A Note From WCBEEKA President....

Hello everyone, 

I'm happy to announce that we have lined up speakers for meeting on Monday April 2. 

Ed & Mary Kosenski, a husband and wife team of E&M Gold in NJ have agreed to speak.

The program will begin precisely at 7:30 so please be prompt. In the event you are a bit late, please come right in and be seated as quietly as possible. 

The presentation will run until 9:30. It will include some time for Q&A's. 

Mary & Ed have 3 hours of travel time so they plan to leave immediately after their presentation.

We will have coffee, tea & some home made baked goods for the event. 

If you'd like to find out a bit about them in advance, please check out their web site. http://www.emgoldbeekeepers.com/

Depending on how things progress, we may postpone the business meeting until our May meeting.

Hope that everyone can make it!

See you Monday.

Thanks, 

Dolores

Another Season Upon Us....

Hope this post finds everyone and every bee well. There will be a couple more admins added to this page so we can keep on top of it all. It has been very difficult for just one person to do it.

With that BEEing said; a friendly reminder of our upcoming BEE POTLUCK

SATURDAY MARCH 24, 2012
Setup begins at 5:30
Dinner at 6:00

Please contact Dolores Motichka at dmotich@ptd.net to let her know if you are coming and what you will be bringing.

Thanks

QUEEN REARING BOOK

If you are interested here is a link for a out of print book on Queen rearing:

Queen Rearing Simplified by Jay Smith

A permanent link to this book will be in the "Helpful Books" section on the left side of this page.

RECENT EVENTS....

Club member Carla Strozzieri arranged to have Sam Comfort, top bar and
warre' hive beekeeper, speak to the club at a recent meeting. Sam operates
Anarchy Apiaries in New York's Hudson Valley.  He looked like an anarchist -
scruffy beard, ragged shorts, straw cowboy hat, no shoes, and a guitar(for
singing songs about insects)- and what he had to say about bees was
revolutionary to many beekeepers.

Sam thinks that today's "problem" with bees stems from "industrializing"
them, rather than respecting the way bees live in the wild. He believes that
bees weren't meant to be trucked cross-country to pollinate mono-crops such
as corn, or almonds. Such crops provide poor nutrition due to lack of
diversity. Mites and other pests are symptoms of compromised colonies.

What to do? Go back to nature starting with smaller cell-sized foundation
which will eventually produce smaller bees.  Sam claims that smaller bees
are more resistant to diseases and pests, forage earlier in the day and
later in the evening, among other benefits. His  goal is "yippie, hippie
stuff." Sam believes "bigger is better" is the philosophy that got bees and
crops in trouble; he'd like to see more people with no more than five or six
beehives in their backyards. Then he could relax with his guitar and go
fishing.

To learn more about top bar hives and Sam's brand of "less-invasive"
beekeeping visit: http://anarchyapiaries.org/hivetools/node/32. One of Sam's
mentors is Dee Lusby of Arizona whose writing appears in the POV section of
beesource.com. To learn more about the warre' hives that Sam discussed,
visit warre.biobees.com. Also, check out "The Complete Idiot's Guide to
Beekeeping" by Dean Stiglitz and Laurie Herboldsheimer. The couple are
owners and operators of Golden Rule Honey, LLC and run treatment-free
beekeeping conferences such as this one,  http://www.beeuntoothers.com/,
where Sam also spoke and sang sans shoes.



*Thanks to Elizabeth Knight for contributing this article


**A permanent link to Sam's website: Anarchy Apiaries will be in the "Helpful Links" section on the left hand column. 

BEE FIELD DAY....

Our field day is this Saturday May 28, 2011 from 11:00am-2:00pm and will take place at the home of Carla Strozzieri, Barry Bilger and Raven. Carla and Barry have top bar hives as well as Langstroth, so you will have a great opportunity to see how both work.

Contact for directions or if you are on Facebook join our private WCBEEKA group and directions will be posted there.

Hope to see you!

Highland Valley Apiaries.......

