, bee behavior, Internet beekeeping resources, marketing hive products, and presenting information to youth and public media.

Dr. Marla Spivak is your instructor.

This short course teaches one method of rearing queens that works consistently for both hobby and commercial beekeepers. Topics covered include queen and drone biology, timing of queen rearing in northern climates, stock selection, setting up mating yards, and record keeping. Participants will graft larvae and set up colonies to raise queens. The cost for the 2½ day short course is $85 which includes four meals, refreshments, a cap, and an 80-page manual. Those attending can purchase a professional video demonstrating queen rearing techniques at a discount price of $30. Instructors are Dr. Marla Spivak and Mr. Gary Renter.

Bee Tidings is published jointly by University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension and the Nebraska Beekeepers Association four times a year. Your membership in the Nebraska Beekeepers Association for $12 per year includes a subscription to Bee Tidings.

This newsletter was respectfully written by:
	Marion D. Ellis 209 Plant Industry, Box 830816 University of Nebraska Lincoln, NE 68583-0816 Phone: 402-472-8696 Fax: 402-472-4687 Internet address: mellis3@unl.edu
Your comments and suggestions about the newsletter are always welcome!