Prairie State Beekeepers - May 2, 2024
The May 2, 2024, Prairie State Beekeepers meeting will be at the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building. Start time is 7 PM.
A map to the location of the Farm Bureau Building can be found on the Summary of Events Page.
A zoom link for the meeting will be sent to all members via the Google Group forum for those who cannot attend the meeting in person.
The May 2, 2024, Prairie State Beekeepers meeting will be at the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building. Start time is 7 PM.
A map to the location of the Farm Bureau Building can be found on the Summary of Events Page.
A zoom link for the meeting will be sent to all members via the Google Group forum for those who cannot attend the meeting in person.
Tentative Agenda
- Business items to attend to (max time is 15 minutes).
- Topics of interest such as the discussion and Q&A in the meeting indicate.
Items to check in April/May
- Check for signs of robbing
- May need to restrict entrances on splits and new package installs until colony builds up.
- Keep feeding new colonies/packages which were installed on new plasticell or wax foundation until comb built out on all 10 frames. Add second deep brood box when needed.
- A 1 to 1 sugar to water ratio for sugar syrup. The 1 to 1 ratio is by by weight, not volume
- HFCS-55 (not corn syrup from store) can also be fed to bees. Mix it with 30% to 50% water).
- Prepare for swarm season
- Check for signs of supercedure or swarm in each colony.
- If doing brood box reversals, make sure the brood pattern does not span both brood boxes. If it does, wait until mid or late April to reverse the boxes
- If overwintered in single deep brood boxes, decide whether you want to split a strong colony, add a second brood box to top, or put on a queen excluder and honey supers.
- Prepare to add honey supers as needed
- Consider re-queening colonies in late June or July.
- Wondering where the bees are finding the pollen they are bringing in? Yes some trees produce pollen in the winter. Check the pollen sources by time of year on the documents page of our website
2024 PSBA Membership dues:
The membership application/renewal form can be found on the Documents page tab of the website. Bring it to the next meeting you can attend. Give your membership renewal or new membership form and payment to the Treasurer. The Treasurer will notify the Membership Secretary to renew the member for Prairie State and to advise the ISBA of the renewal. New member applications will be reviewed by the officers before the membership is approved. You can mail in your renewal to Kathy Kaesebier (Treasurer). Her contact information is below so you can email or call her to obtain her mailing address. The mailing address is also posted on the Prairie State Google Group. |
Our thanks to Jefferies Orchard
for their continued support of Prairie State Beekeepers |
Your membership entitles you to a discounted subscription rate for the American Bee Journal magazine. Bee Culture is also an excellent publication, but it does not offer a discounted subscription.
Contact Information & Officers:
Prairie State
Beekeeping Presentation Committee Chairperson & Apparel Committee Chairperson Melissa Gerard Athens, IL 217.691.2223 melmels1999@yahoo.com |
ISBA Vice President
Steve Petrilli Mechanicsburg, IL 217.638.7891 spetrilli45@gmail.com |
ISBA Central Region Director
Bernie Andrew Loraine, IL .217.938.4975 magic@adams.net |
ISBA Legislative Liaison
Rich Ramsey Rochester, IL 217.691.9354 rramsey2@gmail.com |
State of Illinois Dept. of Agriculture Apiary Inspector
Illinois Bees and Apiaries Program Arvin Pierce Waverly, IL 217.638.6371 rvnpirc51@gmail.com |
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Local Commercial Beekeeper - Honey & Queen Producer
Andy O'Connell Springfield, IL 217.299.4892 andy@steamshipbees.com |