!"#$ &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.

)
- Class registration and Mentor sign-up links are active on our website (see
"Beekeeping Classes (2014)" and "BANV Mentoring Program 2014") under
the Club Activities menu on the right side of the webpage.
!"#4 &'()*+', -.)/0 12 31.)
- 28 January, 2014; Elections and Annual Pot-Luck; Open session with your
beekeeping neighbors. 7pm at the Mason District Government Center, 6507
Columbia Pike, in Annandale."
North American
Beekeeping
Conference in
Baton Rouge,
Louisiana in
January

The 2014 North American
Beekeeping Conference &
Tradeshow in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, is set for early
January. Take a look at the
http://
www.nabeekeepingconference
.com/schedule.html conference
website for a complete list and
descriptions of all the
workshops being offered.
Workshops include
pollination, alternative
beekeeping methods, wax
sculpture and batik, and many
other topics.

John Fraser
continued on page 2
Do you realize two years have
gone by since I started writing
these articles? It's been very
rewarding to work with the
Ofcers and terric batch of
volunteers who do all the work
making BANV such a great
beekeeping organization; I'm
grateful to everyone who has
pitched in, offered support,
attended meetings and
shepherded their mentees and
bees through the challenging
beekeeping environment we face
today.
We'll have elections at our
January 2014 Potluck meeting
where it will be time for others to
take a turn running BANV. We
have a cadre of project Chairs
who'll remain on the job, the
programs for January, February
and March of next year are set,
classes are ready to go (and the
students will come!), and the club
remains nancially stable and lled
with good folks. In short, it will be
an easy transition for the new
ofcers; I hope you consider
stepping up to a position and
guiding the club the next 2 years!
The VSBA meeting earlier in
November was, as always, a
worthwhile event. Notable among
the great presentations was the
report on the rejuvenated Master
Beekeeper program within VSBA.
It's still a work in progress, but
moving toward a well-dened
program of testing
(academic and
The Presidents Hive Stand
BANV BUZZ
YEAR END 2013
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Wintertime Educational Video
This Month in the beeyard
Scottish Heather
Pollinator Plates
Wintertime Educational Video
One of the best things you can do this winter
is to watch this video on how you too can
start to run a sustainable apiary. Features Mike
Palmer of French Hill Apiary, Vermont. The few
second intro gives you a glimpse of how the
British judge honey using a torch! Flashlight to
us! It's. The Best 57 minutes you will spend
Eventually 3 more to come.
http://youtu.be/nznzpiWEI8A
President...
demonstrated), community service and experience requirements I'm
persuaded will continue making it a worthy achievement. Many of us
can test for the new Apprentice (the old Qualied) level already; I
hope you take advantage of the program when it goes live next Spring.
As we enter the extended holiday season and nalize our Winter
preparation tasks in the beeyard I wish you health and joy and a high
colony survival rate!

Rob McKinney
Past-President
NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 2
Scottish heather honey is best for
beating bacteria

Issued: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 09:00:00 BST

Honey has long been known for its anti-bacterial properties:
it was prized by the ancient Egyptians and is widely used
today in veterinary medicine as a wound dressing.

The most famous honey used for medical purposes is
Manuka honey from New Zealand, but a new study has
revealed a particular type that is even more effective
Scottish heather honey.

The study, published in The Veterinary Journal, was carried
out by Dr Patrick Pollock, an equine surgeon, and colleagues
at the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of
Glasgow.

A keen bee-keeper, Dr Pollock was interested to know if
honeys other than Manuka might make effective anti-
bacterial wound dressings.

Dr Pollock said: Although Manuka has been the most
studied honey source to date, other honey sources may have
valuable antimicrobial properties too.

Honey is useful in equine medicine, particularly on wounds
to legs. There is not much fat on the lower half of horses
legs, so can take a long time to heal, or even never fully heal
at all.

Honey helps to promote healing, cleaning the wound and
keeping it infection free. If vets were able to use locally-
sourced, cheaper honey as a wound dressing, it would be
very benecial particularly in poorer countries.

The researchers took 29 honey products, including
commercial medical grade honeys, supermarket honeys and
honeys from local bee-keepers, and examined them for
bacterial contamination before testing.

Of the 29, 18 were found to contain bacteria that excluded
them from the trial and the remaining 11 were tested against
10 equine bacterial isolates at concentrations varying from
2% to 16%.

Eight of the honeys were effective against all the bacteria at
concentrations ranging from 2% to 6%.

Heather honey from the Inverness area was shown to be
particularly effective killing MRSA microbes and three
other types of bacteria at concentrations of 2%.

