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Individual

Highlights:

Jeff's Obituary 6

Geoff’s Corner 8

About Our Club 8

I wanted to take a momentto acknowledge all thepeople that put in timehelping out and giving back.We have a lot of membersthat go above and beyond.I'm sure I will forget tomention someone but thebottom line is those of youputting in those extra hoursare appreciated. We havemembers like Doreen whogo out to schools and talk tochildren. They teach theyounger generation allabout bees. Then there arethe mentors who work withnew beekeepers and giveadvice. Their time is

Volunteers

Field Day

This years field day was veryenjoyable. Many thanks toRick and Colette Stushnofffor hosting and showing offall their equipment. Therewere several methods ofpulling honey demonstrated

invaluable.Come this time of year wehave our greatest need forvolunteers as Michelle andColette prepare to presenta booth at Agribition. Thisis no small task and theirefforts should beacknowledged. Themembership will becontacted in the near futurerequesting volunteers tohelp. I urge everyone to getout and help out, it is agreat experience and agreat way to learn Aaboutbees. If you would like tovolunteer contact MichelleFrischholz (781-4457) or

Colette Stushnoff (699-2599).

Andrew

including pads with ”beego" and "bee dunn", the tipoff method, a bee escape,the brush, the tap, and abee blower.Rope tying was alsodemonstrated with the

good old beekeepers knot.After doing the field stuff wereturned to their plant wherewe toured the heat room,extracting room andwarehouse.There was a draw for a beeclock and then we all satdown to enjoy somedelicious honey dishes theparticipants made.

Andrew

October 15, 2012

2012 Fall Issue

Special Interest

Articles:

Using AlfalfaPellets in yourSmoker 2

President’sReport 3

In Search of thePerfect Bee -Part 2 4

Bumble-HeadedBeekeeper 6

SBAConvention 6

Honey Today 8

Regina and District Bee Club (RDBC)

Queen City Buzz Page 2 of 8

Last year severalbeekeepers had troublewith using alfalfa pellets(AP) as material in theirsmokers. This article issupport for those of youthat have trouble keepingthe material smoking.The reason I use AP isthat they last a long time,and they produce a coolersmoke (so you don’t flameyour bees). The reasonwhy they burn cooler isthat they contain moisture.Because of this, you haveto use other materials withthe AP.Safety First. Make sureyou have a water sourceto use on any burningmaterial that you mayhave to extinguish if thingsgo awry. Since you’ll bestarting a fire, also makesure that all combustiblematerial is out of the wayof the area where you willbe lighting your smoker.Make sure to pay attentionto wind direction, lest youflame all the hair off yourarm or start somethingbeside you on fire.Grab all the things you’regonna need for the event.Including the safety thingsmentioned, include yourhive tool, fresh AP, thindry branches, matches,and newspaper (paper,not thick coated inserts).Assuming you used AP inthe smoker last time, grabyour smoker and emptythe contents. Remove allthe really burnt materialand keep the AP that looklike they can be reused.Use this material as thefirst layer at the bottom ofthe smoker once itsempty.

Using Alfalfa Pellets in Your Smoker

If you are starting withfresh AP, follow thedirections below, ensuringthat you achieve an endgoal of starting a burningbase of burning material.As with all fires, the drysmaller stuff burns theeasiest. Throw some twigson the first layer of usedpellets into your smoker.Light a bit of newspaperand throw that in too. Useyour hive tool to move theburning material aroundand try and get the twigscrackling via the lightedpaper.

Keep adding bits of paperas the existing paperburns so that continual fireis around the twigs.Throughout the processmake sure to keep“puffing” your smoker (thisis important – don’t stoppuffing). Add more twigsand paper and move theburning mass around untilyou hear the crackling.Basically make thematerial flame high, thiswill get the twigs crackling.Start adding anyexcess/used AP or newAP. As the burning masscontinue to flame, you’llstart the first layer

burning. Continue to addthe new AP and puff thatsmoker. Your goal, is toget a good burning basegoing so that when youadd more AP and twigs,they’ll alight. If you findthat you have a thick layerof AP on top of theburning mass below,without any twigs, makesure to add some twigs.

