Join Us for the Season's BEE-st festivities!

 Our next meeting is December 19, 2023.

 Will Santa bring you your biggest wish? Have you bee-n naughty or nice?

Sign up here to bring a dish to the pot-luck and join us!

Photo Contest!

 Hey all. We are holding a photo contest!

Rules: 

1) Must have been taken by you.

2) Must have been taken this year. 

3) Must contain a bee/bees. 

4) Please submit only your best 3!

Deadline: December 14. 

Winners will be decided by popular vote during our Christmas pot-luck. Email your photo(s) to fiverbc@gmail.com.

Copyright release: By submitting your photos to this email, you are giving us permission to use your photo (with attribution) on our media. We will be featuring the photos on our website & on the book of faces (at least)! So, if your not cool with that, don't enter.  

Keep buzzing.

Winter Prep for Bee hives

Cold weather is approaching!

Remove empty supers. Make the space inside the hive match the size of the colony. Check for a laying queen. Check for colony size and combine small ones. Come Spring it is better to have one live colony
than two dead ones.

1.  Check for honey stores. If your hives are too light, it’s time to start feeding with a vengeance.
2. Assure that the honey frames are in the right place. They should be on both sides of the cluster and  above it in a Lansgstroth hive. Move frames around if necessary.
3. Reduce hive entrances if you haven’t already. It’s time for mice and other small creatures to find a snug and warm overwintering place– one filled with honey is especially attractive.
4. Remove weedy vegetation from the base of the hive. Vegetation is a convenient hiding place for creatures who may want to move into the hive, and it can be used like an entrance ramp or step-ladder.
5.  If you live in a wet area, make sure your lids will keep out the rain. Make any needed repairs now.
6. If wintertime moisture is a problem in your hives, add a quilt box above the brood boxes.
7. If high winds are a problem, you may consider adding a skirt around the base of your hive to reduce drafts. Although you want adequate ventilation, you don’t want a wind tunnel; secure your lids with heavy stones or tie-downs. You may want to shield upper ventilation holes from sidewinds. Consider providing a windbreak. 
8. If extreme cold is a problem, consider wrapping your hives with insulation or tar paper...but, again, don’t forget the ventilation. 
9. If winter flooding is a problem, move the hives to higher ground now while the weather is still dry.

(Reprinted from the Apiary Newsletter from Arkansas State Plant Board, Apiary Newsletter 2017)

Bees, If you please. (Current article with Arrie Goodwin!)

 

Link to Article

New Club Logo?

August Beek Schedule

 As the season starts to slow, it’s important to continue weekly checks on your hives. This includes looking for robbers, identifying the queen, and checking for diseases and pests. During the months of August and September on the beekeeper’s calendar, colonies do the important work of building up populations to prepare for the winter, and it’s a good time for you to begin winter preparations, too. So treat your colonies if you do so & start on plans for overwintering.

September 19, 2023 Meeting

The September meeting, (Sept 19, 2023) will take place at the Hardy Senior Center on Johnson Street at 6:30. We will discuss the future of this website as well as welcoming Jon Zawislak from the UofA, Divison of Agriculture. Also, William may still need quarts of Honey to display at the Hardy Homesteaders Day on September 30.

Look for a reminder txt or email.