January meeting

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John Thompson

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Jan 2, 2025, 7:24:19 PMJan 2
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Reminder!
The January meeting has been scheduled for the 14th, and will be at the smaller room at the back.
We will be having a discussion about the make of local nucs, and selling them. 
Plus any other topics that may come up. Possibly having beekeeping classes next year? 

John Thompson

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Jan 2, 2025, 7:26:20 PMJan 2
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Oh, and officer nominations, plus steering committee volunteers. 

Ed Spoon

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Jan 5, 2025, 6:01:33 PMJan 5
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John, 
 
What will the steering committee be asked to do? 
 
 

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John Thompson

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Jan 5, 2025, 6:11:20 PMJan 5
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Basically, they are advisors who help determine the direction the club wants to go. For example, should we start planning on holding beekeeping classes in the spring of 2026? Focus more on beekeeping basics at meetings, such as mini lectures, or hands on demonstrations at meetings? 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/819feecc-5af4-471c-87db-4f0908a3eabe%40charter.net.

Margaret Krome

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Jan 5, 2025, 8:22:47 PMJan 5
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Unfortunately, I will not be able to join on the 14th, but I’m glad to serve on the Steering Committee.

 

mk

 

Joseph Bessetti

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Jan 12, 2025, 8:49:39 PMJan 12
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I think the club apiary would be a logical shared location for queen rearing and mating.  

Thanks for the reply,

Joe


Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 12, 2025, at 4:10 PM, Margaret Krome <mkr...@michaelfields.org> wrote:



I like the idea.  No doubt there are things to work through to make it operative, but it could substantially increase the quality of bees for beekeepers in the area.  It could also open the possibility of educating those of us who haven’t raised queens before.  Is there a potential role for the club apiary in this?

 

Sadly, I’m not available this Tuesday night, but I’ll be interested to hear how it goes.

mk

 

Margaret Krome (she/her)
Policy Program Director
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
www.michaelfields.org

Cell: (608) 628-2503

<image001.png>

 

From: Joseph Bessetti <jbes...@hotmail.com>
Date: Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 2:25 PM
To:
Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: January meeting

A bit more background on the local nucs discussion from my perspective:

 

For those who weren't present, at our December meeting we discussed local adaptation of honeybees.  There was broad general agreement in advantages of sourcing locally adapted stock over buying bees from out-of-state.  However, even if you can get locally adapted bees, the hobbyist beekeeper, with just a couple of hives, can find it hard to maintain locally adapted stock on their own.  One bad season/winter can wipe them out.  Packages and imported nucleus colonies are more readily available, available earlier in the season, and are generally less expensive.  Plus, even when people have one or more hives that survive winter, there seems to be a lot of anxiety around the concept of splitting one's own hives to make increase. 

 

I've been spinning an idea around for some time, which is that of club members "sharing" local stock with each other via spring splits.  This has to be more than just encouraging people with good winter colony survival to make and sell nucs. Many people have resources they could share but don't want the hassle involved in marketing or selling a couple splits. A lot of people aren't comfortable or experienced in rearing queens.  Lastly, how many of you have access to stock that have been continuously over-wintered in Wisconsin for 3-5 years or more to be considered "locally adapted"?  

 

A solution that I have in mind involves the rearing of queens from select stock at a shared location, introduction of those queens (cells) into nucleus colonies populated with bees from beekeepers across the county, and after the queens are successfully mated and laying, distributing them to recipients.  It would involve bringing members together in a new way, with desire to contribute to our success as a community rather than just as individual beekeepers.  

 

Following our discussion about local adaptation, we decided to discuss nucs at our January meeting.  If you're planning to come to the meeting Tuesday, consider "the making of, timing of, and attributes of quality nucleus colonies" and bring your thoughts and questions.  

 

If people want to discuss more about how we might organize a program like I describe, we might have time to start discussing that as well if there's broad interest.  If there is a smaller group of people interested that would like to schedule a meeting outside of our monthly club meetings to discuss this more, feel free to reach out to me.

