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.