Mailing list for the Person County Beekeepers Association, Roxboro, NC

[Lynn S Wilson <WILSONLS AT ESINC.NET>]

An 85-pound dog is distracting me with demands for a walk so review these 
notes extra carefully!   ...and no, that was NOT white lightening in the 
mason jar.  lsw

Person County Beekeepers Association
Minutes
Date:  November 21, 2013
Location: Person County Office Building, Room 165 

PROGRAM.  Mary opened the meeting..  Inge introduced Nancy Rupert,  Apiary 
Inspector for a 17-county area in southeastern NC.  Nancy donated some pollen 
patties from Dadant to PCBA.  

BEE NUTRITION-NANCY RUPERT.   For kids and bees, nutrition is critical.   
Beekeeping is more challenging than ever and Nancy steps it up:  Why settle 
for survival when you could strive for a thriving hive?   If you haven’t 
neglected other good bee management practices, investment in nutrition will 
more than pay for itself.   Cautions:   Timing is essential, delay costly, 
and recovery slow  (if at all).   Keep it simple!

NUTRITION MATTERS.   While hungry bees are usually a winter problem, this 
summer’s rain kept bees in hives too long and some colonies starved.  Good 
nutrition lengthens lifespan, improves queen’s performance, builds healthier 
immune system, and makes beekeeping economically sustainable.    Recent USDA 
research supports the importance of good nutrition.  

BEES NEED both quality and quantity of carbs, proteins, lipids, vitamins, 
minerals and water.  The best sources of CARBS are nectar and honey, though 
cane sugar syrup is acceptable.  High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is better 
than starvation, but varies in digestibility and may build up toxic 
Hydroxymethylfurfural, if it gets too hot.   Healthy colonies need about 700 
pounds of nectar per year and at least 40-60 pounds to get through winter.    
Italian bees are less conservative than other races.   Bees in warmer 
climates need MORE carbs because they fly more.    First nectar in our 
calendar year is red maple, but it’s thin and bees use it quickly.  

WHEN CARBS?  Feed carbs during nectar shortages, to help build winter stores 
(Sept-Oct)(also helps insulate hive), when wax foundation needs to be drawn 
out, to stimulate egg-laying and support brood-rearing.

HOW?   Boardman entrance feeders are easy for beekeeper to see and access, 
but may be hard for bees to get if it’s cold and promote robbing if it’s hot. 
 Division board and top hive feeders are in the hive, but find a way to keep 
bees from drowning.  Fondant or candy board is good in the winter.  (YouTube 
links are forthcoming from Nancy.)   If fondant is too hard bees can’t take 
it up.  Sprinkles of moistened sugar may help if nothing else can be done.  
Community feeders can create mob scenes where the stronger colonies get 
stronger and weaker colonies get left out.  Pollen should be available if 
you’re feeding carbs because bees need it to digest the carbs.

POLLEN helps bees fly farther, faster, produce healthier queens (getting 
enough royal jelly) and workers, especially nurse bees who are the primary 
direct consumers of pollen.   Adequate pollen stimulates healthy 
brood-rearing, stronger immune systems, and better winter survival (due to 
fat storage and vitellogenin).

Best pollens (like dandelion, canola, and apple) contain about 25% protein; 
the best substitutes are 15% (or more) protein.  Pine, sunflower and ragweed 
aren’t very good protein sources.  (Standards for analysis and labeling 
pollen substitutes are non-existent.)  The average colony collects 5-120 
pounds of pollen per year and uses 40-110 pounds annually.   In NC, pollen is 
available naturally from 9-12 months out of the year.    In March and April, 
hope to see a RAINBOW of pollen in hive reflecting a diversity of floral 
sources.  

WHEN-POLLEN?   During shortages (especially late winter or when too much rain 
keeps bees in hive), prior to likely stressors like brood-rearing, 
pollination, hive splits, raising queens, rearing winter bees, prior to 
nectar flow), when feeding carbs, and when you want to raise robust crop of 
small hive beetles.   (A few adults is not too bad, but if you see larvae, 
your bees can’t cope.)

HOW?  Pollen patties need to be consumable, digestible and offer good 
nutrition value.   Nancy has seen consistently good results from feeding 
Mega-Bee and Global brands.   CAUTION:   Bees need adequate microflora in gut 
to digest pollen.   Are you using antibiotics, etc., to treat other problems 
that may be destroying microflora?  

OTHER SUPPLEMENTS.   There is some research support for use of Honey B 
Healthy or ProHealth, in sugar syrup, as feeding stimulants and preservatives 
that contain essential oils.  If bees are not taking pollen, mix Amino-B 
Booster (amino acid supplement) with sugar syrup and Honey B Healthy.   
Nozevit or Nozevit Plus is a combo of plant polyphenols which help bee 
digestion and may help prevent nosema.

Q&A.   Are powdered pollen substitutes okay?   Yes.  Some people mix with 
sugar syrup and some hang pollen substitutes in dipper gourds near hives.   
When is okay to open hives to feed?  Every NC county has at least one day per 
month of temperatures above 50 degrees when it’s okay to inspect the hive.  
Early January feeding will help queen start laying eggs.  Too much egg-laying 
too early will result in more brood than workers can keep warm in a cold 
snap.   Brood are much more sensitive to cold than adult bees.

BEARS.   What to do?  Kim’s neighbors reported seeing bear.   Nancy says 
heavy voltage electric fence or Nite Guard may work.

