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May 8th Agenda for Bee Club
Rockwood Park Backyard Beekeepers Association Monthly Meeting
Monday, May 8, 2017 at 6:30pm
Bring all of your questions to our Club meeting this Monday night.
We’re having an "Open Panel" discussion and Question & Answer night.
*
RPBBA Announcements
* Honey Bee Festival Updates: Festival Committee
* Bee Open Panel: Hosted by Rob Wakoty and Harlan Williams
*
Beekeepers Show-n-S
ell – RPBBA members are welcome to show and sell
their Bee-Wares to other members and visitors
such as honey, soap, lip balm, candles, pottery, etc. before and after our meeting.
See you there!
REMINDER: RPBBA Monthly Meetings at Rockwood Park Nature Center at 6:30 PM, every 2nd Monday of the month.
On behalf of your 2017 Officers:
President – Paul Edens
VP – Stan Houk
Secretary – Jody Conway
Treasurer – Theo Hartmann
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***SPECIAL GUEST, DATE & PLACE – APRIL 11, 2017 MEETING***
This is in lieu of our regular Monday meeting, instead our meeting will be on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at Powhatan Village Building. The event is open to other Beekeeping Clubs in the area:
Directions:
The meeting location is about 23 miles and just under half an hour drive away from Rockwood Park.
Turn right on Courthouse Road as you exit the park and follow the road to Rte 60 (Midlothian Turnpike)
Go West on Rte 60 for about 14 miles, past the Sheets gas station on the right.
About 2 miles past Sheets is a small, rectangle green sign that says POWHATAN with an arrow pointing left.
A short ways further, across from a VALERO gas station turn left onto Rte 13 West or Old Buckingham Road.
Go 2 miles and through the round-about.
The Village Building is on the right (Old Powhatan High School).
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Agenda for March 13 Club Meeting
Hi Folks – This is a friendly reminder that our next Club meeting is Monday, March 13, 2017, from 6:30-8:30pm at the Rockwood Nature Center.
Agenda:
Announcements
Budget Report – Theo Hartmann, Treasurer
Festival Committee – Report on our 8th Annual Honeybee Festival
Guest Speaker: Our own member John Davis "All About Queens"
On behalf of your 2017 Officers
Paul Edens, President
Stan Houk, Vice President
Jody Conway, Secretary
Theo Hartmann, Treasurer
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Meeting Mon Feb 13th
This is a friendly reminder that our next meeting will be Monday, February 13th at Rockwood Nature Center from 6:30-8:30pm:
- The February meeting will include announcements and Festival updates
- Our Educational Segment will be presented by Rob Wokaty. He will be discussing what to do in our hives now and how to manage possible early swarming
- Our Guest Speaker will be Nancy Rose. She is a Master Gardener and will be discussing pollinator friendly gardening. Nancy has a lot of great information to share on how we can all help the bees
We also have some great classes on the books! The 2 separate Introduction Sessions are for those interested, but not sure about keeping bees, and the 1 Beginning Course (4 days total) is for those already interested in getting started!
Intro to Beekeeping Feb 11th
Intro to Beekeeping Feb 18th
Beginning Beekeeping Course March 11-12 & April 8-9
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Beginning Beekeeping Course
March 11-12 & April 8-9, 2017 – click here for more information and to sign up.
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Nucs for sale – Blackstone, VA
Hello:
I will have five-frame, medium nucs available for sale this year. Please see the attached pdf description: nucleus-honey-bee-hives-for-sale-2017
Many bee colonies die between January and late March. Usually this is due to mites or lack of stores (starvation).
Hopefully, your bees were checked for mites in early fall and treated if necessary. Here is a video illustrating using the sugar shake method of determining whether you need to treat for mites. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvWfGMvy_zs
There are many different ways to treat for mites. Here are three natural ways:
- Mite Away Quick Strips can be used anytime in spring or summer when the daily high temperatures exceed 50 degrees, but are less than 92 degrees. It can even be used when honey supers are on the hive. http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/MiteAway-Quick-Strip/productinfo/194/ http://scientificbeekeeping.com/an-early-summer-test-of-mite-away-quick-stripstm/
- Oxalic acid was approved, in the Spring of 2015, by the EPA for treatment of mites. I prefer the dribble method. It is easy to do and very inexpensive. http://www.dadant.com/news/epa-okays-oxalic-acid-for-varroa-mite-control http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-questions-answers-and-more-questions-part-1-of-2-parts/ http://scientificbeekeeping.com/oxalic-acid-powerpoint-presentation/
- Apiguard, a thymol-based, product, can be used in late summer/early fall. http://www.dadant.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=101&products_id=815
All of these are considered natural miticides. Here’s a good article on miticides, including the natural miticides. http://scientificbeekeeping.com/miticides-2011/
If your hives are light on stores, there are several ways to feed them in the winter. Perhaps, the easiest is to use the Winter Patties sold by Dadant in quantities of 10 or 40 one lb. patties. This approach has the advantage of providing some protein in addition to carbohydrates. The disadvantage of patties is that small hive beetles (SHB) will lay their eggs in them. If you monitor the patties, you can control this problem of SHB. http://www.dadant.com/catalog/m0016040phw-ap23-winter-patties
I have not seen SHB larvae in dry sugar. To feed dry sugar, I use 1 1/2 inch high shims (boxes) made from 1 X 2 furring strips (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Furring-Strip-Common-1-in-x-2-in-x-8-ft-Actual-0-75-in-x-1-5-in-x-8-ft/1000039599) to make room for the sugar, rather than a super. It will hold at least 5 lbs. of regular, granulated, dry sugar. See the attached photo.
I also cover the bottom of the shim with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. This enables me to easily lift the sugar off anytime I need to inspect the hive. You can open the top of the hive to add dry sugar anytime the temperature is above 32 F as long as you do it quickly. Here is a video demonstrating the technique. Note that the presenter is replenishing the sugar after the bees have consumed most of the sugar placed on the hive earlier. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbAUt4_u6dg
In the past, I haved mixed regular dry granulated sugar with dry protein supplement (such as AP23 or MegaBee http://www.dadant.com/catalog/m0016005-ap23-pollen-substitute-5lb-bag). However, SHB will lay eggs in this mix. I believe it is better to use pure granulated sugar alone. A protein patty can be added by placing it near where the bees are consuming the sugar. It is easy to just lift the hive top and examine the patty for SHB larvae and remove the patty if it is infested.
Here are some links with more details about feeding bees in the winter:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?292035-Don-t-let-your-Bee-s-STARVE!
http://www.honeybeesuite.com/mountain-camp-feeding/
Thanks,
James Hicks
Posted in Clazzifieds, For Sale: Packages-Nucs
Introduction to Beekeeping Feb 11, 2017
Click here for more information and to sign up! Only $10!
Saturday, February 11, 2017 10am – 1pm at Rockwood Nature Center
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