Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association

June 20th, 2020 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

June 20th, 2020 AABA Meeting

Dear Anne Arundel County Beekeepers,
We are going to do a zoom meeting, to try and catch up with each other this upcoming Tuesday from 7-9, since we have missed several meetings and the conclusion of the short course.  Zoom may be new to some of you, so please read the how to use Zoom section at the end.

Our topic is twofold  “Dearth is coming” and “Preparing for winter bees”. This will be given by group members Kim Mehalick and David Clark.

We will start at 7:00pm, and will follow the talk with a chance to do an open session.
We will end by 9pm.

This is a good opportunity  and perfect time to discuss  steps beekeepers should take during dearth. The nectar flow is slowing down and will end in some areas very soon.  Dearth beekeeping is different than dealing with the happy hives of April and May.  Learn some hints on keeping things easier on you and your bees.

Meanwhile this is a critical time to prepare your bees for winter success.  August 1 is the beginning of the bee year in Maryland.  The steps you take now will help your hives to be stronger, and better prepared for winter.

The DC Beekeepers Alliance is loaning us their zoom account.  The Zoom Room will open 30 minutes before the scheduled agenda. We strongly recommend that new users get an early start to learn the tool and deal with glitches.

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August 17th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

August 17th, 2021 AABA Meeting

Our next meeting is Tuesday August 17th

6:30  Q and A with President Ryan Smith.  Open discussion, bring your questions and observations
7:00 Clyde Strang, EAS Masterbeekeeper: Wax Moth
7:30 Bill Hingst  “Making Mead the Supercharged Way”
https://aabees.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Mead-Supercharged.pdf

Making Mead the Supercharged Way

It is said that to make mead all you need is honey, water, yeast, and time.

That’s true, but there’s a better way. There are basic rules of “country” winemaking which served me well for many years.I handled honey like I would any other fruit that came my way. It wasn’t the traditional method for making, but it turned out to be an award-winning process.

My first batch of mead took five years to turn from undrinkable to ambrosia.That’s a typical timeframe for meads.Some competitions require meads be at least five years old to be eligible to even enter, although most only require meads to be one or two years old.

That first batch won blue ribbons from the Delaware Beekeepers Association, Maryland Beekeepers Association, and the Eastern Apicultural Society. I refined the process over the years, producing winners in just two or three years. Then I was called to assist a local university yeast professor who wanted to produce a commercially saleable mead in 90 days using wild yeasts collected from the bodies of honey bees.  It was a failure, but I adopted his method of “pushing the yeast” for quicker fermentation.

On the eve of the first mead competition of the season my experimental mead tasted pretty good to me, so I bottled it as well as another batch that was a proven winner.  My fellow mead makers tasted both and they all said to go with the winner. I entered my one year old instead. That mead won blue ribbons at the DBA, MSBA, and EAS competitions that year.

I’ll be teaching that method, via Zoom, during the August meeting of the Anne Arundel Beekeeping Association.

Bill Hingst, Beekeeper
I’m not much of a beekeeper but an award winning wine and mead maker.

I got into beekeeping because I needed a sugar source if Western civilization crumbled. Bartering alcohol for the necessities of life seemed like a no-brainer — and my wines will be more popular than ever. Not long after I took my first beekeeping class I harvested 40 pounds of honey from a dead out in a fallen maple tree. The property owner wasted his 20 pounds of honey by cooking with it, adding it to tea, etc. I turned my 20 pounds into mead.

Beekeeping is hard and there is no guarantees of a payoff in honey. Removing unwanted beehives from buildings is easy.  You get free bees, free honey, and you’ve made some homeowner very happy. I’ve rescued over 1 million animals between removing hives and catching swarms. Tiny stinging animals, but they count. Bees in a building have survived viruses and varroa mites without the help of a beekeeper. They’re made of sterner stuff than the bees from Georgia, and I want them to go forth and multiply. I encourage the really strong hives to swarm, and hopefully repopulate the woods around the area. I don’t harvest honey from my survivor bees and don’t bother them much. Let nature take its course.

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July 20th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

July 20th, 2021 AABA Meeting

Join us at the  AABA meeting on Tuesday July 20th to learn about Mission Beelieve, followed by how to prepare a winning honey show entry.

The honey show season is up on us.  Learn tips and tricks on how to prepare wining honey show entries.  Our state fair is open this year, so are various county fairs.  Also the MSBA honey show is ON for this year.   Win some prize money!

6:30 President Ryan Smith moderates Open Questions and Answers and a discussion of what we are seeing in our hives.

