Bees and Beekeeping

2010 Bee Swarms!

2010-03-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

It won't be long before the Extension Center starts getting calls about honey bee SWARMS! YIKES!

As beekeepers we all know that swarms are natural part of the beekeeping year, and the swarms themselves can be quite fun to capture and hive, not to mention a wonderful way to increase the number of hives you have.

If you wish to be added to our local Haywood County Swarm Catchers list call the Extension Center with your name, phone number, and parts of the county you are willing to travel to in order to capture a swarm.

Haywood Beekeepers Meet April 6

2010-03-31T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Haywood County Beekeepers Club will meet at 7:00PM on Tuesday, April 6, at the County Extension Center, 589 Raccoon Road, Waynesville. The speaker this month is Calvin Robinson, President of the Bumcombe County Beekeepers, and will be speaking on "Chemical Free Beekeeping." We expect a good crowd as we have just finished our 2010 Spring Beekeeping School and had over 60 aspiring beekeepers attend that. Make plans now to come out to learn more about bees and fellowship with other local beekeepers!

March 2 Meeting Cancelled

2010-03-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

The Haywood County Beekeepers Association meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 2, 2010, has been cancelled due to the snowy weather. See you all at the next meeting on April 6!

February & March Crucial Months

2010-02-04T09:58:00.001-08:00

While I sit and enjoy the winter scenery out my office window I am also thinking about my bees. This time of year can is crucial for your bees. As the year gets past the shortest day of the year and the days begin to get longer, the bees begin to very slowly initiate a greater rate of increase. As the queen lays more eggs and the cluster has to keep the brood fed and warm, the overall colony really starts to consume a lot of honey. It is critical that you monitor your hives to insure they have adequate stores and don't starve to death. As we get further into the month and into March it becomes even more necessary.

Be sure to watch your hives' stores so that you don't let them starve to death!

Born & Bred in NC Deadline to Show Interest

2010-02-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

A deadline of February 12 has been announced for interest in the Born & Bred in NC Queen Rearing Workshops. Be sure to submit your letter of interest by that time. See the post below for more information on the program.

Haywood Beekeepers Meeting February 2

2010-01-26T06:33:00.000-08:00

The Haywood County Beekeepers Association will have their next monthly meeting on Tuesday, February 2, at 7:00PM at the Haywood County Extension Center located at 589 Raccoon Road. The topic of the night is "Spring Build Up" and will be presented by Phil Holbert, a long time beekeeper from neighboring Henderson County. All are invited! For more information call the Extension Center at (828) 456-3575.

Born & Bred in NC

2010-01-22T10:13:00.000-08:00

The NC State Apiculture Program is pleased to announce a new state-wide training initiative. We have recently secured a grant through the Golden LEAF Foundation to hold numerous workshops on queen rearing and clinics on bee breeding.

Most beekeepers acquire new stock by purchasing newly mated queen bees from large commercial queen producers, mostly located in the Southeast (GA and FL) or the west coast (CA), and then introducing them to their hives. This large-scale, national queen production strategy has several inherent problems, most notably an unreliable supply of queens, difficulties in obtaining queens when they’re needed, and a lack of local genetic adaptation. We believe that local, small-scale queen producers located across NC is a viable alternative model for obtaining queens, which will enable individual beekeepers to control the genetic destiny in their own hives. In doing so, we hope to elicit every beekeeper in North Carolina to implement their own queen-rearing program if they so choose.

We will hold numerous queen-rearing workshops during the spring of 2010 in various locations all across the state. The purpose of the workshops will be to educate a large number of beekeepers in basic queen-rearing techniques (e.g., creating cell-builder colonies, grafting, establishing mating nucleus hives, etc…). Each workshop will be open to all beekeepers and the general public, capped at a maximum enrollment (roughly 50 participants, depending on the venue) on a first-come first-serve basis (concurrent sessions will be considered if demand warrants). In doing so, we will conduct separate workshops in each of the major geographic areas across the state to take advantage of the appropriate seasonality: roughly March for Eastern NC, April for Central NC, and May for Western NC. At each event, we will conduct hands-on training exercises that participants can implement immediately, and we will incorporate evaluations and surveys to collect information on each participant for subsequent follow up. These trainings are geared towards all beekeepers at all levels and aimed at helping to provide the tools and know-how in raising your own queens.

