North Central PA Beekeepers Assoc. welcomed world known author and beekeeper Michael Bush, from Nebraska, in Coudersport, PA. on Saturday, October 26th. Michael Bush gave an excellent talk on Beekeeping naturally.
55 Beekeepers from many PA counties and NY State attended the event. Representatives from not only our own club but also from Centre County Beekeepers, 2 C’s and a B Beekeepers, Luzerne County Beekeepers, and Central Western PA Beekeepers Assoc. attended the event.
The highlights follow, more details below.
Michael discussed many situations with bees and some of the things to do to keep your bees healthy. His four simple steps were:
1. No Treatments
2. Breeding Local Survivors
3. Natural food
4. Natural comb
Not treating the hives:
*Maintains the rich ecosystem of the hive
*Puts selective pressure where it belongs
*Keeps the comb clean of chemicals
*Chemicals interfere with the natural communication of the hive, which is by smell
Many beekeepers use chemicals in their hives to kill mites and treat diseases.
He discussed how by killing the bad mites with chemicals, you also kill good mites and destroy beneficial bacteria in the hives. By using chemicals, you then have contaminated beeswax. Contaminated beeswax can cause:
1. infertile Queens
2. infertile drones
3. frequent supersedures, (replacing their own queens)
4. weakened bees.
Beekeepers should try understanding what the bees are trying to do and then ask yourself “what can I do that will help the bees achieve their goals”.
More detailed information
There are many different mites in the hive. Some that do not harm the bees, by treating we are destroying all the mites, not just the harmful ones.
We are also destroying beneficial organisms and beneficial bacteria.
Treating creates an artificial system and chemical buildup in the beeswax.
The bees depend on not just the vibration of the other bees but also smell to determine the type of nectar that they are looking for. If we change the scent in the hives then the bees cannot find the nectar they are seeking.
Beekeepers have to learn to make a lot of judgement calls with their bees and beekeeping. It is ok to make bad decisions, everyone does, just learn from it.
He talked about raising your own queens and the importance of raising your own queens. Raise queens when there are a maximum of drones.
He feels that bees raised on pollen substitute are often short lived, use real pollen, trap your own and freeze it.
He also felt bees raised on sugar syrup are also short lived. But sometimes you have to give them sugar syrup.
Natural size cells – have fewer mites
Report major bee losses after local chemical spraying to the EPA. Maybe they can talk to the person doing the spraying, especially if they are spraying when the flowers are in bloom on the plants. Give them sample bees that died for testing.
Splits – he talked about the ways to do splits and how to maximize your honey production and still do splits.
Leave the propolis and burr comb in your hives unless it is in your way. It is important for the bees.
If you are confronted with something that you do not know what to do, just do nothing, the bees are better at deciding.
To keep bees from starving, use plain sugar on newspaper, sprayed with a little water.
Laying workers – give them a frame of brood every week for three or four weeks
Moving a frame of already capped brood will set your bees back. Moving a frame of uncapped brood will not set them back as much.
He talked about cut outs and robbing bees.
He also talked about the differences, advantages and disadvantages of all the different hives, including the flow hive.
It was an enlightening presentation and we’re glad we were able to have Michael Bush come and speak to so many beekeepers.
I want to thank all those that helped make this all happen. All the delicious desserts that members brought to share, along with chips, water, pasta salad.
It took many hands and we want to thank each of you for your support and help.
Add on, you may or may not find an enjoyable read. What went into this weekend.
Michael Bush – came from Nebraska, leaving his house at 4 AM. He was to get in on Friday at 12:30 in Bradford. His Nebraska flight was delayed and he had to get re scheduled and booked on all his flights. He made it to Pittsburgh, the jet was having technical difficulty, he kept getting delayed. They finally brought in another jet and he arrived in Bradford at 9:30 Friday night.
Bryan Perrin – Bryan offered to do all the transportation for Michael to and from the airports. He of course arrived in Bradford at the airport probably around 4:30 or 5 to meet Michael, as the plane was still listed “on time”. Well, of course that did not happen and Bryan had to sit at the airport and wait and wait and wait. All the time texting with Joan updates about delays and the estimated times of arrivals, more delays, etc. The jet arrived at 9:30 PM
John and Joan – Had arranged a welcome dinner for Michael on Friday night. We had to cancel the dinner. Well, of course you know what all goes into the preparation for a dinner, cleaning, cooking etc. So a week of cleaning and cooking, well, it just did not work out.
Back up a little further and we went to set up at the Gunzburger building on Thursday and were not able to set up as they had additional classes coming in. So we had to leave here at 6:45 AM on Saturday with Michael Bush to be able to set. Gunzurber building had changed their computer system and luckily Bryan had driven down too, so he learned their new system.
We housed Michael Bush here and were able to save the club money instead of paying for a motel room.
Michael Bush, Saturday night. His flight from Bradford was delayed again for Sunday and he would miss his flights home, so he spent three hours on the phone trying to get everything rescheduled for an earlier flight out of Bradford. The major problem was he booked it on Expedia and the airline was American and if he had just changed the first flight the club would have been charged an extra $200 so he kept working on it with Expedia and American to get his flight changed due to the delay and not have us charged an extra $200.
Ironically a lot we had planned to do with Michael Bush got cancelled due to the transportation problems that occurred. We had hoped to show him our apiary, work shop and honey house. We thought we would have some good discussions Saturday night, not have him on the phone all evening instead of sitting and relaxing.
But after saying all of that, we were glad he was here and shared with us his thoughts and knowledge. We were glad so many attended and missed the ones that could not.
