the newsletter of the mecklenburg county beekeepers ... · according to garden plants for honey...
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The Newsletter of the Mecklenburg County Beekeepers Association January 2020The President's Buzz
from Tommy Helms
If you keep bees there is one thing you can count on and that is, they
are going to swarm at some time or another. You can try to keep them from
swarming by doing splits and replacing queens. This works most of the
time, but sometimes the bees don’t get the message and swarm anyway.
I’ve heard some beekeepers say it might be best to just let nature take its
course and hope you can recover the swarm. So, then you have lost half of
your bees and your honey production for the year is gone. Then you’ll have
a swarm of bees looking for a home and if you can’t catch them, they will
probably end up in your neighbor’s wall and you’ll be getting a phone call.
Feral bees are just about nonexistent. Bees that end up in the wild have a
less than 25% chance of surviving. So, what do you do?
My approach to the problem is to pick out my strongest and best honey
producers from last year and try to control the swarming. I’ll start checking
early in the season, cutting out queen cells, making splits or maybe adding
a new queen if I think it’s needed. With a few colonies this is not hard to do
but I can’t do it with the number of hives that I have. So, I just accept the
fact that I’m going to have swarms and put out swarm boxes. My boxes are
a little less than 40 liters which is supposed to be the preferred size the
bees are looking for. I’ve had exceptionally good luck catching swarms the
past few years. I put my traps out early in the year (the first of March) and
I put them within easy reach. You don’t have to put them up 12 feet up in a
January MeetingMark Smith
of Flatwoods Bee Farm
presents:
A Year in My Chemical Free Apiary
also
Business Meeting:To discuss the development of an
Apiary at Carolina Farm Trust's
Urban Farm at Aldersgate
Thursday, Jan. 16 at 7pm
Selwyn United Methodist Church
3100 Selwyn Road
continues
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New Resource AvailableAs every NCSBA volunteer and
presenter knows, NC Zoo Bee Exhibit
visitors and 5th grade students expect
beekeepers to know about all bees, not just
honey bees. This bee ID guide is available
free to download at
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/thebeesof
northcarolinaidentificationguide.
Paperbacks of the 57page guide are
available in January and may be ordered for
$14 at https://go.ncsu.edu/beeidguide. For a
25% discount on orders of 5+ copies, use
promotional code 01NCSU25.
My husband and I always wanted to be beekeepers. We knew a
lot of people who raised bees for orchard pollination when we lived
in California, but until moving to Charlotte, we simply didn’t have
the room for them. When we retired to North Carolina, we were
finally able to pursue our dream. Where we live now, we have a
small creek in our backyard along with an ideal spot for our bees.
We began our quest rather naively. We knew Honey Bee School
would be in our future, but it was only offered once a year in
January. Since it was then April, we thought that perhaps we
could get our bees going first and then attend school in the winter.
We did a bit of research, set up our bees and commenced ‘raising’
them. We thought we did all the right things – feeding them and
treating for mites. Everything was fine until one day in November.
We walked out to the bee yard, they were all dead.
We were devastated! We were also so ‘green’ that we couldn’t
even tell why they died. We still wanted to raise bees, so we
enrolled in Bee School and began again. Wow! There is a lot to
learn, but also a very fun and rewarding hobby. With the help of
our mentors, we are now certified Beekeepers and have even
enjoyed our first honey harvest.
Speaking of honey, I just read an interesting article by the US
National Library of Medicine. It states that eating raw honey is
useful in improving memory deficits along with a whole host of
other benefits. Additional research suggests that it might be most
beneficial if taken at night. According to BenefitsofHoney.com,
Bees, Honey and Dementiafrom Senia Owensby
Wayne is standing by our beehives.
2020 MCBA OfficersPresident Tommy Helms
Vice President Kevin Falls
MembershipSec'y Robert Suydam
Treasurer Dianne Helms
Chaplain Larry Edwards
Webmaster Kevin Freeman
continues
Botanical Trivia: Cherryfrom Dietlinde Zipkin
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Observing where the honeybees forage, I have
noticed them visit several types of ornamental cherry
trees in and near my neighborhood, which bloom at
various times of the year, ranging from November
through March.
The planting of ornamental cherries in the USA
originated in 1912 as a gift of friendship to the people
of the United States from the people of Japan. The
cherry is actually thought to have originated in Asia
Minor prior to migrating to Japan.
So where does the Cherry fit into the Plant
kingdom?
The Cherry belongs to the genus Prunus which is
a member of the rose family, (Rosaceae). Rosaceae is a
medium sized plant family of flowering plants
including 4,828 known species in 91 genera. Many of
the fruits we eat are members of the rose family,
including blackberries, raspberries, loganberries
dewberries, apples, pears, quinces, loquat, and
strawberries. As the name suggests, roses also belong
to this family. Many of these are pollinated by, and
offer forage for bees.
The genus Prunus contains our stone fruits:
Almond, Apricot, Cherry, Nectarine, Peach, Plum.
