Orange County Beekeepers Association

OCBA meeting minutes-March 8, 2012  7:00 pm

1. Todd welcomed the group, reminded everyone to sign the clipboards for recording attendance, and to grab their new nametags.  He announced that the club has purchased a new projector for use in meetings and which can be checked out for presentations.
2. Lewis encouraged people to attend the Spring meeting in Morganton which begins Friday.  He mentioned several speakers and topics of interest.  Summer meeting will be in July in Lumberton.
3. Watty, who heads up volunteers, announced that volunteers are needed at the following events (which will also be posted on the OCBA website): Chapel Hill Garden Club Tour, April 14-15.  Eva Hoke’s garden will be on the tour, and she will have the bee gazebo and observation hive. Piedmont Wildlife Festival, May 5, 12-5 pm, in Durham.  Observation hive will be set up. Magic Wings at the Museum of Life and Science, also on May 5, 10-5 pm. Bee gazebo will be there.  Earth Day at Hillsborough’s Eno River Farmers Market, April 20.
4. Todd pointed out that the bee school will finish up on Tuesday with certified tests offered.  Contact Todd if you wish to take this test so that one will be included for you.  Question was asked: When will the next bee school be held?  Geneva and Todd happily answered that bee school basics are in place and could be run next year IF other volunteers were willing to step up and take on the planning and running of the school.  Todd estimated that a decision about the bee school would be made by October of this year.
5. Todd announced that there was a glitch in the by-laws of the club regarding fees (Acticle 5, Section 1), and that he would re-write it to reflect the original intent, and then bring it back to the members for approval.

Todd introduced the speaker, Dick Rogers, who is the principal scientist of environmental toxicology and risk management for Bayer.  He announced that Bayer Bee Care Center opens in Germany and in Clayton, NC, this year.  Bayer, he said, is experimenting with the removal of pesticides in wax foundation.  If this technology is developed, then beekeepers can sell “clean” wax.  The research apiary in Clayton has eight colonies and one full time beekeeper.  Bayer is interested in developing management strategies that reduce varroa mites, and his company would like to hear from beekeepers who are using those strategies. (bayercropscience.us/our-commitment/bee-health)  Dick also reviewed factors for apiary suitability.  These are access, air drainage, sun exposure, water quality and availability, wind exposure, forage and honey yield.  He displayed a graph showing a bee’s primary forage range at about 1.2 miles (3,000 acres), her secondary forage range at 2.4 miles (12,000 acres) and a third zone for forage of 3.6 (28,000 acres).  Finally Dick asked for volunteers to help manage the hives of donated bees at Duke Homestead in Durham.

Following the presentation, members enjoyed fellowship and refreshments. Lewis announced that he’d brought the windows for making solar wax melters in his truck, and anyone interested could check them out.

Respectfully submitted,

‘Lizabeth Collins

OCBA meeting minutes-February 7, 2012  7:00 pm

1. Todd welcomed members and guests, and called the meeting to order.  He mentioned a Bees Knees giveaway from GRIT.com.
2. Dick Merritt and Todd Walker explained that, due to the importance of keeping attendance for Golden Achievement Award (which Todd is determined OCBA will win this year) and to the length of our membership roll, attendance would be recorded by members on the alphabetical lists attached to clipboards found on the table at the entrance to the room. There are additional lines to record the names of non-members/guests as well.  Dick mentioned the hats and badges for sale.  Membership is encouraged; Dick has registration forms; $20 for state and county dues.
3. Todd reported that a survey for the membership was completed by 81 members.  Some of the interesting info the survey disclosed was shared.  Among those who responded are 358 years (combined) of experience; those who responded have 353 hives; most are interested in field days with hands-on activities; ages of these beekeepers range from 41-65—and Todd would like to encourage a younger group of beekeepers to become active in the club.  He reminded all that the newbees at the current bee school will need mentors.
4. Next Geneva introduced Watty Bowes, who is in charge of “out reach”.  Geneva has set up a Bee Box for community/school presentations, which includes three separate but related packets.  “Introduction to Honey Bees,” “Pollinators in Our Gardens,” and “Varietal Honeys and Honey Plants” each include a CD slideshow presentation and other items to use for presentation to groups.  Anyone can check these out to use, and get credit in the Master Beekeeping program.
5. Kitty reported that the “Queen of the Sun” video is now available from Amazon and that it costs only $4 to rent.  She reported that space at the United Church of Chapel Hill (200 seats) was available on March 29 at a cost of $150, and that a license to show the movie was $200.  In order to cover costs and made a little profit, tickets prices would need to be $4 or $5.  Fred stated that he had seen the movie and was not impressed.  Another person thought it was good, and would come to a large group showing of the movie because of the question/answer session that would follow.  After some discussion, a show of hands indicated that it would be better to try for small group showings of the movie rather than pursue the large venue.  Todd thanked Kitty for her hard work.
6. Spring meeting will be in Morganton, March 9-10.  Summer meeting will be in Lumberton, July 12-14.

