Archived News in Apiculture

For complete news in Beekeeping subscribe to the journals!
We suggest Dadant's American Bee Journal and A.I. Root's Bee Culture as excellent resources.

(news from earlier issues of this web site)

The Chemical Market Reporter November, 1999 issue describes the dismal price of beeswax. US beeswax prices have dropped about 50 percent during the past 18 months. Prices are down to $1.40 to $1.50 per pound for lots of higher-grade crude material. Lower grades of crude wax cost $1.20 to $1.30 per pound for bulk and $1.35 per pound for smaller lots. Some beekeepers report prices as low as 90 cents per pound.
Demand from the cosmetics industry remains healthy, but the use of beeswax in candles, which was very strong a few years ago, has dropped considerably as consumer interest has shall we say, flickered. Or burned out.

November, 1999. With the new USA Agriculture bill, the Honey Loan Program was reinstated and will be administered by your local FSA office. Loan rate is about $0.55 per pound. Local USDA offices should have details.

November, 1999. How's the honey market? A friend in Pennsylvania calls it dismal. He'll lose twenty thousand dollars this year, running just four hundred hives. Lucky for him, he has a real job..The issues are the same as always. Lower commodity prices, higher input cost. "Farming is the only business where you pay retail for everything you buy and get wholesale prices for everything you sell," he told me.
In an interview with Hannelore Sudermann, staff writer for the Seattle daily paper, Richard Adee says, "The market for honey right now is really, really quiet. I'd say it's dead." The president of the American Honey Producers Association adds, "We've had 30 million more pounds imported this year over last year. There is quite a pile of honey."

Fall, 1999. People ask me about the hive beetle. It has been getting enormous bad press, especially from people who want to support regulations and regulators. "End of the World as we know it!" says one bee inspector. "Hell on Earth! End of Creation! Satan Released!" claims a normally cool-headed Canadian chief apiarist. The American Beekeeping Federation's web site has less alarmist information - but what would they know, eh? You can and should read their information at http://www.abfnet.org/Industry_News/beetles.html. They seem to claim that the heaviest infestations of the small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, are in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina - in damper coastal areas. According to the ABF: "Reports of the beetles being found in other states are apparently in error. An Internet report (-don't believe everything you read on the net!! -editor's note.) listed Maine, Ohio, and North Dakota as having found beetles, but apiary officials in those states said they have had no finds.."
I received e-mail from a beekeeper in Florida who claims: "Haven't seen hive beetles yet. In fact, don't know any beekeepers here (Central Florida) who have a problem with it."
Dave Green a pollinator from Hemingway, South Carolina says of the beetle: "It probably didn't come into Florida originally, though it was first identified there. The Clemson guys had samples earlier, but couldn't identify them. It's thought that they came into the port of Savannah, or Beaufort with some fruit. They spread north and south from there, along the coast first, though now they are going inland. Most of the South Carolina counties have now had at least one case. It doesn't need bees to move, as it can fly, and it can ride on fruits like canteloupes, so I expect it will be found all over the country before long. The worst infestations seem to be in the areas where there are canteloupes or watermelons. Of course they need bees, so the pest can get tossed back and forth."

October, 1999, It's nice to have a web site that lots of folks read. Less nice when you find folks stealing your work. Least nice when the thieves include people who believe honey is a product of abused bees which are being treated as slaves. Here's an obnoxious page full of anti-beekeeping sentiments. You might feel like sending the author some e-mail? Honey is Not Vegan. By the way, many of the photos shown on her web page were stolen directly from this web site - without a request for permission. Apparently, this person's honourable sympathies towards the animal kingdom don't keep her from petty theft!

The USA currently allows two treatments for varroa mite (coumaphos and fluvalinate) but a third may be on the way, according to a September, 1999 article, "New Hope For Declining U.S. Honeybee Population", from Science Daily. Researchers with the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, Md., report they may be able to stem the decline in the honeybee population with a gel containing formic acid. Writing in the September 20 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the researchers report that the gel kills 70-85 percent of varroa mites, which literally suck the life from bees by feeding on their body fluids, and 100 percent of tracheal mites, which live in bees' tracheae and interfere with breathing. The peer-reviewed journal is published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. The article was initially published on the journal's web site on Aug. 21.
Produced naturally by some ants as a defense against predators, formic acid can be dangerous in large quantities if handled improperly. And it must be reapplied frequently to be effective against bee mites, according to the article's lead author, Jan Kochansky, Ph.D., of the USDA's Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville.

Two compounds are widely used in the United States to control bee mites: the pesticide fluvalinate used for varroa mites and menthol used for tracheal mites. While menthol remains effective against tracheal mites, varroa mites in some regions of the United States have developed resistance to fluvalinate, as has already occurred in parts of Europe. "The migratory nature of commercial beekeeping means that this resistance will spread rapidly to most areas of the country," claims Kochansky. Another compound, coumaphos, is used in some states to help control fluvalinate-resistant varroa mites, he notes.

A patent for the formic acid gel is pending; a manufacturing license has been issued to BetterBee, Inc. of Greenwich, N.Y. EPA registered the gel in August.

Two Africanized honeybee colonies were discovered in bait hives near Jacksonville, Florida, August, 1999. These bees apparently escaped from swarms traveling by cargo ship into the Jacksonville harbour. Since 1983, AHB have been found aboard 18 ships. So far, none have made permanent residence in the USA.

The PR Newswire in August, 1999, released an article about the healing properties of honey. "Clinical trials have demonstrated that honey dressings rapidly clear bacteria from infected wounds. A clinical trial has also demonstrated that simply dressing with honey is just as effective as aggressive surgical removal of infected tissue as a treatment for necrotising fasciitis, the "flesh-eating" bacteria," says the article.

An August 13, 1999, ABC News story quotes Thomas Rinderer, a honey bee research leader for the U.S. Agriculture Department's Agricultural Research Service, as describing the varroa mite situation as very serious. Rinderer is coordinating the efforts to use Russian stock, thought to be twice as resistant to mites, as a way to combat it. The Agriculture Department signed an agreement this month with bee breeder Steven Bernard of Breaux, La., to raise hundreds of Russian honey bee queens this fall and winter. The bees will be available for sale to U.S. beekeepers early next year.

From The Irish Times: (August 17, 1999) Varroa was originally confined to a particular species of bee located in the Far East. However, in the 1970s, it crossed over to the common European species of Apis Mellifera with devastating effect. Since its arrival in Britain, half of the country's bee-keepers have gone out of business. Ironically, however, honey production has increased with the introduction of more efficient, professional production techniques. For many years, Ireland was the only country in Europe free from the mite having introduced a ban on bee importations in 1980.
The article by Joe Humphreys further states, " Attacking the bee's immune system, varroa leaves it crippled and susceptible to viruses. If a colony becomes infected it will collapse, sending the survivors out in search of another hive, thus spreading the parasite further." For many years, Ireland was the only country in Europe free from the mite having introduced a ban on bee importations in 1980. "Our big fear was that a swarm would come across on the ferry in the back of a truck," said Mr. Don Feeley, a senior inspector with the Department. "Unfortunately, what happened was someone deliberately brought in bees from England, ignoring the ban." He said the Department had identified three different individuals responsible for breaches of the law, one of whom distributed infected bees throughout County Sligo, leaving a trail behind him. The Department had considered taking legal action but "it's impossible to prove anything".

From Forbes Magazine - July, 1999: "Microchip Backpacks turn Insects into Minesweepers," by Nikhil Hutheesing. The article describes Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk's work with honey bees doing double duty as Army agents, seeking out land mines by monitoring toxic fumes. Bromenshenk sets up hives nearby and tracks the bees as they go in and out. The same statically charged hairs that normally snag pollen also bring back dangerous chemicals, which are detected by an electronic system that sucks air from the hive onto an absorbent material. The material then gets analyzed.
"We anesthetize the bees with carbon dioxide and then glue tags onto their backs," explains Ronald Gilbert, who is testing the technology at the Pacific Northwest Nation-al Laboratory, in Richland, Washington. The tags contain radio-frequency-emitting chips, much like the ones stores put on clothes to thwart shoplifters. The laboratory's workers shrank the tags to half the size of a grain of rice. Antennas at the entrance to the hive pick up radio frequency signals from the tag. A computer analyzes the data to tell whether bees are coming or going. Upon returning to the hive, each bee is identified by its tag and greeted with a puff of air. The air sweeps molecules into a mass spectrometer, which measures their atomic weights and compares the results with those for TNT. If the explosive is identified, the computer system updates its map of known minefields. Police then post warning signs for as long as it takes sappers to remove the mines.

