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