
Photographs from the 1st meeting of the Ashe County Beekeeping Association are displayed here...
Visit the ACBA website regularly to keep abreast of Association activities for 2022.
The first gathering of the year attracted 23 active and interested beekeepers to the meeting at the Ashe County Agricultural Building in Jefferson, NC.
A presentation was made by master beekeeper and ACBA member Jim Rash (shown lower right) on "what to expect in your hives in March-April."
Thanks, Jim!
As seen by the beautifully decorated cake (right), our end of the season banquet was held with a great turnout of members who also enjoyed a scrumptious brisket smoked by Randy Baldwin, as well as numerous side dishes so that no one “left hungry!”
We now go into diapause - entomologically speaking for hibernation - until March of next year. But that doesn’t mean we don’t stay connected with any beekeeping issues, so if there are questions about what you should be doing to keep your hive(s) healthy, drop us a line here!
From ACBA member Helen Baldwin: I'm sharing a beautiful video done by Maddee Burt, a rising senior at UNC Chapel Hill.
- Maddee, along with other students, coaches, and professors, arrived in Ashe County last month to document some local stories. Maddee chose beekeeping.
- The video features our own Jim Rash and Kim and Wayne Pitts, new (and very productive!) members of ACBA.
- My Bee’s Keeper is just under 4 minutes long. You’ll be sorry when it ends!
- The ACBA held a regular membership meeting on August 12th...use the below link to see information on Facebook about the meeting during which H. S. Greene from Hidden Happiness Beekeeping Farm gave a presentation on hives.
Journeyman beekeeper, Randy Baldwin of Jefferson, NC, Honey B's Bees and Honey spoke about catching swarms. Although sparsely attended, the meeting was held outdoors in the WJ Pavilion below the Ashe County Library. It was good to be back in person even though the temperature was a bit "nippy"!
Thanks, Randy!
Photo #1 (top right) - Demonstrating the set-up for catching swarms.
Photo #2 (bottom right) - Setting swarm-catching box on white towel (if swarm is low; white sheet if swarm is high).
Photo #3 (thumbnail photo right) - Swarm-catching bag - easy and effective!
Our thanks to James Wilkes for hosting the Zoom meeting this past Thursday. We had about a dozen attendees with the discussion focused on swarming, splits and queens. Following up on the meeting, a note from the HiveTracks team regarding free licenses for our members.
Thank you for letting me and the Hive Tracks team join in on this month's Ashe County Beekeepers Association club meeting! This is just a reminder about our previous discussion about us offering free Hive Tracks accounts to all ACBA club members. As mentioned above, all we need for club members to participate is to fill out this quick questionnaire https://forms.gle/rr5SE8HQkhiEX39X8- we will follow up with each member individually to get their account situated and/or up to date.
I'm here to help, so please feel free to contact me directly (ethan@hivetracks.com) with any questions.
We look forward to a successful 2020 season!
Best,
Ethan Walton
ethan@hivetracks.com
www.hivetracks.com
Here's an urgent message from Bee Informed Partnership
Dear Beekeepers,
This is an Urgent message from Bee Informed Partnership, we need your help!
A lot of you know that BIP’s annual National Colony Loss & Management Survey is live from April 1-30.
What a lot of you may NOT know is that despite the large amounts of Americans who are stuck at home, only a staggering 1/3rd of normal participating beekeepers have responded so far to the survey.
These are hard times to wrap our heads around and a lot of us are finding it harder to focus on things other than remembering to take a shower, making sure our teeth are brushed, and HOPEFULLY caring for our bees (one of my most welcomed distractions). While we are all still learning to navigate these new challenges, the BIP team is working hard to gather data on loss and management of honey bees from April 1, 2019 to April 1, 2020. In order to do that, we urgently need your help.
We’re writing to ask that all 2019 beekeepers visit beeinformed.org/take-survey and complete the 2019-2020 National Colony Loss & Management Survey!
BIP needs help raising awareness and encouraging participants to complete the survey! Please share this with your beekeeping clubs
* The attached image shows a list of remote online resources to help beekeepers during the time when social distancing is made necessary due to the coronavirus pandemic.
* Stay safe and use these classes to help keep your bees healthy.
* A posting from Pam Anderson of the Watauga Beekeeping Association...
* NUCS AND HIVES FOR SALE
- Sullivan Wilkes:
Sullivan Wilkes is taking deposits for 5 frame nuc in Jester E-Z nuc box. 3 frames of bees and brood, 1-2 frames of stores. 2020 queen (bred from our surviving stock). Will be ready to transfer immediately. Estimated pick up date TBT (most likely end of April) at Faith mountain farm and Millers Creek, NC. To reserve your nucs, a deposit can be purchased here https://faithmtnfarm.com/shop/bees/2020-5-frame-nuc/ Cost of the nuc is $175 with the balance due at pickup. If you have any questions you can contact Sullivan at sulli.wilkes@gmail.com
Sullivan Wilkes. Faith Mountain farms (Beekeeper)
Hive Tracks (Support specialist).
- Hidden Happiness Bee Farm/H.S. Greene:
I am taking orders for nucs know they are $175.00. They will be available in early April.
Contact info: moldings56@yahoo.com / 336-957-0275
- Larry Cox:
I will have a few five frame nucs available this spring. They will have an established laying marked VSH queen. Cost is $150; the same as last year. Availability depends somewhat on the weather, but sometime around the first part of May.
Larry Cox
336-467-4340
Coxlr1506@gmail.com
- Randy Baldwin:
Randy is offering two options:
If you have your own hive box, purchase just the bees (talk to him about details) for $150;
If you don’t already have woodenware, he will have a complete set-up available for $450. The set-up, with bees, will be a complete ‘deluxe’ hive, including super and frames, spacers, inner cover with feeder, mouse guard, and more. In addition, he will provide treatment for the first year and a ‘when-to-do-what’ calendar.
For more info: 336-977-9167
Our thanks to James Wilkes for hosting the Zoom meeting this past Thursday. We had about a dozen attendees with the discussion focused on swarming, splits and queens. Following up on the meeting, a note from the HiveTracks team regarding free licenses for our members.
Thank you for letting me and the Hive Tracks team join in on this month's Ashe County Beekeepers Association club meeting! This is just a reminder about our previous discussion about us offering free Hive Tracks accounts to all ACBA club members. As mentioned above, all we need for club members to participate is to fill out this quick questionnaire https://forms.gle/rr5SE8HQkhiEX39X8- we will follow up with each member individually to get their account situated and/or up to date.
I'm here to help, so please feel free to contact me directly (ethan@hivetracks.com) with any questions.
We look forward to a successful 2020 season!
Best,
Ethan Walton
ethan@hivetracks.com
www.hivetracks.com