July, 1999 From the New Scientist magazine, comes news with a difference about the effects of genetically engineered plants...
Dutch biologists say they are genetically engineering plants so that honey made from their nectar will contain drugs or vaccines.
The honey could either be fed directly to patients, or drugs could be extracted from it. "It's a production system that would require very little purification," says Tineke Creemers of the Centre for Plant Breeding and Reproduction Research in Wageningen. "The protein is concentrated by the bees, so it's a very cheap production method."
The researchers also hope that the sugars in honey will act as a preservative, and are investigating whether proteins in honey retain their activity even if it is not refrigerated. If so, this would be a boon for vaccination programmes in poor tropical countries, which are often hampered by shortages of cooling equipment. Two discoveries came together to spawn the project. First, to their surprise, Creemers and her colleagues discovered antifungal proteins in nectar from common heather, Caluna vulgaris. They wondered if bees pass the proteins undigested into honey--and tests of commercial brands showed that they do.
The researchers also fed bees a sugar solution laced with a protein called bovine serum albumin. "The proteins remained intact in the honey and were concentrated twofold compared with the original solution," says Creemers.
Secondly, she and her colleagues discovered a genetic switch, or promoter, which activates genes in the nectary, the organ in plants where nectar is made. So they decided to try to add genes for various drugs to plants in such a way that the genes would be activated by the nectary promoter. Because the promoter is specific to the nectary, these drugs should be produced only in the nectar, where bees could eat them.
They are in the process of genetically engineering petunias so that they produce a vaccine against a disease of dogs caused by a parvovirus. The active component is part of a surface protein made by the virus, which should trigger immunity in dogs. "The dogs would either eat the honey as an oral vaccine, or the vaccine would be purified and injected," says Creemers.
Once the plants are fully grown and begin producing nectar, bees will be unleashed on them to produce honey that the researchers hope will contain the vaccine. Creemers and her colleagues expect to harvest the first honey in a year's time. "It's an exciting variation on making vaccines in plants," says Charlie Arntzen of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who is producing bananas engineered to contain vaccines.
Creemers and her colleagues are doing their experiments in glasshouses, to ensure that their bees feed only on the modified plants and to minimise concerns of the vaccine genes being spread by pollen. Because of this they are using bumblebees, which are easier to manage in a contained environment than large colonies of honeybees.

July, 1999 With all the stuff going on about mites and beetles, we may forget that we have other big problems, too. Such as pesticides...
Tom Theobald, president of the Boulder County Beekeepers Association and owner of the Niwot Honey Farm, said that based on a 1996 survey of beekeepers, half the losses beekeepers report are directly attributable to pesticides. The number of colonies in Colorado until 1996 was 45,000, and now it is between 22,000 and 32,000, he said.

Associated Press, July, 1999 CORTES, Wash. -- Allen Carmichael has been stung by rustlers. Maybe the same thing will happen to the thieves. Early Thursday, Carmichael was strolling across his field at his orchard here to check on his bee hives. He found two hives missing and the lid to one thrown on his still-smoldering burn pile.
Carmichael said he plans to build a fence around his hives. And, like his cattle, he plans to brand his hives with his initials. ``That's what you do when there are cattle rustlers,'' he said.

June 1999, Pi Chi Omega, the professional fraternity of the pest control industry, donated funds for 10 honeybee hives to support needy families around the world. The donation includes equipment and a package of bees plus beekeeping training, allow struggling families to earn income through selling honey, beeswax and pollen. The recipients are expected to pass along one hive to a neighbour in return for the gift.

From CNN, June, 1999 "40 Kids hurt as Killer Bees attack Mexican School"
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico (Reuters) -- So-called killer bees swarmed into a school in southeast Mexico on Tuesday, stinging some 40 children and a teacher, Mexican Red Cross officials said. Five children, aged between six and 12, and the teacher were hospitalized after being stung by the Africanized bees, which attack at the slightest provocation, said Red Cross doctor Juan Lopez. The bees attacked a school in the town of Centro, in Tabasco state.

New Zealand news from The Press - June, 1999 - Drunken bees and exploding hives are not a common problem for honey producers in New Zealand. But in the humidity of the tropics, preventing honey fermenting is a real problem for exporters. Ross Ward, a Christchurch-based bee consultant, is making a buzz in Asia with his new honey-drying machine, which is radically altering their export ability.
Honey is a super-saturated solution of sugars, and like any sugar, in the presence of a few yeasts is prone to the delightful process of fermentation which gives us alcohol. Great in beer. Not so good in honey. It is the water content of honey that determines whether this happens. Formed in the hive from nectar, honey is hygroscopic, absorbing moisture from the air if the relative humidity (RH) is too high.
In the tropics, with a higher RH, this can rise substantially. It is worsened if honey is removed from the hive early, as often happens to encourage production -- a sort of bees' sweat shop. At best bees can only reduce the moisture content to 22 per cent -- unacceptable to the world honey market.
As a bee keeper in Southland for 20 years, Ross Ward always had a flair for innovation. He designed his machine after being asked to troubleshoot for the industry in Vietnam. His construction mirrors bees' own technique in providing a large surface area and column of warm, dry air passing over the honey. A one-metre-square frame filled with a series of vertical nylon-mesh grids increases the drying area 200 times. Honey is poured from the top, mixed with warm air by a series of wipers as it falls, and collected below. Lithium chloride acts as a desiccant, releasing energy as it accepts water, providing an efficient form of reheating the air.

May 21, 1999 Here's some scary news...
"Toxic Pollen From Widely Planted, Genetically Modified Corn Can Kill Monarch Butterflies, Cornell Study Shows" An increasingly popular commercial corn, genetically engineered to produce a bacterial toxin to protect against corn pests, has an unwanted side effect: Its pollen kills monarch butterfly larvae in laboratory tests, according to a report by Cornell University researchers.
Writing in the latest issue (May 20) of the journal "Nature", the Cornell researchers note that this hybrid crop, known as" Bt"-corn, has genes from the bacterium" Bacillus thuringiensis" ("Bt") spliced into the plant genes. These hybrids are very effective against the ravenous European corn borer, a major corn pest that is destroyed by the plant's toxic tissue. The engineered corn is safe for human consumption.
Unlike many pesticides, the "Bt"-corn has been shown to have no effect on many "nontarget" organisms -- pollinators such as honeybees or beneficial predators of pests like ladybugs. But the "Bt-"modified corn produces pollen containing crystalline endotoxin from the bacterium genes. When this corn pollen is dispersed by the wind, it lands on other plants, including milkweed, the exclusive food of monarch caterpillars and commonly found around cornfields.
Says John E. Losey, Cornell assistant professor of entomology and the primary investigator on the study: "We need to look at the big picture here. Pollen from "Bt"-corn could represent a serious risk to populations of monarchs and other butterflies, but we can't predict how serious the risk is until we have a lot more data. And we can't forget that Bt-corn and other transgenic crops have a huge potential for reducing pesticide use and increasing yields. This study is just the first step, we need to do more research and then objectively weigh the risks versus the benefits of this new technology."
The web version of this release, including any accompanying photos, may be found at http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/May99/Butterflies.bpf.html.

