General Meeting (June 2017)

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

This meeting usually starts with a beginner’s corner 30 minutes before the regular club proceedings start around 7pm.

Agenda

• 6:30pm – New Beekeeper Corner (lower meeting room) managing queen cells
• 7:00pm – Main meeting (upper hall)
  • Exec Updates
  • What’s in bloom
  • What beekeepers are doing in June
  • Swarms
  • Club Hives Project
  • 2018 Conference
• 7:30pm
  • Top bar hives Tara Beninger
  • Nosema and the vagaries of mites Bob Liptrot
• 8:30pm – Social

NEW BEEKEEPERS/BEGINNER’S CORNER

6:30 PM, June 8, LOWER LEVEL PRESENTATION ROOM

Queen cells

Queen cells come in many forms. Supercedure cells, swarm cells, queen cups, what are they? Where and when to look for them and what do they all mean. Join us for a discussion on ‘Queen Cells’ with the Beginner’s Corner’ at 6:30 pm in the lower lounge.

Minutes

Bill Fosdick called the meeting to order at 7:16 PM.  He welcomed members and guests to the meeting.

Executive Updates:

Bob Wadsworth gave the members an up-date on finding a host for CRBA’s “Club Hive Project”. Bob has found a farm that is under the “Farm Land Trust” which will be producing food for Our Place. The idea is to provide nectar and pollen for the insect pollinators from April through to October.

Graeme Nye reported to the members that Quadra Days went well with a number of members volunteering to man the booth. Graeme will be asking for volunteers for the Saanich Fair, Luxton Fair and Sooke Fair at the July meeting.

Jen Olsen spoke to the members that the swarm committee has been busy fielding calls about swarms and bumblebee nests.

What beekeepers should be doing in June – Larry Lindahl

• Nectar flow is on – make sure honey supers are on the hive.
• Make sure there is lots of room for the bees
• Make sure extraction equipment is ready for use
• Extraction of spring honey
• Trying your hand at queen rearing
• Check for swarm cells
• Moving to the Outyards
• You should have 1 nuc box ready for every 10 hives
• Swarm catching equipment ready to go

Top-bar Hives

Tara and Peter explained the difference between Top Bar Hives compared to the Langstroth Hive. They demonstrated the Kenyan and the Warre Top Bar Hives.

Kenyan Hive is horizontal and the Warre Hive is vertical.

Varroa

Bob Liptrot gave the members a very in depth over view of the 3 most dangerous problems in the bee population, Nosema, Viruses and Varroa Mite.

• Why a the high colony collapses
• weak genetics
• poor nutrition
• environment
• sloppy beekeeping
• pests & pathogens

The most important advice to give would be – Practice effective integrated pest management.

Monitor the effectiveness of treatments in the hive.

Notices

Carolyn Hissen let the members know that she had small quantities of Oxalic acid and dribble bottles available for sale.

Bob Liptrot is hosting a bee trip to Sri Lanka. Brochures are available at the back of the room.

Derek Wulff advised the members that the Outyards will be available this year.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 PM for refreshments.