June 13th Field Day

 East Central Iowa Beekeepers Association will be holding our 4th summer field day on June 13th.

When: June 13th, from 10 AM to approximately 12:30

Where:  3326 Ridgewood Country Court NE, North Liberty 

(click here for a map)

 What to bring: lawn chairs, a friend and $$$ for the silent auction! Also, protective gear for getting close to bees.

Who can come: This event is free and open to anyone interested in learning about bees.  Non-members are welcome and do not need to pay membership dues to attend.

RSVP:  A form is being sent out to club members to indicate how many will be attending.  Non-members can rsvp by commenting at the bottom of this page . Please leave your name and number in your party.  Parking is somewhat limited so ride sharing is encouraged. Please rsvp by June 8th if you plan to attend.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Agenda:

🐝Introduction and welcome

🐝Group 1: Ellen Bell on queen rearing and grafting demo (See info about Ellen below)

      Group 2:  Hive inspection/mite check/OA vapor demo possibilities

🐝 Break--refreshments, silent auction

🐝 Swap groups

🐝 Wrap up, conclude silent auction

Ellen Bell

Ellen is a well-known and respected beekeeper from central Iowa.  They own Bell Farm, a 10 acre farm 12 miles SE of Des Moines where they raise chickens and upwards of 500 bee colonies.  Ellen raises and sells bees and queens and teaches numerous classes on beekeeping.

Silent Auction

During the event, we will be holding a silent auction.  To see more information about this activity, please follow this link.  The list on that page may not include all of the equipment that may be available to purchase.  This is a chance to buy some good equipment at a terrific price.

Silent Auction

 At our June 13th Field Day, we will be holding a silent auction from items that have been donated by former members  who have moved on from beekeeping.  While we're sorry to see them go, we appreciate the donations.  All proceeds will go to ECIBA.

How this will work:

Bidding sheets will be present for each item. To bid, simply sign your name and list the amount you would spend on the item.Starting bids will be very low (as little as $1!),  because we'd love to have members get a good deal and we want to have all these things have a new home and put to good use.

A final bidding time will be announced.  After that, those with the highest bid on an item may purchase it.

Payment can either be in cash or check made out to East Central Iowa Beekeepers.

To see a list of the items we will be auctioning, click here.

Look here as well as on our Facebook page for updates about the field day.  We will be having a form to indicate your plans to attend so we can get a good idea about numbers.  

Hope to see you there!

Minutes from April 13th, 2026

 

--President Joseph Klingelhutz began the meeting by introducing the club officers. Kathy Davis filled in for Diane Kulhman today as treasurer.

-- New members/visitors were recognized and introduced. Welcome!!

--Treasurer’s report: We have a balance currently of $2,499.07. Joseph reminded members that dues help pay for speakers, events such as our summer field day and other expenses. Kathy passed around the membership list for people to add phone numbers (optional) and for new members to add their contact information.

--Consideration of club secretary: At the February meeting, we did not elect a new secretary to replace Rachel Vakulich, whose schedule now prevents her from being able to attend meetings. A huge thank you to Rachel who has served as secretary and, prior to that, was our representative to the Iowa Honey Producers Association, where she also served a term as Honey Queen.

Joseph introduced a recommendation to look into purchasing a quality microphone system that would help with taking minutes. With no objection, this will be researched. A suggestion was made that meetings could be recorded and put online. Having meetings shown on a platform like Zoom was also suggested. Jim Davis has agreed to take the position of secretary.

--June Field Day: We will be holding a field day on June 13^th, from 10 am to noon. This will be held at the Davis residence, 3326 Ridgewood Country Court NE, North Liberty. There will not be a rain date, so we will hold the event as long as there is no severe weather. Sean Webb suggested this be considered an “and one” event, where members are encouraged to bring friends/relatives who might be interested in learning about bees. Please try to bring a lawn chair.

Joseph listed several activities we could do that would include a discussion by him of queen grafting, doing mite checks, making a general hive inspection and doing an oxalic acid vapor treatment. Randy Hahn suggested also a demo of how to properly clean the equipment for OA vapor. Linda Lee suggested learning how to safely and effectively capture and mark queens. Craig Aldrich suggested that as well as learning about how to do grafting we also have a talk about methods of raising one’s queens without grafting.

Joseph also asked about a possible speaker and suggested checking with Ellen Bell, one of the prominent queen raisers in the state. Adam Ebert was also suggested as a speaker. He indicated he will look into some food possibilities. We will also be holding a silent auction of beekeeping equipment, new and used, that has been donated, with all proceeds going to the club. A list of items to be auctioned will be sent out with the field day notice. Bring your $$$. There will be some very good deals to have.

--Joseph reminded the group about our mentoring program. People can sign up on our web page to either be a mentor or to request one.