The Florida Times-Union May 6, 1999 "Killer bees trapped at port - Unwelcome Arrivals Pose No Threat"
Several thousand African bees were caught and destroyed in Jacksonville last month, state agricultural officials said yesterday. African bees, commonly called killer bees, are more aggressive and temperamental than their domestic counterparts, but officials think they have captured them all. The potentially harmful bees were found April 23 in two traps at the Jacksonville Port Authority's Blount Island terminal. Agricultural inspectors brought a third trap from the Northside terminal to their Gainesville lab, but the hive included no African bees, said Laurence Cutts, the state's chief apiary inspector.
The bees, which are not more poisonous than domestic - or European - bees, have been known to chase people for up to half a mile, said Glenn Hague, African bee technician for the state's Division of Plant Industry, who on Monday completed DNA analysis on 50 of the bees. In the United States, five people - all of them elderly and with limited mobility - have been killed by bee stings since 1990, according to newspaper reports.
This was the third time in the past decade that African bees have been found at the Jacksonville port, said Cutts, adding that the bees likely traveled here aboard a container ship from Puerto Rico, which has an established population.
There is no known African bee population in Florida, although swarms have been discovered 17 times since 1983, when they first were found in the port of Miami, said Cutts.

In a study (1999) that analyzed 19 samples of honey from 14 different floral sources, University of Illinois scientists found that honey made from nectar collected from buckwheat flowers packs 20 times the antioxidant punch as that produced by bees that lap up California sage. Clover, perhaps the most common plant source tapped by honey bees, scored in the middle of the rankings. Antioxidants - substances that slow the oxidation of other substances - counter the toxic effects of free radicals, which can cause DNA damage that can lead to age-related problems such as arthritis, strokes and cancer. Free radicals are atoms or molecules that are usually reactive or unstable.
In an article to be published in the Journal of Apicultural Research, the researchers say darker honey has less water and more antioxidants than light-colored honey. The co-authors of the study - funded by the Illinois Value-Added Research Program and National Honey Board - were May Berenbaum, head of the University of Illinois entomology department; Gene E. Robinson, director of the U. of I. bee research facility; and plant biology graduate student Steven M. Frankel.
"Not all honeys are the same," said Berenbaum, who also is a researcher in the U. of I. Functional Foods for Health program. "The antioxidant content of buckwheat honey compares favorably, pretty much bite for bite, with the ascorbic acid-related antioxidant content of tomatoes. Gram for gram, antioxidants in buckwheat honey equal that of fruits and vegetables such as sweet corn or tomatoes. It packs the antioxidant power of Vitamin C in a tomato, but most people who would be willing to eat an entire tomato would balk at eating the equivalent of a tomato's weight-worth of honey."

From Melbourne, Australia, Daily News in May: Australian biologist, Dr. Ben Oldroyd, has exploded the myth that honey bees are a hive of order, finding them to be scheming and factional. Dr. Ben Oldroyd, 40, a senior lecturer from the school of biological sciences at the University of Sydney, is a finalist in this year's Eureka Prize for Scientific Research for his discovery of anarchistic behavior in bees. He has found a genetic mutation counterfeit queen bee eggs, according to Oldroyd, "causing chaos and destruction in the colony."
The mutant trait occurs in about one in 2.5 million bees. (i.e., one bee per fifty hives - Ron) His biology students, who have been helping with the project since he began in 1994, find the bees' behavior "as intriguing as a soap opera. It's a scheming mass of conflict with various factions trying to outdo each other and being held in check by mutual obligation."

Bees are moving from the south to pollinate crops across the northern tier of states. Every year, at least a few truck loads of bees roll off the highway. On May 9th, 450 hives were lost from a truck near Falmouth, Maine. State police said the flatbed tractor trailer turned over on its side around 10 a.m. while heading north along a connection between the Maine Turnpike and Interstate 295 in this southern Maine town. Equipment was brought to the site around mid-day to lift the truck upright.

May, 1999. ApiExpo'99 is an integral part of the 36th international beekeeping congress, Apimondia'99, to be held September 12-18, 1999 in Vancouver, Canada. The Expo will feature all types of beekeeping equipment from general beekeeping supplies to specialized extractors and hive loaders; equipment for comb honey production; honey and beehive products; queens and queen-rearing supplies; pharmaceuticals; bee venom and medicines; perfumes and cosmetics; books and magazines; and national and educational displays. Don Dixon, chair of the Apimondia'99 organizing committee, comments, "The opportunity to view such a wide range of products and businesses under one roof will be extremely exciting for Apimondia'99 participants. There has never been an ApiExpo with this much diversity." Deadline for early registration - at a reduced cost - to attend Apimondia is June, 1999.

April, 1999. We recently received the following note:
"www.AgricultureLaw.com is a new web site devoted to providing the most complete source of information and ideas on agricultural policy and to reporting daily news on agricultural issues. We are not advancing a particular viewpoint -- we seek to encourage dialogue and sharing of agriculture-related information from a diverse spectrum of perspectives from all responsible parties."

We also got the following from Mr. William Olivadoti:
"Our company manufactures an electronic instrument which detects insects and transmits information indicative of that insect to a computer for analysis. Please visit my website at: http://www.fizzix.com/siliconvalley/biometrics." The device apparently triggers an alarm everytime an insect comes near.

April, 1999. State experts have declared Orange County "colonized" by Africanized honeybees, based on this month's discovery of the Brazilian-bred insects in four county cities. The news demonstrates that it took five years for the so-called "killer bees" to have permeated Southern California since they were first discovered in Riverside County in 1994. Six counties now rank as colonized: Orange, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego and San Bernardino counties and the southern part of Los Angeles County. No bee attacks have been reported in Los Angeles County since the bees were discovered there in December.

April, 1999. Wanna buy some honey? Cheap? I have had a few calls that start out this way... Honey continues to drop, some changing hands at 45 cents US - about 70 cents Canadian.

Andy Nachbaur, retired beekeeper, and cyber-beekeeping pioneer, died on March 17, 1999, following a long illness. Andy was a great sting in the side of many beekeepers, regulators, researchers, and inspectors. We will all miss his wit, courage, and stamina. He posted hundreds of letters to the Bee-List, bee news groups, and on his web page. Since 1954, he kept thousands of hives in the American southwest - Colorado, Arizona, and California. Later, he was one of the first ever to make use of the electronic medium - a bulletin board system, or BBS, which he started in 1988. Years ago, I would phone his California computer and download files and programs he kept there. In recent years, he was vocal and instructive with his rambling wit, wisdom, and opinions. Although I could not always agree with his ideas - and certainly our politics were completely polarized - I have kept some of Andy's public notes on this web site for the past two years. You can read some of his material on the Nachbauer Papers Page.

March, 1999. This web site, The Beekeeper's Home Pages has won another unsolicited award, the Buzz Award, for contributions to the World Wide Web in the form of creative writing. So, beware - we are not as unbiased nor so scientific as we pretend. It is given by the Poet's Comic Strip web site.

March, 1999. A colony of Africanized bees has been found in Calabasas, California, meaning the aggressive bees probably have spread throughout the San Fernando Valley. The March 5 discovery of a hive of Africanized honey bees in an oak tree in Calabasas marks the farthest north the bees have been reported in Los Angeles County since first being sighted last fall. As a result, county agricultural officials believe the bees now have colonized 40% of the county, and will probably complete their march north by the end of the year.

March, 1999. The state of Washington produces many fruit crops that are dependent on honey bees for pollination. Problem is bee count is way down, from 85,000 hives to 54,000. The drop is at least partly due to the varroa mite. Bee mites in the northwest have reportedly been demonstrating resistance to fluvalinate. As a result, beekeepers are seeking a regional request was prepared seeking an emergency exemption from the EPA to let beekeepers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho use a new miticide on a beehive pest strip made by the Bayer Corp. -- the giant German company famous for aspirin. The active ingredient in the Bayer Bee Strip is a chemical called coumaphos. This winter, beekeepers in the Northwest have gotten special permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Beekeeping has always been tough enough. Can you imagine having 300 hives stolen? This happened to the Fisher's in Tribly (Pasco County, Florida) in February, 1999. The Fisher family is offering a five-thousand-dollar reward. Department of Agriculture officials say their inspectors will be on the lookout for the hives that contain an estimated fourteen million bees.

From Sydney, Australia, in February: The NSW Agriculture Department helps train sniffer dogs. The dogs will detect illegally imported queen bees which might be carrying mites that threaten the bee industry. The AQIS beagles sniff out all sorts of illegal imports (but not drugs), including fruit and vegies, fresh, processed, and even tinned meat, plant material, reptiles, birds, eggs - and now queen bees."

