Bees and climate change cleared in pollination mystery - life - 08 September 2010 - New Scientist

Bees and climate change cleared in pollination mystery - life - 08 September 2010 - New Scientist

EVEN without climate change and even without the decline of bees, pollination is in a downward spiral. And nobody knows why.

James Thomson of the University of Toronto in Canada has studied yellow avalanche lilies growing high in the Rocky mountains in Colorado since 1993. Bumblebees are their main pollinators. Each year he pollinates some plants by hand to ensure they produce fruit, and compares them with plants that fend for themselves. At first the two groups did equally well, but from 1999 onwards the unassisted plants did consistently worse, suggesting that they were not getting enough pollen (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, vol 365, p 3187).

Many studies have shown that populations of pollinators are falling, but Thomson's is the best evidence yet that plants' ability to reproduce is being affected. Thomson's study site is pristine, local bees are not in decline and climate change does not appear to be affecting seasons at the site, leaving researchers casting around for an explanation.

Insecticides Can Affect Wild Bee Populations, MSU Research Shows

Fruit and vegetable growers all over the country rely on pollinators -- mainly bees -- to produce crops from blueberries to almonds. In addition to managed honey bees, wild bees that live in and around crop fields also provide pollination services.
To help growers make pest control choices that conserve these valuable native pollinators, Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station entomologist Rufus Isaacs and entomology postdoctoral scientist Julianna Tuell studied how wild bee populations are affected by pest management programs in highbush blueberries. The research was published in the June issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology.
During crop bloom, growers avoid using insecticides or use only bee-safe products to ensure that pollinators are protected. After bloom, honey bee colonies are removed from the fields, but wild bees stay in the fields.
"A rich wild bee community can be present before, during and after blueberry bloom, with more than 100 species of wild bees found in these fields," Tuell said. "Of these, approximately 10 species are present in high numbers and consistently pollinate blueberries."
"Michigan is the leading producer of blueberries in the world, and this crop is very dependent on pollination for good yields," Isaacs added. "It also faces some important insect pest challenges. This provides a great opportunity to test the hypothesis that insecticide applications made when the crop is not in bloom affect the wild bee community present during the bloom period -- when bees are most important to the crops and to the growers."
Tuell and Isaacs developed a risk index to quantify the relative risk to wild bees from insecticide applications to blueberry fields and then analyzed the relationship between the index and the abundance, diversity and species richness of wild bee communities over three growing seasons. The study also evaluated the stability of the wild bee population.
In the first two years of the study, bee abundance and species richness declined with increasing insecticide risk index values. Bee diversity declined only in the first year.
"The results indicate that wild bee communities are negatively affected by increasingly intensive chemical pest management activities in crop fields," Tuell said.
She said that studying wild bee populations is important because it can help growers make informed decisions about their pest management program that will result in more sustainable crop pollination.
"Most insecticides are applied after the crop is finished blooming," she said. "Growers who rent honey bee hives know to avoid spraying insecticides until after hives are removed. Many native bees live in the ground and nest in crop fields or in field margins, where they are likely to come into contact with post-bloom insecticides."
Using the scientists' results, growers can make more informed choices about how to manage pests while continuing to get benefits from wild bees.
"Growers can reduce the toxicity and amount of insecticide they apply for pest control, and they can make adjustments in application timing," Tuell said. "More focused spraying that targets only pest-infested areas also is expected to improve the overall farm environment for bees. Our data suggest that reducing the risk of pest control programs to bees will help conserve populations of these beneficial pollinating insects that are active during crop bloom."
"With fruits and vegetables an increasing component of the nation's diet and honey bee colonies continuing to face challenges, it makes good sense to find strategies to help promote wild bees on farmland," Isaacs said.

FlyingBee

What an awesome new blog!!!