Todd introduced the speaker, Adolphus Leonard, State Inspector from the eastern part of the state.  The presentation, “Colony Development: Winter-Spring,” was very helpful.  We learned that there are four indicators of colony size in spring: the size of the fall cluster, the size of the food reserves, the health of the queen, and  the parasite level.  Adolphus pointed out that more bees starve in warm winters than in cold, because the colony is active and uses up stores of food before sources of food are available outside the hive.

Swarming naturally occurs in spring.  Usually an alert beekeeper can observe 5-6 swarm cells near the bottom of frames.  Swarming is aggravated by overcrowding and/or having an old queen.  To relieve overcrowding, a beekeeper can reverse the hive bodies early in spring.  Check to see if the bees are out of the lower super first.  You want them to move up into an empty super.  Another method to relieve overcrowding is to add honey supers.  You may need to add as many as two supers a week during the honey flow.  Also moving frames of drawn comb to the newly added super can encourage bee to move up to the empty space.  Put the empty frames in the crowded super.  Finally you can make a split in March if your bees are strong, but you should not expect to get any honey from them.  If you want to head off swarming, you can re-queen in April or May..

Following the presentation, members enjoyed fellowship and a snack.  Chris Richmond reminded members to sign up to bring refreshments.

Respectfully submitted,

‘Lizabeth Collins

1-12-2012
OCBA executive committee meeting
Present: Lewis Cauble, Geneva Green, John Harrell, ‘Lizabeth Collins, Wattie Bowes, Todd Walker, Inge Katzman, Dick Merritt
1. Golden Achievement Award
Lewis announced that he is collecting information to compile for the 2011 Golden Achievement Award. He asked Dick and ‘Lizabeth to provide membership information to him, and Todd for a spreadsheet. He plans that the format will be more of an electronic report with link
2. Membership and Finances
Dick announced that because participation in bee school this year includes the year’s membership in OCBA our membership in January is already 89. Balance of club funds: $6,121.78. Todd asked if there was money for the club to provide woodware and bee packages to two 4-hers as promised, and Dick estimated that there was. Lewis will go ahead and order the (4)packages for the 4-Hers.
Geneva asked the committee to approve the purchase of a projector for the club to be used at monthly meetings and for bee school. The projector would be the responsibility of the club’s vice president, who is in charge of programs anyway. The committee agreed to the purchase and Dick and Geneva volunteered to look into the purchase of a used one. Geneva reviewed expenses for bee school: $30 for a used projector screen to be stored at UU Church, $300 to the church for meeting space for bee school.
3. Todd announced that on-line payment of dues is now available through PayPal. Consulting his notes, he stated that the club needs to have a written policy about the use of the club extractor which is stored with Fred Fessel. Todd has been working with Howard McAdams of the Or. Co. Farm Bureau to help support the 4-Hers with money or donations of equipment, and he will write a proposal.
4. There was discussion about whether to have an Orange County Bee School as an annual event. Geneva warned that it would be a huge time commitment for someone, but it’s do-able. Lewis counseled waiting.
5. Todd announced the on-line survey about members. Club will be able to collect information about speakers, activities, programs, etc.
Geneva has three open dates on the program calendar this year (July-summer meeting)-August, October, and November.
Todd asked for input from the committee on ideas for workshops. Some tossed out were: queen-rearing, splits, package installation (in April} and wax workshop. The wax workshop was scheduled in September prior to State Fair , October 10.
Lewis volunteered to head up the State Fair committee this year.
6. Geneva stated that she felt speakers at the bee school and at club meetings should be offered an honorum for their time and trouble. It was agreed that the club would offer each speaker $25 until such time as the club might be able to afford more.
7. Exec. Committee will meet again in March.

