July 12th 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

July 12th 2022 AABA Meeting

Arlington Echo Nature Center Millersville MD

6:30 Hive dive and/or general Q and A discussion.
Please bring your veil and protective gear if you are going on the hive dive.
This will be weather dependent.  There will always be beekeepers in the room to answer your questions.

7:00 How to use the varroa management tool, to make your own treatment decisions

7:30 Allan Storm: When do you start to prepare for overwintering?

A big concern for beekeepers at this time of year – after harvesting honey – is worrying about whether or not hives will survive the winter months.  There are several reasons why a hive may not make it to Spring and many of those are preventable.  Maryland’s winter seasonal changes can be hard for a beekeeper.  Weather extremes, hot and cold, can affect your bees survival.  So winter planning and management in advance is extremely important.  Many beekeepers say that preparing for winter starts in the summer season – the end of July and first part of August?  Why is this is a perfect time?  What tips may you want to consider to start winterizing your bees?  What can we do now that is best for the bees?  What resources do our bees need?  What about moisture and insulation?  So how can we ensure our bees stay warm and dry and with the correct resources?  How do we ensure our “Fat Bees” are healthy and are starting to build up virus free?  What are some of the bee behavior that we need to look for?  When do bees start to cluster and quit gathering resources?  How much honey do I need?  And when should I quit feeding?  Remember, it is important to keep your hives healthy and get an early jump on the winterizing process that will help your bees survive the winter.

A regular participant and speaker to Anne Arundel and neighboring bee associations, Storm keeps an assortment of, plus or minus, 50 hives which include Langstroth, Slovenian AZ, Layen, Warre and Top Bar.  Having traveled internationally, he has observed beekeeping methods in Japan, Korea, Spain, Thailand, the Balkans, and Turkey – culminating with studying with the Beekeeping Academy of Slovenia where he was first introduced to Slovenian AZ hives.  Now with over 16 years of “consecutive” beekeeping, here in Maryland as well as in Belgium.   He has completed University of Montana’s online Beekeeping Certificate program which consists of three university-level courses at the apprentice, journeyman, and master levels, culminating in a certificate as a “Master Beekeeper”  And as a veteran he has completed University of Michigan’s “free” on-line beekeeper’s course.  He belongs to the Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association, Bowie/Upper Marlboro Bee Association (BUMBA), and DC’s Bee Alliance (DC’s association of beekeepers) and enjoys teaching during their beginner classes.   He is also the Maryland Apiary Inspector for Anne Arundel, Calvert, St. Mary’s and St. Charles counties under the guidance of Cybil Preston, the Maryland State Apiary Inspector and will hopefully finish his Maryland Honey Judge apprenticeship after this year’s Maryland State Fair.

 

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June 21st, 2022 Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

AABA June 21st, 2022 Meeting

Join us for our June AABA Meeting! It will be held Tuesday, June 21st, 2022 at 6:30-9:00 PM at Arlington Echo.
6:30 President Ryan Smith: Open Hive Dive (weather permitting) or General Q&A
7:00 Valerie Wampler:  Rendering Wax:  Demonstration with Tips and Tricks
7:30: Break
7:40 Valerie Wampler:  An Introduction to Native Bees to include Anatomy, Forage, Nesting, Characteristics 

Hive Dive and/or General Q and A Discussion

Please bring your veil and protective gear if you are going on the hive dive.   This will be weather dependent.  There will always be beekeepers in the room to answer your questions.

Program

Valerie Wampler

Rendering Wax:  Demonstration with Tips and Tricks
An Introduction to Native Bees to include Anatomy, Forage, Nesting, Characteristics 

Valerie Wampler has been a beekeeper since 2014.  She started with 2 hives in the first year and is now up to 60.  She has served as the Howard County Bee Club Treasurer and has provided talks to various Maryland Bee Club organizations on topics such as Building Bait Hives and Making Splits as well as hosting training sessions on how to make hot and cold process soaps and lotion bars.  Valerie has also volunteered in many outreach events throughout Maryland and is honored to provide mentoring/support to Mission Beelieve. Valerie grows award winning Dahlias and is a American Dahlia Society Senior Judge

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May 17th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

May 17th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA May Meeting

Arlington Echo Nature Center Millersville MD

6:30 Hive dive and/or general Q and A discussion
***Please bring your veil and protective gear if you are going on the hive dive. This will be weather dependent. There will always be beekeepers in the room to answer your questions.

