FALL FORGET-ME-NOTS Do ether rolls or sugar shakes immediately after harvest to determine level of mite infestation. Repeat one week after treatment to insure mite strips are working. Apply mite strips and terramycin powder after harvest. Combine weak hives and queenless hives with strong hives. In the North, wrap hives if hives are in the wind. Check that the bees have at least one hive body full of honey on which to winter. Feed two gallons of sugar syrup or high fructose corn syrup with Fumidil as late as possible so it gets into the center of the cluster. Install mouse guards or entrance reducers. On wooden hives, place small pebbles on the back corners of the inner cover to elevate the telescope cover and allow moisture to exit. (not necessary on polystyrene hives). Place a stone on top of the hive so cover won't blow off. If you have had trouble wintering your bees in the past, consider changing your cover on your wooden hives to a polystyrene one or consider our polystyrene top feeder both as a feeder and winter insulation for your hive. 2005 BETTERBEE EVENTS AND CLASSES Advanced registration for all workshops is required - even for our free field day. We have to know how many chairs to have on hand. Beginner's Class - April 2 (10am - 2pm) Intensive 4 hour class. Get your adventure in beekeeping off to a great start. Fee: Free to buyers of Betterbee beginner's kit, $10 for all others. Space is limited. Packaged Bee Days at Betterbee - April 16, 23, May 7, 14 (8am - Noon) Please call us before you visit to make sure the bees have arrived. Also, If you place an order for equipment ahead of time, we will have your order picked and ready for you. Free Open House & Field Day - July 16 (free all-day) To celebrate Betterbee's 26th Anniversary, we planning an all-day event with speakers, workshops, and free lunch. Check back for details. The attendees of the workshops below leave with the samples made during the class Candlemaking Workshop - September 17, October 1 (10am - 3 pm) These two classes will be taught by Betterbee's very own Shera Hunt. This is an intensive, hands-on workshop! Fee: $30/person (Limit 20) Lotions and Potions - September 24 (10am - 1pm) Learn how to make lotions, lip balms, and creams. Fee: $20/person (Limit 14) Basic Soapmaking - October 22 (10am - 1pm) For years we have had requests for a workshop like this. This workshop will go over the basic steps of making soap and cover all the safety issues. Fee: $20/person (Limit 12) Milk Based Soaps - November 12 (10am - 1pm) Milk based soaps have come to be considered a “gourmet” product. Learn the tricks of the trade so you to make these luxury items and add them to you sales table. Fee: $20/person (Limit 12) Advanced Soapmaking – January 7, 2006 (10am - 3pm) This workshop goes into the math behind soapmaking. After you leave, you will be able to write your own receipts using a wide range of ingredients. Fee: $30/person (Limit 12) EXCELLENT HONEY HARVEST FORECAST Based on the harvest of our first three bee yards on September 6 and 7, this year promises to be an above average honey production year for us. Justin Frisino and I, using fume boards and Honey Robber, removed 9 pallets of honey or approximately 10,000 lbs of honey. Temperature was in the low 80F range. Consequently, the fumeboards were effective even on deep supers, and therefore, it was not necessary to use our small bee blower very often. This is the first year we have used a small hand-held, and inexpensive blower-vac, rather than a heavy 400cc backpack blower. While not as powerful as the backpack, it seems to be adequate to blow the bees out of shallow and medium supers and it surely is less tiring to use. We made twenty four new harvesting pallets this year. A harvesting pallet is composed of 3/4 inch non-pressure treated plywood with a 1/2 inch lip all the way around it and a two by four base. The harvested honey sits on these pallets until extracted, and any honey that drips from the stack of supers falls on the pallet rather than on the floor and can be saved. Of course, our pallets are made for our skid steer fork lift, but hobbyists can make pallets for single stacks of supers that can be moved with a hand truck. Remember, don't use pressure treated lumber if you intend to recover the honey. Instead, coat your pallets with a food approved urethane coating like our Camcote. We hope to have some single stack pallets for sale in the 2003 catalogue with rot-resistant cedar bases. HONEY PRICES ESCALATE - WHEN WILL IT END? The prices that large producers are currently receiving for their honey has basically doubled since this time last year. Among the many factors contributing to this unprecedented situation are: Domestic crop failures in California and parts of the Midwest because of drought. International crop shortages in Australia and parts of Europe. Condemnation of Chinese imported honey because of adulteration with illegal antibiotics. Tariffs applied on Argentine and Chinese imports because of dumping. Will the resulting higher retail prices diminish honey consumption? Will producers hold out for even higher prices? I have no crystal ball, except that I am certain that more beekeepers will be buying equipment and expanding next year.   