williamson county area beekeepers association · williamson county area beekeepers association *...

Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association

May 2018

NEXT MEETING: Thursday, May 24, 2018 7:00-8:30: Beekeeping 101/201 First United Methodist Church Georgetown (MMC bldg.)

2018 Club Officers:

PRESIDENT: Jim Colbert512-863-7183

[email protected]

VICE PRESIDENT:Shannon Montez

[email protected]

MEMBERSHIP: Shirley Doggettco chairs: Fred & Cecilia Richter

[email protected]

PROGRAM: Laura Colburn512-751-6347

[email protected]

NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Maryalice Herring

[email protected]

SECRETARY: Ginny Stubblefield512-636-6813

[email protected]

TREASURER: Phil Ainslie254-718-3255

[email protected]

HISTORIAN: Jennifer Shear512-507-7746

[email protected]

LIBRARIAN: Barbi Rose512-799-0616

[email protected]

REFRESHMENTS: Sherry Smith, Jill Douglas,

Matt Ludlum, Leigh Ann Brunson,Janine Hall

SCHOLARSHIP CHAIR: Jimmie Oakley512-507-3009

[email protected]

QUEEN CHAIR:Ginny Stubblefield

[email protected]

Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association * 4355 County Road 110, Georgetown, Texas 78626*http://www.wcaba.org/*email: [email protected]

Program notes - We are very lucky to have Ryan Giesecke, President of Trinity Valley Beekeepers Association, speaking to us about swarm prevention. We will also have a QA session immediately following refreshments, so have your questions ready to go!

Picking up the Queens – 2018by Jimmie Oakley WCABA Bee Procurement Coordinator

The Williamson County Area Beekeepers went a different direction this year in selecting a Queen breeder to supply the needs of the club. Of course, the Nucs ordered in the Procurement Program included a mated queen, but there are always those in need of individual queens for splits or for requeening that nasty hive. Through the efforts of Past WCABA President, Chris Doggett, Bee Weaver in Navasota, Texas offered us 100+ queens for the price of $31 picked up at the B Weaver Apiary Bee Goods Mercantile Store in Navasota. The order process went well when it was made part of the 2018 WCABA Order Form, and we eventually compiled requests for over 100 queens. For that low price the queens were to be marked and clipped and caged in individual wooden cages with a half dozen workers to care for the queen. This was, in my opinion, more than agreeable. The only downside was the club could not get the fulfillment on the order till the last weekend in April (28th). This was two weeks later than the pickup date on the nucs from Louisiana.Turns out the later date was beneficial to the club in that the later queen arrival helped cover any losses of queens from the nucs deployment. Due to conflict in personal activity dates, I asked to pick up the queens on a Friday

(the 27th) with plans for early distribution to members on that afternoon and again most of the day on Saturday (28th). Club member Jim Ray stepped forward again to make a bee run on behalf of WCABA. He was off on Friday anyway and wanted to add this to his beekeeping experience. So, we left Georgetown early on Friday morning determined to get over to B Weavers at Lynn Grove south of Navasota when they opened in hopes of returning to the Bost Farm in early afternoon to facilitate getting queens into members hands ASAP.

*photos by Jimmie Oakley Continued on p.3

Ana Rosa’s Queen yard at B Weaver Apiary

Bee Goods Mercantile - B Weaver Apiary

A Message From Our President


This is a busy time for beekeepers. If you got new NUCs this year, you have them installed and should be feeding, feeding, and feeding them. If this is your first step into beekeeping you may have some questions. Our meeting this Thursday is a great time to meet and talk to some experienced beekeepers. One thing about beekeepers is that they are passionate about bees and love to talk about beekeeping, so take advantage of it.

On another note, you may be asking youjrself “how many hives should I have”? The short answer is “as many as you want”. Most conventional wisdom says at least 2, so that if something happens to one you are not out of business. It also gives you the chance to compare one with the other if you see something you don’t understand. Time is probably the biggest constraint on the number of hives you can handle.

In addition to time, another consideration is your objective as a beekeeper. If you are strictly looking for honey production as a sideline income, you will need more hives than you will want if you simply want to interact with the bees, observe their behavior and learn about the fascinating structure of a bee colony. Remember, there is a big difference between just having bees in the back yard and actually keeping bees. Like any kind of livestock, bees need care. If you find yourself needing to do something and not having the time, you either have too many hives or you have too many other hobbies (or work, family, etc.) Many people find that 3 to 5 hives is the top end of a manageable number if you are working full time and have other obligations. If you are retired (or independently wealthy) and want to devote several hours each week to your bees, that number could go up. My suggestion is that you start slow with a couple of hives and add one or two the next year and then reevaluate. No matter how many hives you have, be sure that you find beekeeping enjoyable and not drudgery. If you start to wish you didn’t have to work your bees, it is probably time to cut back on the number of hives you have. On that note, I am going to work with my bees because I still enjoy it and look forward to opportunity to go the bee yard. See you Thursday at our meeting.

