ECWBA Newsletter - June 2011

Meeting Dates

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

· September 10, 2011, 9:30 am. Ripon Library, Ripon, WI.

Meeting Locations

· 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 scheduled for Ripon Library in the

Silver Creek Room.

June Meeting

The June field day that took the place of the usual May field day was a great success. Sponsored by Denise Palkovich, she showed us her two over wintered hives. One of the two hives was used to demonstrate developing a nucleus colony. From this hive she took five frames appropriate for building a nucleus hive and placed them in a nuc box. From those frames the bees should develop a queen. Denise will have to keep us updated on the success of the developing new colony. Thank-you Denise for sponsoring the field day!!!

July Meeting

At the July meeting we will have a demonstration of a refractometer used for testing the moisture content of honey. The ECWBA organization will decide to purchase one or more refractometers for use by members.

September Meeting

For the September meeting, we will have the beekeeping products bazaar. All members are encouraged to bring in a product derived from anything from the beehive. Whatever you bring in, please be prepared to give a brief description of the product and be ready to answer any questions. Please feel free to share your recipe and techniques for making the product.

Also, the refractometers (if purchased) should be ready for use at the September meeting. Bring in this year’s honey crop samples for moisture testing.

Beekeeping Notes

It is hard to believe that summer is officially here and that the days are now actually getting shorter. This is the time to think ahead about the honey harvest and plan for harvesting and extracting honey and obtaining honey jars or containers for storing honey. Also, just after the honey harvest in early fall is a good time to treat for Varroa mites. Plan now for what type of treatment you might want to apply if you to choose to treat for mites.

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