Vermont Beekeepers Association

Apiology

The study of honeybees...

Drone and Worker Brood Microclimates Are Regulated Differentially in Honey Bees, Apis mellifera

Honey bee (Apis mellifera) drones and workers show differences in morphology, physiology, and behavior. Because the functions of drones are more related to colony reproduction, and those of workers relate to both survival and reproduction, we hypothesize that the microclimate for worker brood is more precisely regulated than that of drone brood.

More:Microclimate

'Intensive' beekeeping not to blame for common bee diseases

More "intensive" beekeeping does not raise the risk of diseases that harm or kill the insects, new research suggests.

Intensive agriculture—where animals or plants are kept crowded together in very high densities—is thought to result in higher rates of disease spreading.

But researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of California, Berkeley found this is not the case for honeybees.

More:Intensive

RNA virus spillover from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) to wild bumblebees (Bombus spp.)

The decline of many bumblebee species (Bombus spp.) has been linked to an increased prevalence of pathogens caused by spillover from managed bees. Although poorly understood, RNA viruses are suspected of moving from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) into wild bumblebees through shared floral resources.

More:Bombus

Seasonal variation of pollen collected by honey bees (Apis mellifera) in developed areas across four regions in the United States

For honey bees (Apis mellifera), colony maintenance and growth are highly dependent on worker foragers obtaining sufficient resources from flowering plants year round. Despite the importance of floral diversity for proper bee nutrition, urban development has drastically altered resource availability and diversity for these important pollinators.

More: Pollendiversity

Toward Audio Beehive Monitoring: Deep Learning vs. Standard Machine Learning in Classifying Beehive Audio Samples

Electronic beehive monitoring extracts critical information on colony behavior and phenology without invasive beehive inspections and transportation costs. As an integral component of electronic beehive monitoring, audio beehive monitoring has the potential to automate the identification of various stressors for honeybee colonies from beehive audio sample

More:AudioMonitoring

Reduced density and visually complex apiaries reduce parasite load and promote honey production and overwintering survival in honey bees

Managed honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are kept at much greater densities than naturally occurring feral or wild colonies, which may have detrimental effects on colony health and survival, disease spread, and drifting behavior (bee movement between natal and non-natal colonies).

More:HoneybeeDrift

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign Scientists Report on Honey Bee Stressors

The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) is a collaborative group of scientists, government agencies, NGO’s, private industries and agricultural and environmental concerns that work together to bring the plight of pollinators to national attention and to be the most trusted resource for information and behaviors in support of pollinating animals and the plants with which they interact.

More:Pollinator Protection

Beekeeping in Vermont

VBA's Greenwood Named to DEC Position

VBA Past-President Kim Greenwood has been appointed by Governor Phil Scott as deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Greenwood, who currently serves on the VBA's Advisory Board has been with the department since 2015.

Kim lives in Duxbury with her husband Ian Ormon, where they run Camel’s Hump Honey. The complete announcement is available here.

Details: Published: 12 October 2019 12 October 2019

Beekeepers to Benefit from Block Grant

Montpelier, VT | October 7, 2019 – The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets (VAAFM) announces grants totaling $305,929 for eight projects to benefit Vermont fruit, vegetable, and value-added producers and increase consumer access to locally produced food. These grants, funded through the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP), were awarded to seven agricultural organizations to undertake a range of technology development, research, education, marketing, and program-building projects. The grants will leverage an additional $203,468 in matching funds.

Of particular interest to Vermont beekeepers is a grant for the University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to improve available resources for pest and disease monitoring, diagnosis, and education for Vermont beekeepers and the Vermont Apiary Inspection Program ($52,000).

Read the complete announcement here.

Details: Published: 08 October 2019 08 October 2019

The Vermont Certified Beekeeper Program

Beekeepers Helping Beekeepers

Continuing education looms as a priority in the beekeeping community. The Vermont Beekeepers Association offers two options to satisfy this need, the Mentoring Program and the Vermont Certified Beekeeper Program. The two programs go hand in hand but are different in organization and focus.

This excellent article in October's American Bee Journal, by Melissa Moore, describes the VBA's program.

Details: Published: 07 October 2019 07 October 2019

Bee-ing at the Fair

Beekeepers are showing their stuff around the state. The Tunbridge Fair this past week is the organization's major fundraiser event for the year.

Sue Ordinetz, Helen Wilson and Eric Duncan serving up honey, beekeeping and the Vermont Beekeepers Assocation at the Tunbridge Fair, Thursday, September 12. VBA's booth won a 2nd place award at the show. more pictures from Tunbridge are available here. Thanks to Mary & Bob Stoddard and all our volunteers for their work on the booth.

And from the Windham County Beekeeper's newsletter, the Windham County Buzz:

"The Golden Honey Festival at the Golden Stage Inn in Proctorsville was a lot of fun! Many thanks to Rob Mather for the booth at the fair, the awesome teaching hive, and honey. We also put the banner he donated to the club to good use. (Pictures available here.)

"And more club members to thank: John Robohm lent us his observation hive, which worked out great! Richard Crocker donated some honey and Anne Bebko donated some of her soaps. Both made for a great display! Jeff B brought lots of props and some beeswax for demos.

"Rob, Jeff, and Peter Hadeka (who was right next to us with his own booth) spent the day educating folks about bees and beekeeping. People were enthralled. So nice to see enthusiasm about bees! We signed up a few more members to the club and added to the WCB mailing list. That was a good day."

Details: Published: 12 September 2019 12 September 2019

Apply Now to Apis Fund

The Gund Institute for Environment at UVM invites proposals for the Apis Fund, which supports research and conservation of vital bee pollinators.

Apis Fund proposals can address the ecology, economics, management or cultural importance of pollinators and pollination via research, conservation, training, collaboration or outreach.

Submissions are due Oct. 15, 2019. Awards can range from $2,000 to $5,000. We anticipate funding 3 to 5 projects this year.

Details: Published: 04 September 2019 04 September 2019

Vermont Names Pollinator Specialist

The Agency of Agriculture is pleased to welcome Ms. Brooke Decker as Vermont’s Pollinator Health Specialist. This is Vermont’s first, full-time, pollinator health position and was created by Act 35 in the 2019 legislative session. In this role, Ms. Decker will develop comprehensive strategies to improve the health of Vermont’s pollinators. Ms. Decker will guide the state’s apiary regulatory program, as well as collaboratively develop outreach & education materials and state policy to protect and improve the health of all pollinators in Vermont.