Project Apis m. - Home

Project Apis m. - Home

Project Apis m. (PAm)was established by beekeepers and orchardists in December, 2006, as a 'New Vision' to fund honey bee research on managed colonies. The organization's goal is to fund and direct research to improve the health and vitality of honey bee colonies while improving crop production. Emphasis is placed on research studies that have realistic and practical usefulness for beekeeping businesses. PAm brings together representatives of the American Honey Producers Association (APHA), the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF), the National Honey Board (NHB), California State Beekeepers Association (CSBA), and California almond farmers. PAm includes representatives from both the pollination and crop production enterprises. Whereas beekeepers are represented and well-served by the three national organizations and several regional and state organizations, they have lacked a means in which to assess themselves or their customers a minimal commitment to be used toward solutions for sustaining the industry in the long term. PAm fills this void. Beekeepers and representatives of pollination-dependent crops are ready and willing to invest in their future. PAm's Board is demonstrating action in coordinating a project-driven program to find realistic solutions to immediate beekeeping challenges. Almond growers, under the Almond Board of California assessment, have traditionally funded a significant share of honey bee research. The CSBA has funded bee research for several years at increasing levels. PAm is a mechanism for beekeepers and orchardists nationwide to fund and direct research activities on behalf of beekeepers. While some current research programs are funding longer-range studies on pollination, PAm is funding research that will result in nearer-term solutions and will work toward efficient and immediate transfer of result to field practice. Research will be aimed at improving and maintaining economic viability for beekeepers

MapMyRide - Espada/Dolce TWT 6/22/2010 Night Ride in Charlotte, NC

MapMyRide - Espada/Dolce TWT 6/22/2010 Night Ride in Charlotte, NC

Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses / April 29, 2010 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses / April 29, 2010 / News from the USDA Agricultural Research Service

A honey bee on broccoli, one of the many crops that benefit from honey bee pollination. Photo courtesy of Russ Ottens, University of Georgia Honey bees with colony collapse disorder show their genes Pathogen loads higher in bee colonies suffering from colony collapse disorder Survey reports latest honey bee losses Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses By Kim Kaplan April 29, 2010 Losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America(AIA) and the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather, and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality in their operations. This is an increase from overall losses of 29 percent reported from a similar survey covering the winter of 2008-2009, and similar to the 35.8 percent losses for the winter of 2007-2008. The continued high rate of losses are worrying, especially considering losses occurring over the summer months were not being captured, notesJeffrey Pettis, research leader of ARS' Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md. ARS is theU.S. Department of Agriculture's principal intramural scientific research agency. The survey was conducted by Pettis and past AIA presidents Dennis vanEngelsdorp and Jerry Hayes. The three researchers said that continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers. The 28 percent of beekeeping operations that reported some of their colonies perished without dead bees present—a sign of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD)—lost 44 percent of their colonies. This compares to 26 percent of beekeepers reporting such dead colonies in the 2008-2009 winter and 32 percent in the 2007-2008 winter. Beekeepers that did not report their colonies having CCD lost 25 percent of their colonies. As this was an interview-based survey, it was not possible to differentiate between verifiable cases of CCD and colonies lost as the result of other causes that share the "absence of dead bees" as a symptom. The cause of CCD is still unknown. The survey checked on about 22.4 percent of the country's estimated 2.46 million colonies. The survey reports only winter losses and does not capture colony losses that occur throughout the summer when queens or entire colonies fail and need to be replaced. Those summer losses can be significant. A complete analysis of the survey data will be published later this year. The abstract can be found at http://ento.psu.edu/pollinators/news/losses-2009-10 More information about CCD can be found at www.ars.usda.gov/ccd.

36th Street Racing - Charlotte NC Cycling Group � Dolce Vita Two Wheel Tuesdays

36th Street Racing - Charlotte NC Cycling Group � Dolce Vita Two Wheel Tuesdays: "The ride will start at Noda’s newest business�Espada Bicycles then will move through NoDa to Plaza-Midwood riding to Twenty Two, continuing south through Midtown to Dilworth and East blvd Grill. The ride should double back from there with a stop at �Common Market and the finish at Dolce Vita."

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton - CharlotteObserver.com

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton - CharlotteObserver.com

120,000 honeybees buzz atop Ritz-Carlton

By Bruce Henderson
bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Thursday, Apr. 22, 2010

Tens of thousands of honeybees have checked in to the rooftop hives at the Ritz-Carlton in uptown Charlotte. JOHN D. SIMMONS - jsimmons@charlotteobserver.com

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MORE INFORMATION

• This Earth Day, no burning rivers
  

The penthouse roof of one of uptown Charlotte's swankiest hotels buzzed with activity Wednesday as its 120,000 new residents, honeybees, met their public.

On the eve of Earth Day, the Ritz-Carlton unveiled its new green roof, planted with a groundcover called sedum. Tomatoes, herbs and lavender grow in raised beds on one side. On the other stand two handsome beehives, painted white with copper roofs.

The bees will become urban commuters, visiting condo balconies and city parks in a two-mile radius before returning to their 18th-floor base. Their honey will flavor the hotel's yogurt, granola and brews served at high tea, said executive chef Jon Farace.

"I think we'll just have to categorize it as a wildflower honey," said Randall York of Cloister Honey, which tends the hives. "It should be just a good floral mix."

