New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other local beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees here in New Brunswick.

Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

If you’re just getting started in beekeeping, this meeting will give you the opportunity to get together with some experienced beekeepers to ask questions. If you’re planning to start beekeeping this spring, come find out what you’ll need to do right now to get ready for your honey bees!

If you’re just getting started in beekeeping, this meeting will give you the opportunity to get together with some experienced beekeepers to ask questions. And if you’re thinking about getting started in beekeeping, you can find out what you’ll need to do over the winter months, to get ready for your own honey bees in the spring!

Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other local beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees here in New Brunswick.

Rarely seen by the naked eye, this intersection between the animal world and the plant world is truly a magic moment. It’s the mystical moment where life regenerates itself, over and over again.

Here, from his presentation, recorded March 2011 at TED2011 in Long Beach, California, Schwartzberg presents some of the his film’s extraordinaryhigh-speed images of pollinators in action:

If you’d like to watch at full screen size — highly recommended! — just click on the icon in the upper-right of the embedded video player.

(Note: If you’re reading this in an email and can’t see the video player, please visit http://cba.stonehavenlife.com/2011/11/schwartzberg-pollination-film on the Central Beekeepers Alliance website.)

From the filmmaker’s introduction:

Beauty and seduction, I believe, is nature’s tool for survival, because we will protect what we fall in love with. Their relationship is a love story that feeds the Earth. It reminds us that we are a part of nature, and we’re not separate from it.

When I heard about the vanishing bees, Colony Collapse Disorder, it motivated me to take action. We depend on pollinators for over a third of the fruits and vegetables we eat. And many scientists believe it’s the most serious issue facing mankind. It’s like the canary in the coalmine. If they disappear, so do we. It reminds us that we are a part of nature and we need to take care of it.

You can learn more about Louie Schwartzberg and the film Wings of Life at www.MovingArt.tv.

The study, conducted by Daniel Favre of the Laboratory of Cellular Biotechnology (LBTC), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) and the Apiary School of the City of Lausanne, Switzerland, “electromagnetic waves originating from mobile phones were tested for potential effects on honeybee behavior.”

Abstract:

The worldwide maintenance of the honeybee has major ecological, economic, and political implications. In the present study, electromagnetic waves originating from mobile phones were tested for potential effects on honeybee behavior. Mobile phone handsets were placed in the close vicinity of honeybees. The sound made by the bees was recorded and analyzed. The audiograms and spectrograms revealed that active mobile phone handsets have a dramatic impact on the behavior of the bees, namely by inducing the worker piping signal. In natural conditions, worker piping either announces the swarming process of the bee colony or is a signal of a disturbed bee colony.

Interestingly, although the workers piped, the colonies did not produce a swarm as they would normally be expected to so shortly after that signal, and no queen piping was observed. The author suggests that perhaps worker piping is only one of a number of a signals that the bees rely on to trigger a swarm.

Favre further notes that the experiment placed cellphones right inside the hive itself — putting the bees in much closer proximity to the source of electromagnetic waves than they would be in normal circumstances. The question is raised, however, whether long-term exposure to low levels of these waves might have a similar “dramatic impact” on bee behavior. More research will be required, however, before scientists can draw any conclusions about the implications for the beekeeping industry and our honeybee populations.

Mobile phone-induced honeybee worker piping by Daniel Favre may be read in full online at Springerlink: DOI 10.1007/s13592-011-0016-x. Apidologie, an official publication of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) and Deutscher Imkerbund E.V. (D.I.B.), is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the biology of insects belonging to the superfamily Apoidea.

The bee habitat enhancement effort was organized by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, a nonprofit group out of Portland, Oregon.

Getting farmers to plant bee habitat is key, [Mace] Vaughan [the group's pollinator program director] said, because bees with nutritionally sound diets are better able to fend off diseases and other problems.

Bee habitat can also reduce a farmer’s costs and alleviate the stress on honeybees. Through research on California’s watermelons, University of California, Berkeley, professor Claire Kremen found that if a farmer sets aside between 20 percent and 30 percent of a field for bee habitat, the farm can get all or most of its pollination from native bees.

That’s unrealistic for most farms, but Kremen said adding hedgerows and other plantings can help sustain a beneficial combination of native and commercial bees. Research has found that native bees make commercial honeybees more efficient pollinators by getting in their way and making them take a more circuitous route from plant to plant.

