Bee Zaagar - Apiary and Beekeeping News

Inmates experience the buzz of beekeeping

Amie Rose DAILY HERALD

7/4/2005 - Adrian Hinton raised his voice above the droning of thousands of honeybees, giving a lesson in beekeeping to a dozen stick-still inmates. Hinton told them if they didn't move or swat at the bees, they wouldn't get hurt. And he warned them not to kill any bees. "If you squish a bee, it gives off a pheromone and they will go after you," he said.

Hinton, a horticulturist from Utah State University Extension Service, used smoke to calm the bees before leading the inmate group to the hive, in the middle of tall weeds, next to the jail's garden behind the jail complex. Nobody got stung, but the group held very still during the lesson. "I was a little afraid," said Josh Watson, one of the inmate gardeners.

Hinton brought the hive with 40,000 to 50,000 honeybees to Utah County's jail garden to pollinate the plants and provide honey. Inmates work in the garden as part of the jail's industries program.

After passing a frame of the sweet honey around the group of inmates, their main concern was when they could have more.

"I was impressed with the sweetness," said Brad Ellsworth, one of the inmates sampling the honey. "I thought it would be more waxy."

In about three weeks, Hinton will scrape the wax off the frames and have the honey processed, probably producing about four gallons. He said he'd bring some back to the garden-working inmates.

A hive will produce between five and seven gallons per year, he said.

Besides letting them sample the honey, Hinton broke off a piece of bee larvae for the group to inspect, and passed around a stingerless drone bee so they could learn about the different kinds of bees in the hive and what they do.

"A bee will fly five miles for water and three miles for nectar," he said.

The honeybees have been doing their job for the last couple of years, helping the garden produce a heaping harvest.

"Compared to my personal garden, it's doing a heck of a lot better," said Dean Miner, Extension Service director in Utah County.

The garden has marginal soil and is in an area where there are frequent frosts, he said. Somehow, the area has produced an "outstanding garden."

Inmates have already harvested 104 buckets of spinach, 22 buckets of radishes, 25 buckets of lettuce and seven buckets of chard lettuce. On Friday, they were picking peas.

About 100 inmates work in the garden, which is part of the jail industries program.

Its mission is to provide an area for ongoing plant research for the USU Extension Service; provide fresh produce to the jail and reduce food costs; donate food to community shelters and coalitions; and help inmates establish a work ethic, said Utah County Sheriff Jim Tracy.

Some of the inmate gardeners are waiting for a job opening at one of the businesses that contracts with the jail for workers, and some of the inmates spend time in the garden before or after work.

The garden gives inmates a chance to get outside and do something besides watch TV.

"It's nice to be out here," Watson said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

See the Bees at the Honey Economuseum in Quebec City

July 05, 2005 - Discovery, relaxation and warm welcome. The honey économusée invites people of all ages to come and enjoy an unforgettable experience. During the bee safari, you are at the heart of some fascinating action! Search for the queen in our giant glass-walled hives. Taste mead, the wine of Medieval Times.

Browse around in an astonishing boutique filled with bee hive products and try our home-made delicacies: pastries, cookies, chocolates, etc. Multi-functional activities hall for presentations, cocktails and samplings. Open all year long, 7 days/week, from June 24 to Labor Day, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Labor Day to June 23, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Groups welcome all year long. Free admission. The Musée de l'Abeille is a member of the Québec Economuseum network.

These museum businesses are self-financing, thanks to the sale of our home-made products.

www.musee-abeille.com

Musée de l'abeille - Honey Economuseum
8862, boulevard Sainte-Anne
Château-Richer, QC G0A 1N0
Canada

Honey poses fruit threat

26 Aug 2002 - A risk analysis has been prepared for the ministry of agriculture to try and minimise bee diseases arriving from overseas meanwhile complying with international trade agreements.

According to the reports, New Zealand's National Beekeepers' Association fears the arrival of European foulbrood disease is inevitable if honey imports are allowed. The disease can severely deplete or even kill hives.

Although the government's risk analysis only proposes allowing honey imports treated to kill the disease, beekeepers fear that because the disease is highly contagious, just one drop of infected honey not caught by the treatment could spread throughout bee hives in New Zealand within a season.

This would mean a drastically reduced number of hives available for pollination of apples and kiwifruit. Beekeepers warn the initial effects could be as bad as those caused by the varroa mite. And although the disease could be bred out of the bees after several seasons, experience in Australia has shown on-going effects for a few years after that.