Maine State Beekeepers Association
We love honeybees - you should too
In 1987 Tony Jadczak, Maine’s State Apiarist and David Smith of Sparky's Apiaries, were featured on the Reading Rainbow television show The Life Cycle of the Honeybee. It is a a terrific educational piece. Kudos gentlemen. The segment where Tony appears begins at 5:55. The Life Cycle of the Honeybee from WVPT on Vimeo. Where does honey come from? And how is it made? … [Read more...]
Leave the bees alone and hope for a January thaw so the bees can have a cleansing flight. Register for the North American Beekeeping Conference & Tradeshow (ABF Annual Conference) January 10-14, 2012 Las Vegas, Nevada Reserve your spot for the Vermont Beekeepers Meeting on January 24th, 2012 Assemble and repair beekeeping equipment. Purchase new equipment if … [Read more...]
Provide upper ventilation. Remove mite treatments prior to wintering or wrapping the colony. Wrap colonies with tar paper or commercial wrap and provide with an insulating board or moisture absorbing material (Homasote) by Thanksgiving. Sell honey at craft fairs, etc. Read periodicals. This monthly post is adapted from "The Beekeepers … [Read more...]
Periodically, I have the opportunity to rediscover my beekeeping library. Usually these encounters happen during winter, but this July, opportunity knocked when Matt Scott stopped by. Matt was preparing a lecture on the history of Maine beekeeping for the Bridgeton Historical Society and was in need of references and hive patents for his talk. Maine has several noteworthy beekeeping authors and … [Read more...]
The past year presented several valuable lessons to beekeepers. For example: bees should be managed according to weather conditions and plant phenology, not calendar date; monitoring Varroa is crucial since mite populations can explode under certain circumstances; and the timing and choice of Varroa treatment can have variable outcomes. Also, reading pesticide labels is imperative! In … [Read more...]
by Geoff MacLean The University of Southern Maine campus was all a buzz on Saturday October 16th as beekeepers from across Maine swarmed Hannaford Hall the Abromson Center for the second Maine State Beekeepers Association Annual Meeting of 2010 hosted by the York County Beekeepers Association. Last spring, the MSBA Board decided to move the annual meeting from late spring to mid-fall in the … [Read more...]
The 2010 honey harvest is complete and many beekeepers report a good summer crop and a disappointing fall harvest. In many areas of the state the honey flow shut off like a spigot during the early part of August due to the drought conditions during the summer. Plants resumed nectar production after some late summer rain, but it was too little, too late. In general the goldenrod honey flow didn’t … [Read more...]
True to form, “March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb”. Honey bees were gathering pollen in the southern half of the state during the last week of March when temperatures reached the upper 50’s and lower 60’s. The sight of incoming pollen is possibly as welcome to northern beekeepers as it is to the bees. During April, bee management concerns monitoring the … [Read more...]
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Members of the Maine State Beekeepers Association are indicated with a bee icon … [Read More...]
This document is intended as a reference and standard for honeybee management in Maine, with particular emphasis on urban/suburban … [Read More...]
Annual Bee Schools are sponsored by Local Chapters, Adult Education Programs, and sometimes in cooperation with the County Extension Service. These … [Read More...]
Fall Finale
Maine beekeepers are on the “home stretch” for the 2011 season. By mid-October, colonies with queen issues should have been united or culled, had Varroa treatment, and fed sugar syrup when needed. Fortunately, most hives have heavy brood nests and large populations of young, fat, fuzzy bees this fall. Varroa populations are low and symptoms of viral infections are minimal in contrast to this … [Read more...]