“What it means is you don’t have to have a huge number of native bees, but if you have some then the combination of honeybees and native bees has a huge effect,” Kremen said.

Other researchers have found that setting aside bee habitat leads to better crop production on the remaining land, compensating the farmer.

Read the full story, Farmers Add Plants to Attract, Nourish Bees at the National Public Radio website, NPR.org.

Certificate in Commercial Beekeeping

This 45-week course of vocational training will provide its graduates with the substantive knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to work in commercial beekeeping.

Graduates will be prepared for employment in Canada, the US, and other parts of the world as:

• Apiary assistants and field supervisors with commercial beekeepers;
• Technicians with government agriculture departments;
• Self-employed beekeepers; and/ or
• Project coordinators for beekeeping/honey production projects
  in the developing world.

The program strikes a balance between theoretical and practical learning, combining classroom study with industry work experience and practicum visits to large commercial beekeeping operations.

One unique feature is the 26-week paid work experience in which students are placed with commercial beekeepers, where they will earn a salary as they gain hands-on experience in beekeeping and honey production.

Curriculum

Theory of Apiculture
January & February (8 weeks)

• BK101 (2) Basic Apiary and Field Skills
• BK110 (3) Technical Woodworking
• BK122 (1.5) Introductory Botany
• BK132 (4) Honey Bee Biology
• BK133 (1.5) Introduction to Bee Diseases and Management
• BK134 (5) Hive Management for Honey Production

Program break (1 week)

March to September

• BK135 (5) Queen Rearing (3 weeks; May/June)
• BK200 (5) Beekeeping Work Experience

Program break (1 week)

Business of Beekeeping
October & November

• BK310 (1.5) Food Safety and Regulations for Beekeepers
• BK320 (5) Business of Bees
• BK331 (3) Advance Management Options for Beekeepers
• BK332 (4) Product Processing, Packaging and Marketing
• BK333 (1) Processing and Packaging Field Trip
• BK361 (2.5) Integrated Pest Management
• BK365 (1) Bees and the Environment

“The launch of the Commercial Beekeeping Certificate Program by GPRC is a significant step forward in the development of a successful and sustainable bee, honey and pollination industry in Canada. Canadian beekeepers will be the recipients of a more knowledgeable workforce to address the many concerns the industry is now facing,” according to Corey Bacon, Chair of the Canadian Honey Council.

For more information about the Commercial Beekeeping Certificate program at GPRC, contact Chris Laue, Dean of Trades, Agriculture and Environment, or visit gprc.ab.ca/programs.

Photo: Hives of north Alberta by l’insouciant1, on Flickr

Convention Theme:
“Healthy Environment – Healthy Bees – Healthy Honey”

Keynote Speakers

• Marion Ellis – Professor and Extension Apiculture Specialist, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
• Jerry Hayes – Apiary Inspection Assistant Chief, Florida Department of Agriculture Services, Gainesville, Florida, USA
• Danielle Downey – Apiculture Specialist, Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Hilo, Hawaii, USA

All interested beekeepers and related industry people are invited to come out to hear what is happening in the Beekeeping Industry across Canada and USA. The 2012 Canadian Beekeeping Convention is held in conjunction with the Canadian Honey Council (CHC) and Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA) Annual Meetings, and thus should provide an action packed week for all attendees. In addition, CHC will be hosting special meetings earlier in the week for their members and guests.

Agenda details, hotel information, registration form, convention costs, and other important information can be found on the Manitoba Beekeepers Association website (http://manitobabee.org).

Central Beekeepers Alliance – Christmas Dinner
Saturday, 17 December 2010
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Frank’s Finer Diner, Two Nations Crossing, Fredericton, NB

Turkey dinner buffet, with dessert and coffee/tea included. Cost per person: $16.95 (plus tax & gratuity). Payments can be made the November meeting of the Central Beekeepers Alliance, or you can pay on the night.

A private room (the downstairs conference room) has been reserved for our event. And if last year’s dinner is anything to go by, you can expect that our President will have rounded up a lot of fun door prizes to add a little more festive cheer to the occasion!

If you’re just getting started in beekeeping, this meeting will give you the opportunity to get together with some experienced beekeepers to ask questions. And if you’re thinking about getting into beekeeping next spring, you can find out what you’ll need to do now and over the winter months, to prepare to keep your own honey bees!

Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other local beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees here in New Brunswick.

