- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
This is the time of year when scores of prospective beekeepers contact Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology for advice on beginning beekeeping.
Many want to keep a hive or two in their backyards but don't know where to start.
It's not as simple as purchasing a queen bee off the Internet. You have to buy packaged bees or collect a swarm to start a colony.
"If you haven't started (beginning beekeeping) yet, purchasing a honey bee queen won't do it," Mussen advised a Northern California woman today. "You need 2-3 pounds (6-9,000 bees) of worker bees to get things going. So, the new beekeeper usually either buys 'packaged bees' or collects a swarm."
"Individual queens are purchased to replace queens in colonies that already are going, or to add to frames of bees and brood--not including the old queen--that are removed from a strong colony, later in the season. That is called 'splitting' or 'dividing' the colony to get a total of two.
Mussen, who joined UC Davis in 1976 and will be retiring in June, always advises newcomers to join a local beekeeping association and read magazines and books.
"As for textbooks, it depends on how the bees are going to be kept. In what I refer to as 'normal' Langstroth hives, the book Beekeeping for Dummies is relatively good," Mussen told her. "If the bees are headed for a top-bar hive, then Les Crowder's book on that subject is reasonably priced. Smaller 'backyard' texts have recently been published by UC Davis emeritus professor Norman Gary (Honey Bee Hobbyist: the Care and Keeping of Bees); Bee Culture magazine editor Kim Flottum (The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden), and University of Florida emeritus professor Malcolm Sanford, who is the co-author with Richard E Bonney of Storey's Guide to Keeping Honey Bees: Honey Production, Pollination, Bee Health.
Mussen also pointed out that a newly revised rendition of the beekeeping bible, The Hive and the Honey Bee will soon replace the 1992 edition. "It is one of the most comprehensive texts out there," he said.
Beekeeping periodicals include The American Bee Journal, Bee Culture magazine and the Speedy Bee newspaper.
What about keeping bees along a busy street?
"Having a busy thoroughfare over your back fence will be problematic only if most of the bee-attractive water and flowers producing nectar and pollen are on the other side of the road," Mussen noted. "Then a bunch of the bees will become hood ornaments or windshield smudges. Be sure to have a good bee-watering set-up in place before the bees are moved in."
Prospective beekeepers also need to contact their local Cooperative Extension office for rules and regulations.
One very enduring part of being a first-year beekeeper: "The first year should be the smoothest," he said. "After that, pests and diseases become a concern."
Musssen writes a bimonthly newsletter, from the UC Davis apiaries, which can be downloaded free from his website. He also writes the periodic Bee Briefs and one includes Getting Started in Beekeeping.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event, hosted by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCHU), based at UC Davis, will take place at Giedt Hall, UC Davis campus, with a side trip to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Garden, just west of the campus, on Bee Biology Road.
Registration is underway at on the CCHU website.
CCHU program manager Anne Schellman says that this will be an informative workshop where participants will learn:
- How to identify common bee pollinators
- How to make a landscape pollinator-friendly
- Which plants pollinators prefer
- The latest research about honey bee health and pollinator habitat
- How UC Davis helps honey bees at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Garden
Honey bee and native pollinator specialists with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will be among the speakers.
7:30
Check-in
Please pick up materials and enjoy coffee and a light breakfast
7:50
Welcome
Dave Fujino, director of the California Center for Urban Horticulture, UC Davis
Edwin Lewis, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
8 to 8:40
The Buzz about Bees: Attracting and Observing Bees in Your Garden
Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
8:40-9:20
Habitat Enhancements to Support Bees: Agriculture to Urban Research
Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, associate professor, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
9:20-10
Honey Bee Health: Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
10-10:20
Break
10:20-11
Plants for Pollinators: Ellen Zagory, director of horticulture, UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, UC Davis
11-11:30
Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven Garden Update: What's New in the Garden?
Christine Casey, manager of Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
11:30 Pick up box lunch
11:30-2
Open house at Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road (It's located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility)
Questions and answers with Robbin Thorp and Christine Casey
1 to 2
Special plant sale for Pollinator Workshop attendees
Arboretum Teaching Nursery, Garrod Drive
This is a great opportunity to learn more about the pollinators we see in our garden, ranging from honey bees and bumble bees to long-horned bees and metallic green sweat bees--and what to plant to attract them. Three of the speakers (Eric Mussen, Neal Williams and Robbin Thorp) were members of the "UC Davis Bee Team" that won the outstanding team award last year from the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America. The other team members were assistant professor Brian Johnson and professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
See website for registration and more information, or contact Anne Schellman at aschellman@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's about raising awareness for heart disease, the No. 1 killer of both men and women. It's a battle we need to fight with an arsenal of weapons.
Spearheading the campuswide initiative is Chancellor Linda Katehi, partnering with Dr. Amparo Villablanca, director of the UC Davis Women's Cardiovascular Medicine Program, and Adele Zhang, curator of the UC Davis Design Museum. For the occasion, the UC Davis Bookstore is selling specially designed t-shirts. Red, of course. With a heart, of course.
A highlight of the events-crowded day will be an attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for the largest heart formation. The current record: 11,166, set Feb. 27, 2010 in Nuevo León, Mexico.
So UC Davis is inviting everyone, everyone everywhere, to wear red and gather at 11:30 a.m. on Hutchison Intramural Field, rain or shine. The photo will be taken at 12:30.
It's unlikely that insects, the key subject of this blog, will be a part of the red heart formation, but hey, some insects are red, some are red-eyed and some occasionally wear red.
The lady beetle, aka ladybug (family Coccinellidae, is probably the most recognizable red of our insects.
