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HONEY LETTER
E & M Gold Beekeepers, LLC
113 Hope Road, Tinton Falls, NJ 07724
1-732-542-6528 |
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Our California Trip |
 Our
journey to the University of California started in the summer of
2002 after we had pulled off the largest crop of honey from our
hives; a month later forty of our eighty hives collapsed. We were in
shock!
Up to that point we had regularly treated our hives with the
prevailing chemical of the moment. Early that summer we started
having second thoughts about using chemicals on our hives; it was
bothering us that the newest chemical shouldn’t be absorbed into
your nervous system.
So we finished the summer as best we could and started to discuss
what our options were. Going into the fall we saw an advertisement
for the American Honey Producers Association 2003 convention, which
was going to be held during January in Baton Rouge, La. At the
convention they were going to have presentations on the Russian
honeybee and even offer a tour to the USDA-ARS Honeybee Breeding Lab
located next to LSU. We jumped at the opportunity to attend and made
reservations. |
 We
spent three full days at the convention attending every presentation
and even got a chance to work with 20 Russian hives at the Honeybee
Breeding Lab during the tour. In addition we met Hubert Tubbs from
Mississippi and Bob Brockman from upstate New York; reputable
beekeepers with a good track record with the Russian bee.
Upon returning home we decided to move our entire beekeeping
operation over to the Russian Honeybee and to stop using all
chemicals. In the first season we brought in queens from Hubert
Tubbs (Mississippi) and nucs and queens from Bob Brockman (New
York/Virginia). In the second and third season we brought in queens
from Bob Brockman and nucs from Ray Revis in North Carolina.
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| In 2005 we started grafting queens after Ed
attended a Queen Rearing course taught by Sue Cobey, who at the time
was teaching at Ohio State University. Then in 2006 we purchased
nuc’s from Kirk Webster in Vermont and grafted over 100 queens. In
addition we purchased two instrumentally inseminated Russian breeder
queens from Glenn Apiaries in Fallbrook, Ca. |
| This past fall we had extended conversations
with Sue Cobey on our breeding program’s progress. She encouraged us
to consider adding instrumental insemination to our breeding
program. Shortly after talking with Sue we took a vacation in San
Diego. While out there we stopped by Glenn Apiaries and Tom Glenn
gave us a 2-hour tour of his operation. On the way home we decided
to take the next step and learn instrumental insemination.
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| So this brings us to our June trip to the
University of California at Davis. A couple of days before we
arrived we shipped our instrumental insemination equipment to our
hotel in Davis, a really neat university town. Davis is about 10
miles west of Sacramento and is at the northern end of the 250-mile
long valley, that is the vegetable and fruit basket of America. |
| Our course was held at the Harry Laidlow
Honey Bee research lab; a low-slung research building surrounded by
the University’s farm research fields. Driving the last 100 yards to
the lab the roadway is lined on both sides by very tall olive trees. |
| Only 9 students were allowed to enroll and
this was due to Sue’s style of teaching; she gave each student
plenty of attention during every phase of the course. The students
came from varied backgrounds and included: a commercial beekeeper
from Chili, a Mexican Government Apiary technician from Cuzomel, an
Apiary technician from the US Bee Lab in Arizona, a PH candidate
from India, a Honeybee researcher from the University of North
Carolina and two sideliners from Washington State and Florida. |
| Every student had their own work area, which
included a microscope and carbon dioxide for anesthetizing the
queen. Students were required to bring their own Schley Compact
Model II and Harbo Syringe insemination equipment. In addition the
course supplied all queens and all drones. |
| The course covered setting up the equipment,
cleaning the equipment, collecting the semen and inseminating the
queen. In addition at the front of the lab Sue had a Nikon
microscope set up which was connected to a TV monitor. This setup
was used as a teaching aid and for critiquing each student. By the
end of the class all students had to successfully collect semen and
successfully inseminate multiple queens. |
| Since we have returned from California we
have setup a permanent lab in our home. In addition we have the
capability of transmitting the microscope image to a TV monitor.
Mary is now practicing as much as possible and we expect the rest of
the summer will be devoted to practicing, By next summer, 2008, we
plan to incorporate instrumental insemination into our bee breeding
program. |
| In the meantime we are still grafting 40
queens a week. Anyone interested in seeing our operation can give us
a call at 732-542-6528. Mary & Ed Kosenski |
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