Bee Removal

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Lyne called me to let me know about a bee removal from a lady's house. I called and made arrangements to take a look. After work I headed out to the Fletcher area and found a very nice and athletic looking lady, named Christie, had a bee problem. Christie was prepared with a long extension ladder, screw drivers, and a couple of step ladders that I needed since I came straight from work and had none of these things.

Christie assisted me in deciding exactly where the bees were located. I saw an interest in her eyes so I took time to educate her about bees as I looked. At first I thought the bees may be in the eve of the house. Removal of a vent and a quick look inside showed that to not be the case. I could not hear bees in the wall and went inside to again hear no bees. A look at the entrance hole made it appear the bees went straight back into the house from the vent just below the eve. This vent was to small to see much, and I decided to go inside and take a look in the attic. As I went up into the attic, I noticed this house had once had a flat roof then later a pitched roof had been added. I knew then where that little vent hole went. It was to vent the space between the ceiling and the flat roof. A quick look around in the attic showed this to be where the bees had to be.

I told Christie that I could remove those bees, but really did not have the time. I also told her they would have to be removed from inside the house. I really needed a bee vacuum to do the job and I would have to borrow one. I told Christie if she was game for removing the sheet rock in the area where the bees were, I would leave her a bee suit and veil I happened to have in the car. She said her and a friend would expose the bees and I could come take them out. I agreed if she would do that and repair the damage I would not charge her for removal.

I must admit, I was quit taken by the spunk this lady has. She seems to be a take charge person that is not afraid of a little adventure. I talked to her a little about bees and some things I am doing with bees and gave her my card. I told her to call me when she got the bees exposed and I would come over and get them out. I also told her once they were exposed she may need to close off that room until I could get them.

I went on vacation for a week, and got a call from Christie that the bees were exposed. She and a friend had cut out a section of sheet rock and some bees came down on them. They closed off the room and called me. I told her I could not get to it for a few days and she was quite alright with that. On Memorial Day, I called Christie and she was fine with me doing the removal. She asked when I would want to do it and I told her when I could be there. She said that will work out perfectly.

I called my friend Darrell to borrow his bee vacuum and he said, "no problem, can you mark a queen for me while you are here"? I said, "no problem". I marked Darrell's queen and loaded his bee vacuum, which by the way is an excellent prototype he should have patented, and headed off to Christies.

I got to Christies and she came to the door in her NC Highway Patrol uniform. I had timed it just perfectly with the end of her shift and we quickly headed to the bee room. I had to cut a little more sheet rock out to be able to work, and Christie hauled in step ladders, a flashlight a pry bar and a much needed bottle of water. Things quickly got hot and I made mention of how warm I was getting and next thing I knew I had a fan blowing on me. I love working for people like that. Christie was a "trooper" for sure, because she stayed and assisted me with the whole thing. She put on the bee veil I had provided and helped to vacuum up bees and even got a bowl to salvage a little Locust honey. YUM! Christie was surprised at how tasty the honey was and I had my share too! I left her a bowl of Locust honey comb and she stuck a sock in the vent hole as I vacuumed up all the remaining bees after the comb had been cut out. I told Christie it was ready to seal up and rounded up my tools and the brood comb I had carefully placed in a bucket.

I talked to Christie a moment before I left and told her how impressed I was at the way she jumped right in to work in the bees. What else could I expect from one of NCSHP's finest? I then told her she needed to become a beekeeper! She has an interest and I expect I will see her at our next bee school. She seemed interested in my fainting goats and declared she was coming out to see them. I love to meet new friends and it seems my bee keeping activities always allow that. Christie is a great gal and I hope she does not get too discouraged cleaning up all that mess I left. I suspect, before too long, the hole in the ceiling will be repaired good as new.