Dr Pollock said: Honeys derived from one type of ower
were shown to be the most effective, and while Manuka is
currently the only medical grade honey, the study reveals that
other honeys may be just as suitable for such purposes.

Consequently, it may prove unnecessary to transport
Manuka honey from New Zealand when more local sources
may be as, or even more, effective.

In many regions of the world access to expensive
antimicrobial drugs is limited, therefore locally-sourced
honey may provide an inexpensive alternative.

In future it may be possible to identify honeys with activity
against specic bacteria. This would allow the clinician to
select the most appropriate honey type for the infecting
organism.

Honeys largely get their antimicrobial properties from the
hydrogen peroxide they contain, but Manuka is thought to
benet from other factors, including an as yet poorly
understood phytochemical property and, or, the presence of
methylglyoxal.

Dr Pollock added: Some vets use inexpensive honeys
intended for human consumption while others use medical
grade, gamma-irradiated Manuka honey which is sometime
incorporated into a wound care product or dressing.

However, our study suggests that the use of certain non-
medical grade honeys, derived from mixed oral sources, may
not be appropriate for wound care due to the presence of
contaminating aerobic bacteria."

For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the
University of Glasgow Media Relations Ofce on 0141 330
4831 or email stuart.forsyth@glasgow.ac.uk
51((6*'.1, 5('.)0 788(69':1*0
;)<=6,)/)*. >=(?(()+@
1hree years of work has nally pald o-
Lhanks agaln Lo each and every one of
you, as we couldn'L have done lL lf we
weren'L ln lL LogeLher! 51((6*'.1, 5('.)0
has now collecLed enough appllcauons Lo
meeL Lhe uMv and Ceneral Assembly's
requlremenL of 430 Lo pass a new speclal
plaLe. Appllcauons are sull belng
accepLed- lf you'd llke Lo be one of Lhe
rsL Lo geL Lhe new plaLes, you can nd
ouL more on www.polllnaLorplaLes.com.
1he blll for Lhe new plaLes wlll be
lnLroduced lnLo Lhe Ceneral Assembly ln
!anuary and aer belng voLed on and
slgned by Lhe Covernor, would go lnLo
eecL on !uly 1, 2014, aer whlch Lhe
plaLes wlll be processed and dlsLrlbuLed.

As an l?l, l'll keep on collecung
appllcauons unul lL's ume for me Lo Lake
Lhem ln Lo Lhe uMv (nexL year). l'd llke
Lo be sure we have plenLy more Lhan Lhe
mlnlmum requlremenL ln case Lhere are
any appllcauons LhaL can'L be processed.
Also, lf you've recelved emalls from me
asklng for addluonal lnformauon Lo
compleLe your appllcauon, now would be
a greaL ume Lo follow up wlLh LhaL so l
can puL Lhose appllcauons ln Lhe
"compleLe" folder. 1hanks ln advance!

