Beekeepers of the Northern Shenendoah

BONS Minutes

April 11,2013

Randy Jackson, President, called the meeting to order.

Secretary Report: The minutes from every meeting appear on the clubs website: www.valleybees.org

Treasurers Report: Michele is continuing to search for someone to audit the clubs bank accounts. Membership dues are due in May.

Committee Reports:

Mentoring Program: Branson McKay, Committee Chair, reported that the mentoring program is in good shape. Branson asked for students that have not met their mentors to please see him after the meeting.

Wooden Ware Workshop: Doug Koch, Wooden Ware Committee Chair, announced that he brought missing supplies to the meeting. If you are missing equipment that you ordered see Doug after the meeting.

Beginner Bee Classes: In John Lewis’s absence Randy Jackson reported that the bee classes were completed. The Field Day is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, 2013 at John Lewis’s Apiary in Winchester.

Bee Packages: Randy Jackson reported that the package supplier has promised queens on Thursday or Friday to replace the queens in the packages that came with dead queens. If a student’s queen came dead on arrival then they need to contact Randy. Any queens left over after distribution to students will be distributed to club members who purchased packages with dead queens.

*Packages purchased do not come with a guarantee with the supplier or with the bee club.

If no queens are available from the supplier, the club will take care of the students by:

1. Reimbursing them for the package or

2. Help them make a split later in the season.

If no queens are available by Saturday then the students should combine hives.

Rusty Foltz has accepted the position of working with Macintosh Farms to build their apiary. Rusty is planning a trip to Brushy Mountain in PA to pick up bee packages. If you are interested in purchasing packages from Brushy Mountain, contact Rusty to make arrangements for him to pick them up. Club member is responsible for ordering their own packages. Contact Rusty if you want him to pick your package up.

Rusty also suggested that if club members need bee supplies that another local bee supply company is: Virginia Beekeeping Supply, in Warrenton, VA. Located at 101 W. Marshall Street, Remington, VA 22734. Owner: Jerry Headley Phone: 540-905-5563, www.virginiabeesupply.com .

BONS Website: Jim reported that the form to renew club membership is on the website. Club members requested that a list of people who collect swarms be added to the website. The website meeting that was cancelled will be rescheduled in the future.

Nucs to Sell Committee: Randy Jackson announced that he would like to develop another club committee. The committee is Nucs to Sell Committee. Doug Koch agreed to chair this new club committee. Several club members signed up for the committee to assist Doug improve our club’s ability to provide nucs to the new students and club members. Doug Morris suggested that we talk to Prince Williams to see how they run their program.

Club Nominating Committee: Ron Clevenger is the nominating committee for new club officers for the upcoming BONS year. If you are interested in becoming a club officer, please contact Ron.

Announcements:

Blandy Farm Event- May 11- May 12, 2013- A sign-up sheet was passed around for club members to volunteer to attend this event. Club members are asked to bring bee related items to sell at the BONS Club tent. Blandy will take 10% cut of items sold in the Spring.

BONS Club Discount: Charlie Brown has secured a discount from 84 Lumber in Front Royal for 1” x 4” x 8’ – 1” x 12” x 8’ lumber. The discount is 5% off. Any questions contact Charlie Brown.

May Club Program: Rusty Foltz, Vice President, announced that he has scheduled an accountant to come and talk to club members about write offs in relation to a beekeeping business.

Club Program: The club program this month was open discussion in regard to producing nucs, how to make splits and small hive beetle.

The meeting was adjourned.

Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Brenda Brown, BONS Club Secretary

  The speaker  for our May meeting will be Michael Callahan, CPA of Michael Callahan and Associates of Winchester, Va. The topic of his presentation will be Tax Considerations for Small Farms and Beekeeping. We will also be holding our elections. If you are interested in running for office please contact Ron Clevenger at rclevenger@comcast.net.

  We will conduct our elections at the May meeting. Anyone  interested in running for office may contact Ron Clevenger at rclevenger@comcast.net.

The BONS Membership application is available to print out if you want to join or renew your membership

BONS Annual Renewal

Our April meeting will be a Round Table Discussion of many topics. This will be a good opportunity for members to ask questions and listen to the many different methods of beekeeping. Hope to see you there!

