File item: BUZZ0693.TXT 6/25/93 11:13AM 21464 Submitted by Terry Dahms President-East Central Iowa Beekeepers ----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BUZZ JUNE, 1993 ----------------------------------------------------------------- A newsletter published monthly as a cooperative effort by The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and The Iowa Honey Producers Association (IHPA), an affiliate member of the Iowa Horticultural Society. Copy deadline is the 20th of each month. Your ideas, comments and letters are welcomed and encouraged. EDITOR: Bob Cox, State Apiarist, Iowa Dept. of Agriculture, Wallace Building, Des Monies, IA. 50319 phone: (515) 281-5736 IHPA MEMBERSHIP: Membership dues in the Iowa Honey Producers Assn. are $5.00/year. Send to Robert Shepherd, IHPA Treasurer. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PRESIDENTS MESSAGE Dear Fellow Beekeepers, It has been another wet spring in Iowa. We've been trying to work bees and clean up equipment in between rains. The outlook for the summer is looking good though. A hot, dry summer is what we need to produce a good honey crop. We have the moisture; now we need the sun. I want to thank all of you that have been writing or calling your congressmen concerning the honey program. I believe you are making a difference. Keep up the good work. I've heard that NBC is doing a piece on the honey program and Adee Honey Farms for their Dateline show. They filmed it April 21. I'm not sure when it will be aired on TV, so you'll have to watch your TV programming or the papers for the day and time. Don't forget the field days that have been planned for the year. The first was held Saturday, May 22nd at Ray Tull's farm in Donnellson on queen rearing. Watch your Buzz for others coming up. These field days can make for a very informative and enjoyable day. The State Fair is just around the corner again. The bid sheet (found on page 9) needs to be filled out and sent in by June 10. Also we need comb honey. In the past few years its been in short supply and the demand is great. I encourage you all to enter into the competition with your honey, comb, candles, etc. There is prize money and ribbons waiting to be claimed. It's alot of fun. -Leroy Kellogg THE EAST-CENTRAL IOWA BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION MEETING Are you a beekeeper? Or are you beginning beekeeping? Join us to get new ideas, swap stories, get help with problems, and hang out with other beekeepers. Even if you are an intermediate or more experienced beekeeper, you may wish you had a way to share this interesting hobby. The East-Central Iowa Beekeeping Association meets quarterly to share ideas and share enthusiasm for our unusual and challenging pastime. The next meeting will be Monday, June 14, 7 to 9 p.m. in Montgomery Hall, lower level, Johnson County 4-H fairgrounds on Riverside Dr/Hwy 218 south of the airport and Colonial Lanes, Iowa City. LOOKING FOR THE QUEEN (continued from May BUZZ) As you lift each frame to view, look down at the exposed side to the next frame to be removed. You will sometimes spot the queen on this frame because her abdomen extends out over the normal height of the worker bees on the comb. Sometimes the drones will fool you, however. Proceed all through the frames in the upper body looking for the queen. If you cannot find her, push all frames back to the original position, leaving the first out and proceed to look again. Although at times a failing queen may be present with no eggs showing, as you search for the queen make sure you see eggs in cells to be certain the colony is queen-right. If the queen is not found the second time through, repeat the process and look for her in the lower body. If you are unable to find her in either section, replace all frames to the original position and leave the hive divided, move to the next colony, and work it in the same manner. You may work several colonies and have success in finding the queen in each before going back and looking for this first queen again. She may finally appear after having been hidden on the wall of the hive or in the corner of the bottom board. Without methodically splitting frames and looking for the queen while opening a hive that is two or three stories high, one has to be lucky in order to find her. Queens have the tendency to keep moving down to a lower section away from light, disturbance, and smoke. Spring is the ideal time to find queens, as the colony is small at this time of year. The queen is usually found in the upper hive body. When you first open the hive, queens may move to the bottom side of the inner cover as the hive bodies are pried apart and smoked. Queens are seldom found on the outermost frames next to the hive wall. These frames usually contain honey and no brood unless the beekeeper is using follower boards. When lifting individual frames to view, one gets accustomed to the normal weight of each. Frames containing all honey are heaviest. Next are those containing honey and sealed brood. Those with empty cells and unsealed brood are the lightest. When lifting the lighter frames, scan with particular care as this is an excellent area in which to find the queen. Don't be discouraged. Sometimes a queen is harder to find in a weaker colony with a small cluster of bees than in a large, populated hive. ***************************************************************** DADANT BEE SUPPLY DEALER specializing in providing supplies for the hobbyist and small sideline beekeeper. AUTUMN APIARIES, INC. - GORDON & BEVERLY POWELL 4012 - 54TH