February, 1999. 512 hives on a flatbed truck were being moved from Texas to California for almond pollination. But at the Arizona-California border, inspectors found red fire ants on one of the pallets with the honey bees. The bees were quarantined at the border, California refused to allow the bees into the state, and Arizona refused to allow them back through to Texas. The bees sat for eight days until they were allowed onto a refrigerated van and escorted back across Arizona, on there way back to Texas. The owner was out expenses and lost income from the canceled pollination contract, but his bees were spared. Red fire ants have not yet been discovered in California, but have been in the Southeast USA since the 1920s.

February, 1999. The painting Abejas agresivas (Bees with anger) by Rufino Tamayo and valued at over $US one million dollars had been stolen earlier in the year. It was recovered by Mexican authorities.

January, 1999. Reported at the January ABF meeting: During 1999, experimental USDA bee stock derived from Russian honey bees demonstrating some resistance to varroa will be given to three commercial producers to evaluate for other traits such as honey production, over-wintering, temperament, etc. During the year 2000, other extensive evaluations will be made. General distribution of this stock could take place as early as 2001.

January, 1999. Practicing for the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, the Seminoles' - the No. 1-ranked defense in the country - was scattered by a swarm of angry bees. "It was like our team was shot out of a cannon," said FSU defensive end Tony Bryant. "I've never seen bees like that." Cornerback Tay Cody described the scene: "Someone yelled, 'There's a gang of bees,' and I ran and ducked for cover. It was every man for himself." The swarm chased the Seminoles to the sidelines and then back on the field, but no one was stung. It is beleived the swarm was Africanized honeybees.

January, 1999. Disney Corporation has offered $500 million for Winnie the Pooh rights. Disney already holds film, television and licensing rights wants to extend its copyright. When Pooh's author, A.A. Milne, died he left partial rights to the bear to a men's club in Britain. If Disney does its deal, the Garrick Club will receive $125 million. isney has offered $500 million in total for the rights, which would be divided equally between the Garrick Club and three other beneficiaries.

December, 1998. We won yet another award (But where's the MONEY??) This one from some net analysts who call themselves CLICKERAMA. It's some sort of accolade for being nifty, I guess. Check out their comments at Clickerama and let me know what it means.

We have started an association with Amazon.com, - the big internet bookstore - mostly in response to the hundreds of e-mail notes we get asking for sources to buy books about beekeeping. You can check out our new Shopping Page for details.

The 1999 Apimondia, being held in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, has already announced a tour package of western Canadian beekeeping - and scenery (including the Peace River country and the Canadian Rockies. Check out the details.

There is another news item on the net about the role bee venom plays in potentially (see, lawyers?? I said potentially) helping folks with MS and Arthritis.

December 10, 1998 The New York City Rooftop Beelicious Honey Apiary is back in the news again. This is one of the few real agricultural enterprises within the city of New York. Next time someone tells you that you can't keep bees inside your little village's city limits, remind the town council about this story from the AP news wire:
Philadelphia Inquirer, picked up by AP. NEW YORK -- Bees are thriving in seven high-rise hives. Bears are nonexistent. Skunks are rare. Rats, pigeons and humans, though plentiful, are reluctant to approach. New York City, it turns out, is a great place to be a bee. "They do really well here," said David Graves, who has hundreds of thousands of honeybees in seven hives in Brooklyn, the Bronx and Manhattan. "There are so many parks, and gardens, and rooftop flowerpots. Even if it's dry, they can get the water they need from the East River." They mind their own beeswax, too, and don't go around stinging sidewalk- bound New Yorkers, Graves insisted. The hives are on rooftops -- as high as 12 stories -- to keep them undisturbed. Each of Graves' hives can produce 50 pounds of honey a year, which he sells for $5 per half-pound at the city's greenmarkets. His ordinary New England honey is $3. Graves, 48, has been raising bees for 15 years. He got the up-on-the-roof idea one spring after black bears raided hives near his Becket, Mass., home.

One of the more intellectually stimulating shows on the cathode ray tube, The Simpson's has sometimes featured a dramatic character called the Spanish Bee. There is an entire web site lovingly devoted to this hairless creature. Check it out on the Spanish Bee Web Page.

The following note was posted to BEE-L subscribers in November -

     Dear colleagues: I am beginning a study on the parasitic fly genus
     Melaloncha that attacks stingless bees in the New World tropics. I am
     looking for collaborators in the Neotropical Region who would be willing to
     help me. I need people who can direct me to nests of as many stingless bee
     species as possible. Once I know where the nests are located, I can search
     for the parasitic flies, which often are found around the nest entrance. By
     the way, the flies also attack honey bees and can be a major source of
     mortality for these insects.
     If anyone has an interest in this project, please contact Brian Brown - bbrown@nhm.org. 
          -Brian says thanks.

November 1998, ABC Science News is reporting the first federally sanctioned study of bee stings as medicine. Scheduled to begin in several weeks, the study will examine the healing effects of bee venom on individuals with multiple sclerosis and other ailments. Teaming up with the nonprofit Multiple Sclerosis Association of America, Dr. Joseph Bellanti approached the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to obtain approval for a formal study of apitherapy, or bee-sting therapy. After several months of discourse,the FDA gave Bellanti and his team permission to proceed last week. Beekeepers and some physicians have recognized the medicinal value of stings for years, but until now, the US government has avoided helping or sanctioning any investigations. There are many anecdotal stories about bee sting therapy and its effects on joint diseases, nervous system disorders, and mobility problems.

November 1998, A government lab confirms that Africanized Honey Bees were responsible for the San Bernardino, California attack on an 86 year old man. The 500 bee stings nearly killed the elderly man who was unaware of bees on his property. Africanized stock has been found all the way to the Los Angeles county line, and similar problems are expected.

November 1998, If you are looking for some nice, color photos on beekeeping, this link will give you almost 300 high quality honey bee images. But be warned - they are copyrighted material, don't start using them without permission or paying royalty fees!

According to a recent (November 1998) BBC article published on the web, Prince Charles had to reject a birthday gift from the people of Slovenia. Beekeeping has a long, revered history in this alpine country - they even have coins with the bee instead of some politician on the face side. Anyway, they wanted him to have a skep. Unfortunately, not even royalty can bring used bee equipment into England. Must have ruined Chuck's 50th birthday...

The U.K. The National Honey Show (November, 1998) has a full Schedule of Classes on the net and ready for download at http://www.beeman.dircon.co.uk/nhs/ or from Francis Capener.

It is October and that means bee moving season in the northern hemisphere. And that, unfortunately, means accidents on the highway involving over-worked beekeepers. The Billings Gazette reports a second honey bee truck crash, this time involving a load of 420 hives near Baker, Montana. The bees were moving from Glen Ullin, N.D., to almonds near Arbuckle, California. No humans were hurt in the accident.

October 1998, Brushy Mountain Bee Supplies will be offering a neat gizmo developed by beekeeper Kevin Johnson, of Lillington, NC. Released in the 1999 catalog will be a bee vacuum, for retrieving bees from building and trees and keeping them alive in transit. The device, which holds bees in a temporary transit cage for relocating, won first prize at the North Carolina State Beekeepers Convention Gadget contest this summer. Others have developed similar devices, some more effective than others. We have included a B-List posting of a build-your own scheme from Matthew Westall on a separate web page.

October 6, 1998. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate passed a $4.2 billion election-year bailout for farmers Tuesday that prompted a veto threat by President Clinton, who wants a record $7.7 billion to help growers through an economic downturn. It is not clear if the new "honey loan program" is included in this or the Presidents version of the Farm Bill but it seems honey will be supported at about US$.56 in some form of a farm loan program. Details may be available on Andy Nachbauer's Web Site.

October, 1998. A sting relief kit, called Sting-Kill, has been made available by Randob Labs, Ltd., Cornwall, NY, under license from Kiwi Brand, Inc. It should be in most drugstores.

The Canadian national newspaper, The Globe and Mail carried this back page item on September 29, 1998. "David Graves sells New York City Rooftop Beelicious Honey, produced by seven hives located as far as 12 storeys off the ground, in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan. The insects don't sting because their homes are unlikely to be disturbed by humans."