7:00 Candee Van Iderstine: Practical tips for making your hive inspections easier
A wonderful walk through various tools and hacks that work to make your beekeeping work more enjoyable and easier

7:30 David Dobbs: Shaking Bees: Why and How it’s done

Dave recently had the experience of shaking over 175 hives making 184, 3 lb packages with a commercial beekeeper. The video and pictures are from April 15th at Larriland Farm Mt Airy Maryland. Dave will show a video and walk us through the process and business side of this all day event.

Dave Dobbs

Dave has been a beekeeper for 7 years. Having flower and vegetable gardens prompted him to get into beekeeping for the pollination qualities.

After seeing an “undertaker Bee” throw a dead bee off the bottom board – Dave was hooked on the intricacies of honey bee biology and their social interactions.

He expanded his apiary to 8 colonies his second year and started producing honey and candles for sale. Being an equipment geek, Dave used his proceeds and started purchasing larger production extraction equipment and now has a “Honey House” with a full sideliner set up. He expanded to twelve colonies the next year and since then has had as many as 20.

Already having an LLC for his Cyber Security Consulting company called Baltimore Information Group (BIG), he expanded into another division calling it BIG Bee Apiary.

A lifetime teacher, Dave has shared what he knows about bees including: teaching a Life Science Course and starting bee colonies at a Montessori School, using his bee business as the case study for the Entrepreneur 101 course at AACC, supports 2-3 outreach events a year and submits 6-7 products to be judged at the Howard County Fair.

He also enjoys queen rearing, splitting, and collecting pollen. This year, he has a local scientific study determining active dates of the local honey flow of Western Howard County region using a procedure in Bee Culture Magazine. In addition, he is a member of the Howard County “Bee City Pollination Committee”, which supports the education and hands-on discussion of honey bee pollination in the county. He has a registered “Pollinator Garden” on his property and continues to expand it every year.

Dave has been very active in the Howard County Beekeepers Association starting with establishing the t-shirt committee, hosting bait box builds, mentoring 3-5 newbees every year, is the out-yard coordinator, has been Vice President and currently sits on the Board of Directors as Past President. Dave is currently working on becoming a Maryland Certified Honey Judge and is a candidate for the EAS Master Beekeeper certification having passed 2 of the 4 exams at last year’s convention.

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April 19th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

April 19th, 2022 AABA Meeting

This will be an in person meeting at the Arlington Echo Nature Center, Millersville MD.

6:30 President Ryan Smith, open hive dive at Arlington Echo  *** Bring your veils
7:00 David Clark, Skill:  How to wire wax foundation properly
7:30 Russell Sprangel, Raising queens using grafting

 


Russell Sprangel is the current Vice President of Howard County Beekeepers and the past President and VP of Carroll County Beekeepers.  He is very active in Carrol County over his five years as a beekeeper attending every meeting and almost every outreach event.  These events are  to educate the community on the benefits of beekeeping and supporting all pollinators.  He teaches during the beekeeping calendar in the clubs training Apiary, all any aspects of beekeeping students ask for.  Early in his second year of beekeeping he decided that queen rearing could not be the black magic everyone said, and you should not need 10 years of experience to do it.  So, with a little book learning, and no formal instruction, he jumped in to find what the fuss was about.  Turns out it is magical, but in a good way, and can be one of the most rewarding aspects of beekeeping even on the small backyard scale.

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March 15th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

March 15th, 2022 AABA Meeting

Tuesday, March 15, 2022
6:30 pm (Eastern Time)
 
Dewey Caron will present on Deadouts: (dead colonies have tales to tell) and Caring for Smaller, Weaker Colonies (to make them stronger)
 
 
6:30  Opening questions and answers moderated by President Ryan Smith
7:00 Club Announcements
7:05   Dr. Dewey Caron

Dr. Dewey Caron is  Emeritus Professor of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, Univ of Delaware, & Affiliate Professor, Dept Horticulture, Oregon State University.  He had professional appointments at Cornell (1968-70), Univ of Maryland (1970-81) and U Delaware 1981-2009, serving as entomology chair at the last 2.  A sabbatical year was spent at the USDA Tucson lab 1977-78 and he had 2 Fulbright awards for projects in Panama and Bolivia with Africanized bees. Following retirement from Univ of Delaware in 2009 he moved to Portland, OR to be closer to grandkids.

