the honeycomb · swarm traps and bait hives: the easy way to get bees for free y mccartney taylor...
TRANSCRIPT
"The keeping of bees is like the
direction of sunbeams."
- Henry David Thoreau
President’s Buzz … Hello Everyone
Seems as though we too often hear the phrase "It's hard to believe it is time already." However, it really does seem hard to believe that it is time already to finish my tenure as Meck Bees President. Looking back on the year what stands out most are the people. So many great new faces as well as the die-hard veterans that keeping coming to the meetings and giving of their time. We certainly are an eclectic group of beekeepers, but we are also certainly a dedicated group. I thank all of you for all of your efforts to keep Meck Bees the amazing organization that it is. We are so fortunate and would not be the great organization that we are were it not for our dedicated volunteers. Thank you. My plan is to continue to stay active with Meck Bees as past President and also help with Bee School 2017. I will be coordinating the Mentors for this year and need every-one's help. Please send me an email to my personal one at [email protected] if you are interested is men-toring. It is such an important part of the Bee School's success. On a personal note I give many thanks to my family. Thank you to Sara and Edan, my teenagers, for being pa-tient so many times and most of all to my husband, Ed Daniels. It would have been chaos without you.
Finally I thank all of you for your kindness, words of wis-dom and generosity. Also, thank you to those that served on the Executive Committee and those who have volun-teered for next year.
I hope to see you all at our Holiday Celebration on De-cember the 15th. It will be a fantastic way to spend time together telling bee stories and enjoying all of the food everyone brings to share.
Best Wishes for a very happy and peaceful holiday sea-son.
— Kris Daniels
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE MECKLENBURG COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION December, 2016
the honeycomb
December’s Meeting December 15th, 7PM Mouzon United Methodist Church 3100 Selwyn Avenue Charlotte, NC
“Potluck Dinner” Thank you to the members for providing refreshments! Everyone attending will be providing Cleanup and Teardown after the meet-ing. Please feel free to lend a helping hand.
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Annual Holiday Potluck Dinner
The Annual Holiday Potluck Dinner is on December the 15th at 7pm at Mouzon Unit-ed Methodist Church. This is always a nice evening for everyone to bring food to share and enjoy one another's company during the holidays. If you are interested in lending a hand please contact Ed Moyers at [email protected].
Bee School 2017 Registration is under way! Information is on the website (meckbees.org) Click on the link for Bee School Registration. Classes are Tuesday Nights from 7PM to 9PM. The first class is January 17th and runs through March 28th. The cost is $80 per student and includes the classes, textbooks, mentoring and equipment day. If you have any questions check out the Beekeeping School FAQ’s on the website or email [email protected].
With Bee School registration comes the opportunity to become a Beekeeping Mentor. The mentoring program is a key component to the success of Bee School. Mentors should have two to three years experience and be willing make the time commitment to helping raise our next generation of beekeepers. Mentoring with a partner is a great way to share the responsibility of helping Bee School Students. Those interested should contact Kris Daniels at [email protected].
December Announcements
Bee School Registration is OPEN!
Bee School Mentors Needed
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In The bee yard by George McAllister
December in the Bee Yard. This is the last month I keep hive top feeders on my hives since the bees are not going to have much opportunity to access the sugar syrup due to the cold tem-peratures.
Here are some other activities I try to take care during the winter:
Repair and paint equipment. Remove burr comb and propolis.
Get rid of worn out equipment and old comb.
Assemble and paint new equipment for next year.
Clean out my smoker.
Decide what equipment I need next year.
Will I need more bees, nucs or queens?
Plan the activities I want to accomplish next year. I like to experiment with my bees.
Winter is a good time to read beekeeping books. There is always something new to
learn.
My last task for the year is washing my bee jacket. It is in the washing machine as I
write this article.
If you’re concerned that the bees did not lay in enough honey stores before the cold weather arrived, plan now to have some emergency food on hand. Study up on how to make a fondant candy board (lots of recipes and plans on the internet), or order some “Winter Patties” made of both sugar and pollen substitute.
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Editor Wanted
Our dynamic, volunteer organization needs someone to edit or co-edit our honeycomb
newsletter. My term ends with this publication. It has been a great experience for me to get to know the membership as I have covered the club activities. If you are interested, please contact me at: [email protected]. Thank you for the great year and for letting me share in your quest to save the honeybee.
Andrew Thiessen, Ed Moyers, Jodie Rierson & Don Rierson
Welcome the 2017 MCBA Officers
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Remember To Renew Your Membership Now!
Book Reviews
by Andrew Thiessen
Just in time for holiday shopping, here are several bee-themed books I’ve enjoyed.