(Botanically, the almond is not a true nut. The edible
part is only the seed.) Prunus consists of over 400
species of deciduous or evergreen flowering shrubs
and trees, native to northern temperate regions.
They typically bear simple leaves with toothed
margins.
They have five petaled flowers, ranging from
white to pink, with numerous stamens.
Their fruit are defined as Drupes, which means
stone fruits.
Some species have thorns.
Only one type of cherry, Prunus serotina, is native
to North Carolina. Prunus serotina is commonly
known as the Black Cherry, or Wild Cherry.
A common winter blooming cherry cultivar is the
Prunus subhirtella Autumnalis. Autumnalis begin
blooming in the fall and continue to bloom
sporadically throughout the winter. The two photos
below resemble the Autumnalis.
11/12/2019. I first noticed bees foraging on this winter bloomingcherry in the Matthews pollinator garden November 2, 2019.
1/16/2019. Bees started foraging on this cherry in myneighborhood on November 25, 2019.Last year it bloomed variably throughout the winter. Weatherpermitting, bees were foraging until mid March.Notice the pollen basket full with orange pollen.
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According to treescharlotte.org, cherry species
chosen for our urban landscaping include Okame and
Yoshino.
2/13/2019. The Okame looks like the cherry in this photo.This is one of the early spring blooming cherries lining ourstreets. Bees were foraging on this tree in mid February.
According to Garden Plants for Honey Bees by
Peter Lindtner, On a 1 5 star rating scale, Prunus
Okame yields pollen**, nectar****.
Yoshino resembles this white cherry in my
neighborhood. It began blooming weeks later, in
March.
3/12/2019
Cherries can be recognized by their bark. The
bark has prominent horizontal slits called lenticels.
Lenticels are soft, spongy areas in the bark that
allow gasses to pass through between living cells and
the exterior.
1/16/2019
Sometimes we see cherries, such as the
Autumnalis, with more than five petals. The
Autumnalis has semidouble flowers. This is the
result of a mutation where some of the stamens
default to forming petals. Such flowers can be very
showy, thus they have been cultivated as
ornamentals.
More on alternate flower forms next month.
2/11/2019
honey taken at bedtime can help ease stress hormones which in turn, helps us to get that everelusive better night's
sleep.
Anything that has to do with memory deficits, or dementia gets my attention. We were caregivers for my Mama,
who had Alzheimer’s, a form of dementia for well over a decade. Initially, dementia was not even on our radar. In
Mama’s case, it didn’t begin with a bang or a diagnosis from a doctor. It didn’t announce itself and take over. When
we found ourselves devoting extra time and energy into caring for my parents, we simply assumed that their
diminishing abilities were a natural part of the aging process. At first, it seemed that something was simply odd or
out of place, but as time went on, we began to put it all together: medicine not taken, meals neither prepared nor
eaten, no letters written, or crossword puzzles started. Bits and pieces of activities from everyday routines gradually
disappeared. Dementia had snuck in quietly and stolen away parts of Mama’s life – her memories and abilities.
When my Dad passed away in 2005, we took over the full responsibility of caring for Mama. By then, we had a better
sense of the gravity of her situation.
Dementia, also referred to as cognitive decline, is not actually a disease but rather an umbrella term for a group
of symptoms caused by other conditions. Dementia is characterized by a decrease in thinking skills such as memory,
speech, and problemsolving that affect a person's ability to perform everyday activities. There are as many as 50
diseases that cause symptoms of dementia. Alzheimer’s is the most common
type. It is thought that between 60 and 80 percent of dementia cases are
caused by Alzheimer’s. The second most common type is Vascular dementia.
It is caused by a lack of blood flow to the brain. Another is Lewy body
dementia which is caused by protein deposits in nerve cells. In many cases,
people with advanced Parkinson’s disease will develop dementia.
Frontotemporal dementia is a name used to describe several types of
dementia which affect parts of the brain that control language and behavior.
I wish I had known about some of honey’s benefits while caring for
Mama. Honey would have surely been added to her daily diet.
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Contact UsInquiries about beekeeper
presentations, honey bee swarms,
and future events may be directed
to the website: http://meckbees.org
Submissions to the Honeycomb
newsletter may be directed to the
editor: [email protected]
tree. I try to stay off of ladders if possible. I put a frame of old drawn comb and some type of a lure in each trap to
attract the scout bees. I use lemon grass oil or one of the commercially bought lures. If I don’t have drawn comb
some frames with foundation works. I check them on a regular basis and reapply the lure. Remember wax moths
like that old drawn comb so you may have to replace it occasionally. The good thing about using the swarm box is
you’re getting to keep your bees and there is a good possibility you will catch your neighbor’s bees (free bees). Simply
take the bees out of the trap put them in a hive and put the trap back in the same location. There is a good chance
you will get another swarm there. I have found that bees have a tendency to go to a place bees have been before.
After the bees have been in their new hive for a few days, I treat them for mites before there is any capped brood.
Good Luck with your bees!
Tommy Helms
MeckBees President
... President's Buzz continued
... Bees, Honey, and Dementia continued