General Meeting (August 2021)

The Capital Regional Beekeepers Association (CRBA) meets on the second Thursday of every month.

This meeting usually starts with a beginners/intermediate beekeeper corner 30 minutes before the regular club proceedings start around 7pm.

Agenda

• 6:30pm Start
  • Welcome – Bill F
  • Dealing with wasps – Paul P, Don L
  • Preparing your bee products for competition – Irene T, Alanna M, Carolyn H
  • What to do in August and September – Larry L
  • Fall mite treatments – All
  • Just so ya know – All
  • Ice cream social – cones and cups
• 8:30pm Finish

Minutes

Bill started the meeting at 6:35pm

Introduces himself and presents agenda.

• Saanich Fair
• Honey displays are on
• Reduced displays in other areas
• What judges are looking for:
  • Honey…
    • 3 jars – no labels
    • Bring an extra lid
    • Uniform fill
    • Colour – white – golden – amber
    • Look for bubbles and crystals
    • Freedom from contaminants
    • Brightness
    • Flavour and aroma
    • Density – above 18.6 is a fail.
  • Beeswax…
    • Uniformity of weight and shape
    • 2 cakes, 0.5 lb min
    • No bubbles or contaminants
    • Cool equally all round by using oven and covering – oven turned off and cool overnight.
    • Lighter the better
    • Filter with nylon window sheets wet it first- also pantyhose
  • Frames…
    • Need Saran Wrap – tight
    • Can cover frame with tape before putting in hive
    • Scrape off propolis
    • All capped as much as possible
    • Uniformity is key whether there is airspace under or not.
    • Transport tip – in nuc box with thumbtacks.
    • Tie goes to wood frame.
  • Deadline for entries Aug 18
  • Volunteers needed to help with setup of the display – Wednesday before fair
  • Victoria is the contact
  • Mead 1 26oz wine bottle
  • 1st timers in a particular category – enter novice
• Wasps
  • Start with a strong hive
  • Reduce entrance
  • Gets worse as summer goes on as their larve no longer provide less food to adults
  • Wasps can sense when hive inundated with mites and therefore weak
  • Tech transfer from BCHPA
  • IPM – different methods at different times of year
  • Late in the season queen wasps are produced
  • Takes about 50 bees to kill 1 wasp
  • Can use traps
  • Can use gates (robbing screen) in front of entrance
    • Need to be alert for dead bees building up
    • Some screens have multiple entrances
  • Bees stop activity at a warmer temperature than wasps, so need to check early in morning and later in evening.
  • Chicken trap
  • Remove rotting fruit
  • Keep wasp traps away from hives – attract them away.
  • Can make trap with bee escape and old hive body – Paul to provide picture
• What to do in Aug
  • A story
  • Take off supers and extract
  • Don’t starve brood chamber
  • Put out water in hot weather
  • Mite checks and treat – get as close to zero as possible.
  • Queen slowing egg production
  • Timing and floral sources are varied over region
  • Prepare for fair and street markets
  • Watch for robbing
  • Watch for yellow jackets (as above)
  • Ants – borax and powdered sugar paste under hive
  • Check weight – need feeding
  • Need to requeen
  • Check extraction equipment
  • Lizards
• Mites
  • Honey bee health center has a really good guide
  • Need to know your counts
  • Best treatment is the one you actually do
  • Recheck after treatment
• Feeding
  • Feed before too cold
• Meeting concludes at 8:02pm with ice cream.