The Bee Line
Greetings fellow beekeepers:
Welcome New Members! The Guild’s Beginner Beekeeping class is now in full swing.
Although we have a smaller student population this year, as compared to years past,
we are excited for this next group of eager beekeepers to join the Guild. If you see a
new face, please take a minute to extend a welcome to our Guild! These “new-bees” are
excited to begin their new hobby of beekeeping. For those of you who have been keep-
ing bees for a while, or simply beginning your second year of beekeeping, please sign
up to share your knowledge and become a mentor. Who doesn’t need an extra set of
hands in the bee-yard? These newest members are “buzzing” with excitement and
cannot wait to see the bees up close. We have some upcoming events (Short Course clas-
ses, McDonald Garden Center’s Spring Home and Garden Show), that we need volun-
teers for. Be sure to see the articles below and consider volunteering a few hours. Re-
member, volunteering has its perks.
Best wishes,
Nick
Words from the President
Meeting: Monday, February 12, 2017 at 7:00 PM
Location: Blocker Hall Auditorium on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan University, Vir-
ginia Beach, VA
Program: BroodMinder Data Interpretation. Discover what the data reveals on
the five hives monitored by Guild BroodMinders.
Speaker: Theo Hartmann
February Monthly Meeting
Beekeepers Guild of Southeast Virginia
February 2018 Volume 10, Issue 2
www.BeeKeepersGuild.org
Apiary Notes 2
Upcoming Public Outreach
2
Virginia Flower & Garden Expo Review
3
Beekeeper’s Garden 3
Stingless Bees 4
2nd Year Beekeeping Equipment
4
Sick Bees Eat Healthier
5
Advanced Training Review
5
EAS President’s Report
6
Mann Lake EAS Master Beekeeper Scholarship
7
Dates to Remember 8
Beginning Bee Class 8
Inside this issue:
Beekeepers Introductory Course starts this month!
1st Class: 2/10/2018
2nd Class: 2/17/2018
3rd Class: 2/24/2018
Nick Delphia, President
Beekeepers Guild of Southeast Virginia
President: Nick Delphia; Vice President: Rick Fisher; Treasurer: Tammy Cobb; Recording Secretary: Cheryl Brown;
Newsletter Editor : Dave Robinson and Amy DuVall , Webmaster: Jim Sexton | Deadline for the newsletter is the 25th of each month.
February is typically the coldest winter month in
Coastal Southeast Virginia. The bees are usually
clustered in their hives waiting for warm spring
weather to arrive.
Make sure that your hive entrances are open and not
blocked by dead bees in case we get a few days of 50°
F or warmer for cleansing flights.
Continue to check the colonies for adequate winter
stores by opening them and checking the location of
the winter cluster. If the bees are at the top of the box,
they’ve gone through their stores and you will need to
feed them to prevent starvation and encourage popula-
tion buildup. Because they may not take sugar syrup at
low temperatures (below 50°F), you may have to feed
fondant, candy or granulated sugar directly over the
winter cluster.
Brood rearing has begun and the bees will need
pollen. In this area pollen is usually plentiful; only
feed pollen patties if there is no natural pollen being
brought in as pollen supplements can also boost buildup
of Small Hive Beetles once the weather warms.
Place your orders for queens and local nucs as soon as
possible to ensure timely spring delivery. Remember the
state of Virginia does not recommend purchasing stock
from any states with Africanized honey bees.
Take inventory of your equipment and order any new
woodenware to allow time for assembly and painting.
February Apiary Notes for Coastal Virginia
Page 2 The Bee L ine February 2018
McDonald Garden Center has requested the
Beekeepers’ Guild of Southeast Virginia to be a part of
their spring home and garden show on March 2-4,
2018. Over the many years that they have held the
show, they invite one of the area bee clubs to have a
table at the event to educate the customers on back-
yard beekeeping.
Additionally, this year, the show organizers
understand how important our pollinators are to the
health of our eco-system, so they now offer us an op-
portunity to conduct seminars over the 3 day period to
give a more thorough talk to interested people on vari-
ous beekeeping topics like “so you think you want to be
a beekeeper”, “flowers for honey bees”, or “beekeeping
basics”. These are 45 minute seminars that may have
up to 40 attendees at each presentation.
