A well done piece on CCD talking about the multiple causes that may be responsible for it.
http://www.kpbs.org/audioclips/9754/
The original article is here.
"If they are treated with sub-lethal doses of pesticide, they actually will not come back to the nest, they may get lost. and one study suggests they actually will dance less," explained Nieh. "So their efficiency at recruiting other bees to that same food source is decreased and the colony is getting less food into it."
This is a troubling point. Being sub-lethal it is difficult to diagnose; hard to track down the source and just as difficult to be able to do something about it. The toughest part of solving this aspect of the problem is trying to get the pesticide or pesticides off the market. How do you prove a specific pesticide with a billion dollars in sales is doing this if you can hardly prove that it is lethal. Professional "scientists" on the corporate dole can easily find reasonable doubt on any specific pesticide and lay blame on another cause, this same strategy was effectively used by the tobacco industry for years.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Basic Mead Making
The recipe I started out with was found here. I always thought cranberry and honey complimented each other. The pure unsweetened cranberry juice was about as pricey as the honey would be. Even with the "toddler of the house" monkeying with the air lock, I had very good results after about a year. I used more honey and didn't bother with the corn sugar. Typically the better the honey the better the end product. Don't a medal winning mead with bulk honey for baking that would avoid eating raw on toast or in tea.
Here is a basic run through of mead making and basic equipment.
More of the series can be seen here.
Let's Start out with the simplest three recipes:(5 gallon)
Dry Mead
* 12 lbs. of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or a suitable replacement)
Medium Mead
* 15 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)
Sweet Mead
* 18 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)
These three recipes are the simple and no problem way to make a basic and great tasting mead. The only difference between them is the amount of honey you put into the must.
Here is a basic run through of mead making and basic equipment.
More of the series can be seen here.
Let's Start out with the simplest three recipes:(5 gallon)
Dry Mead
* 12 lbs. of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or a suitable replacement)
Medium Mead
* 15 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)
Sweet Mead
* 18 lbs of Honey
* 4 gallons of spring water
* 2 teaspoons of yeast nutrient
* 2 teaspoons of yeast energizer
* 2 packets of Lalvin 71b-1122 yeast (or suitable replacement)
These three recipes are the simple and no problem way to make a basic and great tasting mead. The only difference between them is the amount of honey you put into the must.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Plans for your own Top Bar Hive
How to Build a Top Bar Hive
More info on building your own top bar hive from scrap wood you may already have. The simple practical design is perfect for the backyard beekeeper.
More info on building your own top bar hive from scrap wood you may already have. The simple practical design is perfect for the backyard beekeeper.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Building Top Bar Hives
Top bar hives are becoming very popular for hobbyist beekeepers. The design replicates the bees natural environment better than commercial hives. The hanging combs help prevent mites, the mites are unable to climb back onto the combs when they fall off. Eliminating mites eliminates the bees being exposed to the diseases that mites spread.
For the do-it-yourselfer here are instructions to build your own top bar hive.
For the do-it-yourselfer here are instructions to build your own top bar hive.
Pesticide and Colony Collapse Disorder.
I came across this article the other day. I have my doubts that there is any single culprit causing colony collapse but I have always figured that pesticides are a large part of the puzzle.
Insecticide suspected in bee Colony Collapse Disorder
FALMOUTH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- We need bees to pollinate our plants. But bees are disappearing.
Colony Collapse Disorder is name that has been given to the sudden disappearance of bee colonies.
The bees are getting disoriented for some reason. They can't find their way back to the hive and they eventually die. Some scientists now believe the bee disorientation could be due to a pesticide called Imidacloprid, a synthetic nicotine used in pesticides. Paul Tukey's group, Safelawns.org is asking people to avoid pesticides that include Imidicloprid.
There are many organic alternatives in pest control now on the market. One of Paul's favorites is Eco-Smart. The active ingredients are peppermint, cinnamon and sesame seed oils. All are considered food grade, and safe.
Paul says you still want to read the labels of the organic products and use the proper protection.
original article here
Insecticide suspected in bee Colony Collapse Disorder
FALMOUTH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- We need bees to pollinate our plants. But bees are disappearing.
Colony Collapse Disorder is name that has been given to the sudden disappearance of bee colonies.