I got home with the bees and banded the comb into a shallow super. It was the best size for the comb and it actually fit perfectly. I dumped the bees into the super of brood comb and almost immediately smelled the welcome home scent of the nasonov pheromone's lemony smell being fanned about. They are attaching that comb as we speak. And best of all, Darrell's bee vacuum did not kill a single bee that I could find.

A good day indeed! Now, I just hope to not meet Christie on her home turf patrolling the interstate. At least I am careful about the speed as I go to work, so hopefully our next meeting will be to laugh at the fainting goats as they fall over when startled.

Fire Season

It has already started! Fire season in the forests varies from each area of the country. Areas of the west are already burning as I write. When I was a park ranger, I was on the inter agency fire fighting team and we flew all over the country fighting forest fires. My favorite ones were in the west. I loved the west and enjoyed getting to see new areas of this beautiful country at government expense. Of course, I was working long hard hours and that beautiful country was on fire! Really though, MOST fire areas were hardly noticed the next season. In fact, fighting fires actually caused the next fire to be even worse! I got paid to fight them, but I knew that it was really futile and that small regular fires were actually a good thing. The small regular fires burned out the duff and kept the forest healthy. In fact, some trees could only produce seedlings after a fire. I saw many fires burn around the trees and do no harm to them. The next spring the forest would be even more alive with fresh green growth and you had to look very carefully to see where the fire had been. When we fight fires, we allow the fuel to build up and when a fire does come, it is fierce and burns everything, even the big trees. It actually sterilizes the soil and new growth takes many years to occur. I saw this latter type in Yellowstone. I fought those fires in 1987 and to be honest I doubt there would have been much difference, aside from a couple of buildings we saved, had we just let nature take its course. Fuel buildup over the years caused conditions to be so volatile that we could do little aside from saving our own skin. I went back to Yellowstone in 1993 and some of those areas that had such high fuel content were still completely dead. Other areas where there was not so much fuel were more alive than ever and the fire actually helped. Of course, I did get to visit the historic Old Faithful Lodge and it would have been gone had we not been there to fight the fire. I do miss the adventure of fighting those fires, but feel that whole policy needs to be looked at closely.

Perspective

I am amazed at how beautiful and full the Tulip Poplar bloom is this year. Funny thing is, most people NEVER notice it. The blooms are large and showy, but usually are high up in a large tree and sort of camoflaged due to all the large leaves around them. They face up and we usually see the bloom only from the bottom. A Tulip Poplar does not start blooming until it is about 25 years old, so the small trees may give the impression these trees do not bloom. Quite unassuming for a tree that is the major source of nectar in Western North Carolina for honeybees.

I guess I always noticed the Tulip Poplar because we had one in the back yard when I was a kid. I used to climb that tree, when I could sneak and do it, but dad warned me against it because it will lose its branches suddenly and without warning sometimes. Not a good tree for the back yard. Because I was always around the tree it seemed I was always noticing the blooms. From my perspective, it seemed the tree was always blooming and I must have seen it bloom a hundred times when I was a child. Funny thing is the tree only blooms once per year, unless a freeze kills the blooms like last year, and since I was born in September and the tree blooms in May, I have only seen 50 total blooms in my lifetime. I guess the bloom seemed continuous because it blooms for a month and that is a long time for a child.

Spring brings something else besides the Tulip Poplar bloom. Fishing starts getting good for bass, catfish, crappie and blue gill about the time the Tulip Poplar blooms. I remember the Tulip Poplar bloom always signaled me it was time to go fishing again. We had two ponds on the 85 acres of farmland I grew up on. One is about 3/4 of an acre and the other is about 3 acres. I loved going fishing in those ponds and would always beg my dad to take me when I was small. I enjoyed that greatly, but he was busy and it seems he could not take time to do that as often as I wanted. Still, it seems like that is one of my fondest memories of childhood. As I look back, I can only remember going fishing in the pond with him less than 5 times,by the time I was 10 I just went on my own, but from a childs perspective it seemed like we went every day. Dad was good at showing us something once and after that we just did it ourself. I guess when I put things into perspective, because dad showed us the first time, everytime after that seemed as if it were with dad because of association. We always talked about the experience with dad when we got back even if he did not go.

