Monday, January 27, 2014

February 2014 Newsletter

Editors:  Gina Gallucci and Linda Tillman


This gorgeous photo was taken by Annora Ayer, a relative of Gina's.  Certainly makes a beekeeper wish for spring!  Annora lives in the state of Washington.

Message from the President      

             I recently attended the American Beekeeping Federation annual conference at Baton Rouge, LA and was quite pleased to see the work being done around the United States to aid in the “Plight of the Honey Bee”.  Our legislative team positioned in Washington DC reported that all the ABF interests were tucked snugly into the latest Farm Bill.  The president of ABF was happy with the results of that work. Of course the speakers were some of the best in the business giving us up to date research information on CCD, and all the “bugs” we can have in our colonies. 

A spokesperson from Bayer Corporation described the new Bee Team and research lab in North Carolina that they have created to help us figure out some of the bee problems.  We look forward to seeing the results of their work. I also learned that there is a Honey Transshipping* Class Action litigation regarding the illegal influx of transshipped Chinese honey into the United States. Through that litigation, they are actively seeking to recover damages on our behalf from the perpetrators of those crimes. As I gather more info about the details, I’ll keep you posted. 

The conference was 4 days long and there was too much on the agenda to list everything, but some other topics were:  Flight and Foraging Dynamics of the Honey Bee; True source Honey update; Honey Bees and Soybeans; Pollinator Habitat; National Honey Board Marketing and Research Update; A wonderful Kids and Bees program; Bee Nutrition; Factors affecting Colony Mortality; Honey bee Plants; Bee Keeping Business Practices and getting Younger Beekeepers involved. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this conference was the American Honey Queen Program.  Many of you know that we have on several occasions hosted the queens from other states in the past few years and these young women have been very impressive. There are about 12 states that actively support the program and actually produce their own queen. 

Why don’t we have a Honey Queen program in Georgia?  What better way to spread the word throughout the state about bees and honey than to have this kind of ambassador speaking on our behalf to schools, civic groups, and public forums and possible representing us on the national level? So in light of that, I have asked one of our members to do a feasibility study and report on it at the fall meeting. If anyone out there would like to help, it would be much appreciated. Call me.  By the way, the Florida Queen won the title of American Honey Queen this year and I intend to try to schedule her for our fall meeting.  

Bear Kelley,
President, Georgia Beekeepers Association


*Editor’s note:  I had no idea what transship meant, so I looked it up on Merriam Webster.  Here’s the definition:  to transfer for further transportation from one ship or conveyance to another.  Here’s a link to an article about the bill.

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From a distance, it will looks like a big painting you might see in a museum, but museums can’t capture the sound.  Fifty feet away, and you will hear it, a humming that sounds like it came from another planet....Your head will say don’t go further, but your heart will be swallowed by it.  You will stand there and think, I am in the center of the universe, where everything is sung to life.”    Sue Monk Kidd- The Secret Life of Bees

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An April Fool - My First Swarm 
by Steve Esau, MABA Member 

April 3, 2013 - Atlanta Georgia: A nice spring day with temperatures hovering close to 70 degrees. I was working from home that day and had just shut down the computer when my phone rang. The red phone on my desk, you know: the swarm phone! Doesn't everyone have a swarm phone? This was it: the call I had dreamed of; the call that would catapult me into the ranks of a true beekeeper or so I thought.

6:19 pm: I answered the phone and heard those wonderful words, "We just got a swarm call. Are you interested?" With as much calm as I could muster in my voice and in an effort to not disclose my swarm virginity, I responded "YES" and promptly wrote down the address and phone number of the surely terrified homeowner. I quickly ran to the basement to grab a ladder and my swarm gear and went out to the pickup with all in tow. I tied the ladder down, placed the gear in back, and off I went.

6:34 pm: The clouds were starting to roll in and there was definitely a chill in the air.
Uggh, rush hour traffic in Atlanta! Seriously, raindrops?

7:15ish pm: I arrived at the location of the swarm. A steady drizzle was setting in and the temperature had dropped to 45 degrees. I knocked on the front door, which was promptly answered. I introduced myself and let the homeowner know I was responding to her swarm call. The homeowner calmly gave me a detailed account of how she and her neighbor were working in their yards planting flowers when a swarm came over the top of the trees and circled three times before settling into a tree in her back yard. She told me that for 18 years while living in California she would get on average a swarm every third year. (18 ÷ 3 = 6) Are you kidding me? Six swarms? I wasn't about to tell her this was my first. She took me back and showed me the swarm. It was beautiful. Picture perfect. The swarm was bigger than a basketball and positioned into a V crotch of a small maple tree about 25 feet in the air.

Steve Esau with his swarm catcher - taken by himself!


7:30 pm: I backed into the driveway and got
everything ready. Catch bucket attached to a
telescoping fiberglass pole. Deep brood box complete
with used brood comb set up to accept my new prize.
Now all I needed to do was capture the swarm. The
cold rain was coming down steadily now and I was in
a hurry, as it was getting darker by the minute. The
homeowner decided this was going to be worth
watching and took up residence on her screened
porch for a front row view, with her little dog in her
lap and a cigarette in her hand. The backyard was
heavily wooded yet nicely landscaped so I carried the
ladder and placed it in position, careful not to step on
any newly planted flowers. I was representing MABA and on "official" business. I donned my veil and headed back towards my ladder with catch bucket in hand. Wow, it was dark out. I looked up and could barely see that beautifully shaped oblong mass 
silhouetted against the cloudy nighttime sky. I climbed the ladder and carefully positioned my catch bucket under the swarm and just off to the side of the branches which were supporting my prize. Was this the best angle to go at the swarm? Steady! Steady! I was really struggling to see due to the darkness so I lifted up my veil just to make sure I was positioned absolutely perfect.

Ready - One - Two - SQUIRREL!

Yes a squirrel. Just as I was about to bucket the swarm a squirrel jumped out of what appeared to be the center of the swarm landing on the rung of the ladder directly across from my face. In my panic as the squirrel decided to exit the situation, I must have hit the swarm with the bucket knocking a good fistful of bees directly onto my unveiled face and down the inside of my shirt. I thought of my audience watching from the safety of her screened porch. With as much professionalism as I could gather, I slowly climbed down the ladder trying not to spill any bees from my bucket. I hoped to salvage some gain from the pain that was being inflicted upon me due to my rude interruption of a planned and choreographed natural occurrence. I walked around the house to the driveway where I performed a beekeepers rendition of the Gangnam Style Dance in an effort to get the situation under control (also known as strip a down to get the wet, angry, and defensive bees off of my body).

