Author: Bruce Bonnett

Support HB 1723 – Request a Hearing be Scheduled!!

As previously mentioned in several published articles, the Lone Star Beekeepers Association supports the repeal of the permit requirement beekeepers have to comply with to transport honey bees across a Texas county line.

There are presently 3 bills before the current session of the Texas Legislature that propose repeal of this permit.  Those three bills are Senate Bill 677, House Bill 2670, and House Bill 1723.  Of those 3 bills, only HB 1723 deals solely with the repeal of the permit requirement.

SB 677 & HB 2670  contain additional provisions unrelated to the repeal of the county to county bee transportation permit.  Those additional provisions in SB 677 & HB 2970  are causing those bills to be challenged by many beekeepers and local beekeeper associations across the state so those bills are at risk of not passing.

The additional provisions in SB 677 & HB 2670 add a voluntary fee based beekeeper registration and also adds the ability to circumvent the hive health certification process while importing bees into Texas.  Though the repeal of the county to county transport permit requirement is widely supported, a large number of beekeepers across the state are voicing their opposition to beekeeper registration and the hive import inspection loop-hole.

Fortunately HB 1723 proposes repeal of the county to county bee transport permit without the additional baggage opposed by many beekeepers.  Vice Chair of the House Agriculture & Livestock Committee, Representative “Doc” Anderson has thrown his weight behind HB 1723 by attaching his name to it as an additional House sponsor.  The Legislative Aid for Representative Meza’s agriculture committee activities, Sam Gostomski, told LSBA “Both Representative Meza and Representative Anderson are still committed to moving the bill forward” and has requested a hearing on the bill before the House Agriculture & Livestock Committee.

The next step to move HB 1723 forward is a hearing of the bill before the House Agriculture & Livestock Committee.

CALL TO ACTION

Help this bill move forward by contacting both the House Ag & Livestock Committee Chair Representative Drew Springer,  and the House Ag & Livestock Chair’s clerk, Alexander McMillan at (512) 463-0762.

Tell them you support House Bill 1723 and encourage a hearing for that bill be scheduled.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Alexander McMillan can be contacted at (512) 463-0762

Representative Drew Springer can be contacted at (512) 463-0526  or Drew.Springer@house.texas.gov.

The Colony Corner


Connecting with beekeepers across the state a common theme is heard.  Mild to warm weather in January & February, followed by frigid temperatures in the first week of March caused hive to brood up during the warm weather only to be set back during the cold snap.  In the area where my apiaries are located there were four nights of 20 degree temperatures and it was 22 degrees on March 4th.

Continued cool weather and rain has hindered the nectar flow leading many medium to large scale beekeepers to supplement with sugar syrup feeding.

Cool weather in the almond regions of California has delayed the return of bees to Texas that are on pollination contracts there.

Reports are coming in that drone brood and emerged drones sightings are late.

East and North East Texas large-scale operations are reporting above average winter losses due to the heavy October rains.

These factors are leading to a late bee production season in many parts of the state and may affect nucleus hive deliveries by some bee producers.

There are exceptions along the southeast, coastal areas of Texas and the Rio Grand Valley which seem to be fairing well.

Though the season is late and brood up in certain regions is late, the National Weather Service is giving reason to be hopeful Continue reading “The Colony Corner”

Consumer Product Review

This article is not a product endorsement nor a treatment recommendation. It is
intended to share experiences using a particular product.
While everybody disagrees how to rid their hives of them or even disagree if they should rid their hives of them, people generally agree that Small Hive Beetles, Aethina tumida are a nuisance.
While generally believing (perhaps in vain) that genetic evolutionary development of behavioral resistance of the bees themselves is the only true long term solution to bee pests, this author does try different methods of dealing with pests if but for no other reason than to become better informed and so wishes to share personal experiences using BEETLE BEE-GONE sheets.

BEETLE BEE-GONE is a product packaged by the beekeeping equipment arm of BeeWeaver, BEEGOODS. It is used to reduce or keep the hive beetle population in check in a managed colony.  The product is sheets of a fabric like material.
It doesn’t contain poisons or insecticides. that when placed in a hive the bees chew up into ball of material that has texture and consistency that the bees use to entangle the hive beetles.
Photo #1 – BEETLE BEE-GONE
The manufacture’s instructions are to place one or two of the approximately 6” x 5” sheets per fully populated brood chamber. Continue reading “Consumer Product Review”

The Colony Corner

A Message from the President

As the inaugural year of Lone Star Beekeepers draws to a close, I’d like to point out some positives that happened for the honey beekeeping industry in Texas on the national regulatory front. The U.S. Congress put a stop to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s proposal to force honey producers and resellers to label pure honey as having “added sugar” on the nutritional facts label. Also, Congress enhanced honeybee research programs by requiring the Chief Scientist of the Department of Agriculture assign an individual to serve in the Office of the Chief Scientist as a Honeybee and Pollinator Research Coordinator. Among the many responsibilities assigned to the Research Coordinator, this person will be leading efforts to identify and address stressors on pollinator health, including pests and pathogens, reduced habitat, lack of nutritional resources, and exposure to pesticides. In particular, the Research Coordinator is required to ensure it be documented the stresses caused by “…pesticide residues that are found in native and managed pollinator colonies; and the prevalence of major pests, such as Varroa destructor and diseases that are transported between States through practices involving managed pollinators…”.

Closer to home Continue reading “The Colony Corner”

The Colony Corner

A Message from the President
Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Star.

As a newly formed non-profit trade organization, Lone Star Beekeepers Association’s mission is to promote the beekeeping & honey production industries by listening to the beekeepers it serves, and to give each of you a voice in local & state regulatory issues.Lone Star Beekeepers Association will keep you informed of activities that will affect you through its newsletter publication of The Star.
Through this publication, LSBA will strive to keep you apprised of its own activities, empowered by its members and that of that other agricultural lobbying and beekeeping groups.To that end, there are on-going activities in two areas on the state regulatory front that if passed, could affect you as a beekeeper or honey producer. These two areas are changes to both the laws effecting honey sales and honey ingredients within the cottage industry exemptions allowed in Chapter 437 of the Health and Safety Code and the beekeeping and hive maintenance regulations, Chapter 131 of the Texas Agriculture Code. Also county tax appraisers are scratching their heads trying to understand how to evaluate properties for beekeeping land use. LSBA is active in helping beekeepers and tax appraisers in all these areas.In the area of honey sales within the cottage industry exemption the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance is proposing to remove the location restrictions, allowing cottage food producers to sell to consumers at any location in the state so long as the transaction remained direct producer-to-consumer. Continue reading “The Colony Corner”