1. Florida
melitto
files
Bee Involved:
Learn to Keep Solitary Bees and Wasps
july – sept 2012
IF YOU are reading this, you are
most likely already a beekeeper
with an appreciation for honey
bees. You probably know that
we rely on bees to pollinate
our crops and that a third of
our food is made possible by
bee-mediated pollination. You
are also undoubtedly aware
of the many problems facing
honey bees such as pesticides,
pathogens, pests, diseases and
colony collapse disorder. We
would have never known about
many of these bee ailments
without beekeepers like you.
There are an estimated 20,000
species of bees worldwide,
4,000 in North America, and
and nectar or prey. She lays an
egg on the provisioned food
and then seals off the cell. She
may create a series of cells in
a hollow reed capped with leaf
pieces, a cluster of cells sealed
with grass in a hole made by a
woodpecker, or any number of
niches, depending on the species
of bee or wasp. After sealing
the final cell, she will leave her
brood to care for themselves
and fly off in search of another
suitable nest location. The
solitary female will likely die
before her offspring develop
into adults. Independently, the
larvae hatch from their eggs, eat
the food in their cells, and grow
substantially larger until they
develop into pupae. When adults
emerge they chew their way out
of their cells, and each flies off in
search of a mate.
How do you become a solitary
bee or wasp keeper? Simple —
you just need to provide nesting
habitat. Nesting habitat can be as
simple as an untreated 4×4 with
holes drilled into it, or a bundle
of bamboo. The habitat can be as
creative as you like. Any series of
holes or tubes that have an inside
Continued on page 8
Jason Graham — Ph.D. Student, University of Florida HBREL
over 300 species of bees known
in Florida. We manage only
about eight species of bees, and
only three of these are native to
North America. The majority of
bees are solitary. Solitary bees
are important pollinators, and
they do not sting to defend their
nests. Solitary wasps also do
some pollination and provide
pest control by collecting
caterpillars, grasshoppers and
other garden pests as prey.
We recently created a website
to help you learn to keep solitary
bees and wasps. UF Native
Buzz is a citizen science project
through which participants
like you can contribute to
our understanding of solitary
bees and wasps by monitoring
nesting habitat in your backyard,
garden, apiary or other natural
area. The goal of the project is
to learn more about the nesting
preferences, biodiversity, and
distribution of solitary bees
and wasps and to identify
new species and potentially
manageable species.
The solitary female bee or
wasp finds a suitable nesting
location and collects and
provisions the nest with pollen
Joint publication:
Florida
Department of
Agriculture &
Consumer Services
University of Florida/
Institute of Food &
Agricultural
Sciences
VOL 6 | ISSUE 3News for bee lovers
A solitary bee explores a bamboo nest.
Jason Graham, UF/IFAS
Visit www.ufnativebuzz.com today!

2. FDACS/DPI
David Westervelt, FDACS/DPI
Asst. Chief, Apiary Inspection
FROM THE DESK OF
DAVID WESTERVELT
What’sinaName?
Have you ever thought about
what is in a name? FDACS/
DPI / BP&AI/AIS is known
to most of you as the Florida
Department of Agriculture and
Consumer Services/Division of
Plant Industry / Bureau of Plant
and Apiary Inspection/Apiary
Inspection Section. All you re-
ally need to know is that we are
Apiary Inspection. If you think
that, you may be missing out on
some wonderful resources our
department has to offer.
Have you ever thought about
the rest of the name? What
is the Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer
Services? Aren’t they the people
that have the “Do Not Call
List,” the auto “Lemon Law,” or
lemons? I guess they could have
a small part to do with honey
bees.What is the Division of
Plant Industry or the Bureau of
Plant and Apiary Inspection?
What do they all have to do
with beekeeping?
When you dissect the name it
might give you a better under-
standing of what you are getting
when you call for an apiary
inspection. First, the inspection
team has 400 combined years of
keeping bees and over 180 years
in inspection of bees, which
is the most important thing a
beekeeper needs during hive
inspections — experience. But
what if you call your inspec-
tor because of something else:
a new insect you found in the
hive, a plant you found bloom-
ing, or your hives are dead with
dead bees all around them, or
honey that doesn’t look right
at the farmer’s market. Your
inspector can help you connect
to the rest of the network which
provides an array of services.