Coming soon...WatCh for our neW, updated, and improved

Williamson County area Beekeepers assoCiation WeBsite!! it is on its Way!!


Picking Up the Queens - continued from page 1

The trip went well, and we were privileged to tour the Bee Goods Mercan-tile where in addition to queens, Laura Weaver will sell you any number of bee related things that you didn’t know you couldn’t live without (trust me). Our order was processed and filled on site, we were relieved of the money committed to purchase the queens, and everyone came away smiling, having gotten what “we couldn’t live without”. Thanks to Laura for her flexibility in scheduling our order, and the nice ladies in the store for packing our queens and taking our money; we were

back on the road headed back to the Farm way before noon. Thanks also to all the members who elected to take early delivery on their product and finally to my wife Kay for standing in for me on Saturday and to Jim Ray for assisting her in that distribution. I hope you all were satisfied with the queens you received and that they do well in producing both gentle prodigy and lots of honey. Maybe we will choose B Weaver as our queen producer next year.

All photos supplied by Jimmie Oakley

B Weaver Apiary has good help filling our queen order.

Payment in full makes for happy people!

Shelves full of bee-related things to browse!

Kay stands in for Jimmie on Queen dispersal day.


So, What Exactly Is In Your Beehive??Merrimack Valley Apiary has provided the following information on their website concerning the types of queens that were recently purchased by WCABA members. Even if you didn’t purchase one, you may still find this interesting for future consideration.

The Advantage of NucsYour five frame bee nucleus (NUC) consists of:• A “laying” queen* that has already been accepted by the hive• 3 inner frames containing brood in all stages• 2 outer frames containing honey, pollen, and adhering bees.

Merrimack Valley Apiaries uses the artificially inseminated hybrid breeders from Latshaw Apiaries as the larvae source for grafting. The queens are free mated with drones from over ten different documented types of bees. Several of these types are hygienic in behavior which is desirable for varroa mite control. We are proud to offer these bees to our customers.

*Italian/Carniolan Mixed HybridAurea X Karnica hybrid queens provide commercial and hobbyist beekeepers with a hardy, productive bee.The rules of genetics require the formation of pure lines of honey bees in order to select and propagate characteristics that are beneficial for beekeepers across the US. Latshaw Apiaries has developed two strains of bees, the Aurea and Karnica. The Aurea strain (Italian Based) and the Karnica strain (Carniolan Based) of bees fill niches in both the com-mercial and hobbyist settings. By developing two distinct strains of honey bees, Latshaw Apiaries has the flexibility to accommodate many types of operations. The Aurea strain tends to be more of a commercial type of bee with large colony populations. This bee works well for pollination, queen rearing and honey production in areas that have abundant flows. The Karnica strain tends to exhibit more of the traditional Carniolan characteristics such as a smaller brood nest, more responsiveness to environmental cues and frugal use of winter stores.The Aurea X Karnica hybrid offers a third alternative with the benefit of hybrid vigor/heterosis. Hybrid breeder queens are produced by crossing the two strains through the use of instrumental insemination. Naturally mated production queens are then produced from the hybrid breeder queens for use in production colonies. The hybrid daughters offer a couple of distinct advantages. Hybrid vigor often leads to an increased level of productivity, sometimes above and beyond what is observed in the original pure strains. In addition, the increased genetic diversity from the hybrid daughters is beneficial at the colony level for control of pests and diseases. Lastly, the hybrid daughter queens have proven their production capability in the commercial industry over the years.More and more beekeepers like the production style of the hybrid bee and have used them extensively for honey production, queen rearing and pollination. The hybrids are real workhorses in the sense that they combine the large colony size of the Aurea strain with the productivity and hardiness of the Karnica strain. The beekeeper is able to get the best of both worlds.

Article and photos from https://mvabeepunchers.com Merrimac Valley Apiary 2018

2018 Merrimac Valley Nuc Broodframe

Marked Queen


Scholarship Recipient Hives Make ProgressArticle and Photos submitted by Jimmie Oakley, WCABA Scholarship Chair

Since the scholarship recipients received their nuc hives on April 14th much progress has been made. Levi Hoskins (age 16) and Ryan Doleva (age 15) along with the two WCABA Ambassadors, Sebastian Urban (age 15) and Michael Wheeler (age 14) have been keeping their assigned hives at the Georgetown Heritage Garden off Hutto Rd in SE Georgetown. This is a departure from the custom of the recipient keeping their hive at their home. This is part of the new program that WCABA is trying out with the older recipients to teach a more in-depth concept of keeping bees and apiary management. With four of the recipient hives in one location this offers opportunity for group instruction and Randy Oakley has volunteered to provide training for these youngsters using his outline for A Sustainable Apiary for Central Texas. In this he emphasizes maximizing forager bee population in springtime, expanding the beehive in spring to absorb seasonal losses, requeening the beehive every year, and proactive Varroa mite monitoring and treatment throughout the year. By putting these basic guidelines in place these young men will hopefully be able to keep bees in our area successfully for years to come. It will take two years for them to see the total results.

