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

[James Latimer <PipesNC AT live.com>]

May minutes,  Please review.  We will be voting to approve at tonight meeting.

Thanks,

Jamie

P.S. Sorry if you are getting this again, I did not see on listserve and thought it may be due to the sender email address.

Person County Beekeepers Association
Minutes
May 17, 2016
County Office-Auditorium

PRES REPORT.  Todd Walker promptly at 7 PM welcomed all members and guests to our May meeting.  Introduced the officers for brief reports and proceeded to a panel discussion on topics presented to Randall Austin, David Eckhert and himself by the beekeepers in attendance. 

VP REPORT.  Whitney Barnes informed the members that we will be having our annual Honey Extraction Day on June 25 at the Savages home.  Directions and times to come.

The club has many volunteer opportunities coming up: 4-H, Personality Booth, State Fair booth preparation, Library display, Community outreach.

 

FINANCIAL REPORT.  Amanda Blanks presented the financial report, dated May 19, 2016.  It shows the club having a Beginning Balance of $6405.69.  Monthly Income of $25.00 (T-Shirt/Hats, Dontaion).  Monthly expenses of $50.00 (NCSBA dues, Speaker, Granville Co Beekeepers).  Leaving an Ending Balance of $6430.69.  Balance includes $50 petty cash.

SECRETARY REPORT.  James Latimer requested approval of the March and April meeting minutes.  Motion made and passed to approve minutes

OLD BUSINESS. 

PERSONALITY.  It will not be a problem selling raffle tickets as long as we pay additional $10 fee for vending.  We may also setup in the craft and sales area as opposed to the community service area.  A motioned was made and passed to participate in Personality as a vendor August 26,2016.

GAP CREDITS.  Todd is in the process of preparing a Gap Credit tracking sheet to be used for tracking of community events members participate in, representing PCBA.

BOY SCOUTS\4-H.  Boy Scouts have returned the education hive we provided to them but had become inactive.  The hive has been now provided to the 4-H club, along with an additional hive donated by the Barnes family.  Frank Hayward is heading up the 4-H beekeepers group.  They recently added packaged bees to the hive.  They have started to show eggs and brood.  The 4-H group can use all support.

BEE JUBILEE.  Whitney reported on the Granville County Bee Jubilee, sharing what a great experience she had.  It was like a mini beekeepers conference with 34 vendors and great speakers.  Kathy from Granville Beekeepers, stated things worked out well.  The event attracted a good crowd, made up of a variety of ages, backgrounds and interest in bees.      

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.  Bob Brauer reported going to a few recent chamber events.  He had a positive experience at the Golden Corral's "Good Morning Coffee Hour".  When PCBA has a need to get information out to the community we may want to consider sponsoring a breakfast.  As a benefit to sponsoring the event, we are able to give a short presentation.  We can use that time to tell them about our organization, some of the current events and how the business community can help support PCBA.

CUT-OUT REPORT.  The bees from the Cut-out at the abandoned home are doing well.  15 frames were "patched together" with comb from the cut-out and added 5 frames of foundation. The bees have started to pull the comb and have evened it out.    A super has been added.

NEW BUSINESS. 

HONEY BEE LIFE-CYCLE AND MODEL  An enlarged honey bee life-cycle and honey bee model were presented to the club as a potential fund raiser and community outreach/teaching tool.  We can sell them at our booths and provide to class rooms where members are invited to speak about honey bees.  A motion was made and passed to purchase 18 life-cycles and 10 bee models for approximately $200.

LIBRARY DISPLAY.  The club has volunteered to do the Person County Library display for the month of August, in conjunction with National Honey Bee day.  We have done this for the past 2 years, set up on the 1st, take down the 31st.  The display usually has educational material, products of the hive and pictures.  Mac and Amanda have done this in the past and can use some support.

SEEDS.  Lynn Wilson has packets of wild flowers for pollinators.  They can be used as an outreach tool.

2 GALLON BUCKETS. Mary Ann Rich has 2 gallon buckets available to good homes.

PANEL DISCUSSION

A panel discussion was held with Randall Austin, David Eckhert and Todd Walker.  Post meeting Randall provided the group the an excellent followup email document with the questions asked and resources that help support responses and provide additional information.  I am including his responses in the minutes.

--------------- Post panel email from Randall ------------

I enjoyed the questions and discussions at last night's PCBA meeting and hope everybody else did too. I especially enjoyed Dave Eckert's comments since he has a lot of wisdom to share but he doesn't get out on the speaker circuit. Maybe we can coax him to come back since now he knows where we are.

I mentioned some articles that have a little more information on several of the topics. All of these can be found on the Bailey Bee Supply website under "Articles", <here>.

"What's the de al with oxalic acid?" (explains how and when OA can be legally applied)

"How Might We Smite Mites?" (describes other mite treatments that are more effective and more appropriate for our area than OA)

"Yum Yum, Eat 'Em Up!" (discusses why we feed and when we can stop)

"Controlling winter losses" (explains my 3-legged approach for reducing/eliminating winter losses)

"A few more wintering tips" (lists some helpful bits that aren't critical but should be useful)

"Making splits without bananas" (lists some things to keep in mind about making splits)

"The flip side of making splits" (discusses why, when and how to combine colonies)

Also, the Purdue Cooperative Extension 4-H guides that Todd mentioned can be found at:

Helpers Guide

Level I: Understanding the Honey Bee

Level II: Working with Honey Bees

Level III: Advanced Beekeeping Methods

I hope this helps!

Randall

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ATTENDANCE.   33 members and 2 guest.


RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,  James Latimer, 6/15/2016