Orange County Beekeepers Association

Philip Moore, research scientist and field team leader at Eurofins Agroscience Services, will present “Bee Wary! Internet Based Beekeeping Resources.” Come and learn the good, the bad, and the ugly of beekeeping resources on the web.

James Withrow, a doctoral candidate in David Tarpy’s lab at NCSU will be OCBA’s featured speaker in January. He was originally scheduled to speak at our September meeting which was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. 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.

Varroa mite (phoretic stage)

Randall Austin, will present “Some Honey Bee Pests and Treatments.” This is a timely discussion of varroa mite and small hive beetle management. We are entering critical months for these problems. All beekeepers need to be vigilant with testing and effective treatment to assure the health and viability of their colonies throughout the summer and as the colonies move into the fall build-up stage. Strong, healthy colonies full of bees are essential to successfully overwintering your hives.

Next Saturday, June 16th, at 1:00 o’clock, Randall will demonstrate the practical hands-on skills of varroa monitoring and treatment at his apiary. Plan to attend the Varroa Assessment Field Day. Contact Randall via email to get directions to his apiary. All OCBA members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

A representative of Bee Downtown will share information about their mission – building healthy, sustainable, honey bee communities in urban environments. Bee Downtown has a strong history of promoting beekeeping in urban business districts. They will discuss the challenges associated with beekeeping in cities and their success in doing so.

The Urban Beekeeper