The bees are getting disoriented for some reason. They can't find their way back to the hive and they eventually die. Some scientists now believe the bee disorientation could be due to a pesticide called Imidacloprid, a synthetic nicotine used in pesticides. Paul Tukey's group, Safelawns.org is asking people to avoid pesticides that include Imidicloprid.
There are many organic alternatives in pest control now on the market. One of Paul's favorites is Eco-Smart. The active ingredients are peppermint, cinnamon and sesame seed oils. All are considered food grade, and safe.
Paul says you still want to read the labels of the organic products and use the proper protection.
original article here
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Urban beekeeping
I have spoken to several urban beekeepers while doing the farmers markets all have interesting stories especially the ones from New York. Apparently each of the five boroughs have distinct flavors of honey. From what I hear beekeeping in NYC is no longer a clandestine operation and can be done legally now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html
Bees in the City? New York May Let the Hives Come Out of Hiding
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
Kathleen Boyer suspects the mailman.
She said she could not think of anyone else in her neighborhood who would have complained about the two beehives she kept under a pine tree in her front yard in Flatbush, Brooklyn, leading the city’s health department to fine her $2,000 last fall.
“I was kind of surprised,” said Mrs. Boyer, an art director with a media company. “People see us in our bee suit and they’d bring their kids to watch us and ask us questions.”
New York City is among the few jurisdictions in the country that deem beekeeping illegal, lumping the honeybee together with hyenas, tarantulas, cobras, dingoes and other animals considered too dangerous or venomous for city life. But the honeybee’s bad rap — and the days of urban beekeepers being outlaws — may soon be over.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s board will take up the issue of amending the health code to allow residents to keep hives of Apis mellifera, the common, nonaggressive honeybee. Health department officials said the change was being considered after research showed that the reports of bee stings in the city were minimal and that honeybees did not pose a public health threat.
The officials were also prodded by beekeepers who, in a petition and at a public hearing last month, argued that their hives promoted sustainable agriculture in the city.
A ban, of course, has not deterred many New Yorkers from setting up hives on rooftops and in yards and community gardens, doing it as a hobby, to pollinate their plants or to earn extra income from honey. Although the exact number of beekeepers in the city is unknown, many openly flout the law. They have their own association, hold beekeeping workshops, sell their honey at farmers’ markets and tend to their hives as unapologetically as others might jaywalk, blaming their legal predicament on people’s ignorance of bees.
“People fear that if there’s a beehive on their rooftop, they’ll be stung,” said Andrew Coté, president of the New York City Beekeepers Association, which was formed two years ago and has 220 members.
“Honeybees are interested in water, pollen and nectar,” he said. “The real danger is the skewed public perception of the danger of honeybees.”
Still, some beekeepers say their renegade status causes headaches.
Sam Elchert, 22, a Columbia University student who is majoring in writing and philosophy, said it took him months to find a suitable home for his hives, which resemble short wood filing cabinets with movable frames inside. His building’s management turned him down, fearing legal problems because of the hives, he said. A community garden in Brooklyn welcomed the hives, but wanted them tucked away in the bushes where they would not get the sunlight they needed.
A friend of Mr. Elchert’s, who owned a brownstone in Manhattan complete with a backyard, declined to house the hives because his father was a lawyer, Mr. Elchert said. So did Columbia, where officials in charge of dining services and some green roofs said no, though they were supportive.
A teacher hosted the bees on her farm in Connecticut for a couple of months while Mr. Elchert kept up his search for a home for his hives. Finally, in June, a community garden in Harlem agreed, and Mr. Elchert goes there every other week to tend to the hives. He said that an article he read last year about beekeeping introduced him to the hobby, which he finds “oddly relaxing,” he said. He said he had also read about declines in the bee population and wanted to do his part to nurture the insects.
“It is a good cause, and there’s some sense of morality, even if we’re not on the right side of the law,” he said.
But Mr. Elchert admits that so far he has found his hobby more “nerve-racking” than relaxing, and inspects the garden only on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.
“What if somebody, some cop, sees me?” he said. “It’d cost me $2,000. It’d really ruin my day.”
Busted beekeepers, as it turns out, are not exactly common. In 2009, 53 inspections were conducted in response to calls related to the harboring of bees and wasps, health officials said, and 13 resulted in notices of violation and fines of $200 to $2,000. In 2008, 48 inspections were made and 7 citations were issued.