It's all in keeping with the hotel's environmental ethos.

On Wednesday the hotel became the first Ritz-Carlton to win a green stamp of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold designation. The hotel hopes to win a similar label for its operating practices.

Only 50 hotels have earned the LEED label, Rick Fedrizzi, chief executive of the Green Building Council, said.

Bank of America, which built the hotel, announced a $20 billion, 10-year environmental initiative in 2007. The bank's new tower in Manhattan earned LEED Platinum, the highest rank for green design.

Here, a Ritz-Carlton employee will adopt the persona of Mother Nature, tucking in kids staying at the hotel, giving eco-tours, appearing at local events.

But York said he knows of no other rooftop hives uptown.

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/04/22/1390920/hive-rise-living-atop-the-ritz.html#ixzz0lr65MusA

CATCH THE BUZZ Take the survey. Get Counted.

---

Dear Beekeeper:

The Apiary Inspectors of America and the USDA-ARS Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory are seeking your help in tabulating the winter losses that occurred over the winter of 2009-2010. This continues the AIA/USDA survey efforts from the past 3 years which has been important in quantifying the losses of honey bees for government, media, and researchers.

This year’s survey is faster, easier and does not require your time on the phone. It is all web based and automatic, just fill and click.

Please take a few moments to fill out our winter loss survey at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/beeloss0910

This survey will be conducted until April 16th, 2010.

We would also appreciate it if you would forward this email to other beekeepers. The more responses the better.

If you have any questions or concerns please email beeloss@gmail.com., or Honeybee.Survey@aphis.usda.gov

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Jeff Pettis; USDA-ARS Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory

Dennis vanEngelsdorp; Penn State University

Jerry Hayes; Florida Department of Agriculture

Dewey Caron; University of Delaware and Oregon State University

Fast Installation of WSS 3.0 All 40 templates

Over some period of time I’ve got tired of installing Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
 40 templates solutions over and over again.
The time had come to write a script that allows for faster installation. This script will only install solutions associated with Fab 40 package, it’s up to you to upload site templates into site template gallery.


Here is how to use this script:
1. Download Fabulous 40 templates from this location.
2. Run the downloaded file, this action will unzip all files into specified location
3. Open Notepad and copy the script below. Save as an .cmd file and Close notepad and double-click on the script that you just save and abracadabra a few minutes later all templates are deployed.


@SET SLNDIRECTORY=C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN

@SET STSADM="c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin\stsadm.exe"

Echo Adding Solution ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp

%STSADM% -o addsolution -filename %SLNDirectory%ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp

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%STSADM% -o deploysolution -name ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp -allowgacdeployment -immediate -force

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ARS : Questions and Answers: Colony Collapse Disorder

