March weather, and the bees have been flying this past weekend. Those that needed a cleansing flight certainly had the opportunity to do so. Below is a shot of the club hives taken around 1:30 on Saturday, Dec. 15. Although you don’t see any snow in the photo, there is plenty nearby for water gathering.
Thanks to Fred, Jack Rademacher and Paul Rowley for donating sugar cakes to help with feeding the yellow hive. That colony has gone through around (6) 1 lb. sugar discs so far, and I put in a 2 ½ lb. cake Saturday. Notice the winter covers from Charles Crites. They’re awesome. Lots of ventilation ports and loads of insulation. Thanks to Charles for donating them, along with inner covers and bee escapes. While some bees were taking cleansing flights others were gathering water, necessary to dilute honey and sugar. It was a good weekend for it, and a bonus for the bees. I heard buzzing around me Sunday afternoon, a ways away from my home apiary, and spotted a number of bees on wet canary reed grass and directly on the snow, presumably gathering water. One even landed on the snow on my boot while I was watching a couple of others. This weather was a gift to all of us, and I hope everyone got to visit their bees and check the winter stores of honey and sugar. It’s going to get cold again.We can now register/renew registration of our hive locations at Beecheck, Driftwatch, or Fieldwatch for 2019. The same username and password will give you access to all 3 “sites”. This is a free service that is checked by responsible applicators of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides so that they know where sensitive crops and apiaries are located. Applicators can’t contact you if they don’t know where your hives are, and the listing will give them your contact information. To keep your hive locations on the map, you must renew annually. https://beecheck.org/ https://driftwatch.org/ https://fieldwatch.com/ If you frequent our blog, http://ourbeeblog.blogspot.com/ , you may have seen Fred’s post “CONTROLLING SWARMING”, posted December 5. In that post is the following link to a very informative article by Meghan Milbrath on swarming; what to watch for with survivor hives, and why and how to prevent swarming. It’s a very informative article with lots of photos and illustrations, and well worth the read by anyone that is expecting to experience over-wintered colonies this coming spring. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/56818659c21b86470317d96e/t/5c08401c6d2a7321cc0f484f/1544044623816/Swarms_Milbrath2018.pdf Meghan’s personal website is located at the link below. There you can find more on Meghan, her love of bees, and a variety of articles on beekeeping. Education — The Sand Hill The Fond du Lac Library asked if the ECWBA would do a presentation on beekeeping basics, and we have agreed to do so on Tuesday, February 12, at 6:00 p.m. in the McLane Room (seats 100). This will be a talk on beekeeping basics for people that may be interested in beekeeping, or just curious about what it is we do. Several members have already signed up to participate, and everyone is welcome to attend. We will discuss the specifics at our January 19 meeting. We have decided to move ahead with sponsoring beekeeping classes, and Jack Rademacher (Chair) will set up a meeting time and place for some time in January so that those who are interested in participating can meet and discuss how we will proceed. A lot of things will need to be worked out if we are to hold classes before the season starts. Once the committee has formed and determined a course of action, our Events Coordinator, Laurie Koeck, can get the word out. Tim Wilbanks of Heritage Honeybees will be the guest speaker at our January 19 meeting. Tim is part of a beekeeping family located primarily in Georgia, I believe, but he and his family live in Sullivan, WI. Tim will be talking about commercial queen raising, and about how bees and nucs are packaged for sale to beekeepers across the country. We will also be electing our Vice President (currently Mike Koeck) and Treasurer (currently George Weigel) for the 2019 – 2021 (two-year) term at our January meeting. Everyone interested should please be sure to attend and make your voice heard. Remember that one paid membership equals one vote in elections and in ECWBA decisions that require voting. If you haven’t already, you can pay your $10.00 annual dues to Patti Ingram (Secretary and acting Treasurer): · Mail to Patti Ingram, 724 Congress St., Ripon, WI 54971 · PayPal to Patti Ingram, 920-229-8959, include name and email in Note section · Pay at any ECWBA meeting. Hats off to Mary Montag and Larry Beuthin who will be taking a beekeeping program to the Youth Detention Facility at the Fond du Lac County jail on December 29. Mary and Larry did this earlier this year (January?) for detained youths of the community, and it was reportedly a huge success. Excellent outreach! A big thanks to everyone who brought food items to the meeting. Awesome stuff. I had more than my share, and I loved it. I don’t have Patti’s Meeting Minutes to attach but will forward them when I do. That’s it for now. Happy Holidays to all! Next meeting: January 19, Caestecker Library, Green Lake, 9:30 a.m.
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ECWBA NewsletterSince 2009 Archives
March 2019
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