FUNDRAISER-HONEY-OF-THE-MONTH.   Inge reported about $840 in ticket sales, 
with contriubtions of honey from Louis and Geneva, Todd Walker, Calvin Boyd, 
Tim Harris, Mac and Amanda, and Carol Carter.  Nancy drew the winning ticket 
#354 belonging to ____ Barnette.  Inge will call the winner tomorrow and 
arrange for delivery.   Todd awarded a jar of award-winning Hurdle Mills 
Company Honey to Carol for selling the most tickets, more than 200. and to 
Nancy for her presentation. 

ACTION:   PCBA agreed to repeat this fundraiser next year, possibly with two 
drawings if enough honey is available.  

PCBA STATE FAIR BOOTH “What It takes to Be a Beekeeper” earned SECOND PRIZE 
and Mary thanked Inge, Louis and everyone who helped.  Todd noted that the 
prize money almost offsets the cost of doing the exhibit.  Carol volunteered 
at the State booth and said lots of folks spent some time at the bee 
exhibits.  PCBA members earning ribbons for honey, observation hive, bee 
photos and wax crafts included Louis, Carol, Todd, Inge,   

ACTION:  Louis noted that section and cut-comb honey competitions had almost 
no entries so check the guidelines and plan now to enter next year and win 
your own premiums.   Mary encouraged members to send ideas for next year’s 
booth to Inge now.   

ACTION:  Kim suggested we construct a human-sized hive with theme “Be a Bee”. 
  Carol says everyone should visit the NC Zoo Bee exhibit.  Kate noted that’s 
where she first heard about PCBA.  

MINUTES of October meeting were approved as distributed online.

FUNDRAISER-HATS are in so see Amanda to pay ($12) or purchase one of the four 
remaining unsold.  

FUNDRAISER-T-SHIRTS will be sold to participants in next bee school.

ACTION:   The group agreed to support all three fundraisers 
(Honey-of-the-Month, T-shirt and hat (or some other apparel) sales again next 
year.  Mac Blanks and fundraising committee will be responsible for managing 
these projects.  

YOUTH BEEKEEPER SPONSORSHIP.   Inge received the $700 check from NCSBA to add 
to the $300 already received for this project.   The FFA-Farmer’s Market 
connection is going nowhere so she and Todd visited the 4-H agent and asked 
her to try to identify a prospective beekeeper.  

FINANCE.  Amanda Blank submitted her report showing a beginning balance of 
$2485.33, with income from dues and raffle ticket sales of $299.   
Reimbursements and transferring of NCSBA dues resulted in expenses of 
$401.92.   The petty cash balance continues to be $50 and the ending balance 
is $2432 (not counting raffle ticket and hat sales and the $700 grant money). 
 

MEMBERSHIP.    Lynn reported that 31 PCBA members have paid dues for 2014 
and, of those, 19 also joined the State organization.  

NOMINATIONS.  Tom Savage reported that current officers have agreed to serve 
another year if no others volunteer and asked for nominations from the floor. 
 In the absence of additional nominations, Amanda (Treasurer), Lynn 
(Secretary), Inge (VP), and Mary (Prez) agreed to serve one more year.  Inge 
noted that she’d like someone to help her with some projects this year so she 
can be out of the VP’s job next year.   Lynn noted that the workload could be 
better shared if some committee chairs were appointed, such as a Hospitality 
Chair to coordinate refreshments.

ACTION:  Mary asked everyone to consider volunteering for a project/commitee 
in 2014.

NCSBA WEBSITE.    Louis says updates are a state priority but hinges on 
volunteers so don’t expect anything to get fixed soon.

PCBA-COOPERATIVE EXTENSION.  DISPLAY will be mounted at Extension Building 
soon and will need continual updates.  Carol, Kim and Mary offered to help 
Inge though Carol cautioned she’ll be out of commission for several weeks.   
Mary reported 153 hives owned by PCBA members to extension director Woods in 
2013.    

ACTION:   Secretary was directed to create PCBA Attendance Sheets in March, 
June and September that ask members to report their current number of hives, 
and the range of  Varroa mite counts in their apiary.  

OUTREACH.   Ag Day for Person County school children was cancelled because of 
rainy cold weather but may be rescheduled for spring (affording better 
prospects for bringing live bees).

ACTION:   To consider for next year:   Be represented on the Farm Tour (the 
Savages confirmed that PCBA would be welcomed on their farm) and at the old 
farmers’ market.   Sponsor a float in Christmas and 4th of July parades.

BEE SCHOOL begins on Thursday, January 16.    Maximum is 45 participants and 
cost of $40 includes materials.   Carol reported that her sister has signed 
up for bee school in Washington as a result of her PCBA visit!  

ACTION:   Todd and Inge will market school., including the community service 
channel 10.   

ACTION:  Kim will post notice on Facebook.

ACTION:   PCBA members are asked to download flyer from website (as soon as 
Todd posts it!) and share with friends and post in stores, etc.

MEETING ADJOURNED.  Mary invited folks to refreshments provided by Lynn 
Wilson and adjourned the meeting.

HOLIDAY POTLUCK.   Come early!   Dinner begins at 6:30 PM on Thursday, 
December 18, in Room 165, Person Co. Office Bldg.    PCBA provides plates, 
cups, utensils and drinks.

ACTION:   Bring a potluck dish, a guest, and a gift for a beekeeper to play 
“Dirty Santa”.

ACTION:  Visit Carol in the hospital!   Her knee surgery is December 17.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED by  Lynn S. Wilson