Minutes from December 9th, 2024

 Here are the minutes from the December meeting. I hope that your bees are staying alive and healthy during this cold. 

 

President Joseph called the meeting to order at 6:47 p.m. 

The attendance list was passed around. 

Introductions were made and the new members were recognized. 

Romi Shoemaker is a new youth scholarship program recipient and will be mentored by Paul.

Treasure Report $2327.89 and we just got another $100 from the rent for the Oxalic acid vaporizer. 

The meeting was mostly an open discussion about the things that the membership has seen. 

Joe started by stating that he had a good year and is going into winter with 32 hives. He is worried about having enough winter bees and seeing some small brood and possible diseases. He thinks that it might be because the bees got honey bound in August and the queen did not have enough place to lay eggs. 

James echoed the same results. He had a good fall crop with over 120 pounds of golden rod honey. He did treat with oxalic vapor and has not gotten much into the hives. 

One member asked what the size of the cluster needed to be to survive winter. Joe thought that it would be a football size and another member had stated that volleyball size was acceptable. One utilized a Warrie hive and needs a smaller cluster. 

One member asked how to winterize the bees. Most of the members were allowing their bees winter in double deep supers. Another uses a deep and a medium box.

Joe asked about insulation. He uses the 1/2 inch pink insulation. Another beekeeper stated that they used 4 inches of insulation. One uses bubble wrap to overwinter their bees. He also stated that the cold does not affect the bees as much as disease. Bob stated that weather fluctuations affect the bees because the nees break their cluster when it is warm and can get stranded when they are cold. 

One beekeeper asked about instrumentation. Jim uses a thermometer to monitor the heat in the beehives. Another stated that they used an infrared camera. 

One uses the same ideas from the bee barns. There is 2 inch insulation boards that cover the entire hive on all 8 sides. There are a few circle vents that can double for feeding, air ventilation, and entrances. He does admit that he struggled with the loss of 2 of the hives but the third seems to be doing quite well. He is hoping that they do well through the winter. 

James mentioned that insulation helps to keep the temperature constant in the hive and keeps the clusters more warm. He is a strong believer in good insulation on top such as double bubble wrap and another insulation on top. When he wraps them, he leaves the front open toward the southern sun. He uses double bubble to insulation. He only lost 3 out of the 46 hives last year. 

He did mention that tar paper does not do as good of a job because the sun heats up the hive and the tar paper does not keep the heat. It only gives a wind breaker. 

Another beekeeper stated that his hives had vapor go out of all the cracks where it was not sealed. 

Joe asked about mite loads.

James said that he saw a few high ones and used a lot of oxalic acid vapor. 

Jim stated that he used formic pro patties and some did well but others had high counts up to 30. He did have some chalkbrood. Chalkbroad is a fungal infection. If the frames have lot of it, you can discard it. But the bees can remove the chalkbrood. He saw these around early June but has noticed that one of his hives has it. One beekeeper asked if it was contagious. Jim stated that it could be but many bee literature states that it clears in it's own. James thought that the Honeybee Alive patties could help with it because it has good things in it for bee gut health. Bob stated that ventilation can help with it. Another beekeeper asked if he can keep reusing his equipment. Jim thought that he could keep using them. 

Joe asked some of the new beekeepers if they got into hives. They were unable to because the City of Coraville does not allow it. Bob stated that if someone has issues with the hives in Cedar Rapids, the beekeeper has 48 hours to remove it. But if there is honey given to the neighbors, then it is normally okay and no problems have occurred. The club apiary is hopefully going to be up and running by next summer. 

Another beekeeper asked about lobbying for better laws. Iowa Honey Bee Day is a great event to advocate for honeybees in the Iowa Legislature. 

A beekeeper weighs his bee hives in September. But because of the drought, the hives needed to be fed. He uses the package scale to weight his hives. Another beekeeper suggested using a luggage scale. But James stated that lifting the hives will help gauge on how much food they have.

A couple of beekeepers uses Hive Alive to for emergency feeds.