OCBA meeting minutes-January 12, 2011 7:00 pm
1. Geneva and Todd welcomed the group and called the meeting to order.
2. Todd called for the roll call. January’s roll (89) reflects the membership of the bee school as enrollment in bee school includes OCBA membership.
3. Geneva reported that a survey for the membership about volunteering and interests/activities for OCBA is now on the website, and that OBCA listserv will be sent a link to the survey in an email. If you would like to participate, please sign up.
4. Next Geneva announced that she is working on a list of plants for honey bees in the Carolinas and has a packet for folks who are interested in helping her. It includes a CD with directions, a printable form for reporting plants in bloom, and a directory of plants to help the volunteers recognize what plants they are seeing. See Geneva after the meeting.
5. Geneva also reported on the bee school which began in January. There are 75 students, including two 4-Hers interested in completing the course to qualify for the OCBA/4-H partnership in beekeeping. Parking at the UUC where the school is being held is very limited. Thanks to all who are carpooling. OCBA is considering a change to offer a bee school in January 2013. The Introduction to Beekeeping course will probably be offered again in November this year. However, programs and workshops offered by OCBA throughout this year would be helpful to anyone new to beekeeping or wannabees, even if they haven’t attended a bee school.
6. Dick reminded everyone that membership to OCBA and NCBA is on an annual basis and begins in January. County dues are $5; state dues are $15. Pay Dick or pay on-line with PayPal. You do not have to join the state organization to participate in OCBA, but he hopes that you will want to, and mentioned some of the support the state organization. He provided applications for membership to those present.
7. Spring meeting will be in Morganton, March 9-10. Summer meeting will be in Lumberton, July 12-14.
8. Lewis reported that he’d checked out Google Maps on-line as a way to match up newbees to mentors by location. He’s labeled a map for OCBA on which people can add the locations of their hives/homes in order for new beekeepers to see where there are other beekeepers in their vicinity.
9. Todd encouraged all to participate and report on activities that give OCBA credit toward the Golden Achievement Award. There was a three-way tie last year, and OCBA came up short. Please check on-line and complete the form detailing the ways you have been active in beekeeping in the last year. This information will be compiled and submitted by Lewis for the spring meeting (March). Todd introduced Wattie Bowes as the pointman for education and requests for presentations this year. Remember that all presentations earn credit toward the master beekeeping program.
Inge introduced the speaker Annie Baggett of Sunshine Lavender Farm. Annie gave us a virtual tour of the farm throughout a year of growing and celebrations. She recommended specific varieties to plant in North Carolina, and described the growing conditions for lavender. She also answered questions from the group at the end of her presentation.
Dave Eckart invited the group to participate in the Ag. Summit, February 13 in the Big Barn, Hillsborough. Ten dollars includes the meal prepared from locally grown produce by Bob Comption.
Geneva announced that the speaker for the February meeting will be Adolphus Leonard, state bee inspector, who will discuss “Spring Build Up,” a timely topic.
Old Business: The movie “Queen of the Sun” will be shown at the United Church of Chapel Hill, date and time to be announced via email when determined.
Members enjoyed fellowship following the meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
‘Lizabeth Collins