April Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association
Location: Jones Bee, 2586 West 500 South
April 19, 2007

The April meeting of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association was held April 19, 2007 at Jones Bee in Salt Lake City. The meeting was conducted by Maurice Cobo. Sixteen members were in attendance.

Paul Dupaix read the minutes for the March meeting, due to Karen Dupaix’s absence. They were approved and seconded.

Paul Dupaix gave the newsletter report. 28 newsletters were mailed out, and about 25 more were email. Because there are no space limits, Emailed newsletters are more complete and contain pictures, whereas the mailed version are shaved down to fit on two pages. Blog site is www.wasatchbee.blogspot.com. It is up and running.

The treasurer’s report was given by Byron Anderson, treasurer. We have $364.84 in our Zion’s Bank account.

Jim Brosius, vice president, gave a journal report about CCD—Colony Collapse Disorder. The latest thinking is that it could be a combination of environmental stress and various diseases. The characteristics of the disorder are: no adult bees in the colony, capped brood, hive not robbed, wax moth and hive beetle are delayed. Utah beekeepers Miller and Cox had heavy losses this year, but the cause is unknown.

Mary Jane Grange presented our program. She discussed nuc creation, for requeening of hives. Nucs are created with a frame of uncapped brood, two other brood frames, one honey and pollen frame, and one empty frame. The colony needs to be fed 1-1 syrup.

Splits should be made early in the season. Hives have different goals the first three years. The first year is focused on survival and building up brood. The second year usually will show an increase in wax production, and the bees will focus more on food storage. The third year the bees are familiar with the seasons and will have full comb, with differentiation of products and heavy honey storage.

If you have a laying worker, take out frames and shake them out away from the hive. Regular workers will return to the hive; laying workers will not.

The meeting was adjourned until May 17, 2007.

Sincerely,
Karen Dupaix, Secretary

March Meeting Minutes

Minutes of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association Meeting
March 15, 2007

The March meeting of the Wasatch Beekeepers Association was held March 15, 2007 at Jones Bee, 2586 West 500 South in Salt Lake City. The meeting was conducted by Jim Brosius, Vice President. Seven members were present.

Karen Dupaix read the minutes from the February meeting. They were approved by Mary Jane Grange and seconded by Richard Johnson.

The treasurer’s report was given by Byron Anderson. We have $286.23 in our account at Zion’s Bank. Byron reported that only 9 members have paid their dues. A comparison was made to the UT Co. Beekeepers Assn.’s meeting, at which they had 22 members in attendance.

The newsletter report was given by Karen Dupaix, in place of Paul Dupaix, who was not in attendance. 28 newsletters were mailed, and another 20 were emailed. Several members reported not receiving their emailed newsletters.

Jim Brosius gave the journal report on his own experience with Bee Pro, a pollen substitute. He reported that the bees readily consumed the patties and appeared robust and healthy. Bee Pro is available at Jones Bee for $1.98. Jim also mentioned media reports about Hive Decline Disorder. Apparently the bees immune systems are compromised, causing them to be more vulnerable to diseases. Cause of this disorder is still under investigation. Most Utah beekeepers report healthy hives, but Millers lost half of their hives. UT Co. Beekeepers Assn. is tracking the problem in Utah.

Dave from Jones Bee demonstrated a new hive bottom with a sliding board to trap and track mites in the hive. One hive bottom was raffled at the meeting. They are available at Jones Bee for $21.

The program was introduced by Mary Jane Grange and give by Lloyd Heflin. Lloyd showed a new system for raising queens, called the Nicot System, developed in France. The benefit of this system is that it is much easier and involves no grafting. Lloyd reported that last year he raised 24 queens using this method, and hopes to have more this year.

The meeting was dismissed until April 19, 2007.

Sincerely,

Karen Dupaix, Secretary
Wasatch Beekeepers Association