 

Regards,

 

Joe 

 

 


Sent: Thursday, January 2, 2025 6:26 PM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>

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Greg V

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Jan 13, 2025, 12:14:24 AMJan 13
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About: "the making of, timing of, and attributes of quality nucleus colonies"

I want to propose a discussion topic - July nucs and queens.

We here need to understand that the "May nucs" narration is a marketing model largely created and driven by the post-pollination bee sellers.
This business model is created by them and works for them very well (but not for us).
Even our local providers are trying to compete in the same May bees sales market - not the greatest situation, but they are expected to do so - because everyone is conditioned to think that May is the bee sales month and only.

In the seasonal life cycle, May for the southern pollination bees is the same as July for the resident WI bees.
After the southern pollination projects are finished, they need to dump their extra bees for additional profit - so they do.
April/May is perfect timing for them to be making packages/nucs and selling them off.

I want to argue that while May sales work very well for them - this business model does not work well for us (neigher for the local sellers or the local buyers).

The best bees and the best queens of local production happened to be in summer - late June/early July for us.
THAT what we should be talking about.

If we are looking for local self-sufficiency - we ought to seriously start talking about the July nucs and queens of local production and based on the locally over-wintered material.

Not only July nucs and queens are fully viable for the upcoming winter - they can also be made widely available and competitively priced, IF both provider and consumers agree on the summer time frame.
Even from a single locally over-wintered colony one can produce a good number of queens and nucs by mid-summer (but not by early May).

The local beekeepers need to be explained about the May vs. July differences so that the informed choices are made.

For now, however, "buy in May or no more bees will be left" marketing narrative runs the place.
Either we change this narrative or the things will continue as before - not great.


John Thompson

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Jan 13, 2025, 6:03:10 AMJan 13
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It will be hard to change the thinking of starting hives in the spring. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CABg%3DAC4uA1COnxDKS%2BOmPZP3BwGMYas9zAy6pdUZhP_Qf5-%3D2A%40mail.gmail.com.

Greg V

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Jan 13, 2025, 8:54:13 AMJan 13
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In such a case, it will be hard to change the status quo - the dependency on imported bees will stay.
Importation of the mites, viruses, SHBs will continue as has been going for decades.

Joseph Bessetti

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Jan 13, 2025, 10:17:52 AMJan 13
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We should discuss both, the making of nucs in May and in July.  There are challenges to the former that people should be aware of, and advantages of the latter that they may not realize.

Making nucs in July might also be thought of as the making of replacements for your winter losses before they've been tallied.  Some also think of it as an important "colony reset" during the transition from early season honey production to preparation of the colony for winter.

We talk about strategies that we believe will make our members more successful.  I do think people will navigate to strategies that work in their hands.  Part of the challenge is getting them to try.  I think the first step toward doing that could be in making queens from locally adapted stock more readily available, in July.  

Regards,

Joe

From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Greg V <voro...@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, January 13, 2025 7:53 AM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [madbees] Re: Interesting idea, Joe.
 

Greg V

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Jan 13, 2025, 10:44:52 AMJan 13
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Yes - the July nuc are resources for the next year.
They are also the resources to expand the apiary and to intake different (better localized) genetics.

This is a very important idea to convey and understand.

July nucs are NOT meant for immediate honey crop harvest during the ongoing season.
Rather they are the resources meant for the long game.

A typical problem is that beekeeping is a long game activity, but is too often managed as-if a short game (i. e. get your summer honey and get rid of the bees - some people actually do exactly this).

John Thompson

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Jan 13, 2025, 10:48:41 AMJan 13
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That's exactly what I was thinking. Beekeeping books and classes often say "you probably won't get a honey crop this year, but you might". 
Definitely need to change the thinking to long term, and yes, I know of one guy who would buy bees every year then take all the honey. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/CABg%3DAC64MTZ1TLDSa0jRVsfDM5dJqqE3TdF6Wt1S-6-O3BCucg%40mail.gmail.com.