Here is how the rest of the
name comes into play. The
Florida Department of Agricul-
ture and Consumer Services =
19 divisions and offices. Here
are some divisions and their
associated bureaus that are very
important to beekeepers:
AgricultureEnvironmentalServices
(AES):Workswithpesticides,from
registeringtomisuses;runsthe
statewidemosquitocontrolprogram.
FoodSafety:Tupelocertification,
bottling,honeylabeling,cottagefood
legislation.
FruitandVegetables:Inspectsand
regulatesallpollinatedfruitinFlorida.
MarketingandDevelopment:
Up-to-dateblogging.Forthosethat
arecomputerproficient,youcankeep
abreastofeverythingthatinvolves
agriculture.
Forestry(FloridaForestService):
Helpstoobtainapiarylocations.
DataProcessingCenter:Current
computerprogramswithwebsite
updates,updatedcomputersand
equipmentwithGPScapabilities,
andsoontobeimplemented,on-line
paymentcapabilitiestoexpedite
inspectorsservicestoexpanding
beekeepers.
Florida Melitto Files | News for Bee Lovers
PlantIndustry:Weareapartofthis
—theBureauofPlantandApiary
Inspection.Whenitcomestoknowledge
ofhoneybees,thisiswhereitismost
obtainableforbeekeepers,aswellas
otherFloridaconsumers.
j BureauofEntomology,Nematology
&PlantPathology(andBotany)
• Entomology: Smallhivebeetle
(SHB),pollenbeetles,Varroamites.
• Nematology: Nematodecontrolof
theSHB.
• Pathology: Identificationof
AmericanFoulbrood(AFB),European
Foulbrood(EFB),Nosema,andother
emergingpathogens.
• Botany: Identificationofallplant
material,honeyplantsandbloom
information.
j BureauofMethodsandDevelop-
ment&BiologicalControl
Researchonproductsforthecontroland
eradicationofhoneybeepests,including
newmitetreatments.
j BureauofTechnicalAssistance
Africanhoneybeeeducationalmaterials,
educationalfairhandouts,videos,
accuratepressreleases.
In addition, there are some
small but very important behind-
the-scenes sections like person-
nel, training, fiscal, mail room,
maintenance, and administration
sections, and without them we
could not get the job done. But
don’t forget! The most important
person in apiary is you, the regis-
tered beekeeper! Without you we
would just be inspectors.
Please remember you are the
keeper of the bees; with time
will come knowledge. As a good
keeper you should share your
knowledge and expertise, so
please be a mentor and pay it
forward to feed our nation.

3. july – sept 2012
AS BEEKEEPERS, we are all
aware of how unique and amaz-
ing the mating process is for the
honey bee. Most of our interest
and wonder tends to focus on
the queen. As we know, a virgin
queen leaves her home colony
during her first weeks of life for
a series of mating flights. But
where does she go?
She is on a mission to find
drones, and will mate with
upwards of 20 over the course
of her mating flights. Drone
honey bees are not continuously
distributed in the environment;
they clump at specific congrega-
tion areas. These Drone Congre-
gation Areas (DCAs) were first
identified in 1958 and are still, in
some ways, perplexing research-
ers today. In general, drones fly
on calm, sunny afternoons dur-
ing the breeding season to con-
gregation areas in hopes of mat-
ing with a virgin queen. DCAs
occur at 10-30 meters above the
ground and are formed whether
a queen is present or not.
Drone congregation areas oc-
cur in the same location day after
day, season after season, over the
course of many years. It is still
unclear how drones find these
areas, and even more perplexing
is how the first drones to emerge
in the spring are able to locate
the previous year’s congregation
areas. Moreover, if a colony is
moved to a new area the drones
can immediately locate the re-
gional congregation areas.
