NEWS page added

Check out the NEWS page (tab above)....this is bringing in the latest BUZZ on bees - circulating the internet. This is REAL TIME DATA - different every day....visit often.

2011 winter loss stats

http://beeinformed.org/results/winter-loss-survey-results/

Fellow Wisconsin Beekeepers

...just heard this morn on the news/weather... the past 27 days straight - has been - BELOW AVERAGE TEMPS for this time of year!

yeh! I've noticed and the bees have noticed! It's either CHILLY or WINDY it seems. We have one flowering crab tree in the yard - FULL OF BLOSSOMS....but my girls are cuddling in the hive. I think the blossoms will BLOW OFF before they can get to them.

ECWBA Newsletter - May 2011

Meeting Dates:

June 18, 2011, 1:00 pm, field day at Denise Palkovich’s bee yard, Mt Calvary, WI.

July 9, 2011, 9:30 am. Fond du Lac Public Library, Fond du Lac, WI.

September 10, 2011, 9:30 am. Ripon Library tentatively.

Meeting Locations:

The June 18, 2011, meeting will be at the bee yard of Denise Palkovich. See more information below.

The July 9, 2011, meeting will be at the Fond du Lac Public Library in the Eugene McLane Room. The library’s address is 32 Sheboygan Street, Fond du Lac, WI.

The September 10, 2011, meeting is tentatively scheduled for Ripon Library.

June Meeting

The June, 2011, ECWBA meeting will be at the bee yard of Denise Palkovich. Start time is 1:00 pm. To get there, take State Highway 23 east out of Fond du Lac (Hwy. 23 is Johnson St. in Fond du Lac). Turn left onto Log Tavern Road (which is the first road after County Highway W). Take Log Tavern Road north to Pit Road. Take a right onto Pit Road and an almost immediate left turn to address of the bee yard by the brown ranch style house. The address is W1575 Pit Road, Mt. Calvary, WI. * Attention: This is a field day, so bring your own bee veil, bee suit, gloves, etc., for safe and comfortable work around bees. * The rain date for the June meeting is June 25, 2011. The place and time is the same.

Fond du Lac Library Hobby Expo

Thank-you to the participants of the Fond du Lac Library Hobby Expo. The ECWBA was well represented by Larry Beuthin, Andy Krueger, Don and Denise Palkovich, Paul Rowley, and George Weigel. Thank-you for both participating and bringing

in beekeeping display items.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 715-330-9969. I’m sometimes hard to contact, but leave a message and I’ll call you back. Or contact me via e-mail at jeff.champeau@yahoo.com.

Best of beekeeping,

Jeff Champeau

President, ECWBA

ARGH!

this has reared it's ugly head again... CELLPHONES ARE TO BLAME FOR BEE DISAPPEARANCES (read on) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1385907/Why-mobile-phone-ring-make-bees-buzz-Insects-infuriated-handset-signals.html

the data miner in me is not complete in reading this article - on the surface it seems to be just a deliverance of fantastic science delivering a CURE!. Europe primarily uses GSM signals... (like AT&T & T-mobile, here in the US) All the other carriers in the US use a CDMA signal - did they test the various signals, signal strength, frequency?. I want more data! What was the RANGE of the phones to the bees - did they test a various distances...how many hives do I know of sitting under a cell phone tower, let alone with a phone in it?

come-on... a couple of guys walk out to some hives and stick their cell phones in there (sounds like the start of a joke)

...I don't believe there's just any ONE single issue at work or to blame here. There's no doubt we're polluting our VISIBLE environment, but also our INVISIBLE environment.

...is it a factor? maybe. Stop and think about how many signals we have passing through our bodies - our tissues - every day - every second! the phone call from "Joe" to his mother....

check it out....

Jared looks like he's off to a good start for the year...a couple of "cutouts/swarm removals" and he's doing some of his own queen rearing via nucs! I'm jealous reading his blog...because it's still cold and icky here in Wisconsin...rain everyday this week. http://jaredsbees.blogspot.com/

July ECWBA meeting - date change

Due to availability of the room at the Fond du Lac library. The meeting is
scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2011 (instead of July 16).

Land seeking Beekeeper

...anyone in the FDL area. There is a 15 acre parcel of land (with fruit trees) seeking a beekeeper. Location: Q & 151. Contact: Carol 920-923-6645.

so much for a swarm in MAY - in Wisconsin!

...for those of you not FROM Wisconsin...you know where I'm going with this! It STILL HAS NOT WARMED UP for the bees. There's tree pollen being gathered...but no nectar yet. I'm an instructor for another event this weekend....my part is WILDFLOWERS! I'm not so sure we're going to HAVE ANY! We're going to have to hone-up our skills on identifying them in their GREEN STATE.

I've not gotten my seedlings planted yet, the yard chores are behind...because it JUST DOESN'T FEEL LIKE SPRING - let alone SUMMER is coming this year.