Wilson County Beekeepers

Wilson County Beekeepers President Leonard Walker called the April 7, 2025 meeting to order with 84 members and guests in attendance. Leonard gave a brief history of how the club has grown over the years giving a lot of the credit to Carey and Petra Mitchell. Approval of the March 2nd meeting was made. Checkbook balance is $ . Financial report is at Petra’s table for viewing.

Old Business Discussed:

• What do bees do when they get mad? They buzz off!
• Inspector class was on March 17 & 18 with Mike Studer. A few members attended
• Petra still needs some program and speaker ideas. She will be working on next year’s schedule in the next month
• Swarm List is available for updates, should you want to start getting call
• Jenny Lamb recapped the TBA board meeting.
• Still accepting bids for the extracting equipment. We will take bids until the June picnic, so if anyone is interested, check it out by the window.

New Business Discussed:

• Kent Williams will be doing a Queen Rearing class on Saturday, May 3 at Sterling apiary starting at 10:00 am. There is a rain day of Saturday, May 10. This class is free to WCBA members and a $20.00 charge for non-members. Class size is 40, so if you are interested, get your name on the list. Bring your lawn chair, lunch, and clean protective gear. A veil is mandatory. Be sure to sign up if interested
• Field day is Saturday, May 17 (with an alternate rain date of May 24). Start time is 10:00. Bring your clean protective gear with a mandatory veil. Details are in the membership book. Please sign up so we can get a headcount. Newbees…this is a great time for you to get into bees. Also, if you want to be considered for the New Beekeeper Scholarship (see the last page of your membership book), this will be one of the requirements.
• Food-grade burlap sacks are available for smoker fuel. Take what you want…we can get more.
• With Carey’s passing, a Vice President was needed to be seated and the Executive Committee elected Allen Ferguson as interim Vice President until the November elections
• The memorial book “The Beeing” has been delivered to the Watertown Public Library in honor of Carey.
• This year’s Farm day is May 6 & 7, which welcomes all second graders in Wilson County. Jessica will NOT be able to chair this year, so David Thompson will take on the position. Volunteers will be needed. Please sign up

Allen’s Monthly To Do’s:

• Check over Equipment. Make sure you have enough boxes and frames
• Be prepared and watch for swarms
• Weather is getting right to start checking hives. Open them up and check for brood, eggs, and signs of a healthy queen
• Add boxes as needed; brood boxes if you compressed hives down in the fall and honey supers as needed
• Add feed to weak hives with a 1 to 1 sugar/water or 2 to 1, if you prefer. Be sure to feed newly installed hives

What’s blooming that the bees are working:

• Apple
• Blueberries
• Box Elder
• Clover
• Crab apple
• Dandelion
• False Nettle
• Flowering Quince
• Hellebores
• Henbit
• Maple
• Mustard
• Ornamental fruit trees
• Peach
• Pear
• Pussy Willow
• Redbuds
• Russian Olive
• Spice Bush
• Witch Hazel
• Willow

Book Report: Beth McClain spoke highly of What the Bees See which discusses how bees see.

Russ Davis donated two books to the club’s library in honor of Carey…the new edition of ‘Beekeeping for Dummies’ and ‘The Hive and the Honeybee’. Full spectrum of beekeeping education.

Program: Al Taylor had a very informative program on Honey Comb and Comb Interaction

Announcements:

May 3—Queen Rearing Class with Kent Williams (May 10—rain day)
May 5—Mike Studer—Detecting AFB and EFB and All about Mites
May 17—Field Day at Sterling’s (May 24—rain day)

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

Door Prizes:

• Starbucks Coffee—Dwayne Smith
• Hive Tool—Hudson Richter
• Ultra Bee—Mark Dodson
• Greeting Cards from Wounded Warrior Project—Dale McCleskey
• Bee t-shirt—Jessica Stoiko
• $10 gift certificate form Lappe’s—Jeff Crutchfield
• J Hook hive tool—Al Dutton
• Bee Brush—Allen Ferguson
• WCBA Hat—Edward Miller

The meeting adjourned around 8:47 for refreshments & fellowship.

The Club’s current checkbook balance is $___________.

Respectfully submitted: Petra Mitchell, Secretary/Treasurer
Wilson County Beekeepers Association
April 8, 2025

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