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Subject: Orange County, NC Beekeepers

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: John Rintoul <beecd AT icloud.com>
  • To: Orange County Beekeepers Association <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [ocba] Urban and semi-urban beekeeping
  • Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 17:19:57 -0400

The Chapel Hill Tennis Club (located in Carrboro near Jones Ferry and the Hwy 54 bypass) is having bee problems - yes they are honeybees. The honeybees are coming to the club's swimming pool for water. They are also congregating around trash cans seeking sugary treats with their yellow jacket friends. Obviously this invasion is upsetting to the non-beekeeping members of the Tennis Club. 

Club management recently hired a local pest control company to spray the bees. They will continue spraying on a weekly basis until the problem is solved.

It is possible that the thirsty bees are feral honeybees. In that case no OCBA members may lose bees from managed colonies. But I wanted to give everyone a heads up. If your colonies are in foraging range of the Tennis Club you may see pesticide losses in the coming days. It is most likely too late to change a colony's water source of choice this year. But if your bees are/might be heading to the Tennis Club pool in 2016 you may be able to redirect them in 2017 by providing reliable water sources closer to home.

Julie Grill, one of OCBA's newest members, will be contacting the Tennis Club to suggest ways that they might avoid bee and yellow jacket problems in the future w/o relying on pesticides. As beekeepers, we can also do our part by helping our bees find ways to meet their hydration needs closer to the apiary.

John Rintoul



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