I spoke to Veronika Pyrz this morning and her daughter and family are doing well after a serious motor vehicle accident in December. Best wishes to the whole Pyrz family from the club.

The agenda for our next meeting will include:

• Spring preparation
• Tips on equipment assembly
• Medication advice
• Instructional video

Best wishes, Sol

At our last meeting, Sol informed us that his hazelnut trees bloomed on January 22. Very early for all the years he has been recording.

Spring is around the corner and my bees have been flying, all except one too-wet hive that didn't make it. Theo suggested that all hives be opened up right now to reduce the humidity. However, we should reduce the openings when brood rearing starts in March to help the bees keep warm.

The club is continuing to prepare for the fall BCHPA Conference. This is going to be a top quality conference with some excellent programs to attend. The dates will be October 25-27, 2001.

I am now sending the newsletter via email to those members wishing to save us a stamp and envelope. I sent out a test and those who replied, got their email. If you would like your newsletter via email, send me a note at jagreid@island.net.

Fourth Wednesday, January 24, 2001 at 7:30pm, at the Quennel School Annex - 420 Selby St., Nanaimo.

Entrance between the two buildings or if late, knock at the top door of the back fire escape stairs

By Dr. Keith Delaplane

We are moving away from the days when Apistan was the one and only control available for varroa mites. Experience from decades of agricultural production shows that pests become resistant to pesticides when they are exposed, generation after generation, to the same chemicals. In the long run, such a chemical-intense program is unsustainable for a host of reasons – excess chemical residues in hive products, chemical disruption of the bee society, unknown effects of chemicals in the environment, chemical-resistant mites, and growing consumer disapproval. It's in everyone's best interest to control mites in such a way to limit our reliance on synthetic miticides. The answer is IPM – Integrated Pest Management, an approach that seeks to keep pests at non-damaging levels with a variety of means, chemical and non-chemical.

Central to an IPM strategy is the treatment threshold. This is the level of mites in a colony at which IPM departs from conventional treat-by-the-calendar control. It is understood that pest eradication is not possible or even necessary.

Treatment thresholds can be made by expert estimates, and such has been the case in much of the history of varroa in North America. However, published work from my lab has determined that colonies can tolerate up to 3200-4300 mites before suffering irreparable harm. We determined that a colony population of 3200-4300 mites corresponds to ether roll (1½ inches of bees per quart jar) yields of 15–38 mites, or an overnight bottom board sticky sheet (without miticide) of 59-187.

Armed with a known threshold, a beekeeper can next go about finding ways to delay that threshold as long as possible before treating with a miticide. It is desirable to delay as long as possible the inter-treatment interval in order to preserve through genetic recombination across generations the chemicals susceptible genes in the mite population.

Just how one goes about delaying that threshold is the nuts and bolts of IPM. In my talk I described the bottom screen, a false floor or 8-mesh hardware cloth that permits mites to fall through the screen and effectively be removed from the colony. Our studies show that this simple device slows mite population growth. Best of all, once installed on a colony the bottom screen is on-duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Another easy IPM approach is the use of hygienic queens. Research by Dr. Marla Spivak at the University of Minnesota demonstrates that hygienic stock can effectively slow mite population growth. I encourage beekeepers to patronize queen producers who are selecting and propagating stocks displaying hygienic behavior. I reported a University of Georgia study in which we showed that hygienic stock was the most important factor limiting chalkbrood in a comparison with comb age and interior hive humidity. Thus there are multiple benefits to be realized from hygienic stock.

Other IPM practices can be expected to slow growth of varroa mites and delay the need for chemical applications. These include drone brood trapping, apiary isolation from other apiaries, and other traits of genetic resistance in bees such as grooming behavior and bee-induced mite infertility.

Once chemicals are engaged in an IPM strategy, there is one other IPM practice that helps a great deal in the fight against chemical resistant mites, and that is chemical rotation. Insofar as alternative miticides are available, it is a good idea to use one chemical one time, and another chemical the next. This minimizes the genetic selection pressure toward any one class of chemistry.

