Regular Meeting Minutes - November 2011
Minutes of PBC Beekeepers
Date: November 4, 2011
Called to order: 7:07 PM
12 Visitors, 26 members (Not all signed in)
Guest Speaker: Mark McCoy
Mark has supplied the association with both honey and bees for the S FL Fair for years.
He was born into a commercial apiary. He has been keeping bees with his father since 1943.
He started a few hives of his own in 1980 and his business grew from there.
His calendar through the year:
January- Move hives to pollinate cucumber, watermelon, squash. Since 2008, he has been moving bees of California. He gets his supers off in January, makes sure hives are queenright and gets ready for California.
February- Gets bees to orange groves and puts supers on.
March- Bees are off to orange groves. Start grafting for queens usually around Valentine’s Day, if not too cold. He likes to mix the gene pool to bet better bees.
March-Making splits to get the numbers back up.
April- Later part of April and into May, Palmetto honey. Need to move bees from orange groves and extract honey.
From February to June-While making honey, also making splits from stronger hives.
Takes some bees to the Keys for Black Mangrove honey. Aerial spraying for mosquitos is very bad on bees.
June- A quiet month. Grafts queens.
July-Putting equipment together and takes a break.
August- Make more splits for Brazilian pepper honey
September-Bees moved for pepper honey, supered. This year, the pepper crop was disappointing. Most foundation is drawn on the pepper crop.
October-Grafting again, making nucs.
First week is December, finish extracting and clean-ups. Getting ready for California. No ants are allowed in the bee yards. There is a 5 ant limit at which point trucks are turned back out of the state.
Currently, Mark has about 4,600 hives. His goal is 5,000.
Pest Management-
Fire ants-Amdro-Spray Astro- Usually treat in June, then again in September.
Tip for finding queen- Look on an open frame, not with closed brood. Take it easy with the smoker. The queen will run to the side wall or bottom.
Containers: He gets his glass containers out of Pennsylvania. Always have 1lb, 2lb and honey bears. Also keep 5 lb jars on hand. If interested in purchasing containers, contact Mark McCoy.
Resume meeting:
Treasurer’s Report-Total funds (amount available at monthly meeting)
Beginner Basics- Next class at Pine Jog will have next Saturday, Nov. 12th. This includes a classroom presentation and a look at the observation hive. A sign-up sheet is in the back of the room, if interested.
T-Shirts- A special thanks offered to T. Macklin for design and K. Marcum for digitizing the shirts. Shirts are available tonight for $10. for all sizes. They were made and produced in the USA.
Name Tags- Still a work in progress.
Per Amendments to the consititution: Membership dues are payable in January. Members are to update their information when they renew.
Hospitality- One person is needed to ensure the room is in order and refreshments are available. Looking for a volunteer. Expenses will be reimbursed. Charlene volunteered for 6 months.
Welcome committee: Nedra Obradovich, not yet a member, volunteered and was accepted.
Elections-
The following were voted to the 2012 year board with 23 votes in favor of each and none against:
President: Jim Chapman
Vice President- Al Salopek
Treasuer: Sara White
Secretary- Alexandra Kaufman
The new board is invited to the next board meeting in December.
Outreach:
November 5, Wyland Living Green, Jim to coordinate
November 11,Learn Green Conference at Dreyfoos HS, Len and Jim to coordinate
South Florida Fair: Dates are January 13-29, 2012.
The Association must submit a volunteer list to the fairground for passes. More volunteers are needed. Sign-up sheet is being circulated.
Volunteers are needed to help Brendhan with the observation hives.
Palm Beach Beekeepers Conference- To be held at Pine Jog Environmental Center on April 14, 2012.
Kim Flottum is the guest speaker. Gary Ranker, head of the FSBA will present a session of moving from a hobbyist to a side-liner. Bud Grant has offered to be a resource. Jeannette Klopkin of Univ. of Fl. and Dr. Bill Kern of Ft. Lauderdale will also present. There will be a flat fee of $50, on a first come basis so members are encouraged to register early as space is limited. There will be 3-4 vendors on hand.
Electronic communication-Yahoo Groups: If members want minutes sent by mail, they must make sure that their information is current. The association has grown by 60-70 members and electronic mail is encouraged. Postage is very costly.
Palm Beach Polo and Country Club- Al Salopke shared that horse jumps are left on the grounds and are filled with bees. Al will do a cut-out in his yard next Saturday. He will supervise and you can keep the bees.
Class in Port St. Lucie- Michelle Peterson will be doing a class. If interested, coordinate with her.
FSBA- Is working to lobby for state control of allowing bees rather than municipalities.
Insurance: A question was raised as to whether members could buy a portion of group (association) insurance. Insurance to be researched.
December Pot Luck Holiday Dinner- Les will be coordinating. There is a sign-up sheet being circulated.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.