buzzwords SWEETS AND TREATS ALWAYS WELCOME FOR NIBBLING. BEES GO 0N-LINE FREE DOWNLOAD ON NATIVE BEES Upcoming Meeting From the Board Forage

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1 buzzwords October 2017 Upcoming Meeting Tuesday, October 24 th, 7:30 pm at the West Barnstable Community Building on Route 149. Topic: we will walk you through the intricacies of local queen rearing, just how did this all come about and what is needed to produce these virgin beauties! SWEETS AND TREATS ALWAYS WELCOME FOR NIBBLING. From the Board As we ready our hives for the long winter months, many questions arise on how best to feed, when and with what. There are no written rules. And how best to feed can even vary around the Cape. Recalling 25 to 30 years ago, we fed 2:1 sugar syrup laced with an antibiotic for Nosema apis. This was repeated twice and additional syrup was fed if needed. Beyond that, we did not feed all winter. The hives had plenty of stores til March. What has changed? Basically, there is less foraging available with more development. And many of the invasive species of nectar and pollen value have been removed for just a few reasons. It would be sweet if we could winter our hives as Mike Palmer does in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. These hives are fed, wrapped and buried in snow for the winter. Rarely do we conditions like this here on Cape Cod. From spring to fall, we need to be aware of the stores and weight of the hive. Most critical is now here in October. Have you given you hive a heft? Pick it up from the bottom board in the back. Ideally, it should be heavy and Forage BEES GO 0N-LINE /technology /beesgo-online-in-manchester Mike Doyle FREE DOWNLOAD ON NATIVE BEES E_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb pdf

2 a struggle to lift for the ladies. From now until mid October, 2:1 sugar syrup can be fed and given as much as the bees will consume. Beyond mid October, the bees will have little time to cure the syrup for winter storage. Then need to reduce the moisture just as when bringing in nectar. And as the weather dips in temperature, the bees have fewer nice days to leave the hive to expel the extra liquid. Switching to solids, you have a few choices. You can buy blocks DID YOU KNOW? of fondant from the bee supply houses, slice into slabs and place directly on the top bars in the hive. Some folks make a The U.S. Postal Service recently released its Protect Pollinator fondant but the bees will take dry sugar also. The mountain series, which features only the camp method is done with ease. Place a single sheet of European honeybee and the newspaper across the frames making sure there is a 2 space monarch butterfly, says Wilson, around the edges so the bees can crawl up. Then simply pile assistant professor of biology at dry white sugar on the paper and give it a quick mist of water USU s Tooele campus. A social or syrup to clump it. This way, the bees will not carry it out as media commenter observed that using these two species on a foreign matter. Surround this with a 2 shim. These shims can campaign to protect pollinators be easily made from a 1 x 2 x 8 piece of pine from Home is akin to focusing on chickens Depot for $6.50. If you start feeding sugar too early, you might to save birds. It s a pretty good find the bees building burr comb in this space as the sugar is comparison, actually. consumed. (Been there, done that)! This should be removed or it will make it difficult to feed during the winter. As a rule, the inner cover is flipped over to the winter side (flush side up) but dex.cfm?id=57042 if you are using shims for feeding, it really makes no difference which way it is facing as the bees will have plenty of room to move up and over the frames to reach their winter stores if warm enough to break cluster. Dry sugar can be added all winter if needed. Remember, the bees heat only the cluster and not the hive so you can quickly remove the top cover and peek under the inner cover to check the stores and the live cluster. Quickly do not dilly-dally!! And a small paper plate can be used to slip in extra sugar but do NOT mist with water during the winter. There is plenty of condensation in the hive and you will be amazed at how quickly the sugar forms a solid clump. The bees can easily nibble away at this all winter. One other form of carbohydrate feeding is with sugar bricks. These can be made with a 4 pound bag of sugar and just 12 tablespoons of water. Mix into a slurry, let sit for a bit so the sugar can dampen and then pack tightly into plastic sandwich containers. Spraying the container with a vegetable spray helps them to pop out. Let them sit a day or 2 to dry and then tip the container out onto the cover or a flat tray to let them dry into a hard brick. This nice solid brick can now be slipped into the hive on top of the frames near the cluster when needed in January or February. Some articles suggest a teaspoonful of apple cider vinegar and Honey B Healthy this should replace some of the water. The HBH entices the bees to eat and helps with diseases in the gut and supposedly, the vinegar helps the bees break down the sugar for easier consumption. These winter adult bees need carbohydrates and it is advisable to not feed pollen substitutes during the winter. We do not want to encourage brood rearing until late January and February

