6
!"#$ &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.) - Class registration and Mentor sign-up links are active on our website (see "Beekeeping Classes (2014)" and "BANV Mentoring Program 2014") under the Club Activities menu on the right side of the webpage. !"#4 &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.) - 28 January, 2014; Elections and Annual Pot-Luck; Open session with your beekeeping neighbors.  7pm at the Mason Dis trict Government Center, 6507 Columbia Pike, in Annandale." North American Beekeeping Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in  January  The 2014 North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is set for early Janua ry. T ake a look at the http:// www.nabeekeepingconference .com/schedule.html conference website for a complete list and descriptions of all the workshops being offered. Workshops include pollination, alternative beekeeping methods, wax sculpture and batik, and many other topics. John Fraser continued on page 2  Do you realize two years ha ve gone by since I started writing these articles? It's been very rewarding to work with the Ofcers and terric batch of volunteers who do all the work making BANV such a great beekeeping organization; I'm grateful to everyone who has pitched in, offered support, attended meetings and shepherded their mentees and bees through the challenging beekeeping environment we face today. We'll have elections at our  January 2014 Potluc k meeting where it will be time for others to take a turn run ning BANV . We have a cadre of project Chairs who'll remain on the job, the programs for January, February and March of next year are set, classes are ready to go (and the students will come!), and the club remains nancially stable and lled with good folks. In short, it will be an easy transition for the new ofcers; I hope you consider stepping up to a position and guiding the club the next 2 years!  The VSBA meeting earlier in November was, as always, a worthwhile event. Notable among the great presentations was the report on the rejuvenated Master Beekeeper program within VSBA. It's still a work in progress, but moving toward a well-dened program of testing (academic and The President’s Hive Stand BANV BUZZ   YEAR END 20 13   A LSO IN THIS ISSUE Wintertime Educational Video This Month in the beeyard Scottish Heather  Pol linator Plates

BANV Newsletter Year End 2013

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!"#$ &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.) - Class registration and Mentor sign-up links are active on our website (see"Beekeeping Classes (2014)" and "BANV Mentoring Program 2014") underthe Club Activities menu on the right side of the webpage.

!"#4 &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.) - 28 January, 2014; Elections and Annual Pot-Luck; Open session with yourbeekeeping neighbors. 7pm at the Mason District Government Center, 6507Columbia Pike, in Annandale."

North American

BeekeepingConference inBaton Rouge,Louisiana in

January

The 2014 North AmericanBeekeeping Conference &

Tradeshow in Baton Rouge,Louisiana, is set for earlyJanuary. Take a look at thehttp://www.nabeekeepingconference.com/schedule.html conferencewebsite for a complete list anddescriptions of all theworkshops being offered.

Workshops includepollination, alternative

beekeeping methods, waxsculpture and batik, and manyother topics.

John Fraser

continued on page 2

Do you realize two years havegone by since I started writingthese articles? It's been veryrewarding to work with theOfcers and terric batch ofvolunteers who do all the workmaking BANV such a greatbeekeeping organization; I'mgrateful to everyone who haspitched in, offered support,attended meetings andshepherded their mentees and

bees through the challengingbeekeeping environment we facetoday. We'll have elections at our

January 2014 Potluck meetingwhere it will be time for others totake a turn running BANV. Wehave a cadre of project Chairswho'll remain on the job, the

programs for January, Februaryand March of next year are set,classes are ready to go (and thestudents will come!), and the clubremains nancially stable and lledwith good folks. In short, it will bean easy transition for the newofcers; I hope you considerstepping up to a position andguiding the club the next 2 years! The VSBA meeting earlier in

November was, as always, a

worthwhile event. Notable amongthe great presentations was thereport on the rejuvenated MasterBeekeeper program within VSBA.It's still a work in progress, butmoving toward a well-denedprogram of testing(academic and

The President’s Hive Stand

BANV BUZZ YEAR END 2013

A L SO I N T H IS IS SU E

• W int e rtim e Ed ucati onal Video

• This M onth in th e be eyard

• Sco ttis h He ather

• Pol linato r Pla tes

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Wintertime Educational Video

One of the best things you can do this winteris to watch this video on how you too canstart to run a sustainable apiary. Features MikePalmer of French Hill Apiary, Vermont. The fewsecond intro gives you a glimpse of how theBritish judge honey using a torch! Flashlight tous! It's. The Best 57 minutes you will spendEventually 3 more to come.

http://youtu.be/nznzpiWEI8A

President...demonstrated), community service and experience requirements I'mpersuaded will continue making it a worthy achievement. Many of uscan test for the new Apprentice (the old “Qualied”) level already; Ihope you take advantage of the program when it goes live next Spring. As we enter the extended holiday season and nalize our Winter

preparation tasks in the beeyard I wish you health and joy and a highcolony survival rate!