Greg V

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Jan 13, 2025, 12:14:01 PMJan 13
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Yep.
The idea of beekeeping being a long-game is very important.

Everyone just staring needs to get drilled in the idea - first priority is to get well established (NOT to extract the honey).


Paul Zelenski

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Jan 13, 2025, 3:39:17 PMJan 13
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All very good thoughts/points being made. 

As someone who sells nucs every year, I can definitely speak to the fact that I am ALWAYS rushing to get the nucs ready for purchase as early as possible. People are antsy to get their bees as early as possible, especially when they see all the bees getting shipped in from the South. If I were just making nucs for myself, I would be making those nucs during the dandelion flow at the earliest, and more likely in May or early June (queens laying and nucs ready a month later). In fact, I usually make a second round of nucs in June for my own use. As it is, I am gambling on the weather and whether it will be warm enough for the queens to get properly mated. I can usually have them ready by the end of May or the beginning of June. Some years, however, the absolute earliest I can have the ready is mid-June. Of course, I could buy mated queens to put in them, but that would ruin the entire point of local nucs. 

I have been involved in discussions quite a few times over the years about encouraging local splits, including talks of coops, resource sharing, etc. I'd love to have more of those talks and see if we can get something off the ground. 

I think I will be able to make it to the meeting tomorrow. I look forward to a good discussion. 

Sent: Monday, January 13, 2025 11:13 AM

Lloyd St. Bees

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Jan 14, 2025, 7:15:26 PMJan 14
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I think an important part of this equation is that you need folks that can overwinter bees consistently in order to be able to provide the material to make nucs to share with others. Another thing that wasn't brought up is the process of selling nucs that are overwintered. These survivors will be ready for pickup in May and are proven winners having survived a winter already. This puts bees in the hands of folks that are in a  rush to get their bee fix earlier. 

Overall, I do support the idea of beekeeping on the WI calendar which means folks won't get their spring nucs with the new current year's queen until some time in June typically. We make nucs in May, June, July and they all survive without issues as long as you provide the colonies with what they need. Trying to compete with imported bee timelines is a losing battle and we need to have realistic expectations. I always tell folks that the earliest bees you can get are the ones that have survived winter in your backyard already. 

The production of local nucs can be assisted with the purchase of queens from a local source. Mated queens, virgin queens or cells are all viable options and should be considered. Supporting providers of local stock, such as queens/nucs/breeders, is an important part of this equation. By working together, we can provide enough local genetics to eliminate the need for importation. As a local nuc and queen provider, Lloyd St. Bees, I have donated stock to the club in the past as well as my time to help out at the club apiary. Please reach out if the club needs additional help.

Trevor

Paul Zelenski

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Jan 14, 2025, 7:26:33 PMJan 14
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All good contributions. The only downside to buying overwintered queens is that those second year queens like to swarm and not all newbees are prepared to deal with that. 

On Jan 14, 2025, at 6:15 PM, Lloyd St. Bees <trexb...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think an important part of this equation is that you need folks that can overwinter bees consistently in order to be able to provide the material to make nucs to share with others. Another thing that wasn't brought up is the process of selling nucs that are overwintered. These survivors will be ready for pickup in May and are proven winners having survived a winter already. This puts bees in the hands of folks that are in a  rush to get their bee fix earlier. 

Joseph Bessetti

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Jan 17, 2025, 8:44:47 PMJan 17
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"you need folks that can overwinter bees consistently in order to be able to provide the material to make nucs to share with others."

Yes.  However, the ideas that I've been floating are aimed at getting more people involved in the sharing process.  We have a lot of beekeepers with a small numbers of hives.  One bad winter will wipe out an individual, and the tendency is for them to buy more packages and start over with non-local stock.  Technically speaking, anyone with an overwintered hive has material to work with.  