This video is a segment of “Silence of the Bees,” a remarkable documentary mini-series that premiered on PBS in October 2007, when the apiculture community was just beginning to suspect the devastating effects that Colony Collapse Disorder would have on honeybee populations.

As the video explains, and as beekeepers know by their own observations, bees are “just this magnificent little engineered thing, just perfect for all the things they can do”:

An architectural marvel, the honeybee’s design is an elegant fusion of form and function. A proboscis for ferreting out nectar stored deep in a flower’s folds. And powerful mandibles for eating, feeding young, and manipulating wax.

Photo: Bee on lavendar via Flickr

Two compound eyes are comprised of 6,900 lenses and covered with sensory hairs for detecting wind speed. Three additional eyes, called ocelli, receive light signals for orientation.

Four wings clasp together with tiny hooks and beat up to 230 times a second.

For defense, a double-edged, serrated sting, which she can use only once — at the cost of her own life.

Hind legs are broadened into special baskets for carrying heavy cargo of pollen to the hive. Feathery hairs coat the body and build up a static charge as the bee flies. When the bee lands on a flower, pollen literally jumps on to her body.

Nature’s award-winning Silence of the Bees was narrated by American actor F. Murray Abraham, winner of the 1985 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus. It was produced by filmmaker Doug Schultz — and if you’re interested in what went on “behind the scenes” in making the documentary, you can read an interview with Doug Schultz at the PBS program website.

Silence of the Bees is available on DVD (packaged together with an equally interesting documentary, Parrots in the Land of Oz). You can get it direct from PBS online or from Amazon.com in the United States and from Amazon.ca in Canada.

If you’re just getting started in beekeeping, this meeting will give you the opportunity to get together with experienced beekeepers and ask your most pressing questions: how to get your hives ready to go into winter, what to feed and how much, and other seasonal beekeeping topics.

And if you’re thinking about getting into beekeeping next spring, you can learn what you’ll need to do now and over the winter months, to prepare to keep your own honey bees!

Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other local beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees.

(You may recognize Dr. Sanford’s name as the entomologist who updated a classic beekeeping book by Richard E. Bonney for the Storey Publishing company’s Down-to-Earth Guides series in Fall, 2010.)

Constructing an Observation Bee Hive

If for some reason the FullScreen and Download buttons at the top of the embedded document aren’t working for you — those darned computers! — you can download a printable PDF version of this document at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/MG/MG32000.pdf directly. That way, you’ll be able to see the measurements and instructions on the observation hive plans included.

Build or Buy an Observation Hive

If you’re looking for an alternative style, plans for building a 3-Frame Observation Hive are available free at Bee Source. Also, a fellow on the Beemaster’s International beekeeping forums has posted step-by-step photographs and description of building an observation hive.

Long-time Central Beekeeepers’ Alliance member Earl Gilbey has a four-frame observation hive that may interest and inspire you, too — see Inside An Observation Hive to read about it.

If you’re not into woodworking, you can still enjoy bee-watching as a hobby. you’ll find a remarkably wide range of observation hives for sale at Draper Bee — some of which are quite showy, more like livingroom furniture! — or visit Dadant to see a nice simple 2-frame observation hive priced at just under $100 US (plus shipping, of course).

Where is the finger pointing this time?
Systemic pesticides, self-regulation by the chemical industry, and a flawed process for testing and registration of products by the EPA…

Bee Aware from Greg Stanley on Vimeo.

We were researching an update on how honey bees were faring after years of unexplained colony deaths. Beekeepers are now losing an average of 30-50% of their hives each year from all kinds of symptoms. But our investigations found evidence that has led all the way back to the people who regulate our country’s pesticide program at the Environmental Protection Agency…

So what’s going on? One of the suspects, according to beekeepers and scientists, is relatively new on the market. Remember these words: systemic pesticides.

Systemic pesticides or neonicotinoids (derived from nicotine) are different from other types of pesticides used in agriculture. Neonicotinoids are absorbed by the plants to which they’re applied, making the entire plant toxic to insects. So the honey bees and other pollinators no longer would need to be sprayed directly or come into direct contact with a pesticide, in order to suffer the effects. The nectar and pollen themselves become toxic to honey bees.