BONS Minutes
March 14, 2013
Randy Jackson, President, called the meeting to order.
Secretary Report: The minutes from every meeting appear on the clubs website: valleybees.org
Treasurers Report: Michele suggested that the club have an audit completed of the clubs bank accounts.
Committee Reports:
Mentoring Program: Branson McKay, Committee Chair, reported that the mentoring program is in pretty good shape. Branson asked for members that are interested in helping mentor send him an email or give him a call.
Wooden Ware Workshop: If the weather is chilly and rainy it will not affect the event. The members are planning to do a honey extraction demonstration. The event will be Saturday, March 16, 2013 starting at 10 a.m. until finished and Sunday, March 17, 2013 starting at 2 p.m. until finished. There will be 12-15 stations to work on wooden ware with the new students. The Winchester Star has been contacted and are planning to send a photographer and a reporter to the event on Saturday. The club will be providing BBQ, cole slaw and sides from Jordan Springs Market. A food count will be taken at 11:30 a.m. for members and students to determine size of order. Club members are asked to bring a covered dish. Plates and utensils will be provided by the club. Hot cider will be provided by the Miller’s. Club members are asked to bring their own chair with their name on the chair. Club members are being asked to label all the tools that they bring. Branson McKay and Randy Jackson will bring extra tables.
Doug Koch, Wooden Ware Committee Chair, has asked available club members to help organize the wooden ware prior to the Wooden Ware Workshop. Volunteers are to meet at Tom Miller’s on Friday, March 15, 2013 at 4 p.m. The wooden ware will be located in the barn which is about 50 feet from the workshop where members will teach the new students how to assemble their wooden ware. Doug has extra foundation for medium wired available if members need foundation.
Beginner Bee Classes: John Lewis, Bee Class Chair reported that the limit of students for bee classes was 35 students. The new limit of students is 42 students and he has 44 students enrolled in classes. John reported that the classes are going very well. John also reported that Heishman’s Honey Bee Hut in West Virginia has had a fire that burned part of their warehouse. Heishman’s are having a fire sale on Saturday, March 16 at 10 a.m. to sell the smoky pallets of wooden ware. The sale is to be a half price sale.
Tom Miller suggested that club members in need of equipment could go to:
Eversweet Apiaries, Herbert Everhart, 85 Everhart Drive, Kearneysville, WV, 304-876-3832, info@eversweetapiaries.com or http://www.eversweetapiaries.com.
Bee Packages: Randy reported that there are still some bee packages available. Call Randy if you are interested. The estimated arrival date is March 27 or so.
Announcements:
Ricky Hummer brought about 25 buckets with lids for give away to club members that need buckets.
Rusty Foltz received a call from Bob MacIntosh in regard to expanding his apiary. He currently has 10 hives and wants to increase his apiary to 30 hives. He is interested in having someone take care of his bees for him. Rusty is looking into the project and Randy Jackson has agreed to limited help.
Doug Morris suggested a pollination chart be put on the website.
Club Program: Bob Wellemyer is the Virginia State Bee Inspector. Bob presented a program on bee diseases and what beekeepers should be looking for in their hive inspections. Bob encouraged beekeepers to treat for mites. He said mites are one of the causes for a weak hive and cause other diseases. He said we should feed our bees syrup in the fall to stimulate the bees to raise brood in the fall for overwintering. Nosema effects bees in the summer time. He said spotty brood pattern is not a good sign in your hive.
After his talk Bob answered club member questions and inspected dead out frames from hives that club members brought in.
The meeting was adjourned.
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Brenda Brown, BONS Club Secretary

BONS Minutes
February 14, 2013
Randy Jackson, President, called the meeting to order.
Old Business:
Committee Reports:
BONS Website: Jim Wingate reported that the website now has a calendar.
Mentoring Program: Branson McKay, Committee Chair, reported that he has a class list with the names, addresses and contact information for the new students enrolled in bee classes. There are 40 people on the list. Branson is using Google map to tract location of the new beekeepers to match them with a mentor in their area. Branson asked for anyone interested in becoming a mentor to please contract him. At this time, we are short mentors in relation to students.
Wooden Ware: Doug Koch, Committee Chair, reported that the wooden ware company will contact him when the order is ready. The estimated delivery date is sometime between February 25 and March 25.
The club members agreed that the Wooden Ware Assembly Workshop will be held on Saturday, March 16 from 10 a.m. until members go home and Sunday, March 17 from 2 p.m. until finished and clean up is complete. Pick up and assembly will be held at Tom Miller’s work shop located at 3690 Old Charles Town Road, Berryville, VA 22611.
In open discussion, Tom asked if the club could have a honey extraction demonstration for the new students. Willard Lutz said he has 10-12 frames of honey that could be used for the extraction. Doug volunteered to help Rusty bring the extraction equipment to Tom’s. Tom also asked if someone could demonstrate how to make candles, and maybe a soap making demonstration. Also Randy is to ask his relative if he would be interested in coming to demonstrate how to make mead from honey. Tom suggested that the mentors can be introduced to their new beekeeper at the workshop.
Since the club voted to provide barbeque for the workshop event, club members will be asked to bring a covered dish to share.
Beginner Bee Classes: The classes start next week on February 18, 2013 at 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. There are 42 slots and 43 students. There will be four class locations: Winchester Medical Center, Rusty Foltz, instructor, Virginia Tech site, John Lewis, instructor, Marshall, Mike Rininger, instructor, and Blandy Farm, Doug & Ramona Morris, instructors. Past class members are welcome to sit in on any class sessions that they would like to for free. Look on the website for the class syllabus and information about what is being taught in bee classes.
Bee Packages: Randy is still accepting orders for bee packages. Call Randy if you are interested.
Club Program: Bill Bundy is the current President of the Virginia State Beekeepers Association. Mr. Bundy is also a beekeeper with 60 hives in two bee yards . He makes splits with his bee hives and produces 30 nucs per year to sell to new beekeepers. Mr. Bundy is presenting a program on, “Colony Increase by Making Splits”.
Some of the items Mr. Bundy touched on in his presentation were:
1. Bees produce most of their bees in March and April.
2. Get pollen on the bees if they need it. Bill uses Mega Bee
3. Early April is a good time to produce queens.
4. Use drape covers when splitting hives or inspecting the hives
5. Use a quiet box for the queen
6. Feed syrup three weeks prior to the time you want to split the hives.
7. Inspect your comb (3 years old okay if in good shape) Comb 5 years absolutely has to go.
8. Entrance: 1” to 1 1/2” is all the entrance bees need.
The meeting was adjourned.
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by Brenda Brown, BONS Club Secretary

West Virginia State Beekeepers and Eastern Panhandle Beekeepers Association will hold their 2013 Spring Conference April 13 at the Cacapon resort State Park, 8:00-4:00. Speakers are Keith Delaplane, David Miksa and Jeff Pettis. Visit www.wvepba.org/html/2013springmeeting.htm.

   The speaker for our March meeting will be Bob Wellemeyer. Bob is the state apiary inspector . This is a speaker that you  will not want to miss. We will also continue to take package orders. On March 16 and 17 we will be holding our woodenware workshop for new beekeepers. I will be asking for volunteers. Hope to see you there!