Friday, April 27, 2012

Cherokee Beekeeper's Association Meeting

Attended the monthly meeting of the Cherokee Beekeeper's Association in Athens, TN last night.  The presentation was Hive Maintenance.  Had a great discussion on state of the hive and how to handle different problems.  They are really good for new folks and some long-time beekeepers have some well-earned experience to share.

One of the topics was fruit trees, worms, bugs and bees.  Spraying should be done after all the blooms are gone.  It was suggested that pepper spray be applied to the trees in the evening once the bees had went in for the night.  I mentioned that I had read where Agree BT powder which is used for worm control can also be used on fruit trees and in the garden, as it only affects worms, and is safe for bees.  No one had heard of it, so I told them I'd supply more information.  If you're interested, here is some of what I found on BT (Note:  I bought a little of it, but I haven't used it yet, so I can't attest to it's usefulness):


BT 101:



Next topic:

I haven't had a chance to look into the split yet to see if they've made a queen.  I really need to do that, and hope to have time this weekend to check on the progress.  I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

We had grape-sized hail yesterday for a few minutes during a thunderstorm.  I don't know what that sounds like in a hive, but I'm sure the bees don't like it much.  However, yesterday afternoon, they sure were buzzing in and out of the hives, so I guess they got over it.

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