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NY Bee Wellness Workshop in Long Island
Dr Jerry Bromenshenk (pictured, left demonstrating ) of Bee Alert Technologies, and the University of Montana, shared his decades of experience and knowledge.
He was the primary speaker and instructor at this year's NY Bee Wellness Workshop at the Bayard Arboretum on Long Island.
He demonstrated Flir, and RFID technologies.
A Thank you to Betterbee, Bayard Arboretum, 3 Bees Apiary, and the Jenny B Project.
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First Responder Class for American Foul Brood (AFB)
With funding through USDA APHIS, NYS Agriculture and Markets has a trial program to train small scale beekeepers to ID bee diseases and be a resource for their local club. Joan Mahoney (Long Island NYS Ag & Markets) is the facilitator. NY Bee Wellness provided the training for beekeepers from 3 bee clubs, in Morrisville NY, using the teaching model used in the annual NY Bee Wellness Workshops.
To learn about honey bee disease see:
Diagnostics/NY Bee Wellness
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Using a Vita Kit in the field to test for AFB
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Instructor Bob Deemer demonstrating sanitary technique for hive inspections.
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Discussion on BEE-L ranged from practical to esoteric. It’s harvest time, and advice was requested regarding the proper use of fume boards. The discussion gave painting tips (dark colors to best absorb heat from the sun), adding a PVC elbow to increase air flow, adding a chute to encourage bees to walk away from the hive as opposed to walking up the front and sides, and a compare and contrast of the “cheesy” smelling repellants vs. “almond” smelling varieties. The whole discussion started with the observation that clearer/escape boards can be effective, but are very labor intensive and require multiple trips to the bee yard. Some authors opined that bee blowers are the way to go, and one author shared a home-grown “lifting gizmo” that employs a tackle lift to ease the chore of inserting escape boards.
Oxalic fumigation is gaining popularity as a Varroa d. treatment, and the ProVap 110 has become a popular tool for beekeepers with more than a few hives. One author shared his “user error mishap” with the machine, that resulted in “the device spewing extremely hot gas and liquid OA everywhere.” Fortunately, the author was wearing proper safety gear and incurred no injury. He shared the details of his mishap so others will be aware of the potential hazard, and will be reminded to follow all safety precautions. A lively discussion on oxalic vaporization followed.
Spurred by a query from across the pond, there was a very interesting discussion of bee breeding. “A small-scale commercial beekeeper in West Dorset, UK, has recently taken up instrumental insemination in order to improve his stock. He's surprised to find that about 40% of the drones are sterile! Is this normal/usual, or is it a local problem?” Much was offered regarding drone fertility, collecting drone semen, hybrid vigor (or the lack thereof), the difficulties inherent in bee breeding.
The bee breeding discussion came full circle and ended with Caveat Emptor (buyer beware). Most queen and package producers do their best to deliver a quality product. But when it comes to honey bees, it can be a crap shoot. There can be no guarantee with open mated queens, and there will be variations in packages, even from the same producer in the same shipment! Some packages develop into boomers, some not so much. -Aaron Morris
BEE-L can be followed at Community.LSOFT.com
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Syracuse beekeepers gather for cook out and hive inspections.
"Hiwire Honeybees of LaFayette sponsored their second annual outdoor informational meeting for Syracuse area beekeepers on Wednesday, at the LaFayette Apple Festival grounds.
The event brings together experienced beekeepers and people new or interested in keeping bees".
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Northeastern Region 2018 Honey Bee Colonies Report (link)
April 1 Honey Bee Colonies in U.S. Unchanged from a Year Earlier
for Operations with Five or More Colonies
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1) Tips on Working Bees Randy Oliver
2) Healthy Bees, Meghan Milbrath (MSU)
3) Nosema & Varroa Mites Randy Oliver
4) The Times They are a Changin', Randy Oliver
5) Mite resistant queen stock , Meghan Milbrath (MSU)
6) Biology of Wintering Bees, Medhat Nasr PhD, Alberta
7)Proactive Beekeeping, Medhat Nasr PhD
8)"What is Killing Our Bees" Medhat Nasr PhD
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Great How-to videos from the University of Guelph Honey Bee Research Centre
to provide new and advanced beekeepers with demonstrations by our staff on a variety of topics ranging from how to open a hive to queen rearing.
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