Queen Rearing Essentials and Increase Essentials
By Lawrence Connor
Part of the great “Essential…” series put out by Bee Culture magazine, these two books go hand-in-hand. If you’re going to make up new hives, one way or another, you’ll need to raise some queens to lead those hives. Larry does a fine job of making the whole thing approachable for any beekeeper with detailed examples of several techniques ranging from the extremely simple “Walk away splits” to more technical & productive grafting. For me the value is the scalability of the techniques. Whether you want to make one more hive or 100, it’s the same few steps to achieve both goals. If you’ve ever wanted to learn a little about making your own new bees, you’ll want to read these two books.
A Ton of Honey: Managing Your Hives for Maximum Production and Beekeeping with Twenty-Five Hives: From Passion to Profits
By Grant Gilliard
I must admit I got sucked in by the “click bait” titles. These two books threw me a little bit at first because I’m a guy who likes hard figures and systematic, specific details of a process. But that’s not how Grant writes, and it took me a while to warm up to the val-ue of his writing style. What Mr. Gilliard does is tell you--from an insider’s perspective--what it feels like to run bees for maximum output at a certain level of beekeeping. As it turned out for me, this is extremely valuable! Here’s why… It’s one thing to think about following a system to produce a particular output. But we’re human beings, not machines.
The thing Grant does a great job of is helping you understand the commitment of time and energy you’ll need to give in, order to achieve that outcome, and how that may impact your life. His books fill a critical hole that all the “how-to” books overlook: What will your day look like, and how will your family react when you step up to run bees like a business? Example: You have plans to go to church on Sunday morning? Not if your bees need attention! How’s that going to fly with your spouse & family?
Reliably getting the most from your bees takes infallible dedication. And that means giving them a higher priority level than simply a “fun hobby” that you play around with as your schedule may permit. I’ve learned that it really helps if I think of my beekeeping like farming. I have to do what my “livestock” needs me to do for them, when they need me to do it, if I’m going to get my crop to market on time and in a condition that I’ll be proud to put my name on. This is the window Gilliard lets you peek through in his books.
(Article continued on the next page.)
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Book Reviews (continued)
by Andrew Thiessen
Swarm Traps and Bait Hives: The Easy Way to Get Bees for Free
By McCartney Taylor
Here’s a book I can sink my teeth into. McCartney tells you in a very straight for-ward manor why you’d want to use bait hives to capture swarms, how to build bait hives, where to put them for maximum success & how to secure those spots, when to put them out and finally, what to do once you have bees settle into your bait hive.
I hope you read this book, follow Mr. Taylor’s system and get a bunch of free bees. I really do! Because I’ve followed his exact procedure to the letter for a few years now… and I have not had a single swarm settle into any of my bait hives. Oh sure, I’ve had TONS of scouts check my boxes out. Some have even had such a frenzy of “air traffic” that I was just sure the swarm was on it’s way any second! And then just as soon as it picked up, the traffic stopped, and I had nothing more than an empty box.
But I remain hopeful, and here’s why. I know plenty of our own Club members who have tremendous success using swarm traps and bait hives every year. Heck, some even get bees without even trying! My buddy, Jeff McNinch, set a bait hive off in his driveway one evening with the intent to stage it the next afternoon when he got home from work. But the bees beat him to it! Yep, when he got home to put up his bait hive there was already a swarm that moved into it that very day!!!
Bait hives do work for many people. I hope you read this book and have wild success getting your “free bees!”
Following the Bloom Across America with the Migratory Beekeepers
By Douglas Whynott
If you’ve ever wondered what the whole Migratory Beekeeping business is all about, read this book! Douglas imbedded himself into this community for a few years to deliver a true insider’s perspective of this business. Wow, I never knew all the troubles and heartaches and craziness these gals and guys face. What I learned is that they’re true masters of on-the-fly problem solving!
I started reading this book thinking they must have long-established routines and regular yards where they place their hives at set times every year. It all must be a very strict routine for it to work reliably year over year. That’s not at all the case! Curveballs come at them every step of the way, and these folks have to get very creative—bending the law routinely—to make it all work each day.
Here’s an example: Three tractor & trailer loads—each carrying 400 of your hives—is on the road from Califor-nia to Florida when a surprise freeze hits Florida on the second day of their journey. That freeze wiped out the citrus blossoms, and now there’s no food where your bees are headed. Whatcha gonna do? Right now! Your truck drivers need to know where to go…at 4am when they start their drive today…where are they going…you gotta find a new place for 1,200 hives…right now!
This is a great book that will give you a peak into a world of beekeeping you never knew existed!
