Welcome to MSBA

MSBA is a non-profit membership organization of beekeepers in Maine, dedicated to education, using best practices and honey bee health. Affiliated with local chapters throughout the state, MSBA also works with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry to promote the honey bee, products of the hive and initiatives to support beekeepers.ย 

Andrew Cote
Beekeeping School

PLEASE GO TO BEE SCHOOL
BEFORE YOU GET BEES

Acquiring some basic but essential skills is critical to becoming a successful beekeeper. โ€œBee Schoolโ€ will get you off to a great start. In-person courses run for varying lengths from January through April, all over the state. There are also some online classes.

โ€œ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜บ ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ ๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ.โ€ โ€” Andrew Cotรฉ

Paul Kelly 2023
Paul Kelly

MSBA Annual Meeting 2023

The conference is on Saturday, October 21st at Bucksport Middle School. There will be ten vendor booths, a buffet luncheon, raffle auction and honey tasting contest. Speakers will be Paul Kelly, manager of the Honey Bee Research Centre at the University of Guelph, and state food inspector Sierra Shaw. State Apiarist Jennifer Lund will deliver her โ€œState of the Stateโ€ address. Registration is $45 and attendees must be members of MSBA (annual dues $15) except for those who come as a member's guest. Click below to register.

Comb Honey

"Comb Honey" with Anne Frey

Our final webinar of 2023 will feature "Comb Honey" with Betterbee's Head Beekeeper Anne Frey on Monday, November 6th at 7 pm. Anne says "If you want to make comb honey, it can be done without major colony disruption, and also without expensive special equipment." She'll go over the simplest ways to produce small batches, as well as Ross Rounds and Hogg Halfcomb systems, and cover how to gauge the nectar flow and your colony strength for best comb honey results. Click below for the link to the Zoom meeting.