[ocba] February 2009 minutes

Lanette Fee fee at sprintmail.com
Thu Mar 12 18:08:58 EDT 2009


Minutes of the February 2009 Meeting

We had a guest from the Chatham group speak to us briefly on the changes in 
the NCBA bylaws.  Jim encouraged everyone to look into the changes, and see 
if these are changes that you want to occur.

Gail talked about the zoo project.  The exhibit will open in May.  There is 
a new subgroup.  Judy Pick and Jan O'Daniel will handle volunteers.

David Langham talked about the Magical Wings event at the Museum of Life and 
Science in Durham.  Last time we set up a table and bought the gazebo and a 
bee hive.  This year it is on Saturday the 18th of April.  We need 
volunteers.  We were generously offered help from the Chatham Beekeepers 
Association.

The Chatham County Beekeepers Association also invited us to participate in 
Pollinator Week at the Chatham Marketplace on June 26th.

Sarah Laudermans is doing a bee essay.  She took a group poll on theories of 
bee communication.  Do bees communicate by the bee dance, odor/phermones, or 
both.  The winner of the poll was both.

Will Hicks talked about flowering plants that bees gather nectar or pollen 
from.

First we had a foray into swarm management.  We discussed several methods of 
reducing swarming.  Some suggestions were:

Reversing Hive Bodies as needed to give the queen more room to lay eggs.

Look for queen cells on the bottom of frames and cut them.

Manage the Population - Time the increase in population so that the honey 
flow coincides with the peak in populations.

Requeening - the older the queen, the more swarms sometimes.

Give them plenty of room - Add supers as needed

Make a split before they swarm.

Have an extra hive, empty, waiting for the occasional swarm.


Honey Plants - The order will go, as a general rule,  in the order of bloom.

Maple - good source of nectar and pollen
Willow
Alder and Elm
Greens - mustard, turnips, canola, broccoli.  (Pollen of these is high if 
fat.)- Let them bloom!
Ornamentals, Crepe Myrtle - white blooms
Quince
Apple - good for pollen
Jasmine - pollen is mildly toxic
Red Bud
Dandelion - good for pollen
poison Ivy - nectar
Holly and Gallberry
Wisteria - bumble bees love this, but so do honey bees
Locust - nectar, but not common to get honey.  It varies year to year.
Tulip Poplar - big nectar plant Mid to late April.  Honey is dark, good 
reliability.
Blackberry - starts later than tulip poplar
Elderberry at end of tulip poplar
Sourwood - nectar
Trumpet Vine - sometimes nectar
Sunflower
Bee Balm - Bumblebees love it, as do honeybees.
Buckwheat - dark honey like light molasses.  Buckwheat honey is a good 
substitute for children's cough syrup for upper respiratory infections - 
better than other honeys. Blooms in 30 days during July and August.
Milkweed - good nectar
Butterfly week
Sumac - good nectar producer
Any legume - clover, crimson clover, vetch
Thistle
Pumpkins, cucumber, peaches, blueberries
Ironweed - late summer in swamps. (Joe pie blooms at the same time.)
Mexican Heather - tender plant
Cotton - late summer
Aster - bees love it - fall flow
Golden rod - fall flow
Pixy Daisies bloom at the time of goldenrod too.  It is a lower grade honey.

Thanks Will for a very informative meeting!




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