Beekeepers of the Northern Shenandoah

Pat and Jim Haskell have once again graciously agreed to provide a queen rearing workshop for us here in Winchester.

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The class will be on Saturday, April 20.  It will run 10am to whenever.   Place will be 114 Jeb Drive, Winchester.   We will focus on use of a closed cell starter and will work on grafting technique.

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After the cells have been drawn, participants will be able to stop back to pick up their queen cells for their own use.

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Anyone interested in joining the class, please contact John Lewis asap by sending me a message  through the Contact page of this website.

This year, with the unseasonably warm temperatures, many colonies are rapidly moving towards swarming far earlier than usual.   SWARMING IS GOING TO BE HIGH FREQUENCY THIS YEAR.  MOST HIVES WILL THROW SWARMS, unless you choose to intervene.

Looking at my apiaries, I’m estimating that one in four will swarm before April 1.  That’s early.  Many colonies are now jammed packed with bees.

If you have a colony like this, consider putting it on “swarm watch.”  This means checking the brood chambers at least weekly for swarm queen cells.  Once you find them, split the colony, preferably into several small colonies or nucs.  Just be sure to put at least a couple queen cells into each split.  If you can, leave the original queen in the original colony, which will collect all the older field bees, but hopefully decide not to swarm out after all.

The Importance of the Honey Bee

Dave Black, a local attorney and hobbyist beekeeper, will give an overview of the importance of honeybees, their history, recent threats to honeybees, the social hierarchy of a hive, common hive products and why you should consider becoming a beekeeper.   Come and learn about these fascinating insects that are arguably one of the most important.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

6:30 p.m.

Handley Library Auditorium

Sponsored by the Friends of Handley Regional Library

Free and Open to the Public

In late February, the 2012 Beginning Beekeeping classes will begin.   THE CLASSES ARE NOW ABOUT FULL.  WE NEED TO CONFIRM THE LATEST REGISTERS, SO THERE MAY NOT BE ROOM FOR MORE FOLKS.  IF YOU’RE STILL INTERESTED, PLEASE FREE FREE TO REGISTER WITH THE WEBSITE.  WE CAN ALWAYS PUT YOU AT THE TOP OF THE CONTACT LIST FOR CONTACT NEXT YEAR.

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The class will run on seven consecutive weeknights, with the final class held on a weekend day, working in the bees.  As with the past eight years, we anticipate a lot of fun and good learning about bees.

Click Here to Register

This year, we’re teaching three sections:

> Monday, 7-9pm at Blandy Farm in Clarke Co.  Starts 2/20/12.

> Wednesday, 7-9pm at the VT Research Farm in Frederick Co.  Starts 2/22/12

> Thursday, 7-9pm at WMC Wellness Center.  Starts 2/23/12.

The cost of the class is $100.  This includes cost of books, etc.  One registration per family – we encourage family involvement.  This cost does not include cost of hive equipment, protective gear and bees.   Pre-Registration is required.  Please contact John Lewis @ 54o- 931- 439o (evenings and weekends) for more information.

Students from previous years are invited to attend, free of charge.

New Honey Labeling Requirements

1.  The word “Honey” must be displayed prominently on the front of the
jar.

2.  Net weight (not volume) should be displayed in both pounds/ounces and metric weight.  This should be displayed in the bottom third of the label with a clear font. Ex: ”Net Wt. 16 oz. (454 g)

3.  Contact information of the honey producer – Located on the front of the label or back information label.  Contact information should include full name, and full address and phone number if space permits.

Additionally, if you are not extracting/bottling in a
certified/inspected environment (and most of us do not!), new Virginia law
requires additional labeling language.

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?111+ful+SB1108ER

In Summary:

• An additional label must be affixed to the bottle that states “PROCESSED
  AND PREPARED WITHOUT STATE INSPECTION. WARNING: Do Not Feed Honey to Infants Under One Year Old”.
• The beekeeper should certify in writing annually to the VDACS indicating that  he/she meets the requirements.

You can read the national requirements on the Honey Board’s website at http://www.honey.com/nhb/industry/labeling-information/

(Courtesy of Loudoun Beekeepers Association)

Dear Beekeepers:

As you may or may not have heard yet, the most recentstudy by Dr. Fell’s lab at Virginia Tech has found that about 70% of Virginia’s hives are infected with Nosema ceranae, a newly described fungal pathogen that is infecting honey bees in many places in the world. A recent study found that its occurrence in hives in combination with a newly found virus was highly correlated with Colony Collapse Disorder.

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This summer, my graduate student Rosemary Malfi, who is studying parasites of bumble bees, found that the honey bees at Blandy are very badly infected with Nosema.

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A highly motivated high school student, Leanna Eisenman, from the Mountain Vista Governor’s School, is planning on working with me to study Nosema infection levels in this area and whether or not they relate to  colony deaths. The plan is to survey 50 colonies total spread over 10 locations in July, and again in October, then find out which colonies survive the winter.  What we need to find is beekeepers who have at least 5 colonies at the same location (the 5 could be on adjacent properties if one person has 3 and another person has 2) and are willing to let us sample. Sampling would be going to the colonies on a sunny day and catching 5 field bees per colony; the bees would be transported back to my lab at Blandy for analysis.

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If you have colonies that we could use, please let meknow by email (tai.roulston@virginia.edu ) or phone (540 837-1758 ext 276) and let me know more or less where you are located and how many colonies you have. Once we have our 50colonies lined up, either Leanna or I will contact participants to find out when to come out and sample bees. We are hoping for a first sampling in early July. Your beekeeping activities will not be constrained by participating –we won’t tell you what you should or shouldn’t do with your hives, but we will
want to know about disease treatments you use, especially if you treat for
Nosema already.

Thank you for considering participating in this study.
Best regards,

T’ai

Curator, State Arboretum of Virginia

Research Assoc. Prof., Dept of Envi. Sci.

University of Virginia