{Some of you have figured it out but others may be asking, "Why in the world was a squirrel in the middle of a swarm?" Upon closer observation, the swarm had settled on an occupied squirrel's nest taking on the appearance of a much larger swarm.}

After I gained my composure, I hived the bees in my bucket into the waiting brood box. I went back to the scene of the crime and found a softball size cluster of bees on the ground. I scooped up the wet ball of bees and placed them into the brood box. I grabbed my bucket and pole and again went up the ladder. I jammed the bucket up against the squirrel's nest three or four times in hopes of getting any stragglers into my bucket - bee stragglers that is, not squirrels. I put all of the proceeds into the hive box and closed it up. By then it was pitch black and raining hard and about 40 degrees. I walked to the door of the screened porch where I told the homeowner that I had done about all the damage I could do for the night. She then asked how much she owed me. I said "Ma'am, this is a service MABA offers the public and we appreciate your calling to report the swarm.” I asked her if she wanted me to remove the brood box that night or if it would be all right to leave it there until the next day. I explained that I would leave the entrance open to try and attract the stragglers but there was the chance that they may leave and be up in her trees the next day or leave altogether. My hope was that if I did by some luck get the queen into the brood box the stragglers that were strung out from the squirrel's nest to the driveway would find their way into the box or at least back to their original hive. Worse case scenario, I would come back the next day to an empty box.

I returned the next day in a cold rain to gather and claim my prize. I again knocked on the front door of the house to deliver a pound of honey as a thank you gesture for calling to report the swarm and to let the homeowner know I was retrieving the hive box. The backyard would again be safe for her little dog to re-claim as its domain. I was a little apprehensive though as it was no longer dark and it was very evident I had been stung multiple times on my face - twelve to be exact and that was just my face. As I closed up the front door to the hive body and strapped the lid down tight, my little friend, the squirrel came out of its nest long enough to check me out. 


Photo by Tony Northrup    


I learned a lot that rainy spring day in April.

1.) Always wear a veil.
2.) Bees in a swarm will sting.
3.) Swarms do smell like lemon pledge. 

4.) Squirrels actually live in squirrel nests. 
5.) I love bees. 




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Mary Lou Blohm, Cherokee Beekeepers member, wrote:

In 2013 my husband and I traveled to Slovenia and discovered an incredible little country where one in every 250 people is a beekeeper. Beekeeping is deeply embedded in their history and culture.

This is an AZ hive, the type which is used by Slovenian beekeepers. Access to the inside of the hive is through a back entrance, and frames pulled toward you.

If anyone is interested in seeing the hive and learning a little about the gray bees and beekeepers, I will have it on display at the GBA Spring Meeting in Columbus, Georgia on February 7th and 8th. 

















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Dear Aunt Bee,

After all this bitter cold, finally we had a warm day and my bees were flying. I was so thrilled....at first. Then I realized that they were carrying out TONS of dead bees. At first there were only a few scattered beside the hive but by the end of the day, there was a big pile of dead bodies. Does this mean my hive won't make it through the winter?

Frozen Stiff

Dear Frozen Stiff,

The bees can't fly when the temperatures are as low as they have been. While the bees are generally good housekeepers, they can't keep a clean hive while it's too cold to fly. So when the temperature rises, finally they have the opportunity to carry out the dead.

Whether your hive makes it through the winter depends on how strong it was going into winter, how much honey they had stored, and the impact of any diseases they may have, but carrying out the dead when it's above 50 is a normal part of bee housekeeping.

Keep warm,
Your Aunt Bee 

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GBA Spring Meeting
Columbus, GA 
Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center
February 7 - 8

*****A huge THANK YOU to Paul Berry and the Chattahoochee Beekeepers Club for hosting the Spring Meeting! *****


Hey folks, it is almost time for the Winter/Spring meeting in Columbus, Ga. We have not met in this part of the state as far back as I know, that is going 6 years now, so I for one am very excited about going down and meeting new people.

The Spring Meeting begins with a board meeting and reception on Friday night, February 7. The board meeting and reception will be at the Hampton Inn. 

We will have a good program.  Dr. Jamie Ellis is the main speaker and he is going to have a fabulous discussion on honeybees - what else right? But, he is also going to give us the updates on all the latest and greatest academic research going on with “our girls”.

Keith Fielder, is going to present a seminar on “How to Present your Honey for Competition”. This should be very enlightening for those of you who have never entered the honey show. The idea for a honey show is to help beekeepers learn how to put out the best product that we can present to the public. You can have lots of product to sell, but if it is in a sticky dirty jar, you probably aren’t going to have a lot of repeat customers. Better yet, if you win a ribbon, you can “brag” about your accomplishment to your customers and actually charge a little more. Learn how to put your best honey forward from Keith.

Come to the meeting, hang out with your fellow beekeepers from across the state, and let's all dream about spring together!

See you there!
Mary Cahill Roberts, Vice-President, GBA 

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Two special forum opportunities at the February meeting:

**There will be a Club Presidents' Forum to brainstorm ideas about local clubs and increasing member participation

**There will be a Newsletter Editor Forum during the breakout sessions - this is a time for club newsletter editors to meet with Gina and Linda and share reactions to the GBA newsletter and ideas for enhancing local club newsletters. 

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This is a bird feeder being used by Bruce Morgan to feed his bees dry pollen bee pro. Photo by Bruce, taken in December. 



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Strange Winter Behavior
By Bob Grant
Bob's Bodacious Bee Bordellos AKA: Turning Creek Artisans

As many of you know, my bee bordellos are located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, not that far from the Appalachian Trail, which, by the way, is a good place for bordellos. Last winter from December through March, we had a particularly cold winter with temperatures that could change from sub-freezing to a balmy 50F to 60F in the course of 24 hours. This radical change in temperatures brought about a strange problem. When I checked my ladies on the warmer days I sometimes found small clusters of bees (6-10) frozen around honey comb, but away from the main cluster. This continued until the weather moderated or the colony died with numerous little clusters of bees on patches of honeycomb even though there was plenty of honey in the double hive-body boxes. I spoke with other mountain beekeepers who also experienced the same phenomenon.