The September 12, 1998, issue of Science News has a cover story on the anti-oxidant properties of honey and some possible commercial applications. The article may be accessed over the internet at http://www.sciencenews.org.
The Russian Company AgriS contacted us (August, 1998) with information on one of their export products, bee venom. The stuff is described as a grey-yellow powder, 62% melittin content, 1.1% impurities and with a hemolysis time of 140 seconds. If you need more poison in your life, contact their web site.

SCIENCE NEWS, vol 154, August 8, 1998, contains an article titled RUSSIAN BEES BEE-little Mites Impact. The article describes the introduction of Russian bees to combat varroa mites in the USA. According to the article, "The first generation of bees produced by 90 expatriate queens, just released from quarantine, has significantly outperformed U.S. members of their species, Apis mellifera, in resisting infestation by varroa mites."

Researchers, led by Dr. Tom Rinderer, had expected mite populations to increase by a factor of about 12 during the test period, but on the Russian stock, populations only grew about 3 times from the original mite counts. Although other factors may be involved, the results - that a genetic resistance to varroa mites may be discovered - are very encouraging! The complete Science News article is on the web.

(July 1998) Now that we are coping with mites, foulbrood, and are getting immune to the stinging news reports about Killer Bees, we have a new pest to powder, dust, swat, or crush - the "Afro-Beetle"!
It was discovered in Florida in April, and found in South Carolina in July. The unsightly monster apparently sits in hives, munching on bees. Hopefully, there will be lots of research grants available from the surplus funds our governments have been collecting!

Garth Cambray of Camdini Apiaries, South Africa, says that they will not infect a hive unless something is already badly wrong with it. If the hive is killed by pesticides, or has it's population dramatically reduced so it cannot defend itself against beetles, the beetles will hammer the hive.

More on the life cycle, longevity, and control of the hive beetle is located here.

Stephen Bullington (July, 1998) in western Pennsylvania has found giant megachilids (Megachile sculpturalis) - an exotic Asian bee species first encountered in North America in North Carolina in 1994. There is little information about such introduced bees - which may or may not be beneficial to flowers and wildlife (and could be competitive to conventional pollinators and thus counter-beneficial.)
The species is large, over 20 mm long, with a dark, furry thorax, and black abdomen, and a scary looking head. You may wish to contact the local bee police if you find this bug.

When I was kid, not so long ago, one of my favourite books was Sam MacGregor's Pollination Book. I spent many a pleasant evening snuggled up by the fire with this huge book. (I am serious) I still have my old 1970 - something - copy around somewhere. It was the first really exhaustive collection of honey plants as they relate to commercial pollination and it is thorough. Now (June 1998) the good news - the book has gone online!! Thanks in part to Bee Culture magazine, you can now look up everything you always wanted to know about bee pollination in the Pollination Book.

A recent (June '98) e-note from a research scientist working on new preservative systems for wood is requesting input from the beekeeping community. The objectives of Ed Nichenko's work are to develop wood preservatives for beehives without the toxicity of the arsenic and chromium.
Ed asks us, "Would hive manufacturers or perhaps DIY beekeepers be interested in testing our treatment? In laboratory choice tests we have observed that termites are not repelled although if they ingest this wood it gets them. If close proximity doesn't bother termites, maybe no harm would come to bees, while they enjoy a home protected from decay and termites."
- - Ed Nichenko, 4905 Meadowood Circle, Hahira, GA 31632 nichenko@surfsouth.com

Another e-note from a different source informs us: "I have discovered a great little booklet on Queen-rearing by Oliver Field. Oliver is the author of 'Honey by the Ton' and has travelled extensively around the World in a consultant capacity." For further details email pentaplan@aol.com

(June '98) Associated Press has reported that "The killer bees have made it to Nevada, and El Nino may be to blame." (My soup boiled over on the stove last night. Probably due to lower atmospheric pressure here in Calgary - I suspect El Nino was also responsible.) The AP story tells us that two swarms were discovered near Laughlin in the state's extreme southern tip. El Nino is implicated because (according to AP) "wetter, cooler weather linked to El Nino has increased the growth of nectar- and pollen-producing plants." You thought that cool, wet weather would slow the advance of the Africanized Honey Bees, didn't you? By the way, the press article also gives the latest score: "In this country, six people in Texas and Arizona have died from mass attacks by as many as 300 bees, while over a thousand may have been killed in Latin America and Mexico since 1956."

If you hear something that sounds a lot like a train wreck - or some other loud crashing noise - it is something to be concerned about... The cacophonous overture is likely the tone of falling honey prices. One source reports to us that Argentine honey prices have dropped $100 per tonne during the last ten days of April, 1998. This is about half a cent per day per pound. If this rate continues, honey will be given away for free beginning August 3rd, 1998!

This e-mail was received from a north Arizona beekeeper: "I have taken swarm samples from the Flagstaff, AZ area, which were sent to the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, to help with monitoring the movement of AHB in Northern Arizona. The AHB has been confirmed, via DNA analysis, to the Grand Canyon, Coconino County, Apache and Navajo counties as of Fall '97."

Sherry Medders, working with The Mining Company is announcing a great new beekeeping web site, http://beekeeping.miningco.com which has a lot of links, information, a free beekeeper's chat room, and a great picture of Sherry on every page!

Some fun figures about USA beekeeping... At the start of 1993, there were 220,000 colonies of bees in Florida with an average production of 105 pounds per hive. California had 470,000 colonies of bees. The combined production from these two states was about 60 million pounds of honey, about the same as is produced in all of Canada each year. (But our honey tastes better!) Other big production US states include North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and Texas. The IRS extracted royalties from 3.03 million colonies, which produced 220 million pounds (73 pounds/hive) in 1992.

This sad note is to inform potential buyers that the extracting equipment, building, and property of the Ken Salen Apiaries, Ridgedale, Saskatchewan, is being offered on unreserved auction, Tuesday, May 19, 1998. Contact Fraser Auction Service for more details.

If the business of beekeeping is getting you down, you could make the leap to pesky bee exterminator.... Pest Control Service, Jacksonville, Florida, needs beekeepers in the northeast Florida area interested in free referrals to remove honey bees. The service does not handle bees. You can contact PENINSULAR PEST CONTROL SERVICE, INC., Carolyn D. Richardson, President, 904-389-3491.

A USDA Report, The U.S. Beekeeping Industry, by F.L. Hoff and L.S. Willett was released in April, 1998. It is Agricultural Economic Report Number 680, published by the USDA Economic Research Service, 69pp, May 1994.

The introduction states in part: "This report updates information on honey production, pollination and the relationship of the U.S. beekeeping industry to agriculture and the environment. The study was mandated in the Committee report that accompanied the Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act of 1987. The mandate resulted from concern by beekeepers and members of Congress about problems, issues, and challenges that emerged during the 1980's with the potential to significantly alter the beekeeping industry. These concerns included northward migration of the Africanized honeybee, infestations of colonies by tracheal and Varroa mites, the widespread use of highly toxic pesticides, increasing honey imports, and efforts to discontinue the honey price support program."

This report is an extremely valuable lobbying document. The authors should be congratulated for providing the industry with these facts and figures. The beekeeping community now has plenty of ammunition to back up its arguments for public support in many arenas. However, the time and expense to produce this document will go for naught, if those in the beekeeping industry do not actively use the information to its fullest potential. To obtain a copy call toll free 800/999-6779 in U.S. and Canada (other areas 703/834-0125) and ask for AER-680. The cost is $12.00 payable by Visa or MasterCard. To order a copy by first-class mail, send a check for $12.00 ($15.00 for Canada or elsewhere) made payable to ERS-NASS, 341 Victory Drive, Herndon, VA 22070.

