Wilson County Beekeepers

Meeting Minutes – Monday, 2 March 2020

President Carey Mitchell of the Wilson County Beekeepers Association called the March 2, 2020 meeting to order at the Ward Ag Center with 77 members and guests in attendance.   Minutes from the February 2020 meeting were approved as posted in the past newsletter.  The reported checkbook balance is $_______

Old Business Discussed:

• Dues are due…be sure to pick up your new membership books.
• Refresher Workshop was February 22 with 22 in attendance.
• Honey Convention will be in Knoxville, March 20-21 at the Rothchild conference Center. Eddie Kim won the free one-day pass that they were giving to each club
• Swarm List is on the back table. Time will soon be here.  If you are interested, get your name on the list.  Please make additions and deletions in the areas you want to cover.  Remember, you do need to be a paid WCBA member to be on the list.

New Business Discussed:     

• Besides the long sleeved Oxford Gray shirts that were introduced last month, we now have a new shipment of long sleeved light gray, Tropical Blue, and Kiwi. There are limited numbers in various sizes.  Also a new shipment of hats are in.  All shirts and hats are $10.00 each.  Get them while available.
• Farm Day is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, May 12 & 13. Jessica will be looking for volunteers.
• WCBA has purchased some youth beginner booklets that we are including in the educational packets each teacher will receive at Farm Day to take back to the classroom. There is also a free download available for additional teaching instructional material to go hand-in-hand with the book.
• Anyone doing a youth program is encouraged to take on of the booklets to leave behind for further information. We have limited copies.
• Philip Chapman recapped the TBA Board Meeting. TBA is looking to increase dues to $20.00 but a membership vote needs to secure the increase.  Ballot should come out in the next TBA newsletter.  He also reported that the Pesticide Bill has been stymied until further discussion.  Petra announced that she will be retiring her TBA treasurer position this coming October.
• Sponsorship check for the Fair has been paid. WCBA fully funds all Honey Show premiums available ($572.00)
• Kent Williams Bee School is scheduled for April 9-11 (Thursday-Saturday). 9am to 5 pm at Kent’s farm—580 State Route 385, Wingo, KY.  Admission is free but donations are accepted.  Lunch will be included

Jessica’s Monthly To Do’s:

• Some beekeepers chose not to intervene with their bees at this time of year. However, if you subscribe to a less strict beekeeping philosophy, you might choose to begin feeding a 1:1 ratio of water:sugar and monitoring the bees more closely this time of year.
• If you have multiple hives and some did not survive the winter, relocate the honey from the deceased hives into the live hives. This practice is called load-balancing.
• If your hive has not survived, perform a post-mortem. Carefully look over the hive and try to discern why they died. If there is no longer any honey in the hive, they likely died from starvation. If the cluster perished near the edge of the walls, they could have died of exposure. If you see evidence that mice infiltrated the hive that could be the cause. The cause is not always clear, but looking through the hive offers insight. We have videos in the Members area that deal with these issues.
• Clean out the hive to prepare for new bees, but leave your mouse guards in place as the mice may still be looking for shelter and food. Cleaning means removing the dead bodies, which can be easily accomplished by carefully removing the vent system on the bottom and letting the bodies fall to the ground.
• If your hive survived, do your best to clean out dead bodies and assess usable comb for next year. Remove any comb that is damaged and save it for future wax rendering.
• If your bees didn’t survive winter, we offer our condolences. It can be very hard to lose a hive, we know. Take comfort in the fact that the work of your deceased hive will give your new hive stronger start.

What’s Blooming at our house:

• Maples
• Flowering Quince
• Hellebores—Lenten Rose
• Elm
• Dandelion
• False Nettle
• Nanking Cherries
• Henbit
• Pussy Willow

Program:  Clarence Collison had a wonderful program on Spring Preparation.  He will also be the Keynote Speaker at the TBA Conference this October.

Announcements:

• April 6—David Hughes from Rock Bridge Trees will be discussing bee trees and shrubs.

Carey and Jessica handed out door prizes at the end of the meeting:

• Bee Brush—Steve Davis
• Honey Candy—John Petry
• Field Journal—Diane Leu
• Rossman t-shirt—Theresa Davis
• Bee pin—JD Vantrease
• Swarm Trap (donated by Les Burton)—Jennifer Ferguson
• WCBA has purchased some large door prizes and the winner each month will be able to make a selection for them…This month Philip Chapman chose the double stainless steel strainer

The meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm for refreshments and fellowship.

The Club’s current checkbook balance is $ _______________

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Respectfully submitted:  Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
March 3, 2020

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