Now I'm seeing this occurrence at several of my field feeders as well, but generally it seems to be limited to only one or two bees. Prevailing wisdom is that the bees should return to the cluster before freezing occurs. In other words, the bees know it's getting colder and can feel their temperature dropping, and head home to the warmth of the cluster. So...what is causing this strange, in-hive, out of character behavior in our ladies?
  • Are the ladies so intent on collecting food that they lose a sense of the rapid temperature change?
  • Are the queen's pheromones weak or weakening during the winter months?
  • Are the temperature changes too rapid and the ladies can't react quickly enough
  • Are there additional stresses within the hive contributing to this strange behavior?
  • Is it some combination of the above?
This is potentially a significant issue for the mountain beekeepers and possibly others as well. I would really like to hear from other beekeepers who may be having this experience, particularly from the Piedmont and mountain areas of the state. More importantly -- how can we prevent it from occurring inside the hive during the winter? There is a lot or research going on at a number of universities, but this topic has not been covered to my knowledge. We need practical solutions to help us reduce the extraordinary losses we face annually.

So far this year, the temperature swings during the sub-freezing nights and warmer days have been limited to 20-30F deltas*, not quite as bad as last year. I have only seen traces of this problem, but the winter is young and February is fast approaching. I am hoping that the elimination of Varroa mites and small hive beetles, from the November oxalic acid vapor treatment, could significantly reduce the overall hive stress levels to the point that the bee behave is not severely impacted and the ladies act in a more normal manner. 

Editor's note:  *Delta T is the change in temperatures over a given time period. The formula for Delta T is the final temperature minus the initial temperature.

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Note from your editors: This article and others have inspired us to begin a new section of the newsletter starting with the March Edition: Letters to the editor. If any article or
anything in the newsletter triggers a reaction in you or if you have a comment on any article in the newsletter, send your thoughts and comments to gbanewsletters@gmail.com with "Letter to the editor" in the subject line.


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Street Cred:
This is a very interesting article about how honeybees, humans and other creatures forage – it is typical to follow what is understood as the Lévy walk. To read the article in full, click here.

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Our newsletter website  gets visits from all of you and all over the world. 

Since we started, we've had almost 4,900 hits, 320 this month (January) Yesterday we had visitors from Germany, Greece and Russia (Moscow). 

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Christine Fahrnbauer inspecting her bee hives - Christine is vice president of the Cherokee Beekeepers Association 
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 This newsletter website gets visits from all of you and all over the world.  Since we started, we've had almost 4,900 hits, 320 this month (January)  Yesterday we had visitors from Germany, Greece and Russia (Moscow).
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Club of the Month

Cherokee Beekeepers Association

The Cherokee County Bee Club meets in downtown Canton at 7pm on the 3rd Thursday of the month, except in March for the spring field trip, in June for the summer workshop
and picnic and our annual holiday dinner in November. The club had an earlier presence, but died out in the 80’s. Spring of 1994 the club was re-established 
with emphasis towards practical beekeeping and promoting the education and understanding of bees. Club membership for 2013 was approximately 145 and our monthly attendance ranges from 40-70 people. It has always been the statement of the club that “if members do not go home a better beekeeper, the club is not doing its job.”

This spring on February 15th the club will host its 20th annual Bee school which typically draws 120+ attendees plus workers. Cost is $45 and includes catered barbecue lunch and a year membership in the club. Morning workshops will be teaching the basics of getting started and the understanding of bees. The afternoon is hands-on with walk-by stations and beehives.
What is unique about our Bee school is that we bring 8-10 working colonies (weather permitting) and in the afternoon, we do several “how to” workshops, and workshops identifying potential problems. We allow the students hands on with each of these workshops and then time at the end of the sessions to go into the hives and experience: pulling frames, looking for/ identifying brood, queen, etc. It is quite amazing to see many first time students going into the hives! The club really tries to promote an atmosphere of helping the students establish a comfort level with the bees. We feel that our Bee school is thoroughly able to equip first time beekeepers with the most pertinent of skills and information necessary to ensure a favorable start. Many attendees have stated there is no comparison to other bee schools they had attended previously:)


Cherokee Bee Club is also very excited to begin a pilot program this spring that will allow small groups to gather into Bee groups and meet for a set period of time to do whatever the group decides they would like to do. These group members will set an agenda, contribute information and get to know bees and each other for a set time period. At the end of the period, the group can open up, accept new or different members and start anew. This is in addition to our monthly meetings to give members, especially new beekeepers, a venue to gather advice and information and even set up possible field trips to each others bee yards to learn and grow in their hobbies.

The Club is also excited to implement the 1st Year Beekeeper Colony Loss Assistance Program. This a very unique idea which pairs first year beekeepers who have suffered a winter bee
loss with an experienced beekeeper to host a doubling of the brood chamber and grow bees to make a spring split. Both beekeepers benefit from the cooperation. We already have several
signed up for this and are looking forward to its implementation.

We welcome anyone to attend our meetings, sign up for Bee school, or join our club. Our website is www.Cherokeebeeclub.com
Feel free to visit our Facebook page as well :)


Christine Fahrnbauer
VP Cherokee Bee Club 

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Honey Raspberry Glazed Salmon 
(Yield: 4 to 6 servings)

1 whole side of salmon, or 4, 6 oz. salmon fillets
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons raspberry balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil (for brushing salmon)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
If using a side of salmon, cut about halfway through the flesh about every 2 to 3 inches so there are some spaces for the glaze to sink in.  If using salmon fillets, slice about 8 to 10 sliced angles into flesh, to help flesh more completely soak in the glaze.
In a small bowl or cup mix the salt, pepper and dry mustard.
In a medium glass bowl, heat the honey in the microwave for 30 seconds to liquefy further.  Remove from the microwave and mix in the raspberry balsamic vinegar.
Brush both sides of the salmon with olive oil.  Season the flesh side with the spice mixture.  Brush the flesh generously with the honey-balsamic mixture.
Bake the salmon for 10-15 minutes or until done to taste. 

Honey Raspberry Glazed Salmon 
(Yield: 4 to 6 servings)


1 whole side of salmon, or 4, 6 oz. salmon fillets
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons raspberry balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil (for brushing salmon)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
If using a side of salmon, cut about halfway through the flesh about every 2 to 3 inches so there are some spaces for the glaze to sink in.  If using salmon fillets, slice about 8 to 10 sliced angles into flesh, to help flesh more completely soak in the glaze.
In a small bowl or cup mix the salt, pepper and dry mustard.
In a medium glass bowl, heat the honey in the microwave for 30 seconds to liquefy further.  Remove from the microwave and mix in the raspberry balsamic vinegar.
Brush both sides of the salmon with olive oil.  Season the flesh side with the spice mixture.  Brush the flesh generously with the honey-balsamic mixture.
Bake the salmon for 10-15 minutes or until done to taste. 

