Queens 2002

Queens 2008

A year of Sabbath (for the bees)

Perhaps the word Sabbath draws a blank for many of you... in biblical terms it is a time of rest and turning or returning to God. The picture that we have in mind is one in which we allow our bees to regain/maintain their health by not working them so hard and not moving them so many times. For us it will be a time of focusing on what the Lord has for us and trusting Him to guide and direct us as we seek to honor Him in our business.

We are not trying to over spiritualize what is happening across the country (and around the world) with bees. But we do believe that whatever CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) is; whether it is primarily viral or primarily an environmental issue, it is clear that the world we live in and the way that we keep bees in the 21st century is very hard on them.

Currently our bees are in very good condition MUCH better than last year! We left Florida last June with about 1700 hives and brought most of them back to Florida again, losing some to queen failure and other normal bee loss but not apparently to CCD .

We had a slightly below average honey crop in Wisconsin, due mostly to the very dry spring not to the condition of the bees.

Another important factor in our decision to give the bees a rest this season is because of the fact that our Serbian beekeepers were not able to come over this year. Our queen breeder Milenko and his wife Dragana recently had a baby and were not comfortable with bringing a newborn overseas. Without Milenko it would be difficult to raise the number of queens that we have in the past. His father Gvozden and Milan were willing to come but the value of the dollar being weak made it an unprofitable proposition for them if the condition of the bees would turn out to be similar to last year. So, all of these combined factors have led us to the decision not to raise queens this year. Well, not in a big way, we will have cells and a limited number of queens available on a week to week basis. Chris and the boys try to keep up with the queen cell yard, and the mating nucs, and the five frame nucs, and the hives in orange, and well you get the picture. Like we said at the top of the page, the Sabbath is for the bees.

(Pictured are Milenko, Dragana and their boys Jovan and Andre)

Africanized Bees in Florida

Up to this time, we have experienced no Africanized bees in our area of Lake, Orange, and Sumter Counties where our bees are kept. The Florida department of Agriculture is testing our queen mothers for Africanized genes, as they are all queen breeders here in Florida and we would be glad to supply you with a copy of this certificate if you so desire. I should point out that these certificates only verify that our queen mothers are , in fact, free of Africanized genes. There is no way to guarantee that the drones our open mated virgins mate with are not carriers of Africanized genes. We do, as we've already indicated , select for gentle behavior and will continue to maintain drone donor colonies and queen mothers for our mating nucs to hedge off the potential threat Africanized drones may pose in the future to our mating nuc locations. In addition, the other queen breeders in our area are also diligently following this same program. Remember, it is our lively hood and good name that is on the line with every shipment of queens that we sell, we will therefore, vigilantly patrol our breeding program to ensure high quality stock that will not pose a threat to your business or your neighbors

While in Florida, all colonies are treated for Nosema, especially since there seems to be a correlation between CCD and Nosema Ceranae, a new and more virulent form than the old Nosema apis. Foul brood has not been an issue in our operation for years but we

do put an 8oz Tylan medicated sugar patty on each hive during maple and willow build up here in Florida as a precaution.

To date, we have had very little occurrence of small hive beetle. In large part thanks to the Thymol and Tea Tree Oil treatments (see tutorial page for recipe) we have been administering for control of varroa. We altered our essential oil treatment last year, incorporating thymol, menthol and tea tree into a sugar and shortening patty and have been experiencing good success with it.

We are honey producers first, we are not interested in being the biggest queen producers in Florida or anywhere else, we only want to produce queens that will stay where we put them for the whole season , produce gentle bees (pleasant to work with), and will produce BIG crops of honey

Our motto stays the same quality over quantity. We do not sell, any queen or queencell or nuc that we would not be willing to use ourselves.

So, what is the plan? Well, we intend to have some queen cells and nucleus hives available. The queen cells will be available to some of you within driving distance . They will be in available in the months of April and May and the last two weeks of March. You must call ahead, as we will be working with smaller quantities than usual. See the nucleus page for more information regarding the availability of nucs... they too will be in smaller quantities.

Wishing you all a prosperous new year!

To the left are pictures of how we ship queens. These shipping boxes can hold 100+ queens.

You are welcome to call us on our land line (352-429-0054 from 8am-8pm EST) or leave us an email here at info@indiansummerhoneyfarm.com with any questions or comments.

Thank you for visiting our site, there is a map at the top of the home page. Just click on our winter or summer address, we always welcome visitors on “terra firma” also!

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Updated Jan-08