Honey Bees & Beekeeping in New Brunswick, Canada

The Importance of Feeding Protein to Bees

Posted by beekeepers on December 6, 2008

Photo: Minaben

Veteran beekeeper Allan Dick, writing in the December issue of the Alberta Beekeepers newsletter, warns that a failure to feed enough protein to bees can cost the lives of colonies.

A year or two back, some very good beekeepers I know and who had fed patties for years quit feeding patties because they figured they had enough — or even too many — bees and did not think they needed to stimulate the colonies. Since they had been feeding patties for years, they had become used to great wintering success and good spring build-up and got to taking that for granted.

HOWEVER, this year, for the first time in a while, they had late winter losses and bad build-up that affected their honey crop very significantly. Sad, but entirely predictable. The patty feeding had given their bees an edge, but the charm wore off after they quit feeding.

Allan Dick says that his beekeeping operation feeds protein patties until mid-June at least, as many as a colony will take. After beginning this regimen, he “immediately noticed that the bees were more robust-looking, BUT the huge bonus was that our wintering loss the following winters stabilized at around 12% - 15%, meaning that 85% of the previous year’s colony count was viable in mid-April” — and this consistently high survival rate kept up over a period of many years, compared to typical losses of up to 40% or “even 50% on occasion. Small, predicable losses were a huge relief after the catastrophic losses we formerly experienced and convinced us that feeding patties was good, cheap insurance.”

Continue Reading →

Comment?Beekeeping Information

NBBA 2009 Notice of Motion

Posted by workerbeej on December 5, 2008

The following notice is published at the request of the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association, our provincial organization.

NEW BRUNSWICK BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
NOTICE OF MOTION
ANNUAL MEETING 2009

WHEREAS the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association is currently unable to meet its financial obligation as a member of the Canadian Honey Council in a sustainable manner,

BE IT RESOLVED that the membership dues structure be amended as follows:

    $25   Associate Member (see note below)
    $50   Regular Member - 1 to 10 colonies
    $150 Regular Member - 11 to 99 colonies
    $250 Regular Member - 100 to 499 colonies
    $350 Regular Member - 500 to 1500 colonies
    $700 Regular Member - more than 1500 colonies

NOTE: Associate Members will be non-voting but will have the privilege of attending meetings and the freedom to voice their opinion on issues. This membership is for a maximum of two years and is offered to new beekeepers who own not more than ten (10) colonies or are employees of a Regular Member. They are not eligible for other benefits such as “HIVELIGHTS” or liability insurance. Insurance is included in the cost of Regular Membership unless a member declines this benefit in writing.

Comment?What's the Buzz?,

Honey Bee Losses Threaten Food Supply, Says European Parliament

Posted by workerbeej on November 21, 2008

Photo: urtica

Immediate action is required to tackle the drastic decline in bee colonies throughout Europe and the rest of the world, say Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). The decline in the number of bees poses a threat not just to honey production but to the pollination of plants and hence to food production. Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday pressing the Commission to take action.

The resolution, adopted by 485 votes in favour to 13 votes against with 5 abstentions, calls on the Commission to use the CAP Health Check to put in place measures encouraging the creation of ecological recovery zones in parts of fields that are difficult to cultivate.

Continue Reading →

Comment?World Apiculture

Arizona Researchers Compare Oxalic Acid and Sucrocide for Control of Varroa Mites

Posted by drone on November 19, 2008

A recent article in the Journal of Economic Entomology reports on an Arizona study to comparing Oxalic Acid and Sucrocide™ as treatments for Varroa mites in honeybee colonies.

Sammataro D, Finley J, Underwood R (2008) Comparing Oxalic Acid and Sucrocide Treatments for Varroa destructor (Acari: Varroidae) Control Under Desert Conditions. Journal of Economic Entomology: Vol. 101, No. 4 pp. 1057–1061

Bottom line: Oxalic Acid treatments were successful in killing Varroa destructor mites, but Sucrocide™ treatments were not effective. In fact, the study’s authors found that Sucrocide™ treatment was no more effective than giving the hives no treatment at all.

This seems to be in line with last year’s report of research by Alison Skinner, Janet Tam, Rachel Bannister and Melanie Kempers carried out under the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association Tech-Transfer Program. (See Can Sucrocide Control Varroa Mites in Canada?) The team evaluated Sucrocide™ as a Varroa mite treatment from July 2004 to July 2006, and found that the product did not show much promise as a mite control technique.

Comment?Beekeeping Information

Update on Varroa Mite Research

Posted by beekeepers on November 17, 2008

An abstract of Maritime MicroBiologicals Inc. and David Boyle’s research into fungus as a control for varroa mites, undertaken with the New Brunswick Beekeepers Association, has just been published on the website of the New Brunswick Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.

Continue Reading →

Comment?Apis mellifera,