--Swarming and splits: Weather has been up and down, and dry as well as rainy. Joseph commented that hives that are still running light might need to be fed since the rain tends to wash the pollen off the blossoms. People for the most part have not been seeing swarm cells yet, mostly empty queen cups but that can change rapidly so hives need to be monitored. Rick Haines did find a number of queen cells and so was able to replace several dead-outs. Double screen boards are very useful at this time to help keep splits warm, he said. Will said he did a split as well and feels there should be enough drones by the time the queen emerges. There will be a modification to the Trading Post page on our web site so members can list things like queens or queen cells they have to offer to other members.

Don Kirchner, whose hive are in southern Iowa, has made splits after finding two small queen cells. He also found, the hard way, that the elastic on the bottom of his bee jacket has loosened up.

Randy Hahn had good success with his condensing hives and all 6 made it through the winter. As he explained, a condensing hive has no upper entrance, is heavy on top insulation and light on the sides, so moisture condenses on the side of the colony and doesn’t rain down on the bees and then the bees have that moisture available to them.

Will Swain demonstrated his swarm trap. It is deeper than a frame based on research by bee biologist Tom Seeley, who says bees look for a certain volume of space when seeking out a new home after a swarm. Will uses old frames, which the bees prefer, but also some that need to be drawn out since bees gorge themselves before swarming so they have the energy and resources to draw out a lot of comb. For a bait, there are a number of products available to put in the swarm trap but lemongrass oil is a powerful attractant, if used very sparingly, like a drop or two on a q-tip, and is inexpensive. Though some say 15 feet is about ideal placement, bees will move into a trap much lower and more easily accessed by the beekeeper.

To capture a swarm, Shawn Webb suggested using a wire mesh basket. Bees tend to stay in that type of basket rather than try to fly out. Bob Wolff talked about getting a swarm flight to drop down from the air can be accomplished by banging on pans.

Will suggested moving the swarm from the trap into a hive body a day or two after. Because of the extra space below the frames one doesn’t want the bees to go crazy building comb. However, it will help the bees stay put if the queen has begun laying on the frames. Tom Long recommends the book Honeybee Democracy, by Tom Seeley, for information about swarming behavior.

Joseph mentioned that the next few weeks we will be seeing more queen cells, and that if you see a capped queen cell, the swarm will likely occur within a day or two.

The following are random points about swarms and splits: (Apologies for not crediting each commentor).

: If requeening in less than 60 degrees, it can be done but be sure the queen doesn’t get chilled before that.

: Swarms and splits provide good brood breaks which can help keep mite populations low.

: Swarm cells found? Move the queen to another box. Then what to do with multiple swarm cells? Start nucs, share with someone who needs a queen, or kill all but a couple.

: Need to kill some queens? Throw them into alcohol and pull them out later to put in swarm traps as an attractant.

: If you can’t find the queen when you try to split, put a queen excluder between the brood boxes and check in a couple days for eggs to see which box she is in.

:Nucs don’t have to be 5 frame. Add a swarm cell or two, a frame of brood and one of resources. You can make a lot of splits that way.

: Tom Long is planning to try Norroa for mite treatment, a new option. Hopefully he can report back on success.

: There is a tool available for doing oxalic acid dribble that measures out the proper amount so you don’t have to guess if you’re putting the correct amount between frames.

: Lay oxalic acid strips like varroxan across the top of the frames rather than down in the frames to get more bee contact.

: Tom Long recommends The Honey Bee Solution to Varroa by Steve Riley, about a group in England that worked on developing local, mite resistant bees.

: Craig Aldrich would like to see some of us work on using a software product that would facilitate communication among club members.

Joseph concluded the meeting at 8 pm. Thanks as always to Urban Acres Realty and Rob McCain for hosting our meetings.

Please email any comments or corrections to Jim Davis (jim.nwjh@gmail.com)

http://eastcentraliowabeekeepers.blogspot.com

Recommended books:

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To reserve the club's oxalic acid vaporizer, go to this link to get started.

Agenda for Monday, April 13th

 

Here is the agenda for our meeting on Monday, April 13th.  See below for time and place.

--Introduction of officers and new members

--Treasurer's report

--Election of club secretary

--Discussion of possible purchase of microphone to record meeting

--Discussion of June Field Day

        * Who would we like to have as presenter

        * Non-members are welcome to attend as a first meeting

        *Silent auction on bee equipment, new and used

--Reminder of our mentoring program

--Discussion:

        * Swarm boxes

        *Catching a swarm

      *When to add supers

        * Open discussion/questions

Hope to see you there!

Time:  6:30 to 8:00 (doors open at 6)

Place:  Urban Acres Realty 

            250 Holiday Road, Coralville

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To reserve the club's oxalic acid vaporizer, go to this link to get started.

Hope your bees are still buzzin'

Minutes from February 9, 2026

 

ECIBA Meeting Minutes February 9, 2026

Officers present are Joe Klingelhutz-President, Will Swain-Vice President, Diane  Kuhlman-Treasurer.