(The recipe which can be found on Taste of home, garnishes the salmon with fresh oregano - see photo)

 Recipe from Deborah DeLong, speaker at the 2014 American Beekeeping 
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Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise Their Master’s flower, but leave it having done,
As fair as ever and as fit to use; So both the flower doth stay and honey run. ~ George Herbert, The Church-Providence

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Jennifer Berry has offered us an article she has written for Bee Culture. The article because it was for a magazine is too long to print here, so we are putting it in full on a "page" on our Spilling the Honey website. You can click here to read Jennifer’s article. 

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The Beekeeper’s Bucket
By Julie Civitts Mountain Sweet Honey

You’re ready to go out in the bee yard to inspect your hives. You choose the tools you think you may need and then toss them in a cardboard box, an old milk crate or in the back of the pick-up truck, and off you go, hoping you have not forgotten anything.

You arrive at the bee yard, fumble through the box to find your hive tool. After uncovering your first hive, you realize that you forgot the new frame perch that you wanted to try. You cover up the hive to prevent robbing. You go back to the pick-up truck and reach for the frame perch which has now slid to the back of the bed of the truck, because you never put it in the cardboard box or milk crate at the house.

You then walk back to the hive and proceed to inspect. As you start to jot down a note about the condition of that colony, you realize that you don’t have a pen in the pocket of your jacket as you thought you had. You walk back to the truck, go through the box or milk crate that contains all the tools that you thought you had and, not finding a pen, even in the cab of the truck, you say to yourself, “I need to get more organized”.

Have you ever found yourself in that predicament?

Well, a “Beekeeper’s Bucket” may be just what you need, especially for someone just starting beekeeping. One day while in our local hardware store, I spotted a “75 Pocket Bucket Tool Organizer that fits most standard buckets.” With excitement, I showed it to my husband and we decided to give it a try. On the way home, I was thinking of all the neat little gadgets to go in all the neat little pockets and I looked forward to my next bee yard adventure.

The bucket organizer turned out to be a great cheap (around $7.00) investment. It holds so many tools and our smoker even fits inside the center of the bucket. Here is a list
of we usually keep in our bucket: a smoker, cardboard, utility lighter, two hive tools, frame lifter, frame cleaner tool, queen marker, queen marking tool, entrance reducer, frame perch, frame grip, frame spacing tool, bee brush, Gorilla tape, rags, screwdriver, scissors, stapler, staples, pliers, utility knife, wire cutter, three pens, and clipboard with paper.



Having our Beekeeper’s Bucket loaded with tools makes life as a busy beekeeper a little simpler by being a little more organized. We just grab it and go! 
















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Want to See your Bee Photos on the GBA Web Page? Read This!
I hope everyone is keeping warm this winter! Brrrrrrrr!

After speaking with Bear (well emailing) we have decided to put different pictures on the front page of the website. So instead of just using photos I have taken, I would like to request photos from our members for our website.

I’ll need about 10 pictures and of course I’m looking for a beekeeping theme in all of them. I suspect that I’ll take entries until the end of February and then pick the 10 I need and have them posted around March 1st. I intend to keep all entries for future use on the website so any photos submitted, if not use initially will have the potential to be used in the future on the website. Photos will not be used in any other way unless I/we get the owner’s permission. You can submit as many entries as you wish. This is NOT an awarded contest except for having your photo placed on the GBA website.

What will I be looking for?

Bees, of course but interesting pictures of things that people don’t generally get to see with bees/ beekeeping. Anything with Georgia and bees/ beekeeping is a plus. I’m a fan of nature shots and bees on flowers and various hive activities are always fascinating. I’m not a people person but there’s something about seeing little children working bees that really captures everyone’s attention.


Rules...we’ve got to have rules.
  • Please, please please no business names, logos, web addresses or any type of “free” publicity in the photos! Simply put if I think you are trying to get something out of this other than having your personal photo placed on the site, I’ll not accept them.
  • File format can be just about any type however jpeg is the simplest for everyone. Oh, and for the tech savvy folks no imbedded info please (you know what I’m talking about). I’ll delete it as soon as I see it.
  • Photos should be self-explanatory; I don’t have room for text except for name and location. This last one isn’t really a rule but it helps me...If you are sending multiple photos (more than 2 or 3) placing them in a zip file is much easier for me.
    Entries can be sent to: webmaster@gabeekeeping.com Title the subject line: GBA photo entry.  Please provide the name of the person who took the photo and location if applicable, i.e: “Bill Owens Atlanta, GA.”

    I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone has in their photo albums. See you at the Spring Meeting!
Bill Owens
Webmaster 

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Survey:  

Last month our survey was about smoker fuel. About 28 of you participated. Most of you (79%) use pine straw. Other fuels mentioned were cardboard, wood shavings, wood chips, wood pellets, sumac, and one person used compressed cotton. 


In January and February, many bee clubs offer short courses to help new beekeepers get started. Our survey this month is to find out how many of you got started with a short course. This is a very short survey - just three quick questions.


Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

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Beekeeping in Sri Lanka: a Traveler’s Story
By Chris Pahl, MABA Member


Sri Lankans have two sources for honey– managed honeybees and wild, forest bees. That’s what I learned on a trip last year to Sri Lanka, which is an island nation located in the Indian Ocean. Although the purpose of my trip was unrelated to honeybees, I was able to track down a local beekeeper on my travels and learn a little bit about the customs and practices of beekeeping in Sri Lanka. Since only ten percent of the population speaks English, we communicated through an interpreter. The interpreter received both an education in beekeeping, while also learning some new vocabulary words!

On the drive to the apiary, the temperature inside our minivan peaked at 105, but aside from the persistent heat and humidity, honeybees were on my mind. We eventually pulled into the driveway of a house where beehives sat inconspicuously behind some vegetation in the front yard. From a distance, this looked just like a bee yard one would see in Georgia. When the beekeeper (who was not the owner of the property) arrived from the village, I was able to get a close up look at the hives.


These hives were diminutive in size and had square proportions compared to the larger, rectangular shaped Langstroth type. I also noticed the hive stands, which looked like old
chairs, that seemed to be sitting in liquid filled cans below grade. Through the interpreter I was able to get a few questions answered by the beekeeper.

Q: In the bottom [below the hive] there is a hole with liquid; is that just water to keep the bugs out?
A: The water, ants come...Yes. This is water and engine oil. Many flies come.


Any Georgia beekeeper would understand the problem with ants. However, regarding “flies,” I am unsure whether this is a mistranslation, or perhaps some other insect pest. Perhaps he was referring to some sort of winged beetle? Small hive beetles came to mind. As the hive inspection began, the beekeeper began to remove the rock and some metal scrap atop the hive and suddenly a giant, hearty, fast moving snake slithered out from under the cover. Everyone darted from the hive and had to be coaxed closer again, but the beekeeper promised the snake was harmless and not poisonous. 