Beekeepers say that beekeeping is a relatively low-maintenance and inexpensive endeavor — Mr. Elchert said he spent $500 on hives, equipment and about 20,000 bees to start.
Recently, 70 people filled a room in Lower Manhattan for an “Urban Beekeeping 101” workshop held by the New York City Beekeepers Association.
The class seemed more concerned about the challenges of keeping hives in tight, tall spaces than with the legality of beekeeping, asking questions like: “How high should the hives be?” (About five stories.) And “How much space is needed around the hives so that the bees can fly out to pollinate?” (At least 10 feet.)
But some students were worried about their liability should someone be stung, a hazard that leads most beekeepers to wear protective gear when they tend their hives.
“I’m not even allowed on the roof of my building,” said Matt Griffin, 33, a cook from Queens who said he would probably wait for the law to change and figure out “a few issues” before setting up his hives.
Katrinka Moore, 56, a poet and book editor in the financial district, said that if the law changed, she would ask neighboring churches to host her bees.
That would mean an end to life on the run for Mrs. Boyer’s two hives. They are now lodged with a friend — Mrs. Boyer would not say where — but she plans to retrieve them once they are legal.
Mrs. Boyer said that she and her husband, Chico, took up beekeeping last year so that they could teach workshops in Haiti, where Mr. Boyer was born.
The earthquake has delayed the couple’s plans, but their hives are thriving with 80,000 bees that have yielded more than 100 pounds of honey.
“We gave it to friends for Christmas,” Mrs. Boyer said. “They love it. Everybody is asking for more.”
Ms. Moore said that after working in advocacy against gas drilling in upstate New York, she looked to beekeeping for some relief.
She said: “You get honey. You’re also pollinating gardens. It’s such a positive, happy thing to do.”
Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: "Watch Out Ladies" Honey Harvest from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/science/earth/15bees.html
Bees in the City? New York May Let the Hives Come Out of Hiding
Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times
Kathleen Boyer suspects the mailman.
She said she could not think of anyone else in her neighborhood who would have complained about the two beehives she kept under a pine tree in her front yard in Flatbush, Brooklyn, leading the city’s health department to fine her $2,000 last fall.
“I was kind of surprised,” said Mrs. Boyer, an art director with a media company. “People see us in our bee suit and they’d bring their kids to watch us and ask us questions.”
New York City is among the few jurisdictions in the country that deem beekeeping illegal, lumping the honeybee together with hyenas, tarantulas, cobras, dingoes and other animals considered too dangerous or venomous for city life. But the honeybee’s bad rap — and the days of urban beekeepers being outlaws — may soon be over.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s board will take up the issue of amending the health code to allow residents to keep hives of Apis mellifera, the common, nonaggressive honeybee. Health department officials said the change was being considered after research showed that the reports of bee stings in the city were minimal and that honeybees did not pose a public health threat.
The officials were also prodded by beekeepers who, in a petition and at a public hearing last month, argued that their hives promoted sustainable agriculture in the city.
A ban, of course, has not deterred many New Yorkers from setting up hives on rooftops and in yards and community gardens, doing it as a hobby, to pollinate their plants or to earn extra income from honey. Although the exact number of beekeepers in the city is unknown, many openly flout the law. They have their own association, hold beekeeping workshops, sell their honey at farmers’ markets and tend to their hives as unapologetically as others might jaywalk, blaming their legal predicament on people’s ignorance of bees.
“People fear that if there’s a beehive on their rooftop, they’ll be stung,” said Andrew Coté, president of the New York City Beekeepers Association, which was formed two years ago and has 220 members.
“Honeybees are interested in water, pollen and nectar,” he said. “The real danger is the skewed public perception of the danger of honeybees.”
Still, some beekeepers say their renegade status causes headaches.
Sam Elchert, 22, a Columbia University student who is majoring in writing and philosophy, said it took him months to find a suitable home for his hives, which resemble short wood filing cabinets with movable frames inside. His building’s management turned him down, fearing legal problems because of the hives, he said. A community garden in Brooklyn welcomed the hives, but wanted them tucked away in the bushes where they would not get the sunlight they needed.
