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General Meeting (November 2020)

November 12, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm

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

Regular meeting – 7pm

  • Welcome – Bill F
  • What are beekeepers doing in November/December – Larry L
  • Fees for 2021 – Bill F
  • Stories from the Field (Don’t try this at home!) – Open Mic
  • Iotron Trip – Alanna M
  • Closing up the Outyard Reminders – Brad A
  • Updates and opportunities – All
  • Close – 8.30 pm

Minutes

  • Meeting started at 7:05pm
  • Bill Fosdick (President of the CRBA) welcomes everyone to the CRBA online meeting.
    • Bill gives an overview of how the Zoom meeting will work.
    • About 7 panelists and 16 participants.
    • Little different this year – normally this month’s would be a “pot luck”.
    • Hoping to have a bit of an online “social”.
  • Larry Lindahl – what should we be doing in November.
    • A story – two lions.
    • Do your hives have sufficient stores of pollen and honey?
    • Do you have enough ventilation?
    • Finish extracting.
    • Dry sugar? Candy board or fondant?
    • Need to get your winter bees through until March.
    • Good time to use oxalic acid vapourization for mites. Mite’s wet feet get burned by oxalic crystals. Bees have “dry” feet.
    • Yellow jackets are probably gone by now – can open up entrance.
    • Keep the entrance clear. Especially careful if using mouseguards.
    • Pros and cons with regard to insulating colonies: Insulating stabilizes the temperature.
    • Clean up around your apiary site.
    • Good time to inventory equipment.
    • Repair/replace equipment.
    • Catch up on reading.
    • Questions:
      • How many cycles of oxalic?
        • Depends on mite load – Nov/Dec/Jan are best times as most are phoretic.
        • Check mite fall – 3 or more mites – do it again.
      • What to do with dead-out hives?
        • Seal it up as quick as you can to prevent robbing.
        • Put it into a secure place where bees can’t get to it.
        • Send to Iotron.
      • Temperature of cluster versus hive?
        • Brood area is around 93F.
        • In fall they stop rearing brood and drop this to 65F.
        • In January, the core of the nest is raised back to 93F.
        • Difference in opinion as to whether bees on outside work toward inside of cluster and visa-versa.
        • Inside surface of hive box may well only be a degree or two above the external temperature as the cluster of bees is a good insulator.
      • Should you remove the bottom to let moisture fall out?
        • Removing bottom board allows debris to fall out the bottom.
        • Doesn’t affect the cluster.
        • It is an option – Larry has done it both ways.
      • What to do with boxes that are not in use?
        • Larry stores in a three sided shed.
        • Put queen excluder on bottom and stack as high as practical – then queen excluder on top. Keeps mice out.
        • PDE crystals if concern about wax moths.
        • Spiders can go in and eat wax moth larvae.
        • Wax moths won’t breed below 50F.
        • Can also freeze for 24hrs to kill wax moths.
        • Larry has never found wasps hibernating in stored supers. Can squash them easily in cold.
      • Storing frames with winter feed that is not capped?
        • If moisture content is above 20% it will ferment.
        • Can put it on a live hive and they will clean it out.
  • Honey sales
    • Participants to enter what they’ve been selling honey for in the chat.
    • Facebook is a good place to sell honey
    • Notes on telephone poles also work.
    • There is a location on the website with honey listed for sales. Members can email Werner to get their name on the list.
    • Price range $9-12/lb
  • Wax sales?
    • Larry $12/lb
    • Bill $16/lb
    • Werner $20/lb
    • Carolyn $25/lb – cappings
    • Range $12-25
    • Retail $27/lb
  • Feeding Bees
    • At 12C bees form cluster and dry feeding is
      necessary
  • Stories of things that didn’t go well
    • In winter you can probably move the hive as far as you want.
    • 6in to left or right, 6ft forward or backward when flying.
    • Bill’s story – moving hives in outyard
      • Wanted to nicely space the hives.
      • War started.
      • Bees from hive 1 went to hive 2, etc.
      • Bees started dying immediately.
    • Carolyn’s story
      • Truck went around corner and hives fell off
      • Ensure you secure your hives well when moving them.