Q: The kind of bees that I have, they are called “Italian honeybees.” Do these have a name?
A: Bee honey. Honey Bee [only].
Q: Does it have a special name?

A: This one is big one.
Q: So there is a smaller bee than this?
A: We have another bee. This is the big size. Another bee– no honey.





While shopping, I had noticed lots of insects resembling honeybees which appeared to be foraging for nectar and pollen on the cut flowers being sold in the market. The bees did not seem to be too aggressive, and at about the size of a queen bee, they were noticeably larger than my Italian honeybees back home.

At this point I became perplexed because Apis cerana is known to be a smaller bee when compared to Apis mellifera. These bees did look noticeably smaller than the Apis mellifera, yet the beekeeper was describing his bees as the “big” variety. If these were in fact the large honeybees, what type of bee had I seen in the market? In reviewing my photographs, I noticed that there appeared to be a much smaller, mystery insect foraging alongside the market bees. Perhaps these were the small bees the beekeeper was referring to.



When the beekeeper removed the outer cover, I noticed he was also using an inner cover, similar to what would be found inside a Langstroth hive. And when the top hive box was removed it was clear that the beekeeper was using wooden frames without foundation.

Q: How many times per year can you get the honey? 
A: One year, 12 months, two times
Q: Is that in the rainy season?
A: Yes. But we won’t take honey on moon time. Moon time sleeping. Day time, bee go out. That time to take honey.


Apparently neither Western nor Eastern honeybees like to be disturbed at night. Despite their size and geographic location, I learned that there are tremendous similarities between the two bee species. 

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Meet the Press


We have been editing this newsletter for GBA since October, 2012 and have now put out seventeen issues.  We realized that we have never actually introduced ourselves.  In the photo, Gina is on the left, Linda on the right.

A little bit about Gina:
I began keeping bees 9 years ago. It seemed so interesting- I read The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and toyed with the idea for a couple of years before contacting PN Williams.  Once he told me it would be good thing for my neighborhood’s environment, I was hooked.  I joined Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association and learned what I could.  I was scared and in awe every time I looked in on the bees.  After a number of years on the MABA board I accepted the position of President and currently serve as Past President.  I am a Certified Beekeeper.  All 5 of my colonies survived this winter where I keep them at my home in Buckhead, a very green neighborhood in Atlanta.  Most of my honey becomes Christmas gifts - I am truly a hobbyist.  I feel blessed and lucky to have developed the relationships I have with the people at MABA, Tara and the GBA clubs.  My personal life includes my husband, Philip Dreger, and our two dogs, Shamrock and Blarney.  We have a small business consulting in the construction industry. Other hobbies I enjoy are yoga, painting, reading and as much travel as I can. These things continue to fascinate me just as the bees do!


And a little about Linda:
I began beekeeping in 2006 after taking the MABA short course.  I had wanted to keep bees for 20 years and finally took the steps to do it.  My first bee colonies lived on the deck of my house, just outside my sunporch door.  I loved watching them fly in and out all day.  And I love honey - both for eating and for cooking!  When I began beekeeping, I started my blog: www.beekeeperlinda.com so I would have a way to share my experience with my family in Mississippi.  Over time, the blog has gained quite a following and now gets about 1000 hits a day in bee season.  I've felt surprised to find that it is listed on club websites all over the country as a good site for beginning beekeepers to visit. I’ve continued to post about all my experiences: successes and failures.  Along the way I’ve done the training levels at Young Harris and earned my Master Beekeeper in 2010.  I’m a member of MABA, Tara, and GBA.  In real life when I am not a beekeeper, I am a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Midtown, Atlanta.  I live in Virginia Highlands with my two dogs.  I’m also a grandmother to three great kids.  When I'm not working or with the bees, I'm a bread baker, a quilter, and a knitter and passionate about each of those.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Upcoming Bee Events:February 7-8, 2014

GBA Spring Meeting at Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, 3535 South Lumpkin Road, Columbus, GA 31903  The hotel is the Hampton Inn on Lumpkin Road in Columbus.  The room rate for the meeting is $83 a night.  Make your reservations now.

February 22, 2014

Several Georgia bee clubs are holding short courses.  You'll find information at their websites.  The following clubs are the ones whose information we have:
Cherokee Bee ClubCoastal Empire Beekeepers ClubForsyth County Bee ClubHenry County Bee ClubIf you know budding beekeepers, give them this information.


March 15, 2014

Welshfest Honey Show, Rockmart, GAGBA now has an online calendar.  You can access it from the Events page or the home page. If you have events that you'd like to see in the Newsletter or on the calendar, send them to gabeecalendar@gmail.com~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Final Buzz:  Guidelines for submission to the newsletter

Keep those articles and photos coming.  We love hearing from each and every one of you and try to use everything you send.   If we don't use it in the immediately published newsletter, we are saving it for later, but we love to publish your bee-thoughts, photos, questions for Aunt Bee, and articles.


GUIDELINES for SUBMISSION:
Please keep your articles to about 500 words.  Send them to us as word documents, attached to an email.  This is a newsletter and we want to keep things short and sweet.
Please attach photos to the email - do not put them in the body of the document - we'll just have to email you to ask you to send them as attachments - so start out by attaching them to your emailed submission. Please tell us who took the photo and who/where it is/when it was taken.Remember:  Letters to the editor about anything in the newsletter or the newsletter itself are welcome - please write us!


Don't be shy - we love what you contribute and will work with you to edit it, if need be.


Thanks,  Your editors:  Gina Gallucci and Linda Tillman

Thursday, January 2, 2014

January 2014 Newsletter


Editors:  Gina Gallucci and Linda Tillman
Photo by Brutz English.


Beekeeper in photo is Wayne Hughes of Upson County, GA














This is the cover photo of the GBA Facebook page.  Have you visited?  The page run by Brutz English is full of helpful posts and information.  Bear, our president, often posts - you can, too!  Please use the Facebook page as a way to share information about bees and beekeeping.  Here's a link to the page.

Message from the President  
Happy New Year to all.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and you’re ready to move on to 2014. (Oops! it’s too late, we’re already in it!)

I would like to dedicate this year to the new member: those who may not be members yet or those who have just joined our association.  A potential new member may very well be an experienced Georgia beekeeper. As I have moved about the state since September, I’m finding that we have so many beekeepers in Georgia that they can’t all be counted. 

