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Monday, June 15, 2009

ECWBA Newsletter June 15, 2009

May’s meeting and field day. The May meeting went well despite a cool breezy day. The meeting was held and then the field day activities commenced. Jeff Champeau gave a short talk about some of the equipment he uses. Then the attending members donned their bee veils and we all took a look at some of the hives in Jeff’s bee yard. Both beginner and experienced beekeepers got involved in examining beehives in different stages of development. The Country Today, a statewide weekly agricultural newspaper, published a nice article about the field day activities.

July meeting. The July meeting is scheduled for July 18th at the Ripon Public Library. Meeting time is 9:30 am to 11:00 am. The Ripon Public Library is located at 120 Jefferson Street in Ripon, WI.

Meeting conflicts. The Wisconsin Honey Producers Association has changed the date of their meeting from July 11th to July 18th. So, that creates a conflict with our scheduled meeting which we originally scheduled on the 18th just to avoid overlapping meetings on the 11th. The East Central Wisconsin Beekeepers Association will maintain its originally scheduled meeting on July 18th. For those of you interested in attending the WHPA meeting, you would still be able to attend the afternoon session of the WHPA meeting in Redgranite, WI.

September meeting. The September meeting is scheduled for September 19, 2009. Meeting time will be 9:30 am to 11:00 am. The meeting place is yet to be determined, but the Fond du Lac area is the target area. Meeting location will be announced at the July meeting and published in the newsletter.

Beekeeping Notes:

Despite a somewhat cool and rainy spring, the bees are off to a decent start. We are coming to the end of the May - June swarming season. Remember, swarming is the honeybees’ natural tendency to replicate colonies. Giving each colony additional space by adding supers helps to suppress the swarming tendency.

Be sure to have plenty of supers on hand for the BIG nectar flow. If you run short of supers, here’s a couple of options: buy some more supers, or extract the full supers and return them to the hive (these are called “wet” supers).

For the new beekeepers, start planning the honey harvest. If you plan for a liquid honey harvest, start shopping for extracting equipment. Or find an existing beekeeper that will help you out with extracting.

You may want to buy honey jars in advance. When there is a big honey crop, sometimes the suppliers run short of jars.

Start thinking about fall pest treatments and over-wintering strategies.

Best of beekeeping, Jeff ChampeauPresident, ECWBA

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