Fall is in the air

Just a quick post and announcement. Did get some e.mail w/a link I wanted to share regarding the NY Times article on solving the mystery of colony collapse disorder.

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The Kauai Beekeeper's Association (KBee)

invites the public to attend

an informational meeting on

 Wednesday Oct 27, 2010

6:30pm – 8:00pm

KCC-Technology Building

Open Invitation to all beekeepers, farmers and anyone

concerned about honeybees on Kaua'i.

 Learn about Varroa Mite Prevention Strategies for Kauai

and how to become involved with KBEE's effort

 to keep Kaua'i varroa mite free.

For more information please visit us on the internet at:

 http://kauaibuzz.blogspot.com/

or contact

Jimmy Trujillo 346 7725 or Erik Coopersmith 335 0710

What happened to September?

Had an earlier post disappear into cyber space; hope this one doesn't. Speaking of disappearances, here's a link to a recent article explaining the cause of colony collapse. It is a NY Times article so you may have to register to read. Here's another option if that didn't work. Another interesting site is this one where some additional links will take you to another NY Times article about bees.

Staying Busy

This summer has been a busy time. Lots of activity around the island with folks calling about swarms establishing themselves in walls, beneath decks, up in the eaves and even in trees. Been hard to keep up. Spending a lot of time building boxes, frames and coordinating crews to help folks out with their problematic visitors. Sure do appreciate all the folks who choose to remove them instead of extermination. Often this is much more expensive but it is a better alternative as it helps the bees the do their pollination service which helps us have more local food to enjoy. So mahalo to all of you who choose the eco-friendly alternative to extermination as a means to rid yourself of nuisance bees in your home.

Here's a link to a great article I read online this weekend. It's about backyard beekeeping and how to get started. If this interests you, come to a KBee meeting and get involved in keeping bees on Kaua'i. As the article points out it's really simple to get started. Here's a couple of video links showing you how some folks do it. This one's really good. There's a second part to it. There's lots of useful online information out there.

For more information about beekeeping here on Kaua'i you might want to come to KCC later this week. KBEE will be hosting Darcy Oishi from the Hawaii State Department of Agriculture on Thursday evening. Darcy who is the state coordinator of HDOA's varroa mite project will be discussing, amongst other topics, an upcoming visit by researchers from the USDA doing a varroa monitoring project in the state. The monitors from USDA will visit all the islands that have not reported varroa mite and Kaua'i is their first stop. Their visit will be next week on Monday and Tuesday. They will be presenting at KCC on Monday evening. I haven't received all the details from Darcy but will post more information before their arrival.

Here's the details for this Thursday's KBEE meeting:

Time:  Thursday 8.5.10 6:00pm- 7:30pm

Location: KCC Electronic Technology Building-Conference Room ( look for KBee banner)

 

This is an open meeting and all interested community members are welcomed. Hope you can make it.

The latest Buzz: Recent news coverage of KBee

The Kauai Beekeepers Association held their most recent meeting last week. It was attended by some of the regulars and some first timers interested in learning more about KBee and getting started in beekeeping

Also in attendance were Bill Spitz from the county's Office of Economic Development who oversees some of the county's local agricultural initiatives. Bill provided some helpful insight into other aspects of funding opportunities for KBee and the county.

Another surprise visitor was Coco Zickos from the Garden Island Newspaper. Her articles in the Sunday and Monday editions covered the meeting's highlights well. Mahalo Coco for the coverage and followup with Monsanto representatives. We'll see where the conversation takes us. We look forward to finding out more from our local seed farmers on how their operations impact bees foraging for food on Kauai.


We'll keep you posted on any developments as we engage with folks interested in keeping Kauai's bees clean. Here's a couple links that may help you understand what's going on with bee's around the globe.

Kaua'i Beekeeper's Association Meeting this Thursday

It's been a while but we're having a meeting this week. Please come and check out KBee's meeting this Thursday at KCC in the Electronic Technology Building's conference room (look for the KBee banner). The meeting starts at 6pm and will end around 7:30pm. We'll be discussing workshops and trainings, our varroa mite swarm trap program w/HDOA and what's going on with the bee on the Westside. Of course there will also be discussions on swarming bees, handling calls from the public and responding to swarm removals for folks w/unwanted bees. Hope you can make it. Here are the details:

KBEE Meeting 

Thursday July 1, 2010 

6:00pm - 7:30pm

KCC Electronic Tech Building

Hard to keep up!

Here's the first post in a month. So much stuff going on. The Garden Fair was a good time, mahalo to Eric and Francis for your help in making the KBEE booth happen. Unfortunately, Darcy Oishi from the HDOA was unable to attend but Jackie Kozak from HISC and Cal Hirai from OC 16 were present to video tape part of it as a project to raise awareness about the role HDOA plays in securing and inspecting agricultural products moved throughout the state.

Craig Kaneshige who is the Kauai HDOA field person who does monitoring and pest removal was able to attend the meeting and shared that there was a swarm trap with bees in the Port Allen vicinity. Craig along with KBEE members removed the swarm trap. 

Here's a couple of photos of the swarm trap excursion.

 This was the first joint swarm trap removal between HDOA and KBEE.  The trap was full of bees and some comb and has been sent off island to be tested for varroa mite and other bee maladies such as American Foul Brood .

Of course, now with the news from the Big Island, the small hive beetle  (SHB) may be our next pest of great concern. We'll post any news or reports from the HDOA on how we may best prevent the spread of SHB. The bees sure have a lot of challenges these days but hopefully the resiliency of our honey making pollinators can overcome them. From over working them to potential harmful GMO products our bees are at risk and need all the support we can give'em.   Mahalo to all of you who have decided to be bee friendly and help however you can.

We'll be sitting at a KBEE booth at the Seed Exchange next week in Kapa'a. Hope to see you there.

The Kauai Beekeeper's Association (KBee)

invites the public to attend

an informational meeting on

Saturday April 17, 2010

4:00pm – 5:30pm

KCC-Technology Building

Open Invitation to all beekeepers, farmers and anyone

concerned about honeybees on Kaua'i

Learn about Varroa Mite Prevention Strategies for Kauai

and how to become involved with KBEE's effort

to keep Kaua'i varroa mite free

Invited speaker will be Darcy Oishi

from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture's Plant Pest Control

to explain how to prevent varroa mite from becoming a

major problem on Kaua’i