As mentioned during our meeting Tuesday night, sharing of local bees, particularly queens, has been brought up in the past.  While not exactly an example of local bees, there was one short-lived effort about 20 years ago that involved a breeder VSH queen and an attempt at distribution of daughter queens to members of the club.  Aside from that, not much real action has come out of these discussions.  Reflecting on that, I ask:
  • What are the obstacles that prevent these ideas/discussions from becoming a thing and continuing long term?
  • What help, resources, organization, etc. do individuals need in order to contribute/get involved?
  • There has been broad skepticism about local bees/local adaptation being beneficial in the past.  Is that skepticism still broadly present?  Do people need to see/hear more evidence? What would resonate and stir more interest?
It's very possible, perhaps even likely, that the same obstacles could get in the way again. Even if that happens, it would be nice to name and acknowledge them this time around.  By recognizing them, perhaps steps could be taken to overcome them.  

Anyone who has thoughts on the topic, regardless of your level of experience, is encouraged to respond.

Joe


From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Lloyd St. Bees <trexb...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 14, 2025 6:15 PM
To: madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>

Joseph Bessetti

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Jan 17, 2025, 8:44:55 PMJan 17
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"you need folks that can overwinter bees consistently in order to be able to provide the material to make nucs to share with others."

Yes.  However, the ideas that I've been floating are aimed at getting more people involved in the sharing process.  We have a lot of beekeepers with a small numbers of hives.  One bad winter will wipe out an individual, and the tendency is for them to buy more packages and start over with non-local stock.  Technically speaking, anyone with an overwintered hive has material to work with.  

As mentioned during our meeting Tuesday night, sharing of local bees, particularly queens, has been brought up in the past.  While not exactly an example of local bees, there was one short-lived effort about 20 years ago that involved a breeder VSH queen and an attempt at distribution of daughter queens to members of the club.  Aside from that, not much real action has come out of these discussions.  Reflecting on that, I ask:
  • What are the obstacles that prevent these ideas/discussions from becoming a thing and continuing long term?
  • What help, resources, organization, etc. do individuals need in order to contribute/get involved?
  • There has been broad skepticism about local bees/local adaptation being beneficial in the past.  Is that skepticism still broadly present?  Do people need to see/hear more evidence? What would resonate and stir more interest?
It's very possible, perhaps even likely, that the same obstacles could get in the way again. Even if that happens, it would be nice to name and acknowledge them this time around.  By recognizing them, perhaps steps could be taken to overcome them.  

Anyone who has thoughts on the topic, regardless of your level of experience, is encouraged to respond.

Joe

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 14, 2025, at 6:26 PM, Paul Zelenski <paulze...@gmail.com> wrote:



Margaret Krome

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Jan 20, 2025, 2:28:31 PMJan 20
to mad...@googlegroups.com, Joe Bessetti

Thanks, Joe.  I very much prefer local bees and have purchased only local nucs in the past from various local-bee folks.  Last year and, I hope, this year, enough of my colonies made it through winter to continue with my own bees.  What I need to understand better are the logistics of raising queens.  For example, when I split a hive and the queenless one makes a lot of queen cells, how many I need to keep for that hive, e.g., just one, 1 to 3?  Can I cut out a queen cell from the extras and add it to a hive with plenty of nurse bees and make a new colony?  Do I need to make sure that the nurse bees are from the same colony?  And such questions.

 

So, I like to idea of sharing bees from local bees with a track record of successfully overwintering, but I’m unclear about some of the logistics involved in the various ways of sharing them. Seeing some demonstrations would increase my comfort in participating.

 

mk

 

 

 

Greg V

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Jan 21, 2025, 11:03:53 AMJan 21
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"....broad skepticism about local bees/local adaptation being beneficial in the past...."

