National Mite-A-Thon dates are set. Do your mite counts and submit your findings to the national data base. May 1-16 and August 14-19. Click the link below for more information.
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The ZOOM video from the March 8 meeting is now available. The actual meeting starts at about the 1:50 minute mark.
You can view the video here.
Minutes ECIBA March 8, 2021
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, our meeting again this quarter was a virtual meeting, via the ZOOM platform. Approximately 20 people attended. The meeting began at 6:30.
Joseph began the meeting by introducing Julia McGuire. Julia is the founder of the Des Moines Backyard Beekeepers (DMBB) and a member of the Central Iowa Beekeepers Association (CIBA). Julia spoke about a Farmer Rancher grant she is working on that has as its final product a monthly planner, based on phenology and beekeeping to improve honey production and native foraging habitat. A key to the project is community involvement and participation. The guide will show the interaction between bees, plants and the seasonal calendar. Beekeepers can participate by identifying and sending in photos of plants that attract pollinators, with time and date stamp, including non-plant identifiers such as frog calls or lightning bug activity—whatever environmental cues you use to help determine how you manage your beekeeping operation. This information can be sent to Julia at julia@juliecache.com. Photos need to be digital, but you can send her information about bees visiting a plant even without photos. All participants will get a copy of the planner, which should be distributed for the 2022 season. More info can be found at julie.com, “Bee Planner FAQ”. The cost of the planner will be very minimal, if not free for members.
Rachel Vakulich, our 2021 Honey Queen, gave a synopsis of some of the things she has been doing. She has created a Facebook page, East Central Iowa Honey Queen Program, on which she lists her activities. She has begun a Friday Fun Facts entry, giving interesting tidbits about honey bees. She is preparing a video presentation for an Earth Day event in Iowa City in April. She’ll be posting about that at a later time in April.
Ed St. John, master beekeeper, presented a talk about winter loss and early spring management. Winter survival of members’colonies were 48.7%, with two outliers who had good survival that skewed the data up a bit. Varroa infestation is the largest killer of colonies, with winter starvation coming in second.
Following are some key points from Ed’s talk:
--Spring feeding:
Possibilities include granulated sugar, placed on a piece of newspaper on top of the frames, sugar patties, and candy boards. (Ed’s recipe for the latter: 2 cups water, 1 T vinegar, 10 lbs sugar, heated to at least 230 degrees)
--Most March losses are due to starvation:
Queen starts laying; workers need to increase temperature around the brood from 80 degrees winter to 95 degrees, which requires a lot of energy from food; daily outdoor temps vary wildly from day to day; little to no forage available.
--If you do feed pollen or substitutes, you need to continue to do so until the bees are bringing in natural pollens.
--The tightness of the bee cluster varies with the temps. At 50 degrees, bees will do cleansing flights. Bees die at a body temp of 41 degrees.
--Ed showed temperature graphs from the past winter months, and clearly the polar votex in February was an extended time below normal. For March, bees will typically be clustered, tightly or loosely, the entire month. Coverings should be kept in place for this month.
– April—cover removal, reversals are temperature dependent.
--Mite treatment:
Apivar, depend on the bees being able to move around through the hive to come in contact with the chemical, so bees need to be out of cluster during treatment time. No honey supers during treatment.
Apiguard—not recommended for spring, needs temps above 65 degrees
MAQS/Formic Pro-- Outside temps 50 to 85 degrees. Formic Pro a little easier on the bees. Ok to use during honey flow.
Oxalic Acid—spray, drizzle or vapor. Vapor in studies has proven more effective. NEED TO WEAR PROTECTIVE GEAR. Do not apply with supers on.
Ed had 100% winter survival rate. Uses 2 inch firm styrofoam covering, sugar boards with upper entrances.
Hive reversals—if the cluster is in two boxes, splitting the difference, don’t do a reversal. Nurse bees will only stay on one portion of the reversal.
Swarming—May and June are most common months. Swarming is a space related issue.
Bob Wolffe asked about the use of mineral fogging to control mites. Claire Dickey said she uses the method, middle season between applications of oxalic acid. How the treatment works seems to be in question and maybe a topic for further exploration.
Floyd Otdoerfer-- Floyd talked about the IHPA Summer Field Day, which will be held at Ebert’s in Mt. Vernon, July 10th. Cost for IHPA members is $40, $60 non-members. This includes a lunch. This is a good opportunity since it is close to us this year and Ebert’s have a good operation. Go to the IHPA website and view the latest issue of The Buzz to get a registration form.
Floyd also said to make sure to clean out dead-outs early. And feed, feed, feed now!
Bob Wolffe—Bob is helping Arlene Spina to sell off their bee equipment. Her husband, Larry, passed away last year. Bob will be doing inventory on the equipment. To get more information, please contact Bob at rmwolffjr@aol.com. Bob also has a three frame observation hive available. Whatever is not sold in the near future will go on the Cedar Rapids Facebook marketplace.
Mark Means asked about what to do about cleaning up dead-outs. Shaking the dead bees out by gently tapping the frames, or you can scrape the wax out with a hive tool. From starvation, bees will clean up dead-out frames and even clean up mold. Honey frames can be added to new packages, since they need feed and having already drawn honey frames can really help.
We plan to hopefully meet one way or another in June. If anyone has a suggestion on what to do for a field day type activity, please email Jim Davis (davisjk@southslope.net) with suggestions.
Submitted 3/10 by Jim Davis, Secretary
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