7:00 Tristan Bannon and Monica Schmitt-Rutledge:  Mission Beelieve

Celebrating their first year in operation, Mission Beelieve is using beekeeping to help first responders and veterans.  Learn more about their organization and how you can help.

7:30 Monica Schmitt-Rutledge:   How to have winning Honey Show Entries

Monica Schmitt co-founder and director of Mission Beelieve is also the vice president of the Carroll County Beekeepers Association.  She competed in the Extracted Honey Division (280 total entries) in the EAS Honey Show and won the Best in Show Silver Plate for her locust honey.

Monica will offer guidance on how to prepare your honey show entries for success

Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: AABA meeting: July 20th, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86882396102?pwd=K29yTmloTXRhZGN0ay80ME0wTmE0Zz09
Meeting ID: 868 8239 6102
Passcode: 483237

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May 18th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

May 18th, 2021 AABA Meeting

Our next AABA meeting will be held on May18th.

6:30  Open Q and A with President Ryan Smith.  This is an opportunity to ask your questions and get input from fellow club members.

7:00  Lessons learned from the MCBA Training Apiary, Maureen Jais-Mick
Maureen Jais-Mick, Manager of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association Bee Yard, will speak on “Lessons from the MCBA Training Apiary,” including the yard’s purposes, apiary beekeeping philosophy, legal requirements, bee yard rules, and day-to-day management.

7:30 Beekeeping in Europe, Allan Storm
Storm will provide a discussion about beekeeping in Europe.  By late Middle Ages, beekeeping was well established in Europe due to the demands for wax and candles by the church.  Almost every region had its traditional form of housing for bees.  Some had hinged doors or open backs that could be covered until time to remove honey.  He will also talk about some of the European regulations and how they manage the threats of honey bee health, hive management, and honey quality control.

Maureen Jais-Mick is a member of the Montgomery County Beekeepers Association and has been a beekeeper since 2013. In 2018, she was tasked with managing the Club’s apiary in Wheaton MD. Since then, she has overseen upgrading of the facilities and also increasing learning opportunities at the yard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allan Storm:  As an avid connoisseur of honey, I have been fascinated by honey bees and beekeeping since my childhood.  I have traveled the world and been extremely blessed to have seen so many various ways of managing honey bees and tasted honey.  However,  it wasn’t until I settled down in Maryland, after retiring from the U.S. Marine Corps and returning from a DoD civilian job overseas, that I befriended a local beekeeper who starting mentoring me as I got my own hives.  He provided me “Beekeeping For Dummies” and my own beekeeping adventure began.  Besides keeping bees in Maryland, I have also kept bees in Europe, Belgium, where I started learning the science of beekeeping.  I have traveled and worked with bees in Spain, the Balkans and Turkey – where 1 in 200 people are beekeepers in Slovenia. The etymology of “Balkan” as a Turkish combination of “bal” meaning blood and “kan” meaning honey.  I have studied at the Beekeeping Academy of Slovenia and now have bees within Slovenian AZ hives.  I have completed the 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”.   I also attended the 1st honey sensory training course taught by the Italian National Register of Experts in Sensory Analysis of Honey; developing methods of sensory analysis to taste and evaluate honey at an academic level.   And completed the 1st course in Natural Beekeeping taught by the University of Montana – integrating honey bee ecology into modern beekeeping.  With close to 50 hives I continue to enjoy the art, science and challenges of beekeeping.

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April 20th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

April 20th, 2021 AABA Meeting

Our next AABA meeting will be held on April 20.

6:30  Open Q and A with President Ryan Smith

7:00  Mike Mehalick presenting on “What to consider before popping the top”.

This is a discussion of considerations before you do the hive inspection, and first steps to making your hive inspections a success. Mike Mehalick has been keeping bees since 2012. He, his wife Kim and son James keep about 30-60 hives on their property and various outyards as part of their apiary “The Queen’s Honey”.  His favorite beekeeping activity- catching and marking newly mated queens from his own queen rearing experiments.

7:30  Dr. Keith Delaplane speaking about Honey Bee Polyandry and Why It Matters to Beekeepers

Keith Delaplane started keeping bees while he was growing up on his family corn, soy, and hog farm in Indiana. He pursued this interest in grad school at LSU under the mentorship of Dr. John Harbo who was a co-developer of the Varroa Sensitive Hygiene line of honey bee. Keith assumed his current post as Professor of Entomology at the University of Georgia in 1990 where he and his students study social evolution, honey bee IPM, pollination, and foraging ecology.

Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: AABA April Meeting
Time: Apr 20, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 851 5106 2204
Passcode: 744265
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Meeting ID: 851 5106 2204
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March 16th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

March 16th, 2021 AABA Meeting

Record Keeping for the Backyard Beekeeper

Keeping good records is something we know we should do but don’t always manage to do it. Tracking the health of your hive and the actions you took in previous inspections can help you make the right decision for managing the health and productivity of your bees. Jan will share methods of keeping track, provide brief reviews of some online tools/apps that some folks find helpful, and share sample inspection sheets for attendees to try.

Jan Poston Day is in her eighth year as a beekeeper on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She is Vice President of the DC Beekeepers Alliance and active in BUMBA.  Jan recently launched a honey and beeswax candle company called Second Story Honey.

Methods of Splitting Hives & Swarm Preparation

During the months of April & May in Maryland we enter the prime time for making splits and capturing swarms. This discussion will cover hive splitting methodologies for creating new hives and preventing swarms. We’ll also discuss swarm response and options for swarms post-recapture.

Charles DeBarber is the Animal Caretaker at Baltimore City’s Filbert Street Garden. At Filbert Street Garden he manages Maryland’s largest community garden beeyard encompassing 25+ hives. He is known as a local “swarm chaser” in the region capturing feral bees each spring.

Zoom meeting Details:
Anne Arundel Beekeepers Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: March AABA monthly meeting
Time: Mar 16, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 867 8609 0461
Passcode: 501431
One tap mobile
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+16465588656,,86786090461#,,,,*501431# US (New York)
Dial by your location
        +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
        +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
Meeting ID: 867 8609 0461
Passcode: 501431
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcBLNsjK82
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February 16, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

February 16 AABA Meeting

We are excited to have a wonderful meeting planned.  We will start our meeting with Q&A followed by a nice presentation from Dr. Rebecca Krimins on how to continue your beekeeping education.  Our keynote speaker is the highly entertaining and educating Dr. Sammy Ramsey.

FEB 16, 2021 AGENDA (Zoom Meeting)

6:30pm Q&A with President Ryan Smith
7:00 pm Dr. Rebecca Krimins:  “Are You Maintaining Your Honey Bee Education?”
7:28 pm Drawing for a free signed copy of Bee Optimism: Translational Research Can Rescue Honeybees and Other Pollinators by Dr. Jay Evans.  This gift is offered by the author, who leads the USDA Bee Research Laboratory in Beltsville MD.  Drawing will be done using a random number generator, since we are meeting online.
7:30 pm   Dr. Samuel Ramsey: “Varroa destructor Feeds on Bee Blood and Two Other Alternative Facts”.

Rebecca KriminsDr. Rebecca Krimins:  “Are You Maintaining Your Honey Bee Education?”
Rebecca will speak to AABA members and discuss educational options available to beekeepers that can grow their education and why beekeepers should be using at least one of these mechanisms (and preferably all of these mechanisms) to improve their skill level. Rebecca is the current AABA librarian.

Dr. Rebecca A. Krimins is a resident of Anne Arundel County and became interested in beekeeping while in graduate school.  However, due to time constraints and multiple international moves, she had to push off her pursuit of beekeeping until she settled in Anne Arundel County and became a member of AABA, signing up to take her first short course in 2017.  Since then, she has enjoyed backyard beekeeping with two hives located in Edgewater, Maryland.  During her day job, Rebecca is a veterinary anesthesiologist and Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Dr. Samuel RamseyDr. Samuel Ramsey: “Varroa destructor Feeds on Bee Blood and Two Other Alternative Facts”.
Dr. Samuel Ramsey  will speak on “Varroa destructor Feeds on Bee Blood and Two Other Alternative Facts”. Varroa destructor feeds exclusively on the hemolymph (or blood) of immature bees. It’s considered to be such an obvious fact that it often goes without citation now in scientific papers. But there is very little if any experimental support for this universally accepted conclusion.  Dr. Ramey’s thesis work, in partnership with the USDA and Project Apis m, has shown that Varroa are actually feeding on a very different tissue, the fat body, leading to a diverse combination of health impacts that have never been fully explained by feeding on hemolymph alone. With a better understanding of how this parasite impacts its host, we can develop novel forms of control and new methods to remediate the health issues common to infected colonies.

