Seen it before....

not really news......


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT -  JIMMY TRUJILLO 346 7725


TWO PRESENTATIONS ON BEEKEEPING
MONDAY NOV 29, 2010 6PM
KCC  TECH 114
TUESDAY NOV 30, 2010 9AM
HDOA CONFERENCE ROOM

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The Kauai Beekeepers' Association and the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture invite Kaua'i beekeepers and persons interested in learning more about beekeeping to a free presentation by Rob Snyder, a member of Bee Laboratory team at Pennsylvania State University where he organizes and
assist in the National Honey Bee Survey. The Penn State Bee Laboratory is recognized nationally as one of the premier labs conducting research on varroa, diseases associated with varroa and colony collapse disorder.

Mr. Snyder will be giving two separate presentations on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. The first Beekeeping Basics, is geared toward beginning beekeepers and hobbyist and will address a variety of issues including how to keep your hives healthy and basic good practices for beekeeping. The second presentation is entitled “Preparing for Varroa and Small Hive Beetle”. This presentation is oriented to more advanced beekeepers and will focus on what beekeepers can do now to prepare for varroa and small hive beetle.

Presentation: Basic Beekeeping                                     Preparing for Varroa and Small Hive Beetle
Location: Kauai Community College                             HDOA Conference Room
Tech 114                                                                    4398A Pua Loke Street
Date: November 29, 2010                                           November 30, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM                                                             9:00 AM

For more information contact Darcy Oishi at (808) 973‐9524 or darcy.e.oishi@hawaii.gov
or Jimmy Trujillo at 346 7725 or jtrujill@hawaii.edu or visit  online at http://kauaibuzz.blogspot.com/

hope you can make it....

As noted in an earlier post there will be a presentation on beekeeping at KCC on Monday November 29 in the Electronic & Technology Building (ETRO 114). What I didn't know at the time of the previous post is that there will be an additional presentation on managing your hives and trying to keep a head of varroa mite and small hive beetle. 


This presentation will be on Tuesday morning at the HDOA conference room in Lihue. 
For more details on the state's response check out this link on their web page . For more details on the presentations check out the comments section in the earlier post, where Darcy Oishi from HDOA explains the focus of the workshops:  
Mr. Snyder will be giving two presentations. The first, Beekeeping Basics, is geared toward beginning beekeepers and hobbyist and will address a variety of issues including how to keep your hives healthy and basic good practices for beekeeping. The second presentation is entitled “Preparing for Varroa and Small Hive Beetle”. This presentation is oriented to more advanced beekeepers and will focus on what beekeepers can do now to prepare for varroa and small hive beetle. 


Basic Beekeeping Location: Kauai Community College, Tech 114
Date: November 29, 6:00 PM

Preparing for Varroa and Small Hive Beetle
Location: HDOA Conference Room
4398A Pua Loke Street
Date: November 30, 9:00 AM



For more information contact Darcy Oishi at (808) 973‐9524 or darcy.e.oishi@hawaii.gov

Hope you can make it.....

Good news

Went out to check on a hive that had some unusual brood cells. The larvae were somewhat deformed and the irregularity was noticeable to my novice eye. I pointed this out to my friend who after a few glances observed the misshapen form the uncapped brood.

Afterwards I went online and did a Google search for Honeybee Brood Disease. I wasn't too sure what I had seen but it looked like the larvae has been squashed yet there was no evidence of damaged cells and the misshaped forms were found at random in the brood cell. My worst fear was that it might be the dreaded American Foul Brood.

What I found, when i checked my hives in the fading light of early evening, appeared more like Chalk Brood. Now I will  have to ask some of my more knowledgeable bee keeping friends how to treat this bee malady and how to prevent it from spreading to other hives in that yard. Sure glad I won't have to torch my hive to get rid of the disease.

Some more good news comes from the Big Island, where the Big Island Beekeepers Association hosted a Honey Tasting event. The results were hard to find on the BIBA website but thanks to an e.mail from a friend this link to Damon Tucker's Blog gave the results in an excellent post that included pictures from a recent swarm removal on his property.

Congratulations to Kauai beekeepers Joyce and Francis Takahasi with their Miki Mac honey and the Lydgate Ohana of Steelgrass Farms in Wailua who won a blue ribbon each in the Best Liquid and Best Appearance respectively. Mahalo for representing Kaua'i so well.

Might as well pile on some more good news. Coming up in a few weeks on Monday November 29 at KCC, a panel discussion hosted by the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture will take place in the Electronic and Technology Building's lecture hall at 6pm. I hope to receive some more details on the speakers and the subject matter and will post them as soon as I can. Here's an excerpt from HDOA agent Darcy Oishi's e.mail,"The post-poned trip is finally happening and I must apologize but we have short notice again. Can you set up a room for them to give a presentation on Monday the 29th if at all possible at 6:00 PM. I'm going to generate info and everything about the meeting. Things have been crazy hectic man. The talk they'll give is a beekeeping basics course and kind of cover what you all need to do to prepare for varroa and small hive beetle. it will focus more on best practices. "

This was scheduled earlier this year but had to be postponed due to a family emergency of one of the featured speakers. I'll post more details later. Mahalo to Chris, Ben and Joshua for forwarding bee related info to me. I hope this blog can continue to be a useful forum for folks wanting learn and share more about bees and beekeeping. Aloha aina and have a beautiful day.








 

November already?

Thought I'd post something sooner but been too busy with other stuff. I did want to thank folks who showed up to our last KBEE meeting. There was a fine discussion on how beginning beekeepers best learn and how KBEE can play a role in assisting them in finding equipment, information or places to host a hive or two.  We also discussed hosting a series of meetings and screenings of the film, Vanishing of the Bees.
Another topic of discussion was about the way you orient your frames in your boxes and the importance of keeping your frames in order and to take care not to just randomly place the frames in your box wily-nily style. To a beginner like me, this was good information. A handout was passed around and I'll try to post it here once I figure out how. A suggestion to scan and send via e.mail sounded more promising. Let me know if you are interested in receiving this information.
Another topic was the pros and cons of wax or plastic foundations. This will be a post on it's own and will save it for later. The morning light is bright and I have way too much to do today. I will post more on the subject later.
Until then here's a link to a PBS video from their Nature series. Also a couple of links to other bee bloggers who are sharing the news about beekeeping. Enjoy and bee well !

The back of Xman's truck after removing a hive from underneath a deck. We bagged the comb after filling up the cooler and pots with honey drenched comb. Was a sweet mess for sure!