Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Research
By admin | March 17, 2008
I was excited to see the new Haagen-Dazs ice cream flavor as well as the new bee information labels in my local supermarket freezer.
At the request of Dr. Eric Mussen and Dr. Sue Cobey of UC Davis, I brought two observation hives to the Dreyers/Haagen-Dazs sales convention that was held in Las Vegas last year to answer questions about bees. It is thrilling to see more mainstream sources of bee education and awareness popup. As of February, Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream (part of Dreyers Ice Cream) has come out with a new flavor of ice cream called Vanilla Honey Bee. In addition, the labels on over 40% of Haagen-Dazs flavors have honey bee information on the label. When I was speaking with representatives of Haagen-Dazs they were very excited about this new program because 40% of all Haagen-Dazs flavors are dependent on honey bee pollination. I mentioned to them that ALL flavors of ice cream are honey bee dependent. Milk cows are fed alfalpha, clover, oats, and other feed crops. These crops are totally dependent on honey bees to pollinate in order to produce seed either at the seed producer level or directly in the field. Without honey bee pollination, there will be no feed crops for milk production.
Haagen-Dazs has donated $100,000 to UC Davis for Bee Research as well as $150,000 to Penn State University for Bee Research. These funds will be used to continue efforts at both research laboratories towards Colony Collapse Disorder, pollination research, and overall bee health.
Read more here:
- http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/mussen/JanFeb2008.pdf UC DAVIS
- http://live.psu.edu/story/28868 PENN STATE
written by: Mark Allen
Topics: General Beekeeping, Honey and Health, Pollination | 4 Comments »
CDFA Information on Pesticide Damage to Your Bees
By admin | March 17, 2008
The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) offers a good article, in .pdf form, on the indicators of pesticide poisoning of honey bees. This article also provides information to beekeepers, growers, pesticide applicators, and general agriculture industry on how to protect against pesticide drift to honey bees.
Click on the link here: www.cdfa.ca.gov/files/pdf/ReduceBeePesticideEffects.pdf
Topics: General Beekeeping, Pollination | 4 Comments »
Superboost
By admin | February 4, 2008
A new product has been developed that is designed to increase the effectiveness of both pollination and brood build-up. The product is called Superboost, developed by Pherotech International, Inc. This product is being distributed by Mann Lake Ltd, who brought literature and some sample materials to the California State Beekeepers Convention last November. At the time this product was not yet avaible, but as of this January it is available for purchase through Mann Lake Ltd.
Superboost is a hanging pad that releases a combination of 10 pheramones that specifically stimulate brood rearing. Pherotech developed Superboost in collaboration with Texas A & M University. This pad is hung between two of the frames in a hive and lasts 30 days. According to the material, Superboost is to promote:
- Increases in colony growth rate in summer and winter.
- Increase queen feeding and egg laying rate.
- Increase honey production.
- Stimulate feeding on pollen patties and liquid feed.
- Lower the age of first foraging by worker bees.
- Increase the pollen load of each foraging worker.
- Increase the number of young worker bees.
- Increase the number of foragers by up to 150%.
- Inhibit swarming.
That seems like quite a claim by this product, yet this was all from the product promotional flyer I received at the convention. I thought I would try out this product, so I purchased two orders (4 wafers) of these pheramone pads. I should be able to do my own observational testing on 4 similar hives and 4 control hives (2 hives each at two different location) to see the visual difference in brood buildup this Spring. The overall idea with this product is to increase brood buildup before sending bees to pollinate almond fields. It is postulated that these wafers of superboost may soon be required by almond growers in order to maintain adequate forage bees to meet the pollination rates needed to set a sufficient crop.
Topics: Pollination | 6 Comments »