Such skepticism is very beneficial for the post-pollination, imported bee sales.
Look who benefits from this narrative.
Until the real obstacles are named - nothing will ever change.

As far as the local material production goes - I personally have been producing good numbers of queens.
Queen production during the prime season (July) is easy.
This is what I have been doing for the last few years now.
Anyone can do it.

A single over-wintered queen can produce lots of daughters - easily 5-10 each.
It is more about the support colonies for the daughter queens, the real limiting factor - which again is less an issue in July (vs. the May).

Even after this heavy-loss 2024/2025 winter, several overwintered queens will be sufficient to produce a good crop of the locally produced July queens and starter colonies.
Honestly, we should be awash in starter colonies/queens to the point where we don't know what to do with them.

The real mind set change that is needed - one needs to think of the next season's apiary maintenance in July of the current season, not in the May of the next season.

Just one of many relevant projects shows:
...........A look at all three years’ data combined .... reveals the following:
Colonies headed by a northern queen had a 75% survival rate, and 64% of them were “ready for spring” upon final inspection.
Standard packages had a 45% survival rate and 24% of them were “ready for spring.” 



Greg V

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Jan 21, 2025, 12:21:42 PMJan 21
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One needs to understand - the pollinators/package sellers are not even interested in winter bees (while we here fully depend on the long-living winter bees).

They have been selecting the bees that propagate year round.
The very idea of the winter bees is counter-productive and irrelevant to if one is pollination/package business.

And here we are, not understanding how it is that our bees keep brooding into December.
I have been saying this for years now because this is what I see annually (because I open my hives and look).

Just one of the many videos.
January 16, 2025.
Somewhere in California.
3 to 8 frames of brood.
What winter bees?
Why is anyone surprised?

In March/April these bees will be shaken into packages, added Buckfast queens from Georgia, and shipped to Wisconsin for sale.


1737478485709.png

Gary Baisa

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Jan 22, 2025, 6:14:15 AMJan 22
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Heavy losses?  Are you seeing heavy losses?  Obviously, this cold has me worried but I haven’t been out of my apiary.  

I hope you are well. 

Gary

oliver...@gmail.com

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Jan 22, 2025, 12:16:49 PMJan 22
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I very much like the idea of sharing local bees and helping each out.
I have been a beekeeper for 8 years with an average of 5 hives.  My winter survival has ben very unpredictable. I have had years where all hives made it and I have had years where only one survived. Every year has its differences, but most of my hive management did not change dramatically. 
So I am in full support to coming up with strategies to help each other and if we can improve local stock along the way: all the better.
When I have good winter survival, I am happy to share bees and some frames, e.g. for others who had a rough winter to start nucs.
I would be happy if I could benefit from such a system when I had a bad winter.

One simple way would be to sell bees or nucs in good years and buy bees in bad years. I have been hesitant to sell bees for several reasons: 1) I cant offer the same service as bigger bee and queen sellers (I don't have 'spares' if things go wrong; I dont treat as aggressively or mites as other sellers do and I don't want to change my practice). 2) For those reasons, I would want to reduce the price for bees I would sell. 3) With a lower price, I would possibly hurt the 'established bee sellers' (whether local or imported) who do play a vital role in sustaining beekeeping for all.  So I had 'extra bees' in several years that I did not know what to do with. Long story short:  some kind of system were we support each other would be great. Some possible friction points I can see: what are the expectation on mite treatments? How to work out the economics such that everyone is reasonably happy? 
  
A lot of good reasons have been brought up for July Nucs. I have one problem with late nucs that has not been mentioned. If I have a winter dead out, I have 3 deeps with lots o honey, pollen, and comb. Those are best protected from wax moths by bees. July would likely be too late to prevent significant wax moth damage. I have had issues with that in the past and its nasty. I might also have to learn better wax moths protection strategies.   