ARS : Questions and Answers: Colony Collapse Disorder

Questions and Answers: Colony Collapse Disorder

Beginning in October 2006, some beekeepers began reporting losses of 30-90 percent of their hives. While colony losses are not unexpected during winter weather, the magnitude of loss suffered by some beekeepers was highly unusual. This phenomenon, which currently does not have a recognizable underlying cause, has been termed "Colony Collapse Disorder" (CCD). The main symptom of CCD is simply no or a low number of adult honey bees present but with a live queen and no dead honey bees in the hive. Often there is still honey in the hive, and immature bees (brood) are present. ARS scientists and others are in the process of carrying out research to discover the cause(s) of CCD and develop ways for beekeepers to respond to the problem. Why should the public care about honey bees? Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion in added crop value, particularly for specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, berries, fruits, and vegetables. About one mouthful in three in the diet directly or indirectly benefits from honey bee pollination. While there are native pollinators (honey bees came from the Old World with European colonists), honey bees are more prolific and the easiest to manage for the large scale pollination that U.S. agriculture requires. In California, the almond crop alone uses 1.3 million colonies of bees, approximately one half of all honey bees in the United States, and this need is projected to grow to 1.5 million colonies by 2010. Latest ARS news about CCD: Pathogen Loads Higher in Bee Colonies Suffering from Colony Collapse Disorder August 2009 Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses May 2009 The number of managed honey bee colonies has dropped from 5 million in the1940s to only 2.5 million today. At the same time, the call for hives to supply pollination service has continued to climb. This means honey bee colonies are trucked farther and more often than ever before. Honey bee colony health has also been declining since the 1980s with the advent of new pathogens and pests. The spread into the United States of varroa and tracheal mites, in particular, created major new stresses on honey bees. Is there currently a crisis in food production because of CCD? While CCD has created a very serious problem for beekeepers and could threaten the pollination industry if it becomes more widespread, fortunately there were enough bees to supply all the needed pollination this past spring. But we cannot wait to see if CCD becomes an agricultural crisis to do the needed research into the cause and treatment for CCD. The cost of hives for pollination has risen this year. But much of that is due to growing demand. Some of the price increase may also be due to higher cost of gas and diesel and other increases related to energy and labor costs. Commercial beekeepers truck hives long distances to provide pollination services, so in particular they must deal with rising expenses. Are there any theories about what may be causing CCD? Case studies and questionnaires related to management practices and environmental factors have identified a few common factors shared by those beekeepers experiencing CCD, but no common environmental agents or chemicals stand out as causative. There are three major possibilities that are being looked into by researchers. Pesticides may be having unexpected negative effects on honey bees. A new parasite or pathogen may be attacking honey bees. One possible candidate being looked at is a pathogenic gut microbe called Nosema. Viruses are also suspected. A perfect storm of existing stresses may have unexpectedly weakened colonies leading to collapse. Stress, in general, compromises the immune system of bees (and other social insects) and may disrupt their social system, making colonies more susceptible to disease. These stresses could include high levels of infection by the varroa mite (a parasite that feeds on bee blood and transmits bee viruses); poor nutrition due to apiary overcrowding, pollination of crops with low nutritional value, or pollen or nectar scarcity; and exposure to limited or contaminated water supplies. Migratory stress brought about by increased needs for pollination might also be a contributing factor. Has CCD ever happened before? The scientific literature has several mentions of honey bee disappearances—in the 1880s, the 1920s and the 1960s. While the descriptions sound similar to CCD, there is no way to know for sure if the problems were caused by the same agents as today's CCD. There have also been unusual colony losses before. In 1903, in the Cache Valley in Utah, 2000 colonies were lost to an unknown "disappearing disease" after a "hard winter and a cold spring." More recently, in 1995-96, Pennsylvania beekeepers lost 53 percent of their colonies without a specific identifiable cause. Varroa mites (one is visible on the back of this bee) are a major threat to honey bee health and are becoming resistant to two compounds (coumaphos and fluvalinate) used to control them. Beekeepers now have a simple assay to determine whether mites are resistant and thus ensure use of appropriate control measures. Click the image for more information about it. What about cell phones—do they have anything to do with CCD? The short answer is no. There was a very small study done in Germany that looked at whether a particular type of base station for cordless phones could affect honey bee homing systems. But, despite all the attention that this study has received, it has nothing to do with CCD. Stefan Kimmel, the researcher who conducted the study and wrote the paper, recently e-mailed The Associated Press to say that there is "no link between our tiny little study and the CCD-phenomenon ... anything else said or written is a lie." What is ARS doing about CCD? In April 2007, ARS held a Colony Collapse Disorder Research Workshop that brought together over 80 of the major bee scientists, industry representatives, extension agents, and others to discuss a research agenda. They identified areas where more information is needed and the highest-priority needs for additional research projects related to CCD. A CCD Steering Committee, led by ARS and USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, developed a Research Action Plan to coordinate a comprehensive response for discovering what factors may be causing CCD and what actions need to be taken. One of the tools that will help in this research is the recently sequenced honey bee genome to better understand bees' basic biology and breed better bees, and to better diagnose bee pests and pathogens and their impacts on bee health and colony collapse. The use of this genome information certainly will have great applications in improving honey bee breeding and management. Newly emerged honey bee,Apis mellifera, the subject of genome sequencing work aimed at improving bee traits and management. Click the image for more information about it. The search for factors that are involved in CCD is focusing on four areas: pathogens, parasites, environmental stresses, and bee management stresses such as poor nutrition. It is unlikely that a single factor is the cause of CCD; it is more likely that there is a complex of different components. In September 2007, a research team that included ARS published the results of an intensive genetic screening of CCD-affected honey bee colonies and non-CCD-affected hives. The only pathogen found in almost all samples from honey bee colonies with CCD, but not in non-CCD colonies, was the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), a dicistrovirus that can be transmitted by the varroa mite. It was found in 96.1 percent of the CCD-bee samples. This research does not identify IAPV as the cause of CCD. What this research found was strictly a strong correlation of the appearance of IAPV and CCD together. No cause-and-effect connection can be inferred from the genetic screening data. (More information about this study) This was the first report of IAPV in the United States. IAPV was initially identified in honey bee colonies in Israel in 2002, where the honey bees exhibited unusual behavior, such as twitching wings outside the hive and a loss of worker bee populations. The study also found IAPV in honey bees from Australia that had been imported into the United States, as well as in royal jelly imported from China. Australian bees began to be imported from Australia into the United States in 2005. Questions were raised about a connection between those imported bees and the appearance of IAPV in the United States. Beekeepers sought out Australian imports of bees as a way to replenish their hive populations. To determine whether IAPV has been present in the United States since before the importation of honey bees from Australia, a follow up detailed genetic screening of several hundred honey bees that had been collected between 2002 and 2007 from colonies in Maryland, Pennsylvania, California and Israel was conducted by ARS researchers. The results of the follow study showed IAPV has been in this country since at least 2002, which challenges the idea that IAPV is a recent introduction from Australia. (More information about this study) Honey bees devour a new, nutrient-rich food developed by ARS researchers. Click the image for more information about it. This study in no way rules IAPV out as a factor in CCD. Research by several groups will now focus on understanding differences in virulence across strains of IAPV and on interactions with other stress factors. Even if IAPV proves to be a cause of CCD, there still may also be other contributing factors-which researchers are pursuing. What should beekeepers do now about CCD? Since little is known about the cause(s) of CCD right now, mitigation must be based on improving general honey bee health and habitat and countering known mortality factors by using best management practices. What can I as a member of the public do to help honey bees? The best action you can take to benefit honey bees is to not use pesticides indiscriminately, especially not to use pesticides at mid-day when honey bees are most likely to be out foraging for nectar. In addition, you can plant and encourage the planting of good nectar sources such as red clover, foxglove, bee balm, and joe-pye weed. For more information, see www.nappc.org.]