This is also important. Youshould have twigs withinthe layers of AP so thatthey will burn too.Now that your hand issore from puffing thesmoker for 2 minutes, andsmoke is rising from thetop layer of AP, it’s time toclose that smoker lid.Once closed, continue topuff the smoker. Test yoursmoking creation by stoppuffing and see if thesmoker stays smoking.During this test, thesmoker may not smokeright away – give it acouple seconds.Filling the smoker until it’salmost full, if donecorrectly, will last hours (4hours has been thehighest for me). You cantop the smoker off withthat little perforatedcircular metal piece sothat the material doesn’tfall out the end of thesmoker when you areusing it.Note that the paper/twigsand even the used AP willburn hotter than the newAP as they should be dry.

Generally though, thefinished product shoulddeliver a cool smoke thatwill not flame the wings offyour bees.

If for some reason thatsmoker didn’t stay lit, or itstops smoking later, dumpa little out in a fire safespot. Keep most of thematerial that you originallyplaced in the smokerinside it still at this point,but keep it tilted. Getsome dry paper/twigsaflame in it, on top of themass of AP and get agood flame going to startsome more embers. Theembers will get the APgoing again.

Conrad

Queen City Buzz Page 3 of 8

Greetings to all,So this production year isslowly coming to a close.By all accounts it was aproductive year. The girlsdid a great job again. Weheld a summer afternoonfield day at Richard andColette Stushnoff's wherevarious demonstrations ofpulling honey were shown.This hands ondemonstration was veryinteresting and beneficial.We also went through anddiscussed the different setups for extracting. Thisrevolved around differentequipment and location ofsaid pieces. A small lunch

President’s Report

with honey recipes wasvery enjoyable as well.Thanks to Richard andColette for hosting and tothe demonstrators for yourexpertise.Once again the Agribitionis coming up in Novemberand we will have our SaskEd. booth and trade fairbooth. Our Co-ordinatorswill be phoning around forworkers so keep it mind.

May the flow bee with you,

Jeff Tholl

(Jeff wrote this a weekbefore passing away)

The SBDC is a

major sponsor

of our Agribition

Booth every year!

Bees For Sale in May, 2013:Approx. 50 doubles, some nucs.

Also supers, wraps & feeder pails.

Queen City Buzz Page 4 of 8

In Search of the Perfect Bee - Part 2

In the first part of thisarticle (last newsletter), Idescribed the process ofobtaining four queensfrom Bill Ferguson inOntario. Bill raisesBuckfast bees, a strain ofApis Millifera, developedby Brother Adam fromBuckfast Abbey inEngland.The Buckfast bee containsheritage from mainly A.m.ligurica (North Italian),A.m. mellifera (English),A.m. mellifera (French),A.m. anatolica (Turkish)and A.m. cecropia(Greek). The Buckfast beeof today also containsheritage from two rare anddocile African stocks A.m.sahariensis and the A.m.monticola, but not the"Africanized" A.m.scutellata.

It took Brother Adamyears of breeding andexperimenting andtravelling the world insearch of differentspecies, but eventually hewas able to come up withthe consistent results hewas looking for. Becauseof the isolated sites of theapiaries on remoteDartmoor in south Devon,England, Brother Adamwas able to maintaingenetic integrity anddevelop the desirabletraits he had determined.

I finally acquired myBuckfast queens in mid

July, so I was not surehow well they would do asfar as honey producingthis year. I split my originalhive and queened it with aBuckfast bee. I re-queened a farm hive thatsuffered a drift spray ofpoison from a crop dusterand I built two nucs withthe remaining queens.I only have a year’sexperience in beekeepingso I can’t comment a loton specifics of this breed,but I can certainly speakto the following points.• Good honey producer?

Well on the third pullthis year, I got one ofmy heaviest supersfrom the re-queenedhive that had re-populated with themajority beingBuckfast bees.

• Prolific queens? Thesplit, the re-queenedhive and the nucs builtup rather quickly andthe queens werelaying constantly aftertheir introduction. Thenucs needed anotherbrood super addedafter about twoweeks.

