NEW QUEEN EMERGENCE As my husband and I (brand new beekeepers this year!) Were inspecting one of our colonies, a fascinating thing happened.We saw a new queen emerging, taking her first step on the frame. We had our camera and Ben took a beautiful picture of this unforgettable moment. It happened on June 29,2010. We were in awe to witness such beauty. REQUEENING LAYING WORKER COLONIES It is generally accepted that a laying worker colony is virtually impossible to requeen. Most of the literature says shake the remaining bees out in front of other colonies and start over. I had good luck for a time of moving the hive off its stand and setting up an identical hive in its place – put a caged queen in the new hive on the old stand, and the returning foragers would accept her. A couple weeks later the original hive could be set back on top and everybody would get together and keep the new queen. I did that for a long time with complete success – then later it would fail sometimes. With all of the need to make up winter losses, lots of new queens are coming into our apiaries each year. It seems that a percentage of these queens will become drone layers every year. After that happens, those queens will “run” and be hard to find. I Found that having a well established nuc with a good queen in it available, and combining them was the easiest fix – but if the nuc was much smaller than the colony to be requeened, even if you used newspaper between, the bees would often keep the drone layer, perhaps because she was young and has lots of pheromone. It was when I ran into a large colony (2 deeps and a shallow) filled with bees and eggs in all 3 supers from multiple laying workers, that I thought of a solution to all these messes. I pulled off the outer cover, took a small nuc (3 frames in a deep and well established), and set it over the inner cover of the laying worker colony, being careful to slide it back a bit for an entrance.Then, I put the outer cover on top and left for a couple weeks. I used a small nuc because I feared it would be lost. I left the inner cover hole open for a slow mixing, yet with both colonies able to keep a mass take over from happening. They could treat the hole as sort of a demilitarized zone. I came back later and the bees from below had slowly abandoned the laying workers for a good first lady upstairs. They had filled the upper super with bees, brood and honey, and the queen had gone down through the hole to start laying below. By then the laying workers were gone and I pulled out the inner cover and traded brood frames to get it back to it’s original size.I’ve done it since on many drone layers and it has worked every time so far. I’m not sure this method would work if the queen below was poor, but laying some worker brood. The bees might not abandon her so readily. Someone may have used this before, but I’ve never read anything about it. Perhaps it can help others. Dale Lesser PESTICIDE BEE LOSSES Mr. Randy Oliver’s SICK BEES in the August 2010 issue of American Bee Journal joins a host of similar published articles and speeches that mostly avoid the use of the word “pesticide”. For most of the past four years these presentations with some research completed before David Hackenberg reported the November, 2006 losses of many colonies, have effectively helped promote the greatly expanded use of the new neonicotinoid pesticides. Rachael Carson surely must be Revolving in her casket! I am not challenging data these researchers have presented, but there are so many other issues that are consistently ignored.Except for those with their “heads in the sand” there are countless examples that have been documented that show a definite correlation between colony losses and the use of the new (as well as the old) pesticides. Too many of the researchers have failed to conclude that two plus two still equals four, but are happy to report “plausible” causes using George Orwell’s 1984 arithmetic. Many examples can be given: 1) When 35,000 colonies were lost in Germany in 2008, Bayer did not deny that clothianidin had caused the problem, but blamed improper use of their pesticide. Cannot this happen again? 2) Three thousand organic beekeepers claim no CCD problem. One explanation of colonies being lost has been reported under questionalbe conditions. Most researchers would agree that one example out of three thousand does not prove a point! 3) Last year, the beekeepers in Paris, France where pesticides are not permitted, averaged over 100 pounds of honey per hive. Last year only Louisiana and Mississippi averaged over 100 pound. 4) Research has been reported that the pesticides (and other chemicals) weaken the bee’s immune system and this makes the bee more susceptible to disease, viruses, pathogens, etc. In the United States, researchers are saying the diseases weaken the bee’s resistance to pesticides. 5) With large numbers of chemicals being found in brood combs, is it any wonder bees are sick? Lawrence A. DuBose PhD Retired Civil Engineer with almost 40 years beekeeping experience. Carol Stream, IL BEEKEEPING SAFETY All through our life we hear the admonition," Be Careful!" Said by parents, grandparents, siblings and spouses. From our first steps, all the way into old age, we are encouraged to watch what we are doing. As a young grandson, I worked with my grandfather in his shop, and he taught me many sayings of wisdom. First he would speak the saying in German, then translate it into English. Some of these sayings stayed with me And have become invaluable in later life, even in this account I will tell you here! One of the adages he taught was, “You might get away with a mistake, but you can never break the laws of nature!” Laws of nature, gravity, balance, friction, energy – all these have comforting standards when they are adhered to, and very strict consequences when they are disobeyed. On July 2, 2010, I inadvertently broke some of the natural laws, and have paid a price. Interestingly, the procedure I used had been done many times before, but how often has one taken a chance, and just because they made it through the circumstance one time, does not guarantee that they will again. But back to my story; I was boiling water on an old camp-stove to run through my extractor to sterilize it, in order to process honey. I had done this numerous times before, and used due care each time. But this time, as I walked by the camp-stove, I brushed the three gallon pot with my hip, and the boiling pot spilled down my left leg and poured into my shoe, and soaked into my sock. The result was second degree burns over 160 square inches of my left leg and foot.The longer term result has bee excruciating pain, and many, many trips to the wound clinic for debridement (scraping which means – MORE PAIN). All of this, along with the lost ability to do work, the inconvenience to self and family, and expense.All of this, when perhaps a little more care, and some additional precautions, such as a larger pathway next to the heating area, would have avoided calamity. Beekeeping equipment is heavy, so we should always use proper lifting techniques. Honey house equipment can contain HOT liquids, and knives and cappings scratchers are sharp. BE CAREFUL - echo the words of mom and grandma. Oh if only we had! So, from Me, “Be Careful”. Martin Gutzmer HONEY FOR THE DOCTOR My husband and I are beekeepers and honey producers and, when our children were little and had a pediatrician appointment, the doctor always asked me to bring her a 5# jar of honey. So it was that, when visiting the pediatrician for a yearly check up, I seated our child on the examining table with a 5# jar of honey next to her. The nurse came in to take all the preliminary tests and, seeing the large jar of honey, said, “Ewwwww….did the doctor really want this much?” Need I say anything else? Karen Lorence Illinois BEEYARD USES FOR PLASTIC SIGN BOARDS I have seen articles in the past on thrifty beekeepers and the use of second-hand materials in the beeyard. Besides the use of corrogated plastic signboard material for making small hive beetle traps, here are some other uses for this handy material, after it has served its initial purpose. This free material is particularly useful when an apiary is growing faster than are the resources needed to fully equip it! And in an election year the bees are apparently indifferent to whether the signs come from Republican, Democrat or independent candidates! These signs were acquired after the election had been held by contacting the candidates or their election committee chairpersons. Joe Lewis Harford Honey Bel Air, MD