The South Western Ohio Beekeepers Association has invited us to attend their meeting this Wednesday.  Thanks to Yaser and SWOBA!

Speaker:  William H. Kern, Jr. Ph.D
Date: 26 Jan. 2022. Time: 7:30 PM (EDT) (Eastern Daylight Time – Cincinnati Time)
Topic: “ AHB and Florida’s BMPs for maintaining less defensive genetics".
Cost: Free
Where: Online through Zoom, please find the FB and SWOBA website links below.

https://fb.me/e/c505pScMw
Or
https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/meetings

Thank you!
Yaser Almusawy
President

South Western Ohio Beekeepers Association (SWOBA) 

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The Southern Iowa Hive Handlers have generously made their beginning beekeeping video series available to all.  To go to the Youtube link, click here.

______________________________________________

ECIBA Minutes from December 13, 2021

The meeting was started shortly after 6:30 by president Floyd Otdoerfer. Officers were introduced and several new members welcomed.

Treasurer’s report indicated a balance of $938.37.

Rachel Vakulich gave a report on her year as ECIBA honey princess. She shared her scrapbook she put together covering the past year’s experiences. Rachel was in the honey queen competition at the Iowa Honey Producer’s Association annual meeting. She described the competition as very close and competitive this year. Rachel plans to continue in her role the coming year as well.

Floyd explained the election of officers will be held in March. According to our by-laws, vice-president Joseph Klingelhutz will assume the position of president for two years. The secretary and treasurer positions will also be up for election. Floyd suggested that anyone interested in any position should contact the relevant officer to learn more about the requirements of the position. The by-laws are posted on our website under Membership (http://eastcentraliowabeekeepers.blogspot.com) or can contact secretary Jim Davis for a printed or electronic copy of the by-laws.

Report on Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting:

James Miller-- Due to COVID, some scheduled speakers were unable to attend, but he felt the sessions were still valuable. Andy Joseph, state apiarist, indicated the honey crop was better than last year. Disease across the state seemed to be less than some previous years, with a little chalk brood and European Foul Brood and nosema was less this season as well. He has been inspecting many bees heading to California. Bob Binnie was one of the main speakers. James said he has one of the better Youtube channels dealing with bees that is out there, having worked with bees for over thirty years. He spoke about the degradation of honey, that if kept pretty warm it will degrade most quickly, will crystallize if kept cool and will retain good quality indefinitely if frozen. Kayman Reynolds spoke as well, a beekeeper from Tennesee who also has some

good videos online. James talked about the youth scholarship program, which will help encourage young beekeepers by provding them with a complete hive set, including bees and tools, for young people aged 13 to 16. Jason Foley, the webmaster for IHPA, was elected president. James feels that he will help upgrade the website to make it much more user friendly, such as allowing online membership payments.

Joseph Klingelhutz-- Went to a session about the Master Beekeeping program, completion of which results in the attainment of Master Beekeeping certification. It is an extensive program and the nearest location for that is the University of Nebraska. Joseph also went to a breakout session about overwintering hives. A study showed a significant difference in colony survival if the hive was wrapped. Keeping the colony warmer resulted in less consumption of food stores. An overriding message Joseph felt he got from the conference was the management of varroa. Pollination services was also stressed. California is needing a million colonies for the almond industry, and beekeepers can get $200 per colony. The colony needs to meet fairly stringent requirements and, as Ed St. John, district IHPA representative, commented, will be inspected prior to leaving and in California as well.

Jim Davis reported on 2022 beekeeping classes, which are posted on the club’s web site. He also indicated members of the club participate in mentoring and encouraged anyone starting beekeeping to work with an experienced beekeeper. Other aspects of the club’s web site were shown, including where to post items one might have for sale and where to find information on package bees or nucs on the site.

Joseph Klingelhutz—Winter Bee Management Joseph demonstrated various methods of wrapping a hive, from roofing felt to stiff styrofoam. Top insulation is also very important, as well as providing adequate ventilation to control moisture in the hive. Mite treatments are critical, and Joseph showed a new OA vaporizer he recently purchased and likes the way it performs. Use of a respirator is necessary when using OA vapor. Randy Hahn pointed out that if wrapping with insulation, the double foil sided polysaccharide insulation is a very poor insulator in sub-freezing conditions.