    • Alanna’s story
      • Bottom board screen started to come apart
      • Loading bees for the outyard – bees started coming out.
      • Difficult to repair at outyard.
      • Forgot about it and got stung when reloading after the end of the outyard season.
  • Membership for 2021
    • Not using hall for much of year and won’t be using it for at least the start of next year.
    • Fee for 2021 will be reduced to $22 (from $32.)
    • Use the website to purchase your membership for next year.
  • No hive beetles have been spotted on the island.
  • No giant hornet sightings on the island this year.
  • Iotron plans (Alanna)
    • Club sends a truckload of hive equipment to Iotron. Inactivates the DNA of any pest.
    • 2 day event.
      • Day 1 – club members load their equipment onto truck.
      • Day 2 – truck goes to Vancouver – equipment is treated and then returns.
    • Inventory your equipment this Nov/Dec. and set aside what you want to send.
    • Pricing will go out in January. Signup sheet started.
    • Checkin at beginning of Feb.
    • Mid Feb. start wrapping equipment.
    • Feb. 21 is planned dropoff day. Feb. 22 treatment and pickup.
    • Put Iotron in search bar on website for information.
  • Bylaw amendments
    • We are proposing some amendments to the bylaws to match better the way we run the club.
    • Any further suggestions to those proposed in this month’s Beeline are welcome and should be submitted 90 days before March meeting.
  • Financial
    • Volunteers for financial statement review
    • Rupert and Rinah have volunteered.
  • Changes to Executive
    • Looking for additional members to serve as Directors at large.
  • Survey in Dec/Jan on what we want to do next year.
    • Encourage everyone to respond.
  • Open Discussion
    • Smoke and Absconding – no comments.
    • Mentorship Program?
      • Look for the courses that will appear on the website
      • Small group meetings.
      • No mentorship program due to imbalance in the club between new beekeepers and experienced ones.
    • Bee Culture Subscription
      • Email will go out with link to benefits.
  • Bill thanks everyone and wraps up the meeting at 8:10 pm.
  • Meeting chat log:
    19:04:53 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw to All panelists : Hello everyone, Scott and Sonia here. It is our first time participating in a meeting. NIce to be here.
    19:08:03 From Simon Lightbody to All panelists : I’m hoping you can take the lead on watching the chat Carolyn. I’m taking notes.
    19:08:25 From Nicole Sleeth : Hi everyone, if you want to send a message to the whole group, please make sure to select “All panelists and attendees” in the To: field. Otherwise the message will be sent only to the panelists and not visible to the entire group
    19:08:29 From carolyn hissen to All panelists : Will do Simon
    19:10:54 From MorbinA : Hahahahahhahahah
    19:18:47 From MorbinA to All panelists : Was it mentioned to monitor for dead out hives and what to do if a hive a died out during winter?
    19:23:08 From Kazlyn Bonnor to All panelists : Is it recommended to remove the bottom board (if your hive also has a screened bottom) to allow the moisture to leave the hive (i.e drip down the sides and out of the bottom)?
    19:23:23 From Kazlyn Bonnor : Is it recommended to remove the bottom board (if your hive also has a screened bottom) to allow the moisture to leave the hive (i.e drip down the sides and out of the bottom)?
    19:26:51 From Kazlyn Bonnor : Thanks Larry!
    19:28:32 From MorbinA to All panelists : When storing frames overwinter, what to do with frames that have uncapped syrup from feeding in the autumn. E.g. had to down size a hive or had a dead out. Will the uncapped syrup ferment?
    19:31:47 From Bill Fosdick to All panelists : $12.00/lb
    19:32:18 From Bill Fosdick : $12.00/lb
    19:32:31 From Werner Grundlingh : Whaaa?! I’m only at $10/lb. 😐
    19:32:48 From carolyn hissen : 500 g = $10
    19:32:51 From MorbinA : $12.00/lb as well. I give a discount if the jar is returned.
    19:32:51 From peter to All panelists : 8
    19:33:00 From Simon Lightbody : No honey this year 🙁
    19:33:04 From carolyn hissen : 1kg = $19
    19:33:40 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : Is the honey clear or set?
    19:33:52 From Kimberley Bowman : $9/lb friends and family, otherwise $10/lb
    19:34:30 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : Sorry, set is a UK term and I mean creamed honey
