SEPTEMBER 6, 2007 NEWSLETTER

Reporter: Dick Counts

SEPTEMBER Report

Rudy’s is now open !!!

It has been suggested we have a ‘REUNION’ this is a DUTCH treat so all are invited. See you around 6:00 PM.

Now that’s out of the way and we had 62 present last month. Sure is nice to have such good crowds. Keep up the good work.

It has been suggested that we have a show and tell at this meeting. If you make something which makes it easier, cheaper, smarter for you in you operation we would like to see it. An example would be the screened bottom board I will be bringing. Surely there is something you need better than the rest of us.

As you know the FAIR is this month and we will be manning our booth more than we have in the past, which means we will need more help. I will have a WORK SCHEDULE list for you to sign up. Several of you have already decided that they work can any time needed. I really appreciate your help. This should be the best we have ever had , because the Fair has made several changes which be positive for us. We are also changing buildings, so be sure you know where we will be.

Bee diseases are becoming more evident in East Texas, I am getting more calls than ever about what’s happening in our bee yards.

At our next meeting we will be talking about all of the diseases, treatments and what you need to be doing in your hives now. Your success next Spring depends on what you are doing now to prepare your bees for next year. We will also bee talking about FAT bees. Should you put your bees on a diet? If so, how do you make bees exercise and lose weight, is this really the answer, is this really a problem? Do you know what VITELLOGENIN is? You must have it in your bee diet. There are some very good articles in the latest bee journals about feeding your bees, come find out what you are missing.

Also need to alert you about the small hive beetle, we are finding more and more of the when we extract, and when inspecting colonies. Several different people in the club are working on this problem, so far at least two of them have found ways to help reduce the populations, Also more on this at this meeting, which is shaping up to be a “you don’t want to miss this one.”

President's Letter

Well folks, it's officially wax melting season again. With all the rain gone for now all that is left for us is the dog days of summer, and boy does it get me to barking. But with all those high 90's days it doesn't take long for all the cappings you have to melt, if you have a solar wax melter as I do. Gathering up all the old comb & wax that was stored is in blocks now. Hopefully to make candles with the darker stuff, and the lighter is used for hand cream. Hopefully you have found a cool time to be checking your hives as with the dearth of nectar and the mites, and the talk of CCD, the hives are getting stressed as of late. I have lost a couple of hives this summer, but it may be my fault as the feed didn't get in on time for a buildup of the colony. That is only my theory. (remember that I am still a rookie.) The good news is that the rest are still kicking, and some are busting out. A man called from San Antonio last week saying there were two hives side by side. One day he looked and they seemed fine, and a few days later one hive was completely empty. I talked a few minutes to see if I could help but without being there it is hard to diagnose the problem, so I did the smart thing and gave him Mr. Dick Counts phone number. Do you equalize your hives. Be thinking about it and we'll discuss at the Sept. meeting , Lord willing. Now I do hope that you take a look at your calendars and don’t get yourself so bumped up the you wont have time to volunteer some time to help with the East Texas fair this year. We all realize that this club, the ETBA, does not have anything that is mandatory or required, but to have some do all the work while others just seem to come and go and do nothing is beyond my understanding. I guess you'll always have some that are just users, so I want to encourage those that are shy or afraid or just plain lethargic and apathetic to sign up this year to help man the booth and participate in whatever capacity they can. Thanks to all who brought stuff for the auctions the last two months, and those who take of their time and money to shop and cook to bring us all the goodies every month. I tell ya it would be very boring if yall didn’t feed us every month. We enjoy it and appreciate it. Hope to see all of you again. Thank You Very Much. Joe Moench

The Buzz From Over Here

This months article is by Mr. Brantley

AS I SEE I T

This item, in one of the bee publications I receive, should give one more food for thought. Quoted from the Newhouse News Service "They (bees) are among the most sensitive and hardest working creatures in nature. Ancient navigators of the air, honeybees are guided between hive and flowers by the angle and direction of the sun. Their internal clock signals the time of day a particular flower’s nectar is flowing. And daily changes in the earth’s magnetic cycle alert those in the darkened hive to sunrise and sunset"

Their internal clock brings them to the flowers when the nectar is flowing. I have coral vine in my front yard that is in bloom. There are no bees there at day light because their clock says don’t come ‘till 9AM, from 9AM until about 5 PM, the blooms are visited by a stream of bees searching for the nectar. After 5PM only the occasional passer-by pauses for a quick check.

For several years I have been watching several colonies in the wild. There are nine of these that are in a three mile area. Just in the last two weeks, five of these nine colonies have died form mites, hive beetles or CCD. Where do we go from here?

We see our hives do the same and die out like the wild colonies unless we do "all that we can do" to get the Bee Lab built at A&M, to find a solution to the problems we are having in the bee yard. Only you know if you have done "all you can do" to make this happen.

Join the TEXAS BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION, stand up, be counted and let us work together toward this end. SSBrantley

Mr. Brantley also sends a note that the Eleventh Annual Field Day At The Baton Rouge Bee Lab, will be on October 13, 2007. "more info at the next meeting."