Continued on page 6

Instructor Randy gives an overview of the planned activities.Everyone in the cage is pulling inspection on their hive and recording the results.


Continued from page 5.

Checking the hives at the garden every two weeks they receive basic instruction in proper inspection to guage growth and development of the hive and learn the techniques for growing and sustaining their apiary. It is enjoyable and encouraging to see how well these guys pick up the new concepts and how they assist each other in working their hives, comparing the differences, and noting the changes. They are all required to keep a notebook of routine inspections, and handouts from training sessions. The parents have also been very supportive of the new program, attending the sessions when the youngsters have to be there, and even pitching in or standing in when their son could not be present (yea Mom!). Starting with a five frame nuc on April 14th all the hives have grown to a double (8-frame) deep in a little over a month and have doubled the brood nest size too. In addition, the bees have drawn out most of the foundation in both boxes. The hives are all fitted with two “cap and ladder” inboard frame feeders and the bees are consuming 1 ½ to 1 ¾ gallons a week of 1.5 to 1 sugar syrup. No wonder the bees are drawing so much wax foundation. The plan in the first year of the program is to draw all the foundations in three deeps and support a “piggy back” nuc (w/second queen) overwinter and look to the second year for any substantial honey production. Different, yes. Ambitious, yes. Doable, yes. Will it work? Stay tuned and follow these young men and we shall see.

Michael Wheeler, WCABA Ambassador, presents a frame from his hive at the garden

Ryan Doleva shows what his bees have done. Levi Hoskins grips a frame of brood and honey from his hive.


Scholarship Recipients Work Hives at HomeArticle and Photos submitted by Jimmie Oakley, WCABA Scholarship Chairman

Two of the WCABA scholarship recipients are maintaining their beehives at their individual homes the way it has been done in the past and are having success in doing so. Carter Fojtik (age 12) keeps his hive just to the east of the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge in western Travis County, which just has to be some great bee country. He keeps his hive in the spacious backyard along with the family dogs and his mom’s chickens. He is developing the necessary expertise in hive inspection and is becoming skilled in spotting the queen bee. He will be adding a super to his hive soon as it continues to grow. We have been inspecting his hive every other Monday and it’s working out.

Alessandro Talentino (age 12) comes from a large family with five boys and a girl, a large garden, and lots of animals (goats). He keeps his bees in a fenced area on the property which is located east of Lockhart in Caldwell County. He has the great benefit of having an older brother, Marius, that has already been through the program, and he gets help from his dad too in performing the beekeeping chores, with someone to ask when he has a question. His bees are coming along nicely, and he has just supered his hive with the first medium. We are checking his hive every other Monday opposite Carter Fojtic’s hive. That’s working out too.

Mom (Annie) helps Carter dress for success before checking his hive.

Carter painted his hive green to blend in with the local area.

Bees look good and are brooding nicely. Work is done. Beekeepers head back to the house. Is that Mr. Oakley??

Alessandro holds up a full frame of brood in a very strong single hive.

Time to super with a little help from an older brother, Marius. Hive looks good after a final adjustment from Alessandro.

Membership ApplicationWilliamson County Area Beekeepers Association

Dues $15.00 per year - Individual or Family Membership

New Member / Renewing Member (circle one) Date:___________________ Name:______________________________________________ Amount:______________ Address:____________________________________________ City / State / Zip:______________________________________ Phone: (______ ) _____________________________________ Email: ______________________________________________ Please print, fill out, and bring to club meeting or mail with check to:

MembershipShirley Doggett, 400 County Road 440,

Thrall, TX 76578


Welcome New Members: Kelley Crossman Liberty Hill David Freeland/Eleanor Meltzer Cedar Park Julie/Scott King Georgetown Randy/Lisa Dobias Georgetown Thong Huynh Jonestown Deanne Hemmenway Round Rock Anna Fisher Leander Melissa/Chris O’Dell Austin Jane/John Barringer Georgetown Scot/Kristen Stockstill Cedar Park Anne/Jim Couch Round Rock Paul/Elizabeth Duncan Georgetown

Renewals: Jason/Dena Collar Bertram Gunvantbhai Mistry Austin Don Schwertner Jarrell Sharon Stephenson Hutto


WCABA4355 County Road 110Georgetown, Tx 78626

Local Honey Bees Beekeeping Advice Beekeeping Supplies

February Beekeeping Activity Simulative Feeding & Order New Equipment

Randy & Amy Oakley (254) 307-2337 [email protected] OakleyFamilyApiaries.com

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