According to the American news report, US beekeepers are worried for two reasons in particular. For one, the testing for safety is being done by the chemical companies who produce the systemic pesticides being tested, not the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — “it’s like the fox designing the best chicken coop” — and because scientists no longer agree on what the “safe level” is when it comes to long-term impacts of agricultural chemicals on honey bees.

Currently there are more than 17,000 pesticide products on the market in the U.S., and scientists say there is much that remains unknown about their impact on the environment, including the effect of combinations of compounds. While many credit the EPA with doing a good job at making sure pesticides are safer and safer for humans, they have a lot to answer for when it comes to honey bees.

Read more:

• Bee Aware. Dan Rather, Huffington Post. Posted: 9/22/11 12:00 PM ET
• Bee Aware, September 20, 2011. Dan Rather Reports, HDNet.
  

In 2004, Vernon R. Vickery was made an Honourary Member of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA), in recognition of his contributions to Apiculture.

Vernon Randolph Vickery
1921-2011

Prominent Entomologist Passes Away

Vernon Randolph Vickery – 90, of Kentville passed away on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 in the Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville. Born in South Ohio, Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia, he was a son of the late Leo and Maude (Moses) Vickery. He was a Veteran of the Second World War, serving with the RCAF/RAF in the United Kingdom, North Africa and Italy. He was a radar technician 1941-1945. He was a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, Kings Branch No. 6, Kentville. He was a retired Professor of Entomology from McGill University and also taught at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro. He received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture an MSc and his PhD; FRES, FCES. He worked on pollenization projects on various kinds of crops and was a pioneer of industrial pollenization. Vernon was the founding President of the Orthopterist’s Society and was Emeritus Curator of Lyman Entomological Museum at McGill University. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, the former Muriel Jewl McAloney; a daughter, Susan (Peter) Arntfield, Winnipeg, Manitoba; two sons, William (Judith Nowlan), Sainte Anne de Bellevue, Quebec; Edwin (Amy Creighton), Westmount, Quebec; grandchildren, Karen, Allison, Margot, Laura and Lexington; sister-in-law, Linda; brother-in-law, Victor Greene. He was predeceased by two sisters, Pearl and Leona; a brother, George. A celebration of life and reception will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 3, 2011 in St. James Anglican Church, Kentville, Reverend Pam Bishop officiating. Burial will take place in South Ohio at a later date. Family flowers only by request. Donations in memory may be made to the charity of your choice. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to the White Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Kentville. On-line inquiries may be directed to www.whitefamilyfuneralhome.com.

Until next year, thank you!

Christine Dembenski
President of Central Beekeepers Alliance

“We have live bees and products made with honey and bees wax,” says CBA President Christine Dembenski. “Also there are hats, t-shirts with our logo,honey, cookbooks, and more. But the best reason to come and see us is to meet your local beekeepers and they will tell you all you need to know about bees!”

Come on down to the FREX and say “hello”! You’ll find the beekeepers’ display in our usual location at the Capital Exhibit Centre, in the walkway area under the bleachers.

[Backyard Beekeeping 2011 photographs by Canadian Forests International on Flickr.com]

The beekeeping workshop was written up in a recent CanadaEast article by Molly Cormier, which emphasized the growing appeal of hobby or backyard beekeeping by Maritimers with an interest in a sustainable lifestyle:

Sackville-based Community Forests International hosted its second apiculture course last month and welcomed prospective beekeepers for a weekend of learning the ins and outs of the beekeeping world. You might say it was a hive of activity.

All bee jokes aside, CFI’s Nick Belanger organized the workshop with an emphasis on all-natural techniques and hands-on learning.

“Backyard beekeeping is a loose term for a small operation,” he says. The honey and wax produced by the bees doesn’t have to be used for profit, but it can be a nice way to supplement an income, he noted.

Read more:
Busy as a Backyard Beekeeper by Molly Cormier, 18 August 2011, CanadaEast.com.

Community Forests International (http://forestsinternational.org/):
“Community Forests International connects people to the forest, fostering sustainable environmental relationships while strengthening communities against climate change. Driven by farmers, foresters, and their rural communities, CFI’s programming spans the globe: planting trees with rural villages in Pemba, connecting environmentally-minded youth in India, Tanzania and Canada, and promoting ecological forestry in Atlantic Canada.”

At the Free University of Berlin, researchers are working on a mechanical bee they hope will be able to communicate with real bees about the location and quality of a food source. The implications for pollination services are enormous — if the robot bee can master the complex “waggle dance” language of bees, could it encourage a colony to work a field of canola rather than, say, more attractive wildflower forage in another direction?

