December 2006-January 2007 Next Membership Meeting is Tuesday, January 23, 2007 6:00 p.m.

NOTE: Early Time for Pot Luck

President Tom Merz Denise Taylor 1st Vice President Laszlo Pentek 2nd Vice President Secretary Chris Reed Treasurer Bennie Liles Newsletter Editor Alan Fiala http://www.beekeepersnova.org Website In This Issue Next Meeting program Minutes of last BANV meeting Announcements Beginning classes in beekeeping 4H Notes VSBA Meetings Membership form March 27, 2007 May 22, 2007 Other Meetings of Interest February 17,2006 Maryland State Beekeepers Meeting Howard County Fairgrounds Jim Tew, Dewey Caron, Larry Connor March 10, 2007 Delaware State Beekeepers Meeting April 27-28, 2007 VSBA, Sandston (Richmond) Listgroup for BANV Join the informal on-line discussion of beekeeping experiences among the clubmembers. To subscribe, just send a message to BANV-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, and say that you are a member of BANV. Future Meetings of BANV 1 1 2-3 2 2 3-4 back page Cafeteria, Falls Church High School 7521 Jaguar Trail Falls Church, VA 22042 DUES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE DUE

Winter Pot-Luck Dinner The next membership meeting is Tuesday, January 23, in the cafeteria at Falls Church High School. Setup begins at 6:00, dinner at 6:30. There is no formal program planned. If you want to coordinate your contribution, suggest a game activity, or get further information, call Tom Merz at 703830-2624. BANV will provide utensils and soft drinks. There is no snow date reservation at this writing. Minutes of the November 28, 2006 Meeting of BANV The meeting started off with a presentation by guest speaker Dewey Caron that encouraged beekeepers to grade themselves on how they met their apiculture objectives during 2006. Dr. Caron also promoted the Eastern Apicultural Society meeting to take place in Dewey Carons home state of Delaware from August 6 through August 10, 2007. Visit www.easternapiculture.org for more information on the next EAS meeting. BANV 1st Vice President Denise Taylor opened the business portion of the meeting at 9:03 p.m. filling in for President Tom Merz who was unable to attend. Denise reported that the BANV treasury contained $2731.80. Alan Fiala moved that the minutes of the previous meeting be accepted as printed in the newsletter. The motion was seconded and carried. Classes on practical beekeeping for beginners will be held starting February 14 and will continue until April 11, 2007. An open house will be held February 10 for people interested in the class. Volunteers are needed to help organize the open house and

BANV Newsletter January 2007

to mentor new beekeepers. Contact class teacher Pat Haskell to volunteer for either of these rolls. Ms. Taylor announced that long-time BANV member Charles W. Cook died on November 25, 2006. Twenty-six people attended the business portion of the meeting and a few more were present during the guest speakers presentation. Our next meeting will be our annual potluck dinner meeting on January 23, 2007. Membership dues and magazine subscription fees are collected at the January meeting so bring food and your checkbook. Respectfully submitted Christopher Reed, Secretary 2 B A BEE 4-H Notes from Brenda Kiessling The Club met on January 6 and discussed wintering bees. Afterwards they checked the club hive, found it alive and well, and supplied it with fondant, a pollen patty, and a grease patty. The Club will hold an open house in March, date TBA, to publicize the club to youngsters to see if they would like to join. Let your friends and neighbors with eligible kids know. For further information, email Brenda at honeyfarmva@yahoo.com. Announcements Dane and Larry may still have a very few packages of bees left available in their bulk order. Call Dane at 703-525-6396. Bob Wellemeyer, state apiary inspector, is available to help analyze dead-outs. Call him for an appointment. W: 540-347-6380, H: 540-937-2175. Hygienic Italian Queens for sale Paul Kent is assembling a group order for queens from Sunberg Apiaries. These are produced from stock developed by Marla Spivak, Umn, and is the only source she recommends. Priced at cost: $14 per queen, $1 additional for marked (optional), plus nominal share of shipping. Specify early, approximately late March, or late, approximately mid-May. Orders must be prepaid. Send check to Paul Kent, 4210 Kincaid Ct, Chantilly, VA 20151.
BANV Newsletter January 2006