I recently had a meeting with Mr. David Williams, The Supervisor of Beehive Inspectors for the Georgia Department of Agriculture.   He assured me that there are well over 2,000 beekeepers in our state.  Hobbyist, part timers and commercial apiaries are in almost every county throughout the state.  But when you look on our “Club” map on the website, there are many areas that don’t reflect any activity. As far as current membership, we have a little more than 300 members in the Georgia Beekeepers Association.  That is less than 15% of the beekeepers in our state.  What have we been doing wrong? Our Spring Meeting is next month and sadly we only expect about 100 members to attend. 

We now have four regional Directors, and I have asked them to canvas their areas and beat the bushes to round up these wayward folk and bring them in to the colony.  Club Presidents, we really need you to make it a priority to encourage your club members to join GBA as well. Dues are only $15 for the year. 

Do things that encourage membership in GBA. Have a raffle to earn money to send a member or two to Young Harris to become certified.  The tuition is only about $150.  And then encourage those beekeepers to join GBA.   Beekeeping classes for the public certainly work to gain local club membership, so continue the encouragement and encourage the participants to join GBA.  Be creative.  
We are looking at our administrative practices at the State Level searching for improvements and bouncing around new ideas that may make a difference. We are looking hard at the speaker program and intending to bring in quality speakers at our state meetings.  We are searching for the best meeting sites to encourage state beekeepers to attend our two annual meetings.

Why join GBA,  you may ask?  There is power in numbers.  I am attending the American Bee Federation annual meeting this month in Baton Rouge, LA.  And Mary Cahill-Roberts is attending the EAS Meeting this summer. When we go to national meetings, we are representing our state and our GBA membership. It makes a big difference when someone is representing 2000 beekeepers rather than 200. 

It makes the same difference when we visit our own state Agriculture Dept or talk with a State Representative about GMO products, Honey and such. We can make a difference. On the local level, we recently took on one particular city in central Georgia when they tried to ban beekeeping within the city limits. About 30 of us showed up for the City Council meeting. After we said our piece, the Mayor excused us. As we were all leaving, he was quite surprised that there were that many beekeepers present when he asked someone, “Are all those people beekeepers?”  The power of many changed the law.   Let’s all work together to make the Georgia Beekeepers Association a true representation of all Beekeepers in our wonderful state.   
    
So “Each one, get One!” 

Bear Kelley
President, Georgia beekeepers Association
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On Tuesday, November 19th Dr. Jamie Ellis, University of Florida Associate Professor of Entomology, gave an interesting talk about the status of the bees to the Heart of Georgia Beekeepers Association. Dr. Ellis is a UGA graduate and studied under Dr. Keith Delaplane.  

Dr. Ellis stated that about 10% of our hives have two working queens.  He went on to say that when we do a queen search, that we stop looking after finding the first queen. If we continued our search to all the frames and hive body, we will sometime find the second queen. The possibility that a hive might have a “spare” queen is something to think about when you need a queen in a hurry.    

Dr. Ellis also described the Cape Bee (a subspecies of the Apis Mellifera known as Apis Meilifera Capensisi) found only in the southern tip of Africa.  We should hope that they stay in South Africa.    We may sometimes have a hive with a few laying workers, but the Cape bee worker's  biology and egg laying ability is quite surprising.  Cape worker bees can lay both workers and drones without the need of a Queen or the worker being mated. The Cape Bee also will take over a conventional  European or Asian bees colony if available.  

Dr. Ellis travels to South Africa and brings back dead Cape Bees.  These dead Cape Bees are studied to determine methods to readily identifying this bee sub specie.  We do not need this Cape Bee to expand to other parts of the world.
Dr. Ellis encouraged the members of the club to visit his informative video site for more information about other aspects of beekeeping.  Everyone enjoyed his presentation.

Contributed by John Wingfield
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Note:  Dr. Jamie Ellis will be a speaker at the GBA Spring Meeting in Columbus, GA on February 8, 2014.

Another featured speaker at the Columbus meeting will be Billy Davis, noted beekeeper and teacher from Virginia.

The program should be very good - plan to come and bring a fellow beekeeper who isn't yet a member of GBA to hear these fine speakers.

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Nectar Management
by Steven Page


Nectar management or checkerboarding is a simple two manipulation method to prevent swarming and increase honey production.   It was developed by Walt Wright in Tennessee in the 1990s.  I have used nectar management for a few years and have had some good results with the technique.  It’s easy, effective and not time consuming.  I have had numerous hives produce more than 100 pounds of honey per year when the average yield in my area is 50 pounds per year.

Required Equipment
A hive consisting of a deep with the cluster and a shallow super of capped honey above.  Two shallow supers of empty drawn comb are required also.  Nectar management requires drawn comb as the colony will not make wax until later in the spring. 

Timing
The first manipulation is done eight to nine weeks before apple trees blossom.  For my area 35 miles southwest of Atlanta the date would be about February first.  The second manipulation is performed in late April or early May.

The First Manipulation
The weather is not much concern because the cluster is not disturbed.   About February first (for my location) open up the hive and remove five frames of capped honey.  Insert in the super five frames of empty drawn comb alternating empty and full frames.  Using the five frames of honey removed add a second super alternating the frames again.  The frames should alternate both horizontally and vertically.  Simply put, if the bottom super left side frame is empty then the next super left side frame will be full.  A third super of empty drawn comb is placed on top then close up the hive. 

Pretty confusing....  The graphics on the following page will help.

Each rectangle represents a frame in the hive.  The deep super on the bottom is represented by the taller rectangles.  Think of this as if you are looking thru the front of the supers at the end of the frames.  The colors represent the contents of each frame.  This example uses ten frame equipment.
Yellow – capped honey
White – empty drawn comb
Green – pollen
Brown - brood

Below you'll see the hive before the first manipulation.  The cluster is in the deep and the queen has started to lay eggs.  The shallow above is full of capped honey. 









Below you'll see the hive after the first manipulation.  The deep was not touched.  The super of honey is now spread out into two supers with frames of empty drawn comb seperating the frames of honey.  A super of empty drawn comb is placed on top.  The honey frames alternate both horizontially and vertically.  The two supers look like a checkerboard.  Prior to the main nectar flow add supers as required so there is always empty comb for the foragers to store nectar.














Why does this work?
The honey cap has been opened up allowing the queen to lay more eggs as the colony prepares for spring.  The foragers can collect and store all the nectar they can find and not fill up all the empty comb.  The workers are unable to backfill the brood nest to shut down queen laying in preparation to swarm.  As swarm season arrives the colony is unable to achieve all the goals required to swarm and their goal changes to collect nectar and make honey for the coming winter. 

The second manipulation
In late April or early May, move the shallow super just above the deep which is full of capped brood to the bottom of the hive. 