What an idea! But it’s a steep learning curve for the scientists and their robot bee, according to Rebecca J. Rosen’s article in The Atlantic online:

So far, the dancing robotic bee has not been able to successfully communicate the location of a new food source, according to a new paper in PLoS ONE. The scientists list a couple of possible reasons: For starters, the robot can’t seem to get enough other bees to pay attention to its dance for long enough, perhaps because of a lack of buzzing wings (whose role in the waggle dance is unknown), sufficient body heat, or legs for creating vibrations in the honey comb. It’s also possible that chemicals on robot are off-putting to the other bees.

Robotic Bee Presentation

Robot Bee Communicates with Real Bees

Read more:
The Atlantic, 20 August 2011: Attack of the Robobees! A Mechanical Bee Tests Its Wings.

Photo credit:
Chittka L: Dances as Windows into Insect Perception. PLoS Biol 2/7/2004: e216. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0020216

Starvation is a major cause of winter bee losses.

The past few years here in New Brunswick we’ve been seeing an unusual thaw in mid-December, even getting heavy rain and spring-like flooding in much of the province in December 2010. When the weather acts up like that, it fools the bees. That’s when many colonies break their cluster and the bees become more active, moving about the hive and consuming more of the stored honey than they normally would.

The result is too often that the colony runs out of easily accessible food before spring, when snow melts and temperatures rise enough for beekeepers to get in to start spring feeding.

The answer is to make sure your bees go into winter with plenty of food — both honey and stored pollen — to see them through to spring.

How much food do bees need for winter?

Unless you are in the semi-tropical or tropical regions of the country your bees should have somewhere between 50 and 100 pounds of honey safely stored away when the first signs of autumn show. The colder and longer your winter and spring, the more they will need.

Kim Flottum, the editor of Bee Culture magazine who lives near Cleveland, Ohio, says that his bees typically use about 60 – 70 pounds of honey and 5 – 7 frames of pollen between the end of October and the beginning of April. Here in New Brunswick, beekeepers often prefer to have more like 85 to 100 pounds on a colony when it gets wrapped for wintering. Obviously, the further south you go, the sooner spring comes, and bees in don’t need as much in the way of winter food stores as they do here in Atlantic Canada.

New beekeepers: do not expect to take much if any honey off your newly established colonies in the first year. That honey belongs to the bees, to help build them up for next season.

If you figure about eight pounds of honey for a deep frame mostly filled on both sides you can estimate how much honey your bees really have. A medium frame like I use holds 4+ pounds if it’s filled completely on both sides. Either way, that’s a bunch of frames of honey that the bees need. And don’t forget the pollen.

There is some controversy in warmer climates, with a longer growing season, about whether or not to feed bees. Up north here, especially if the fall honey flow is weak or we get a dry spell during the late summer and early fall, beekeepers often have no choice about whether to feed. After all, if it’s a choice between bees starving and bees surviving…

One good reason to start feeding as soon as possible after the honey harvest is because bees need time and warm temperatures to convert the sugar syrup to “honey” — this is not the real honey bees make from flower nectar and you would never harvest it for human consumption, of course, but simply the bees converting the sugar-and-water syrup into a form they can use for food.

Pollen is needed for feeding brood in the spring, so it is just as essential as honey stores for the bees. If you don’t see lots of pollen stored in the frames, consider feeding a good quality pollen substitute. And unless you are absolutely sure your bees have enough stores to get them through the winter (and then some extra, in case of a late spring), you’ll want to feed 2:1 sugar syrup as well. This is a good time to medicate against nosema as well, as you can put the medication right into the syrup.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/honeybees-beekeeping/getting-your-bees-ready-for-winter-already.aspx#ixzz1VNztAAap

Read more:
Mother Earth News: Getting Your Bees Ready For Winter…Already by Kim Flottum

Asian honey, tainted with illegal antibiotics, heavy metals, and in some cases agriicultural chemicals that are banned from use in many countries including Canada, has for some time been smuggled into Europe and North America. Alarmingly, Food Safety News, this practice continues, “despite assurances from the Food and Drug Administration and other federal officials that the hundreds of millions of pounds reaching store shelves were authentic and safe following the widespread arrests and convictions of major smugglers over the last two years.”

