The Prairie State Beekeepers meeting on August 5, 2021. Start time is 7 PM.
The meeting location is the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building
The meeting will be on Zoom for those who cannot or do not wish to attend in person.
The Zoom invite will be sent on August 4, 2021, to all members via the Prairie State Google Group forum.
The meeting location is the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building
The meeting will be on Zoom for those who cannot or do not wish to attend in person.
The Zoom invite will be sent on August 4, 2021, to all members via the Prairie State Google Group forum.
Tentative Agenda
- Business items to attend to (max time is 15 minutes)
- Status of Queen Cells and Mated Queen Projects
- Q&A
- Watch for nectar flows and dearths in July & August. If no supers on the colonies, feed the colonies from the inside to avoid possibility of initiating a robbing frenzy in the bee yard(s). Also avoid open community feeders unless they are a considerable distance from any colonies.
- If supers are on, you may need to reduce the entrance opening or deploy robbing screen entrances on the colonies
- Protein Supplement - use sparingly do not give the bees more than they can process into bee bread in 1 to 2 days. The recommendation is to provide it only in an extended pollen dearth or to just provide it in the dry form in a community feeder some distance from your colonies.
- Small Hive Beetle (SHB) population tends to dramatically increase in July and August. Check SHB traps at least once a week, replace as needed. You can clean and reuse the disposable AJ Beetle Blaster traps (put in wide mouth jar and fill with ammonia).
- Check for signs of varroa mites and treat accordingly (All but one method requires honey supers be removed)
- Check colonies to make sure they are still queen right. Some races of queens may cease egg and brood production during dearths. Queens which have predominately Italian genetics usually keep laying during dearths.
- Do not remove full honey supers unless you will be extracting it within 2 days of removal from hive.
- Crack each super and put back in place the day before you plan to remove it.
- Freeze the honey super frames for several days if you cannot extract them within 2 days of removal from the hive.
- Removing honey supers during a nectar death can be challenge sometimes.
- Put wet (extracted) honey supers back on colonies above the inner cover if you want the bees to clean them up and dry them down before storage. If nectar flow is still going and you want the possibility of a late summer fall honey, put the wet supers back on the colony below the inner cover.
- In August, while the supers are removed, give your colony the 2 finger heft test to check to see if they have ample honey in the brood boxes. If hive is light (you can easily lift both brood boxes from the back side), you may want to start inside feeding and leave the honey supers off for the remainder of the season. Or manually examine the upper and lower brood boxes for frames of honey stores.
- Contact Rich Ramsey to schedule the borrowing and use of the Prairie State extractors
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Membership dues: $15 yearly, $10 of which includes membership in the Illinois State Beekeepers Association (ISBA).
If you have not yet renewed your membership, your membership has been inactivated on the Prairie State and the Illinois State Beekeepers membership rosters. You can reactivate your membership by submitting a renewal. 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 Membership Secretary. The Membership Secretary will record your membership payment and then forward the payment to the Treasurer for deposit. New member applications will be reviewed by the officers before the membership is approved. You can mail in your renewal to Laurie Tappenbeck (membership secretary), her contact information is below so you can email or call her to obtain her mailing address. |
Our thanks to Jefferies Orchard
for support of Prairie State Beekeepers 
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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:
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ISBA Membership Director
Steve Petrilli Mechanicsburg, IL 217.638.7891 spetrilli45@gmail.com |
ISBA Legislative Liaison
Rich Ramsey Rochester, IL 217.691.9354 rramsey2@gmail.com |
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State of Illinois Dept. of Agriculture Apiary Inspector
Illinois Bees and Apiaries Program Arvin Pierce Waverly, IL 217.638.6371 rvnpirc51@gmail.com |