April 1998, ABC News reports on the 'Mad Bee Disease' in France. "A poisoning problem from insecticide is the only explanation for the behaviour of the bees and their systematic disappearance during the first week that the sunflowers bloom." � Franck Allaitru More is on the ABC site.
United Press International, also in April, 1998, carried a similar story, citing the "killing (of) millions of honeybees in western France." The syndrome was termed 'mad bee' because the honeybees, apparently poisoned by an insecticide designed to injure an insect's neurological system, causes bees to loose their cognitive abilities, resulting in (among other things) bees which can not find their way home. Beekeepers claim the problem is the insecticied Gaucho, produced by German agrichemical giant Bayer. It was designed to protect sunflowers from parasites. French Ministry spokesman Andre Lesireux described his department's research: "The research will tell us why the bees turn crazy and die."
April 1998, ABC News reports on a dramatic increase in the number of Africanized swarms found in California. Their story, Five-Fold Increase Noted Bees Take California by Swarm describes "killer bees spreading rapidly in southeast California." Researchers show 7% of captured bees in southeast CA are AHB, compared to 1.5% two years earlier (1996).
(February 1998) Perhaps our most important news story on beekeeping is actually a story on free speech and government attempts to interefere with what beekeepers can say, write, and print to each other. We include here a news release sent directly to us by John Caldeira, of Texas, in the USA...

Texas Department of Agriculture Dismisses Free Speech Case Against Beekeeper

After a two and a half year legal battle, the Texas Department of Agriculture has dropped charges that beekeeper John Caldeira broke the law simply by talking about pesticides on the Internet.

In 1995, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) sent beekeeper John Caldeira a letter in the mail claiming that he broke the law when he discussed the merits of Mavrik, a pesticide, in controlling varroa mites in beehives on Prodigy's bee hobbyist bulletin board. Under Texas law, a pesticide distributor can lose his license for "recommending" a pesticide inconsistent with its labeling or approved EPA use. But Caldeira wasn't a distributor of pesticides or even a commercial beekeeper. He was just a hobbyist repeating what he'd learned from USDA researchers at beekeeping conventions.

The TDA went after him anyway, claiming that his Prodigy posts "gave the impression" that he was a knowledgeable commercial beekeeper whose "advice and suggestions would have a significant impact in encouraging illegal use of Mavrik." They inspected Caldeira's hives and found no violations of the law. Still, they pursued Caldeira, seeking to fine him $600. Caldeira countered that his comments were factually accurate, harmed no one and were protected by the First Amendment.

After bringing his case to the readers of Fight-Censorship, an electronic mailing list, attorney Jennifer Granick put Caldeira in contact with Texas attorney McGready Richeson. Richeson, representing Caldeira pro bono, moved to challenge the TDA's actions on First Amendment grounds, filed for a stay of the proceedings and prepared to file a declaratory action to determine the constitutionality of the statute.

In response, TDA drafted a statement for Caldeira to post "one time per month for three months" to Prodigy, parroting the TDA's position on pesticide use, in exchange for dropping the fine. Richeson rejected the offer, stating that no offer which forced Caldeira either to remain silent or to speak would be acceptable.

Meanwhile, the TDA's case was in trouble. On January 12, 1998, Administrative Law Judge Barbara C. Marquardt granted Richeson's Motion to Continue, stating that "the nature of this action is problematic. While it is filed against a Texas resident, it concerns information he placed on the Internet, and no harm was done to Texas residents... Thus, the ALJ would prefer that a district court address the constitutional issues." That same day, the TDA dropped their case against Caldeira.

In a January 1998 newsletter to its 400 members, the Sioux Honey Association Board of Directors indicated that authorization for a $0.07 US advance per pound for 1997 honey would be available in March 1998, bring the total payable (so far) for 1997 honey to $0.55 US for better quality honey.

The largest honey marketing co-operative in the USA estimate honey sales are up about 10 per cent over last year (mostly in increased sales of lower value industural bulk honey). Members delivered about 36,400,000 pounds of honey from their 1997 crop, nearly twenty per cent of the total US production.

The newly revised book, The Beekeeper's Handbook, Third Edition, by Diana Sammataro, Ph.D. and Alphonse Avitabile discusses many current aspects of bee culture, including, for example, the crisis created by the parasitic bee mites. In less than a decade, for example, Varroa mites have saturated the North American honey bee population with disastrous results, devastating both managed and wild populations. The new edition of The Beekeeper's Handbook covers mite detection and control, as well as the selection and testing of bees that may have some tolerance to mites.
Diana Sammataro can also be reached at her Penn State web page.

This book...
 -Serves as a comprehensive introduction for beginners and a valuable 
    reference for the experienced beekeeper;
 -Is illustrated with 90 original black-and-white drawings and 23 tables;
 -Outlines alternative options for each operation within beekeeping,
    listing advantages and disadvantages of each alternative;
 -Provides easy-to-follow directions and diagrams;
 -Includes glossary and updated bibliography suggesting more detailed
    information on the topics discussed.

This 224 page Comstock Book, can be ordered from Cornell University Press (US 24.95) by calling 607-277-2211, by faxing 1-800-688-2877, or by e-mailing orderbook@cupserv.org. By mail, orders should go to Cornell University Press, PO Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14851-6525. People can also order through the Cornell Press Website.

We receive quite a few requests to advertise equipment for sale (never any offers to give us money for the ads, though!). Since it is beyond the scope of this site at this time to set up a page of ads, anyone with stuff for sale may like to visit: http://www.internode.net/Honeybee/beeads/ This is a site developed by Allen Dick, of Swalwell, Alberta - intended to help beekeepers around the world sell bee related items.
You are invited to drop by and advertise free of charge for whatever you need to buy or want to sell. There are no strings attached to using it. The only request is that users stay within the bounds of good taste and that they specify exactly where they are located, since usage is worldwide. Phone or fax numbers are a good idea to increase your response -- as is your email address. Commercial use by dealers and publications is welcome as long as the site is not abused by huge promos.

According to the USDA, prices paid to Canadian beekeepers for unprocessed bulk honey by packers and importers in U.S. currency, f.o.b. shipping point, with containers included for January 1998 have held steady...

Province and floral source not given:
extra white, ($US) 75 cents per pound, duty and crossing charges extra.

US Domestic honey has recently ranged from 59 cents to 83 cents US per pound, with prices varying by floral source, contract terms, and delivery and container arrangements. A median price for high quality white honey seems to be about 70 cents.

The following is taken from a note from Dr. Connor:
At 91, Professor Harry Laidlaw has put a great deal of himself into his latest book, Queen Rearing and Bee Breeding. He considers it his best book on queen rearing and an introduction to bee breeding. Professor Rob Page has added considerably to the genetics section, yet kept it readable for most beekeepers. FYI: Queen rearing and bee breeding, 224 pages, softcover, large format, (US Funds) $25 plus $2.50 surface postage worldwide. Discounts available for quantity purchases.

   Larry Connor Ph.D.
   Editor and Publisher
   Wicwas Press LLC
   PO Box 817
   Cheshire CT 06410
   phone and fax 203 250 7575
   mailto:ljconnor@aol.com

The Wisconsin Honey Producers Association is in need of information on pollination practices in the state of Wisconsin. A survey is being compiled to inform the public to the importance of pollination in Wisconsin.
Questions asked in the survey are:

      1.  How many colonies went out on pollination? ______
      2.  Cost per colonie for commercial pollination _________
      3.  Number of Acres pollinated _________

Wisconsin beekeepers can answer this survey, title the email...WHPA Pollination Survey and send it to Monica M. Piechowski.

An article in the February issue of Scottish Beekeeper which was taken from the November 30, 1997, Sunday Telegraph discusses the new regulation Statutory Instrument No. 1729. The statute bans all chemical varroa treatments except Bayvarol, and imposes a fine of up to �5000 as punishment for using any unlicensed chemicals.

A new newsletter, from the Basingstoke Beekeeper's Association is now on the web, at http://www.apis.demon.co.uk/beekeeping/newsletters/beekeeper.html

The 1997 California Almond harvest was a record 744 million pounds, passing the 1994 crop of 732.7 million pounds.
The gross farm income for this years crop is not yet reported as much of the crop has yet to be sold, but will likely return at least one billion dollars to the growers by the time all the crop is sold. Almonds are entirely dependent upon honey bees for pollination. Several hundred thousand colonies will be moved into almond groves this spring in California, and growers will pay about $20 million in pollination fees, or about 2 per cent of their gross revenues.

