Wilson County Beekeepers

Meeting Minutes – 04 February 2013

Carey Mitchell, President of Wilson County Beekeepers welcomed some 120 members and guests to the Ward Ag Center for the February 4, 2013 meeting.  Dues were still being collected and membership books handed out.

Minutes from the January meeting was approved.

Old business discussed:

• Short course on Jan. 22-24 had a total of 46 newbees in attendance with several first/second year beekeepers for refresher.  Carey thanked mentors for getting involved.  Grant Recipients for 2013:  Jeremy Blackwell, Jennifer Sutton, Dean Proctor, Malissa Pitts, Debbie Bobbitt, Jim Blackmore, Diane Linder, Lanny Correll, and alternates Larry Mainer and Roger Marsh.  Beginner kits will be delivered to the fair grounds on Saturday with folks picking them up and beginning construction.  Carey joked that with the growing membership we should start asking new members to each bring two place settings of silverware and a serving utensil, as we do like to eat.
• Newbees were asked to seek out a mentor by using the locator map and yellow badges
• Nucs are still available until February 15 for $50 each with payment due at next meeting
• Package orders need to be in by March 4 with a $25 deposit and balance due by March 15.  Total cost is $85 per package
• Reminded if purchasing an existing colony of bees, it needs to be inspected before moving and DO NOT PURCHASE USED WOODENWARE!

New business discussed:

• Tony Mercante volunteered to deliver the book in honor of Owen Cartwright to the Mt. Juliet library
• This year’s Fair Theme:  A Taste of Fun at the Wilson County Fair and the commodity for this year is the Honeybee!!!  If you have suggestions for the Honey Show, please email them to Petra.  We are planning on having two raffle baskets this year, so start looking for bee-related items to put in the basket.
• First Lessons in Beekeeping are for sale–$8.00 each, along with WCBA hats ($10) and t-shirts ($15), plus other vendors are set up in back.  You are welcome to bring your items to any of the open meetings and sell at the ‘Yard Sale’ tables
• We received 50 catalogs from Walter T. Kelley with them advising if additional catalogs are requested by the association the charge would be $1.00 each, but individual members can order them free of charge.  Fred Dawson suggested everyone contact Kelley to place a catalog order

Fred’s To Do List:

• Check stores—feed any colony with less than 15 lbs.—2-3 frames
• Open colony on warm day with bees flying…check for brood
• Check for dead colonies and remove before wax moths set in
• Order packages or nucs
• Ready equipment
• Pollen substitute if needed—only put in small amounts as it can be a hive beetle feeding source
• Read-Read-Read

The evening’s program was a power point presentation by Dann Purvis on raising queens.

Next meeting is scheduled for March 4 with Trevor Qualls from Bon Aqua Springs discussing Natural Beekeeping.  Trevor will be glad to bring any pre-orders with him, for those needing extra equipment.

The Swarm List will be circulated at the next meeting.

A Beginner’s Workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 9, starting at 9:00 am.  We will do a brief refresher of the short course and answer any questions.  Hopefully everyone will have already constructed their hives, but if need be, we can set up work tables to finish.  Also, bring your smokers and lighters.  Will need to know how many will be attending.

Door Prizes were handed out:

• Goodie Basket From Sue Dickhaus—Terry Baughn
• Honey candy from GloryBee—Jeremy Blackwell
• Goodie Box from Paula Rogers—Tarry Pleger
• Kelley cup from Leonard Walker—Peggy Scholes
• Frame Cleaner from Glory Bee—Mark Hauskins

Meeting adjourned at 8:30 for refreshment provided by the membership.