Experts interviewed by Food Safety News say some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are knowingly buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey so they can sell it cheaper than those companies who demand safety, quality and rigorously inspected honey.

“It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association.

“These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting caught are slim,” Adee said.

Read the full report by Andrew Schneider at Food Safety News: Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves

Please bring a cold dish for the potluck.
Corn and hamburgers and hotdogs will be supplied.

Time: 6:30 p.m.
Date: Saturday, 27 August 2011
Location: Agricultural Research Station, Lincoln Road, Fredericton, New Brunswick

As well as enjoying good food and company, and lots of beekeeping talk, we’ll be accepting volunteers to take a shift or two at the beekeepers’ booth at the Fredericton Exhibition, the first week of September. As always, visitors and new beekeepers are welcome!

Thanks to our sponsors

• Sunbury Towing for the 50% discount on the moving of the trailer;
• Mr. Garry Fitch, Canadian Tire store in Oromocto, for donating the use of the company BBQ and supplying the tank full of propane; and
• Harvey’s Big Potato in Maugerville for donating the corn.

To find out something about how honeybees view the world, the researchers “set them up to make a decision about whether an unfamiliar scent portended good or bad things.”

First, the bees were trained to connect one odour with a sweet reward and another with the bitter taste of quinine. The bees learned the difference between the odours and became more likely to extend their mouthparts to the odour predicting sugar than the one predicting quinine.

Next, the Institute of Neuroscience researchers divided the bees into two groups. One group was shaken violently for one minute to simulate an assault on the hive by a predator such as a honey badger. The other group was left undisturbed. Those bees were then presented with the familiar odours and some new ones created from mixes of the two.

Agitated bees were less likely than the controls to extend their mouthparts to the odour predicting quinine and similar novel odours, they found. In other words, the agitated bees behaved as if they had an increased expectation of a bitter taste, the researchers said, demonstrating a type of pessimistic judgement of the world known as a ‘cognitive bias.’

While it may be too soon to claim that honeybees experience “emotions” the way that we humans do, this seems not to be as big a stretch as once we might have imagined!

“What we have shown is that when a honeybee is subjected to a manipulation of its state that in humans would induce a feeling of anxiety, the bees show a similar suite of changes in physiology, cognition and behaviour to those we would measure in an anxious human,” said Dr Geraldine Wright, one of the study’s authors. “In terms of what we are able to measure, a shaken honeybees is no less ‘anxious’ than a lonely dog or a rat in a barren cage.”

For more information, see also:

Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases
Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, Geraldine A. Wright
Current Biology – 2 June 2011 (Vol. 21, Issue 12, pp. 1070-1073)

For stressed bees, the glass is half empty
Newcastle University: Biomedicine: News – 3 June 2011

Photo:  Baukette aus Bienen by Maja Dumat on Flickr

The project aims to help beekeepers secure sustainable honey harvests and provide essential pollination services to the fruit and vegetable industry.

Approximately 7,000 beekeepers in Canada operate a total of 600,000 colonies of honeybees, according to the Honey Council’s statistics on the Canadian apiculture industry, with approximately 475,000 colonies in the prairie provinces that produce 80% of Canada’s honey crop. Funding of this new project reflects Agriculture Canada’s recognition of the ecological and economic impacst of declining bee populations “due to disease, pest resistance to treatment methods, and increased demand on honey bee colonies to provide pollination services.”   The estimated value of honey bees to crop pollination in Canada is over $2 billion.

“The partnership formed between the AAC, and Ontario Beekeepers Association will ensure beekeepers are able to manage genetics, pests and nutrition according to their business objectives,” said Les Eccles, OBA Tech Transfer Program Lead Specialist. “Providing management strategies specific to the beekeepers goals will give more sustainable and consistent results.”

Led by the universities of Guelph and Manitoba, the program will develop a breeding program that will result in honey bees that have the ability to resist pests and diseases. It will also screen new products for pest and disease control and develop best management practices relating to pollination colonies.  Ultimately, the project will provide beekeepers — not only in Ontario, but, through knowledge transfer, all across Canada — with the ability to have better control of colony genetics and health in order to have consistent honey production and pollination services.

Photo:  Bee with Apple Blossom by Flickr user sociotard

Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees.

You’ll find information on registration, accomodation and meals in our previous Bee Tour announcement ; and now here is the agenda.  Check out the program of events for this exciting weekend — and especially, check out those great Guest Speakers!

