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.
Time to order bee packages or nucs!
Upcoming Webinars
Tuesday February 17th
“Small Scale Queen Rearing” with Erin Evans
Erin will discuss the basics of small scale queen rearing: timing, techniques, tips and tricks. This talk is designed for both beginning and intermediate beekeepers who want to develop their skills and increase control of their apiary.
Erin is an EAS Master Beekeeper and a sideline beekeeper based in Portland, Maine. She manages a mid-scale apiary consisting of approximately 75 colonies. Her operation emphasizes sustainable beekeeping practices, small-scale queen rearing, and nucleus colony management within a permaculture system. Erinemploys natural bee behaviors and instincts to enhance colony health and productivity. Her educational focus is on demonstrating sustainable management techniques for optimizing colony health in small to mid-scale operations.
Monday March 2nd
“Karen Thurlow – Who’s in Charge Anyway?”
As beekeepers, we make decisions that affect a large, complex organization: we provide executive guidance. Karen will speak about how she stays in rhythm with her bees, including timing, awareness, and observation, about learning to read subtle cues, knowing when to act, and responding in ways that keep her bees healthy and strong.
In many ways, we are the CEOs of our apiaries, very underpaid CEOs. Many of us do not work for money, but for honey. As the beekeeper-CEO of my apiary, my responsibility is not to control every action, but to create conditions in which my colonies can thrive. I need to know when to intervene and when to step back, sometimes allowing the collective wisdom of the hive mind to lead. Healthy colonies, like healthy organizations, can fail from over-management. They can also fail from neglect. The art of beekeeping lives in the space between those extremes.
Tuesday April 21st
“Seasonal Efficacy of Varroa Control Treatments” with Cameron Jack
In this lecture, Dr Jack will share some recent research relating to a large field study where eight different chemical treatments were tested against Varroa every season. Spoiler: some treatments are consistently better than others, but the efficacy can change by the season.
Cameron Jack is from a small farming community northeast of Las Vegas. His grandpa was a sideliner beekeeper, so Cameron grew up around honey bees and beekeeping. He traveled across the country to pursue a PhD at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. Jamie Ellis where he began investigating methods to control Varroa destructor a devastating honey bee pest. In 2018, Cameron was hired on as a teaching faculty at the University of Florida and has been obsessed with creating a premier educational program that prepares students for the many challenges associated with beekeeping. He currently teaches nine honey bee-related courses and has created an online beekeeping certificate program at both the undergraduate and graduate level. In 2021, he transitioned into an Assistant Professor position where he continues to teach and conduct research with his graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and many technicians focused on pesticides, pathogens and parasites that affect honey bees.