BANV0305

8/3/2019 BANV0305

1/6

1

April 03-May 03Next Meeting is:

Tuesday, May 27, 20037:30pm

Room 107, Falls Church High

7521 Jaguar TrailFalls Church, Virginia 22042

President Alan Fiala 703-790-8044 Treasurer Bennie Liles 703-671-1010

Vice-Pres. Patricia Haskell 703-560-3484 Secretary Pearl Liles 703-671-1010

Edito r Alan Fiala 703-790-8044

Next Meeting May 27

Keith Tignor (state apiarist) will

speak on Virginia State LawsGoverning Beekeeping asAgriculture and as Business.

[Note: we considered havingKeith talk on pests anddiseases, but those topics willbe covered exhaustively at thestate meeting next month.]

In the Beeyard and Shop This Month

By Pat Haskell

The weather has been just beautiful this spring. I believe we are having a true spring insteadof jumping directly from winter into summer. Spring, however, brings its own challenges to the

beekeeper. The foremost is swarm prevention/control. There are just about as many swarmprevention methods as there are beekeepers. And, the problem is not new. In a letter to theAmerican Bee Journal, May 7, 1891, W.P. Odendahl described his solution for preventing firstor prime swarms from casting a swarm the same season by simply exchanging a few frames

with a weak colony, for by so doing we diminish the brood in the strong colony and at thesame time help the weak one to build up. You thus equalize brood throughout your bee yard.Secondly, keep reversing your hive bodies until you are sure there is a strong nectar flow. Youmay have to reverse as many as five or six times. Another technique is to separate the queen

from most of the brood by moving the brood into the topmost hive body and placing frames offoundation or drawn comb in the lower hive body with the queen. Switching places between astrong hive and weak hive will also benefit both hives with the field force from the stronger hivereinforcing the weaker hive. Additionally, be sure that you have provided additional space toaccommodate the growing bee population. You may know other tricks to keep the girls downon the farm or happy in the hive.

Watch for that nectar flow and have your honey supers ready to go. There are several schoolsof thought on the addition of those honey supers. One recommends that you add one super ata time. When that one is two thirds full, you add the second and etc. This works well if youare starting with new foundation. Another advocates that you put at least three supers on allat once. This causes the bees to feel that they have to fill up all that space quickly, thus result-ing in a larger honey harvest. This method works well if you are starting with drawn comb.Both are successful and you will probably use both or a combination of both. Lets all comparenotes in the fall on what worked best for each of us in our different locations and with our bees.

This brings us to harvesting that honey we have all been working so hard to get. If you want to

have several flavors of honey in several different shades of gold, consider harvesting at several

Upcoming BANV MeetingsMay 27, 2003 Room 107/9

Special Dates to Reserve

June 20-21, 2003 VSBA/MSBA Sum-mer Meeting, Northern VirginiaCommunity College, Manassas

July Annual picnic, date TBAAugust 21-24, 2003 Arlington County

Fair

8/3/2019 BANV0305

2/6

2

times of the summer. This means you might be harvesting by the frame. Be sure that all ofthe frames of honey you remove from your hives are 100% capped. Different honeys from

your own apiary are very nice to market. You might be able to label your honey something likethis, Spring Bouquet, Summer Wild Flowers, Meadow Gold. Or, if you have carefully ob-served what your bees are bringing in just before you harvest you might be able to label it Tu-lip Poplar, Locust or Clover.

Remember, Beekeeping is an art not a science. It is you working with your bees in your loca-tion to get the best results. Only you will know how to best manage your bees. There is noformula.

Presidents Corner

Its finally time for the state meeting! You are all members of the VSBA. It would be a realfeather in our cap to take the rotating award for the club with the most members attending the

business meeting. The lineup of speakers is extensive and varied leaders in their fields andoften featured at much larger meetings like EAS. Its right here in our own backyard an op-portunity not to be missed.

We need volunteers to round up door prizes, help with setup, registration, go-fering, AV, and all

those little meeting tasks that pop up. John Ferree will chair the refreshment operation. Pleasehelp him out. To encourage the downstate folks to come to the expensive north, wed like to

offer accommodations in the homes of local beekeepers. Pat Haskell is coordinating that; if youhave a spare room available for that weekend, please let her know. You could make a new

friend from somewhere else in the state, who might reciprocate for a future meeting.

Alan

Queen Rearing Workshop is Outstanding

It all came together perfect weather and hives of live bees. Rick Fell and Keith Tignor gave asuperb course on queen bee biology and methods of rearing them to a rapt group of 22 bee-keepers. We hope that some attendees will be inspired to raise queens, since those selected for

local conditions may be best to survive.