As a child, I did not fully appreciate the blessing of having access to the ponds and was always asking dad to take me fishing at Enka Lake. That was my favorite thing to do as a small child, going fishing at Enka Lake with my dad, but as I look back, I can only recall us doing it once. Funny thing perspective. Quality always trumps quantity and what seems is not always what is.

Enjoying A Homemade Sandwich

A truly great sandwich needs truly great ingredients. Fresh bread of your favorite type is a must for a great sandwich. A main ingredient that is one of your favorite foods is the next thing that is required for the sandwich to be great for you. What ever your favorite condiment is, liberal amounts but not too much make for a great sandwich. Secondary items can be added and subtracted as your mood, or availability allow. To really enjoy a great sandwich, you need to be alone. A great sandwich may taste great, but rarely is it fun to watch someone eat a juicy sandwich chock full of often colorful and runny ingredients. Don't forget the napkins, because you will need them if the sandwich is anything like I have in mind. Wet napkins, or access to a sink to wash up is a real plus if it can be arranged. To be honest, I often eat my juicy sandwiches right over the sink and just wash up when I am done. I have to plan this sink feast to coincide with the rest of my family being out of the room for a few minutes, or they will be yelling at my manners.

One of my all time favorite sandwiches is the banana sandwich my grand mother used to make for me. It is best with very fresh white bread, liberal amounts of fresh cold mayonnaise on both slices, liberal amounts of cane sugar spread over the mayonnaise, a fresh banana, that has just lost the green and is still firm without the spots, should be sliced lengthwise and placed on one slice of bread. The other slice should be placed on top and the delight to your taste buds is unimaginable. This sandwich is best if washed down with a tall glass of very cold milk or chocolate milk.

I love summer because that is when I get to enjoy one of my other favorite sandwiches. Fresh homegrown and vine ripened tomatoes are a must for this sandwich to be best. Two slices of fresh white bread are needed first. Take the bread and liberally spread fresh cold mayonnaise on both slices. Cross slice several slices of tomato onto one slice and put the top on. This is one of those country delights that needs to be eaten over the sink if possible. You will need to clean up after wards for sure. I sometimes lightly toast the bread first and if you like, you can substitute ranch dressing or your favorite salad dressing for the mayonnaise. If I am really hungry, I will add a slice of melted cheese or even some ham. To be honest, the tomato is the main ingredient even with ham involved. I have tried cucumbers on this sandwich also and it is very good too. When fresh tomatoes are not available, I have substituted cucumbers for tomatoes. Cucumbers are good and will do, but tomatoes are something that I can actually think of and almost drool over the thoughts.

Summertime is a great time to cook out, and hamburgers are one of my favorite sandwiches. A truly great hamburger needs a thick juicy burger cooked well until no pink is left. The bun should be fresh with sesame seeds and plenty of mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup on it. A crisp fresh piece of lettuce adds a nice touch, but the crowning touch of a great summer cookout hamburger is the fresh home grown vine ripened tomato. It adds that wonderful touch to the hamburger that I enjoy in a plain tomato sandwich. Here again, don't forget the napkins and try to get off by yourself to enjoy this juicy delight.

What ever your favorite sandwich is, don't be afraid to experiment a bit with other ingredients that you also like. You will find that you will come up with new favorites and the variety will only add to your sandwich dining enjoyment. I have to go now, I need to make a nice banana sandwich and pour a tall glass of milk.