Drones do not simply fly to a
congregation area and wait for a
queen. Flying to and within the
congregation area uses a lot of
energy. This could mean starva-
tion for a drone in a matter of
just 30 minutes. Consequently,
they prefer to visit closer congre-
gation areas (within 0.5 – 2.0 km
from their colony) making mul-
tiple trips in one day, returning
to their colony often to be fed.
Furthermore, a drone may not
always visit the same congrega-
tion area, and may visit several
DCAs in a single day. Drones
appear to prefer to frequent the
most popular congregation areas.
They will leave a congregation
area with only a few drones in
favor of one with many drones.
The suspected purpose of large
congregation areas is to ensure
genetic diversity in the honey
bee population. Each colony
sends drones to several nearby
congregations and in regions
with many managed colonies.
It has been estimated that there
are up to 16,000 drones from
over 200 colonies represented
at a single congregation area.
The benefit of such a large drone
presence is that it reduces the
likelihood that a virgin queen
will mate with a drone produced
by her own colony.
When a virgin queen enters a
congregation area the drones are
initially attracted to her man-
dibular pheromone. However,
once the drones get close they
orient themselves with the queen
based on vision. The drones
chase her in “comets” of 20–40
drones jockeying for position to
mount the queen. Vision is such
a strong cue for the drones that
they will mistakenly chase other
insects, inanimate objects, or
even birds once they have detect-
ed the queen’s pheromone. Many
Ashley
Mortensen
observes a
drone trap.
predators become
overwhelmed by the
drones chasing them
and leave the area.
Researches think
that by chasing away
predators drones
may be inadvertently
keeping the queen
safe from predators
during breeding.
When the queen
is ready to return to her colony
she can terminate her mating
flight by simply flying out of
the congregation area. Drones
appear to be more strongly at-
tracted to the actual location of
the congregation area than to
the queen herself. Once she has
flown beyond the boundary of
the congregation area the drones
pursuing her will stop and re-
turn to the central region of the
congregation area, allowing the
queen to quickly return to the
safety of her colony.
Despite not knowing exactly
how drones choose and locate
congregation areas, DCAs have
proven to be extremely informa-
tive in research studies. Since any
colony that is strong enough to
swarm produces drones, trap-
ping drones in a given congrega-
tion area effectively samples all
managed and feral reproductive
colonies in the region. From that
sample, drones can be collected
and genetically analyzed, giving
us as researchers a unique op-
portunity to analyze the popula-
tion. This is a component of what
I am working on for my Master’s
thesis at the HBREL, and I hope
to be able to share more with you
as my research progresses!
Drone Congregation Areas:
Love is in the Air
Ashley Mortensen, M.S. Student, HBREL

6. TenTips from a Backyard Beekeeper
Michelle Peterson, President, Treasure Coast Beekeepers Association
AS AN AVID gardener, I became
interested in beekeeping after
noticing an absence of honey
bees around my home and later
learning about colony collapse
disorder. My husband, Herbie,
and I attended a CCD lecture at
Oxbow Eco Center, a local envi-
ronmental learning center in St.
Lucie County. The speaker urged
everyone to become backyard
beekeepers — and we did. Now,
four years later, I’ve come up with
some tips that might help future
backyard beekeepers manage their
new hives safely and efficiently.
Tip 1: Tell your immediate
neighbors that you plan to start
beekeeping. You may wish to keep
it a secret, but they’ll find out
anyway. Once you don your veil
and fire up that smoker, the cat
will be out of the bag. Be prepared
to educate them about the benefits
of bees.
Tip 2: Determine your purpose
for keeping honey bees. Is it for
pollination? Or do you want to
harvest honey? Knowing why will
help you decide upon the type of
hive you set up. If you are only
seeking the benefits of pollination,
a top bar hive may be perfect
for you. It can be fairly compact
and will not require the lifting of
heavy supers. However top bar
hives can be a bit challenging
when it comes to honey harvest-
ing and swarm control. If you
want to bottle the sweet stuff, the
traditional Langstroth hive may
be the better choice.