Thanks to everyone that helped make this a great weekend
Respectfully submitted
Joan Bradley
55 Beekeepers from many PA counties and NY State attended the event. Representatives from not only our own club but also from Centre County Beekeepers, 2 C’s and a B Beekeepers, Luzerne County Beekeepers, and Central Western PA Beekeepers Assoc. attended the event.
The highlights follow, more details below.
Michael discussed many situations with bees and some of the things to do to keep your bees healthy. His four simple steps were:
1. No Treatments
2. Breeding Local Survivors
3. Natural food
4. Natural comb
Not treating the hives:
*Maintains the rich ecosystem of the hive
*Puts selective pressure where it belongs
*Keeps the comb clean of chemicals
*Chemicals interfere with the natural communication of the hive, which is by smell
Many beekeepers use chemicals in their hives to kill mites and treat diseases.
He discussed how by killing the bad mites with chemicals, you also kill good mites and destroy beneficial bacteria in the hives. By using chemicals, you then have contaminated beeswax. Contaminated beeswax can cause:
1. infertile Queens
2. infertile drones
3. frequent supersedures, (replacing their own queens)
4. weakened bees.
Beekeepers should try understanding what the bees are trying to do and then ask yourself “what can I do that will help the bees achieve their goals”.
More detailed information
There are many different mites in the hive. Some that do not harm the bees, by treating we are destroying all the mites, not just the harmful ones.
We are also destroying beneficial organisms and beneficial bacteria.
Treating creates an artificial system and chemical buildup in the beeswax.
The bees depend on not just the vibration of the other bees but also smell to determine the type of nectar that they are looking for. If we change the scent in the hives then the bees cannot find the nectar they are seeking.
Beekeepers have to learn to make a lot of judgement calls with their bees and beekeeping. It is ok to make bad decisions, everyone does, just learn from it.
He talked about raising your own queens and the importance of raising your own queens. Raise queens when there are a maximum of drones.
He feels that bees raised on pollen substitute are often short lived, use real pollen, trap your own and freeze it.
He also felt bees raised on sugar syrup are also short lived. But sometimes you have to give them sugar syrup.
Natural size cells – have fewer mites
Report major bee losses after local chemical spraying to the EPA. Maybe they can talk to the person doing the spraying, especially if they are spraying when the flowers are in bloom on the plants. Give them sample bees that died for testing.
Splits – he talked about the ways to do splits and how to maximize your honey production and still do splits.
Leave the propolis and burr comb in your hives unless it is in your way. It is important for the bees.
If you are confronted with something that you do not know what to do, just do nothing, the bees are better at deciding.
To keep bees from starving, use plain sugar on newspaper, sprayed with a little water.
Laying workers – give them a frame of brood every week for three or four weeks
Moving a frame of already capped brood will set your bees back. Moving a frame of uncapped brood will not set them back as much.
He talked about cut outs and robbing bees.
He also talked about the differences, advantages and disadvantages of all the different hives, including the flow hive.
It was an enlightening presentation and we’re glad we were able to have Michael Bush come and speak to so many beekeepers.
I want to thank all those that helped make this all happen. All the delicious desserts that members brought to share, along with chips, water, pasta salad.
It took many hands and we want to thank each of you for your support and help.
Add on, you may or may not find an enjoyable read. What went into this weekend.
Michael Bush – came from Nebraska, leaving his house at 4 AM. He was to get in on Friday at 12:30 in Bradford. His Nebraska flight was delayed and he had to get re scheduled and booked on all his flights. He made it to Pittsburgh, the jet was having technical difficulty, he kept getting delayed. They finally brought in another jet and he arrived in Bradford at 9:30 Friday night.
Bryan Perrin – Bryan offered to do all the transportation for Michael to and from the airports. He of course arrived in Bradford at the airport probably around 4:30 or 5 to meet Michael, as the plane was still listed “on time”. Well, of course that did not happen and Bryan had to sit at the airport and wait and wait and wait. All the time texting with Joan updates about delays and the estimated times of arrivals, more delays, etc. The jet arrived at 9:30 PM
John and Joan – Had arranged a welcome dinner for Michael on Friday night. We had to cancel the dinner. Well, of course you know what all goes into the preparation for a dinner, cleaning, cooking etc. So a week of cleaning and cooking, well, it just did not work out.
Back up a little further and we went to set up at the Gunzburger building on Thursday and were not able to set up as they had additional classes coming in. So we had to leave here at 6:45 AM on Saturday with Michael Bush to be able to set. Gunzurber building had changed their computer system and luckily Bryan had driven down too, so he learned their new system.
We housed Michael Bush here and were able to save the club money instead of paying for a motel room.
Michael Bush, Saturday night. His flight from Bradford was delayed again for Sunday and he would miss his flights home, so he spent three hours on the phone trying to get everything rescheduled for an earlier flight out of Bradford. The major problem was he booked it on Expedia and the airline was American and if he had just changed the first flight the club would have been charged an extra $200 so he kept working on it with Expedia and American to get his flight changed due to the delay and not have us charged an extra $200.
Ironically a lot we had planned to do with Michael Bush got cancelled due to the transportation problems that occurred. We had hoped to show him our apiary, work shop and honey house. We thought we would have some good discussions Saturday night, not have him on the phone all evening instead of sitting and relaxing.
But after saying all of that, we were glad he was here and shared with us his thoughts and knowledge. We were glad so many attended and missed the ones that could not.
Thanks to everyone that helped make this a great weekend
Respectfully submitted
Joan Bradley