    19:34:31 From Kazlyn Bonnor : Carolyn – what do you mean by mead honey? Sub-par quality?
    19:34:45 From wilhelminaraap : My price is $22 per kg
    19:34:45 From MorbinA : Agreed, same price clear or crystalized.
    19:35:09 From carolyn hissen : Mead honey has a higher water content
    19:36:07 From MorbinA : I think we could all sell at a higher price on the south island. People seem pleasantly surprised at the price…this is for my best quality honey.
    19:36:26 From Kazlyn Bonnor : Ok great, thanks Carolyn that’s what I did with my uncapped honey – ginger mead fermenting now 🙂
    19:36:28 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : How do we get in touch with sellers? Is there a contact list?
    19:38:28 From MorbinA : See Latest News on the club site.
    19:38:42 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : Thank-you
    19:39:03 From Bill Fosdick : $16/lb
    19:39:16 From Werner Grundlingh : $20/lb is my going rate.
    19:39:43 From carolyn hissen : Wax – $25/lb cappings
    19:39:57 From MorbinA : I sell best quality wax at $15/ lb and lower quality at about $12. Have been thinking of raising the price also. Its a lot of work to process…..
    19:40:49 From MorbinA : Micheals Craft store charges $27.00/ lb….
    19:41:12 From Werner Grundlingh : https://capitalregionbeekeepers.ca/honey-for-sale/
    19:47:47 From Werner Grundlingh : I will adjust the rate online on the website this weekend.
    19:47:56 From Werner Grundlingh : It’s currently set at $32.
    19:48:01 From MorbinA : The smoke and absconding?
    19:48:19 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : It is our first time tonight and I am wondering if there is a mentorship program – we are neophytes.
    19:48:22 From MorbinA : Any absconding stories from this autumn?
    19:48:34 From Mark : Is small hive beetle a problem in Victoria?
    19:50:39 From MorbinA : Lesson learned – I will always inspect and repair all the screens on my bottom boards from now on. Had a leak heading to outyard. Couldn’t repair very well at outyard. Stuck my hand “in the hole” when reloading the hive in Sept.
    19:57:23 From Werner Grundlingh : https://capitalregionbeekeepers.ca/iotron-trip-2019-preparation/
    19:58:26 From MorbinA to All panelists : Nicole can you mute me? 🙂
    19:58:50 From Nicole Sleeth to MorbinA and all panelists : done!
    20:01:01 From sky and rinah : me !
    20:01:09 From sky and rinah : Rinah
    20:01:11 From sky and rinah : Yes
    20:04:18 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : It is our first time tonight and I am wondering if there is a mentorship program – we are neophytes.
    20:06:50 From MorbinA : And read books! I cant emphasize that enough 🙂
    20:06:51 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : Thanks, we will look out for the courses.
    20:07:00 From Scott & Sonia Crawshaw : Yes, read!
    20:07:24 From Werner Grundlingh : The website has been updated with the new annual membership fee for 2021 @ $22.
    20:08:15 From MorbinA to All panelists : Bee Culture magazine onl;ine?
    20:08:36 From MorbinA to All panelists : Will we renew subscription – if so can let everyone know?
    20:09:38 From MorbinA to All panelists : Member s can read online this winter then 🙂
    20:09:44 From MorbinA to All panelists : Thanks!!!
    20:10:06 From Dumitru Streza : Thank you!
  • Iotron notes subsequently received from Alanna:
    • November-December 2020: complete equipment inventory. What equipment do you want to use next year and does it need to be cleaned?
    • Early January 2021: club confirms the 2021 price list with Iotron and updates the instructions document for preparing equipment (post to club website). Start a virtual sign up sheet for club members, announced at Jan meeting.
    • Late January: club will confirm what equipment members are planning to send, for those who have signed up. This is when we can confirm if we have enough equipment to meet the Iotron’s minimum for processing.
    • Mid February: members prepare/ wrap their equipment – see updated instructions on the club website
    • Feb 21st: equipment drop off day in Victoria
    • Feb 22nd: Iotron trip and members pick up in the evening
    • Late February: fees are calculated and sent to members. Iotron is paid by club cheque
    • Early March: payments are collected and club is reimbursed

Details

Date:
November 12, 2020
Time:
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Event Category:
Event Tags:
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Venue

Zoom