Joe opened the meeting at 6:31

The first order of business was the Treasurer’s report: 

Diane reported that for those who had not yet paid dues, today was traditionally the time to do so. The dues are set at $20 per family. The current balance is $2,557.88.

Elections of officers:

The next order of business for the election of Officers. Joe reported that by the clubs by laws an election must be held every two years. A call was put out for interest in any of the positions. Jeff Milton said he thought the current officers were doing a great job. Shaun Webb motioned that they all be kept. Rob McCain seconded the motion. And it was put to a vote. There were no Nays.  

Joe noted that there was also an “at large” position which was necessary to fill. It had previously been held by James Miller who recently passed away. Joe nominated Shaun Webb. It was quickly confirmed by the club.

Will noted that secretary, Rachel Vakulich, was not in attendance due to work constraints. And due to work constraints, she had not had not been at the previous three meetings. Will asked Rachel’s father if she was still interested in the secretary position and if her work schedule would allow her to fulfill those duties. He, understandably, could not answer for her. The nomination and confirmation of the club secretary was therefore tabled until the next meeting.

Memorial for James Miller:

Joe described some options to pay tribute to long time club member and beekeeping mentor James Miller.  One option was a plaque to be placed in a park in Wellman where James had been a community fixture at the farmers market. The idea was well received.

The idea of a youth beekeeping scholarship was also presented. It too was well received, but before it could be put to a vote, clarifications of the actual amount of funds was needed. Someone articulated that If we were doing both of these ideas then knowing the actual costs of the plaque, and/or bench (the bench was another idea that was put forward) would need to be determined. 

Other ideas were also floated, which also needed more information. A beekeeping program for the Wellman Boy Scout troop, Beekeeping clubs at high schools with or without Ag or FFA programs and other ideas were also discussed.

 James Millers Bees and Equipment

When James passed away, Shaun Webb volunteered his services to the Miller family.  James had been an important person in Shaun's life and he wanted to ensure the bees were well cared for. He  knew that James’s family also needed help dealing with all the bees and equipment as they closed up the estate.  

Some equipment and bees were sold prior to the meeting and many more hives and bits of equipment were purchased directly after the meeting.  There is still equipment and some bees left.  Contact Shaun Webb via text at 319-321-1414 if you are interested.  The quality of the bees and equipment are excellent and the prices are quite low. Stuff is moving fast so sooner is better than later.

Bulk Purchases of Norroa and VarroxSan

At the last meeting Tom Long mentioned the possibilities of bulk purchases of equipment or medications for members in order to get the savings for the bulk pricing.  Will presented that there were savings in both the price and the reduction of the shared shipping cost. Specifically, the saving came to about $2 per hive and a reduction of shipping cost by half. These reductions only really help you if you have 1-6 hives, otherwise you would likely purchase in bulk anyway. Given these parameters, partnering with one other beekeeper made more sense than a large club purchase. The club meetings can facilitate these partnerships.

Jim Marshall-- Iowa Honey Producers Regional Representative.

Jim transitioned from our club's talk of a Jim Miller memorial scholarship to the  IHPA youth scholarships. And he gave some details about their program. (details can be found at https://www.iowahoneyproducers.org/youth-scholarship-program) 

He went to describe  many upcoming events:

March 25th. Honey bee day at the state capitol.  Beekeeper participation is helpful for pro-beekeeper policies

June 20th is IHPA field day. 

November 6th and 7th is the annual IHPA fall conference.

Information about these events and others  can be found at https://www.iowahoneyproducers.org/

Our Club's Field Day

This year our club's field day will be June 13 at the home of Jim Davis at 10:00. The location is just north of North Liberty. (3326 Ridgewood Country Ct., North Liberty IA.)

General Discussion

Brief discussion about winter bee mortality, Brood Minder studies, and some discussion of winter feeding. Opinions about when to start liquid feeding, when to start pollen patties, when to pick up dead outs were also all briefly discussed. 

Joe adjourned the meeting at 8:03. 

Will Swain, Vice-president

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To reserve the club's oxalic acid vaporizer, go to this link to get started.

Hope your bees are still buzzin'

February Meeting

 Our February meeting will be held February 9th.

Time:  6:30 to 8 pm (doors open at 6:00)

Place: Urban Acres Realty

           250 Holiday Road, Coralville

Items that will be covered:

--Discussion of options for a memorial for James Miller

--Elections of officers

--Jim Marshall, our regional representative for the Iowa Honey Producers Association will talk about ways their organization will be working to improve involvement with local clubs

--Use of club funds to make bulk purchases

--General discussion:  Late winter/early spring management

Hope to see you there!

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  To reserve the club's oxalic acid vaporizer.  Go to this link to get started.

Hope your bees are still buzzin'