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

[James Latimer <pipesnc AT live.com>]

Sorry about the additional email, but these minutes are not a draft.

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From: pipesnc AT live.com
To: person_county_beekeepers_association AT lists.ibiblio.org
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 20:55:53 -0400
Subject: [PCBA] FW: PCBA April 2016 meeting minutes DRAFT

Person County Beekeepers,
Below are the PCBA April 2016 meeting minutes.  Please review the minutes for approval at the May 19th meeting. 

Thanks,
Jamie

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Person County Beekeepers Association
Minutes
April 21, 2016
County Office-Auditorium
WELCOME.  Todd Walker welcomed all members and guests to our March meeting. 

SECRETARY. The changes to the PCBA March meeting minutes were not complete in time for approval at the April meeting.  March and April minutes will need to be approved at the May 19th PCBA monthly meeting.

FINANCIAL REPORT.    Whitney presented the Financial report for Amanda Blanks, who was unavailable.  Report dated April 21, 2016.  It shows the club having a Beginning Balance of $6145.63.  Monthly Income of $470.00 (T-Shirts\Hats, Hive Raffle, PCBA\NCSBA Dues).  Monthly expenses of $209.94 (Speaker, NCSBA Extension Fund, Roxboro Area Chamber of Commerce).  Leaving an Ending Balance of $6455.69. 

There was a request for club t-shirt's be ordered.  There were more than 10 people interested.  Mac stated the expected cost is still $12 and we can order in a variety of colors.  There was some discussion of some colors of ink coming off quickly in the was.  Mac requested that any problems with shirts be brought to his attention promptly and he will contact the printer for resolution.

VP REPORT.  Whitney Barnes reported on the presentation a few members did for for a group of Girls Scouts in grade K-1, learning about plants and pollination.  It was a great experience for the girls and those presenting.
The May PCBA meeting will be a panel discussion on starting a package of bees.
The club will plan an extraction day at the end of June, specific date TBD.
July 5th PCBA will be hosting the 4-H Fun Day.  Volunteers are needed to help assist in the event.
Personality Festival is coming up in August.  Last year there was an issue with selling raffle tickets outside of the booth (walking around).  The club voted to participate, but have requested clarification on the sale of the raffle tickets.

PRES REPORT.   Todd Walker reminded the group about our tracking of activities and procedures to achieve the GAP award.  There was a request to track and submit and presentations done by members of the PCBA for points toward this goal. 
The club would like to get a status report on the 2 hives donated to the Boy Scouts to be used near the Twins Market.  These hive may be donated to another group of young beekeepers for mentoring.   

OLD BUSINESS.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.  Bob has been in contact with the Chamber and has had Todd and himself added to the email distribution list.

BEE JUBILEE.  Granville County Beekeepers Association (GCBA) will be hosting the Granville County Bee Jubilee.  At Granville County Expo Center in Oxford NC, on Hwy 15 of I-85.  Saturday May 14th, from 9am - 5pm.  Family fun, Bee & Pollinator education, Arts & Crafts, Guest Speakers on the hour.  FREE and open to the public.  There does not seem to be to much interest in the 2nd table for selling products of the hive.  Please let Whitney know if you plan on selling items at the event. 

CUT-OUT FIELD DAY.  Bob  Brauer spoke about the extraction of healthy looking bees from the vacant home in Granville.  Bob, Jackie, Carol and Paul went to participate with Todd in the procedure.  The bees were not to aggressive, possibly due to cooler weather.  Mounted 15 frames of comb, using rubber bands and cotton string to hold the comb in the frames.

NEW BUSINESS. 
FIELD WATCH - BEE CHECK.  Bob presented the club a brief description of Bee Check, the proposed program to replace google-maps for identifying our hive locations.  The Field Watch - DriftWatch\BeeCheck programs are designed to assist farmers, pesticide applicators and beekeepers in communicating hive and specialty crop locations.  Gary Cross, Extension Agent, Agriculture - Field Crops, was in attendance to help explain about how to register and use the BeeCheck program.  He noted that the county manager had requested info about our hive mapping and was impressed with what we already had in place.
Gary did proceed to discuss some concerns to come.  Recently 2,4-D resistant genetically modified crops were deregulated and growers are starting to plant.  We can expect to see an increase in the use of 2,4-D.  2,4-D can severely impair reproduction in the honey bee.  Good news, pesticide education courses include information about protecting honey bees and other pollinators.

TOP BAR HIVES.  Presented by Cynthia Speed.  Cynthia is a Journeyman Beekeeper and past President of OCBA.  She gave a great presentation on the basics of keeping Top-Bar hives.  She explained a little history and differences in the Top-Bar and Langstroth hives.  Cynthia gave details about what is important in the design of the top-bar hive, such as: the angles of the walls (keep bees from attaching comb), use of a follower board and frame orientation.  She explained some key differences in hive inspections like the use of an observation window, the fact that the bees do not have access to the top of the top bars, and the frames are drawn out naturally without wired support so it is important to handle the frame gently and support the comb. 
The differences in Top-Bar and Langstroth hives were truly explored as she explained the typical hive management for a calendar year.  Things like varroa treatment, entrance reducers, feeding, frame orientation for wintering.

ATTENDANCE.   29 members and 3 guest.


RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,  James Latimer, 5/17/16 DRAFT

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