• Extremely gentle withlow sting instinct?Definitely! If I beganworking the Buckfasthives first, there washardly a need forsmoke. There wasnever a fly-upresponse when theinner covers wereopened and thepopulation was docileand pleasant whenframes were removedand checked.

• Produces little propolisor brace comb? I had

had a bit of a problemthis year with the otherhives producing lots ofbrace comb on somenew foundation that Iadded, but the Buckfastdid not create thatproblem. As far aspropolis, I didn’t noticeany more or less thanthe other hives.

• The queens definitelyslowed laying and broodrearing ceased in late fall

• Highly Tracheal mitetolerant? Can’t say as Idon’t do autopsies on mybees, but when I did amite test this fall, mycount was extremelylow. The Buckfast hivesand nucs had one, one,zero and zero, and thatwas with two tests eachjust to make sure I wasright the first time.

• Overwinters well and doeswell in cold, wet spring?Can’t say as that is forthis winter and nextspring to determine. Buttheir stores going intowinter areextremelyabundantand neatlycapped.

So there youhave it – parttwo is acautioussuccess for meright now. I likethese bees.They are verygentle and easyto work. If theywinter well andstart strongly inthe spring, I’llbe orderingmore queensand re-queening the

rest of the hives withBuckfast.For now, everyone iswrapped up and hopefullystaying warm and well-fed.I’m pretty happy with myexperiment this year andgrateful for the verynecessary help from mymentor Andrew Hamilton,great advice from Coletteand Rick Stushnoff andinformation and permitsfrom Geoff Wilson.

If you are interested infurther information aboutthe Buckfast Bee orBrother Adam, here aresome links: Beekeeping atBuckfast Abbey by BrotherAdam – Northern BeeBooks – ISBN 0-907908-37-3http://www.fergusonapiaries.on.ca/http://www.buckfast.org.uk/site.php?use=bees

Robin

Queen City Buzz Page 5 of 8

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home 306.864.3774

fax 306.864-3260

beeranch@sasktel.net

NOW AVAILABLEDistributor for:

MEDIVET products• Fumagilin-B; Oxytet-25,bee-repel

NOD Apiary products• bee brief; bee cozy wrap

• liquid formic acid drums

• mite-away quick strip*

FW Jones products• frames/supers

Mann Lake products• rite-cell foundation

• excluders

• sideliner extracting equipment

FeedBee supplement• 1 x 12 ponderosa pine lumber

Queen City Buzz Page 6 of 8

Most people don’t considerkeeping thousands of tinybugs that can swarm andsting in their yards as ahobby. I don’t really blamethem. Never being one ofthose types that is afraid ofbugs, I didn’t give it a secondthought. The experiencedidn’t scare me in theslightest which, uponreflection, I wish I had beenmore prepared. Luckily nofatal mistakes were made.At least none that were fatalto her royal highness.Talking to more experiencedfolk definitely quieted myfears and answered theendless questions I had.Living in a place where therewere no other beekeepersfor over an hours drive didn’thelp. It almost felt like I wasa 5 year old when Iconfronted my ever so

accommodating and patientmentor with all thequestions, but no questionis a stupid one. Soaking upall the information is thehard part. I had heardsomething about skunkseating bees and didn’t takeit very seriously. Mistake.To my dismay one day ababy skunk was eating thebees. For how long, andhow many of its familymembers had also beenfeasting, we do not know.The bees took a little longerthan normal to recover andthe effect was seen in theamount of honey weharvested. That lesson waslearned. Fortunately for me,that was the worst thing Iencountered in my first yearkeeping bees. I enjoyed thelearning aspect ofeverything and even more

so, I enjoy the honey. Nothingabout it feels like a chore andso long as I can say that, I willkeep watching over thethousands of bees doing all thehard work. I still consider myselfpractically clueless. It’s a goodthing they know what they aredoing. Trying to re-queen a newcolony next year will be aninteresting new project to takeon……

Erin

Bumble-Headed Beekeeper

The SBA's annualconvention is in Novemberfrom the 28th to the 30th. Ifyou can come I would doso. This is where all theprovinces commercialbeekeepers go to heargreat speakers andindustry updates. There aremany displays setup for thedifferent industryequipment suppliers. Theclub will have arepresentative there andthey will bring back somenotes to our AGM in March,which is on the 15th (we'llremind you again about ourAGM later).