STREET DES MOINES, IA. 50310 PHONE (515) 278-1762 ***************************************************************** STATE APIARISTS REPORT June is the month to super up your colonies. Its too late to start new colonies and still get a honey crop this season. All medications and mite strips should be removed from colonies before honey supers are placed on the hive. It is also a time to get extracting equipment cleaned and repaired. If you do not have enough containers for the honey crop, you will need to procure those now. I hope you will consider entering Iowa state fair apiary exhibit this year. If you offer honey for sale to the public there is no reason why you couldn't enter the state fair. You can improve your product by participating in the fair. Go ahead and give it a whirl! There are categories for liquid dark and light honey, plain and flavored creamed honey, cut and section comb honey, beeswax candles and artwork, honey displays and observation beehives. Most of the classes are the same as last year. The biggest change will be the size of the table display which have been cut in half. Each display will be a right triangle measuring 7 x 7 x 10 feet on the sides. Class 12 (frame of cut comb) is now a Beewax (poured mold art class) and class 14 Beeswax (Art Class) is now Handcrafted Beeswax Art (not from a poured mold). The beeswax candle class (15) is now restricted to molded or dipped tapers. We are going back to the 2 1/2 pound chunk honey jars for Class 7 Combination Chunk and Strained Honey. Creamed honey must be in the one pound plastic tubs this year. Now that you are convinced to enter the state fair, all we need is a good honey crop. We can't have four poor honey crops in a row? Can we? We plan to have four summer field inspectors this summer and fall. They will start work inspecting the week of June 21st. If you need your bees inspected call Bob Cox at (515) 281-5736. Louis Rickers will be inspecting the Northcentral part of the state again this year. Tom Schuster of Dubuque will cover Eastern Iowa. Southern Iowa will be inspected by Mike O'Hearn from near Shennandoah and Northwest Iowa will again be covered by Bill Eickholt of Cherokee. TO THE BEEKEEPERS OF IOWA: I have decided that 41 years in public service of which 18 have been with the Department of Agriculture is sufficient. I have tendered my resignation effective June 30, 1993. I do want to thank all the beekeepers for their fine support and the great friends I have met. These have been pleasant years working with all of you and may God continue His blessings on each of you. -Robert L. Wells Assistant State Apiarist MARKETING HONEY TO THE YOUNGER GENERATION A recent National Honey Board article indicates that teenagers spent $58 billion in 1991, of which half is spent on food. About 60% of kids favor sweet foods. A product containing all-natural honey satisfies that sweet tooth and gets a "thumbs up" from mom and dad. The children's market has the most potential because it has all of its purchases ahead of it. The habits they form now will stay with them for a lifetime. Also, kids have $2.6 billion worth of influence on their parents' baked goods purchases each year. This marketing oportunity will not last much past the year 2000. Beyond this "Echo Baby Boom" may lie the smallest number of kids in half a century. (Information from NHB's Honey Hotline) ANDERSON-ERICKSON'S HONEY ICE CREAM For the last three years Anderson-Erickson Dairy has produced 4-oz. honey-vanilla and honey-almond ice cream cups for the Iowa Honey Producers to sell at the State Fair Honey Booth. Those products will be sold at state fair again this year. Additionally, David Bush, frozen product manager for Anderson-Erickson Dairy, said that the new Honey-Almond Premium Ice Cream is on its way and should be on the market sometime this summer. In the table below you can see that Honey Ice Creams sales decreased while honey yogurt sales increased in 1992. There was some discussion earlier about manufacturing a frozen honey yogurt rather than ice cream and nation-wide that seems to be a trend. One of the most novel honey products introduced in 1992 was Honey & Cashew Frozen Yogurt by United Dairy Farmers. Beekeepers are anxious to see what happens in this market in Iowa. Evidence that consumers are buying increased amounts of honey products is apparent in the following sales chart for 1992. Honey product sales are listed by category, noting the largest sales increase in honey peanut butters and salad dressings. Honey grahams continue to hold the largest volume share. (Sales Chart) SHAKE UP YOUR SUMMER WITH HONEY Here are a couple of cool cummer beverages to try using honey! BANANA YOGURT SHAKE 1-1/2 cups lowfat milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 medium, ripe bananas, peeled 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup plain yogurt Dash ground nutmeg 1/4 cup honey 5 ice cubes Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender and blend until thick and creamy. Add ice cubes one at a time and blend until smooth. Top with a sprinkle of cinnamon, if desired. Makes 4 servings. (Tip: Vanilla yogurt can be substituted for plain yogurt and vanilla extract.) ICED MEXICAN CHOCOLATE 2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened 1/3 cup honey chocolate, melted* 3 cups lowfat milk 1/2 teaspoon each grated orange Ice cubes peel and ground cinnamon Microcook chocolate in large liquid measure at HIGH (100%) 2 minutes or until chocolate is melted; stir in honey. Microcook at HIGH 30 seconds. Slowly stir in milk until well