Presented Wednesday evening in late July.
Click here to see the description from 2022.
Session 1 - Online via Zoom
Nutritional Stress
- Insufficient food stores
- How to check
- Syrup
- Pollen substitute
Pest Stress
- Varroa
- What to look for
- Description and photos
- Brood pattern
- Deformed wings
- Treatment
- Chemical
- Cultural
- Mechanical
- What to look for
- Ants
- Traps and baits
- Barriers
- Diatomaceous earth
Environmental Stress
- Heat
- Heat advisories
- Temps above 95
- Bearding
- Solutions
- Water
- Shade
- Insulation
- Screened bottom board
- Remove entrance reducer
- Fires
- Severe air quality
- Solutions
- Reduce other stresses (food, water)
Summer Issues
- Queenless hive
- Determination
- Absence of ELB
- No incoming pollen
- Hive temperament
- Solutions
- Make a new queen
- Call a GBA friend
- Marry
- Determination
- Robbing
- Determination
- Frenzied behavior around the hive
- Bees attempting entrance all over the hive.
- Solutions
- Keep your hives healthy and strong
- Avoid exposing honey
- Open the hive as briefly as possible
- Extract honey indoors
- Determination
- Heat
Session 2 - Field Class
Description from 2022:
Here's your chance to put into practice what you have learned the previous week. Get together with experienced beekeeper mentors and find out how to:
- Properly wear all protective equipment
- Use all tools
- How to light and use your smoker
- How to open a hive
- Recognize each of the bee castes (queen, drone, worker) cells
- Identify brood cells, honey storage cells, capped and uncapped cells
- How to install bee packages and nucs
- Look for pests