User:Alicia Robinson-Welsh/sandbox

The American Honey Queen Program is a competitive local, state and national program sponsored by the American Beekeeping Federation. A queen is selected at each level and the runner-up becomes the Honey Princess. The Honey Queen Committee, which is considered the “backbone” of the Honey Queen Program consists, at all three levels, of a chairperson and two or more members of the association. The selection of the American Honey Queen begins at the local level: candidates must apply and be selected by the members of the Local Honey Queen Program. “Selection of the Local Honey Queen may either be through a contest sponsored by an association or individual or by simply selecting a young lady who has the qualities to fulfill the position of Local Honey Queen” ^[1]. Local Honey Queen candidates must be be young women between the ages of 17 and 23 and approved by the Honey Queen Committee. There are few competition requirements for the Local Honey Queen and selection is often based most on her interest in the program, willingness to learn about honey, bees and beekeeping^[2].

Knowledge a Local Honey Queen should acquire: 1. About beekeeping a. Parts of the hive and their proper names b. Three castes of bees – Queen, Drone, Worker – and their responsibilities c. Floral sources of the area represented d. Production of honey e. Processing of honey f. Seasonal management of colonies g. Benefits of the honeybee to agriculture and natural resources through pollination 2. About honey a. Normal range of area honey’s moisture content b. Granulation – what causes it and what to do about it c. Conversion of recipes from sugar to honey d. Varieties of honey e. Cooking hints f. Other uses of honey 3. About other marketable products of the hive a. Pollen b. Royal Jelly c. Beeswax d. Propolis e. Pollination service f. Bee venom

Once a local HQ is selected, she may move on to compete at the state level. For states that do not have a Local Honey Queen Program, there may be a selection at the state level as well, based on the candidate’s interest in public speaking and communication, interpersonal skills, willingness to learn about beekeeping and honey, essays and interview process, and she should possess the same knowledge about bees and beekeeping that candidates at the local level are required to have. State Honey Queen candidates must be between 18 and 24 years old.

The third tier of competition is the national level, the American Honey Queen Contest. The state and national level competitions are very similar in terms of what the candidates are judged on ^[3]. Candidates may be between 18 and 25 years of age at this level, and are required to have served as local or state honey queen for at least six months prior to the competition. Each American Honey Queen candidate must submit an application, essay, a brief autobiography and three photographs in order to compete. As part of the competition, she is required to give a marketing or sales presentation on a topic selected by the American Honey Queen Committee directed to an audience of her choice (i.e. adult, youth), which she will give as she travels around the country as Honey Queen. The national competition is held at the American Beekeeping Federation’s national annual convention in January. More details on the competition, judging, and eligibility criteria such as marital status, appropriate attire, concealment and removal of body art and piercings, etc. can be found in the American Beekeeping Federation’s “American Honey Queen Program Guidelines for Honey Queen Programs.”

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Beekeeping in the United States dates back to the 1860s.

John Harbison, originally from Pennsylvania, successfully brought bee keeping to the US west coast in the 1860s, in an area now known as Harbison Canyon, California, and greatly expanded the market for honey throughout the country.

Beekeeping was traditionally practiced for the bees' honey harvest, although nowadays crop pollination service can often provide a greater part of a commercial beekeeper's income. Other hive products are pollen, royal jelly, and propolis, which are also used for nutritional and medicinal purposes, and beeswax, which is used in candle making, cosmetics, wood polish, and for modelling. The modern use of hive products has changed little since ancient times.

Western honey bees are not native to the Americas. American colonists imported honey bees from Europe, partly for honey and partly for their usefulness as pollinators. The first honey bee species imported were likely European dark bees. Later Italian bees, Carniolan honey bees and Caucasian bees were added.

Western honey bees were also brought to the Primorsky Krai in Russia by Ukrainian settlers around 1850s. These Russian honey bees that are similar to the Carniolan bee were imported into the U.S. in 1990. The Russian honey bee has shown to be more resistant to the bee parasites Varroa destructor and Acarapis woodi, although their commercial use and availability are extremely limited in scope because other, better strains are available (e.g., VSH lines).

Before the 1980s, most U.S. hobby beekeepers were farmers or relatives of a farmer, lived in rural areas, and kept bees with techniques passed down for generations. The arrival of tracheal mites in the 1980s and varroa mites and small hive beetles in the 1990s has made the practice more challenging for the hobbyist.

Beekeepers generally categorize themselves as:

• Commercial beekeeper — Beekeeping is the primary source of income.
• Sideliner — Beekeeping is a secondary source of income.
• Hobbyist — Beekeeping is not a significant source of income.

Some southern U.S. beekeepers keep bees primarily to raise queens and package bees for sale. Northern beekeepers can buy early spring queens and 3- or 4-pound packages of live worker bees from the South to replenish hives that die out during the winter, although this is becoming less practical due to the spread of the Africanized bee.

In cold climates commercial beekeepers have to migrate with the seasons, hauling their hives on trucks to gentler southern climates for better wintering and early spring build-up. Many make "nucs" (small starter or nucleus colonies) for sale or replenishment of their own losses during the early spring. Some may pollinate squash or cucumbers in Florida or make early honey from citrus groves in Florida, Texas or California. The largest demand for pollination comes from the almond groves in California. As spring moves northward so do the beekeepers, to supply bees for tree fruits, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries and later vegetables. Some commercial beekeepers alternate between pollination service and honey production but usually cannot do both at the same time.

Beekeepers may harvest honey from July until October, according to the honey flows in their area. Good management requires keeping the hive free of pests and disease, and ensuring that the bee colony has room in the hive to expand. Chemical treatments, if used for parasite control, must be done in the off-season to avoid any honey contamination. Success for the hobbyist also depends on locating the apiary so bees have a good nectar source and pollen source throughout the year.

After the winter of 1907, U.S. beekeeper Nephi Miller decided to try moving his hives to different areas of the country to increase their productivity during winter. Since then, "migratory beekeeping" has become widespread in the U.S. It is a crucial element of U.S. agriculture, which could not produce anywhere near its current levels with native pollinators alone. Beekeepers earn much more from renting their bees out for pollination than they do from honey production.

One major U.S. beekeeper reports moving his hives from Idaho to California in January to prepare for almond pollination in February, then to apple orchards in Washington in March, to North Dakota two months later for honey production, and then back to Idaho by November — a journey of several thousands of miles. Others move from Florida to New Hampshire or to Texas. About two thirds of US domestic bees visit California for the almond bloom in February.

California currently leads production of almonds worldwide, with 80% of global production. Each spring, migratory beekeepers rent hives to almond farmers in the Central Valley for pollination^[1]. Honeybees increase almond yields from an expected 40 lbs/acre to an average of 2,400 lbs/acre.^[2]

The wider spread and intermingling in the US has resulted in far greater losses from Varroa mite infections in recent years, than in countries where beekeepers move bees around less.^[3]

• Amos Root
• Agriculture in the United States

• American Beekeeping Federation
• Pollen Nation, a documentary about commercial, itinerant beekeepers in the US
• Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Studies Cornell University
• A Buzz About Bees: 400 Years of Bees and Beekeeping E. F. Phillips Beekeeping Collection at Cornell University; Mann Library online virtual exhibit
• Sister Bee Laura Tyler portrays beekeeping in this documentary about six women beekeepers from Boulder County, Colorado. The 30-minute film considers the women's various perspectives on what, for some, is just a hobby, for others is a career in beekeeping

United States Category:Agriculture in the United States