A friend of Mr. Elchert’s, who owned a brownstone in Manhattan complete with a backyard, declined to house the hives because his father was a lawyer, Mr. Elchert said. So did Columbia, where officials in charge of dining services and some green roofs said no, though they were supportive.
A teacher hosted the bees on her farm in Connecticut for a couple of months while Mr. Elchert kept up his search for a home for his hives. Finally, in June, a community garden in Harlem agreed, and Mr. Elchert goes there every other week to tend to the hives. He said that an article he read last year about beekeeping introduced him to the hobby, which he finds “oddly relaxing,” he said. He said he had also read about declines in the bee population and wanted to do his part to nurture the insects.
“It is a good cause, and there’s some sense of morality, even if we’re not on the right side of the law,” he said.
But Mr. Elchert admits that so far he has found his hobby more “nerve-racking” than relaxing, and inspects the garden only on weekdays to avoid weekend crowds.
“What if somebody, some cop, sees me?” he said. “It’d cost me $2,000. It’d really ruin my day.”
Busted beekeepers, as it turns out, are not exactly common. In 2009, 53 inspections were conducted in response to calls related to the harboring of bees and wasps, health officials said, and 13 resulted in notices of violation and fines of $200 to $2,000. In 2008, 48 inspections were made and 7 citations were issued.
Beekeepers say that beekeeping is a relatively low-maintenance and inexpensive endeavor — Mr. Elchert said he spent $500 on hives, equipment and about 20,000 bees to start.
Recently, 70 people filled a room in Lower Manhattan for an “Urban Beekeeping 101” workshop held by the New York City Beekeepers Association.
The class seemed more concerned about the challenges of keeping hives in tight, tall spaces than with the legality of beekeeping, asking questions like: “How high should the hives be?” (About five stories.) And “How much space is needed around the hives so that the bees can fly out to pollinate?” (At least 10 feet.)
But some students were worried about their liability should someone be stung, a hazard that leads most beekeepers to wear protective gear when they tend their hives.
“I’m not even allowed on the roof of my building,” said Matt Griffin, 33, a cook from Queens who said he would probably wait for the law to change and figure out “a few issues” before setting up his hives.
Katrinka Moore, 56, a poet and book editor in the financial district, said that if the law changed, she would ask neighboring churches to host her bees.
That would mean an end to life on the run for Mrs. Boyer’s two hives. They are now lodged with a friend — Mrs. Boyer would not say where — but she plans to retrieve them once they are legal.
Mrs. Boyer said that she and her husband, Chico, took up beekeeping last year so that they could teach workshops in Haiti, where Mr. Boyer was born.
The earthquake has delayed the couple’s plans, but their hives are thriving with 80,000 bees that have yielded more than 100 pounds of honey.
“We gave it to friends for Christmas,” Mrs. Boyer said. “They love it. Everybody is asking for more.”
Ms. Moore said that after working in advocacy against gas drilling in upstate New York, she looked to beekeeping for some relief.
She said: “You get honey. You’re also pollinating gardens. It’s such a positive, happy thing to do.”
Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: Breaking The Law For The Planet (Part I) from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
Brooklyn's Urban Beekeepers: "Watch Out Ladies" Honey Harvest from SkeeterNYC on Vimeo.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
A Cookbook Featuring Our Bees and Honey!
From wild chanterelle mushrooms and Walla Walla onions to marionberries and hazelnuts, the Pacific Northwest produces some of the country's most delicious food. "The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook" features 200 fresh, accessible recipes that celebrate these unique flavors. It also profiles twelve growers and beekeepers of Oregon and Washington through inspiring essays that transport the reader to the farm where food is picked from trees, bushes, and vines. Debra Daniels-Zeller has created a great culinary reference and an introduction to the bounty of local markets, with tips on how to buy and store seasonal produce. This title includes breakfast foods, year-round salads, soups and breads, starters and sides, entrees, and desserts. Readers will walk away from this book - and straight to the local farmers' market - with recipes for each season and every part of the day.
It can be found here.
A Government Overview of CCD
Honeybee colony collapse disorder
This report shows the depths of the problem on many different levels, in an easy to read and understand format.
This report shows the depths of the problem on many different levels, in an easy to read and understand format.
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