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Gil’s Honeybee Crossword Puzzle
Across
2. Have some of this on hand in case there is a warm day.
4. One thing you can do to your equipment during the winter.
7. You should do this to your old and new equip-ment during the winter.
Last one from me—Just for fun!
No contest this month.
In Memory of Gilbert Wilson editor of Honeycomb who invented
this crossword and passed away a year ago this month.
Down
1. Clean and Polish this during December.
3. This kind of equipment you should get rid of.
5. Do this during the winter to make sure you are ready by the Spring.
6. You should do this to your bee jacket at least once a year.
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Videos Complement Coalition’s Tools for Varroa Management Guide,
Provides Step-By-Step Demonstrations of Utilizing an Integrated Pest
Management Strategy of Monitoring, Treatment.
Honey Bee Health Coalition Unveils Videos
Reprinted from American Bee Journal
KEYSTONE, Colorado, Dec. 1, 2016] — The Honey Bee Health Coa-
lition released a series of videos today to help beekeepers pro-
mote colony health and combat costly and destructive Varroa
mite (Varroa destructor) infestations. The videos can be found on
the Coalition website at honeybeehealthcoalition.org/Varroa and
provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to monitor
hives for varroa and when levels get too high, safely treat. The
videos complement the Coalition’s wildly popular Tools for Var-
roa Management Guide.
“The Honey Bee Health Coalition’s Tools for Varroa Management
Guide has provided beekeepers in the US and Canada with invalu-
able tools and techniques to confront destructive Varroa mite in-
festations,” said Mark Dykes, Apiary Inspectors of Ameri-
ca. “These videos will show beekeeper real world application tech-
niques that will help them correctly apply treatments.”
Grilled Peach-and-Mozzarella Salad Reprinted from myrecipes.com (Southern Living Magazine)
Ingredients
5 peaches (not white)
3 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 1/2 tablespoons tequila (optional)
1/3 cup olive oil
Vegetable cooking spray
1 (6-oz.) package watercress or baby arugula, thoroughly washed
3/4 pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 16 (1/4-inch) slices
Garnish: fresh cilantro sprigs
Preparation
1. Peel and chop 1 peach. Cut remaining 4 peaches into 28 (1/4-inch-thick) rounds, cutting through stem and bottom ends. (Cut peaches inward from sides, cutting each side just until you reach the pit. Discard pits.)
2. Process chopped peach, green onions, next 7 ingredients, and, if desired, tequila in a food processor 10 to 15 seconds or until smooth. Add oil, and pulse 3 to 4 times or until thoroughly combined.
3. Coat cold cooking grate of grill with cooking spray, and place on grill. Preheat grill to 350° to 400° (medium-high). Brush both sides of peach rounds with 1/3 cup peach dressing.
4. Grill peach rounds, covered with grill lid, over 350° to 400° (medium-high) heat 3 to 5 minutes on each side or until grill marks appear.
5. Arrange watercress evenly on 4 plates. Alternately layer 4 grilled peach rounds and 4 cheese slices over watercress on each plate. Top each with 3 more peach rounds. Drizzle with remaining peach dressing. Gar-nish, if desired.
Grilled Peach-and-Feta Salad: Preheat oven to 350°. Arrange 1/4 cup pecans, chopped, in a single layer in a shallow pan. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted and fragrant, stirring after 5 minutes. Reduce peaches from 5 to 4, and re-duce salt to 1/2 tsp. Substitute 8 cups loosely packed Bibb lettuce leaves (about 6 oz.; 1 to 2 heads of lettuce) for wa-tercress and 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese for mozzarella cheese. Peel and chop 1 peach. Cut each of remaining 3 peaches into 8 wedges. Proceed with recipe as directed in Steps 2 through 4, decreasing grilling time for peach wedges to 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until grill marks appear. Divide Bibb lettuce and 4 cooked bacon slices, halved crosswise, among 4 plates or shallow bowls. Top with grilled peach wedges. Sprinkle with feta cheese and pecans. Serve with dressing. Makes 4 servings; Prep: 25 min., Bake: 10 min., Grill: 6 min.
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Cooking with Honey
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Subject: Honeycomb
2016 MCBA OFFICERS
President: Kris Daniels ([email protected])
Vice President: Ed Moyers ([email protected])
Treasurer: Diana Smith
Membership Secretary: Melinda Mitchell
Chaplain: Don Rierson
Webmaster: Kevin Freeman ([email protected])
MCBA Newsletter
2219 Mecklenburg Avenue
Charlotte, NC 28205
PLACE STAMP HERE
THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF THE MECKLENBURG COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION December, 2016