Before the second manipulation.




















After the second manipulation.




















The shallow super is now on the bottom and will be used to store pollen after the brood emerges.  The pollen will be used to raise the bees in the fall.

The bottom super        
full of pollen 



















 The hive on Nov. first.














 The bottom shallow super is empty and will protect the cluster from drafts during the winter. 

Finally on February 1, when it’s time to perform the first manipulation again all the required supers are on the hive.  The deep is placed on the bottom.  The bottom empty shallow super is used with the honey super to “checkerboard” the honey.  The top super stays on top. You could even separate the two frames of honey in the top super.....















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Cindy Bee: 

“The bees themselves are all that really matter. ”

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YellaWood® in your bee yard?

By Bruce Morgan

In December Bee Culture magazine was an article about a person who used treated wood hive stands and wondered if the treated wood might be causing queen problems, losing colonies and so on.  I have had similar problems in the last few years.  

I started in 2006 with a few colonies and I placed them on treated 2 X 4 hive stands treated with the green preservative.  Several years ago my building supply started selling the YellaWood® treated wood and I have added more hive stands with it.  

Was this when I started having problems? Or was it my management skills?

After reading the article in Bee Culture,  I did a quick search on the Internet for YellaWood® and within minutes I found this statement: "Do not use preserved wood under circumstances when the preservative may become a component of food, animal feed, or beehives."  

There does not seem to be a problem with the green treatment of wood for hives, since the bee supply companies have been selling it, and beekeepers have been using it for years to preserve all hive components.  All of my hives are made from long lasting cypress wood with screened bottom boards sitting on the hive stands.  

I do know I will be eliminating the hive stands that were made out of the YellaWood® treatment. 













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"Rex non utitur aculeo!  This Latin phrase translates a “The king has no sting”.  It was used by Louis XII of France in 1506, appearing on his breastplate, which was edged with golden bees and beehives."  (Taken from THE SHAMANIC WAY OF THE OF THE BEES. )
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Marybeth Kelley’s Beehive Cookies 
4 T honey
1 egg beaten
1 teaspn vanilla

16 oz. shredded coconut
8 oz. walnuts coarsely chopped
8 oz. dates chopped 
2 Tplain flour. 

Mix together the egg, honey & vanilla.  Beat until well blended and stir in the coconut and nuts.  Coat the dates with the flour and add to the mixture.  Drop tablespoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet (or parchment paper covered baking sheet).  Bake at 325 for 13 minutes or until slightly brown.  Makes approx. 30 cookies.

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Steve Esau, MABA member, shot this photo of his system for weighing his hives
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Club of the Month

Tara Beekeepers Association

Our club meets in Forest Park near the Atlanta Farmers market.  The club has a lot of active members who reach out and help other people in other clubs.  We offer a year round education program to our members, a bee school in October and last year we started a kid’s beekeeping class.  

Our membership is a mixed group of people who have had over 30 years of experience and people with less than 1 year of experience.  The “older” folks are always willing to listen and lend a hand to anyone who needs help.  I really enjoy our club and the camaraderie of all of our members.  We stay after our meetings to drink coffee or a soda and chat about our bees.  We have members who give talks to other clubs because of their vast knowledge of beekeeping.  This gives other clubs in the area a chance to meet our members and also learn.  

I am especially proud of our officers and directors as they are very active in our club and other clubs around the area.  It is very easy to be president of a club when everyone pitches in to do the work.  It is very nice when the officers are always willing to do something.   

Tara Beekeepers is a club that has been around a long time, spun off from the Metro Atlanta club way back when.  The club has had members that served in various positions of the Georgia Beekeepers Association.  A few clubs have spun off of the Tara club.  Beekeeping is contagious and when you get stung the numbers kind of swell up!

I think for our club,  technology is the biggest hurdle to pass.  Since some of members are older they are unfamiliar with the computer and the Internet.  I am more comfortable, but feel less familiar with smart phones, iPads and tablets.  My son plugged our blu ray into the TV the other day just like a computer and we were, to say the least, flabbergasted.  The Tara Club has a website, but our webmaster is 20 years old.  He says it is so easy to take care of but, it seems like cracking safes to me. I tell our club members to get their grandchildren or teenage neighbors to help them out.

Fran Lane is the Vice-President of the club and she has moved our newsletter into email delivery which works for everyone except 3 people, since they do not have computers. Email allows us to be able to communicate more rapidly when there is a problem or a change in location.

Our annual May picnic this year was rained out so we moved it to October.  We communicated with a lot of members by email.  That was really new and exciting for us!

Tara is a great club to belong to and the people are really dedicated to education of the beekeeper and the public.  

Mary Cahill-Roberts
President, Tara Beekeepers
www.tarabeekeepers.org

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As we work in GBA to increase our membership, one of our goals is to make our list of clubs and club presidents current and up to date.  We don't have a complete list of the Georgia bee clubs on our website and we would like to fix this.  Many officers change at the beginning of a calendar year.  To help us get every bee club listed on the GBA website, please send 
  • the name of your bee club, 
  • its location (city or county),
  • your club's website address if you have one
  • and the name and contact information of your bee club president 

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Survey:  Last month we asked (to help the Board) about the location of our spring and fall meetings.  Only 27 people out of the over 300 who get our newsletter responded.  Those powerful voices fell out this way:  

  • 75% wanted the Spring meeting to be in the same location every year and the Fall meeting to be in a different location from the spring meeting, but also to be in the same place each year.  
  • 25% of you wanted the meetings to occur all over the state in different locations.  
  • Two people suggested that the spring meeting be in the same place each year and the fall meeting be in different locations.  

Of course, 27 is only 9% of our GBA membership, so please participate in our surveys if you want your voice to count! 

This month we are curious about smoker fuel.  Please give us your input:
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.


Thanks to Rodney Garner for this idea...

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Come to the GBA Spring Meeting February 7 - 8 in Columbus, GA

The Chattahoochee Valley Beekeepers Association is excited to welcome the Georgia Beekeepers Association to Columbus for the Spring Meeting on February 7 - 8.  We hope you will plan to spend a little time in our town while you’re here.  The meeting is going to take place at our home meeting location, Oxbow Meadows Environmental Center, a division of Columbus State University.  Along with the indoor observation hive, we keep several outdoor hives right outside the door, behind a screen wall, allowing the general public to get safely “up close and personal” with our girls.

Oxbow also keeps snakes, alligators, turtles and other reptiles, native to the area, on display.  It is an active wetland area, open to the public.  An interesting thing to note, Oxbow was built about 10 years ago, directly on top of the old Columbus Landfill (Garbage Dump).  Because of that, you will see methane gas vents in the ground in several  locations. 