Celebrity Morph by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Pedigree - Family history research

Spring Bloom In High Gear

The spring bloom is in high gear at Sourwood Knoll. Our spring honey, which is mostly Tulip Poplar, has a unique blend of Blackberry and Locust nectar mixed in. This year appears to be a bumper crop for each of these. I actually have more customers that want my Tulip Poplar than the Sourwood. It is a well kept secret that many beekeepers enjoy the Tulip Poplar bend with other wildflowers that bloom at the same time. This mixture can vary according to the local flora. Sourwood Knoll has a unique blend of spring flora. If you have never tried it, you should give it a try.

A walk around the Knoll found the Blueberries are loaded and so are the grapes. Looks like a great year for sure. Lots of other plants have a beautiful bloom also after the poor sping we had last year. Just keep your fingers crossed that the weather will continue to cooperate for both the Tulip Poplar and the Sourwood, which comes in July. Contact me if you are interested in trying the tasty delights my apiary produces!

Earthfare and Beekeeping

Earthfare is a great partner for the Buncombe County Beekeepers! They ask us to do a community day where we greet people and tell them about honeybees and beekeeping. It seems Earthfare puts their money where their mouth is! They partner with us to sponser 2 scholarship hives to beginning beekeepers and give us financial assistance by donating 10 cents for every recycled or reusable bag customers use in a particular month. In the two Asheville stores, people use a lot of recycled or personally owned bags in a month and this is a large figure of monetary assistance. This is valuable assistance that helps Buncombe County put on the best bee school anywhere in the country. I appreciate what they do and gladly went today to talk to people about bees. I took an observation hive and my beekeeping tools. President Janet Shisler brought our new display unit, that Deb Roberts and the honeybee project so generously donated to our club, as well as some of her great smelling wax and a solar wax melter where I melted some of my wax as a demonstration. It was a good day and lots of interest in bees and beekeeping. Asheville is a hotbed for beekeeping in the United States and with all the great honey plants and wonderful honey we produce, it is no wonder. It was a good day indeed.

Pups and Play

I have a Boxer who is still very much a pup and a Jack Russell Terrier that is also young enough to be pupish in nature. Both are a bundle of energy and love to play. I laughed yesterday evening as they played "soccer" with Sierra, Mackenzie and my brother Paul's Doberman. They would run around heading the ball and changing directions. Bismarck, the Doberman, would occasionally break the rules of "soccer" by mouthing the ball and running with it. This irked Tucker, the Jack Russell, to the point he would jump on Bismarck and tear into him chewing and growling. Bismarck would drop the ball like "whut?" They played until an aggressive run with the ball knocked it into the pond and everyone just stood there as if to say, "now look what you have done, now what"? They all wanted the ball, but were not about to go in after it. Dobermans do not swim well. In a few minutes Bryleigh, the boxer and only female, started daring to go in. She had never been swimming before, but really wanted the ball. In a moment, she was in over her head and swimming out to the ball. She headed it back to the shore as she paddled like an Olympic swimmer. In a short time, the ball was back and it was game on again! I love a good laugh at the simple pleasures of life. The girls only caught one fish then soccer broke out.
Cal

Jack of All Trades

I do lots of things, not sure I do that many well, but I learned from my dad that we can surprise our self if we just give things a try. My dad could truly do almost anything. I catch myself falling into that slot a lot. I will try most anything and I usually can get a pretty fair job done on most things I try.

I have this friend at work that knows I do lots of things. One day he was asking me about a tile project he had priced for his basement. He asked me if I thought the price was fair and I said it was. ...Then I said but we can do it for less than half that price. He sort of looked at me and said you can do tile? I said it is not that hard. I did my dining room a couple of years ago and it worked out great. He asked me to look at it and give him a price. I did and told him a very fair price if he would help me. We did it over the course of a half day Saturday and 4 evenings after work. We had a total of about 10 hours in the project and it turned out great. I created a monster! Now Alfredo has started doing projects and asks me to do all kinds of things he can not do.