l'll keep everyone updaLed as l have
more lnformauon. lor now, please
remember Lo keep your vehlcle
reglsLrauon and Lags up-Lo-daLe wlLh Lhe
uMv as usual- Lhe plaLes wlll be malled
Lo you when Lhey're ready.
SamanLha Callagher
November and December are
important months for the
beekeeper and the bee colonies.
Although it has been unusually
warm this year, the bees form a
cluster around the queen each
night when temperatures dip below
55 degrees. After the cluster
forms, it tightens to better
conserve heat as the ambient
temperature drops. At 40
degrees, it is safe to say that there
are no worker bees patrolling the
hive entrances and the combs.
Mice, small hive beetles, and other
hive vermin are free to roam when
the bees are tightly clustered.
At some point in the temperature
cycle, the small hive beetles must
join the cluster or wedge
themselves into a crack in the hive,
or die from exposure. Small hive
beetles do not need to be in the
hive cluster to survive winter
temperatures in the mid-Atlantic,
and they will survive by burrowing
under bark, dead leaves, and other
protected places in the wild. It is a
fact, however, that frozen honeybee
clusters have been found to contain
small hive beetles.
Mouse guards keep mice out while
permitting air circulation at the
entrance. More may be needed.
The air circulation needed by a
strong hive is sufcient to carry off
the moisture generated by
metabolization of honey, while at
the same time not sufcient to
create a steady draft directed at
the cluster that will pull heat away
from the cluster. For each hive
design, there is an optimal amount
of air circulation. Some beekeepers
rely on screened bottom boards,
screen mouse guards, holes drilled
in top supers, ventilating top
covers, and other devices. Each
beekeeper needs to calculate how
to adjust each hive to achieve
circulation. When a hive is opened
for inspection on a winter day, if
moisture has accumulated on the
inner cover, it is a safe bet that air
circulation needs to be adjusted.
Another important activity during
the early winter is relaxation and
reading a good beekeeping guide.
Winter is a good time to study for
the master beekeeper exam, or to
research the means and methods
for overwintering a top bar hive, or
to examine all the bee journals that
didnt get a complete study during
the hectic days of spring, summer
and fall.
Remember that the queen will
start laying eggs in the third week
of January and that the rst pollen
ow from silver maple and willows
will come in late February.
December is a good time to plan
and prepare for the upcoming year,
which we all hope will be a ne
year for the honeybees.
- John Fraser
This Month in the Beeyard
NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 3
Want to contribute to the BANV
newsletter?
Write to:
beekeepersnova+editor@gmail.com
We prefer concisely written material,
rather than suggestions & hints.
Inclusion depends upon space
available, timeliness, and/or
relevance. Thanks
NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 4
Queen bee's honesty is
the best policy for
reproduction signals
Queen bees convey honest signals
to worker bees about their
reproductive status and quality,
according to an international team
of researchers, who say their
ndings may help to explain why
honey bee populations are
declining.
"We usually think of animals'
chemical signals (called
pheromones) as communication
systems that convey only very
simple sorts of information," said
Christina Grozinger, professor of
entomology and director of the
Center for Pollinator Research,
Penn State. "However, this study
demonstrates that queen honey
bees are conveying a lot of nuanced
information through their
pheromones.
"In addition, until now, no one knew
if queen bees were manipulating
workers into serving them or if
they were providing valuable,
honest information to workers. We
have found that the information
queens are conveying constitutes
an honest message about their
reproductive status and quality. The
queens are 'telling' the workers
that they are queens, whether or
not they are mated and how well
mated they are. In other words,
whether or not they have mated
with a lot of males."
Why do worker bees care if their
queen is well mated? According to
Elina Nio, postdoctoral fellow,
Penn State, previous research has
shown that colonies headed by
more promiscuous queens -- those
who mate with many males -- are
more genetically diverse and,
therefore, healthier, more
productive and less likely to
collapse.
"Beekeepers have been very
worried about their queens, since
they seem to not be lasting as long
-- a few weeks or months instead
of one or two years," said Nio.
"We know that workers will
replace their queens when they are
not performing well. So if worker
bees are able to detect poorly
mated queens and take steps to
remove them, that could be an
explanation for the rapid rates of
queen loss and turnover that
beekeepers have been reporting."
The researchers, who represent
Penn State, North Carolina State
University and Tel Aviv University,
describe how they assigned queen
bees to a variety of treatment
groups. They report their ndings in
the Nov. 13 issue of PLOS ONE.
In one group, they inseminated
queens with a small volume of
semen to mimic a poorly mated
queen scenario. In a second group,
the researchers inseminated queens
with a large volume of semen to
mimic a well-mated queen scenario.
In a third and fourth group, they
inseminated queens with low and
high volumes of saline. A fth group
was an untreated control.
The researchers then dissected the
queens, removing two glands that
are known to produce pheromones
-- the mandibular gland and the
Dufour's gland. Next, the team
extracted the glands' secretions
and analyzed their chemical
compositions using gas
chromatography-mass
spectrometry. Finally, the
researchers presented the gland
extracts to worker bees and
observed the extent to which they
were attracted to different
extracts.
The team found that worker bees
preferred pheromone extracts of
queens that were inseminated with
semen rather than saline. They also
found that queens inseminated with
higher volumes of semen or saline
as opposed to those that were
inseminated with low volumes of
semen or saline were preferred by
worker bees.
"These results suggest that queens
are signaling detailed and honest
information about their mating
state and reproductive quality to
workers, and workers are capable
of adjusting their behavior
accordingly," Nio said. "When
workers replace failing queens, it is
particularly damaging to
beekeepers since it can take up to
three weeks for the new queen to
begin laying eggs and another three
weeks for the new workers to
emerge as adults. This reduces the
workforce and therefore reduces
honey production and even
pollination efciency."
The team also found that the
mandibular gland and the Dufour's
gland differ in their functions.
"The Dufour's gland seems to
inform workers that queens have
mated, while the mandibular gland
seems to indicate the queen's
mating quality," Nio said. "This
also means that these glands are
likely being regulated via different
neurophysiological pathways."
According to Grozinger, in addition
to signaling queen bee reproductive
status and quality, queen bee
pheromones regulate how fast
workers mature and transition
from taking care of developing
larvae to foraging outside the hive.
"It is possible that changing the
quality of the pheromone could
disrupt this and other processes,
which could have large-scale effects
on colony organization and
survival," she said.
Through funding from the
Department of Agriculture, the
researchers are beginning to
examine the effects of viruses,
pesticides and poor nutrition on
queen pheromone quality to see if
the queen also is providing workers
with information about her health.
"The more we know about what
affects the queen's health the
better chance we will have of
creating high-quality queens and
disease-resistant stocks of honey
bees," Nio said.
Other authors on the paper include
Osnat Malka and Abraham Hefetz
of Tel Aviv University and David
Tarpy of North Carolina State
University.
The Department of Agriculture and
the United States-Israel Binational
Science Foundation supported this
research.
BANV OFFICERS 2012-2013
President David Michaelson beekeepers+president@gmail.com
1st Vice President Bob Garbacz beekeepers+1vicepresident@gmail.com
2nd Vice President beekeepers+2vicepresident@gmail.com
Secretary Kathryn Krenn beekeepers+secretary@gmail.com
Treasurer Chris Reed beekeepers+treasurer@gmail.com
Education Rob McKinney
Newsletter Team John Fraser & Chris Dugmore beekeepers+editor@gmail.com
Membership Terri McPalmer & Tonja Stocks beekeepers+membership@gmail.com
Outreach Martha Kiene beekeepers+outreach@gmail.com
Recognition Carolyn Foley beekeepers+recognition@gmail.com
Mentoring Chelsea Romulo beekeepers+mentoring@gmail.com
Librarian Frank Linton beekeepers+librarian@gmail.com
Webmaster Kamalesh Kalarickal beekeepers+webmaster@gmail.com
Spring Nuc Program Julie Waser beekeepers+nuc@gmail.com
GIS Mapping Chelsie Romulo & Jeny Beausoleil beekeepers+gis@gmail.com
Workerbees
NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 5
BANV Minutes - October 22, 2013