Bee Colony Collapse May Have Several Causes | Wired Science | Wired.com

Bee Colony Collapse May Have Several Causes | Wired Science | Wired.com

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Bee Colony Collapse May Have Several Causes

When suspiciously large numbers of honeybee colonies started collapsing in late 2006, the search began to find the culprit behind the mysterious deaths. Now it seems a whole web of problems may be causing what’s known as colony collapse disorder.

It’s becoming clear that there is no single parasite, virus or chemical to blame, argues Frances Ratnieks, a bee scientist at University of Sussex in Brighton.

Instead, honeybees are probably dying for all kinds of different reasons from loss of their foraging grounds to increased exposure to global pathogens, Ratnieks wrote in a review of the issue in the journal Science.

“We may conclude that colonies are dying for different reasons in different parts of the world and I would say that if that is the case, I would not be the least bit surprised,” Ratnieks told Wired.com.

A variety of pests, viruses and parasites could all be working together to stress the bees. And in some ways, that’s worse than trying to take on a single culprit: The problems with beekeeping are systemic, Ratnieks said, and can’t be solved with a new pesticide or technique.

In an increasingly globalized world, bee pathogens travel quickly between bee populations. Over the last decades, the Varroa destructor mite has spread from Asian honeybees to the rest of the continents. The gut parasite Nosema ceranae has taken the same path. Both species are believed to make existing bee diseases worse. V. destructor took about four decades, reaching North America about a decade ago. N. ceranae circled the globe in a quarter of that time.

“It is certainly a case in the modern world, pathogens can be transmitted from one corner of the world to an another quickly,” Ratnieks said.

He compared the bee pathogen problems to those humans are encountering with swine flu and other emerging diseases, which can spread quickly thanks to modern transportation.

“Even though the U.S. is a big country, what shows up in one part of the country shows up in the other parts of the county in no-time flat,” he said.

That’s in part because of the economics of beekeeping. The $2 billion almond crop in California requires 1,000,000 honeybee hives for cross-pollination. That’s more than 40 percent of all the beehives in the country. So, come almond-tree flowering season, which begins in February, apiarists load up their hives on flatbeds and truck them to San Joaquin Valley. While this pilgrimage may be necessary to keep churning out cheap almonds, it also creates a melting pot of pathogens. And the moving and trucking itself could negatively impact the bees, too.

Ratnieks also suspects that honeybees are more susceptible to disease because their natural forage — weeds and gardens, etc. — has been wiped out by single-crop farming in the major farming valleys of the country.

Add it all up and the honeybees are fighting the battle to survive on several, interconnected fronts.

“It’s harder to keep a hive alive now. It used to be with bees in America, if the hive was alive and thriving, chances are the hive would be alive and thriving the next year,” said Ratnieks. “Now, they are feeding their hives with supplements and feeding them with chemicals, they are having to peddle pedal quite hard just to keep their hives alive.”