The show is free and open to the public
with no parking fees, so it usually generates quite a bit
of traffic through their flagship store on Independence
Blvd. (especially if we have spring-like weather.) An
observation hive with live bees will be provided for us to
use for the weekend, regardless of the weather condi-
tions. If interested, please sign up at the meeting, or on
the Sign-up Genius website.
Click for image for more details
Upcoming Public Outreach Event:
The Beekeeper’s Garden in February
Many thanks go out to our fabulous guild
volunteers for staffing our booth at the Vir-
ginia Flower and Garden Expo this year.
We had a tremendous amount of help with
set up and tear down in addition to show
hours. Our booth was buzzing the entire
time with visitors eager to sample local
honey and hive products from various
areas of Coastal Virginia. We sold over
300 pounds of honey, soap, ointments and
candles during the three-day event.
Guild volunteers also explained honey bee
biology and the codependence of bees
and flowering plants. To support bees, we
offered bee-friendly plants and seeds for
sale. A large number of local flowering
plants should now be brightening Coastal
Virginia landscapes and offering additional
bee forage on warm winter days. Addition-
ally, we had had kids, adults as well, mak-
ing seed “bombs” to explode color in lack-
luster areas.
A heartfelt guild Thank You is extended to
David Kvello, Rick Franklin, Henry Martin,
Leah Bedell, Rick & Pam Fisher,
Buddy Hoggard, Lemetra
Vaughan, Vi Bryan, Earl Johnson,
Vicki Roberts, Christa Sexton, Jim
Sexton, Allison, Hayden and Allie
Taylor, Diane Willis, Martha Blau,
Amy Bone, Linda Galvani, Brian
Krause, Patty Midgette, Dave and Kathy
Robinson, Steve Rose, Richard Seeloff,
Chris and Tracy Shonts, Steve and Linda
Simet, Aki Smith, and Karen Zablocki, We
couldn’t have done it without you!
rose (Primula vulgaris), Redbud (Cercis
canadesis), Red Maple (Acer rubrum),
Rosemary, Scilla, Skunk Cabbage
(Symplocarpus), Snowflake (Leucojum),
Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo), Sweet
Breath of Spring a/k/a Winter Honeysuckle
(Lonicera fragrantissima), Sweetbox
(Sarcococca), Willow (Salix), Winter Daph-
ne (Daphne odora), Winterhazel
(Corylopsis), Winter Heath (Erica carnea),
Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum),
Witchhazel (Hamamelis)
Native redbud (Cercis canadesis) trees in bloom
indicate that its time to hang nest blocks for
native mason bees (Osmia lignaria lignaria)
Brood rearing is underway inside hives
and foragers can be found in large num-
bers on plants with good pollen supplies.
The following plants bloom in February in
Coastal Southeast Virginia:
Alder (Alnus), Barrenwort (Epimedium),
Brunnera, Bugleweed (Ajuga), Camellia
japonicas, Camellia oleifera, Carolina Jas-
mine (Gelsemium), Crocus, Dandelion
(Taraxacum), Edgeworthia, Flowering Cur-
rent (Ribes san-
guineum), Flower-
ing Quince
(Chaenomeles spe-
ciosa), Forsythia,
Fragrant Winter-
sweet
(Chimonanthus
praecox), Japanese
Flowering Apricot
(Prunus mume), La-
mium, Laurustinus
(Viburnum tinus),
Lenten Rose
(Helleborus), Lung-
wort (Pulmonaria), Oregon Grape Holly
(Mahonia bealei), Pansy, Pieris japonica,
Persian Irontree (Parrotia persica), Prim-
Page 3 The Bee L ine February 2018
The pendant flowers of Edgeworthia chrysan-tha open steadily on naked branch tips from February to April, perfuming the garden with their sweet fragrance.