Andrew

SBA Convention

You can order a

subscription to the ABJ on

your 2013-14 Membership

Would you like a T-shirt?Trade Show booth and Agri-Ed Volunteers will receive adiscount!!!!

Jeff's ObituaryJEFFREY THOLLMay 5, 1959 - October 8,2012It is with great sadness andheavy hearts that we mustsay goodbye to Jeff, a dearhusband, father andgrandfather. Jeff diedsuddenly on Monday,October 8, 2012 at the ageof 53 years. He is survivedby his loving wife Paulette(nee Gorniak); his threesons: Nolan (Tamara) andtheir family Xavier andAlexandria, Clint (Angie) andtheir family Hayden andKenna, and Jared(Catherine); his motherBernadette; his brothers andsisters: Celine Holloway(Ron), Toni Joy (Perry),

Alma (Kirby), Hardy(Allison), Victor (Tamara),Karla Ruggieri (Rodrigo);his father-in-law andmother-in-law Paul andPauline Gorniak; sisters-in-law Shirley (Henry),Daphne and Patricia andtheir families. He is alsosurvived by his nieces,nephews and cousins. Jeffwas predeceased by hisfather Herb in 2009. Thefuneral mass will becelebrated in the St. PiusR.C. Church, Windthorst,SK, on Saturday, October13, 2012 at 11:00 a.m.Prayers will be held in thechurch Friday evening at7:30. Interment in the

parish cemetery. If friends sodesire, contributions to acharity of their choice may betokens of remembrance.Online condolences may bemade at www.tubmanfh.com

Queen City Buzz Page 7 of 8

Wholesale Honeywas averaged at $4.18/lbduring Aug. 2012.

Retail Honey wasaveraged at $5.59/lbduring Aug. 2012.

Bulk Honey wasaveraged at $1.67/lbduring April 2012.

Geoff’s Corner

Honey Today

The Regina and DistrictBee Club has been activein the City of Regina forover fifty years as acooperative for orderinghoney bees and as anetwork for education andinformation onbeekeeping.

It is a priority to informmembers about currentissues in the beekeepingindustry to ensure that aproactive role is taken withall industry issues such asbee diseases, mites andpesticides.

The Regina and DistrictBee Club participates inthe Agri-Ed Show Case atCanadian WesternAgribition. The focus is toeducate children fromGrades 4-6 aboutagriculture and food. Clubmembers volunteer theirtime to speak about the

About Our Club…

See something you like?

Have questions?

Do you have ideas orfeedback?

Let us know!!!

1132 Broadway Ave. E.Regina, SK S4N 1A8

PHONE:(306) 757-5958

E-MAIL:ilovebees@reginabeeclub.ca

We’re on the Web!

See us at:

www.reginabeeclub.ca

Have questions and need informationabout beekeeping in Saskatchewan?

Do you want to become a registeredBeekeeper in our Province?

Contact Saskatchewan's ProvincialApiarist:

Geoff Wilson (306.953.2304)

Email: geoff.wilson@gov.sk.ca

Statistics taken from the

National Honey Board

bees and beekeeping towell in excess of 10,000visitors each year.

The Regina and DistrictBee Club in partnershipwith the SaskatchewanBeekeepers Associationprofile the bee keepingindustry as a whole in theTrade Show area in orderto:

• Promote and sellproducts of the hive;

• Inform visitors aboutthe industry and itsrole in theSaskatchewaneconomy; and

• Develop a relationshipwith otherSaskatchewanagriculture producers.

Membership Benefits:

• A cooperative forordering bees;

• At the annualmeeting, guestspeakers are invitedto give presentationson current issues;

• Communication ofindustry issues toenable members tohave a voice inprovincial decisionmaking;

• Hold “Field Days” toenable members tolearn aboutbeekeeping bestpractice methods; and

• Information andsupport system forfellow beekeepers.

Want to Advertise in theQueen City Buzzzzzz?

Business Card $10.00

1/4 pg $25.00

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Our next Newsletter will beJanuary. Deadline for

submissions is Dec. 20, 2012.