Hello beekeepers and honey bee enthusiasts!
Wow, we did it! The ‘We Are All Beekeepers’ 13th Annual Honey Bee Festival is in the record books having served over 3,000 visitors. This event is at the core of our mission of education. I’m sure it gives all of us a boost in pride and gratitude that we have for our fellow volunteers and club members! The day certainly could not have happened without many helping hands. Thank you again to all of our volunteers and club members! I hope everyone has had some time to rest and recuperate from the buzz of preparations and day-of tasks.
If you have not done so already, please fill out the quick feedback form.We would love to get your feedback about your experience. Your candid feedback will greatly assist us as we begin planning for next year’s festival. Please take a few moments and use this link to provide feedback for us: https://forms.gle/H3Up8vrwUbc1Mdrk8
RPBBA Calendar of Events for July at the Rockwood Park Nature Center
📅 Thursday, July 8th – RPBBA club meeting @ 7pm
📅 Monday, July 15th – RPBBA Study Group @ 7pm
July Meeting
This month, we are going to use our meeting as a time to share our experiences as beekeepers with a panel of club members.
🐝 VSBA Master Beekeeping Study Group
For those who have never checked it out, the study group is a great way for RPBBA members to further their beekeeping knowledge. Several members have used the study group and were successful in recently passing their State Apprentice exams. However there is no requirement for attendees to pursue certification. The study group is informal and is a good way to learn more about honey bees and beekeeping from veteran and new beekeepers. During the Study Group, questions from the VSBA Apprentice Study Guide are posed for the group to discuss and answer together, as well as any questions that come from the group.
The study group meets monthly on the 3rd Monday of each month. The group will continue to go through the VSBA Apprentice Study Guide questions, provide answers, and discuss. Those interested to attend are encouraged to download the guide in advance and start working through the questions on their own.
Bee Vocabulary – “Afterswarm”
The first swarm to leave the parent colony with the mother queen is called the primary swarm. If the colony is still crowded from subsequent brood emergence when the first virgin queens emerge, another swarm may launch. This is an afterswarm and is sometimes referred to as “cast” swarms. These swarms are usually smaller and are accompanied by a virgin queen.
Q: How long have you been a beekeeper and how many hives do you manage?
A: This is the first colony for Kay and me. I have tried twice before a long time ago with mixed results.
Q: What inspired you to become a beekeeper?
A: I spotted a box in Sam’s Club back in January "Everything You Need to Become a Beekeeper" reduced in price to $30 and couldn’t pass up a bargain. A couple of hundred dollars later and several hours of classes and meetings I know how wrong that statement was.
Q: What is the best thing about beekeeping for you?
A: Caring for the hive and just sitting beside my hive and watching them work has reduced my blood pressure. That and supplying a wife, who drinks hot tea and goes through a jar of honey a week.
Q: What’s a surprising story that you would like to share?
A: Years ago (before I met Kay) I lived in an apple orchard that had a dozen hives for pollination. There was a peach orchard next door and someone had set the hives up and left them without any care so I decided to try my hand at beekeeping. Nobody told me about pheromones and bee defenses, but I decided to harvest honey anyway. I peeled off a shallow super covered with bees and figured that as I got a distance from the hives that the bees would leave me alone. The end result was a house full of angry bees, tons of sticky surfaces, lots of stings, and one Tupperware container of honey filled with wax scraps and bee parts. When I bought that box months ago I had no idea of the friendships, education, and dedication that were not in that box.
Q: In what ways do you feel like you are making an impact on the environment and/or the community?
A: My bees have made me much more aware of my surroundings and seasons. I know that somewhere out there someone’s garden is growing better, the wild berries are bigger and better, and some of my neighbors are getting homegrown honey next year.
This Month in the Hive (July)
On hot and humid nights, you may see a curtain of bees cooling themselves on the exterior of the hive. Swarming is still possible, but it becomes less likely as the month advances. The Varroa parasitic mite continues to increase its population at the expense of the bees, and it will require treatment or management, soon. The bees continue to raise 3000-5000 replacement bees per week in July, and may consume a larger amount of honey and pollen than is collected if the month is dry. The stronger hive populations will peak at 50,000-60,000 worker bees.
Late June and July are harvest times in Central Virginia. After supers and frames are removed for extraction, the best practice is to return the supers and frames to the hives for cleanup. The bees may manage to store 5 pounds or more of honey during July, but they will eat more than they collect if the month is dry. Continue inspections of the hive to make sure the hive is healthy. Catalpa, bee bee tree, linden, milkweed, butterfly weed, horsemint, fireweed, and globe thistle will bloom. Heartsease and smartweed bloom this month, starting in damp bottomlands. Cucumber, melons, some soybean varieties, sunflowers, some vetches, verbena, and clover will supply supplemental nectar or pollen, where cultivated. If you can find a field of alfalfa, soybean, or buckwheat in bloom, these plants are major nectar sources and produce distinctive honey flavors.
Watch for bees fanning droplets of water to cool the hive. Especially around the harvest, watch for robbing activity near the entrance. Look for a falloff in egg production, as the brood nest shrinks gradually down to about 60-75% of its peak size.
Make sure the water source for the bees is clean and accessible. Harvest honey. Return wet supers to the hives. After the supers are cleaned of honey by the bees, remove excess supers and stack them with moth-repellent PDB crystals. Watch for signs of robbing and take steps to discourage robbing if it starts. Decide if, when and how you are going to treat for Varroa. Order any supplies or equipment that you need for mite treatments.
If you are going to make splits to overwinter, the first half of July is the last time to do it. You will need to be prepared to feed any split during the dry months of July and August. About half the time, you will need to feed splits in September and October as well.
[From https://buzzwordhoney.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Northern-Virginia-Honeybee-Annual-Cycle.pdf]
What’s in Bloom (according to Maymont)
Crepe Myrtle, Rose, Daylily, Annuals, Perennials, Buddleia, Rose of Sharon, Abelia
https://maymont.org/explore/gardens/whats-in-bloom/
Final Word
Between the Honey Bee Festival, work in the apiary, honey extracting (the list goes on), it’s been a busy summer so far. We hope you are able to make Monday’s meeting to hear from club members about their experiences.
If you are not a member of RPBBA, we encourage you to join and be active. You can join on our website.
We are always looking for ways to improve communications in the club. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know.
-Hollee
(p.s. Please excuse any typos)
Hollee Freeman
Communications
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Keep up with what RPBBA is doing, see Calendar of Events!
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