Door County Beekeepers Club

Bees and the Beekeeper

Honeybee colonies hit their peak during this month. Add supers as needed. You can harvest honey when the honey flow slows (usually near the end of August) or hold filled supers on the hive until you are ready to harvest all of the honey at the end of August.

Monitor for Varroa mite populations. A mite treatment may be necessary prior to the August nectar flow.

If you get a chance, check your hive(s) to be sure they are queen right. Remember, you don’t need to see the queen, just eggs or larva.

The recent rains should help keep the wild flowers blooming for a few more weeks. Make sure your hives have space to put the honey!

The WI State Fair is just around the corner August 1-11. We are in need of volunteers to take a shift at the State Fair Honey Booth located in the WI Products Pavilion.
* Day shifts 9am-5pm or 9am-1pm
* Swing shifts 1pm – 6pm
* Evening shifts 5pm – 10pm
THANK YOU to those members that have already signed up, but we still have lots of openings. We have shift openings EVERY DAY of the Fair EXCEPT Aug. 2, 3, and 5.

Please consider volunteering. The Booth has managers that work alongside volunteers, assign breaks, and provide overall supervision. The WHPA provides all volunteers with an admission ticket into the Fair (mailed to you). Many folks make a day (or night) of it and see the sights before or after their shift. Clubs and groups are encouraged to pick a day or night to work together (this comes in handy for carpools). Please call or email me with your time selections or SIGN UP ONLINE at https://signup.com/go/BmpYDXY. Thank you!

**Can’t volunteer but still want to help? 6 or 7 five-gallon pails of honey are needed for WHPA’s #1 selling item at the Fair – honeystix! If you’d like to donate a pail of honey, please contact Nick Thill at 262-689-1484 asap.

Tracy Malterer (WHPA – State Fair Committee Volunteer Coordinator)

Hope you all got a chance to do some mite checks on your packages and your overwintered hives!!

If you are looking for instructions go to the Minnesota Bee Lab and look at Mite testing.

The State Bee inspectors will be in Door County on Tuesday and Wednesday and at our meeting.

If you want Dan or April to check your hives out come and sign up for a visit.

If it is above 60 degrees we will do a short hive dive at the Cross Roads hive just to check on the queen, eggs, larva and brood at 5:30pm. Meeting will be at 6:30.

Hope to see you at the meeting this Tuesday!

The May meeting of Door County Beekeepers Club will be held at the Crossroads in Sturgeon Bay at 6:30pm on Tuesday, May 28th.

Topic: Maintaining Your Bees Against Disease
Presenter: State Apiary Inspector Dan Ziehli

If you have questions concerning your bees there will be an open forum to ask questions during the presentation.

Members,

If you would like to have our State Bee Inspector, Dan Ziehi, inspect your hives (I highly recommend this) please email Dennis Marquardt at dennisMarquardt1929@gmail.com.

Dan Ziehli will be in Door County on May 27th & 28th. Please indicate the date, the address location of your hives and your phone number when contacting Dennis.

Dan will also be our speaker on May 28th at Crossroads.

Our March meeting will be held on January 22 at 6:30pm at the Peninsular Ag Research Station Classroom, 4312 Highway 42 in Sturgeon Bay.

Topic: Honey Color, the How and Why, and their Plants
Presenter: Kent Pegorsch

Kent is the president of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association (WHPA). His program will cover honey flavors and color from different nectar sources. Kent will also have a collection of honey from around the world that he will provide samples and share. He will conclude his program with a brief overview of the WHPA and the benefits of membership.

Hope you got a chance to get out and check on your hives during this last Friday and Saturday (February 22nd and 23rd) warm-up! All my hives have hard candy above the top frames. I had a disappointment in losing a hive, it had consumed all the hard candy before I added more. I also had a pleasant surprise, a hive I had thought was dead and was going to clean out had a nice cluster of live bees in it!

Be sure to clean out any dead hives while it is still cold! It will be a moldy stinky mess if you wait. Learn from my mistakes!

Hope to see you all on Tuesday, February 26 at 6:30 PM at Cross Roads.

We will be doing some frame assembly and general talk about preparation for the arrival of the bees.

If you have any tips or tricks to share please bring them along!

Meeting Cancellation Notice!

Due to the weather forecast for tomorrow night, our DCBC meeting is cancelled. Everyone please stay safe and warm!

Our first meeting of 2019 will be held at the Door County Library (Sturgeon Bay) in the Jane Green Meeting Room (2nd floor) on January 22 at 6:30pm.

Topic: Honey Color, the How and Why, and their Plants
Presenter: Kent Pegorsch

Kent is the president of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association (WHPA). His program will cover honey flavors and color from different nectar sources. Kent will also have a collection of honey from around the world that he will provide samples and share. He will conclude his program with a brief overview of the WHPA and the benefits of membership.

Announcing Max’s 2019 Beginner Beekeeping Class
What: Introduction to keeping honey bees as a hobby
Presenter: Max Martin, local beekeeper for 20 years
When: Saturday, January 12, 8am to Noon
Where: UW Peninsular Agricultural Research Station, 4312 Hwy 42 Sturgeon Bay, WI
Cost: $35.00 (pay at the door)

Beverages and light snacks will be provided. Class limited to 25.
For reservations please call 920-743-8457 or email mwmarti1@wisc.edu.