The October meeting was held at the
Thomas Jefferson Library, 58 attendees
lled the meeting room.
President Rob McKinney opened the
meeting at 7:03 and led a short
discussion of the proposed bylaw
amendment that changes the dates of
the yearly membership period. The
oor was then opened and a motion
to adopt was made by Tom Greiner
which was seconded. The motion
passed with no dissenting votes.

Carolyn Foley then spoke about the
nominating committee effort to recruit
some volunteers for the ofcer
positions in the upcoming board
elections. If you are interested in
serving as an ofcer of the club please
contact her.

Rob then mentioned some upcoming
dates of interest the VSBA Nov. 9
th

meeting and our BANV November
meeting which will be held Nov. 19
th
.
He also mentioned the January 2014
meeting will feature a recognition
award, contact a member of the
recognition committee or Rob for
further details.

Beekeeping classes begin in early 2014,
we are still looking for mentors for
new students.
Hap OBrien then talked about this
years queen rearing program and
reminded members that the queens
are available for free to members.
Recipients of the queens are asked to
report back about how the queens
performed, and this year there were
83 queens distributed of which there
are currently 23 survivors with 5
queens still awaiting a report back
from their owners. Next years queens
are expected to be available from mid-
May to around July.

Brenda Keisling offered a reminder
that if you have not placed the location
of your hives on her giant map with a
red dot, please do so at one of the
monthly meetings.

The featured speaker of the evening
Professor German Perilla was then
introduced by president McKinney. He
began a very interesting talk about the
programs at GMU concerning our
local bees and those that he works
with which are located in the
Amazonian portion of Peru.
Unfortunately there were some
technical difculties with the slide
show but the Professor agreed to
return in the near future to nish his
talk.

The meeting then adjourned at 8:30.

Respectfully submitted

David Thompson
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Beekeeping Suppliers Located Within
125 Miles of Arlington

Virginia Bee Supply
6572 Weaver Lane
Bealeton, Virginia, 22712
Phone: (540) 905-5563
(Local Brushy Mountain Dealer)

Maryland Honey Co.
24228 Club View Drive
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20882
(Shop is just east of Damascus, Maryland)
Phone: 301-518-9678


(Independent Dealer in Baltimore)
Miller Bee Supply
12920 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland
Phone: 410-335-3424
Busy Bee Supplies
Martinsburg, WVa
Phone: 304-671-3562
Valley Bee Supply
46 Tinkling Spring Road
Fishersville, VA 22939
Phone: 540-941-8127
NEWSLETTER | Year End 2013 6