The Beeton, Ontario, town council has now approved the Beeton Business Association and the Beeton Horticultual Society's request for the use of the old fire hall to be used as a tourist info, chamber office and Beekeeping museum. D.A. Jones of the Beeton area went to Europe and brought back queen bees to help start commercial honey production in North America. He also started a Bee Keeping magazine. More and more letters sent to the town related to Bees. The town was known as Clarksville, however, there were three Clarksville's in Ontario at that time. The mail started to be marked as the "Beetown" Clarksville. Later the town name was changed to Beeton.
Coordinators are looking for bee artifacts that could be displayed in the museum. You can send e-mail with information or ideas to Cliff East. NBC has just completed the shooting of a movie of the week called "I'll Be Home For Christmas" to be shown this December. It stars Ann Gillian, Jack Palance and Robert Young. The production company donated $10,000 to the community for the inconvenience caused by the shooting of this movie. This money has been earmarked for the Museum.

The US Postal Service is about to release a new Honey Bee stamp, intended to commemorate An American Tradition by depicting a bee pollinating a flower.

What is organic honey? The proposed USDA regulations on foods labeled as organic can be found on-line at http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/ Generally, to label honey as organic the US regulations require that the bees forage predominately from areas in which no chemical pesticides or fertilizers are used. This is virtually impossible in much of the U.S. The law also prohibits the use of Apistan and other chemicals.

To keep the varroa and tracheal mites out of Canada, the Canadian Honey Council has brilliantly advised the Canadian federal government to continue to keep the USA/Canada border closed for another two years. This should be received as welcome news by American honey producers - honey prices may not slide as fast as Canadian beekeepers continue to quit beekeeping under the pressure of purchasing expensive Australian and New Zealand packages. Canadian beekeepers on the western prairies have apparently not been able to successfully winter and replace their hives - colony count is now at about half the level it was at before the ban on importing packages from continental USA.

Lloyd Spear, of Guilderland, N.Y., has purchased the Ross Rounds from retiring Tom Ross. Ross will continue to serve the company in the roll of consultant, but the new business address is Ross Rounds, Inc., P.O. Box 582, Guilderland, N.Y. 12084. If you are unfamiliar with the Ross Rounds product. be sure to check our web site on comb honey.

According to the October 30, 1997 issue of Canada's newspaper, The Globe and Mail, Cynthia Scott-Dupree's The Complete Beekeeper has received the silver medal at Apimondia 97. Congratulations for generating an award-winning homestudy course for beekeepers and neo-bkprs! The course cost is $CA225 and available from Guelph's Independent Study/ OAC ACCESS. The course includes manual, video, and assignments. Order information is available from the university through 1-800-263-4499 or 519-767-fifty-fifty, or fax your order (including Visa or Mastercard number and expiry date) to 519-824-9813.

(September, 1997) A fascinating miticide scandal has been brewing for the past few weeks. It involves the unapproved application of a common miticide called Maverik. Using the common greenhouse and nursery grower's chemical to control mites on geraniums is acceptable, but soaking paper towels in Maverik and inserting them between brood chambers after the honey flow is illegal, even if it is apparently much more effective than Apistan strips - and less than 10 per cent the cost. Rumour has it that one Texan beekeeper was fined $300 for treating hives with Maverik (Hey, $300 is a lot of money to a beeman!)
There is a little more mite news floating around the country. Apparently, an efficacy experiment in a southern US state involving ten-year old Apistan strips (sold in 1989) demonstrated that the old strips were much better at killing varroa than strips produced today. The apparent recent loss in Apistan strip effectiveness is believed to be due to formulation changes in the host material (the plastic that holds the miticide in the strip), which no longer releases the chemical correctly. There had been speculation that some strains of mites were developing resistance to the Fluvalinate, but it now appears (according to our sources in the south) that the strips just aren't working as they once did. In tests conducted by the producers of Apistan, it has been indicated that the product continues to be at least 95% effective in killing mites - if used correctly. Unfortunately, a correct application would require about five times the number of individual strips per hive than what beekeepers typically use. The resulting cost could finacially destroy some beekeepers (then who would buy the strips?)... It is important for producers of any commodity to keep prices at a level that customers will not go broke making purchases, or, worse turn into mavericks!

The Island of Santa Cruz, off the coast of California, is under the control of The Nature Conservancy which has apparently enlisted the aid of Dr. Adrian Wenner to remove honey bees from the 57,000 acre island. The goal is to restore the island to "the way it was" before ranchers began using the place about 200 years ago and before the native folks started living there 3000 years before that. We don't wish them great luck in their grand scheme. Not that we are mean-spirited or anti-environmental, but because the energy and expense could be much better applied in other places, and because this island is believed to be the only place on earth where a pure strain of the German black bee, Apis mellifera mellifera exists! Destroying these bees is precisely the same as destroying heritage seeds and will reduce the world's genetic diversity... Just as charity should begin at home, one wonders why these noble-minded folks don't elect to tear down their comfortable California homes and condos and sleep in a more natural thistle environment!

You probably don't have enough to worry about. We picked up this bit of news from the internet: The British government is requiring warnings on honey. It should not be fed to infants under the age of twelve months. The concern is less with respect to botulism than to the effect on the child of ingesting tiny amounts of genetically engineered pollens from altered crops. The ultimate effects on the babies are, of course, years from being understood.

Wicwas Press, LLC, is pleased to announce the publication of its latest book: Honey Shows, Guidelines for Exhibitors, Superintendents and Judges. The authors are Roger A. and Mary Lou Morse. The book is in stock at Wicwas Press, ready for immediate shipment. Visa, Mastercard and American Express are accepted for payment, as well as checks and money orders by mail (US$9.95). For further information, contact: Wicwas Press, LLC., Lawrence Connor Editor, PO Box 817, Cheshire, CT 06410 USA Phone and Fax 203 250 7575. Email ljconnor@aol.com

We received an interesting e-mail from Russia, sent by a gospodin Evgeni Betin. The note says: I am an author of the patent of invention: "The method and hive for all year round supporting of bees families at the middle - northern latitudes" (1992-1995). The experience of my beekeeping is about 35 years. Regions: Crim - 45 North Latitute (6 year); Cursk - 52 N.L.(4 year); Ryazan-54 N.L.(14 year) and north of the Tver region - 58 N.L. (11 years. I research the ability of bees to live in the hollows. It gave me idea to organize bees wintering. The author continues the note with a description of his hive design and its benefits, and invites interested business partners to contact him at either his e-mail address or by writing/phoning

               Russia, Moscow.  127349,  
                    Leskova   St., 10-b,    270,
                         phone  909-61-72,
                         fax    241-11-51 ( for E. Betin).

The United States Department of Agriculture has imported about 100 Russian queen bees and isolated them on Grand Terre Island, off the coast of Louisiana. The bees originate from a part of far eastern Russia (near Manchuria, China) where varroa has been known for about a hundred years. It is believed that the bees have some resistance to the mite (bees have survived there a long time with the pest) and this hypothesis will be tested by Dr. Tom Rinderer of the USDA Bee Genetics Lab at Baton Rouge. This experiment may help remove the industry's dependency on miticides and advance the search for a more natural solution to the varroa problem.

The August 27, 1997 Calgary Herald has a preliminary farm report for Alberta. Market research analysts say yields and quality are down due to the hot, dry summer. Last year's farm receipts hit three billion dollars but this will be lower in 1997, due to lower yields, decreased acreages of wheat, and lower prices. Stats Canada estimates that the year will mark the largest drop in Canadian wheat production in over ten years. In the province of Alberta, there was a 800,000 acre drop in wheat plantings, but an additional 900,000 acres of canola were planted.

Some July, 1997 honey prices as reported in the NATIONAL HONEY MARKET NEWS. Prices in US cents per US pound.

