Two Bees in a Podcast

My walks with my dog, Hannah, have become more entertaining times because of Jamie Ellis and his sidekick, Amy. The University of Florida beekeeping institute has introduced a podcast titled: "Two Bees in a Podcast." Every episode is delightful as Jamie discusses huge range of topics about honey bees with well-informed guests.

The podcast includes funny interactions between Jamie and Amy who obviously enjoy their back and forth. They have produced at least nineteen episodes at the time of this writing.

And when Jamie has a guest who wanders into language that might be a little on the too-scientific side, Jamie easily and disarmingly makes it understandable for the lay listener. I listened to an episode on invasive species and the honey bee. His guest was discussing ways to intervene to get rid of invasive species in rather scientific terms. Jamie interjected gently that when he teaches he usually says that there are mechanical means, biological means, and chemical means for getting rid of invasive species. That simple clarification made the rest of the conversation flow in a much more user-friendly way.

His episode on the Asian Murder Hornet was fascinating and there is an episode on ants in the hive that is really interesting. Each episode is thoroughly documented with show notes on each topic covered with references galore.

At the end of each episode that I have listened to, there is a Q&A section (which Jamie sometimes calls, "Stump the Chump") in which Jamie addresses questions that have been sent in by listeners in his usual entertaining style.

If you haven't heard Jamie Ellis speak, he will be a featured speaker at the GBA Virtual Fall Conference on September 25 and 26. People love his talks because he is so easily able to connect with his audience. I'm sure there are lots of YouTube videos of his talks as well.

Jamie Ellis at GBA

Jamie Ellis' presence at the GBA Spring meeting was absolutely delightful.  The researchers at UGA tend to be telling us something different every time we see them.  Their goal is to come up with a way to deal with the varroa mite because it has been so devastating to beekeepers.

Jamie began his talk to us about the state of beekeeping with a graph from NASS (the National Agricultural Statistics Service).  Here's what it looked like:

This is a photo I took of my computer screen that I took with my iPhone, so if you want to see the real thing, it's on the sixth page of this.

From this graph, Jamie pointed out that the numbers of honey bee colonies in this country have been declining steadily since a peak in 1945.  If you look closely, the decline has leveled off a little since the arrival of varroa!

To listen to other university researchers, we are in desperate times BECAUSE of the varroa.  Jamie pointed out that we are in desperate times because of the lessening numbers of colonies, but not because of varroa.

I was particularly interested in his approach because I now know a number of beekeepers - local ones like Jerry Wallace and Bill Owens, and national ones like Michael Bush and Sam Comfort who haven't used any treatment for varroa or anything else for years.

Jerry Wallace almost sheepishly confessed to me that he (who used to use treatment including oxalic acid) has been splitting his strong hives and not worrying about the ones that died.  Michael Bush doesn't count varroa for the same reason.  He has hives that don't need him to count varroa.  They may be in the hive but his bees are strong enough - whether that means they are hygienic or disease resistant - not to need to worry.

Jamie did not paint a pretty picture of beekeeping in these times for many reasons, but referenced many factors - environmental and otherwise.  His concern was the decline in the numbers of hive SINCE 1945.

He explored the Oxbow Center where the conference was held.  He is with his oldest son in the photo below.

They came to look at a giant turtle near the newsletter table where Gina and I sat, representing the GBA newsletter that we edit.  We spent the day in front of a coiled rattler behind us (in a glassed display, but still...)

We brought several printed issues of Spilling the Honey and a suggestion box for ideas for the newsletter.  We gave stickers that stated "I contributed to Spilling the Honey!" to everyone we saw who had written for the newsletter or who had contributed an idea or photo.

We both wore fedoras with PRESS stickers in the hatbands.  We had a good time.  This is not a good photo of either of us, but at least you can see our PRESS hats.

After a talk on pesticides that I missed, Jamie gave a third talk about the ways honey bees have answered life's four most important questions for him.  I'm not going to try to explain the delightful, hilarious talk, but he ended by telling us how honey bees explain Lady Gaga (don't ask).

Africanized Bees Now in South Georgia

Today in Catch the Buzz, Kim Flottum reported that Africanized bees have now been found in Georgia.  Here's the sad story in an article about the man who was killed in the bee incident.  And here's the article about the identification of the bees.

So that everyone doesn't run for cans of Raid, here are some specifics not stated in the Catch the Buzz article:

The Africanized bees were found in Dougherty County which is in south Georgia near the Florida border.  The Albany area in Dougherty County is about 80 miles north of Florida.  Dougherty County is 204 miles almost directly south of my house.  So these bees were well south of Atlanta and the Atlanta area.

Africanized bees have been in Florida for a long time.  Until this incident we have had no Africanized bees discovered in our state.

