by Brad Volin
A HUGE thanks to Devin for joining me this past Sat for the Post Mortem. We examined all 3 hives and concluded that 2 definitely died from mites. The 3rd was inconclusive. I will post the results and pictures on a google doc soon so everyone can see the data we collected and learn. This is ‘good’ news, because one needs to know the problem in order to have the correct solution. So now we know to bee quite vigilant with the mites this year. One way we will do this is to do ‘mite counts’ 3-4 times during the season. This will tell how how aggressively to treat. See more here https://drive.google.
Devin was also very helpful in organizing the shed and doing a preliminary inventory. There will be a few things we need but overall we are in pretty good shape with equipment.
Additionally, the budget of $800 was approved for the bees! This will allow us to expand the apiary to 6 hives. We have purchased 2 nucs from ToBeeorNotToBee. We plan to purchase an additional 2 packages through Devin/Perry (thank you! – most suppliers are already sold out). I will have a google doc soon on the proposed budget, and request all Bee Committee folks take a look and approve.
Speaking of which, thanks to everyone that read the Bee Guidelines and Principles doc. So far, we have 4 votes for approval, and no dissenters. This will guide our work through the season, so please take a minute to read it. https://docs.google.com/
Upcoming Activities: specific dates/times to come soon, but in general here’s what is going on:
- Shed inventory and hive prep: ~ 2nd week of April
- ‘Install’ 2 nucs into hives: ~ 4/21
- Split existing hive into 2 hives: ~ end of April (depends on availability of new queen)
- ‘Install” 2 packages into hives: ~ early May
Installations MUST be done the day the bees arrive, so we won’t have any flexibility there. After installations, we’ll be inspecting the hives every ~ 2 weeks.
You can see there will be a lot going on. Think about how available you might bee to participate. These activities represent incredible learning opportunities. Let me know if you are even somewhat interested, as then we’ll try to coordinate times as best as possible to maximize attendance.
Thanks to everyone that has been involved. Please mention what we’re doing to fellow gardeners, and others in the community. More are welcome.
More info to come soon.
– BeeRad
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