General Meeting (September 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

• Pick-up and drop-off can be done at the main entrance to the school – please park elsewhere in the neighbourhood
• Bring your own water bottle or coffee travel mug
• No New Beekeepers Corner this month
• 7:00pm Start
  • Welcome – Carolyn H
  • Review of COVID protocols for the meeting – See notes below
  • Preparing your hives for winter – Don L
  • What to do in September and October – Larry L
  • What do you think of the location? – Carolyn
  • Just so ya know – Q&A – All
• 8:30pm Social
• 9:00pm Close

Minutes

Carolyn started the meeting at 7:08pm

• COVID protocol review
• Requesting feedback on space
• Including suggestions for alternate locations
• Larry – starting with Larry due to tech issues
  • Story
  • Things to do in September:
    • Finish extracting
    • Separate light and dark comb
    • Check for mites
    • Drones may congregate on bottom
    • Get hives down in size
    • 60-70 lbs honey and couple pollen frames
    • Don’t want weak colonies
    • No welfare colonies – combine weak to medium
    • Keep entrance reducers on for now
    • When to start feeding – only if not enough honey
    • Larry’s feed recipe: 5G bucket, 6l water, 10kg sugar, fumadil A
    • Vaporizing oxalic if warm enough or dribble. Crystals burns mite’s feet
    • Heinz recommends thymol rather than fumagilin
    • Heinz has a queen cage giveaway
  • Don – Winter Bees Vitellogenin and Mites
    • Vitellogenin – one of the most important terms you probably don’t know.
    • Winter bees have it-consume vast quantities of pollen to store protein.
    • Bee population varies greatly over season
    • Hive population in spring decreases starting in mid summer
    • Winter bees survive much longer and have better immune system
    • Are able to revert in spring
    • Fat body is like our liver
    • Vitellogenin
      • Super protein (sugar/fat/protein)
      • Allows bees to revert to feeding larva in spring
    • Recruitment versus attrition over season
    • Varroa – parasitic mite
      • Inject enzymes into fat body of bee to consume them – introduces viruses and other diseases.
    • Life cycle of varroa described
    • Simple multiplication
    • Can pull out capped drone pupa to check for mites
    • Overview of monitoring/ treatment methods
• Questions
  • Number of oxalic treatments? 3 enough? Less effective than formic due to penetration of cells. May need more if high mite load.
  • Apivar – quick and easy but chemical and mites showing resistant.
  • Drone trapping is another method
  • Brood break split is another
  • Cutoff for using formic – no particular cutoff, but you do have to open colony. Also need to be careful if hot
  • Can’t use formic on a nuc
  • Mite gone – may be available in Nanaimo, made in Kelowna
  • Meat tray pads – hard to tell what concentration is. May effect queen – not sure if long term
  • Thymol crystals – can be used at this time of year for mite treatment – need to open hive
  • Thymol crystal recipe from Heinz
    • Needs a certain temp to evaporate 15C+ outside
    • Crystal 2x12g
    • Drugstore – makeup pad – just enough surface for evaporation
    • In ziplock bag with crystals : in boiling water to melt crystals and penetrate pad.
    • Need another pad after 2-3 weeks
    • May be able to get crystals on Amazon or other internet source
    • Don’t use with honey supers on because much more would be needed. Corners of brood box so you don’t kill brood.
    • Best in June/July
    • Thymol also kills mold
  • Do not do more than one oxalic dribble per bee generation
• Meeting Location
  • Feedback requested
• Thanks to Irene and Victoria for fair
  • Great way to draw people in
  • May need a list of honey sellers
  • Baking and handicrafts did not show
  • Cut down vegetables, preserves, etc.
  • Laurie provided bees for observation hive – Thanks to Laurie
• Harriet – Tunnel entrances for defence against wasps. Wasps have to come out right in middle of frames.
• Meeting concludes with informal conversations.