Table of Contents. 1. 'Honey Laundering' an International Scandal, Experts Say 2. Bees enjoy a good cup of Java 3. The Killer Mite we call Varroa

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1 Table of Contents News 1. Buzz From The Prez 2. Earth Day Event 3. Alabama Beekeeping Association Picnic 4. Bee Buzz / Classifieds Articles 1. 'Honey Laundering' an International Scandal, Experts Say 2. Bees enjoy a good cup of Java 3. The Killer Mite we call Varroa March Minutes Important Notices 1) Word-Of-Mouth Grows Us All. Please Pay It Forward Share the Buzzword! Please spread the word... Tell your friends and family, colleagues at work, about Beekeeping. The Buzzword grows purely by word-of-mouth, allowing us to "grow as a family", to attract people just like you, and to OVERdeliver value and your success as a

2 Beekeeper. 2) Madison County Beekeepers Association Meetings The Madison County Beekeepers Association meets on the second Thursday of every odd numbered month (Jan, Mar. May, July etc.) at 6:30 PM. The location is the Huntsville Botanical Garden (shows a map) which is located at 4747 Bob Wallace Avenue in Huntsville Al. 3) Got Honey Bee Buzz? Got ideas? Found an article about Beekeeping? The Buzzword welcomes suggestions, news and articles. It's your help that will make the Buzzword all the Buzz! Send your information to Ricky. Thank You. 4) Like us on Facebook Join our online Beekeeping family at our Facebook page. Like us today. News 1) Buzz from the Prez We have had a very cool, rainy Spring so far this year. As I write this, I can't believe that it is May and the high today was only 64 degrees. However, this has had the advantage of a light swarm season, and the honeybees did take advantage of the early blooms making a good crop of honey so far. Make sure you have plenty of production supers on your hives to prevent overcrowding since the bees can still swarm. We had a wonderful turn out at the Earth Day Festival at Hayes Nature Preserve. Thanks go out to Francis Akridge for organizing our participation in the Event; to Don Corder, Rick Walls, and Scott Akridge for set up; and to Amanda Cambron and Savannah Ogle from Girl Scout Troop for running the children's activities at our booth. I was told by a member of Operation Green Team that MCBA's booth is usually the highlight of the event. We have been invited to come and participate again next year. We were not able to participate in the Folk Life Festival at EarlyWorks due to a lack of volunteers. Hopefully, more beekeepers will be able to find time in their schedule to participate in next year's Folk Life Festival event. Glenn Craiger and Amanda Maples installed the observation hive at the Butterfly House at the Botanical Gardens. They will be installing the nucs

3 in the garden apiary soon. I would like to express appreciation to Glenn, Amanda, Bob Fanning, Don Corder, Will Ary, Ricky Walls, and Marshall Standifer, of the apiary committee for their hard work. The nominating committee was formed at our last meeting, and consist of Bob Fanning, Lionel Evans, Dale Rohe, Roger Owens, and Marshall Standifer. They are diligently evaluating members to put together a slate of qualified candidates for President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and two BOD members. Please make sure your membership dues are current, and if you would like to be considered for an office, please contact one of the nominating committee members. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, May 9th and I look forward to seeing each of you there. Laura Cambron, President Madison County Beekeepers Association 2) Earth Day 2013 This was my first year to participate at the annual Earth Day event at Hays Nature trail. The weather was almost perfect. It was exciting to see how the kids were so involved with either becoming a worker bee or drone. We had several adults very interested in becoming a beekeeper. Frances created a huge hit with the Sour Wood trees. Actually planted two myself. Looking forward to next year. See Pictures here. 3) Alabama Beekeepers Association Picnic The seventh annual Alabama Beekeepers Association picnic is scheduled for May 18 at the Cullman County Fairgrounds in Cullman, AL.,1501 Sportsman Lake Road Northwest, Cullman, AL (Lat , Long W ) Begin at 8:41 AM, eat around noon, over at 5:23 PM. It's a picnic. We have the pavilion reserved for the entire day. The Alabama Beekeepers Association will provide the meat, which will be BBQ this year, as well drinks and paper products. Everyone that comes should bring a large covered dish of your choice of the following; baked beans, potato salad, coleslaw, salad, potato chips,