          CANADA -Manitoba                                          
          clover            73                  water white         
          ARGENTINA                             light amber         
          mixed flower      69-89  E. Coast     white-lt amber      
          mixed flower      93     W. Coast     white               
          MEXICO  Mixed     61-62               light amber         
          Texas Tallow      64                  light amber         
          Louisiana Tallow  64                  light amber

An interesting little manuscript, Deeper Ecology: Essays on Ecological Spirituality, by David Doyle outlines and discusses a protocol for the 'preservation and restoration of global ecology, wildlife populations, and ecosystems based on the degradation due to human exploitation.' This book also delves into the "connectedness" aspect of humans to the natural world, with the authors personal reflections on our role in the scheme of the finer workings of the world's flora and fauna. The book says nearly 100% of the face of the earth in Ethiopia, Japan, and the United Kingdom has been disturbed; with a similar 75% rate in the U.S., Mexico, and China. Also, 95% of the forests in the U.S. have been lost, while only 10.5% of the total land area in that country is protected. The price for each copy has been reduced to $5.95 for each copy.

U.S. Honey Imports is neatly covered in an article in the May, 1997 issue of Bee Culture, published by the A. I. Root Company. The article uses U.S.D.A. figures and charts to show where some of the "345 million pounds of honey used in the United States" came from (198 million pounds produced in the USA; and 147 million pounds imported) and the honey's price and quality distribution. Check out Bee Culture for the details!

Dr. Ross Hauser, 715 Lake St., Suite 600, Oak Park, IL 60301, is looking for participants with multiple sclerosis to engage in his apitherapy experiments (bee sting therapy). You can reach him at 708-848-7789.

The varroa mite-free status of Vancouver Island has officially ended with the April first discovery of mites on Canada's isolated west coast islands. Queen and package production will hopefully continue on these balmy islands, noted for their mild winters, early springs, and very intense pollen flows.

Papers presented in a symposium on "Insect Conservation" at the 1995 annual meeting of the Acadian Entomological Society at Campobello, NB, Canada will be published in a special issue of the Northeastern Naturalist. Included is Bee Conservation and Increasing Osmia spp. in Maine Wild Blueberry Fields, by Constance Stubbs. Copies of this special issue may be obtained for $5.00 (Can. or US) if ordered by June 1, 1997 from Northeastern Naturalist, Dyer Bay Road, PO Box 9, Steuben, ME, USA 04680-0009

Control of the mites which have been affecting North American bees for over ten years now are varied and the supporters of these various controls are likewise a rather disparate group. Many beekeepers are frustrated by the lack of permanent cures, and sense that much scientific research has been conducted at universities receiving grants from chemical companies. Scientists, in turn, have a tough time supporting home remedies which seems to have limited and unreproducible successes. The big debate is really focused on unregistered miticides, which some scientists are calling Snake Oil while the big money continues to support manufactured chemicals. Hopefully, the levels of abuse (from both sides) will not result in any permanent damage to anyone's livelihood....

Some world honey production results from the past few years have been circulating recently, and there are a few surprises. Many of us continue to believe that countries such as Canada and Australia are still the world's bread-baskets, but that seems to be changing. Certainly, agriculture is still somewhat important - but we are being eclipsed by parts of the world that we used to think were hungry! India now produces twice as much honey as Canada, and places like Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia each produce about as much honey as Canada, and each is producing more than Australia! One west coast USA packer has begun to set his sites on East Africa, where collectively, four countries produce 200 million pounds of honey a year - about as much honey as the USA consumes!

Although the USA-CANADA border remains closed (Did someone say Free Trade?) bee mites have spread across most of Canada anyway, and beekeepers on the prairies are jealously reading the ads for US queens and packages (Do you folks really only pay about a third what we pay up here in Canada!!)... Well, maybe next year!

Lilia Ibay de Guzman at the Baton Rouge USDA/ARS laboratory needs varroa samples from around the country for her studies. Her e-mail address: lguzman@asrr.arsusda.gov

The American beekeeping and honey-packing supporters of the National Honey Board have voted to extend this promotion activity for another five years. Beekeepers and packers contribute one cent per pound of honey handled to the Board which has a mandate to increase consumer demand. Over eighty percent of members agreed to continue the 'self-tax' for the next five years. The promotion and research activities of the National Honey Board are supervised by the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.

Thirty-one colonies of Africanized stock have been discovered since 1990 in the Salton Sea area of southern California. This is a much smaller invasion force than expected for this date. Scientists are scrambling to explain the (so-far) non-event as a result of Varroa cutting the feral colony populations; the inter-breeding of the AHB with local, non-Africanized bees, or ecological constraints on the AHB advances. At present, random sampling of foraging bees indicates that only 5 - 10 percent of trapped foragers are of Africanized stock.

Reports on the size of the 1996 North American honey crop are coming in from a number of sources. It seems most beekeepers in the northern states had average to above average crops. A few areas were surprisingly good. The homestead back in Pennsylvania witnessed a late spring followed by an unusually intense summer and fall honey season. Many producers in the mid-western clover belt saw similar results, with bumper crops reported from Iowa to Ohio. In New York state, a beekeeper took 500 excellent colonies from Florida, split them to 700, and produced 200,000 pounds of honey - a 400 pound per hive crop! Here in the west, the hot weather in July and August which followed the cool, wet, late spring led to an average crop on a per hive basis, though colony counts are still below the levels of the past few decades. In general, the honey crop should be near the USA's average 75 pound per hive.

Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is trying to determine the causes of the demise of beekeeping in the northeast USA. In ten years the known colony counts in Pennsylvania, for example, have fallen from 85,000 colonies to just 27,000. The effects on truck farm crop pollination can be significant. Pooled resources of industry and state governments are funding research into mites, wintering, ecology, and environmental aspects of the problem.

The University of Arizona has prepared an Africanized Honey Bee Training Manual with slides, text, and videos. This material - publication 195018 - is available for $US62.50, payable to the University of Arizona, from the Publications Distribution Center, 4042 North Campbell Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719.

In the USA, Congress has amended pesticide and clean water laws to allow 'tolerable' levels of poisons to enter the human food and water system. In the past, food and water had to pass tests which indicated that no poisons (of specific attributes) would be present in a human consumption product. The changes reflect the fact that scientific testing has reached a level whereby contaminants in parts per trillion can be spotted, making it basically impossible to produce chemical-contaminant free foods. The new legistlation attempts to define safe and tolerable levels of poisons and chemical residues that people should be able to handle... I suppose if you look closely enough, everything is poisonous, but the whole thing seems a bit dangerous.

The National Honey Board has a new catalog with 26 promotional items available for beekeepers. Copies of this catalog are sent free by phoning 1-800-553-7162. Or write to Jami Yanoski, National Honey Board, 390 Lashley Street, Longmont, CO 80501.

Interest in the use of honey by consumers is rising. According to Bill Merritt, President of the American Beekeeping Federation, much of this good news is due to the efforts of the USA's National Honey Board. This group uses a small assessment from honey producers, importers, and packers to help promote and advertise the qualities and uses of honey. Bill says that the retail sales of honey in the USA have gone from 68 million pounds a year in 1987 to 90 million pounds in 1995. (American Bee Journal, August, 1996)

What's the co-op paying? Posted in September, 1996, on the 'Net is a brief summary of Sue Bee's final prices for honey produced by co-op members in 1995. The Sioux City, Iowa, cooperative has several hundred beekeeper-members and packs about a quarter of the US domestic honey supply. Beekeepers are paid an initial offering for new crop production and receive a final payment about a year after honey has been produced. The final, total, amount of money received depends on honey quality (moisture and colour). For 1995 production, the price received averaged 71 cents US currency per pound for top bottle grade honey. Lower grade honey earned from 40 to 67 cents. Beeswax returned about $2.10 US per pound.

The USDA Bee Lab in Baton Rouge is looking for the help of American beekeepers in a program planned to reduce the impact of the Varroa mite. If you have stocks of bees which you believe may be carrying some genetic resistance to Varroa jacobsoni you are urged to contact Robert Danka of the USDA. Eventually, the bees will be tested and released back to the public. The address is USDA, ARS Honey Bee Breeding, 1157 Ben Hur Road, Baton Rouge, LA 70820-5502. Or use our link here to Robert Danka at RDANKA@ASRR.ARSUSDA.GOV.

Return to Beekeeping: The Beekeeper's Home Page

Beekeeping: The Beekeeper's Home Page
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
http://www.badbeekeeping.com