2011 Maritime Bee Tour Agenda

Friday, July 22, 2011
6:30 pm             Registration at Jenkins Hall, NSAC

7:00 pm             Guest Speakers:

• Dr. Chris Cutler “Blueberry research and implications for honeybees”
• Dr. Ernesto Guzman “An update on current research activities”

8:00 pm             Participant Reception with finger food and cash bar
Saturday, July 23, 2011
6:30 – 8:30 am             Buffet Breakfast at Jenkins Hall, NSAC

8:30 am             Bus will depart to visit points of interest in the Maitland area:

• Lawrence House Museum
• River View Herb Farm

12:30 pm             Lunch at Paul and Lori Kittilsen’s in Debert

1:30 pm             Tour of the Kittilsen’s cranberry bog and beekeeping facilities

2:00 pm             Optional tour of the Masstown Market for those not who are not bee inclined

3:30 pm             Bus will depart for return to NSAC

5:00 pm             Pre-banquet social at Jenkins Hall, NSAC

6:00 – 7:30 pm             Banquet at Jenkins Hall

7:30 – 9:30 pm             Presentation by Dr. Ernesto Guzman “Stemming honeybee loss”

For more information or to register for the 2011 Maritime Bee Tour, please contact Shelly MacKenzie at the Agri-Commodity Management Association 902-893-7455 or smackenzie@nsfa-fane.ca.

2011 Maritime Bee Tour

Hosted by: Nova Scotia Beekeepers’ Association
Where: Truro, Nova Scotia
When: 22-23 July 2011

Cost to register is $65 and will include all receptions, meals and tours. Participants will be responsible for their own accommodations.

Registration forms may be downloaded here (DOC or PDF), or contact Shelly MacKenzie at the Agri-Commodity Management Association 902-893-7455 or smackenzie@nsfa-fane.ca to register or for more information.

Accomodations

A block of 20 rooms has been reserved at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College’s Fraser Hall. Single rooms are available for $37.32 (inc. HST) and double rooms for $49.00.  To reserve a room at the NSAC, please call Caitlyn Dixon at 902-893-4122.  Deadline for booking is 9 July 2011 and can be paid for with cash, debit or credit card upon arrival.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Best Western Glengarry (Willow Street, Truro) at a reduced rate of $116.  To receive the tour rate, these rooms must be booked by 2 July 2011 by calling 1-800-567-4276; a credit card will be required and you must state you are with the “Maritime Beekeepers.”

Agenda

The full Agenda for the 2011 Maritime Bee Tour will be posted on the CBA website very shortly.

Banquet Menu

When registering, please make sure to indicate your meal choice. If you have any special dietary requirements, please let the Tour organizers know in advance so they can make appropriate arrangements.

For more information or to register for the 2011 Maritime Bee Tour, please contact Shelly MacKenzie at the Agri-Commodity Management Association 902-893-7455 or smackenzie@nsfa-fane.ca.

Here’s the event notice from organizer Ann Vautour, President of SENB, below:

Southeast New Brunswick Beekeeper’s Association will be holding a Field day, Saturday, June 18th. Registration and coffee will be at 9:30 a.m. at the Salisbury Baptist Church, Main Street, Salisbury, N.B.

All beekeeper’s are welcome and we will have a very interesting and fun program for the day. This day will mainly be directed to helping new beekeepers or those who have been in beekeeping a short time. We will also have events for the more seasoned beekeepers. Everyone is welcome to attend!

I have invited two beekeepers from Nova Scotia, Tony Phillipps and Jerry Draheim to share their beekeeping knowledge with us and our Chief Apiary Inspector, Fletcher Colpitts and Mary Colpitts will also be there to answer any bee health questions you may have. We will have a indoor session early morning at the church and then we will move to George and Ruth Wheatley’s apiary where hives will be opened and analyzed. The ability to open a hive with experienced beekeepers is such a valuable opportunity to learn.

Please bring your lunch with you! Beverages and sweets will be supplied. If you don’t want to bring lunch, there is a Pizza place close to the church in Salisbury. Please bring your lawn chairs, bee jackets etc. There will be a $10 registration fee for non members.

If you think you want to become a beekeeper, come out and enjoy the experience. If you wish additional information, email me (evangelinemiel@hotmail.com) or phone me at (506) 388-5127.