4 tomatoes, vegetable, or desserts. Call Bonnie Funderburg at or at to coordinate what you wish to bring so we don't have too much on one item. Fred Rossman (Rossman Apiaries) and Earl King (Walter T. Kelley) will be there and other suppliers may also attend. Place your orders with Fred and/or Earl and specify pickup at the ABA picnic in Cullman, May 18. That will save your shipping charges and remember that cypress is pretty much the best wood for beehives and Rossman Apiaries is one of if not the only supplier in this area that sells cypress. Both Fred and Earl have rather large trailers but they are often filled long before the picnic so, get your orders in early to assure delivery of your items. Other suppliers may make the picnic. Please check back here as the picnic date nears to see if other suppliers will be there as well as to catch the latest picnic development. 4) Bee Buzz / Classifieds A Swarm Story SALT LAKE CITY (AP) It was the biggest beehive that that Ogden beekeeper Vic Bachman has ever removed a dozen feet long, packed inside the eaves of a cabin in Ogden Valley. "We figure we got 15 pounds of bees out of there," said Bachman, who said that converts to about 60,000 honeybees. Bachman was called to the A-frame cabin last month in Eden, Utah. Taking apart a panel that hid roof rafters, he had no idea he would find honeycombs packed 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 16 inches deep. The honeybees had been making the enclosed cavity their home since 1996, hardly bothering the homeowners. The cabin was rarely used, but when the owners needed to occupy it while building another home nearby, they decided the beehive wasn't safe for their two children. A few bees had found their way inside the house, and the hive was just outside a window of a children's bedroom. They didn't want to kill the honeybees, a species in decline that does yeoman's work pollinating flowers and crops. So they called Bachman, owner of Deseret Hive Supply, a hobbyist store that can't keep up with demand for honeybees. Bachman used a vacuum cleaner to suck the bees into a cage. "It doesn't hurt them," he said.

5 The job took six hours. At $100 an hour, the bill came to $600. "The bees were expensive," said Paul Bertagnolli, the cabin owner. He was satisfied with the job. Utah calls itself the Beehive state, a symbol of industriousness. Whether this was Utah's largest beehive is unknown, but Bachman said it would rank high. "It's the biggest one I've ever seen," he said. "I've never seen one that big." He used smoke to pacify the bees, but Bachman said honeybees are gentle creatures unlike predatory yellow jackets or hornets, which attack, rip apart and eat honeybees, he said. "They just want to collect nectar and come back to the hive," he said. "Most people never get stung by honeybees it's a yellow jacket." Bachman reassembled the hive in a yard of his North Ogden home, while saving some of the honeycomb for candles and lotions at his store. He left other honeycombs for the cabin owners to chew on. "We caught the queen and were able to keep her," Bachman said. "The hive is in my backyard right now and is doing well." Classifieds We acquired some supplies at an auction last year hive frames, a hood, a smoker, if that s what it s called but alas, I don t think our neighborhood association will allow us to keep bees in our yard. So, we d be interested in selling them to someone who can actually put them to use. Feel free to pass along my address (second.hand@knology.net) to anyone in your group you think might be interested or they can call me at Thanks, Jack Hingel We are looking for Bee Buzz, recipes and Swarm stories. You know that nothing compares to your own experience, so share those delicious honey dishes, that incredible Swarm capture, or just a neat Honey Bee story. Send them to Ricky and we'll get them in the Buzzword.

6 Articles 1) 'Honey Laundering' an International Scandal, Experts Say There might be something funny in your honey. Food-safety experts have found that much of the honey sold in the United States isn't actually honey, but a concoction of corn or rice syrup, malt sweeteners or "jiggery" (cheap, unrefined sugar), plus a small amount of genuine honey, according to Wired UK. Worse, some honey much of which is imported from Asia has been found to contain toxins like lead and other heavy metals, as well as drugs like chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, according to a Department of Justice news release. Read complete article here. 2) Bees enjoy a good cup of Java Honeybees are extraordinary animals, and for years scientists have looked at them for inspiration to develop new technologies from artificial hive mind computers to explosive detectors. Bees have been truly gifted by nature, and we re only starting to unravel the many abilities these fantastic insects possess. Recently, researchers at Newcastle University have found that bees enjoy a good cup of java just like any of us humans, after they found caffeine helps dramatically boost bees memory. This leads to a preferential treatment for plants containing caffeine. Read complete article here. 3) The Killer Mite we call Varroa Honeybees are one of the most crucial members of the ecosystem, pollinating crops and plant cultures all around the world. Various studies conducted in the past couple of years have shown an alarming dwindling of the world bee population, with some locations being hit more aggressively than others. The main factor linked to this bee genocide seems to be pesticides sprayed on crops, whose chemicals are assimilated by the bees, who also spread them to the hive, leading to a devastating chain reaction. Pesticides are not alone, though apparently parasitic mite has helped a virus wipe out billions of honeybees throughout the globe, according to a

7 recently published study in the journal Science. Read complete article here. Need-To-Know Info Are You a Backyard Beekeeper or Beginning Beekeeping? Not sure what's going on in your beehive? What should you be doing right now? Check out MCBA's Beginner's Corner! A vital Bee-source for Alabama Beekeepers. Minutes for March 2013 Meeting Announcements 2013 Beginners Beekeeping Class A Success Observe a package install Volunteers Requested for... Earth Day, Botanical Garden Apiary Association Extractor usage Appointment of Nominating Committee -- Treasury Notes: No Expenditures to Report -- Beginners Corner with Bob Fanning -- Program Harvey Cotten with Botanical Garden discusses Bloom and Nectar schedules

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