Across the street from Oxbow is the National Infantry Museum.  It an experience you do not want to miss.  If you are a golfer, there is a beautiful public golf course next door to Oxbow, also built on top of the old Columbus Landfill.

Columbus is also home to the National Civil War Naval Museum.  In addition to housing Confederate Ironclad Warships that were removed from the bottom of the Chattahoochee River in downtown Columbus, many other Confederate and Union artifacts are on display.  The museum houses the largest collection of American, Union and Confederate flags in this country.

Columbus also boasts the longest urban whitewater rafting course in the country.  The course runs from North Columbus for two and a half miles, ending in the middle of downtown.  An old bridge joining Columbus and Phenix City, Alabama has been converted to a pedestrian bridge, allowing spectators to stand almost directly over the end of the whitewater course.  If the weather is warm, you might be able to purchase a rafting trip down our whitewater course.

We have an extraordinary Softball complex in Columbus which was built for the Atlanta Olympics a few years back.  The Softball Olympic competition was held here at this complex.

Downtown Columbus has some really great LOCAL restaurants, one of which is the Cannon Brew Pub, where you can purchase local beer, brewed right on the premises.  Further north in Columbus are the huge shopping centers which make Columbus a popular regional shopping hub.  Every national restaurant chain in the country can be found there among all the huge national retailers. 

In short, there is a lot to see and do in Columbus while you’re here.  We’ve even arranged a special rate at the Hampton Inn, next door to the National Infantry Museum, so you can stay as long as you like. Our club is excited to have you here!  If we can help you in any way, please call us or visit out website.

Paul Berry, President
Chattahoochee Valley Beekeepers Association
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A Word from Mary Cahill-Roberts

Vice-President of the GBA

What does that mean?  For me, it means working for the organization to make it better.  I have had the pleasure to serve on the GBA board for 3 years.  I have served twice as secretary and now this year I am Vice-President.  I do a lot of work behind the scenes to support the President and other board members.  My main job, over the past two years has been to help organize the GBA educational meetings.  Most people don’t understand the amount of work it takes to be able to get people together to educate a group over a one or two day event.  I didn’t until I started doing the job. 

How do you get speakers to meet the many needs of our group?  We have very new beekeepers and we have very old beekeepers.  We have beekeepers with one or two hives and we have beekeepers with hundreds of hives. As a beekeeper with a few hives, I can use my hive tool to kill a few hive beetles.  However, someone with more than 20 hives, not so much.  You would be out in the beeyard for hours just killing the beetles, not really doing anything else. 

So it is a real challenge to organize the meetings.  Some people say that the meetings are only for the commercial beekeepers and others say that the meetings are only for the hobbyist!! Imagine how to fix that? 

We have listened to the comments from our attendees and have brought in several people who speak throughout the country and have an academic background.  We have included people to give some basic beekeeping instruction and intermediate instructors.  

We will have a smaller but more focused vendor group.  We are hoping to feature a young artist who will have various artistic beekeeping items for view and sale. Rossman Apiaries will be a vendor so call in your order ahead and pick it up at the February meeting to save delivery charges.  We also are offering some great raffle prizes.  

I hope you enjoy the February meeting and learn something new there.  At our GBA meetings, I love getting to know new people, seeing old friends, learning something from our speakers, seeing new beekeeping gadgets, looking hopefully at my raffle tickets and overall immersing myself in Bee Talk!!

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Dear Aunt Bee,

I always want my bees to be full and happy through the winter, so I feed them like Jennifer Berry told me to.  This year, because I was a little worried about them, I left an extra super of honey on each hive.  Are there risks to leaving too much honey on the hive?

Please reassure me,

Worried About Weight Watchers


Dear Worried,

The best food for the bees to have available to them in winter is their own honey.  Bravo!  You have fed them well.  The natural food produced by the bees is the right pH for them while sugar syrup has a pH that is just right for the growth of some bee pathogens, so leaving the bees their own honey is the greatest holiday gift you can give to them.

The bees treat their honey like you might food stored in your own pantry.  It's food storage so you don't run in and eat everything in sight, right?  The bees look at their honey as back-up for meeting their needs, so just because it is there, they won't necessarily gobble it up unless they need it.

I have often opened hives in the spring to find honey still in the frames that they did not need to survive the winter.

Good job!                                        

Aunt Bee  

Contributed by Eddi Minche 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     
Honey Butter

1 1/4 stick softened butter to 1 cup honey.  Blend together until thoroughly combined.  Store in closed container in fridge. 

This makes a nice gift accompanied with small loaves of specialty breads.  Contributed by Marybeth Kelley    
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  "I love working with big flavors like chiles and smoke.  Honey is perfect for softening the edges, mellowing them out a bit.  I put it in everything – vinaigrettes, soups, stocks, salsas, so I’m always on the hunt for great honey."   – Bobby Flay
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Upcoming Bee Events:
January 18, 2014
Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Short Course, Atlanta Botanical Garden.  8:30 - 4:30  $95  If you know someone who'd like a good start in beekeeping, suggest our short course.  Information, click here.  

January 25, 2014
8:00 - 4:00  Lake Country Beekeepers Association Beekeeping Short Course.  Hancock Extension Service, 12534 Augusta Hwy, Sparta, GA  $40 for pre-registration, $10 each additional person.  Children under 18 with paying adult are free.  Includes lunch and a textbook.  Registration contact Bruce Morgan 478-357-4029 rbmorgan@hughes.net

January 25, 2014 
8:00 - 4:00.  Coweta Beekeepers Association: Introduction to Beekeeping Course.  Coweta Extension Office, 255 Pine Rd, Newnan, GA 30263  $50 pre-registration, $10 each additional person.  An introduction to beekeeping, topics include honey bee biology, functions of a colony, assembling a bee hive and much more.  Registration:  www.cowetabeekeepers.org

February 7-8, 2014
GBA Spring Meeting at Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center, 3535 South Lumpkin Road, Columbus, GA 31903  The hotel is the Hampton Inn on Lumpkin Road in Columbus.  The room rate for the meeting is $83 a night.  Make your reservations now.
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The Final Buzz

This issue shows another great sharing from our beekeeping clan, the Georgia Beekeepers
Association. Our deadline each month is the 25th of the month. Please help get to the new year off to a high energy start by sending an article, photo (winter shots are needed), letters to the editor regarding what you read here, favorite technique or quote - we love it all.  Send your items to gbanewsletters@gmail.com and we will be so glad to get them.

Your editors,

Linda & Gina