Further info: 703-378-5005. Give information how to contact you, as you must pick up the queens at that address upon arrival. The cost is low because of the size of the order. Beginning Classes for 2007 The Practical Beekeeping for Beginners classes in Northern and Northwestern Virginia will begin the second full week in February and end during the second full week in April. For the BANV area, classes are on Wednesdays (first class on February 14th) at Falls Church High School Library, 7-9 p.m. with optional one-hour discussion following. BANV members are encouraged to inform friends, neighbors, and others who are potential beekeepers or just interested in beekeeping to consider attending this years class. Participants must be at least 9 years old. The cost is $75.00 per family, which includes Beekeepers Handbook by Sammataro and Avitable, MAARECs Honey Bee Parasites, Pests and Predators, & Diseases field book, class PowerPoint handouts and one years membership in BANV or a neighboring beekeeping association. Beekeeping equipment and supplies are not included. Participants will have the option to order live bees at additional cost for delivery at the end of the class. For more information and to register contact Pat Haskell at 703-560-3484 or email jim.haskell@verizon.net Dues Are Due! Attached is the form for new or renewal dues and subscriptions. Please turn it in at the meeting or send it to Bennie Liles ASAP. Remember that we only send in subscriptions once a year, in March. If you belong to more than one association, pay state dues only through one. VSBA Summer Meeting April 27-28 The next meeting of the Virginia State Beekeepers Association will be hosted by the Richmond Beekeepers Association at the Sandston Recreation Center, Sandston. This is near the Richmond airport. Confirmed speakers are Jerry Hayes of Florida, and Phil Kraft of Kentucky. Were hoping also to have Jim Tew of Ohio, but that is not yet confirmed. The meeting opens Friday noon, runs through the evening and all day Saturday.
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VSBA Winter Meeting, Nov. 4, 2006 Blue Ridge CC, Weyers Cave Kathy Miller, Secretary VSBA The VSBA Fall Meeting was held on November 4, 2006 at Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Virginia. The Shenandoah Valley Beekeeping Association (SVBA) was the host again this year. There were 145 in attendance, exceeding the largest previous attendance in memory by 10%. Speakers included Dewey Caron from the University of Delaware, Marla Spivak from the University of Minnesota, Keith Tignor with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Wyatt Mangum with the University of Mary Washington, Lisa Burley from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and finally Rick Fell, also from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The first lecture of the day was by Dewey Caron, from the University of Delaware on the hot topic of Africanized Honey Bees Do we need to be concerned? Three good resources for finding current knowledge on the AHB are: 1.Stingshield.com web site 2. MAAREC.org 3. USDA Tucson gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov Marla Spivak from the University of Minnesota followed with her talk on Hygienic Behavior and Propolis Collection Provide Colony-level Immunity to Honey Bees. Dewey Caron finished up the morning lectures with talks on Fall Management and an update on EAS 2007 which will be held in Delaware. The afternoon session was opened with another lecture by Marla Spivak entitled Questions and Qualms about Queens. She was followed by the State Apiarists Report by Keith Tignor. His message in a nutshell was that high winter losses are expected with bees this year due to several factors including high mite loads and low food supplies seen this fall as a result of the summer drought. He also covered the four recommendations resulting from the beekeeper survey and study group. Another afternoon talk was from Wyatt Mangum with the University of Mary Washington. He presented his findings detailing a
BANV Newsletter January 2006

remarkable coexistence between varroa and a population of EHB which he maintains in North Carolina. A brief business meeting was conducted, during which we discussed and approved a motion to provide a grant of $1800.00 to Wyatt to cover his travel expenses and miscellaneous materials involved in continuing to collect information on this population of hives in North Carolina. The afternoon lectures were completed with talks from two Virginia Tech presenters: The first was by Lisa Burley on the Effects of Miticides on Queen and Drone Reproductive Physiology. The second was by Rick Fell on Early colony build up and increasing winter survival. The afternoon finished with closing comments by Alan Fiala, and a reminder to mark your calendar for the Spring meeting of VSBA which will happen the last weekend in April in Richmond. Additional information will be on the VSBA website at www.virginiabeekeepers.org. Mis-Adventures in Fall Requeening III by Alan Fiala In the previous part, I thought that 2 of 5 colonies had been successfully requeened, but the overall status was uncertain. On a recent sunny, warm (70+ F) day in January, I inspected each hive down to its center cluster. Each hive had been fed regularly since September, but now only 1 of 5 feeders was completely empty. Each hive had brood, both open and capped, so there were 5 queens there. I only found two of them, and one was unmarked in a hive where I thought the new one had been accepted. Hence, either the workers removed the mark, or it was the old queen or a supersedure. This hive had the least brood and most stores of all, so I suspect a supersedure. All hives had adequate stores of honey, and plenty of stored pollen, plus fresh pollen being brought in. As a precaution, I installed a strip or two of fresh Apistan in each hive (remember I had removed the original too early in October), plus pollen and grease patties and topped the feeders. If the colonies survive to April, Ill replace at least two queens that I think may be old ones that survived the attempt at a coup detat. There may also be a swarming problem, even with young queens.
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