2010 Annual Honey Show Winners!

Please take a look at the products members have for sale.
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NJBA President's Message August/September 2010

YOUR BEES ARE TALKING. ARE YOU LISTENING?

Summer is definitely upon us and our bees. The spring flow has come to a screeching halt throughout our state and the mites are preparing to overwhelm them as fall looms. August is the time to start considering what you need to provide, so your bees can successfully accomplish their winter preparations.

Whether you choose to feed light syrup and medicate now to insure healthy bees for the fall flow is a personal decision. Just understand that if you choose to do nothing, your hive losses will be greater than those who do something. That is your first decision. Should I do something? If the answer is, “Yes, I choose to do something,” then obviously what to do becomes the second issue.

It is this question I will focus on. The first question is your choice. Once you decide to do something, it’s important to understand why you are doing what you are doing. For this I defer to your bees. Your bees are talking to you. Are you listening? This is not a joke. Yes, your bees talk to you. You are your bees veterinarian and must learn to “talk” honeybee.

Do they talk in the King’s English? NO. They do, however, provide lots of visual indicators that provide circumstantial evidence of their needs. Visual cues are the basis of an icon-based language. Just like your computer and its icons, which all have meaning.

The most common visual cues include some of the following: Has the queen begun to lay fewer eggs? Do you see nectar? Pollen? Eggs? Larvae? Honey? Lace wing bees? Bees crawling in front of hive in morning? All of these facts paint a picture of your bees’ general health. Ignore these facts, and others, at your own peril. To learn more about visual cues, attend meetings and open your hives.

Whenever your bees die, Ask yourself. Was I listening? I promise you your bees were talking.

Seth Belson, NJBA & SJBA President

The first place winner in the Photography Division of the 2009 Annual Honey Show was this closeup of a worker on an Echinacea flower. (Photo by Susan E. Ellis)