Tip 3: Be considerate about
hive placement. Place your hives
as far from neighboring property
as possible. Although it’s better to
face your hives east or south, do
what is best for your neighbor-
hood. Consider placing the hive
entrance within a few feet of a
privacy fence, a tall/wide shrub,
or other flight obstacle. This will
force the bees to fly up and over,
well above the heads of local
residents.
Tip 4: If you choose the
Langstroth hive, choose a size that
will be easy to handle. For many
with limited upper body strength
or bad backs, beekeeping ceases
to be fun when you drop a 60- or
70-pound super. If I had to start
all over again, I would choose
all eight-frame mediums. First,
they are easy to manage. Second,
having just one size super makes
life simple.
Tip 5: Provide a nearby source
of water. We’ve all heard stories
about bees flocking to the neigh-
bor’s swimming pool for a sip. I
place an entrance feeder with wa-
ter at each of my hives, and keep
them filled all summer long. Do
whatever is easiest for you, but it
is best to a have a constant source
of fresh water on your property.
Tip 6: Limit your use of pesti-
cides. What you use to kill a weed
or a pesky bug may also kill bees.
If the product is toxic to honey
bees it will be printed on the
label, so always inspect all labels
carefully. I recommend choosing
products that are nontoxic to
honey bees and water-soluble
rather than granular, which bees
might mistake for grains of pol-
len. To avoid exposure to foraging
bees, spray plants before they are
in bloom and make a point to
treat in the evening.
Tip 7: Be prepared for swarm
season. There is nothing that will
panic neighbors more than seeing
a swirling swarm soaring from
your bee yard into their tree. So
schedule more time to work with
your hives one to two weeks prior
to heavy nectar flows, when the
bees are typically preparing to
swarm, as well as every 7 to10
days during the flow. Otherwise,
you may get a knock on your door
with a request to remove “your
bees” from a tree next door.
Tip 8: Alert your local mos-
quito control program about your
hives. Many municipalities do
regular mosquito spraying, and
the insecticides that kill mos-
quitoes may kill your bees. With
notification, the agency may stop
spraying in your neighborhood as
they did for me, spray at night, or
contact you prior to spraying so
that you can move your hives or
provide additional protection for
your bees.
Tip 9: Become a registered
Florida beekeeper — it’s the law.
Becoming registered will not
only keep you in compliance with
state statues, but it will be a great
investment in your beekeep-
ing education. Your state apiary
inspector is a wealth of knowledge
and information, and you will
learn more and more with each
inspection visit.
Tip 10: Join your local beekeep-
ing club or association, as well as
the Florida State Beekeepers Asso-
ciation, which envelops all clubs.
Support, mentoring, education,
hands-on learning, networking
— these are just a few reasons
why joining is such a great idea.
There is no better experience than
being part of a community of
individuals who share a passion
for honey bees.
Follow these tips (and I’m
certain you’ll soon add a few of
your own), and you’ll keep your
neighbors and your backyard bees
quite content.
Florida Melitto Files | News for Bee Lovers
For more information, visit www.floridabeekeepers.org

7. Dr. Jamie Ellis
UF Assistant Professor
july – sept 2012
uf/ifas
I WRITE this article after five
long months of abnormal heat;
it has been hot since January.
While many people move to
Florida so they can enjoy the
long period of warm weather,
the perpetual heat has an
unknown impact on European
honey bees and those who work
with them. Recall that the honey
bees beekeepers manage in the
U.S. are derived from stock im-
ported from Europe. These bees
are temperate-race bees, i.e.,
they “need” a winter dormant
period that allows the colony to
reset itself.
Honey bee colonies in
Florida rarely get time off. Bee-
keepers feed bees beginning in
December, getting them ready
for the pollination contracts that
can begin as early as late Janu-
ary. Many honey bee colonies
in Florida go to California to
pollinate the almond trees that
bloom in February and March.
My colonies in north central
Florida have made almost a
super of honey by the time Feb-
ruary is over! Our Florida bees
do this through spring, summer,
and through fall in most cases.
The “down time” for most honey
bee colonies in Florida is from
Thanksgiving to December,
depending on where you live.