Alfredo recently asked me to make a flag frame for a special larger sized flag his wife has and wanted it for Mother's Day. I got it done tonight and it turned out OK, but I wish I had more time to do a better job. But, Hey! I am not a flag frame maker. It is solid oak and it was cut on this property milled by me and my father and dried in a pile here too. I planed and sawed it and if I do say so myself, it turned out OK. If you think you can do something you probably can and if you think you can not, you are defeated before you start.

Writing at Helium

Believe it or not, I have become a writer! I have always enjoyed communicating stories and found myself actually telling stories to people every chance I got. I always thought about writing, but was sort of shy about it because I struggle with the mechanics of writing. In College, I had to write in freshman English class. I found I loved the opportunity to express my creative side in telling a story, but I really struggled with the mechanics. My English teacher LOVED my writing and would always choose my stories to read to the class, BUT she would give me a split grade. I would get an A for creativity and content but an F for punctuation, grammar and spelling.

My teacher ended up giving me a D in freshman English, but I was required to make at least a C in that class to fill the requirement. I ended up having to take the class again the next semester. Same teacher new semester and this time she pulled me aside and said if you want to pass this class, I will help you any way I can to pull up the weak parts of your writing. She told me I had the creative parts mastered and that was really the hard part that could not be taught. She recognized I could not grasp some concepts of writing easily because I learn differently than most people. She broke down some basic sentences and showed me how to apply those in the correct situations. I took those few basic types of sentences and transformed my writing to the point I could get a C in the class and move on.

From time to time after that I would write certain things like sermons, experiences, funny stories, or wisdom I had gained and have someone else edit for me. I was always happy to share my thoughts but bothered by the fact the editing process sort of took away my ownership of the piece. When I got involved in beekeeping, I started writing my experiences and found my passion for beekeeping melded with my passion for sharing my more profound thoughts and experiences. I began writing on a yahoo list and people began responding with encouragement and the feedback was very positive. A few valued friends encouraged me to write more and to continue to pursue my writing because they really enjoyed reading what I wrote. It was flattering and encouraging, but my weak side kept reminding me of my weakness in writing mechanics.

Quite by accident, while snooping around on the Internet, I found a place called Helium. Helium is a writers workshop and I decided to write a piece on beekeeping. That piece rated very well against other articles on that topic. Before long, I was reading other writer's work as part of the requirement that I also rate articles. I saw some great writing and some terrible work that made me realize mine is not so bad after all. Feedback I received helped me to begin real improvement in my writing and before long I had written over 100 pieces. The neat part is your articles are actually found when people do Google searches and the more your article is read the more you are rewarded in payment. Yes, Helium actually pays you for your work based on a formula including how high your article is rated, how frequently the topic is searched, and how often your article is read. There are some alternate ways to get paid more for individual piece if it is selected for special publication. Don't get me wrong, I am not getting rich here, but I am earning a little payment while having an avenue of expression and means to improve my writing skills and confidence.

I was proud that Dr. Tarpy at NCSU had actually read one of my Helium articles, after doing a Google search on a topic, and he gave me some unexpected positive feedback. I later found that search he did brought my article up number one in the search and explained why I made more money for awhile after that article was written. I thank the people that encouraged me to expand my writing experience and encourage you to check out helium. Just contact me and I will be glad to send you an invitation link so you can begin to enjoy the experience with me.

Next, I plan on pursuing my interest in the verbal part of story telling while I continue to write a book of my life experiences and philosophies for my children so they will know who I really am and why I am that person. Helium has some of those pieces of the book while I continue to write.

Busy Day

I finally got caught up on my mowing after receiving the latest replacement part for my mower. I hope that is it for awhile in mower repairs. One little snafu though. I was marking a queen that I had raised a couple days ago and after catching her I realized I could not get the cap off my paint pen while holding her. I took my free hand and unzipped my veil sliding it over my head with one hand. I put the marker pen cap between my teeth and pulled it out. This movement near my face must have got the attention of a guard bee that flew straight out and stung me just under my left eyebrow and above my eye lid. I thought I got the stinger out, but could not tell for sure. I continued marking and releasing the queen then finished in the beeyard About 45 minutes later I discovered I had NOT gotten the stinger and it swelled pretty good.