Rob McKinney Past-President

NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 2

Scottish heather honey is best forbeating bacteria

Issued: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 09:00:00 BST

Honey has long been known for its anti-bacterial properties:

it was prized by the ancient Egyptians and is widely usedtoday in veterinary medicine as a wound dressing.

The most famous honey used for medical purposes isManuka honey from New Zealand, but a new study hasrevealed a particular type that is even more effective –Scottish heather honey.

The study, published in The Veterinary Journal, was carriedout by Dr Patrick Pollock, an equine surgeon, and colleaguesat the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University ofGlasgow.

A keen bee-keeper, Dr Pollock was interested to know if

honeys other than Manuka might make effective anti-bacterial wound dressings.

Dr Pollock said: “Although Manuka has been the moststudied honey source to date, other honey sources may havevaluable antimicrobial properties too.

“Honey is useful in equine medicine, particularly on woundsto legs. There is not much fat on the lower half of horses’legs, so can take a long time to heal, or even never fully healat all.

“Honey helps to promote healing, cleaning the wound andkeeping it infection free. If vets were able to use locally-

sourced, cheaper honey as a wound dressing, it would bevery benecial particularly in poorer countries.”

The researchers took 29 honey products, includingcommercial medical grade honeys, supermarket honeys andhoneys from local bee-keepers, and examined them forbacterial contamination before testing.

Of the 29, 18 were found to contain bacteria that excludedthem from the trial and the remaining 11 were tested against

10 equine bacterial isolates at concentrations varying from2% to 16%.

Eight of the honeys were effective against all the bacteria atconcentrations ranging from 2% to 6%.

Heather honey from the Inverness area was shown to beparticularly effective – killing MRSA microbes and threeother types of bacteria at concentrations of 2%.

Dr Pollock said: “Honeys derived from one type of owerwere shown to be the most effective, and while Manuka iscurrently the only medical grade honey, the study reveals thatother honeys may be just as suitable for such purposes.

“Consequently, it may prove unnecessary to transportManuka honey from New Zealand when more local sourcesmay be as, or even more, effective.

“In many regions of the world access to expensiveantimicrobial drugs is limited, therefore locally-sourced

honey may provide an inexpensive alternative.

“In future it may be possible to identify honeys with activityagainst specic bacteria. This would allow the clinician toselect the most appropriate honey type for the infectingorganism.”

Honeys largely get their antimicrobial properties from thehydrogen peroxide they contain, but Manuka is thought tobenet from other factors, including an as yet poorlyunderstood phytochemical property and, or, the presence ofmethylglyoxal.

Dr Pollock added: “Some vets use inexpensive honeys

intended for human consumption while others use medicalgrade, gamma-irradiated Manuka honey which is sometimeincorporated into a wound care product or dressing.

“However, our study suggests that the use of certain non-medical grade honeys, derived from mixed oral sources, maynot be appropriate for wound care due to the presence ofcontaminating aerobic bacteria."

For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in theUniversity of Glasgow Media Relations Ofce on 0141 3304831 or email [email protected]

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November and December areimportant months for thebeekeeper and the bee colonies.Although it has been unusuallywarm this year, the bees form acluster around the queen eachnight when temperatures dip below55 degrees. After the clusterforms, it tightens to betterconserve heat as the ambienttemperature drops. At 40degrees, it is safe to say that thereare no worker bees patrolling thehive entrances and the combs.Mice, small hive beetles, and other

hive vermin are free to roam whenthe bees are tightly clustered.

At some point in the temperaturecycle, the small hive beetles must

join the cluster or wedgethemselves into a crack in the hive,or die from exposure. Small hivebeetles do not need to be in thehive cluster to survive wintertemperatures in the mid-Atlantic,

and they will survive by burrowingunder bark, dead leaves, and otherprotected places in the wild. It is afact, however, that frozen honeybeeclusters have been found to containsmall hive beetles.