3 and the amino acids in the pollen are not necessary for these adult bees at this specific time. A recent article mentioned that feeding pollen during the winter might cause a pollen toxicity shortening their lives. Fall feeding and spring feeding is encouraged if little pollen is coming in. Beware of the small hive beetle s appetite for these pollen substitute patties. They can multiple quickly if you have any adults in the hive. Lastly, the question always comes up as whether to leave on a honey shallow for winter stores. That is your decision but it best be chock full of honey wall to wall or the bees as they move up will starve to death. Just a few frames will not be of any help. And keep in mind the queen will probably be up there laying come March which will add another management task come spring. Oh, one last thought or tip. If you plan on treating your hive with the oxalic dribble come CONSIDER JOINING THE November when all the brood has hatched MASSACHUSETTS BEEKEEPING out, it is best that you use cheap paper plates ASSOCIATION to feed the dry sugar. It is imperative to dribble the solution between each and every For more information on the event and frame (seam) and using newspaper will inhibit other statewide happenings, you can this application. Using a paper plate will make download the Massachusetts Beekeepers it easy to remove and scrape any paper Association brochure here. covering the seam where the dribble needs to be applied. If you need a cheap plate or two, ask me at the meeting and I will bring a stack. So, you are tasked in the next month to make sure your hives have food to eat as winter closes in. If you have gotten the hive this far, it is a real crime to have them starve over the winter. Claire Desilets LOOKING TO ASSIST AND LEARN My name is Marc Granato and I am the Vice President of the Mass Maritime Beekeepers Club and I would love if my club members could come and help out with your hives in exchange for hands on learning about beekeeping. Our hives did not survive the winter of 2017, and we have been at a loss as to actual hands on learning when it comes to beekeeping. Send me an if interested, we have weekday availability. marc.granato@maritime.edu 2018 Barnstable New Buzzwords Features Call for submissions! Members that do talks or lectures to groups, could you submit to the newsletter a short narrative about the talk you did. Please include the group that you did your talk to and how it went. Please submit your story to Joe

4 A section of Buy, Sell, Trade- we all have extra equipment laying around, and here is an opportunity to destash that equipment. You can now place an ad in the news letter. The rules are, you write the ad and the contact is directly between the parties, so please include how you would like to be contacted. Mike Smith Beekeepers Ball THANK YOU! Kim Concra, Mary Jane Beach, & the entire committee

5 Barnstable County Beekeepers Calendar The BCBA Calendar debuted to much excitement at the Beekeepers Ball on September 30 th. We nearly doubled the number of contributors, and we more than doubled the number of photographs contributed. There are professional level photographs and cell phone photographs. Every photo showed what we love and find fascinating about beekeeping. I was pleased that we were able to represent all ages of beekeepers and bee friends I would like to thank the BCBA for allowing us to produce the calendar again and everyone that contributed pictures, some of whom had to endure my badgering to hand over the goods. Lisa Sheehy and Catherine Hemmerdinger were essential to getting this thing done and checking my work. Any errors you find would be on me. The photos and beekeeping information contained in this calendar specifically represent beekeeping on Cape Cod and its unique challenges. Certainly, most of the information is pertinent to lower and coastal New England this is truly OUR calendar. While everyone can take time to enjoy the calendar, I have to look forward to the next year, pending club approval of course. I try to keep photographs in the month when it was taken or at least in a reasonable timeframe for the activity it presents. We are heading into the seasons for which there are few submissions. Overwintering and winter work are photos I would very

6 much like to have in the calendar. Treatments, feeding, those lucky days when the girls get to do cleansing flights when there is still snow on the ground are great. I could use some pictures of the bad stuff too, mold, deadouts, hive beetles, wax moth. We ll have the calendar available for purchase at the monthly meetings into the new year. Joe McClure BOOK NOOK If you are looking for holiday ideas, I just found an informative little book by Storey Publications. "100 Plants to Feed the Bees" to help you provide a healthy habitat to help pollinators thrive. Each plant profile includes which pollinators visit the plant, the quality of honey the nectar produces, when it blooms, how best to use it in the landscape and planting tips. The photos are gorgeous! Not all listed will be found in the northeast. Claire Desilets CRANBERRY SUNSET FARM HARVEST DAY We will be having our harvest fundraiser on Sunday, October 29 th from 1-5pm. I would like to invite anyone from the club to sell their honey if they are interested. It will be held rain or shine. Hayride, U-Pick cranberries, spooky walk thru 25 acres of woods, food trucks, beer garden from cape cod beer, and magician at 4pm. Should bee fun! Leslie Ballotti, leslieballotti@hotmail.com Check out our club s Facebook page Bees Are Honored In Utah Late September and early October finds Utah's roadsides and vast landscape filled with the gorgeous yellow color of the Rabbitbrush. Bees visit the Rabbitbrush for nectar and pollen. The bee and flower photo was taken on a day with brilliant sunshine, October 1, 2017, at an elevation of 6000 ft. The temperature was 54 degrees F with winds cranking at about 30 mph. The bees were busy hanging on to this flower that was bent over by the strong mountain breeze.