Last year, there were enough honeybees to keep the almond trees pollinated, but last summer’s weather conditions were bad in North Dakota and the neighboring states where the California hives often spend the season.

With the big almond flowering coming up, and the bees in bad condition, the beginning of next month could harbor a nasty surprise for nut farmers.

“In early February, that’s when the rubber hits the road or the shit hits the fan,” Ratnieks concluded.

Citation: “Clarity on Honey Bee Collapse?” by Francis L. W. Ratnieks and Norman L. Carreck in Science, 8 JANUARY 2010 VOL 327.

Image: BBCworldservice/Flickr

Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/01/colony-collapse-lives/#ixzz0htScbI8Q

United States Honey Production Down 12 Percent

Honey production in 2009 from producers with five or more colonies totaled 144 million pounds, down

12 percent from 2008. There were 2.46 million colonies producing honey in 2009, up 5 percent from 2008.

Yield per colony averaged 58.5 pounds, down 16 percent from the 69.9 pounds in 2008, and is the lowest

yield since 1989. Colonies which produced honey in more than one State were counted in each State where

the honey was produced. Therefore, yields per colony may be understated, but total production would not be

impacted. Colonies were not included if honey was not harvested. Producer honey stocks were 37.2 million

pounds on December 15, 2009, down 27 percent from a year earlier. Stocks held by producers exclude those

held under the commodity loan program.

Honey Prices Record High

Honey prices increased to a record high during 2009 to 144.5 cents, up 2 percent from 142.1 cents in 2008.

U.S. and State level prices reflect the portions of honey sold through retail, cooperatives, and private

channels. Prices for each color class are derived by weighting the quantities sold for each marketing channel.

Prices for the 2008 crop reflect honey sold in 2008 and 2009.

http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/usda/current/Hone/Hone-02-26-2010.pdf

North Carolina Piedmont Honey Plants

 

Plant Name	Scientific Name	Starts	Days	Ends
Red Maple	Acer rubrum	1-Feb	40	12-Mar
Sugar Maple	Acer saccharum	5-Mar	25	30-Mar
Dandelion	Taraxacum officinale	15-Mar	60	14-May
Sumac	Rhus spp.	3-Apr	151	1-Sep
Alsike Clover	Trifolium hybridum	4-Apr	102	15-Jul
Blackberry	Rubus spp.	10-Apr	20	30-Apr
Crimson Clover	Trifolium incarnatum	10-Apr	25	5-May
Ladino, White Clovers	Trifolium repens	14-Apr	102	25-Jul
Tulip Poplar	Liriodendrum tulipifera	25-Apr	29	24-May
Black Gum	Nyssa sylvatica	26-Apr	14	10-May
Black Locust	Robinia pseudoacacia	27-Apr	10	7-May
Vetch	Vicia spp.	28-Apr	46	13-Jun
Holly	Ilex spp.	30-Apr	15	15-May
Raspberry	Rubus spp.	30-Apr	20	20-May
Privet	Ligustrum spp.	8-May	23	31-May
Persimmon	Diospyros virginiana	20-May	13	2-Jun
Sweet Clover	Melilotus spp.	28-May	37	4-Jul
Sourwood	Oxydendrum arboreum	10-Jun	20	30-Jun
Heartsease, Smartweed	Polygonum spp.	4-Jul	126	7-Nov
Goldenrod	Solidago spp.	8-Aug	67	14-Oct
Aster	Aster spp.	25-Sep	35	30-Oct

Source: N.C. Cooperative Extension Service: Honey Plants of North Carolina

NCDA&CS - Plant Industry Division

NCDA&CS - Plant Industry Division

The mission of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Apiary Program is to promote and protect the state's beekeeping industry. The Apiary Program provides disease and disorder inspections and fumigation services in an effort to control diseases and pests of the beekeeping industry. Additionally, the Apiary Program provides educational workshops to educate the state's beekeepers on the biology and treatment of mite and disease pests of honey bees and africanized bees. Promotional effects are achieved through lectures to county and state beekeeping organizations or any other groups that are interested in apiculture or related topics.

Beekeeping/Honey Bee Races - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

Beekeeping/Honey Bee Races - Wikibooks, collection of open-content textbooks

Russian Honey Bee

Apis mellifera ?

