SHB In Kansas

[Swobee]

Bullseye, Rat, Bugman and other Kansas Beekeepers> have you guys sent in any insect samples to the KSU Entomology Dept. for SHB testing? I just sent some critters in and found out they were a related insect, but not SHB. Mine are Carpophilis lugubris, some sort of common 'sap beetle' instead of SHB.

I'm glad to see KSU doing some work in bees again. Honey bees have taken a back seat to other insect studies over the last 30 years or so there. Since Ohio State is closing its bee research lab and other bee labs may be in jeapordy.

I was relieved with their news on what I thought may have been a SHB situation, but still have some VMites to deal with in a few hives.

[riverrat]

Havent sent any. But I havent found any either. Did the sample you sent in come from the nucs you got this year. I have heard rumors the SHB is in Kansas. Has many packages and nucs that are brought in to kansas each year. With no state bee inspector or requirement of an paper work from the importing state. I would say they are here. The KHPA newsletter had a article from KSU wanting keeps to send in a SHB so it could be documented. Then recorded in the Kansas history books along with your name has the discoverer. IMO there are not many beekeepers in the state that want to go down in history has the one who brought in or discovered the SHB. I have heard some keeps say they are afraid that if it is found in there hives they would be tore thru at best by KSU or quaranteened and destoyed at worst. On another note the lady in town tht owns the liquor store has started carrying mead. Mead made right her in Kansas. Have you seen or heard about this Swob.

[Swobee]

I couldn't care less about being known as the poor soul who discovered SHB in Kansas. That's the kind of fame I'm not after. I really doubt that KSU would do anything, but hopefully just lend advice on some IPM treatments. Ms. Dobesh who had the article in June Cappings works a lot with IPM's in general and bees are a sideline of her duties. KSU hasn't published anything new on bees since I was a student there.

The beetles we found were in some packages started last year, bought from Draper's. Those beetles found were similar, but not SHB thank goodness.

I'm surprised to find mead made in Kansas that is commercially available. When I did some research on this very subject last year, I got a letter from an attorney with the Ks. Dept. of Commerce. Her opinion was that honey was not listed as an ag commodity to be used in wine making for Kansas farm wineries. She said the leglislation that permits & sets license guidelines for Ks. farm wineries had to be altered to permit any addition of a commodity, such as honey. That seemed strange, since there's no such "list" of ag commodities that I could find. Lawyers are like architects or engineeres and I deal a lot with both of those professions. Ask 6 of them the same question and you get 9 different opinions and chances are none of them are right.

[riverrat]

swobee the mead is being made at a winery in oskaloosa. I will check and see the next time I am in the name of it.

[Swobee]

Thanks Farold- I'd appreciate the information. I'm going to search the list of Ks. farm wineries from the Dept. of Commerce and see who is making it commercially. A year and half ago, I asked a generic question about commercial mead production in Kansas and received that letter immediately from Dept. of Commerce legal staff. It said basically 'forget the commercial mead idea until the legistlation is changed' or risk trouble. Funny thing, not one piece of legislation that I'm aware of dealt with the winery laws this past legislative session. Someone must have gotten a ruling that permits mead, which is very good news for that 'other' venture we're looking into!

[Swobee]

Farold,

I couldn't find any meaderies or Ks. farm wineries making mead - so far. I did find one around Lawrence with a apple/honey wine, but talking to them, it's not mead. Just a little honey added for flavoring.

I did find a nice little winery for sale northwest of Topeka. It has a beautiful home, pond, 58 acres total with 5 acres of various grapes that you can buy if you want to. $699,000 is all they want. Now, before any people say 'why is it for sale so cheap', let me just say that while it is a beautiful mix of rolling hills, natural hardwood oak forest/ farmland & wildland... land in Kansas doesn't sell quite the same as it does in the rural areas near Boston or Napa Valley, Ca.