Georgia has been expecting the Africanized bee to arrive in our state at some point.  In several talks at the Metro Atlanta bee meetings over the last three years, I've heard Dr. Delaplane say that we will have them in Georgia in the next few years. There are swarm boxes on the border of Florida and Georgia that are checked periodically for Africanized swarm inhabitation.

Honey bee hives managed by beekeepers in the state of Georgia are the first and best defense against an area becoming Africanized. Managed bees dilute AHB populations, prevent AHBs from taking over European honey bee hives, and AHBs are less attracted to areas where other foragers exist.

According to Jennifer Berry of the University of Georgia bee lab, the Africanized bees will have a difficult time surviving the winters of the Atlanta area.  They didn't develop in parts of the world where the winter requires cluster behavior so they don't know how to cluster as tightly as European bees and don't store supplies as well.

We may never see them here (in the Atlanta area) because of our winter temperatures, but they are certainly likely to establish hives in the southern part of the state near the Florida border.

Since the bees that killed this man were determined to be Africanized, this is at least one incident of that variety of bee in our state.  The guidelines for dealing with this type of bee found in Catch the Buzz are good for all of us to know.

I remember hearing Jamie Ellis, Ph.D. give this advice several times about the Africanized bee.  He said that if you are confronted with a swarm of Africanized bees, RUN.  He also suggested that you jump in your truck or car and close all open windows, doors, etc.

He pointed out that it would not be good to exit the truck just because a bee or two got into the truck with you - better to be stung by those few bees than jump out of the truck to get away from those few, only to find yourself attacked by the colony of thousands waiting for you outside the truck!

The incident in Albany is just one isolated incident and does not condemn the honey bee in Georgia.  Our well-managed bees throughout the state are important for pollination, helpful to our lives and good to have around.

Let's not let this cause a bee-panic but let's do be reminded of how important it is to know our bees in our own managed hives and recognize the essential job of bee-ing a good beekeeper.

Metro Atlanta Beekeepers' Short Course

On Saturday, January 24, we held the annual Metro Atlanta Beekeepers' Short Course for beginning beekeepers. We had over 61, I think 64, paid registrants. The course was held at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and you can see all the eager faces below, ready to learn to be beekeepers.



The kids from the Montessori school presented a beginning beekeeper talk for the group. They brought their observation hive for all to see. It was great for the participants both to hear the enthusiasm of these kids and to see real bees at the short course.



Curtis Gentry, the official beekeeper at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, gave a helpful talk on the components of the hive. Curtis is a great teacher - really good with labels and with providing easy to understand answers. Here he is answering the questions of a participant (Dr. Gentry is on the left).



A regular presenter at our Short Course is Dr. Jamie Ellis, second from the right. He is also helpful, funny, engaging and generally a pleasure to listen to as he imparts his vast knowledge. Before we lost him to Florida, he was at the University of Georgia bee lab working with Keith Delaplane.

I have sourwood trees!

I'm thrilled to find out that I have sourwood trees on my property in the North Georgia mountains. Sourwood is treasured honey for those who know the difference.

Here is a close-up of a sourwood flower. You can see why it is commonly called the lily of the valley tree. In North Georgia the sourwood is peaking right now. The bloom started at the end of June.

I don't have beehives at my mountain house right now because of the bears. There are five bears that live on the mountain - three adults and two cubs. Others who live up here see them regularly.

Jamie Ellis, PhD, bee expert from UGA, told me that I would need an electric fence to keep the bears out. He suggested that I set up the fence and drape bacon on the wires. Then when the bears went for the bacon, they would be shocked and learn not to go into the fence to get the hives.

With all of this blooming sourwood (these pictures are all taken on my property), I feel determined to find out how to put hives up here next year. I have the perfect spot for two or three hives with a southern exposure looking down the mountain toward many sourwood trees and with forest behind as well.

I've gotten so accustomed to looking at my hives every day at home - it will be odd to set up hives that I only see every three weeks or so. The problems will certainly be different, more global. I'll probably have to deal with swarms, hungry bees, no close-by water source.....hmmmm......among other problems yet to be discovered.

Lifesaving bees

I've set up a bee/bird bath on my deck near the hives. The brick piece in the center is so the bees have something to stand on while they drink - as Jamie Ellis, bee expert from the University of Georgia says, "Bees can't swim." Yesterday there were extrememly high winds in Atlanta and I found two bees floating in the bee bath. Both were still moving and still alive. I scooped them out with the stick in the picture. One flew off right away. The other is still on the stick at the left end, drying off. I left her there and about 30 minutes later, she had flown off.

This morning there were two shallow pools of water at the landing area in front of my Destin hive. Two bees were lying there in the water. One was dead. The other I scooped up with a cloth napkin and put her on top of the hive. A few minutes later she flew off.


Here's a picture of the bee/bird bath. Squirrels, birds and bees love it. The idea came from Birds and Blooms - it's two plant saucers. The one on the outside I keep planted with something that will hang down. The inner one obviously is the bath.