Dewey has been active with Eastern Apicultural Society, serving in many positions, including President and Chairman of the Board and Master Beekeeper Program developer and advisor.  Since being in the west, he has served as organizer of the Western Apicultural (WAS) Society annual meeting and President of WAS in Salem OR in 2010, and is currently member-at-large to the WAS Board.  Dewey represents WAS on the Honey Bee Health Coalition.

In retirement he remains active in bee education, writing for newsletters, giving Bee Short Courses, assisting in several Master beekeeper programs, and giving presentations to local, state and regional bee clubs.  He is author of Honey Bee Biology & Beekeeping, a major textbook used in university and bee association bee courses.  He has a new bee book, The Complete Bee Handbook published by Rockridge Press in 2020.  Each April he does Pacific Northwest bee survey of losses and management and a pollination economics survey of PNW beekeepers.

Dr. Dewey Caron is  Emeritus Professor of Entomology & Wildlife Ecology, Univ of Delaware, & Affiliate Professor, Dept Horticulture, Oregon State University.  He had professional appointments at Cornell (1968-70), Univ of Maryland (1970-81) and U Delaware 1981-2009, serving as entomology chair at the last 2.  A sabbatical year was spent at the USDA Tucson lab 1977-78 and he had 2 Fulbright awards for projects in Panama and Bolivia with Africanized bees. Following retirement from Univ of Delaware in 2009 he moved to Portland, OR to be closer to grandkids.
Zoom details:

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February 15th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

February 15th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA will host Steve Repasky who will be speaking on : Nucs in your Bee Yard: A Keystone to Sustainability

We will be discussing a variety of ways to produce, manage and utilize nucs in your own beeyard as a means of becoming sustainable and profitable.
This will be a zoom only meeting, credentials to the right.

Agenda:

6:30-7  President Ryan Smith moderates Q&A
bring your beekeeping questions for open discussion

7-8:30  Nucs in your Bee Yard: A Keystone to Sustainability
Stephen Repasky

Special welcome to all the new short course participants!
Stephen Repasky
A second-generation beekeeper, Stephen Repasky is a nationally recognized speaker, author and consultant from Pittsburgh, PA.  He is a certified Master Beekeeper through the Eastern Apicultural Society and is the current President of the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association, past president and co-founder of Burgh Bees, and a past member of the Board of Directors for the American Beekeeping Federation.  He is also an active member of the PA Queen Bee Improvement Project and is a member of the Penn State Center for Pollinator Research Advisory Board and the Pennsylvania State Apiary Advisory Board.  Stephen manages approximately 200 colonies (mostly as single brood chambers) in western Pennsylvania and is involved in honey production, queen rearing and the selling of nucleus hives each spring and summer to those interested in starting or expanding their own beekeeping adventure!
He also manages the apiary program at Pittsburgh International Airport where there are nearly 100 colonies used in honey production, research studies and queen production. Pittsburgh International is home to the largest apiary program in the country located entirely on airport property.
Stephen had his first book published by Wicwas Press in 2014 entitled ” Swarm Essentials” and can be found teaching beekeeping classes and workshops in the Pittsburgh area and presenting lectures on a variety of beekeeping topics at local clubs and many regional and national conferences around the United States.
Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: AABA February Meeting
Time: Feb 15, 2022 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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January 18th, 2022 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

January 18th, 2022 AABA Meeting

The meeting will be held ONLY via zoom.

AABA January Meeting will be held on Tuesday Jan 18. 
Our Invited speaker will be Pam Hepp on the basics of nutrition for all living things and how it applies directly to honey bees.

6:30 Q&A open discussion with President Ryan Smith
Bring your questions

7:00 Bee Nutrition – Pam Hepp

7:30  We will look at a few frames and discuss what we see.  A great exercise in to hear the “thinking out loud” from other beekeepers as they view frams.

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November 16, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

November 16, 2021 AABA Meeting

Meeting to be held live at Arlington Echo Education Center and via zoom.  In-person means no technical snafus.   We will try to zoom as best as possible.·    Remember to bring in your drivers license for the raptor system. 

