Tickets for the Illinois State Beekeepers Association Annual Fall Meeting on November 5, 2022 in Springfield Illinois are now available online.
The key to a thriving and productive colony all points back to the queen and the ability of the queen and the colony overall to adapt to the continuous and different stresses throughout the year
The presentations by Jim Tew, Ian Steppler and Adam Dolezal should be of interest to beginner and experienced beekeepers alike in listening to and understanding what the colony is saying to them.
The main take away from the meeting should enable you to better comprehend what is going on in the colony, why and what (if anything) you can do to help the bees thrive and survive.
For more information on
go the the ISBA Summary of Events Page and scroll down to the November 5, 2022 ISBA Annual Fall Meeting.
The key to a thriving and productive colony all points back to the queen and the ability of the queen and the colony overall to adapt to the continuous and different stresses throughout the year
The presentations by Jim Tew, Ian Steppler and Adam Dolezal should be of interest to beginner and experienced beekeepers alike in listening to and understanding what the colony is saying to them.
The main take away from the meeting should enable you to better comprehend what is going on in the colony, why and what (if anything) you can do to help the bees thrive and survive.
For more information on
- the venue location
- how to purchase tickets or
- lodging
go the the ISBA Summary of Events Page and scroll down to the November 5, 2022 ISBA Annual Fall Meeting.
Prairie State Beekeepers - Meeting October 6, 2022
The October 6, 2022, Prairie State Beekeepers meeting will be at the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building.
Start time is 7 PM.
A Zoom session link will be available for those who cannot attend.
The Zoom invite & link will be sent via the Prairie State Google group to all members on October 5, 2022.
The October 6, 2022, Prairie State Beekeepers meeting will be at the Sangamon County Farm Bureau Building.
Start time is 7 PM.
A Zoom session link will be available for those who cannot attend.
The Zoom invite & link will be sent via the Prairie State Google group to all members on October 5, 2022.
Tentative Agenda
Items to check in September & October
- Business items to attend to (max time is 15 minutes)
- Winter Build Project ideas
- A refractometer will be available at the meeting to test moisture content of honey, so bring a sample if you need it tested.
- Massive swarms in September are usually result of entire colony absconding due to SHB or Varroa Destructor mite pressure.
- PSBA has honey extractors to loan for use. Contact Rich Ramsey to schedule to use it. If you have never used the extractor before, please indicate such and you will be given a brief explanation of how to use it. Be sure to clean the extractor before you return it to Rich or hand it off to the next person scheduled to use it.
- ISBA Annual Fall Meeting - See the ISBA website
- Other topics of interest as the discussion and Q&A in the meeting indicate
Items to check in September & October
- SHB populations are exploding. Thriving colonies "should" be able to manage them with some assistance of SHB traps (oil traps & "swiffer" type catch cloths
- Check SHB (Small Hive Beetle) oil traps (put in uppermost box, but below the inner). Placement Suggestion - Since the bees will run the beetles to the upper side of the inner cover, placement of the traps between the frames to either side of the inner cover hole. Do not block the inner cover hole as this may impede hive ventilation. Place the traps adjacent to the hole, or to the front or back of the inner cover hole, but not where you can see them looking down through the hole. The "swiffer" type pads/patches are usually in the corners and secured by the hive boxes.
- If using a screen inner cover, use window screen fabric. SHB can pass through the #8 hardware mesh as the holes are too large.
- If using a screen bottom board consider putting an vegetable oil filled tray under the screen bottom board. The #8 mesh used in most screen bottom boards enable SHB larva to easily drop through to the ground and burrow in. In 33 to 39 days (depending on soil and weather), it will emerge as a SHB.
- If needed, reduce the amount of real estate the colony has to police and guard. Reduce double 10 frame deep colonies to a single 10 frame deep hive. If already a 10 frame deep, combine multiple colonies into a single 10- frame deep (more on how to do this at the October meeting). Or condense the 10 frame deep colony to a 5 frame nucleus colony.
- Crack (lift up and put back on the hive) the supers the day before you intend to remove them. It will give bees time to clean up the honey from the burr comb so you won't have honey dripping from the supers when you remove it
- Do not remove the supers unless you can extract the frames within 3 days of removing them from the hive. An alternative is to put the frames in a freezer at -20F for several days to kill any SHB eggs. Then you can remove the frames from the freezer and put back into the super(s) until ready to extract. Seal up the supers with a board on top and bottom and put several sheets of newspaper between the supers. The newspaper will seal the imperfections between supers and keep out ants and other insects,
- Once you extract the supers you can put them back on the hives for the bees to continue to fill with honey (if there is a flow on).
- Or you can place the wet supers above the inner cover and below the outer cover. The bees should clean them up and dry them out. Be sure to leave the queen excluder on the hive above the uppermost brood box if you do not want the queen to possibly lay in your honey super.
- To help minimize making a colony a target for robbing, you can wash the outside surfaces of the honey supers down with water and wet rag to remove any honey you may have dripped/smeared on the outside while you were putting the extracted wet frames back into the supers.
- Do a lift test of the colonies once you remove the supers for the year. If the colony is light, then resume feeding. Feed from inside of a spacer box, especially in a nectar dearth
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Membership dues: $15 yearly, $10 of which includes membership in the Illinois State Beekeepers Association (ISBA). Memberships are calendar year based (Jan 1-Dec 31) and not prorated.
The Membership renewal fee AFTER the March meeting increases to $20. New Memberships are still $15 per person. If you do not renew your membership, your membership will be inactivated on the Prairie State and the Illinois State Beekeepers membership rosters. You can reactivate your membership by submitting a renewal. Late renewals will incur an additional fee 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 process it 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 Steve Petrilli (membership secretary), his contact information is below so you can email or call him to obtain his mailing address. It has also been posted on the Prairie State Google Group. |
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 Vice President
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 |