Forsythia is a rapid growing long-lived deciduous shrub up to 10 feet high and wide. Forsythia blooms best in full sun with brilliant yellow flow-ers followed by green or var-iegated foliage. It thrives in well drained loose soil but is tolerant of many soil con-ditions. Due to its size and
rangy hab-it, Forsyth-ia should be used as a specimen
VA Flower & Garden Expo Review
Stingless Bees Build Spiral Hives by Dave Robinson
Australia has a type of bee,
Tetragonula carbonaria or locally
named “sugarbag bees”, that does
not have the ability to sting. The
unique feature of this specific
stingless bee species is that they
build their hive upward, in a spiral
pattern.
Stingless bees are closely related
to the honey bee, carpenter bee,
orchid bee and the bumblebee.
The Australian stingless bees are
black with white fur on their faces
and sides and are found in tropical habi-
tats of the northern and eastern parts of
the country. They are highly social, with a
ratio of one queen to thousands of worker
bees. Beekeepers maintain colonies of
this species to harvest small amounts of
honey, fewer than four cups per year.
In addition to the difference in the hive
construction, which is a broad, flat, spiral
construction that gradually ascends, indi-
vidual cells must be built at different
heights to keep the structure going. Addi-
tionally, the honeycomb cells are egg-
shaped vice hexagonal. The colony of
bees will synchronously build and provi-
sion cells in batches of 80.Then the queen
will come along and lay eggs for five
minutes before the worker bees come back to
cap them.
Although the nearly 500 species of the sting-
less bee are unable to defend themselves by
stinging, they can bite and through their bite
inject an irritating formic acid into their ene-
mies.
The honey created by these bees has a high
concentration of water, which leads it to fer-
ment faster. Just like locally produced honey,
the flavor can change depending on what the
bees feed on. The stingless bee honey has a
stronger and more floral taste that the honey-
bee honey.
For more information, visit “Why These Sting-
less Bees Build Spiral Hive” by Elaina Zachos
Page 4 The Bee L ine February 2018
Second Year Beekeeper Equipment Needs In your second year, you can plan on your
colony requiring more storage space for
nectar and pollen. Adding honey supers to
your hive gives the bees room to store the
larger amounts of reserves typically gener-
ated by a second-year hive. This is also a
good time to add a queen excluder to your
set up, which is designed to prevent the
queen from laying eggs in your new honey
supers.
If you are a new beekeeper and have
made it through the winter months, con-
gratulations.
During their first year, the colony spent a
good deal of time and resources drawing
out new comb and building up population
numbers. The colony should come out of
the winter months having a large number
of workers ready to start collecting nectar
and pollen come spring.
Sick Bees Eat Healthier by Dave Robinson
In the study that compared the feeding habits of
healthy bees to those infected with the gut parasite
Nosema ceranae, researchers found that the sick
bees, not the healthy ones, lived longer when the
had access to pollen that was more nutritious;
even though the number of parasites in their gut
also increased in number. This parasite increases
the energy needs of the European or Western
honey bee; but little is known what the effect has
on the foraging habits of the unhealthy bee.
Through caged experimentation, it was found that
infected bees that had access to high quality pol-
len were more likely to survive than those that only
had access to lower quality pollen or no pollen at
all. Non-infected bees showed no difference in
survival based on pollen quality. A study of free-
flying bees revealed that twice as many infected
bees went after the higher quality pollen while
healthy bees showed no preference between the
pollen qualities. This would indicate that the infect-
ed pollen foraging bees are more likely to forage
on pollen that would increase their longevity. At
the hive level observations, although the infected
bees benefitted from the increased pollen quality,
the infection status did not lead to increased pollen
foraging at either the hive or individual level.
Page 5 The Bee L ine February 2018
Reference:
Ferguson, J. A., Northfield, T. D., & Lach, L. (2018). Honey Bee (Apis mel-lifera) Pollen Foraging Reflects Bene-fits Dependent on Individual Infection Status. Microbial Ecology. doi:10.1007/s00248-018-1147-7 More article details
Many thanks to the Virginia State Bee-
keepers Association, Southeast Region for
sponsoring our advanced training with
special guest speakers; Master Beekeeper
Erin MacGregor-Forbes, from Portland,
Maine and Samuel Ramsey, from the Uni-
versity of Maryland. These two put out
some valuable information on artificial
swarming, varroa mite prevention, queen
rearing and other useful beekeeping in-
sights.