Mouse guards keep mice out whilepermitting air circulation at theentrance. More may be needed.The air circulation needed by a

strong hive is sufcient to carry offthe moisture generated bymetabolization of honey, while atthe same time not sufcient to

create a steady draft directed atthe cluster that will pull heat awayfrom the cluster. For each hivedesign, there is an optimal amountof air circulation. Some beekeepersrely on screened bottom boards,screen mouse guards, holes drilledin top supers, ventilating topcovers, and other devices. Eachbeekeeper needs to calculate howto adjust each hive to achievecirculation. When a hive is openedfor inspection on a winter day, ifmoisture has accumulated on theinner cover, it is a safe bet that air

circulation needs to be adjusted. Another important activity duringthe early winter is relaxation andreading a good beekeeping guide.Winter is a good time to study forthe master beekeeper exam, or toresearch the means and methodsfor overwintering a top bar hive, orto examine all the bee journals thatdidn’t get a complete study during

the hectic days of spring, summerand fall.

Remember that the queen willstart laying eggs in the third weekof January and that the rst pollenow from silver maple and willowswill come in late February.December is a good time to planand prepare for the upcoming year,which we all hope will be a ne

year for the honeybees. - John Fraser

This Month in the Beeyard

NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 3

Want to contribute to the BANV

newsletter?

Write to:

[email protected]

We prefer concisely written material,

rather than suggestions & hints.

Inclusion depends upon space

available, timeliness, and/or

relevance. Thanks

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NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 4

Queen bee's honesty isthe best policy for

reproduction signalsQueen bees convey honest signalsto worker bees about theirreproductive status and quality,according to an international teamof researchers, who say theirndings may help to explain whyhoney bee populations aredeclining. "We usually think of animals'chemical signals (calledpheromones) as communicationsystems that convey only verysimple sorts of information," saidChristina Grozinger, professor ofentomology and director of theCenter for Pollinator Research,Penn State. "However, this studydemonstrates that queen honeybees are conveying a lot of nuancedinformation through theirpheromones. "In addition, until now, no one knewif queen bees were manipulatingworkers into serving them or ifthey were providing valuable,honest information to workers. Wehave found that the informationqueens are conveying constitutesan honest message about their

reproductive status and quality. Thequeens are 'telling' the workersthat they are queens, whether ornot they are mated and how wellmated they are. In other words,whether or not they have matedwith a lot of males." Why do worker bees care if theirqueen is well mated? According toElina Niño, postdoctoral fellow,Penn State, previous research hasshown that colonies headed bymore promiscuous queens -- those

who mate with many males -- aremore genetically diverse and,therefore, healthier, moreproductive and less likely tocollapse. "Beekeepers have been veryworried about their queens, sincethey seem to not be lasting as long-- a few weeks or months insteadof one or two years," said Niño."We know that workers willreplace their queens when they are

not performing well. So if workerbees are able to detect poorlymated queens and take steps toremove them, that could be anexplanation for the rapid rates ofqueen loss and turnover thatbeekeepers have been reporting." The researchers, who representPenn State, North Carolina StateUniversity and Tel Aviv University,describe how they assigned queenbees to a variety of treatmentgroups. They report their ndings inthe Nov. 13 issue of PLOS ONE. In one group, they inseminatedqueens with a small volume ofsemen to mimic a poorly matedqueen scenario. In a second group,the researchers inseminated queenswith a large volume of semen tomimic a well-mated queen scenario.In a third and fourth group, theyinseminated queens with low andhigh volumes of saline. A fth groupwas an untreated control. The researchers then dissected thequeens, removing two glands thatare known to produce pheromones-- the mandibular gland and theDufour's gland. Next, the teamextracted the glands' secretionsand analyzed their chemicalcompositions using gaschromatography-massspectrometry. Finally, theresearchers presented the glandextracts to worker bees andobserved the extent to which theywere attracted to differentextracts. The team found that worker beespreferred pheromone extracts ofqueens that were inseminated withsemen rather than saline. They alsofound that queens inseminated withhigher volumes of semen or salineas opposed to those that wereinseminated with low volumes ofsemen or saline were preferred byworker bees. "These results suggest that queensare signaling detailed and honestinformation about their matingstate and reproductive quality toworkers, and workers are capableof adjusting their behavioraccordingly," Niño said. "Whenworkers replace failing queens, it isparticularly damaging to

beekeepers since it can take up tothree weeks for the new queen tobegin laying eggs and another threeweeks for the new workers toemerge as adults. This reduces theworkforce and therefore reduceshoney production and evenpollination efciency."