Cheers,
  Oliver



  
I have been hesitant to advertise selling be 

Greg V

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Jan 22, 2025, 12:31:18 PMJan 22
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I still have more bees than you, Gary.
I hope I do - after the last round of the hard freeze I don't know.
:)

But the percentage of survival is terrible for me - 13% of my September numbers.
This is my reality.

Gary Baisa

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Jan 22, 2025, 12:52:19 PMJan 22
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All four of my full-size colonies were still alive last month.  One hive was for sure still alive before this recent freeze.  This is the coldest winter since Ive been keeping bees.  

Is anyone going to have bees come spring?  

Gary
Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 22, 2025, at 11:31 AM, Greg V <voro...@gmail.com> wrote:



Greg V

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Jan 22, 2025, 12:57:36 PMJan 22
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One thing can be done (and should be done, IMO).

Once the bees make it to the dandelion bloom - one can safely assume their colonies made it through the winter.
At which point anyone can advertise their bee availability to the community.

This does NOT mean - you can immediately sell bees.
This does mean - you can make starter colonies on demand if so requested by July - this is totally feasible and easy and anyone can do it (both sellers and buyers).

A two-frame starter colony in July is totally viable and can be fully grown into a strong colony by September - fully capable of wintering into the next season.
Again - this is the setup for the next season.
This is NOT a setup for the current season - to be totally clear.

Anyone can make a bunch of two-frame mating nucs in late June - these require little resources and represent lots of redundancy (failed mating nucs are simply recombined back).

On the buyer side - it is less expensive to start with two-frame starters AND you can get 2-3 colonies/queens(!!!) going for the same expense.
This is redundancy.

I will argue that two-frame(*) July starter colonies are the way to go - for the local bee sustainability.
I don't know why this is not being talked about.
Mel D. even wrote a whole book about it.

The idea of getting the five-frame nuc in May (or die) - is misleading and represents a totally different use case.
You get five-frame nuc and do it early - for the current season and for the honey crop in the same season.
One needs to understand and differentiate these different use cases.

(*) assuming Lang format for the convenience


bberegszazi

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Jan 22, 2025, 1:38:13 PMJan 22
to Joel Clary Summit Design LLC, Charles Crites, mad...@googlegroups.com
Joel, this is the email thread from Dane County Beekeepers Association I referred to yesterday regarding local stock propagation, and sharing of such sustaining colonies. You'll need to scroll all the way down to Joe's first email to get a sense of what he's originally proposing. The rest of the emails are thoughts from others. I'm interested in this!

Barb



Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

Cindy Lundey

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Jan 22, 2025, 1:42:39 PMJan 22
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My bees died in December ... hoping for a swarm come spring.


Cindy Lundey


From: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gary Baisa <gary...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2025 11:52 AM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [madbees] Interesting idea, Joe.
 

John Thompson

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Jan 22, 2025, 3:18:13 PMJan 22
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I'm hoping my best hive survives. They gave me 5 supers of honey last year. I'll be doing on the spot queen rearing techniques to built up my hives again. 
I'll focus on langs this year, until they figure out what's going on with the access roads and I'm able to move to the final spot. They're much easier to move. 

We have a couple of warm days coming up next week, so it'll be a good time to check and feed if needed. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/madbees/MWHPR06MB308886B7783A49095B209522B1E12%40MWHPR06MB3088.namprd06.prod.outlook.com.

Carrie Williams

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Jan 22, 2025, 11:06:26 PMJan 22
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Oliver, try B402 Certan for wax moth protection. It's a BT specifically for moth larva. You spray it on the frames and let it dry, after thery're dry it's safe for bees and it lasts about 6 months.

Carrie

'A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including their life.'


oliver...@gmail.com

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Jan 23, 2025, 12:53:06 AMJan 23
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Thank you for the tip, Carrie! 

Paul Zelenski

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Jan 27, 2025, 8:24:46 PMJan 27
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Have you used it? I've been meaning to give it a try. I certainly like the idea better than paramoth or other things that are toxic to bees if not used exactly right. I'd be curious to hear experiences of people that have actually used it, though. 

