Minutes from June 3rd, 2023
The meeting came to order around 1:10. We first want to give a huge thank you to John and Nancy Brannaman, owners of the Lavender Farm at Sutliff, LLC, for hosting our event. We couldn't have asked for more, even to the hand-picked bouquets placed at each table. John and Nancy gave a summary of their life experiences and the farm, which features a new lavender planting as well as many other flower varieties. In addition, John has a sawmill and kiln, allowing him to cut and dry large wood slabs. Lavender will be in full bloom later this month and customers can pick their own. Their number is (515) 357-0054
--Joseph began a discussion about dues. This was brought up last meeting and the by-laws indicate a vote was needed today. The decision was to keep dues at $20 per household or reduce them. Jim Petersen asked if the club had a budget. Joseph replied that club officers recently drafted a budget and that will be shared before the next meeting. Questions were asked about what we spend money on and what the current balance is. The latter is somewhere around $1300 though our treasurer was not present to confirm. We spend money for speakers (typically $100 for a 30-45 minute presentation), county fair participation, reimbursing for conference and event fees for those who will attend and report back, supplies for events such as this (including $150 paid for the facility today) and essential business expenses, such as stamps, envelopes, etc. It was mentioned that the budget factors in these things as well as allowing for possible purchase of a larger item that could be shared by the group. Three things were mentioned that the officers had discussed--wax dipper to help protect hive bodies, an extractor, and an oxalic acid vaporizer. In addition to physical items, it was suggested we could pay more for a noted speaker, perhaps once a year. After further discussion of the pros and cons of items suggested, it was decided that this would be a topic for the next meeting. Slips were passed around for people to list their preferred items. An unedited listing of those suggestions is given below:
speaker fees, wax dipper; wax dipping tank, club apiary; shared extractor, $ for speakers, email listserv to exchange info, grants for young and new beekeepers; club apiary, wax dipper; sell used equipment, where to sell honey; queen breeding; extractor, vaporizer; speakers; speaker, field day; extractor, bulk supplies; wax dipper; well-known expert speaker, club bulk-buying, negotiating with suppliers; wax dipper; wax dip tank, tung oil dip tank, volume buying; wax dipper, extractor, sprayer/vaporizer.
A vote on dues was called and the vote to keep dues at $20 was passed, with no objections.
In discussion of dues, Shaun Webb wondered about the possibility of holding more meetings during the year. He suggested every other month. Having meetings without a scheduled speaker or activity was suggested, at which time people could socialize and talk about beekeeping. Additionally, having meetings in the spring and fall, to focus on management at those critical times, would be helpful. Erin Nelson suggested the possibility of a two-tier membership system, a social and a working membership. This will also be an item for discussion at our next meeting.
--Rachel Vakulich, our Iowa Bee Queen, and James Miller will attend the IHPA Field day later this month. James will be reimbursed for his event fee and will report on this day at the next meeting.
--Floyd Otdoerfer talked about how he sets up his nucs. He makes
sure to have two queen cells with each nuc. Floyd removes the
queen in order to push the colony into making queen cells. In
each nuc, he places three frames of brood, a frame of resources
and an empty frame. He pulls his queens out to begin the splits
in early May. He said he gets only about 25% that do not produce
a laying queen at the end of the month. Floyd also puts linseed
oil in the corners of his hives to discourage ants.
Floyd also demonstrated how he reapplies wax from melted cappings to a frame, using a brush. He emphasized that one has to work quickly since the wax will harden as it's being applied.
Getting queens developed and mated was part of the conversation. Going too long without a queen can result in laying worker bees. One way to avoid this, if the split did not make a queen after 16 to 20 days is to add another frame with young brood. This will help delay the impulse to develop laying workers.
The rest of the time was devoted to walking out to the apiary where Ed St. John, the IHPA representative for our district, led a thorough inspection of a colony belonging to Amanda Berns. Ed showed frames to the group, explaining what he was seeing regarding brood, resources, quality of frame and general hive layout. The super was already full, and ten frames were removed to be extracted. Samples of honey cut off the edges of frames were shared. The colony was a bit honey bound, as Ed explained how once bees emerged from their cells the worker bees were backfilling those cells with nectar. He moved frames around so there would be more space for the queen, which was elusive on this day, to be able to lay.
Ed pointed out rows of drone cells along the bottom of several
frames, and suggested that those could be scraped off, which would
help rid the colony of some mites, since they feed on the pupae of
drones.
Randy Hahn then demonstrated a model of an oxalic acid vaporizer
that works off a DeWalt battery. He first drilled a small hole in
the back of the hive to insert the tube on the vaporizer. He
demonstrated how to load up the appropriate amount of acid and
said the device needed to heat to over 400 degrees. Once it
reached that, he applied the vapors and the process took less than
a minute.
Jim Davis tested the colony Ed had examined for mite loads, using both a sugar roll and an alcohol wash. Bees were gathered off a frame from the brood chamber, making sure the queen was not present. Bees were shaken into a bucket, then half a cup (approx. 300 bees) were scooped and put in the respective containers, one for sugar roll and one with isopropyl alcohol. Both were shaken and both showed zero mites in the sampling. A threshold for treatment at this time of year would be one or two mites. In this case, no mites were detected with either method.
The group then returned to the meeting room, had refreshments (two kinds of honey lemonade, cookies, veggies and chips) and continued to talk, while some took a tour of the sawmill.Thanks again to all who attended and to our gracious hosts.
Submitted 6/04/2023 by Jim Davis, secretary
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