Door County Beekeepers Club

Members of the Door County Beekeepers Club and fellow beekeepers: Due to pandemic restrictions, we are still limited on our meetings being held in the Collin’s Learning Center. However, since the weather remains nice, we want to continue our monthly meetings and fulfill our mission of education and assistance to beekeepers. This month, we will again meet outside in the lawn area. Look for the yellow club banner and bring your lawn chair.

Program: Honey Harvesting – Mark Lentz will discuss fall honey harvesting, recognizing which frames you can harvest, various techniques, and equipment that you will find helpful to insure a successful harvest. Equipment demonstrations used to extract, filter, and bottle your product. Open discussion on other member’s methods and techniques will be encouraged.

After the Harvest – Now that the honey is the jars, what should I do?
1. Suggestions for storing your honey
2. How to clean your supers after harvesting honey
3. Checking for Mites and fall treatment options
4. Sugar feeding (heavy syrup)
5. Winter pollen feeding

MONTHLY MEETING – JUNE 21, 2020

6:00 PM Hive Dive
We will be conducting a Hive Dive on the club’s two hives in the Crossroads nature area. This is an excellent opportunity for new beekeepers to explore hives and learn what to look for when conducting inspections. Dennis Marquardt and Mark Lentz will open the hives and answer your questions.

6:30 PM Meeting
Crossroads at Big Creek
OUTDOORS – Lawn Area

Members of the Door County Beekeepers Club and fellow beekeepers:
Due to pandemic restrictions, we are still limited on our meetings being held in the Collin’s Learning Center. However, since the weather remains nice, we want to continue our monthly meetings and fulfill our mission of education and assistance to beekeepers. This month, we will again meet outside in the lawn area. Look for the yellow club banner and bring your lawn chair.

Bee meeting tomorrow at Crossroads at Big Creek 6:30pm.

April our state bee inspector will be at the meeting so bring your questions. She will let us know if she has time slots for bee inspections later this week.

There will be signs at Crossroads to direct you to the outdoor meeting site, bring your own chairs.

Also many of our fellow bee keepers have had many birthdays, and for those that have conditions that make them high risk would everyone please wear your face mask at the meeting, and social distance for the health of the colony.

February 22, 2020 – The bees are in their winter cluster, except for very warm and sunny days (roughly 50ºF and above), when they might leave the hive for a cleansing flight. Queens may lay a few eggs, in which case the cluster will need to keep the brood warm. Dead bees may pile up on the bottom board; on warm days, the bees may remove the bodies, and other bees may fly off to die. Dead bees scattered on the snow outside the hive are therefore a good sign.

Inspection
When inspecting a colony in winter, it is not necessary to open it. Do a quick external inspection, visual and auditory, to check the cluster. Listen for the bees with your ear directly on the upper part of the hive; if you do not hear anything, tap the outside of the hive and the bees should respond. You can open the hive if it is relatively warm and windless outside, but do not pull frames or break open the cluster if it is below 50ºF. If you open the hive, check for moisture around the inner or outer covers. Check if the colony is light on food stores (you can tell by gently hefting the hive)… If so, add warm fondant, or a warm candy board on a warm day.

Equipment
Order any replacement bees (packages, nucs, or queens). Check any stored equipment for pests such as wax moths. Take inventory. Fix, clean/sterilize, purchase, assemble, and paint equipment as needed.

Yard maintenance
Ensure that the hive cover is properly secured. Check for evidence of critters living in the nice, toasty hive. Remove ice blocking the hive entrance, and clean away dead bees on the screened bottoms front few inches to give the colonies better ventilation. A few dead bees or a small amount of fecal matter outside the hive is nothing to worry about, especially after a warm day; this is a sign that they are still alive inside.

Education
Don’t forget to renew your membership in the Door County Beekeeping Club!!!
Sit by the fire and read a good beekeeping book!

January 20, 2020 – The bees are in their winter cluster, except for very warm and sunny days (roughly 50ºF and above), when they might leave the hive for a cleansing flight. Queens may lay a few eggs, in which case the cluster will need to keep the brood warm. Dead bees may pile up on the bottom board; on warm days, the bees may remove the bodies, and other bees may fly off to die. Dead bees scattered on the snow outside the hive are therefore a good sign.

Inspection
When inspecting a colony in winter, it is not necessary to open it. Do a quick external inspection, visual and auditory, to check the cluster. Listen for the bees with your ear directly on the upper part of the hive; if you do not hear anything, tap the outside of the hive and the bees should respond. You can open the hive if it is relatively warm and windless outside, but do not pull frames or break open the cluster if it is below 50ºF. If you open the hive, check for moisture around the inner or outer covers. Check if the colony is light on food stores (you can tell by gently hefting the hive)… If so, add warm fondant, or a warm candy board on a warm day.

Equipment
Order any replacement bees (packages, nucs, or queens) as soon as possible; producers generally run out fast. Check any stored equipment for pests such as wax moths. Take inventory. Fix, clean/sterilize, purchase, assemble, and paint equipment as needed.

Yard maintenance
Ensure that the hive cover is properly secured. Check for evidence of critters living in the nice, toasty hive. Remove ice blocking the hive entrance, and clean away dead bees on the screened bottoms front few inches to give the colonies better ventilation. A few dead bees or a small amount of fecal matter outside the hive is nothing to worry about, especially after a warm day; this is a sign that they are still alive inside.

Education
Don’t forget to renew your membership in your local beekeeping club DCBC and the WHPA (Wisconsin Honey Producers Association, get their meetings on your calendar. Sit by the fire and read a good beekeeping book!

December 27, 2019 – It is supposed to be in the 40’s today! Take some time to visit your hives. I cleaned out all my entrances and the dead bees for the depth of what a hive tool would reach yesterday. Two dead outs already (both hive were weak going into the winter) cleaned the dead bees out of the frames and bottom board to try to reduce the chance of molding. Also lift you hives to get a feel for honey left, two of mine were light so I put on my first hard sugar candy (hard candy is 2 cups water, 1.5 lbs lite Caro syrup, 8 lbs of sugar, and ¼ tsp of cream of tarter, heat to 252 F and pour into a 11x 14 pan). Be sure the candy is warm when you put it on top of the frames.

Happy Holidays to all!

Spetember 20, 2019 – DCBC Meeting – September 24

Topic: Maintenance and storage of equipment
Presenter: Paul Kenyon

Location: Crossroads at Big Creek

July 19, 2019 – 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!

July 11, 2019 – 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)