To testing for varroa mite infestation gently scrape 150-300 young bees from a frame in the centre of a colony's brood nest using a wide mouth 1 litre jar. Don't collect the queen! Apply a 2 second burst of ether (automotive starter fluid available at gas/auto repair stations) into the jar, replace the top and shake vigorously for 30 seconds. Gradually rotate the jar horizontally and look for any mites that should stick to the sides. Normally, honey regurgitated by the bees and ether should make the jar sides sticky. If not, add a bit of syrup or water.

Because the ether roll technique samples only a portion of the adults in a hive, some interpretation of the results is necessary. In the early spring when a colony occupies one standard deep box there are approximately 15,000 bees in the hive. If you sample 150 bees you are monitoring 1% of the adult population. Multiply by 100 to get an estimate for the whole hive. If brood rearing is underway multiply by 600 because only 15% of the mites are on the adult bees.

IPM calls for the use of many techniques and substances for controlling mites. One method is to use essential oils as described by the web page www.wvu.edu/agexten/varroa/varroa2.htm. This web page is produced by the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences at West Virginia University.

To summarize, essential oils work in two ways: 1) they kill varroa mites by direct contact and 2) impair reproduction when syrups containing essential oils are fed to bee brood.

Essential oils are not completely simple to use due to the varroa mites ability to run away and hide and because the use of essential oils in high doses can kill your bees. To effectively use essential oils, beekeepers will need a three-tier method of treatment. The treatments include tracking stripes at entrances, grease patties or oil soaked paper towels over the brood nest and feeding syrup containing essential oils.

In the March issue of the Buzzword, I will endeavor to provide much more detail on this topic.

During the season of cold chilly air it would be nice to use our own bees wax to make a nice lip balm. With this in mind, I went looking for a formula for producing such a product. Here it is…from Beekeeping: An Illustrated Handbook, by Diane G. Stelley, published by Tab Books Inc. of Blue Ridge Summit, PA

Using the displacement method to measure the beeswax, place a ¼ cup of your chosen vegetable oil (olive oil, almond oil, etc.) into a glass liquid measure cup, then push enough chipped beeswax into the oil (wax to be covered by oil) to bring the level to ½ a cup. Now you have ¼ each of oil and wax. Place the cup into a pot of very hot water, stirring until all is melted and dissolved. Pour contents into a wide mouth jar and allow to cool.

This base will keep indefinitely and can be used in recipes calling for equal parts beeswax and oil. To give you some idea, this book suggests an easy lip gloss of 2 teaspoons base and 6 tablespoons mink oil. However, you can add your own choice of oil a little at a time until you get the desired consistency. You can also add scent, colouring or flavour. Experiment and see what happens. Make some for Christmas gifts next year. Happy stirring.

www.inta.gov.ar/apinet

www.ifas.uf/.edu/~mts/apishtm/apis.htm

www.wvu.edu/~agexten/varroa.htm

Call John at 758-7775 for a helmet, bee veil, smoker, hive tool, 8 brood boxes, 3 dadants and frame without wax. All for $95.

President Sol Nowitz 753-9619

Vice-President Linda Bruce 245-4570

Treasurer &
Membership Elaine Kuusisto 245-7297

Secretary Diana Prestidge 468-9576

Directors Cheryl Reist 390-4879

James Long 756-2353

Diana Prestidge 468-9576

Bee Inspector Larry Lindahl 721-0523

Bee Drugs James Long 756-2353

Outyards Paolo Benvin 722-3427

James Long 756-2353

Swarms Conrad Berube 754-2482

Coffee/Tea Ed Pyrz 754-4657

BCHPA Vancouver
Island Regional Rep. John Van Apeldoorn 724-6639

Newsletter Editor Brenda Jager Tel/Fax 247-2078
& Mailing jagreid@island.net