Ask any old-time beekeeper and he will tell you that keeping bees isn’t as easy as it was in the “good old days”. Jeff McMullan has learned that if you ask honey bee scientists the same question, you will get the same answer! At the August HBA meeting, Jeff will give a presentation on small hive beetles, the newest pest to plague beekeepers.
Jeff’s first hive of bees was a feral colony that moved into a flower pot in his back yard. Coached along by friends that were experienced beekeepers, he moved the colony into a hive and a new beekeeper was on his way. A year or two later in mid-summer, there was suddenly no hive activity. Where just days before there had been hundreds, maybe thousands, of bees clustered outside the hive each afternoon (“just too hot inside” Jeff thought), there was ominous quiet. Inside the hive he discovered “the most disgusting sight you could imagine.”
Determined to avenge his loss, Jeff set out to learn all he could about dealing with small hive beetles. He read all that he could find about this small innocent looking insect. Research Entomologist Dr. Lilia deGuzman (as well as other scientists at the USDA Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Laboratory) were quizzed time and again over the phone and in person about their small hive beetle research. On August 17, Jeff will report on what he has learned so far about the origin of this pest, its life cycle and behavior and what we can do to help our bees cope with Aethina tumida.
After the talk, there will be plenty of time for questions and answers from the members about issues they are facing at this hot time of the year.
To read about past programs of the Houston Beekeepers Association, Click here.
For directions to the new meeting place, click here.
July, 2010
Dealing with Small Hive Beetles