Floyd Otdoerfer—Beeswax processing

Floyd had various items to demonstrate the way he processes wax. He likes to use a serrated bread knife and tries to take off as little wax as possible when he uncaps the honey. The cappings are then strained for a couple days through a screen, after which he places the wax in boxes on top of several hives to allow the bees to clean the rest of the honey off. The wax is then washed and dried and ready to melt. He places the wax in a porous bag, immersing it in a large pot which is brought to a steaming, but not boiling, temperature. The bag is kept near the bottom of the pot until all the wax it released and floats to the top. While still warm, he removes the wax and cuts off the bottom part, which has any remaining dirt or debris, and breaks the wax into chucks which are then ready to be melted for whatever purpose he wants.

Floyd held a drawing for several door prizes, and the meeting was ended shortly after 8 pm.

Thanks once more to Rob McCain for the use of their nice facility and to Matt and Patty Stewart for providing treats.

Next meeting: March 14, 2022

Agenda for December 13, 2021

 East Central Iowa Beekeepers Association

Agenda
December 13, 2021


Notice of Location Change:

We have a change in location for our December 13th quarterly meeting of East Central Iowa Beekeepers Association.  Instead of the Coralville Liberary, we will be meeting at Urban Acres Realty in Coralville. Urban Acres is easy to get to and there is ample parking and space.

To get to Urban Acres, at 250 Holiday Road in Coralville:

From I-80:  Take the First Avenue exit.  Go north on First Avenue.  Take the second exit off the roundabout onto Holiday Road.  Take the first left onto Holiday Ridge Lane.  Turn right immediately into the parking lot of Urban Acres.

From 6th Avenue in Coralville:  Turn north onto First Avenue.  Follow this across the I-80 overpass.  Take the second exit off the roundabout onto Holiday Road.  Take the first left onto Holiday Ridge Lane.  Turn right immediately into the parking lot of Urban Acres.

Please note:  Fully vaccinated people may attend without 

a mask.

  If you are not fully vaccinated, we ask that you wear a mask 

 to the meeting.  Thank you.

Meeting Time:  
Doors open at 6:00
Meeting from 6:30 to 8:00

--Introductions of officers, recognition of new members 

(Floyd Otdoerfer)
--Treasurer’s Report (Jean Stallman)
--Honey Queen Report (Rachel Vakulich)
--Discussion of election of officers
--Report on Iowa Honey Producers Annual Meeting 

(James Miller, Joseph Klingelhutz)
--2022 Beekeeping Classes, Mentoring 
--Bee equipment, package bees for 2022 (Jim Davis)
--Winter bee management (Joseph Klingelhutz)

--15 minute break--

--Processing Beeswax (Floyd Otdoerfer)
--Open Discussion
--Door prizes

Note: Beginning with the December meeting, we will plan

to have a table or an area set aside for members to 

bring items they want to sell or, instead of bringing

actual items you may write up a list of the items you 

would like to sell along with your contact information.

Special Thanks To Rob McCain of Urban Acres for making this 

facility available to us.

Jim Davis, Secretary ECIBA
http://eastcentraliowabeekeepers.blogspot.com
On Facebook:  East Central Iowa Beekeepers group

Participate in an online event sponsored by the South Western Ohio Beekeepers Association (SWOBA)

October 27, 2021.  6:30 Central time 

Speaker:  Dr. Michelle Flenniken

Topic: “ The impact of viruses on honey bees at the colony, individual, and cellular levels".
Cost: Free
Where: Online through Zoom, please find the FB link below.
Please, feel free to share the fb link with your local FB group!

https://fb.me/e/1eOGQg9j0
Or
https://www.swohiobeekeepers.com/m-27-october-2021

Special thanks to SWOBA president, Yaser Almusawy, for the invitation to their event.

Minutes from September 13, 2021

The meeting was held at Hilltop Shelter at S.T. Morrison park in Coralville. Approximately 20 members attended. The meeting was called to order by President Floyd Otdoerfer.

Officers were introduced.

New members introduced themselves and were welcomed to the club.

