MSBA Annual Meeting & Conference 2022
University of Maine at Augusta on Saturday, October 15th
Speakers at this year’s conference are Dr Thomas Seeley, author of several books on honey bee behavior and professor of Biology in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University. Dr Lewis Bartlett is a faculty research scientist at the University of Georgia between the departments of Entomology and Ecology. He works on infectious disease and parasite control alongside honey bee biology and health. Maine State Apiarist Jennifer Lund will also present “State of the State”, a review of her observations over the past year of travel around Maine and a summary of the 2021-2022 Beekeepers Survey.
The Annual Meeting conference is an all-day gathering of beekeepers from all over the state, featuring speakers of national reputation, vendor booths, buffet luncheon, honey tasting contest and a short business meeting. Proceeds are used to support members in several ways: printing and mailing of the Bee Line newsletter; Webinar Zoom account and speaker fees; MSBA and chapter websites maintenance/hosting; and contributions to the EAS Foundation for Honey Bee Research.
Awards for MSBA Beekeeper of the Year, Junior Beekeeper of the Year and Lifetime Achievement are presented at the meeting.
2022 PROGRAM:
8:00 – 8:50 – Registration/vendors, raffle ticket sales
8:50 – 9:00 – Welcome by MSBA President Judith Stanton
9:00 – 10:30 – Dr. Lewis Bartlett: “How Do Bees Wash Their Hands? Hydrogen Peroxide in the Hive.” Bees work very hard to try and keep their hive clean and disease free, especially when it comes to protecting their precious and vulnerable larvae. In this lecture, we’ll cover some of the unique biology honey bees have that helps them protect against bugs both small and big, and new research updates from my lab group on how honey works so well as an antimicrobial.
10:30 – 10:45 – Break
10:45 – 11:30 – Dr. Thomas Seeley: “Behavioral Wonders of Honey Bees.” Four to five short stories about honey bee behavior will be shared based on a chapter from a book which has been submitted for publication titled Bee Works: Solving 20 Mysteries of Honey Bee Behavior.
11:30 – 12:00 – Business Meeting, excellence in beekeeping awards, board of director elections.
(meet the nominees here)
12:00 – 1:15 – Lunch
1:15 – 1:45 – Jennifer Lund, Maine State Apiarist “State of the State Address”
1:45 – 2:00 – Break; last raffle ticket sales
2:00 – 3:30 – Dr. Lewis Bartlett: “Managing Parasites in the Hive: Old Techniques and New Frontiers.” New studies on how best to beat parasites in the colony are coming out every year – what basic principles can we always rely on, what works where and what doesn’t – and what new efforts are on the horizon? We’ll focus on updates about organic and synthetic Varroa control EPA labels, oxalic acid, and more.
3:30 – 5:00 – Honey Tasting Contest awards, raffle winners, and closing
An archive of past Annual Meetings can be viewed here.