The team also found that themandibular gland and the Dufour'sgland differ in their functions. "The Dufour's gland seems toinform workers that queens havemated, while the mandibular glandseems to indicate the queen'smating quality," Niño said. "Thisalso means that these glands arelikely being regulated via differentneurophysiological pathways." According to Grozinger, in additionto signaling queen bee reproductivestatus and quality, queen beepheromones regulate how fastworkers mature and transitionfrom taking care of developinglarvae to foraging outside the hive. "It is possible that changing thequality of the pheromone coulddisrupt this and other processes,which could have large-scale effectson colony organization andsurvival," she said. Through funding from the

Department of Agriculture, theresearchers are beginning toexamine the effects of viruses,pesticides and poor nutrition onqueen pheromone quality to see ifthe queen also is providing workerswith information about her health. "The more we know about whataffects the queen's health thebetter chance we will have ofcreating high-quality queens anddisease-resistant stocks of honeybees," Niño said.

Other authors on the paper includeOsnat Malka and Abraham Hefetzof Tel Aviv University and DavidTarpy of North Carolina StateUniversity. The Department of Agriculture andthe United States-Israel BinationalScience Foundation supported thisresearch.

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BANV OFFICERS 2012-2013

President David Michaelson beekeepers +president@gmail .com

1 st Vice President Bob Garbacz beekeepers +1 vicepresident@gmail .com

2 nd Vice President beekeepers +2 vicepresident@gmail .com

Secretary Kathryn Krenn beekeepers +secretary@gmail .com

Treasurer Chris Reed beekeepers +treasurer@gmail .com

Education Rob McKinney

Newsletter Team John Fraser & Chris Dugmore beekeepers +editor@gmail .com

Membership Terri McPalmer & Tonja Stocks beekeepers +membership@gmail .com

Outreach Martha Kiene beekeepers +outreach@gmail .com

Recognition Carolyn Foley beekeepers +recognition@gmail .com

Mentoring Chelsea Romulo beekeepers +mentoring@gmail .com

Librarian Frank Linton beekeepers + librarian@gmail .com

Webmaster Kamalesh Kalarickal beekeepers +webmaster@gmail .com

Spring Nuc Program Julie Waser beekeepers +nuc@gmail .com

GIS Mapping Chelsie Romulo & Jeny Beausoleil beekeepers +gis@gmail .com

Workerbees

NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 5

BANV Minutes - October 22, 2013

The October meeting was held at theThomas Jefferson Library, 58 attendeeslled the meeting room. President Rob McKinney opened the

meeting at 7:03 and led a shortdiscussion of the proposed bylawamendment that changes the dates ofthe yearly membership period. Theoor was then opened and a motionto adopt was made by Tom Greinerwhich was seconded. The motionpassed with no dissenting votes.

Carolyn Foley then spoke about thenominating committee effort to recruitsome volunteers for the ofcerpositions in the upcoming boardelections. If you are interested inserving as an ofcer of the club pleasecontact her.

Rob then mentioned some upcomingdates of interest the VSBA Nov. 9 th

meeting and our BANV Novembermeeting which will be held Nov. 19 th.He also mentioned the January 2014meeting will feature a recognitionaward, contact a member of therecognition committee or Rob forfurther details.

Beekeeping classes begin in early 2014,we are still looking for mentors fornew students. Hap O’Brien then talked about thisyear’s queen rearing program andreminded members that the queensare available for free to members.Recipients of the queens are asked toreport back about how the queensperformed, and this year there were83 queens distributed of which thereare currently 23 survivors with 5queens still awaiting a report backfrom their owners. Next year’s queensare expected to be available from mid-May to around July.

Brenda Keisling offered a reminderthat if you have not placed the locationof your hives on her giant map with ared dot, please do so at one of themonthly meetings.

The featured speaker of the eveningProfessor German Perilla was thenintroduced by president McKinney. Hebegan a very interesting talk about theprograms at GMU concerning ourlocal bees and those that he workswith which are located in theAmazonian portion of Peru.Unfortunately there were sometechnical difculties with the slideshow but the Professor agreed toreturn in the near future to nish histalk.

The meeting then adjourned at 8:30.

Respectfully submitted

David Thompson

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Beekeeping Suppliers Located Within125 Miles of Arlington

Virginia Bee Supply

6572 Weaver Lane Bealeton, Virginia, 22712 Phone: (540) 905-5563 (Local Brushy Mountain Dealer)

Maryland Honey Co. 24228 Club View Drive Gaithersburg, Maryland 20882(Shop is just east of Damascus, Maryland) Phone: 301-518-9678

(Independent Dealer in Baltimore) Miller Bee Supply 12920 Eastern Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Phone: 410-335-3424

Busy Bee Supplies Martinsburg, WVa Phone: 304-671-3562 Valley Bee Supply 46 Tinkling Spring Road Fishersville, VA 22939 Phone: 540-941-8127

NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 6