Today I was mowing in front of the ESSO Bee hive (explanation of the ESSO Bees on another blog) and one stung me in the corner fold of my right eye. Same thing happened in that I thought I got the stinger but did not. I found out about an hour later the stinger was still in and it is also swelling pretty good. I usually do not swell at all and within a few minutes can not tell I have even been stung. Obviously the eye is a place that operates under different rules.

I found another queen that I had raised in one of my hives today. She is possibly the biggest queen I have ever seen and laying the most beautiful brood pattern too. I have some photos of before I marked her and after. Since I only have two hands at the present, I could not photograph the actual marking. It is easy to do and though she could sting if she wanted to, she does not even try to do so. You may notice the thumb that is healing up nicely 6 months after smashing it with a hammer. I hit it with a hammer on the edge yesterday. Not very hard, but hard enough to make me think of either passing out or saying something very not so nice! LOL Enjoy

BTW, I added a photo the the previous blog on the colony I removed from the tree. You can see the rubber bands are mostly in place, but they have attached all the comb nicely.
Cal

Bees Bees Bees

This season has been a very active one for swarms. I told a lot of people they NEEDED to split their colonies or they would swarm. Most of them have called me for advice with swarms and admitted they did not split their hives. Splits are the best way to manage your hive because there is no guarantee you will catch a swarm when it emerges. I have caught three swarms this season, assited with 3 more and given advice on at least 20 not to mention at least that many I had to turn away because I was at work or otherwise could not get to them.

I finished up a little cabinet job I was doing for a lady in Leicester (I got it after assisting her with a bee problem and opened my big mouth about my carpentry experience and she started telling me about all the carpentry work she needed done) about noon and saw I had missed several calls on my cell phone. I returned one to my queen rearing partner, Mike Singleton, and he told me he was out of town and there was a swarm in his bee yard on hwy 110 in Canton. I told him I would go and get it hived and headed back that way. Next I returned a call to North Asheville and a woman told me she had bees in the wall and would like to get them out. I made arrangements to go look and give an estimate for removal and continued to Canton wondering what I would find there.

I arrived to find a swarm about as big around as a volleyball and about 3 feet long. It had weighted down a limb on an apple tree to the ground. It was easy to hive and I was done in minutes. Glad to be able to help Mike and he says we will split it when he gets back in. I wonder if I will get another call today, because I have NOTHING to put them in if I do.

Later in the evening, my sister called me with some interesting news. She had been to South Carolina and on the way back up I-26 back into North Carolina, she saw an abundance of Locust blooms hanging in clusters like grapes. She was excited to tell me, because we all LOVE Locust honey when we can get it. Maybe this will be one of those years when we get some. I also noticed today that the Tulip Poplar in my area is not far off from the start of the bloom. HONEY SEASON is almost here again!

Cal

Honeybees and Rubber Bands

Last Friday I cut a colony of honeybees from a bee tree in Fletcher NC. After cutting the comb from the hollow tree, I banded the sections into frames using rubber bands and placed the frames in a hive box. This hive box was left in place for the straggler bees to find and re-establish the colony. I figured one week would give the bees time to start fastening the comb back together so it would not get out of place in moving the colony to Candler.

When I arrived to take possession of the colony, the homeowners came out to greet and we had a great time talking about bees. Like lots of people now days, they have a curiosity about bees and concern for there well being. I enjoyed telling them about the amazing things I have seen in bee colonies as well as what was going on with this colony. They asked about how I managed to get the colony out of the tree and other great questions. We built up a rapport and I am not sure which of us enjoyed the conversation the most. Of course, if I am talking about bees, I am having a great time. I really enjoy discussing theories I have and experimental interests as well as success I have had with non-chemical beekeeping.

