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Post by JBJ on Mar 9, 2011 23:54:51 GMT -7
checking our local board?  |
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Post by rbz on Mar 10, 2011 20:12:42 GMT -7
checking our local board? Well..I'm a tad North...But I'm checking... |
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Post by J Guilbert on Mar 11, 2011 11:17:47 GMT -7
Yeah, I don't think a lot of people in our area use this..... to busy I guess
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Post by JBJ on Mar 12, 2011 10:38:26 GMT -7
Busy as a bee! However we have so many nubees this year it could be a good resource for the locals this season. The Motherboard (ORSBA) is great resource but there may be some items better addressed for our club and members in the local sub-forum. I will try to encourage more use. |
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Post by rbz on Mar 13, 2011 1:18:58 GMT -7
Busy as a bee! However we have so many nubees this year it could be a good resource for the locals this season. The Motherboard (ORSBA) is great resource but there may be some items better addressed for our club and members in the local sub-forum. I will try to encourage more use. So..You posted a while ago that you typically graft sometimes around the end of March. With all this Global Warming  are you going to put it off for a bit? |
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Post by JBJ on Mar 13, 2011 9:40:25 GMT -7
Hope to graft this week. There are plenty of mature drones, and by April 1 there should be plenty more,
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Post by rbz on Mar 28, 2011 23:30:32 GMT -7
So how'd your grafts take?
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Post by LaurieB on Apr 2, 2011 9:26:25 GMT -7
Hi SOBA people,
I like the third logo best, but would go with black or a real brown over the yellow instead of the gray. 8 years in signage tells me to think bold. But good logos all the same.
I am still out here.....in Arkansas, where we are struggling to try to rebuild a bee industry that has almost been lost. Keepers are few and far between, but the state apiary board is trying to change that.
I was wondering if anyone heard about beeinformed.org . And if you have any opinions on that. Meanwhile, I am glad to see you still have great people at the helm there at SOBA.
Laurie Boyce
former Treasurer....like forever ago right?
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Post by JBJ on Apr 6, 2011 22:30:00 GMT -7
Looks like a great take on grafts so far, however about 10 days behind usual schedule. Could have mated queens last week if cells were ready earlier. Been getting plenty of precipitation, we are ahead in that department for sure; 2 inches above norm and 138% snow pack. Any sun at all and it should be a great year for bees.
Great to hear from you Laurie. How is the honey production down there?
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Post by canonoch on Apr 9, 2011 20:59:24 GMT -7
I'm still around as well
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Post by Larry Edwards on Apr 14, 2011 13:33:02 GMT -7
Hi John.
Well, I do not check very often, but I just happened by. We missed you at the meeting, but I can understand that you would be very busy.
Larry
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Post by LaurieB on Apr 23, 2011 8:35:51 GMT -7
Great to hear from you Laurie. How is the honey production down there? Hi John, Well, honey production is tricky here. We are already into the 3rd week of the honey season. The crimson clover is thick in blankets and makes some of the best honey here, and the blackberry, not as popular with the bees, is coming on. We don't have much tupelo this far north. When we get into late May and June, the honeysuckle will become a big source as will the locust. The honeysuckle is pretty pungent and not everyone likes that floral flavor. Honey has to be pulled off by the 1st of July, to not tax the hive for the summer dearth which can run clear into September if there is not enough rain. Come September - November, there are several things blooming that allow the bees to store up for winter. One is sourwood of course, which we will just skip eating. The bees stay active until late October and then fire up again usually the first week or two of March. I had a swarm last year on the 9th of March, but they built up fast on the pine pollen and lack of rain to disrupt activity. This spring we are getting hammered with rain almost daily, but only for an hour or two, then it clears up and gets sunny. They don't seem to mind the humidity, but our sugar pine supers from Oregon are almost disintegrated from the moisture here. I want to shift to top bar hives, and use red cedar, but that will have to wait until after the baby comes. Not that I want to be doing anything in the heat of late July and August. Arkansas is finally putting some time and effort into the problem of lack of bees here. They have a new guy on the plant board working out of the U of AR extension unit who is teaching bee schools. In the 4 years I have been here, I have only found 5 beekeepers in the two closest counties, but the bee school they have held (for free I might add) has pulled in 70 people. The last two schools this guy did resulted in two new associations, and we are hoping that will happen here. Some of the soybean farmers would love to have pollination, but I am thinking a lot of people will keep it to a hobby level. Truck farming and the backyard garden are still pretty common here, but more out of tradition than any kind of environmental movement. I joke with people that we live in the bible belt not the "green" belt, but people here are a lot closer to nature than in other places. Farming is still in the blood. I am excited about the prospect of so many new bee fans in the area. We need it! Meanwhile, still have two hives, still get swarms every year, still not using anything on them and they are still some of the most docile bees ever. It may be sheer dumb luck, but just haven't seen much in the way of pests yet. My biggest problem the last couple of years was argiope spiders stringing webs across the hives and catching 20 bees or more a day for food and ants (fortunately not fire ants which are a huge problem here). My favorite encounter was watching the ladies in the hive boot a curious "cow killer" out of the front entrance. I don't know if this wingless wasp was looking for food or shelter, but she didn't get far. Anyhow, I am glad to hear that SOBA is thriving. It was one of the best groups of people I ever met and I miss seeing you once a month. |
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