We had over 100 beekeepers attend this
event, providing an opportunity to not only
gain this valuable knowledge but share
recent beekeeping experiences with the
other beekeepers in the region.
A heartfelt guild Thank You is extended to
Rick Fisher for organizing and making this
event happen and to Cheryl Brown, Mi-
chael Brown, Theresa Orr, Tammy Cobb,
Kathy Robinson, and Tracy and Peyton
Shonts. The hospitality and hard work you
put forth into this event received the high-
est praises by the attendees and other
beekeeping guild associations.
Advanced Training Review
Page 6 The Bee L ine February 2018
EAS President’s Report-Winter 2018 by Pam Fisher, EAS President
I hope that each of you have submitted your vacation requests for Au-
gust 13 – 17, 2018 to join us for a combination family vacation and Bee Camp
at EAS 2018 in Hampton, Virginia. It’s not too early to start making plans to
enjoy a seaside holiday AND increase your beekeeping knowledge and skills at
the same time. We have an incredible lineup of speakers who will present not
only lectures, but also workshops in the classroom and in the onsite apiary. For
those of you who have never attended an Eastern Apicultural Society’s Short Course and Conference, the scope
is hard to imagine. At any given time, there are four to six educational opportunities from which to select – I fre-
quently find myself wishing I could attend more than one!
The first two days of the EAS meeting are devoted to the Short Course offering multiple concurrent educa-
tional tracts from the beginner to advanced level. You may attend any presentation that interests you regardless of
your experience level. The following three days are devoted to the conference which features keynote speakers
and award winners, the rock stars of the beekeeping world, followed by additional concurrent educational lectures
and workshops. Testing for the EAS Master Beekeeper Certification is available to attendees who apply in ad-
vance.
Field trips and social events to appeal to both beekeepers and their families are planned throughout the
conference. Explore the site of Historic Jamestown where the first honey bees arrived in North America; quaff a
specialty brew made with honey from hives on a brewery’s premises; or simply enjoy a Beekeeper Beach Bash
complete with Bee Olympics. Make sure to brush up on your smoker lighting and drone-spitting talents if you want
to participate (yes that is drone-spitting, not a typo!).
Plan to participate in the Honey Exchange by bringing three jars of your own honey to exchange for three
jars of someone else’s honey. And don’t forget the Honey Show – you have to be in it to win it! We all know that
Virginia honey is some of the finest in the nation; it took the top honor for taste in the prestigious Black Jar contest
twice in the past. We Virginians have an advantage as our entries do not have to travel as far as other competitors
so make Virginia proud and bring your finest honey, beeswax and mead along with you to Bee Camp.
If all this sounds wonderful, consider volunteering to be a part of EAS from the inside. It takes many volun-
teers to plan a conference for 600+ people so please let me know if you would like to assist in any capacity. To
volunteer, send an email to [email protected] or call 757-620-0945. To learn more about the Eastern
Apicultural Society in general or explore conference specifics as they are posted, visit the EAS website at
http://www.easternapiculture.org/. Please help us celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Virginia State Bee-
keepers Association by being a part of EAS 2018 as either a volunteer or attendee. We look forward to including
you in EAS 2018 “Where it All Began”.
EAS Mission:
Education and Conferences,
Master Beekeeper Certification,
Honey Bee Research Grants
Page 7 The Bee L ine February 2018
Mann Lake EAS Master Beekeeper Scholarship
This scholarship, sponsored by Mann Lake
Ltd. and created and administered by the EAS Mas-
ter Beekeepers, was established to encourage a wor-
thy young individual to pursue an interest in honey
bees and beekeeping. The Scholarship will provide
financial assistance for the selected candidate to at-
tend an annual EAS conference.
In addition to the waiver of registration fees
by EAS for the short course and the main confer-
ence, the Scholarship will provide up to $1,000 to
offset other conference expenses.
Scholarship Eligibility
The candidate may be any young person
between the ages of 18 and 25 who is a full-time stu-
dent, or is not a full-time student but is current-ly em-
ployed by a commercial or sideliner beekeeper and
plans to pursue a career in apiculture. If the candi-
date is a veteran of any branch of the U. S. armed
forces, the age limit is 30.