Honey bees are known for
working hard. After all, the
slogan “busy as a bee” perme-
ates our vernacular. However, is
it possible that we are working
our bees too hard, expecting too
much out of them? Of course,
that is entirely possible. Most
people do not know that honey
bees do in fact “sleep.” There is
a period of rest for most bees
at some point during the day.
I have spent countless hours
doing research on observation
hives. The thing that always
amazes me is how many bees in
a colony are doing NOTHING,
or seemingly nothing, at any
given time. These bees just stand
there with their eyes open — no,
they could not shut them even
if they wanted to. Bees do need
rest. I suspect the same is true
of colonies.
We have had a very warm
spring in Florida. This got the
bees up and out of their colonies
in January; they have been
working ever since. Yet, the im-
pact of long, warm years on bees
also affects bee pests and patho-
gens. I have lived in many places
and seen beekeeping all over the
world. I honestly can say that
keeping bees strong and healthy
in Florida is as difficult as it is to
accomplish anywhere. Our bees
never sleep — neither do their
pests and pathogens! Florida
colonies rarely go dormant,
thus supporting year-round
populations of varroa, small
hive beetles, foulbrood diseases,
etc. Florida bee colonies have
Nosema — supposedly a “cold
climate problem” — as badly as
bee colonies in the northern-
most United States.
Perpetually working bees
also means perpetually work-
ing beekeepers. Beekeeping
is a 24-hour-a-day enterprise
in Florida. Beekeepers work
around the clock, most days
of the year. I am constantly in-
trigued by the amount of effort
it takes to keep bees commer-
cially in Florida: late nights, hot
days, long hours, scorching sun,
and oh yeah, stings.
My team and I even feel it in
the bee research world. Many
of my colleagues get the benefit
of having abbreviated field re-
search seasons — though many
of them say that is a negative.
The field season never stops
here. In a way, this is good. We
are able to do a lot of work and
have access to what we need
most of the year. On the other
hand, we do not get enough
winter break to pour ourselves
into working on manuscripts,
repairing equipment, etc.
What is the conclusion of the
matter? Honey bees, beekeep-
ers, bee inspectors, and bee
researchers in Florida work
hard! We all are presented with
a unique set of challenges that
make keeping bees in Florida
difficult, but very rewarding!
Please contact me or members
of my lab if there is anything
that we can do to help you. We
are all in this together!
SUMMER– the season ofWORK
FROM THE DESK OF
DR. JAMIE ELLIS
This article first appeared in Melitto Files Vol. 5, Issue 3

8. & DACS-P-01492
David Westervelt
Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection
Division of Plant Industry
1911 SW 34th Street
PO Box 147100
Gainesville, FL 32614-7100
352-372-3505 x128
David.Westervelt@
freshfromflorida.com
Jamie Ellis, Ph.D.
University of Florida Institute of
Food & Agricultural Sciences
Bldg. 970, Natural Area Drive
PO Box 110620
Gainesville, FL 32611-0620
352-273-3924
jdellis@ufl.edu
www.Afbee.com
www.ufhoneybee.com
http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/
Florida Melitto Files | News for Bee Lovers
Jason Graham,
Continued from Page 1
SAVE
THE DATE!
Thursday,
November 1, 2012
Master Beekeeper
Program Training
and Exams
Preceding the annual
Florida State Beekeepers Convention
Tampa, Florida
Registration and details to follow at
www.ufhoneybee.com
FSBA information at
www.floridabeekeepers.org
Registration opens October 1, 2012
diameter of 1/8" to 3/8" and
depth of 3" to 8" will work.
Examples of nests, building
plans, identification guides and
more can be found on the UF
Native Buzz website. After you
set up your nest, you can then
monitor it by looking for holes
capped with different nesting
materials that indicate the nest
is being used.
We have methods online
to help you collect and
identify the solitary bees and
wasps nesting in your site.
You can share that data with
us and other participants
worldwide. Whether you are
an experienced beekeeper
or are just getting started,
consider trying out solitary bee
and wasp keeping, and help
us learn more about the other
buzz in your backyard.