The full field day Agenda (PDF format) is available via Country Fields Beekeeping Supplies website.

The 10-month study followed 20 colonies in a commercial beekeeping operation of more than 70,000 hives as they were transported across United States for crop pollination. The goal was to answer one basic question: what viruses and bacteria exist in a normal colony throughout the year? — establishing a baseline for further research into Colony Collapse Disorder.

Colony Collapse Disorder, unlike other traditional causes of honeybee losses, is characterized by colonies with capped brood and queen which have been abandoned by the workers. Food stores (honey and pollen) in the affected hives are not immediately robbed out by other bees, and hive pests such as wax moth and small hive beetle are slow to move in.

The causes are still unknown, although recent research has pointed to a combination of stressors such as long-distance transportation, varroa mite infestations, and fungi or viruses, as most likely culprits.

While this study did not identify the cause of CCD, it did offer a measurement of the normal levels of pathogens.

“We brought a quantitative view of what real migrating populations look like in terms of disease,” said senior author Dr. Joseph DeRisi. “You can’t begin to understand colony die-off without understanding what normal is.”

For more information, see:

• UCSF Finds New Bee Viruses, Offers Baseline to Study Colony Collapse by Jennifer O’Brien, University of California San Francisco / www.ucsf.edu  7 June 2011

• UCSF Finds NEW Bee Viruses in PAm Funded Study. Project Apis m.

• Runckel C, Flenniken ML, Engel JC, Ruby JG, Ganem D, et al. (2011) Temporal Analysis of the Honey Bee Microbiome Reveals Four Novel Viruses and Seasonal Prevalence of Known Viruses, Nosema, and Crithidia. PLoS ONE 6(6): e20656. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020656

Tuesday, 14 June 2011
Central Beekeepers Alliance Meeting
Agricultural Research Centre, Fredericton, NB
7:30 p.m.

New beekeepers and anyone interested in starting to keep bees are welcome to come out and join us, to learn more about beekeeping, chat with other beekeepers, and find out more about how to keep honeybees.

“A team led by Professor Rose Cooper, from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), found that manuka honey prevents the attachment of bacteria to tissues – an essential step in the infection process,” reports The Daily Mail (UK) online.

But this certainly isn’t the first study to suggest honey may be used to fight infections.

“There are now many published reports describing the effectiveness of honey in rapidly clearing infection from wounds, with no adverse effects to slow the healing process,” reported Dr. P.C. Molan of the University of Waikato, New Zealand, in Honey as a topical antibacterial agent for treatment of infected wounds (2001).

Dr. Molan notes, “there is also some evidence to suggest that honey may actively promote healing. In laboratory studies, it has been shown to have an antimicrobial action against a broad spectrum of bacteria and fungi.” Key points in his paper:

1. Honey is a traditional topical treatment for infected wounds. It can be effective on antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.
2. Honey is produced from many different floral sources and its antibacterial activity varies with origin and processing. Honey selected for clinical use should be evaluated on the basis of antibacterial activity levels determined by laboratory testing.
3. The antibacterial properties of honey include the release of low levels of hydrogen peroxide. Some honeys have an additional phytochemical antibacterial component.
4. Many authors support the use of honey in infected wounds and some suggest its prophylactic use on the wounds of patients susceptible to MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Indeed, with the rise of antibiotic-resistant “super bugs” in recent years, the public and professional interest in natural antimicrobials – and specifically in the medical use of honey – has grown, and continues to grow.

The most thorough, yet easy for the non-medical layman to read, summary of the current status of medical use of honey that we’ve found so far appears in the Nursing Times’ Can honey fight superbugs like MRSA?:

The laboratory research behind these claims is of particular interest as it also highlights the growing concern about the spread of drug-resistant bacteria, which was last week highlighted by a new report from the World Health Organization. However, the effectiveness of honey in combination with antibiotics has yet to be tested in clinical trials and further research is still needed to assess whether it could be used to treat drug-resistant infections.

It is important to note that the honey used in the trials was filtered, medical-grade honey with all impurities removed. People should not try using honey bought from supermarkets to treat wounds at home.

For more information, see also:

• Daily Mail (UK): Traditional honey remedy ‘could fight MRSA in hospitals’
• Waikato Honey Research Unit
• Klaus Kirketerp-Møller, Karen Zulkowski and Garth James: Chronic Wound Colonization, Infection, and Biofilms