Let me know what the winery name with the mead is because I can't find one yet in Ks. I may still have time to be #1, but will need you to loan me six figure $$ first for a little seed cash. I promise to pay you back in payments you won't outlive!

[riverrat]

stopped in tonight it is slough creek winery oskaloosa kansas.

[Swobee]

stopped in tonight it is slough creek winery oskaloosa kansas.

Thanks for the info. Guess which one is for sale? Slough Creek!! Their retail shop is closed, but as their website says 'the good news is, we're for sale'. No mead is mentioned in their wine list, however. Interesting...

[BULLSEYE BILL]

So far I have seen four beetles in the nuc hives I got from the Rat. The first one got away and the rest got squished, they are real easy to see in white Permacomb, stuck a stick in the cell and never thought of saving them for testing. Well I'm sure I'll see more, I will start carrying baggies with me from now on.

[riverrat]

I will take a closer look at mine I havent seen any yet. from what I read on beesource they like to hang out on the incover. where have you been seeing yours bill

[riverrat]

Thanks for the info. Guess which one is for sale? Slough Creek!! Their retail shop is closed, but as their website says 'the good news is, we're for sale'. No mead is mentioned in their wine list, however. Interesting...

There you go Greg Better jump on this one, I may have eto buy a bottle just to see if it will stand up to what Bill is making

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Found mine in the comb. Individual bug in a cell all by itself.

[riverrat]

Found 3 small hive beetles in a hive I started from a cutout last may. Got one caught going to send it in. Can you guys give me the contact information of who to get in touch with I cant seem to find my KSHP cappngs newsletter

[riverrat]

test results came back on the beetle it was a sap beetle which is close to a small hive beetle but not near has damaging

[Swobee]

So for now, Kansas beekeepers are winning 3-0 against SHB! But only three have sent in test samples that I know of. More need to send in to verify.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

I sent in a sample of five that I found in a nuc box I used for a cut-out a week ago Thursday. When I did the cut out I was putting the comb in medium frames and had a little extra brood comb left over so I put it in the bottom of the deep Styrofoam nuc.

When I got home I decided that I had too many bees in the vac for the nuc so I put the frames of brood in a medium box and left the brood comb in the nuc box hoping that the brood would hatch.

Seven days later I was cleaning up the yard and opened the box to clean out the old brood comb. I saw a total of five full grown and one small beetle. I captured all but one that flew off, I did a dance on the grass where it landed. Thursday I mailed the beetles off to the state for identification. I hope they are sap beetles but I doubt it, they look just like the pictures.

Of note is whether they were from the cut out or if they were drawn to the nuc by the stinking dead brood.

Tonight I found one in my observation hive. It is being held at bay by two bees and they won't let it out of the crack it is in. I chase it out with a flashlight and the bees chase it back into the crack.

[Swobee]

I chase it out with a flashlight and the bees chase it back into the crack.

I have a laser pointer that we play with the cats to wear them out. Is that what you're doing, Bill?

[BULLSEYE BILL]

The ONE thing we all have in common is we like to play with bugs.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

Mr Vinduska,
I wanted to touch base with you about the sample you sent to the Insect
Diagnostic Lab. It looks like it could potentially be a small hive
beetle. The sample is being sent off to a Federal lab for an official
identification. We may know one way or the other by the end of the
week and as soon as we find out either Sharon Dobesh or I will contact
you. Thank you for taking the time to send this sample in. This could
be the positive id we have been looking for!

Holly Davis
Insect Diagnostician
123 W. Waters Hall
Manhattan, Kansas 66506


She sounds a lot more excited than I am about this.

[Swobee]

Keep us posted. I hope more Ks. keepers send in samples. The more samples, the more stable and accurate statistics will be. Statistics don't lie, but statisticians do. We were thinking of a IPM strategy (strategerie?) for handling SHB, now we can cancel that out and shift to other worries. Hopefully your sample proves to be a false alarm like ours did. I plan to keep sending samples in just in case.