Author: dan

Long time club member Ron Putman will discuss the swarm prevention technique known as checkerboarding.

Our next regular meeting (December 5th is the holiday dinner potluck at Dan’s house) will be January 2nd. Master Craftsman Beekeeper, Cindy Hidges, will discuss the importance of propolis.

2021 Georgia Beekeeper of the Year and accomplished builder, Kathy Bourn, will present Going Long, all about horizontal hives of various types.

Georgia Zumwalt is a Master Photographer & Certified Beekeeper from Jackson County GA. She serves the beekeeping industry as Secretary of the Georgia Beekeepers Association and President of the Northeast Georgia Mountain Beekeepers Association. She serves as a photographic educator, a State Representative for the elite American Society of Photographers, and runs the physical print division of the International Photographic Competition for the Professional Photographers of America. She’s had a camera attached to one hand and a coffee cup attached to the other for over 30 years and in 2018 she decided to periodically set the coffee cup down in order to manage a bee smoker. She began her photography career in the late 1980’s. One of her first professional jobs as a photographer was for the California Optometric Association. She was asked to photograph Folsom Prison (yep, the same one Johnny Cash sang about) for a story about the prisoners’ role in eyeglass production. Over the years her work has been used by the National Audubon Society, Estée Lauder, Kubota, FleishmanHillard and, as of 2021, her work is featured in the GBA “Save the Honey Bee” license plate campaign.

Dr Kate Ihle, is a Research Molecular Biologist at the ARS Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics & Physiology Lab in Baton Rouge, LA. She  will share some of their preliminary research results on social apoptosis and varroa mite resistance as well as introducing us to the other work they do at the lab.

This meeting will be in person with Dr Ihle Zooming in.

Harold Lanier is a Georgia Journeyman Beekeeper and a member of our club. He operates Lanier Bee Barn right up in Commerce GA, where he teaches hands-on classes in beekeeping as well as offering equipment, packages and nucs for sale. Tonight he’ll be speaking to us about beekeeping equipment.

Georgia master Beekeeper, Brutz English, will discuss First Quarter Management of your hives. This is a critical time for honey bees in our climate.

This is a late posting. We had Tom Seeley discussing Bait hives (swarm traps). We met in person and he was on the big screen.

Hives on The Move!

Learn how to prepare hives, move them up to the mountains for Sourwood Honey and extract it.

Mary Lacksen is a UGA Journeyman Beekeeper. BeeCo Apiaries is a sideline bee business with a focus on nucleus hives and queen production. The hives are located in Hancock County Georgia and in late June move to North Carolina for the sourwood flow.

Our goal is to raise healthy bees. Since 2012, I have been involved with the Lake Country Beekeepers Association and manage the observation hive at the Sparta-Hancock County Library. My mentor, Bruce Morgan used to call me a ‘bee-haver”, but now calls me a beekeeper. Teaching, learning and working with other beekeepers is all part of this beekeeping journey. I am honored to be asked to talk with your group.