We are currently coordinating the logistics of these workshops and clinics, and we will announce the dates and locations as they become available. As more details emerge, we will post them on our web site at:

http://entomology.ncsu.edu/apiculture/BornAndBred.html

If you are interested in participating in any of these exciting opportunities, please fill out the contact information form and send it in to the NC Apiculture Program. We will contact you as offerings become available. Of course, information will be strictly confidential and used only for direct mailings and not further disseminated.

We are very pleased to be given this opportunity to offer trainings in queen rearing and bee breeding, and we look forward to working with the beekeepers in North Carolina on this initiative.

2010 Bee School

2010-01-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Want to get started with Honey Bees? Intimidated by your bees? Don’t know what to do with your hives? Want to learn about swarms? Varroa mites? More advanced beekeeping techniques? Want to work towards your Certified Beekeeper qualification? Then the Beginning Beekeeping School sponsored by the NC Cooperative Extension Service and the Haywood County Beekeepers Association is just for you!

This six week course on Monday nights will feature lots of practical lessons and demonstrations and will benefit not only the beginning beekeeper but the experienced one as well. Not only will you have the opportunity to learn much about honey bees and beekeeping, but you will also meet others in our area that are interested in bees.

Beginning Monday, February 1, and held every Monday through March 8 from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at the Haywood County Extension Center, 589 Raccoon Road, Waynesville, NC, 28786. A class fee of $25 will cover the cost of materials. Pre-registration is requested by calling the Extension Center at 456-3575.

Haywood Beekeepers Association Officially Forms

2010-01-19T10:19:00.000-08:00

Haywood County now has a beekeeping group all its own. Some 40+ beekeepers came together late in 2009 and formed the Haywood County Beekeepers Association. General membership is $10/person, or $15/couple, or $5/student. As another benefit/option, you can also join the NC State Beekeepers Association through the local club for a $15 fee.

Officers elected include Kathy Taylor as President, Allen Blanton as Vice President, and Sheryl Cuppy as Secretary/Treasurer.

The club meets at the Haywood Extension Center, 589 Raccoon Road, at 7:00PM on the first Tuesday night of each month.

Make plans to come join us!

Capturing a Swarm Video

2009-06-08T05:52:00.002-07:00

As an addition to the previous post, here is a link to a video of your Haywood Extension Agents capturing a honeybee swarm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaDwzfise5g

Enjoy!

Capturing a Swarm Video

2009-06-08T05:52:00.001-07:00

Excluding Bees from a Home - Part II

2009-06-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Checked on the success of excluding honeybees from a chimney this morning, and on how they were responding to using a "bait" hive set up next to the original entrance...at the moment I can report that they seem to be making the transition quite well. There are still a few bees escaping from the one-way bee escape we made, with a good many individuals still gathering on the outside of the contraption. Most have begun using the bait hive. We'll be leaving this all in place for about a week before moving the hive to a permanent location.

Excluding Honey Bees from a Home

2009-06-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

On occasion the Extension Center gets calls on a honeybee colony that has taken up residence in a home. Typically, the homeowner is glad to tolerate them as long as they are not getting out inside the house, and the entrance they are using outside is in an area that the homeowner doesn't frequently walk past. After a while, we get the call as to how to get rid of them.

At this point, unfortunately, it gets to be rather difficult. Not only do you have to get the bees out, you also need to remove all of the wax and honey from inside the wall or another swarm will simply move in, or if one doesn't, the remaining honey may ferment and escape the deteriorating honey comb and you end up with a sticky, smelly mess as it seeps through an interior wall or ceiling.

For more information call your local Extension Center or a local beekeeper.

Here are a few pictures of one experience of excluding bees from a chimney. In this case, the bees had been calling this site home for over a year before they began to come into the home itself. By using a screen funnel, the bees will work up and exit the hive. The screen allows the scent of the hive to continue to be from the entrance to the hive so the returning bees try to go in like they always have and they can't find their way back in through the small opening of the funnel. At the end of the day those bees that have been trapped out of the hive will form an artificial "swarm," with no queen, that can then be caught like a normal swarm. In this picture we have left a hive in place in hopes they will move in as it turns into night time.

Will it work? I'll have to let you know!

Catching Swarms

2009-06-02T05:41:00.000-07:00

2009 Bee Swarm Catchers List

Each spring there are many strange things you see in the natural world, not the least of which are swarms of honeybees. If you have a swarm develop in your yard you can call one of the beekeepers listed below and they will come and capture the swarm and take them away.

Paul Heatherly 734-8961

Roy Duvall 648-3636 550-1461

Alan Blanton 400-1735

Carroll Bailey 456-8922