If you are looking for local Apiary consulting, bee products, honey, bees and more check out Ron Papa's new site; Highland Valley Apiaries


Highland Valley Apiaries is a small family business located in Milford, Pennsylvania. We are producers of Local Raw Honey for northeast PA, NJ,and NY. Our apiary locations are selected for there abundance and variety of natural floral sources. We also pride ourselves on producing the best honey possible by keeping healthy bees that are free from the use of hard chemical treatments or antibiotics.

Online Seminars

The following are online classes and seminars through Brushy Mountain Bee Farm:

Year 2 - Build them up, keep them healthy, and produce honey:

We will have a panel made up of beekeepers from different parts of the U.S. Each will discuss the steps they take coming out of winter to build the colonies. We will cover how to get the most from the colony while also keeping it healthy. Lets get ready for the coming year. Panelist include Kim Flottum (editor of Bee Culture Magazine) and Marygael Meister (hobby beekeeper in Denver, CO)

Title: Year 2 - Build them up, keep them healthy, and produce honey
Date: Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST

The webinar is free; however, space is limited and advanced registration is required. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/814801226

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

Online Beginner's Class:
This class is broken into 4 sessions. Each session will focus on a different topics and you can pick and choose which you wish to attend. All together, the 4 sessions will take you start to finish of your first year of beekeeping. All four sessions are free but advance registration is required. If you would like, you canpurchase a CD with all four sessions and other resources. This will be available upon conclusion of the last session. Below are the registration links for the class.

• Online Class Part 1 March 14 at 6:00PM EST
• Online Class Part 2 March 16 at 6:00PM EST
• Online Class Part 3 March 21 at 6:00PM EST
• Online Class Part 4 March 23 at 6:00PM EST

BEE MUSIC

We hope you are enjoying the bee inspired music here on the site (please feel free to suggest any bee related songs). If you would rather not hear the buzzz, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page where the playlist is located and hit the pause button, it will keep the music off until you leave the page. If you leave the page, you will need to pause the music again on the new page.

Hope this helps.

Decline of the honeybee

Chart showing the decline of the honeybee in the past 4 years. If you click on the picture you will be able to view it larger.

BEEKEEPING SYMPOSIUM....

Message from Ron Papa about bear damage....

Hi friends and fellow beekeepers,




Since this is the time of the year we experience pressure from the bear, I thought I would share some information I recently learned.



As beekeepers you are entitled to make a claim with the PA Game Commission for bear damage. It is my understanding that you can be compensated for equipment loss along with some value for your honey but not your bees. It is also my understanding that you can file your first claim without having an electric fence but subsequent claims at the same location require that you DO have a fence.

If you should incurr damage and wish to make a claim you must leave everything as it is and contact the game commission right away so that your local contact can come out and make a determination.



Your first step should be to contact the Dallas, PA office at 570-675-1143 or 570-675-1144. If you're not getting results through this contact you can call the Commission Biologist(Mark) at 814-625-3597.



Best of luck in your beekeeping endevours.



Regards,



Ron Papa

Just a reminder....

This month's meeting is June 7, 2010 at 7:30 at the Park Street Complex in the old Stourbridge School building.

This year's Field Day was another success! Thanks to Robert Hochreither for hosting another informative field day. Below is a picture contributed by Dolores Motichka.....if you have pictures you would like to share please send them to wcbeeka@yahoo.com

BEE CULTURE PHOTO CONTEST....

Remember, if you are having trouble reading the print, just click on the image and it will enlarge.

QUICK REMINDER......

Tonight is this month's meeting. Join us at the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce @ 7:30. See you there. 

Interesting Comments About Bees

The amazing thing about all the bee products is that they help NORMALIZE the body functions. If one is too fat, they help normalize the weight. If one is too skinny, they help normalize the store of fat (some of which is essential and desirable).

Apiary products (I use all of them!) help regulate everything. Homeostasis is the word describing how our chemistry is constantly working to keep everything balanced between two extremes.