 Mice were a big issue for hives and can quickly destroy the frames, honey, and wax. But when September comes, putting mouce guards can save the hives. Mice will try to chew through the wooden boxes and reducers. A few beekeepers use 1/2 inch entrance reducers to combat the mice.

James asked about small hive beetles. In the past years, he would only see a couple of them. This year, he had a lot of them crawling everywhere. Many other beekeepers agreed with James. 

Another beekeeper stated that he fought wax moths this year and he even found them in small hives. One beekeeper stated that the wax moths can sense when the queen is not doing well and seem to come in. Putting out beetle traps are a good way to get rid of them. One beekeeper uses diatomaceous earth to sprinkle around the hives and uses a few drops of peppermint oil in the corners along with the oil traps. It seems to work well for him.

Some beekeepers went to the IHPA conference. One beekeeper stated that a vaccine seems to do well for American foulbrood. Jason Foley has vaccinated queens and it is only 10 dollars more expensive than the regular queens. Joseph the state apiarist said that he only saw a couple of cases last year. Bob stated that he had a case of it and had to burn his hive. If honeybees get it, then you have to destroy the hive. American foalbroad is super communicable and you do not want to have it in your hives. The test is to out a toothpick into a brood and if it comes out as a string, then it is positive. You can possibly getting vets prescription of tetramycin to help treat it. The vaccine is fed to the queen and it seems to work on deformed wing virus but no one seems to know why it works. 

One beekeeper stated that Randy Oliver thought that condensing is not a good idea. Randy believes that having an upper entrance does not cause heat loss but it is effective for cleansing flight purposes. But the problem is that where he is located, it does not get cold. So the advice for upper entrances was a bit misleading. 

Having an upper entrance can prevent the snow from blocking the lower entrances. It is the ice storms that can get beekeepers into trouble. 

Bob pointed out that the YouTube information and advice needs to match up with the climate of Iowa. 

Joe said that there is a conference coming up from the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan. It is in February and is virtual. 

They do a lot with varoa resistant bees. You can watch last year's conference but you will have to sit through a lot of commercials. 

Joe asked about the door prizes. Those would be drawn at the end. 

Joe stated that he saw for the first time a chemical poisoning. He smelled a rotting smell and found a lot of dead bees and those that were alive were twitching. He got the Pesticide Bureau to come out to test for it. He said that the honeybees tested positive for an herbicide. He lost 8 hives. When the person got out there, he took his own samples but it took them a while to return the results. He did lose some frames and had to wash out some of the hives. One member stated that torching will get rid of most disease. Bob stated that he makes a chimney with a few boxes and uses newspapers to help start the quick fire. Bob stated that he had the same issues but it took him 5 days to come out to the hives. They refused to test for neonicotinoids. 

This was an important time to register your hives on Field Watch. But it seems as if it only affects the commercial applicators. But if it is a private applicator, they are not really affected by it. One beekeeper stated that one company this last year sprayed neonicotinoids on everyone's lawns unless they opted out. Many complained so hopefully they do not do it any more. 

One beekeeper had some success with cutouts and swarms by putting.... 

Jim suggested that Jim Marshall would be a good person to talk to us about legislatures and lobbying. Tom Hart would be another good person to talk to. 

Joe asked if there are any other burning questions. 

Topics for the February meeting: Swarm trapping and collection 

Bee Nutrition

Rendering beeswax 

Getting together a group order for frames or other things like that to get discounts. 

IHPA new president is from Dubuque. Having him come to our next meeting. 

The next club purchase was tabled for next meeting. 

Rob stated that the oxalic vaporizer was used more this year. 

Someone asked about the Away pads. They did find that the pads worked well to keep the mite levels low but not knocking mites down. Plus, cutting them into quarters helps increase the surface area. 

Jim had mixed results with formic pro. The issue with it is that you can kill the queen. One beekeeper uses thymol and it seems to work. Another beekeeper uses iodine to control disease but it can kill the bees. He uses 3 to 4 ounces per hive once a month and he feels like it does a great job. 

Since it was almost 8, it was time for the door prizes. 

The next meeting is the February 10, 2025.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:03 p.m. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Respectfully Submitted, 

Rachel Vakulich