Will Swain opened the meeting at 6:30
Will spoke a bit about the recent death of a
longtime member, James Miller of Wellman.
Will said that although no autopsy was
performed, James did have a history of A-fib,
and apparently passed away sitting in a chair
in his room. Will read a short piece from the
Washington Farmer’s Market, where James
was a regular vendor, which was nicely written and focused on
James’ character and how he will be missed. Shawn Webb spoke
about how James was his mentor as he started out in beekeeping.
Others spoke of how welcoming James was and how he loved
having people visit his apiary.
Will mentioned the possibility of doing something as a club to
commemorate James, such as helping fund a youth scholarship in
beekeeping. The officers will be discussing and sharing possible
options.
Andy Joseph (state apiarist) was our guest speaker.
Andy opened his presentation with summary of how the past season
went with beekeeping in Iowa. It was “a kind of a rough year for
beekeepers.” Iowa is typically one of the poorer states in the
country for winter survival and Andy suggested it is perhaps
because we often ride the freezing line, which stresses the bees
as they move in and out of cluster, particularly in late winter and
spring. He quoted another beekeeper who used the phrase “if
they’re flying, they’re dying” which illustrates the risks the bees
have of breaking cluster and then being subject to plummeting
temperatures and conditions. While winter can give bees and
beekeepers somewhat of a break, it can highlight issues with hives
that are weaker.
Andy pointed out that it was a bit of a weird anomaly that small
scale beekeepers, on the whole, had more overwinter success than
the larger scale beekeepers this past year, as the commercial
beekeepers have been working their operations for years and have
a good handle on the routines. Hives that made it through winter
were often in very good shape. This gave people a lot of optimism,
with the nice start to the spring, with big colonies, that it could be a
very good honey season. Then came rains, so if people had taken
splits, perhaps to replace lost colonies or sell some colonies, by the
time numbers increased back up the rain came and nectar flow
came to a stop. Those lucky enough to go ahead and super hives
early were able to capture a good flow, though a long dearth later
decreased some of that gain. To sum, a typical good year would
yield about 60 pounds of honey per hive but this year many only
saw about a quarter of that. Commercial beekeepers like Eberts
only harvested about 7 pounds per hive.
Other points Andy shared:
--Our black locust honey is underrated and probably not marketed
as well as it could be.
-- Commercial beekeepers manage differently, of necessity, than a
small scale beekeeper in that they have a “three legged stool” in
that they need to have sales of bees, sales of honey and sales of
other bee products. They need more than honey because honey
prices are sorely priced at just around $1.50 per pound.
--Andy does splits by putting a queen excluder on top of a
queenright double deep, puts several brood frames in a third box
and has the nurse bees move up to cover them. This eventually will
be taken off as a split.
--Rain insurance- a 50/50 gamble where the USDA pays half of the
premium and then one has to basically pick whether they think it
will be a drier or rainier season than average.
Norroa-- Andy talked about this new treatment for varroa mites that
has now been approved for use in Iowa. This is an RNAi treatment
that effectively reduces the mite population without introducing
poisons by directly attacking the reproductive process of the mites.
Some key points are:
--very promising technology; no chance of resistance to the
treatment
--treatment is good for about 18 weeks.
--cost currently is high: about $44 for a double deep for that 18
week duration
--can be used with other mite treatments and preferably after mite
numbers are reduced by other means
Regarding other treatment modes, Andy talked about how the
practice of not following label directions has led to some instances
to bees becoming resistant to the treatments. Some treatments
such as Hopguard and oxalic acid are natural substances and it is
unlikely that bees will develop resistance to these chemicals.
Will Swain reminded the group that our club has an oxalic acid
vaporizer they may reserve and use. Now is a good time to do that
with very little brood in the hives. It is better to wait for a warmer
winter day, in the 40s or 50s, when the bees are not in a tight
cluster.
Andy also pointed out that Iowa has seen an abnormally larger
problem with small hive beetles, to the point that even strong hives,
which are typically able to fend off damage from them, have been
severely damaged this past season. Is this an anomaly or a sign of
things to come? Andy hypothesized that because part of their life
cycle involves advanced larvae burying in the ground, the softer soil
from rains this summer may have led to an increase in their
numbers. Tom Long places small squares of corrugated poster
board in corners of the hive. Small hive beetles seek out the
security of the pieces which allows the to be removed from the
hive. No bait is required.
Tom Long made a book recommendation: Raising Resilient Bees:
Heritage Techniques to Mitigate Mites, Preserve Locally Adapted
Genetics, and Grow Your Apiary Eric McEwen and Joy McEwen
Will Swain welcomed new members.
Meeting adjourned at 8:05, followed by treats.
Thanks to all for coming and special thanks to Andy Joseph for a nice
presentation.
Our next meeting will be February 9th, 2026.
Thanks as always to Rob McCain and Urban Acres Realty for
hosting!
Look for us at Http://eastcentraliowabeekeepers.blogspot.com
and on Facebook search for “east central Iowa beekeepers”
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Snow coming down? Time to leave the bees alone? No! This is a good time to do an oxalic acid vapor treatment, now that queens have quit or slowed down laying and the varroa are more susceptible to the vapors.
To reserve the club's oxalic acid vaporizer. Go to this link to get started.
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