I chuckled when I went around to the front of the hive and found three rubber bands that had been chewed on, cut and removed to the ground in front of the hive. The homeowners seemed very surprised they had already removed some of the bands, which means the comb is well on its way to being reattached. Like my good friend Edd Buchanan always says, "I would love to know what that bee that makes the final cut on a rubber band thinks when it lets go".

Well, I now have my fourteenth colony in place and am looking at making some nuc boxes from some of the stronger hives. I am at the point, I need some more equipment or I am not going to be able to super all those hives for the Tulip Poplar flow that is about to take off. If you know where some good used equipment is, a heads up on the information would be greatly appreciated.

Cal

CCD The Disappearing Disease

In early February, 2007 a group of North Carolina honeybee experts met at "Cloud Nine", ( www.cloud9relaxation.com ) in the Fairview area of Fletcher, for dinner. This was an informal get together prior to a weekend advanced beekeeping class. Very quickly, the after dinner conversation turned into a discussion on the "new" affliction facing honeybees in the United States. This is the first some of us had heard of what we now commonly call Colony Collapse Disorder or CCD, but within weeks it would be in all the media. It is called CCD as a way to describe the condition we do not yet understand. I sat in bewilderment as story after story came from our state bee inspector's mouth. He told us what was known about the symptoms and how we have no knowledge of the cause. I quickly checked what he was saying against observations I had made in my own hives and felt some relief that I had not experienced this in my apiary. However, I listened carefully wondering if I may soon see it also.


The bees seem to be disappearing from the hive or leaving a very small cluster of bees on a few frames. There are no or very few dead bees in the hive. Capped brood is left behind with no nurse bees to care for them. Food sources of honey and pollen are present, but after the bees in the hive disappear, other bees do not immediately rob out the stores as expected. Even pests such as wax moths and small hive beetles do not come in and set up shop as expected. It continued to Chuck Norton, who writes for American Bee Journal, who gave the facts that are known about the disorder at that time. We all asked the obvious questions trying to come to a quick answer about the causes and none were found. We did however come up with many theories, possibilities and items that need research even in this small group. Nationally that trend is continuing but researchers and funding are at a premium as such a huge field of information needs to be researched.

Then we heard from some local Western North Carolina commercial beekeepers that had seen CCD or some similar variance in their hives. I listened in horror as some commercial beekeepers told about their experiences and those of their peers this past winter. I heard figures like 40%, 50%, 60% and even 80% losses in their commercial apiaries. What would this mean for the upcoming apple pollination contracts they held? What about strawberries and blueberries? I got choked up when a very respected commercial beekeeper sat back with a look of hopelessness and slowly said, "My bees are dying. They are dying and I don't know what to do."
Then when I addressed another beekeeper as a commercial beekeeper and asked what hobbyist and smaller beekeepers could do to help commercial beekeepers like him, he replied, "I am no longer a commercial beekeeper. I am now a hobbyist beekeeper. I don't have enough hives left to be considered a commercial beekeeper." I was really getting down when a case example was discussed about a commercial beekeeper in Pennsylvania whose hive numbers went from 2000 last fall to less than 700 in February. (I later learned he only had 7 survive the winter.) Edd Buchanan, master beekeeper and member of the CCD task force in NC, mentioned he remembered a similar but smaller die off of bees in the 1950's. He also mentioned that records show something like this happened in the 1800's too. Is this cyclical? If so, the cycle seems to be getting shorter.

