There is promising research coming out of Finland which, if successful, will be the first insect vaccine. American foulbrood is a devastating disease that requires killing all of the bees and burning of all equipment to prevent the spread to other colonies. The vaccine is edible and is passed from the queen to her offsprings. Read the full article here.
Brown County Beekeepers Association is happy to announce that we will helping support an Urban Beekeeping project in downtown Green Bay, WI.
Continue reading
Purchase your tickets by January 12, 2020 for the movie “The Pollinators” and it will be shown in Green Bay at Marcus Bay Park Cinema on January 23, 2020.
Watch the Movie Trailer
Overview: Much of the food on our tables comes from the intrinsic act of pollinating the flowers that become the fruits, vegetables and nuts we eat, but agricultural practices, pesticides and politics are making that simple act of nature more difficult everyday. Honey bees pollinate one third of the food we eat, yet alarmingly honey bee populations in this country have fallen by half since the 1940’s and continue to decline. Honey bees are threatened by indiscriminate pesticide use, disease, industrial scale mono-culture farming and powerful corporate lobbying interests that work to influence the EPA and USDA, who are our gatekeepers for a safe agricultural system. Our very food system is under threat and rests on the wings of these tiny insects and the commercial beekeepers that move them from farm to orchard pollinating crops that native pollinators can no longer adequately accomplish.
This film will follow migratory beekeepers and their bees throughout a growing season, joining them as they stop to pollinate the myriad plants and trees that depend upon honey bees to grow and produce our food. Much of the work moving bees is done at night when the bees are in their hives so few people actually get to see what these beekeepers do. Throughout the journey we will meet farmers, scientists, chefs and academics to give perspective to this complex food system that we all depend on. We will explain the problems of modern large scale agriculture, offer ideas on how it can be improved and learn about these pollinators that are a subculture of agriculture and a vital cornerstone of our entire food system. It’s a cinematic road trip that will result in a feature length documentary film about the importance of pollination to our food system, the complex interrelationship between migratory beekeepers, their bees and the agriculture system that needs these migratory honey bees in order to grow the food we eat.
The short answer is that honey can contain a bacteria that babies digestive systems are not yet developed enough to handle. The learn more click here.
Our last post about how to stop honey from crystallizing struck a nerve of at least one reader who contacted me directly. The point was made that honey with anything added was no longer natural, must be labeled as such, and, in their opinion, was not the right thing to do. Personally I don’t plan to add corn syrup to my honey for personal consumption or for sale. Here is an article on why honey crystallizes and argues that it is not a bad thing. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.
Cooks Illustrated, a renowned cooking magazine, recently had an article on how to keep honey from crystallizing. The “secret” is to add a small amount of corn syrup. Read more here to learn why it works and to find the amount of corn syrup needed.
Recently the Georgia Pacific Corporation in Green Bay WI displayed that it is more than just a paper company and they are environmentally sensitive. A swarm of honey bees was outside one of their mills. The easy answer would have been to kill them by spraying them with some sort of insecticide. Instead they contacted the Brown County Beekeepers Association. Read the full story here.
BCBA participating in GIRL SCOUT Journey!
The Brown County Beekeepers Association recently partnered with Girl Scout Troop 4679 from West De Pere, WI to assist troop members on their Girl Scout journey. The members Brooklynn Steier, Nicki Waystedt, and Skylar Schultz, participated with BCBA club members to construct, paint and install a hive as part of their Outdoor Journey. The Girl Scout Outdoor Journey is focused on environmental stewardship. The girls learn how to care for our planet by minimizing our ecological impact and to be an advocate for nature. Working with BCBA is a perfect fit for the girls to complete their Journey due to the important role bees play in our environment. The girls certainly have talent painting and were very engaged in installing the nuc in their new home.
During the May 2109 meeting of the Brown County Beekeepers Association attendees were treated to two informative talks related to honey bees. The bee clubs goal is to provide timely, accurate, and interesting education at each meeting. All persons interested in bees and beekeeping are invited to attend.
Kaelyn Sumner Pulaski FFA Student Advisor. She presented her science fair project that she will be taking to state level. Her goal was to determine if location or geographic location impacted glucose levels in honey. She had over 60 honey samples from all across the United States and even one from Canada. One of her biggest challenges was finding the correct dilution of the honey to determine glucose levels. Surprisingly, she found that geographic location did NOT impact glucose levels in honey. Thank you for your work and for sharing with our club. Kaelyn will be presenting her project to State – Wisconsin Convention as one of the five top projects.
Slava Strogolov CEO of Strong Microbials Inc. presented information about Honey Bee nutrition using pre-biotics and strong microbials to promote bee health, reproduction and longevity. He explained the positive impact of using pre-biotics on Foul Brood, Chalk Brood, other diseases and pesticides and insecticides. Attendees had the opportunity to buy his product DFM.
As unlikely as it sounds over 180,000 bees survived the enormous fire at France’s Notre Dame Cathedral. You can read more here.