October Meeting...

Hampden County Beekeepers October Meeting

When: Thursday, October 20th at 6:00pm

Where: Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)
118 Mount Vernon Rd.
Chicopee, MA 01013

Big E money will be paid out at this meeting so if you’re collecting, bee sure to attend!

Left over Big E items will be auctioned off, so bring your wallets!

Hurricane Irene?

Allegedly she's headed this way, but I'm still crossing my fingers that the wind will change and she'll blow out to sea before making it up to New England.

This weather report is brought to you by another great question from Annette Isner...

Wax Moth Question...

I checked my 3 hives and one (new hive with boxed bees) had a wax moth on a pollen patty in the feeder. I removed it and checked the entire hive and did not see more. This is the first time I have seen it. What should I do next?

Thanks in advance,
Annetter Isner

July's HCBA BeeBQ...

A big thank you to Carrie and Arthur Naatz for having us all over to eat and socialize! The food was great and there was plenty of it!

Anthony Trani attended the picnic and showed off some of his great beehive woodenware. He is a local craftsman and if you did not attend the picnic but would like to check out his work please click this link Anthony had a lot of nice stuff at very fair prices!
Some of us ventured down to the Naatz's beeyard. I love Carrie's choices of colors!
That's a good looking bunch of beekeepers! From left to right, Mike, Sean, Jessica, Annette, Carrie, Scott and Arthur.
Thanks again to Arthur and Carrie! See everyone in August!

Heat Wave Feeding?

During this extreme heat wave and drought, should we be feeding the bees?

~Helene

Entrance Reducers and Robber Bees...

On a tip from fellow HCBA member Mike Feeney, this morning I put an entrance reducer on my hive. I used the large opening, and caused a bit of a traffic jam for my bees, who are extremely active, and seemed to have adjusted to the new entrance quickly. I was told that because nectar flow is slow this time of year, I should help my bees fight off the robber bees that may try to get into the hive, by limiting access at the entrance.

Anyone else have thoughts or advice on the subject?

Thanks!
~Jessica Martin

Bees in the pool?

Hello Everyone,

A neighbor two houses away has numerous bees (20 - 50) on their pool cover every day. They are obviously enjoying the easy access to shallow water. They neighbors assume they are my bees but whoever they belong to, they are a problem. I have a water supply right next to my hives but it does appear to be heavily used. The pool is about 200 - 300 yards from my hives with another pool and a pond closer than that to the hives.
any ideas on how the neighbors can get rid of the bees? I suggested that they leave the cover off for a few days to encourage the bees to find another source for water.

Thanks,
Mike Duffy

yes it is swarming season

as i said yesterday especialy after a rainy day or 2 ......the best way to stop a swarm is to prevent the bees from wanting too....
keep the brood nest large enough by supplying new frames in the brood nest ...if you notice all cells full so the queen has no place to lay .... you can pull out frames of honey from the outer edges and put in new foundation or drawn empty comb ...put the honeyfilled frames the in the freezer wrapped up ....best emergency food for next winter or spring is honey in the comb....make sure you thaw it first before giveing it back to them.......
check your bees at least every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks look for swarm cells .... if you find them you must deprive them of one of 3 things ....brood...bees ...or the queen....

brood as i mentioned above ...

bees... by pagening ...pagening is when you have 2 or more hives you place a weaker hive in place of your strong ready to swarm hive and the stronger hive in the weaker ones place ...you have just removed all the field bees out of the strong hive ....and boosted your week one....

queen ... you can cage the queen up in an old queen cage for 4-7 days cork both ends of the cage and place her in the middle of the brood nest so the screen side is available to the bees so they can feed and tend her ....when you let her loose in that 4-7 days she will have plenty of cells to lay in ......
make sure to remove any queen cells you see .. as long as you have verified that they still have their queen
hopefully you will have stopped the urge to swarm

good luck...... hopefully you all have your honey suppers on and might bee seeing them getting drawn and filled ......
email, blog ,or call me if your in need of advice
the beardedbee
tom

A Message From Tom Flebotte

watch for those swarms today ...i heard they are out ....after acouple days of rain they seem to take off ..........

Pollinator Week

June 20-26 is pollinator week. This is a week to raise awareness and highlight the importance of all pollinators. Be sure you do your part. You don't need to attend or host a grand event, but it would great if you did. You just need to make it a point to discuss what you do as a beekeeper to anyone that will listen. Honeybees are misunderstood and under appreciated, and as beekeepers we need to change the way people see honeybees and our craft. If you would like more information you can visit www.pollinator.org

My First Post...

Hello everyone! I'm Jessica, and I'm a new member of Hampden County Beekeeper's Association. I'm a brand new beekeeper, and I think my hive is doing well, but I always have questions. LOTS of questions. With this new blog, the more seasoned beekeepers should be able to help us new beekeepers with answers and suggestions between meetings. We will also be able to share other information and updates. I think the blog will be useful and fun!

To kick things off, here's a picture of me and my bees... And a question...

Why won't they stop stinging me?

Welcome

Welcome to “The Hampden County Massachusetts Beekeepers Association’s Blog!”

Where one of the World’s oldest form of agriculture is embracing cutting edge technology. Here we can discus techniques, problems, ideas and much, much more all at the speed of Light!