We are changing the format this month because we have important club business to conduct.  It is time for the AABA yearly elections.   At this point, if you want this club to grow and thrive, everyone needs to step up to help.    You do not need experience, or be the ultimate bee expert to be involved and help a newer beekeeper.  Sign up to use our listserv so more people see and can respond to questions, comments.  Volunteer to give a 20-30 minute talk at the beginning of the meeting on something you use in your beekeeping.  Who is the next gadget king/queen?   If you are willing to do a longer 1 hour talk, speak to Kim Mehalick.  Let’s all learn from each other.  There is a lot of experience in this association.

6:30 Oxalic Acid: how to apply and properly use
Mark Dykes UMD Bee Squad
The fall/winter is the appropriate time to use one of the most effective phoretic mite treatments. 

7:00   AABA Business:  Ryan Smith AABA President
Financial Report, Elections, Volunteers, Education, Program
Report out on Fall beekeeping interest class  (Debbie Hewitt)
Short Course for New beekeepers (Debbie Hewitt)
Introducing and signup for  New Bee Class (Year 2 and beyond) (Kim Mehalick)

7:20   The Hive as a Superorganism
A Honey Bee Human:  Physiology of a Superorganism
Crystal Lehmanking, EAS Masterbeekeeper

8:20 Q&A:  Led by President Ryan Smith
Last week people were talking in the parking lot until 9:30.  We have to vacate the building  by 9:00, but someone will stay to answer questions until we all go home.

A Honey Bee Human:  Physiology of a Superorganism 
Each of our honey bees is a individual organism, yet the colony also functions like an organism of its own.  Taken as a whole, the biology of a honey bee colony bears an amazing resemblance to that of a warm-blooded mammal – even to the human body.  And beyond just an idea, thinking of the colony this way, as a “superorganism,” can bring clarity to our management decisions in the apiary.  This presentation explores a number of the parallels between a honey bee colony and human physiology.

Crystal Lehmanking, EAS Masterbeekeeper
Although Crystal grew up with several beehives by the orchard at her homeplace in southeastern Pennsylvania, she did not have colonies of her own until her father set her up much later with two nucs and Starting Right with Bees.  By this time she and her husband had a boisterous houseful of boys on their working farm in Somerset County, Maryland, an ideal setting for the apiary.  Having recently retired from her medical practice, she jumped into honey bee biology and has not stopped learning since then, savoring every detail of the bees’ wild beauty and ordered physiology.  Since then her colony count has peaked at just what can be visited in a day, with 10 to 15 hives at five locations. She has also been involved in her local beekeeping club and the Maryland State Beekeepers Association, with the added benefit of the University of Maryland and Beltsville labs within arms reach across the Chesapeake Bay.     In more recent years she has expanded her knowledge base with master beekeeping studies, both at Cornell (2020), and EAS (2021).  She  currently teaches graduate pathophysiology at Salisbury University and keeps very busy on the farm with her husband and grandchildren, a large garden, and music ministry at her neighborhood church.

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October 19th, 2021, AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

October 19th, 2021, AABA Meeting

TUESDAY October 19
6:30 Open Q&A
7:00 Preparing for winter, David Clark
7:30 Meet the Mite, Larry Truchon

This month’s meeting will be in person only at the Arlington Echo Education Center, our normal meeting
place. Please wear masks and practice social distancing. We also need to swipe a drivers license to get
into the meeting due to new rules from the County.

Meet the Mite by Larry Truchon

Varroa mites are the “single most detrimental pest of honey bees,” according to the USDA National Honey Bee Health Stakeholder Conference Steering Committee.  This presentation is about the biology of the varroa mite. Just as knowing the biology of the honey bee helps to make us better beekeepers, knowing and understanding the biology of varroa, helps us to battle them and be more successful in our beekeeping.

Larry Truchon is the past president of the Carroll County Beekeepers and also a member of three otherBeekeeping Associations. He was certified an EAS Master Beekeeper in 2016. Larry heads the CCBA annual Short Course and gives presentations to local bee clubs, other organizations, and the general
public. In 2019, he was the recipient of the George W. Imirie Award For Excellence in Beekeeping Education from the Maryland State Beekeepers Association. Mr. Truchon strives to keep his apiary self sustainable by rearing his own queens and overwintering nucleus colonies. Larry believes that knowing and understanding honey bee biology is a majorcomponent in being a successful beekeeper.

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