The candidate must have been keeping bees
for a minimum of one year by the time the confer-
ence for which the scholarship is requested begins.
The candidate may have a beekeeping men-
tor, but must be primarily responsible for the care of
his or her bees.
The candidate must have participated in a
local short course in beekeeping.
Scholarship Application
Qualified candidates must complete an appli-
cation form providing their basic contact information,
brief bee-keeping experience and education, and
other relevant data. Applications must be received by
the Chairperson of the Master Beekeeper Scholar-
ship Committee by April 1 of the year in which the
applicant plans to attend the EAS conference.
Candidates must provide letters of recom-
mendation from at least two experienced beekeep-
ers, preferably a mentor and another beekeeping
individual familiar with the candidate’s experience
and qualifications.
Candidates must write an essay of no less
than two, and no more than three, double-spaced
typewritten pages describing their reasons for want-
ing to attend the EAS conference. The essay should
also outline the candidate’s ambitions with respect to
beekeeping, including both short and long-term plans.
Award Criteria
Preference will be given to candidates who,
in the judgment of the Scholar-ship Committee, are
serious in their commitment to apiculture. For exam-
ple, a serious candidate may be planning to pursue a
career as a commercial beekeeper, an entomologist,
a researcher in apiculture, a queen breeder, or similar
profession. A dedicated hobbyist may also win the
scholarship, but preference will be given to candi-
dates planning to pursue a career in apiculture.
Following the conference, the scholarship
recipient will prepare an article for the EAS Journal, of
at least one column in length, or as indicated by the
Journal Editor, describing his or her experiences at
the EAS conference. The article should include pho-
tographs and discuss how at-tending EAS has influ-
enced the recipient’s beekeeping knowledge and
post-conference experiences.
The application, along with full requirements
can be found on the EAS website,
https://www.virginiabeekeepers.org/images/pdf/EAS_
Mann_Lake_Scholarship_application_package_2016-
1.pdf
Help with Beekeepers Intro Course
Page 8 The Bee L ine February 2018
The first week of the Bee-
keepers Intro Course is in
the books now. We have
about 44 new beekeepers
taking the course this year.
For many of us, our first
experience with the Guild
was walking into this Bee-
keepers Introductory
Course. You were met by
beekeepers who were hap-
py to see you and excited
to help you join the fasci-
nating world of apiculture.
A yummy buffet was of-
fered during the breaks,
plus plenty of Guild mem-
bers were present to an-
swer your many questions.
Now it is time for this event
to happen again and your
assistance as Guild mem-
bers is requested. Come
help us welcome the new
group of beekeepers and
sit in on the lectures for a
little refresher training.
Fortunately there is seating
for everyone!
The remaining classes will
be held at the Virginia
Beach Law Enforcement
Training Academy (LETA)
on 17 and 24 February.
Doors will open at 7 AM,
classes will start around 8
AM and run until about 2
PM. The LETA is easy to
access right off Birdneck
Road and interstate 264 in
Virginia Beach at 411 In-
tegrity Way, Virginia
Beach, VA 23451. It is
very near the Virginia
Beach Convention Center
where we participated in
the Virginia Flower &
Garden Expo.
We always can use the
help with providing the
snacks, set up, clean up,
and registration of stu-
dents as well as mem-
bers being available to talk
to new beekeepers during
intermissions. Contact
Kathy Robinson, dkdrobin-
[email protected] for refresh-
ment needs. We hope to
see you there!
Dates to Remember
• February 8- Board Meeting -
Members welcome!
• February 5 - Chesapeake 4-H
Beekeeping Club Meeting
• February 10- 1st class of Beekeep-
ers Introductory Course at LETA
• February 12- Guild Meeting
• February 14 - Happy Valentine’s
Day!
• February 17- 2nd class of Bee-
keepers Introductory Course
• February 19 - President’s Day
• February 20 - Virginia Beach 4-H
Beekeeping Club Meeting
• February 24- 3rd class of Beekeep-
ers Introductory Course
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 Board Meeting
9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28
February 2018