Door County Beekeepers Club

While recent temperatures may not feel like it, Fall is here and there several things you should be doing to help your bees. If you haven’t done so already,test and treat for Varroa Mites. They are in your hive and treating them is the best way to help your colony(s) survive the winter. Once your treatment is complete, it’s time to “fatten” your bees and build protein. Feeding heavy syrup (sugar and water 2:1) is the easiest way to promote fattening. Once you begin feeding, watch the levels. We’re hearing from members that bees are aggressively eating syrup. Lastly, don’t forget to put a mouse guard on your entrance. As we start to experience cooler nights, mice will look for warm nesting sites.

OCTOBER AND THE BEEKEEPER: The goal is to have the bees fill the upper brood chamber during the fall flow, forcing the queen down into the bottom brood chamber. If you do not have enough room, the bees will fill the upper AND lower brood chambers with honey and deprive the colony of space for brood rearing. If this happens, instead of having lots of young bees for the winter, you will have lots of older bees, and the colony will not successfully winter. Always err on the side of too much room, rather than too little.

Prepare your hives for winter. A wind break should be considered. Entrance cleats should be placed in the front opening, along with a mouse guard, to restrict mice from entering the hive. A word about bees and winter. A large, healthy hive will not die from cold weather. They stay warm by clustering in the hive. They keep each other warm. The temperature in the hive is only warm within the cluster. They do not warm the entire inside of their hive, only the cluster. They can survive extreme cold weather. But, moisture can develop within the hive as bees do give off moisture like we do. If this moisture gathers above them, it can drip onto the cluster. This is what can kill bees during the winter. They are much like us. We can be cold and get by. But, we cannot stay alive long if we become wet and cold. Bees can get wet in the summer and it is not a problem. But you must prevent your hive from becoming cold and wet from condensation developing within the hive.

Door County Beekeepers Club Meeting
August 24th, 2021

5:15 pm – Hive Dive – Weather permitting, we will open up the hive at Crossroads and do a mite check.
6:30 p.m. – Meeting – Collins Learning Center at Crossroads

Honey harvest is either done or going to be done soon, time to start thinking about raising fat bees for the long winter ahead.

Speaker: Max Martin and Seasoned club beekeepers
• fat bees!! • Mite control • Strong Queens • Pollen storages • Honey storages • Wrapping hives • Polystyrene tops • Mouse guards • Ventilation • Screened bottoms

BEE CLUB MEETING – July 27, 2021

5:30 pm – Hive Dive @ Gretchen Schmelzer’s Hives
6:30 p.m. – Meeting @ Collins Learning Center at Crossroads

Mid-summer is here and your bees are likely very active gathering pollen and filling your supers. If you plan to harvest honey, this will be an informative meeting for you to attend.

Guest Speaker: Dennis Marquardt and Mark Lentz will demonstrate and discuss their honey harvesting techniques and answer questions.

For more meeting info, visit the Event Page.

June 23rd and 24th will be especially helpful for Door County Beekeepers! The new State Bee Inspector Donna Stine, will be in Door County visiting hives and helping with your questions. For the new beekeepers, the Inspector is not regulatory, rather, her role is to help educate and advise. If you are interested in having Donna visit your hives, please contact Dennis Marquardt at (262) 751-7239 or dennismarquardt1929@gmail.com. Dennis will be coordinating the visits with Donna to make her travels around the peninsula efficient.

On Thursday evening. Donna will be our guest speaker at the DCBC Club meeting. She will talk about what she saw during her inspections and offer advice to help you be a successful beekeeper.

6:00 pm – Hive Dive @ Club Hives at the Crossroads
6:30 p.m. – Meeting @ Collins Learning Center at Crossroads

Door County Beekeepers: Welcome to Spring in Door County and the start of another active beekeeping season. While we are not clear of the pandemic, we are going to resume regular meetings and return to the mission of our club – Helping Beekeepers. Our first meeting will be a general discussion and Q&A session. Spring and new bees always generate lots of questions and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Door County Beekeepers Club Meeting
Tuesday; May 18, 2021 @ 6:30 pm
Collins Learning Center at Crossroads
Masks and Social Distancing will be required