From: 'Carrie Williams' via madbees <mad...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2025 10:06 PM
To: mad...@googlegroups.com <mad...@googlegroups.com>

Carrie Williams

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Jan 28, 2025, 9:32:11 AMJan 28
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Hi Paul, I've used it for years now with no ill effect to the bees. I spray it on any frames that are going to be in storage and have never had any wax moths in the stored frames. It's a little time consuming because of having to spray each frame, but there's no smell. it's suitable for organic farming. I also use it on the frames in my swarm traps too. 

Carrie

'A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America' for an amount of 'up to and including their life.'

Jack Rademacher

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Jan 28, 2025, 9:57:58 AMJan 28
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I use an old chest freezer that failed. Gaskets are still good. Wax moths can’t get in. Only need to protect brood frames. They don’t go after the honey frames, or at least not yet. If you’re a fisherman that uses wax worms, guess what the wax moth larvae are…….

Lloyd St. Bees

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Feb 11, 2025, 1:50:15 PMFeb 11
to madbees
There was talk last month about establishing local nucs for sale and northern queens within the club. The folks at the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan are hosting an online webinar on 2/13 at 6PM CT on how to go about that, specifically for beekeeping clubs. You can find out more information and sign up here: https://sbgmi.org/product/live-nqi-pre-conference?mc_cid=6a66cd1472&mc_eid=608cf0df7a

Joseph Bessetti

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Feb 11, 2025, 4:42:46 PMFeb 11
to mad...@googlegroups.com, madbees
Thanks for sharing this Trevor.

James Lee was a speaker at the Midwest Honeybee Expo.  He uses the Harbo VSH assay which I presented at our club’s February meeting a week ago.

Joe

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On Feb 11, 2025, at 12:50 PM, Lloyd St. Bees <trexb...@gmail.com> wrote:

There was talk last month about establishing local nucs for sale and northern queens within the club. The folks at the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan are hosting an online webinar on 2/13 at 6PM CT on how to go about that, specifically for beekeeping clubs. You can find out more information and sign up here: https://sbgmi.org/product/live-nqi-pre-conference?mc_cid=6a66cd1472&mc_eid=608cf0df7a

Joseph Bessetti

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Feb 11, 2025, 10:41:01 PMFeb 11
to mad...@googlegroups.com, madbees
Thanks for sharing this Trevor.

James Lee was a speaker at the Midwest Honeybee Expo.  He uses the Harbo VSH assay which I presented at our club’s February meeting a week ago.

Joe


Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 11, 2025, at 12:50 PM, Lloyd St. Bees <trexb...@gmail.com> wrote:

There was talk last month about establishing local nucs for sale and northern queens within the club. The folks at the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan are hosting an online webinar on 2/13 at 6PM CT on how to go about that, specifically for beekeeping clubs. You can find out more information and sign up here: https://sbgmi.org/product/live-nqi-pre-conference?mc_cid=6a66cd1472&mc_eid=608cf0df7a

Joseph Bessetti

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Feb 11, 2025, 10:41:07 PMFeb 11
to mad...@googlegroups.com, madbees
Thanks for sharing this Trevor.

James Lee was a speaker at the Midwest Honeybee Expo.  He uses the Harbo VSH assay which I presented at our club’s February meeting a week ago.

Joe

Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 11, 2025, at 12:50 PM, Lloyd St. Bees <trexb...@gmail.com> wrote:

There was talk last month about establishing local nucs for sale and northern queens within the club. The folks at the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan are hosting an online webinar on 2/13 at 6PM CT on how to go about that, specifically for beekeeping clubs. You can find out more information and sign up here: https://sbgmi.org/product/live-nqi-pre-conference?mc_cid=6a66cd1472&mc_eid=608cf0df7a
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