My suggestions for ways small beekeepers can help the situation is to NOT give up. We need the honeybees! Hobbyist and small beekeepers can afford to experiment, and try things that commercial beekeepers whose livelihood depend on the bees can not. I am personally selecting queens from my best survivor stock and propagating those in an effort to bring better genetics into the equation. I also am looking for surviving bees in the wild to save their genetics before we loose something we did not even know we had. The feral or (wild) bee populations have almost vanished. Any that are left may hold some answers we need to conquer this issue using genetics of resistant bees. Everyone needs to take notes on their bees and make observations so that can potentially be passed on to researchers. I recommend if you are interested in bees, take a beekeeping course and get involved by keeping a few hives. Several of us in the Buncombe County Chapter are participating in a co-operative breeding program. Local queen breeder Mike Singleton and commercial beekeeper Greg Rogers are helping us by putting on small seminars to teach us how to be successful with our breeding programs. All beekeeping organizations must get involved to do their part in the effort to find needed answers to this perplexing problem.

As for answers to our questions, we still have few even months later. As for questions, those keep adding up by the hour. Though the beekeeping community is down, the one thing I did not hear from the Buncombe County group was quit. I know this will undoubtedly put some commercial beekeepers over the edge financially though. As for the NC apple crop, the Easter weekend freeze sort of made pollination of that crop a moot point. Likewise for blueberries and strawberries as well as SC peaches. Now, even the honey crop our bees depend on is threatened. The major producer of nectar,which bees collect to make honey, in NC is Tulip Poplar and it appears this crop is also going to be extremely small or non-existent as a result of the freeze. No honey means feeding our bees to keep them from starving. This can get very expensive very quickly. Fruit producers are not the only ones who will have to raise prices to try and make ends meet.

Though lots of theories of causes for CCD were raised at the meeting at "Cloud Nine", even more have been raised since. The theme seems to include causes such as pesticides, genetic modifications of crops, parasites, more severe forms of our bee diseases. Even theories of Cell Phones as the cause have been put out there,though that one has been debunked. The main thing is to not rush to judgment on any of these until we have the proof. We do need to get the proof as quickly as possible and try to set the beekeeping industry right before it totally goes under. Albert Einstein once said if we loose the honeybee, mankind would have only 4 years left. That point has been debated, but it sure would make for a very different life for mankind. Could the honeybee be the proverbial Canary in the coal mine? If so, this issue may be more urgent and complex than we even know.

I have also noticed that much attention has been paid to fruit and crop growers in regards to disaster assistance. This is very much needed as the agriculture structure we depend on in America to put food on the table is much more fragile than most people realize. I also believe some sort of relief needs to be offered our commercial beekeepers should they need it, as we can ill afford to loose anymore beekeepers. In fact, we desperately need to encourage young beekeepers to get involved in this profession as our ranks are aging fast. A program to support and develop new young beekeepers is needed. The Buncombe County Chapter has taken a first step in this regard by offering a hive of bees each year to a promising young beekeeper. This is called the Edd Buchanan Scholarship hive and the first one was given at the end of out annual free bee school in January. Other beekeepers, or potential beekeepers who are interested, can sign up for next year's course and you could win one of our scholarship hives. (we gave out 12 this year thanks to corporate sponsors generous donations). You also do not have to be a beekeeper to be a member and participant in the Buncombe County Beekeepers Chapter or a beekeeping organization in your area. Membership dues are reasonable and much is done to promote and protect beekeeping in Buncombe County and beyond.

Please do your part and support your local honey producers when you buy your honey products. We are also under siege from foreign imports of honey which have flooded the market and made it difficult to sell our quality product at a profit large enough to make business work. Call and write your legislators, both state and national, to tell them to support research and assistance programs for our honeybee industry. Be bee friendly by thinking before you use pesticides. Honeybees are at our mercy when we use pesticides on crops, yards or even trees in our yard. Educate yourself then educate others about this very important insect. Visit the Buncombe County Beekeepers web site to learn more about bees. (www.wncbees.org) Donations to assist in funding our free bee school as well as scholarship hives are welcome. Scholarship hive sponsors and bee school sponsors do get mention at our school, in our newsletter and on our web site. Even a small part you play may make a difference as we appears our task may not be as easy as looking for a needle in a haystack, we may be looking for a microbe in an ocean.