blended. Stir in orange peel and ground cinnamon. Pour over ice in serving glasses. Makes 4 servings. *Four tablespoons cocoa can be substituted. HONEY BOARD OFFERS NEW RECIPE LEAFLET Bread and spreads made with honey are featured in the National Honey Board's new recipe leaflet pictured on the cover of THE BUZZ this month. The recipes are delicious and easy to whip up--Honey Blueberry Spread, Spiced Honey Butter, Honey Currant Scones, Easy Honey Muffins and Honey Cream Cheese Icing. The leaflet is ready for your next local promotion, state fair or to insert with your honey package. Beekeeping associations and supporters of the National Honey Board can order up to 500 recipe brochures free of charge. Additional brochures are available at 5 cents each. To order your brochures, write the National Honey Board, 421 21st Ave., #203, Longmont, CO 80501. Or, you may call Tina Tindall at (303) 776-2337. AMERICAN HONEY PRINCESS REPORT June - the month I'm finished with finals, back in Iowa and plenty of honey promotions. I'm very excited to be back home and have many activities planned for the summer. In the past few weeks, I've been talking to grade school classes at WACO Community Schools and giving newspaper and radio interviews. With the children, my focus has been to introduce them to a honey bee's world, and stress the importance of honey bees to mankind. In my interviews, I've been emphasizing that honey is not restricted to toast anymore--its very versatile. At the end of April, I presented honey bees, honey and beekeeping to Spanish speaking children in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The children enjoyed honey samples, the video What's Buzzin'", learning about the tasks of honey bees, and the coloring books they were given. One of the girls asked, "Did you have to wear a swimming suit at your Honey Queen competition?" Activities like these make this title just as glamours as it sounds. Although challenging at times, I'm enjoying my responsibilities as Honey Princess, and I'm looking forward to many more opportunities this summer and fall. I want to emphasize again that I'm interested in helping any way I can--from a county fair to contacting media. Feel free to ask for my assistance--I would be happy to help! -Heather Pomeroy, 1993 American Honey Princess HONEYS OF THE WEST PRESENTED TO SUNSET The National Honey Board arranged a honey tasting for the food editors of Sunset magazine in April. "We wanted the editors to appreciate the many different flavors and forms of honey," said Mary Humann, marketing director for the National Honey Board. Varieties presented included: Alaskan Fireweed, Buckwheat, California Wild Buckwheat, Clover, Eucalyptus, Lehua, Macadamia Nut, Mesquite, Orange Blossom, Safflower, Sage, Star Thistle and Tupelo. The editors sampled these varieties as well as comb and creamed honey. FOR SALE: 3 2-story colonies. Call Gene Cluney in Pleasant Hill phone: (515) 265-2819. FOR SALE: 26 2-story colonies on H-frame hive stands, all queenright $70 each, 64 - 6 5/58 supers on drawn comnb $10 each, all excellent equipment. Total price $2460 (Sold as a unit). Call Dan Mihal in Dubuque at (319) 582-8841 FOR SALE: 10 2-story colonies and 20 single story colonies, 70 medium depth supers, 24-frame extractor, wax melter, honey tank, queen excluders and lots of other misc. beekeeping equipment. Call Giffin Andrew at (515) 773-5471 in Grand River, Iowa. 1993 BID SHEET FOR HONEY TO BE SOLD AT THE IOWA STATE FAIR SALES BOOTH Bid on any or all items (state quantity you will supply and bid price) 8 oz. jars--light honey_________________________________________ 1 lb. jars--light honey_________________________________________ 1 lb. jars combination--light honey (liquid & comb together)__________________________________ 2 lb. jars--light honey_________________________________________ 5 lb. jars--light honey_________________________________________ Gallons--light honey____________________________________________ Antique jars--4 oz._____________________________________________ 1 lb._____________________________________________ 12 oz. bears--light honey_______________________________________ 2 lb. bears--light honey________________________________________ 1 lb. skep--light honey_________________________________________ Creamed honey--Regular__________________________________________ Cinnamon_________________________________________ Hard Candy--Multiple flavors____________________________________ Honey Stix--(Honey in plastic straws)___________________________ Beeswax bars-(1 oz.), (1.5 oz.), or (1 lb.)_____________________ Beeswax candles--dipped or poured_______________________________ Beeswax-other items_____________________________________________ Cut Comb Honey__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Note: We need a substantial supply of cut comb honey in plastic boxes and section comb honey. This item is usually in short supply and thus bidding doesn't make sense. We will pay $1.90 per unit. Please inform us if you can supply comb honey._________________________________________________________ Honey from all suppliers must be 1993 crop Iowa Honey with 18.5% or less moisture content and excellent overall quality. Winning bids will be based on price, quality and ability to provide required quantity of product when needed. Suppliers will be provided labels at no cost. Bids must be received by June 10, 1993. Please sign the bid sheet and provide address and phone numbers. NAME ADDRESS PHONE ( ) RETURN TO: W. John Johnson RR 4, Squaw Valley Ames, Iowa 50010 (515) 232-6094