 

 

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January 19th, 2021 AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

Jan 19th AABA Meeting

Tuesday Jan 19th   –
6:30 Open Discussion, and Q&A  led by President Ryan Smith
7:00 Mike Halbig – My Journey through  Bee Literature
7:30 Did You ever want to try commercial beekeeping?  Fred and Daniel Smith


Fred and Daniel Smith:

Fred and Daniel Smith are 3rd and 4th generation commercial beekeepers in western Maryland.  They operate roughly 600-700 hives doing pollination in WV, VA, MD and DE on crops like blueberries, cherries, apples, watermelons, and cucumbers.  They also pack and produce roughly 2000-3000 pounds of honey every year.  All this is done with Fred working a full-time job and Daniel pursuing a bachelors degree at the University of Maryland and working at the UMD Bee Lab.

 

Mike Halbig:

Mike Halbig has lived in Annapolis for nearly fifty years.  Retiring from the Naval Academy  in 2012, he started beekeeping shortly thereafter under the guidance of Lloyd and Doris Luna, with the AABA Beekeepers.  He’s a lifetime member of EAS and has attended EAS annual meetings in West Chester PA, Newark DE, Hampton VA and Greenville, SC where in 2019 he made his first attempt at the EAS Master Beekeeping Exam (1 for 4).  He’s has worked in Denis vanEngelsdorp’s lab at the University of Maryland and Jay Evans’s lab at the Agricultural Research Service.   His readings in the immense beekeeping literature have been somewhat circuitous and elliptical; tonight he’d like to talk about his favorite books along the way.  He keeps two colonies in his small backyard in downtown historic Annapolis.

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December 15, 2020, AABA Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

December 15th is our next AABA meeting.  Remember to set aside the third Tuesday of every month.

6:30 Q and A moderated by President Ryan Smith  all welcome

7:00 David Schultz will offer our Skills demo : Ventilation Boxes

Learn how David Schultz uses Ventilation boxes year round in his hive management.  He will discuss design considerations, and implementation

7:30 Keynote Talk “Honeybee Hive Infrared Thermography”.

In David’s presentation “Honeybee Hive Infrared Thermography” He will explore honeybees through the infrared light spectrum. He will show how the sun and our bees influence the honeybee hive and how we as beekeepers may be causing unintended impact to our colonies. He will also reveal tips and techniques that will help those of you using IR cameras in your apiaries to interpret your images.

 

David Schultz

David began keeping bees with his wife in 2014 and has grown his apiary to over 20 colonies located at his homeyard and several outyards. For the past several years David has been teaching, with his mentor Philip Krista, the Honeybee Outyard Continuing Education group meetings held weekly teaching hands on beekeeping skills and helping to mentor new beekeepers. In 2019 David started his journey to become an EAS Master Beekeeper. David has been active in the Howard County Beekeepers Association and is the past Vice President and current President of the club.

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Tuesday November 17, 2020 AABA Online Meeting

AABA Events
07
Jul 2023

Tuesday November 17
6:30 meeting open discussion begins, all welcome
7:00 Winter Feeding for Bees, Debbie Hewitt
7:30 Observing Honey Bees at Home  Frank Linton, EAS Masterbeekeeper

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83546369592?pwd=dHJVOUF0V0NkUXlONHpVYnFpNlRZQT09

Meeting ID: 835 4636 9592
Passcode: 577983
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Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C)

Meeting ID: 835 4636 9592
Passcode: 577983
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc4MpDHlB6

Observing Honey Bees at Home
You cannot be a good beekeeper if you don’t know much about bees. And it is hard to learn much about bees when they are hidden away in an opaque wooden box in a far corner of the yard. What to do?

One possibility, one I learned a lot from, and recommend, is to keep a small colony in a glass hive in your house, an observation hive. I kept an observation hive in the room where I spent a lot of time, and every time their tone changed, I took a look.

I saw more in a year than many backyard beekeepers see in a lifetime. And every year is different. In this talk I will show you how to keep bees in an observation hive and provide several examples of the ‘learning opportunities’ that the bees gave me.

Frank Linton, Ed.D, retired artificial intelligence engineer, and Research Associate at Appalachian State U., has kept honey bees since 2005. An EAS-Certified Master Beekeeper, one of his main interests is in finding ways to use remote sensing technologies to monitor and improve honey bee colony health and productivity.

Author of The Observation Hive Handbook, maintainer of the websites thebeepeeker.com and colonymonitoring.com, contributor to beekeeping magazines, invited speaker at beekeeping associations and civic groups, and mentor to new beekeepers, Frank runs a few hives near his urban apartment and invites swarms of honey bees to take up residence on his balcony.

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