Jean Stallman gave the treasurer’s report. We currently have $912 in the bank. Jean reminded members that, due to COVID, we are counting 2020 and 2021 as one year as far as dues are concerned but members may pay dues at any time.

Our East Central Iowa Honey Princess, Rachel Vakulich, gave a report on her activities of the summer, which included attending the Johnson County Fair and the Iowa State Fair. Rachel is trying out for the position of Iowa Honey Queen, which involves demonstrating a thorough knowledge of bees as well as an ability to communicate with others about honey bees.

--Joseph Klingelhutz led a discussion about mite treatments and winter preparations. Methods discussed included Apivar and Apiguard, Formic Acid variants and oxalic acid sprays. Some methods, such as Formic Pro or MAQS can be used with honey supers on and are affective in killing mites within the capped cells. One needs to be mindful of temperature limits with some of these. Oxalic acid currently is legally limited to application without honey supers. It is very effective in killing mites that are moving freely within the hive. Joseph said he treats a couple times with oxalic acid, around Thanksgiving and then again later in early winter, when brood production is very low. Other treatments are applied in summer months. Oxalic acid may also be applied via dribble, but only in warmer weather. Protection against fumes from OA vaporization was stressed by several. “Is wood bleach ok to use or does one need to use pure oxalic acid? “ was a question posed. Consensus appeared to be that wood bleach works as well.

Joseph explained that winter preparation can include insulating the hive, providing ample food supplies, mite management, providing ventilation and working to control excessive moisture in the hive. James Miller suggested one reason for so many hives lost last winter was due to the fact that the bees will not leave the brood area, and so can starve even when there is ample food in adjacent frames.

Joseph demonstrated the shims he places above the frames on the top box, which have ventilation holes in them. In that shim he places a soundboard, which is very good at absorbing moisture. Insulation can then go on top of that. Members then talked about the ways in which they wrap hives. Charles Hoehnle uses polystyrene hives. Others wrap with tar paper or stiff styrofoam. Craig Aldrich talked about how the use of candy boards is integral in his winter setup and described his method of making them, which doesn’t involve cooking but simply adding enough water to the sugar to make a firm paste, which goes in a shim on top of one-inch hardware cloth covered by thin paper. Others suggested the Walter Camp method of simply putting sugar on top of newspaper on the frames.

--Floyd queried the group about the possibility of holding a swap meet day. At this time, with a relatively small turnout for the meeting, there was not a strong feeling for the need to have an event like this at this time.

--Johnson County Fair: Those who volunteered to work the fair expressed positive feelings about the event, in spite of the heat. They did feel the indoor location worked well and James Miller said he told the organizers that the site worked well, so hopefully we can get that spot again. Once more, thanks to those who gave time to serve at the event.

--Polly Ferguson asked about what to do about hive beetles. There are traps that can be used that uses a small bit of fruit or even cider vinegar with mineral oil to drown the beetles. Don’t allow the bees to have more space than they can defend to help keep the numbers down. Frames that are affected can be frozen or put in garbage bags to kill them.

--The use of queen excluders was brought up as a topic. Mixed reactions, though a general rule is there are good times to use them and other times when it’s better to not use them. James Miller said timing is very important, and putting them on once bees are building in the super, especially during a honey flow, is a good idea. Floyd emphasized they can be a valuable tool for isolating a queen.

--Honey production this year: most members felt honey production was down this season. Stewarts said their honey was “less than good.”

--Joseph talked about his experience trying some grafting this season. He had some success. He described his process. Floyd talked about the importance of pulling the old queen out and working quickly to get the new grafts into the queenless hive before they dry out. Charles described a method of cutting out a strip of young larva from a frame and attaching them hanging down on the top of a frame.

--Matt and Patty Stewart generously provided treats for the meeting. Yum!

The meeting ended around 7:30. Next meeting, if it can be held in person, will be December 13^th.

Also, if you go on Facebook, please visit our group presence at :

https://www.facebook.com/groups/376373703651116

or search on Facebook for East Central Iowa Beekeepers. This is a public group and you are invited to join. This is a good place to share ideas, ask questions and show off what you’re going with bees.

Respectfully submitted 9/14/2021,

Jim Davis, secretary