BETTERBEE RECEIVES SBIR GRANT FOR MITE RESEARCH Betterbee Inc, has received a $70,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The grant will enable Betterbee to test the mico-encapsulated miticides developed by Environquest Ltd. of Ontario, Canada. The patented technology involves the direct feeding of various micro-encapsulated substances to the honey bees to achieve a systemic result. This micro-encapsulating technology has been used successfully to rid dogs of fleas, but this is the first time researchers have attempted to adapt the technology to insects. The micro- encapsulation process removes odors and tastes from the substances so the bees will consume them in syrup. Dr. Peter Kevan of the University of Guelph in Ontario did the initial research in which he was successful in direct feeding menthol crystals. In the second stage of the research, funded by the grant, several other substances will be checked to discover which ones the bees can safely ingest. The substances chosen for testing will all be ones that have been shown to have some level of negative effect on varroa and tracheal mites. Dr. Roger Downer and Dr. James Tew of Ohio State University are spearheading this phase of the research.   BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE SHOULD GIVE THIS PRODUCT AN AWARD FOR BEST NEW PRODUCT OF 2001-2002” LLOYD SPEAR, PRESIDENT: ROSS ROUNDS INC. NEW TOP FEEDER SERVES DUAL PURPOSE The New Betterbee polystyrene top feeder has proven to be a best seller. Newly designed to fit on all wooden hives, it can also be used on polystyrene hives. 'We decided to make the mold so the feeder would fit the wooden hive so that all wooden telescope covers would fit over the feeder..This makes it small for the Polystyrene hives, but it still works because the inside dimensions are both the same.” says Bob Stevens. The advantages of the top feeder are many: First of all, being one piece, it is leak proof and not subject to expansion like wooden hive top feeders. Secondly, the plexiglass insert is very effective in keeping bees from drowning in the syrup. Thirdly, because it acts as an insulator as well as a feeder, the bees have access to the syrup much later in the year. 'On last December 5th, when the temperature was 10 F., I was surprised to find the hundreds of bees up in the feeder sucking down syrup” says Bob Lloyd Spear who has converted his Round comb honey hives over to these feeders stated:”Bee Culture should give you a product of the year award for developing this feeder. PRICE CUT IN HALF ON POLYSTYRENE NUC BOX By changing material specifications with the molder, Betterbee has been able to cut the price in half for our five frame polystyrene nuc box. The previous nuc boxes were more expensive because they had a hard plastic insert in both the top and the nuc box. As they were originally developed to winter Canadian nucs for over 6 months, the hard inserts were thought to be necessary to prevent the gluing of the top to the body of the nucs. After several years of use,we have found that the inserts were not necessary. What we found to be more important was the addition of ventilation ports on each end of the nuc. These screened ports can be closed in cold weather or opened when the highly insulated box becomes too warm for the bees such as during movement or during an unusual hot period.   MITE MEDICINES - WHAT'S WORKING - WHAT'S COMING A local commercial beekeeper who winters his bees in Florida indicated recently that after three years of using Checkmite , the organo-phosphate pesticide produced by Bayer, he finds it is no longer killing the varroa mites in his hives. He has purchased 2000 Apistan strips this fall and feels he is once again getting an adequate level of mite kill with that chemical. If his assessment is correct, this is very good news because it means that after a period of time, a medication to which the mites were resistant might now be viable again. By alternating medications, we can prolong the effectiveness of a chemical. Hobbyist beekeepers in the North probably will still find Checkmite effective for another year or two. Remember, the migratory beekeepers that go to Florida, in contrast to our bee season up North, experience three bee seasons in one calendar year. There is, consequently, a much greater proclivity for rapid development of pesticide resistance. The only sure way to know if the chemical you are using against the mites is working effectively is by checking the hives with an ether roll or sugar shake a week after application. WHAT'S NEW? A new thymol based miticide for varroa mite control is soon to be registered. It reportedly kills up to 70 % of the mites if climatic conditions are optimum. A new packaging is under development for Apicure, the formic acid gel product. Reintroduction to the market looks positive for 2003. Research continues on developing mite resistant queens at the USDA's Louisiana Bee Lab.and now at Cornell. University's Dyce Laboratory.   "PLEASANT WORDS ARE AS A HONEYCOMB: SWEET TO THE SOUL AND HEALTH TO THE BONES" PROVERBS 16-24 ON THE NEW BETTERBEE T SHIRT AVAILABLE NOW NEW DRONE FRAMES PROVIDE MITE RELIEF. CalMold of California announces that its new one piece frame with drone foundation is now in production. CalMold received a small business innovation grant from the U.S.D.A. to develop the mold for the foundation. Mites prefer drone cells to worker cells. By luring them to a complete frame of drone cells, the beekeeper can remove a substantial number of mites by removing the comb. The mites are killed by freezing ,and then the frames are returned to the hive to be cleaned by the bees. Eliminating a percentage of the mites by this passive method minimizes the need for chemicals. The new frames are green so they can be easily identified in the hive. Available soon at Betterbee. CANDLE WORKSHOP A BIG SUCCESS The first annual candle making workshop was held at Betterbee in July. The workshop was taught by George and Jane Paulovicks of Locust Grove Apiaries. The Paulovicks operate their apiary and candle business out of New York and Florida. They have numerous wholesale accounts with high end retail stores in New York City and elsewhere. The emphasis of the class was on practical tips to make superior candles. The students learned these tips by actually dipping, rolling, and pouring various candles. Kristin and Sonja of our office were participants in the class, and no doubt ,they will be able to answer your questions about candle making procedures in a more effective matter. Already, we have expanded our wick offering as the result of what they learned in class. We are hoping that we will be able to repeat the class several times next year. If you are interested in attending one of them, please sign up as soon as your 2003 catalogue arrives because we want to keep the classes small. HIVE SCRAPINGS TRIP TO CUBA PLANNED Join Bob Stevens, President of Betterbee and Kevin Jester, Missouri Queen Breeder in December on an eight day trip to visit beekeepers in Cuba. The trip has been approved by the U.S. State Department. Contact Bob for more details. DICK JOHNSON HONORED BY EAS: Customer Dick Johnson was given a prestigeous award for his contributions to the honey industry in the field of education and promotion by the Eastern Apiculture Society. They could not have selected a worthier recipient. SIOUX HONEY BECOMES IMPORTER: The Sioux Honey Association, the largest cooperative of U. S. beekeepers has signed an agreement with an Argentine organization to have honey packed under their label in Argentina and exported to the U.S.. How will this effect the prices they pay their members for honey? ST KITTS COOPERATIVE STARTS HONEY PRODUCTION: A group of small beekeepers on the idyllic West Indian island of St. Kitts recently purchased a large quantity of beehives and extracting equipment from Betterbee. We sure wish we could go down and help them nail those hives together on the beach. NEWFOUNDLAND - NO HONEY BEES: Margaret and Bob spent two weeks touring Newfoundland this summer. They saw a lot of whales, but no honeybees and almost no honey in the stores. Seems like those ornery Russian bees would love it up there feasting on partridge berries and cloud berries. ETHIOPIAN VISITS BETTERBEE: Mr. Araya Selassie visited with Betterbee in preparation for establishing a honey production and processing business in his native country. Mr. Selassie has successfully started a business in this country producing Ethiopian Tej, a honey wine made with a special type of woody hops that grows wild throughout Ethiopia. He sells his Tej to Ethiopian restaurants throughout the U.S. Incidentally, if you ever on the Washington D.C. area where many Ethiopians live, be sure and try Ethiopian cuisine. It's great! Mr. Selassie indicated that beekeeping is very primitive in his native country, but that much honey is produced and all consumed locally. Now if only we could convince the Argentines to do the same! This is the only newsletter you will receive through the mail.Future bi-monthly newsletter and monthly specials can be viewed on our website which should be up and running by the time you receive this newsletter. Our catalogue is also available on Amazon.com