The flameskimmer dragonfly, Libellula saturata, is a showstopping red. Firecracker red!
Some flies have prominent red eyes, including the flesh fly from the family Sarcophagidae.
And honey bees--they can play the red game, too. They gather red pollen from a variety of plants, including rock purslane (Calandrinia grandiflora), horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), pear (Pyrus communis),and henbit (Lamium amplexicaule).
Frankly, we think it might rain during the heart formation, but as the UC Davis officials say: “Heart disease doesn't stop for rain and neither do we!"
We'll see red and the heart formation will be a sea of red. Maybe 11,167.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
One is a noted commercial queen bee breeder in California.
One is the head of the beekeeping section, Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana government.
And two are beekeepers in Bolivia.
Washington, California, Botswana and Bolivia...
They all have at least two things in common: (1) they are women who work with bees and (2) they form part of the UC Davis "Women Feeding the World: Farmers, Mothers and CEOs" online photo gallery.
Meet bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey of Washington State University, formerly of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis.
Meet commercial bee queen breeder Jackie Park-Burris of Palo Cedro, a past president of the California State Apiary Board and the California State Beekeepers' Association.
Meet Queen Turner, former Humphrey Fellow at UC Davis and the head of the beekeeping section, Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana government.
And meet the two beekeepers in Bolivia through the eyes of former Peace Corps volunteer Britta L. Hansen, now a staff member with Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program (Horticulture CRSP), one of the sponsors of the project.
How did this all come to "bee"?
Brenda Dawson, communicators coordinator for the Horticulture CRSP, says a number of campus and community organizations came together to sponsor the event and its gallery, including several units from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: the Blum Center, Horticulture Collaborative Research Support Program, International Programs Office, and Program in International and Community Nutrition. Additional sponsors include the World Food Center, Office of Campus Community Relations, Women's Resources and Research Center, and the off-campus organization Freedom from Hunger.
Of the approximately 80 photos submitted by faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members, 12 were selected for display on the first floor of the Coffee House, UC Davis Memorial Union. One depicts Cobey holding a frame of bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis. Dawson said the display, which can be viewed until the end of the winter quarter, is part of this year's Campus Community Book Project focusing on "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," authored by the husband-wife team of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
"The photos depict women in a variety of roles related to food—including bean farmers, beekeepers and breastfeeding mothers—in California and around the world."
A thumbnail sketch:
Susan Cobey. Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, former manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, is internationally renowned for her expertise on queen bee-rearing and for her classes on instrumental queen bee insemination. Honey bees are her passion. She studied with Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. at UC Davis. Cobey is now a bee breeder-geneticist at Washington State University but stays involved with California queen bee breeders, the Almond Board of California, and the California State Beekeepers' Association. One third of the American diet is pollinated by bees. Without bees, we'd be reduced to eating grains like wheat (wind-pollinated).
Jackie Park-Burris. Jackie Park-Burris, owner of Jackie-Park Burris Queens, Palo Cedro, wears many hats besides her bee veil. She is a commercial queen bee breeder, a second-generation beekeeper, a past president of the five-member California State Apiary Board, a past president of the California State Beekeepers' Association (CSBA), a past president of the California Bee Breeders' Association, and a past president of the Shasta Beekeepers. She purchased the queen-rearing portion of her parents' business when her father, Jack Park, passed away. In 1997, she was selected the CSBA Young Beekeeper of the Year, and in 2009, the CSBA Beekeeper of the Year. She and her cousins Steve Park and Glenda Wooten are the only second-generation beekeepers to have received the CSBA Beekeeper of the Year. CSBA presented it to her father in 1979 and her uncle, Homer Park, in 1971. Both are also past presidents of CBBA and CSBA. There are now six Park family descendants on CSBA's perpetual trophy, Beekeeper of the Year.
Queen Turner. Queen Turner is head of the beekeeping section, Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana government. As a Humphrey fellow, Queen Turner completed a 10-month stay in the United States, which included studies at UC Davis. She attended many classes and seminars last year and presented a lecture on "Beekeeping in Botswana" to the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. One of her activities was inspecting the beekeeping operation on the rooftop of the San Francisco Chronicle. After completing her Humphrey fellowship, she returned to Botswana last June. The word for bee in her native language, Setswana, is "notshi."
Bolivian Beekeepers. Former Peace Corps volunteer Britta L. Hansen, now with the UC Davis Horticulture CRSP, worked with a group of female beekeepers in Bolivia and captured this photo of two beekeepers in 2008. "We received funding to help the women purchase Langstroth style hives that were made in Bolivia," Hansen related. "Sara was the secretary of the group, and she and I drove into the regional capital to pick up the hives and transport them back to our community of Paredones."
Be sure to check out the online photo gallery and the display at the Memorial Union of "Women Feeding the World." Great project!
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Well, on Saturday, Feb. 8 your wish will come true. You can not only see what's inside but ask those questions you've always wanted to ask.
It's the third annual UC Davis Biodiversity Day, when six biological museums open their doors to an eagerly awaiting public. It's set from noon to 4 p.m.
It will be open house at these sites:
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Botanical Conservatory
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Anthropology Collections, and
- Paleontology Collections
They're all within walking distance but you may want to bike or drive. This event is free and open to the public. There's free parking, too. Families are encouraged to attend.
What's to see? Well, for starters: insects and insect specimens, carnivorous plants, fossils and birds. You'll be able to talk to the experts.
See the Bohart Museum website to download a map. For more information on Biodiversity Day, contact Tabatha Yang of the Bohart Museum at tabyang@ucdavis.edu.