Health is really about energy. Where there is energy, activity, joy and rest, the body will heal and maintain itself beautifully. When distress comes our way, when we wander off into bad habits etc., disease is close by, but the apiary products always help us normalize our lifestyles if we have the determination to do so.

While the 'magic' is not necessarily in the products (as in specific chemicals to address specific conditions of imbalance) there is always a natural balance in Apiary Products that point us in the remedial direction, but it is our change of mindset, our hope, positive attitude and our defeat of the fears, that performs the greatest magic. It is indeed, our own inherent natural bodily functions that do the healing. We all have it! It was born in us! It is not necessary to import it from afar! It does not cost money nor is it scarce.

Anything stronger or more potent than what is found in nature will have a skull and crossbones on the label. These products may be dramatic in their effect, but tend to only perpetuate the lifestyle imbalances we have. The apiary products help us normalize our metabolism without massive swings back and forth across the centre line.

A fully energized body is the aim of our subconscious mind. A body full of energy cannot and will not harbor disease. The frequent use of apiary products will promote good energy production (from the food we eat) and that energy will heal us and keep us well. It matters little which disease, which organ, which symptom we have, a normalized metabolism and a healthy mindset will cure it! All chronic diseases are symptoms of low energy.

The Bee works for me.

FLOWER FARM SEEKING BEES.....

Katherine Brown of Fox Hill Farm is looking for a beekeeper that might be interested in keeping their hives on the property. If you might be interested please contact: Katharine Brown Fox Hill Farm 251-9334 or foxhillfarmexperience@gmail.com

Enjoy....

I came across an article on the hives located on the roof of Fortnum and Mason, a famous grocery store in Picadilly. It wasn't so much the article that mesmerized me, but the beautiful pictures of the very unique hives. They are absolutely dreamy. ENJOY!

Beetight....

Here's a great site if you are technically savvy: It's called Beetight You can keep records of your apiary (or apiaries) and hives. Track inspections, keep photos and even blog about your beekeeping online or on your mobile phone. It's free for up to 6 hives, $15 for the "Pro" feature which is up to 1,000 hives. With the Pro version you can get "assets tracking" This will let you keep track of all of your hive components, so you know which hives have got which honey supers and so on, as well as which parts came from where and which need repair. 


I've already signed up for the free version, since I have only 2 hives. It is very user friendly and easy to follow. In my opinion a great tool to help you keep track of your hives and what needs to be done on a regular basis. 


Just click on "Beetight" above


*contributed by Michelle Erbach*

BUZZWORTHY DECOR......

I was flipping through the March Issue of Country Living magazine and on page 34 what did I see? A page filled with home decorating items with bee images! So cute!

HONEYBEE WINTER LOSS SURVEY......

Fellow PA Beekeepers,

Dennis vanEngelsdorp has asked me to forward this request to all PA beekeepers. The survey is very short and will take only a minute or two to fill out. Please forward this to fellow beekeepers in your organizations and on your mailing lists.

Thanks,

Jim Bobb

EAS Chairman

Dear Beekeeper:

The Apiary Inspectors of America and the USDA-ARS Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory are seeking your help in tabulating the winter losses that occurred over the winter of 2009-2010. This continues the AIA/USDA survey efforts from the past 3 years which has been important in quantifying the losses of honey bees for government, media, and researchers.

This year’s survey is faster, easier and does not require your time on the phone. It is all web based and automatic, just fill and click.

Please take a few moments to fill out our winter loss survey at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/beeloss0910

This survey will be conducted until April 16^th, 2010.

We would also appreciate it if you would forward this email to other beekeepers. The more responses the better.

If you have any questions or concerns please email beeloss@gmail.com., orHoneybee.Survey@aphis.usda.gov

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Jeff Pettis; USDA-ARS Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory

Dennis vanEngelsdorp; Penn State University

Jerry Hayes; Florida Department of Agriculture

Dewey Caron; University of Delaware and Oregon State University