Orange County Beekeepers Association

Bees on Earth, Goodwill to All !

OCBA’s December Membership Meeting will be our annual holiday social gathering. This is an opportunity for members, former members and anyone who is interested in beekeeping to celebrate your 2018 beekeeping efforts with fellow beekeepers (both successes and ‘other learning experiences’). It is a great way to get to know fellow beekeepers and to talk about bees and beekeeping with friends and colleagues.

We will meet at our regular 7:00 o’clock meeting time on Thursday, December 13 at our usual meeting site – the Unitarian Universalist Church at 1710 Old NC 10 Highway. OCBA will provide paper products and beverages, including wine and non-alcoholic beverages. Everyone is asked to bring a finger food, hors d’oeuvre, appetizer, or dessert to share. Items with honey as an ingredient are special treat!

Who:                 Orange County Beekeepers and anyone interested in beekeeping
What:                Annual Christmas/Holiday gathering
When:               December 13th at 7:00 p.m. 
Where:              1710 Old NC Highway 10 at the Unitarian Universalist Church 

Suzy Spencer is a Master Beekeeper with 5 County Beekeepers Association. She is also an expert on honey tasting. She developed her skill as a honey taster by attending several training programs in honey tasting, including one at University of California – Davis and another under the auspices of a well-known Italian honey expert. She will help OCBA members appreciate the nuances in the taste and flavor of our honey. Suzy’s experiential learning process will involve tasting different honeys. 

Queen laying an egg, surrounded by her retinue of ‘court bees.’
(Photo by Joseph Milone)

James Withrow, a doctoral candidate in David Tarpy’s lab at NCSU will be OCBA’s featured speaker in September. His research into queen selection during emergency queen rearing was recently published in PLOS One, an open access, online, peer-reviewed journal. OCBA is fortunate to have access to cutting edge researchers willing to share their findings with local beekeepers.

In his presentation, “Sharing the throne. Establishing honey bee colonies with multiple queens,” James will discuss his current research focused on queen behavior and setting up colonies with multiple queens

Mark Powers will present “Bee Sting Allergy, What You Need to Know.” Learn how to evaluate the sever­ity of your bee sting symptoms and what to do if your venom response is excessive. Mark will also discuss heat exhaustion and its danger for summer beekeeping.

Designs for the new OCBA tee shirts will also be revealed. Come to the meeting and learn how to stay safe and look stylish while beekeeping.