News
May 17, 2012 Meeting Recap
May 20, 2012
Typical summer meetings have open hive presentations outside before moving inside. Here, we're marking the queens in the nucs created during the April meeting.
The meeting started at 6:30pm out in Gary’s bee yard checking the OTS splits started at the previous meeting. Queens were located in all hives and marked with a yellow dot. It was noted to be careful to place the queen on the same frame and in the same area of the frame she was removed from and then watch to make sure she is accepted. Apparently the bees sometimes will attack her if they suspect something is different. Thanks to Kevin Fancher and Tim Conley, all went well with this event.
Back inside the meeting continued. The nucs for newbees program was discussed and everyone wanting bees has them or is getting them. The huge amount of early swarms was another topic. 44 swarms was the record among the attendees this evening, with another member at 41. Many beekeepers responded to their first swarm calls. The SIBA map continues to connect people with swarms to their nearest beekeepers.
Jim and Cindy's Spring Sling 2012 was announced to be on June 9 at Cindy Cottingham’s. Jim and Cindy graciously welcome those who need to extract their honey to come over, see how it's done, and even bring your own supers to extract. Reservations are required. Contact Cindy Cottingham to see if there is a spot to come and extract your honey.
It was announced that 1/3 of the funds needed to purchase the artificial queen insemination equipment has been collected by means of the donation can at the meetings. This equipment will benefit the current and future beekeeping members.
The meeting was finally handed over to Mike and Debbie Seib representing the Indiana Beekeepers Association. Young beekeeper programs were discussed and information was handed out for getting younger people interested in beekeeping. It was noted that the average age of beekeepers is 60, however we think SIBA may have a curve from the interest of many younger beekeepers between the age of 35 and 45.
After the meeting, the typical discussions on everything bees were had between new friends and old in groups of various sizes. Outside homemade and store bought bee vacs were being scrutinized on the pros and cons of the various designs. This concluded the evening.