BeeWeaver Buzz's blog

As BeeWeaver gears up to take orders for spring 2012 bees and queens, I am reminded of how much beekeepers have changed in the last 2 decades. When I began answering phones and taking orders in 1994 nearly every customer had kept bees for decades, had 5 or more colonies, lived in rural areas, were well over 50 years old, and about 99% were men.

That smoky smell isn’t from my bee smoker… sadly our part of Texas is on fire.  Even if some parts of the prairies, hill country, big thicket, and south Texas brush aren’t a part of what is or has been on fire - it is burned by the record drought and heat.  Burned up from no rain and temperatures over 100 degrees for almost that many days.  Every Texan, Texas animal and Texas plant has felt the effects of the worst heat and drought in history. 

Every beekeeper, whether they have 1 hive or thousands, has a story of how they started.  Some noticed their vegetable gardens were void of pollinators.  Some remembered that their grandfather had bees and they decided to experience it for themselves, and pass the knowledge onto their grandchildren.  Some are looking for a way to earn extra income for their farm.  A few grew up in a beekeeping family and decided to take the bee industry into the next millennia. 

BeeWeaver's thoughts... The paper by Bromenshenk et al., recently published in PLoS One, adds to earlier work suggesting that CCD is characterized by bees which are infected with multiple pathogens. The new and controversial result presented by this group is that a virus never before identified in honey bees, the Invertebrate Iridescent Virus (IIV), may be correlated with CCD. They used proteomic and bioinformatic techniques to generate the new findings. The methods description is not very detailed but I'll describe what the general approach they employed.

Wildlife-loving gardeners across the world enthuse about planting butterfly gardens, but relatively few think to design and plant a bee garden. Designing and planting a bee garden will bolster the health of your garden and help conserve one of earth's treasures. Why Design and Plant a Bee Garden There are over 3,500 species of bees native to the United States. Unfortunately, their numbers are declining. In fact, the entire world is experiencing a shortage of bees. Why is this a problem? Bees provide the much-needed service of pollinating plants.

You can now follow our buzz on twitter and bee-friend us on facebook. After all, bees are one of nature's exemplary social beings.

he Central Texas Beekeepers will be hosting a Beekeeping Demo at the Washington County Fair from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16 and Friday, Sept. 17. For more info email: centraltexasbeekeepers@gmail.com Alamo Area Beekeepers: Next meeting is Sept. 21. For more info email: tbower@gvec.net Bee Classes in the Bryan, TX area, email: lonestarfarms1@gmail.com

On a sad note, I am hearing from many commercial beekeepers who have seen a significant loss in their colony numbers. Growers in California may be strapped to get all the bees they need for the almond bloom that is just a few weeks away. I hope the losses are not as high as I've heard, but certainly there are not as many colonies in California as needed.

Orders are coming in for Spring 2010! I am thrilled to say that the number of orders set for delivery directly to drop off locations is higher then ever. The news about the delivery network is spreading, and more beekeepers are becoming part of the delivery system.