7 In 1959, Utah designated the beehive as the official state emblem along with the state motto which is: "Industry". Industry is directly associated with the symbol of the beehive - early Utah pioneers had very few available resources and had to rely on their own "industry" to survive. In addition to the early nineteenth century beehive featured on the state flag and state seal, Utah also recognizes the Beehive Cluster as the official state star cluster, Utah's nickname is The Beehive State, and of course the honeybee is Utah's official state insect. In Kanab, Utah a Main St. gas station has a demo hive located inside by the cash register. A quick inspection revealed the colony was not doing too well. A wax moth was visible n the hive and doing its damage for all to see. The honey for sale at the counter was priced at $9.00 for about 6 ounces. A tiny wax sealed vial of honey could be purchased for $.99 cents. Business did not appear to be brisk. Utah is a big land with a big sky and lots of big rocks. Mark Simonitsch FALL EVICTION Do not panic if you find a patch of dead bees beneath the hive opening or some white pupa on the entrance stoop. This is the natural eviction of the drone. The workers are starving these poor ole boys and knocking them over the edge. Then they are not allowed back in the door. You might even find where the workers have opened the capped drone cells and dragged out the yet to hatch pupa. Just today, the drone sink in one hive had those capped bullet shaped cells chewed open and now empty. Sad time of the year but all part of the cycle of the hive. Claire Desilets RECIPES FOR THE COLD AND FLU SEASON My husband has already come down with the flu after his doctor told him to wait a month or two before getting the shot. As many of you know I make my own cosmetics to avoid all the hidden ingredients. To make the following recipes of cough syrup, you need to make sure that your essential oils are 100% pure therapeutic grade and ingestible quality (marked on the bottle). I know several of you have doterra oils which qualify for this. I could make some up for the December Christmas Party meeting. Just contact me.

8 COUGH SYRUP (1) ½ C raw honey (4 oz) You can divide this in half easily or make even less. 8 drops each of On Guard, lemon, lavender, frankincense, peppermint (to help with breathing) You can alter any of these combinations. I started my husband with On Guard and Lemon and rubbed On Guard on the bottom of his feet which penetrate to the body quickly there. Cough Syrup (2) Serves: 1 INGREDIENTS: 1 drop of lemon essential oil, 1 drop of frankincense essential oil, 1 drop peppermint essential oil, 1 drop lavender essential oil, 2-3 spoonfuls of honey Small glass dish DIRECTIONS: 1. Add the oils to honey together. Hold about 1/2 tsp in your mouth as long as you can before swallowing. COUGH BLEND (3) 40 drops Respiratory Blend 25 drops Eucalyptus 20 drops Frankincense Fill remainder of roller bottle with Fractionated Coconut Oil or Olive Oil Roll onto chest and/or back. Can also apply to the tops of feet at the bridge of the toes (lung reflexology point). Great for kids since it is already diluted! Marte Ayers

9 RESOURCES (accurate as of 1/17) The following officers and directors are a great resource to answer questions and requests for assistance. Officers President Michael D. Smith michaeldgetsmail@gmail.com Vice President Kayleigh Cronin kcrone@gmail.com Corresponding Secretary Claire Desilets beekeepr@gmail.com Recording Secretary Deborah Carmel deborahcarmel429@gmail.com Treasurer Lynn Heslinga lynneheslinga@gmail.com Directors Marthe Ayers mfoura32@aol.com Mary Anne Mann hummann@outlook.com John Beach john.a.beach@comcast.net Joe McClure joegetsmail@gmail.com Maria Cashdollar winter64@aol.com Andy Morris andymorris02553@gmail.com Todd Cashdollar thruheavenseyez@aol.com Brian O'Donnell bjmdod98@gmail.com Melissa Caughey pcmc2000@msn.com Steven Pelletier steven@pelletiernet.com Kathy Clobridge clobridge@comcast.net Melissa Sanderson melissa.a.sanderson@gmail.com Kimberly Concra klconcra@msn.com Lisa Sheehy lisasheehy@msn.com Peter B Cooper brpbc1@gmail.com Mark Simonitsch fishweirs@capecod.net Mary Johnson mrj9922@msn.com Miguel Zamora zamorasmiguel@gmail.com Paul Lefebvre lefbvr@gmail.com