Pros and Cons of the Russian honey bee

Pros	Cons
Resistant to Varroa Mites Resistant to Tracheal Mite Winter tolerant	Brood rearing is highly dependent on forage availability Increased tendency to swarm Tend to propolize Expensive

How to do a bee cutout Boing Boing

How to do a bee cutout Boing Boing

Russian Bee Breeders Association

Russian Bee Breeders Association

The Russian Honeybee Breeders Association received its' Articles of Incorporation in 2007 and held its' first annual meeting on November 1st, 2007, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The purpose of the association is to maintain and improve the various lines of Russian honeybees through propagation and selective breeding. All members are required to contribute to this extensive effort.
The initial Board of Directors of the group is made up of Charles Harper, CRADA holder and cooperator with the USDA Russian bee program, as well as Hubert Tubbs and Manley Bigalk, also both longtime cooperators with this program. As other members begin to contribute to the maintainence and selection of the various lines of bees these members will be certified by the Board of Directors as Russian Honeybee Breeders.
Collectively, all involved are pleased with the number of participants and their level of commitment. With many participants focused on this effort we anticipate even more rapid improvement in these bees.
For further information contact Vice President Hubert Tubbs

Genomic Study Yields Plausible Cause Of Colony Collapse Disorder

ScienceDaily (2009-08-25) -- Researchers have found a surprising but reliable marker of colony collapse disorder, a baffling malady that in 2007-2008 killed off more than a third of commercial honey bees in the US. Their study is the first to identify a single, objective molecular marker of the disorder, and to propose a data-driven hypothesis to explain the mysterious disappearance of American honey bees.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090824151256.htm

Losing Hives

I lost almost all of my hives through the past few weeks when the highs were only 32 degrees and the low's in the lower 20's and below. Our honey bees had plenty of food, but it was so cold so fast for so long they couldn't move to their food and died of starvation. I will be looking to purchase as many Russian Bees as soon as it gets warmer to build my supply back up. Please let me know if you have an Russian Honey Bees to spare at the beginning of spring.

RIP : My lovely Queens 

Small Hive Beetles - Major problems in SC

Small hive beetles can be a major problem in the areas that you mentioned however they can be a problem anywhere in the state if the right conditions are met for beetle reproduction. You need a good understanding of beetle control and then you can still have major beetle problems at times. I'd suggest that you locate some beekeepers in that area to discover if beetles are a present issue for them.

If you move into an area where there are lots of beetles then your colonies will become quickly invaded. Trapping is one of the best ways that I know to keep the beetle population down. There are several traps on the market and you will have to decide which ones to use. Some are hive bottom traps such as the West beetle trap and the Freeman Trap. There are other traps that have been developed such as the Hood Trap that I developed here at Clemson University. My trap is made to be fastened to a hive frame and can be placed in the top or bottom of a hive. There are other beetle traps that are available in the bee supply catalogs.

There are other small hive beetle control recommendations such as keeping your colonies in full sun so that the soil will hopefully not stay wet which is one requirement that beetles have for good reproduction. However, this are gets lots of rain so you will need to be careful with this issue.

There are a couple of pesticides labelled in SC for SHB control.

You can check out a leaflet on small hive beetles on our dept website. Go to <bugs.clemson.edu> and click on information fact sheets. Click on apiculture. I am also writing an article for Bee Culture on SHB integrated pest management. It should be in the January or February issue.

Bees Throw Out Mites

Bees Throw Out Mites

September 11, 2009 By Alfredo Flores

ARS researchers have developed honey bees that more aggressively deal with varroa mites, a parasite that is one of the major problems damaging honey bees today.

Honey bees are now fighting back aggressively against Varroa mites, thanks to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) efforts to develop bees with a genetic trait that allows them to more easily find the mites and toss them out of the broodnest.

The parasitic Varroa mite attacks the honey bee, Apis mellifera L., by feeding on its hemolymph, which is the combination of blood and fluid inside a bee. Colonies can be weakened or killed, depending on the severity of the infestation. Most colonies eventually die from varroa infestation if left untreated.
Varroa-sensitive hygiene (VSH) is a genetic trait of the honey bee that allows it to remove mite-infested pupae from the capped brood—developing bees that are sealed inside cells of the comb with a protective layer of wax. The mites are sometimes difficult for the bees to locate, since they attack the bee brood while these developing bees are inside the capped cells.

