Wilson County Beekeepers

Meeting Minutes – Monday, 1 July 2024

Wilson County Beekeepers met at the Ward Ag Center on Monday, July 1, 2024.  There were 54 members and guests in attendance.  President Carey Mitchell called the meeting to order.  The minutes of the May/June meetings were approved with the checkbook balance standing at $xxxx. with membership count at 222.

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Old Business Discussed:

• What’s a bee’s favorite hair style? A buzz cut
• The memorial book for Dave Gordon (Keeping Bees in a Horizontal Hive) has been delivered to the Lebanon Library. Carey read the note from Dave’s widow thanking us for the book donation.  We also received a memorial book from Daniel Klapuch for the club’s library.
• We had a wonderful time at the June picnic last meeting. Because of your generosity, we were able to give New Leash on Life a donation of $1,001.00.  The thank-you note from NOLA was read.  The observation hive generated $165.00 which was won by Jennifer Ferguson and the stick pin garnered $50.00 which was won by Norma Jean Stroupe.
• Inspectors…be sure to fill out your inspection slips and return them to Petra for reimbursement. We received a new grant effective today in the amount of $1,000 from TDA.  If you don’t have the slips, see Petra.

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New Business Discussed:                                               

• The Wilson County Fair/Tennessee State Fair dates are August 15-24. Petra has the Fair Schedule for anyone that is willing to sign up for a shift or three.  She also has the Honey Show rules and program.
• She is also looking for items to fill the raffle basket, so if you have any bee-themed items or hive products, it would be greatly appreciated.
• Also available are 8 ounce bears for filling. Remember, those of you that have received the New Beekeeper Scholarship in the past and have not fulfilled your two-gallon commitment, this might be a good time to pay back.
• On the weekends during the Fair, we do an extracting demonstration. We are in need of 10 honey frames for this.  These frames do not need to be completely filled.  So if you have an extra one or two, please let Petra know.

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Leonard’s Monthly To-Do

• Continue to extract any capped honey you may have.
• You need to return honey supers to the hive just before dark to help reduce robbing. If you just want the supers cleaned for storage, put them on over the inner cover.  Sometimes the bees will move the cleanup down instead of storing it in a few cells in the cleaned supers.
• You need to store extracted and cleaned supers that you are finished with for the year with something to prevent wax moth damage. The moths can do that in just a few days.  I use paradichlorobenzene.  I think there is a new spray-on treatment as well.  If you don’t do treat, you can store the supers on end so air and light can get to them.  You need to keep them out of the weather.
• Any late swarms will need to be fed until they are full sized. You can combine them with a weak hive.  Just remember when you combine a weak hive with a weak hive you still have a weak hive.
• As always, check for mites. If you have your honey off, you can get a treatment on.  It’s hot, check the temperature requirement for the treatment.
• If the flow is over in your area, you can put in entrance reducers to help prevent robbing.
• You need to start feeding weak hives. This could cause robbing.  It could be bad if you do and bad if you don’t.  Your choice!!!

 

What’s blooming at our house that the bees are working:

• Bottlebrush Buckeye
• Catnip
• Clover
• Crepe Myrtle
• Cucumber
• Euonymus
• Magnolia
• Milkweed
• Mimosa
• Plantain
• Seven Sons
• Squash
• Sumac
• Vitex
• Yellow cup flower

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Jennifer Priddy from HillCo, LLC was present to talk about her new position and the bee products they have available.  Discounts were given to those who made purchases and everyone was given a hive tool.

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Program:  Open forum on beekeeper tips and gadgets.  Many participated and we learned a lot.  One .problem addressed was hive beetles.  The recipe for the Murder Sauce was given:

1 3# can of Crisco/shortening, ½ cup diatomaceous earth, 10 drops eucalyptus oil, 32 ½ drops red food coloring.  You can do a google search for Murder Sauce for full details.

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Announcements:

• July 29—Jim Garrison—Winter Management

There is NO meeting in August due to the Fair

• August 10—Honey Entries taken in (10:00 am to 3:00 pm in the Veteran’s Building)
• August 15—Wilson County Fair/Tennessee State Fair begins

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The evening’s door prizes were handed out by Carey with the help from Jennifer Ferguson

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Door Prizes:

• Leather Gloves—Aaron Cooper
• Honey Gate—Heather Kitchen
• Magnet—Deanie Yoest
• Capping Scratcher—Jennifer Ferguson
• Queen Catcher—Anaiah Morano
• Cold Knife—Bruce LaVergne
• Vitex plants donated by the Stroupes—Rod Hopper, Clint Cannon, Gloria Cannon, Margaret Cantrell, David Yoest, Vince Settle, Joseph Morano

Vitex plants donated by Daniel Klapuch—David Cuen and Brian Leu

Rose of Sharon donated by Daniel Klapuch—Karen Cuen and Tricia Davis

The meeting adjourned at 8:40 for refreshments & fellowship.

The Club’s current checkbook balance is $

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Respectfully submitted:  Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
July 2, 2024

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