Prairie State Beekeepers - Meeting July 7, 2022
The July 7, 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 was sent via the Prairie State Google group to all members on July 6, 2022.
The July 7, 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 was sent via the Prairie State Google group to all members on July 6, 2022.
Tentative Agenda
- Business items to attend to (max time is 15 minutes)
- Frame manipulation (in honey supers and brood frames)
- Ventilation
- Various Methods to remove the honey bees from honey supers to be able to harvest honey
- What type of bee removal from honey supers in not recommended for our area
- PSBA has honey extractors to loan for use. Contact Rich Ramsey
- Recap of mite treatments - one which is not recommended
- Other topics of interest as the discussion and Q&A in the meeting indicate
- Any other Q&A
- July 24, 2022 - Sangamon County Farm Bureau Agstravaganza - Sherman Village Park. See the Summary of Events page for more information
- Check SHB (Small Hive Beetle) oil traps (put in uppermost box). 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
- Keep feeding packages until you have two brood boxes with wax comb built on all 10 frames in each box
- Clues you need to super up (add a honey super or two to your hive - new and overwintered colonies) - when you see new wax being built on the frame top bars or being built on the underside of the inner cover.
- Stop feeding when you put on a honey super.
- Adjust entrance opening as needed or remove entrance reducer entirely
- Robbing Screens - what are they and when to use them. A sample robbing screen will be at the meeting.
- When is a honey super ready to remove and harvest? When the frames are capped and you have ready access to an extractor.
- Crack (lift up and put back on the hive) the supers the day before you intend to remove them. We will explain why at the meeting
- 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,
- Queens mated after the Summer Solstice (June 21) increase the odds of overwintering the colony.
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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 |