Audio Podcast: The Mitey Bee Bouncers

ARS scientists at the agency’s Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, La., have developed honey bees with high expression of the VSH trait. Honey bees are naturally hygienic, and they often remove diseased brood from their nests. VSH is a specific form of nest cleaning focused on removing varroa-infested pupae. The VSH honey bees are quite aggressive in their pursuit of the mites. The bees gang up, chew and cut through the cap, lift out the infected brood and their mites, and discard them from the broodnest. This hygiene kills the frail mite offspring, which greatly reduces the lifetime reproductive output of the mother mite. The mother mite may survive the ordeal and try to reproduce in brood again, only to undergo similar treatment by the bees.
To test the varroa resistance of VSH bees, the Baton Rouge team conducted field trials using 40 colonies with varying levels of VSH. Mite population growth was significantly lower in VSH and hybrid colonies than in bee colonies without VSH. Hybrid colonies had half the VSH genes normally found in pure VSH bees, but they still retained significant varroa resistance. Simpler ways for bee breeders to measure VSH behavior in colonies were also developed in this study.
This research was published in the Journal of Apicultural Research and Bee World.
Provided by Agricultural Research Service

Honeybee Decline Slows Slightly

Discovery Reports:
May 20, 2009 -- The decline of honeybee colonies has slowed slightly since last fall, but a mysterious combination of ailments is still decimating the insect's population, federal researchers say.

U.S. Department of Agriculture researchers found that honeybee colonies declined by 29 percent between September 2008 and early April. That's an improvement over the last two years, when researchers found that 32 percent and 36 percent of all beekeepers surveyed lost hives.

Domestic honeybee stocks have been waning since 2004 because of a puzzling illness scientists called colony collapse disorder, which causes adult bees to inexplicably forsake their broods. Bees now appear also to be suffering from other ailments.

Honeybees help pollinate many fruits and vegetables, including blueberries, tomatoes, apples and almonds.




The disorder has killed off the weakest colonies in recent years, and now pesticide drift and old foes such as the parasitic varroa mite are more likely threatening those that survived, said Jerry Hayes, a former president of the Apiary Inspectors of America, whose members helped carry out the survey.

"Whether it's CCD or pesticides, fungicides or chemicals affecting how the queens respond, I don't know that beekeepers care," said Hayes, chief of the apiary sector of the Florida Department of Agriculture. "The ones who I talk to are just beside themselves. If you are a small business person how many years of 30 percent losses can you take?"

Regardless of the cause, bees are still dying at rates that could put some keepers out of business, said Jeff Pettis, the USDA's top bee scientist.

The survey released Tuesday included 787 beekeepers who account for 20 percent of the country's approximately 2.3 million commercially managed bee hives. The data -- collected through a spring telephone survey in which researchers polled keepers about how many of their hives survived the fall and winter, when queens go dormant -- is being prepared for submission to a journal.

The Russian bee

One of the newer bee stocks in the U.S. was imported from far-eastern Russia by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Laboratory in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The researchers’ logic was that these bees from the Primorski region on the Sea of Japan, have coexisted for the last 150 years with the devastating ectoparasite Varroa destructor, a mite that is responsible for severe colony losses around the globe, and they might thrive in the U.S. The USDA tested whether this stock had evolved resistance to varroa and found that it had. Numerous studies have shown that bees of this strain have fewer than half the number of mites that are found in standard commercial stocks. The quarantine phase of this project has been complete since 2000, and bees of this strain are available commercially.

Russian bees tend to rear brood only during times of nectar and pollen flows, so brood rearing and colony populations tend to fluctuate with the environment. They also exhibit good housecleaning behavior, resulting in resistance not only to varroa but also to the tracheal mite.

Bees of this stock exhibit some unusual behaviors compared to other strains. For example, they tend to have queen cells present in their colonies almost all the time, whereas most other stocks rear queens only during times of swarming or queen replacement. Russian bees also perform better when not in the presence of other bee strains; research has shown that cross-contamination from susceptible stocks can lessen the varroa resistance of these bees.

Published by

North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service

Distributed in furtherance of the acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914.

Check out the different types of honey bees

http://www.beesource.com/resources/usda/the-different-types-of-honey-bees/

What can the beekeeper do to provide for winter survival?

Before hard weather arrives and temperatures drop to freezing, there is work to be done.

Take off surplus supers, if the bees don’t need the space, remove them. If you are working with an 8 frame brood box and only 4 frames are being worked, take off the super.

Provide for entrance reducers to keep other animals out, especially mice, they need somewhere warm to be as well.

Place pollen patties in hives for additional protein and remember to feed your bees in the fall so they can store up food for the winter. Placing liquid syrup out of the hive will not help as much when the weather doesn’t permit them to move the syrup into the hive.

You must use caution when choosing the method to feed them because feeding them in the hive invites robbers and other animals. But when temperatures are at a low feeding them in the hive by a method that would put the sugar syrup or crystals in the very back would be preferable.