Rick Fell demonstratesgrafting as Dane, Pat, andLarry look on.

Photo by Brenda Kiessling

Evaluating the strengthof a hive and quality ofthe queen


Rick shows Sally Haringand Jay Jones a frame ofinishing cells


Rene Garcia

703-925-0614

Leesburg Area

Rent-a-Beekeeper Services

High Quality Queens for sal

8/3/2019 BANV0305

3/6

3

Dane Starts New Beekeepers

Dane Hannum conducted his annual class for new beekeepers at Eleanor C. Lawrence Park on

March 2. Eleven people attended.

Steve McDaniel Catches Impossible Swarms

The March meeting featuredEAS master beekeeper and

award-winning nature pho-tographer Steve McDanieldemonstrating ways to cap-ture swarms, often in diffi-

cult situations. He broughtsome special equipment forhands-on examination, andslides illustrating how it wasused in real-life situations.

If you missed it, or want tohear it again, Steve will be

giving this presentation atthe Loudoun Beekeepersmeeting on June 3 in Lees-burg.

Did You Buy Package Bees from Dane?

If so, please vacuum out and return the empty shipping crate to him. Willbanks gives a rebate

for returned empties, and it helps keep our costs down.

Minutes of the meeting of March 25, 2003.

Meeting was called to order by President Alan Fiala

Several guests were introduced and welcomed: Ed Blonsky and Paul Powell

The Winter Losses Survey was passed around.

Photos of Digger ODell were offered to any who wanted a memento of our friend.

Several bee sites were offered for outyards: Utterback Road in Great Falls, Catlett, Burke and

the Fredericksburg area in Virginia.

Our speaker for the evening, Steve McDaniel, showed some of his equipment with his slidepresentation.

Tom Berry showed some hive-top feeders he had built himself.

John Ferree showed a new foam hive he was working on.

Business meeting ensued:

1. 50:50 was won by Pearl Liles.

Steve McDaniel dem-onstrates his bee vac

Photo by Alan Fiala

A Telescope? An oar? No,

it's an extension handle fora catching bag.

Photo by Alan Fiala

8/3/2019 BANV0305

4/6

4

2. The treasurers report noted approximately $1500.00 in the treasury with some billsyet to pay. We have 52 paid members.

3. Dane announced that the bees were coming on Friday and would be at Eleanor C.Lawrence Park for pick up on Friday between 8-10 am only. Please return yourempty packages to Dane as the return of these is what helps to keep our costslower. Vacuum out the boxes first, please.

4. Dane also reported on the success of the recent Home and Garden sales event. Thegross was $3439. Prices had been raised and there was a good crowd, but saleswere off by $1800. From last Spring. Speculation was that sales were off due tosnow, a different vendor location, raised prices, or a combination of these factors.

5. Arlington County Fair was discussed. A move was made by Larry to participate inthe Fair again. Second by Paul. Motion carried.

6. Dane reported that 11 people attended the Beginners 1-day workshop at Eleanor C.Lawrence Park.

7. Brenda and Paul gave a program at Ft. F.C. Smith in Arlington to 20 people.8. Alan reported that the Queen Rearing workshop was very successful thanks to Dane

and Larrys hives for demonstration.

9.

Alan encouraged members to attend the state association meeting of other states, asthey are very informative. The VA state association meeting will be held June 20 21, 2003, at the Northern Virginia Community College, Manassas campus. Speakerswill be Keith Delaplane, Wyattt Magnum, Pedro Rodriquez and Jeffi Pettis, amongothers. All our members should volunteer for jobs large and small, as our club is the

one hosting the meeting this year! In that regard, Pat Haskell asked if any of uswould be willing to offer lodging to beekeepers from far away to attend the State As-sociation meeting? Let her know, if so.

10.Our next meeting is May 27, 2003. Our speaker will be Keith Tignor.11.For our picnic this year, Eric again offered his pasture. Plans to be discussed in more

detail at the next meeting.

Eric moved to adjourn the meeting and Ted seconded it. The meeting was adjourned.Respectfully submitted, Kathy Heslep

Home and Garden Show Booth. Ted Mertz,Emily Robertson, Brenda Kiessling, TerriMertz.

Photo Courtesy of Brenda Kiessling

8/3/2019 BANV0305

5/6

8/3/2019 BANV0305

6/6

Documents

BANV0305