If you Missed our Latest Workshop...
This week was another online workshop presented by VBA past-president Andrew Munkres. Friday evening's program discussed how research has now shown that colonies survive winter better when their hive is wrapped and certain kinds of insulation are added.
VBA members can watch the recorded workshop by logging into the VBA website and looking under the Calendar menu for Past Workshop & Events Recordings.
New Additions to the VBA Lending Library
VBA Librarian Chris Oehl reports 34 new additions to the VBA’s extensive lending library bringing the total of available books to 268.
For a complete list of available items in the library along with instructions on how to check out materials please login to the VBA website and visit the library at: https://www.vermontbeekeepers.org/library (or find the link under Resources | for the Beekeeper)
Honey Sensory Analysis Workshop: Learn to Smell and Taste Honey
Location: Moore Free Library
23 West St, Newfane VT 05345
Date: Saturday, October, 19th 2024
Time: 1:00-4:00pm
Join this hands-on workshop hosted by the Windham County Beekeepers and UVM Extension.
Roy Desrochers of UVM Extension will guide participants to use their tongue and nose and senses of taste, smell, and touch, to objectively describe honey. Mr. Desrochers has been a professional in the sensory analysis field for over 40 years.
Who is this for: This workshop is geared towards beekeepers who produce and sell honey and wish to learn how to effectively describe aroma and flavor as a tool to market their honey’s unique sensory characteristics and qualities.
RSVP: The number of individuals able to participate in this workshop is limited. Kindly register. (You may do so by email,
VBA 2024 Recognition Awards
Hard Working Vermont Beekeepers Recognized
at the Vermont Beekeepers Association 2024 Summer Meeting
It’s always a joy to highlight the efforts of those beekeepers who reach out to help beekeepers and beekeeping in so many ways. This year, several individuals were recognized.
VBA 2024-25 Board of Directors
Congratulations to the people elected to the VBA Board of Directors at the July 13, 2024, VBA summer meeting. We look forward to another very productive year.
- President, Jeff Battaglini (incumbent)
- Vice President – Bianca Braman (incumbent)
- Treasurer – Richard Roy (incumbent)
- Membership Secretary – Mary Stoddard (new to the Board but no stranger to the VBA!)
- Recording Secretary – Fred Putnam, Jr. (incumbent)
- Director at Large – James Key (incumbent)
- Andrew Munkres remains as the Immediate Past President
Our thanks to the Franklin County Beekeepers Club for their help with this meeting!
Bee Practical Award
The American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) is offering an award for up to $2,000 to a beekeeper with a practical beekeeping idea that is relevant to other beekeepers. The $2,000 will be split in the case more than one awardee is chosen. We are looking to fund one or more individuals that have developed a practical beekeeping practice OR have a practical beekeeping idea that needs funding to be developed.
Please download the attached document for all the details and feel free to pass on to others. For questions, you may also reach out to Garett Slater.
Assistant Professor and Honey Bee Extension Entomologist
Department of Entomology
Texas A&M
Gov. Veto is Overridden
H.706 to Become Law
Late this afternoon the Vermont House and Senate overrode Governor Phil Scott's veto of H.706 - a law the Vermont Beekeepers Association supported to protect Vermont pollinators. The senate overrode the veto on roll call: Yeas = 21, Nays = 8 while the house roll call results showed Yeas = 102, Nays = 43 (97 of 145 to Pass). Details
The Vermont Beekeepers Association thanks the legislators who voted for this important legislation and the VBA members and others in the community who helped make this happen.
H.706 Veto Override Alert
Contact Your Legislators Today
After passing overwhelmingly in the VT house and senate, the pollinator protection bill, H706 was vetoed by the governor on World Bee Day.
He shared the same misleading information about bee populations that we have heard from the Agency of Agriculture, and declared the bill "anti-farmer".
The VT legislature is holding an override session on June 17th and 18th to consider overriding the governor's veto.
We need VBA members to reach out to their senators and representatives one last time this week to support this override effort.
Legislators have been hearing more and more from those against the bill, so it is incredibly important to express the importance of this legislation and our strong support for it. (Previously available background information is available here and here.)
Contact Your Legislators
On World Bee Day, Gov. Scott vetoes bill that would restrict bee-killing pesticide
From the Pollinatoir Working Group:
Montpelier, VT – Today, on World Bee Day, Gov. Phil Scott today vetoed legislation meant to protect bees and other pollinators from a widely-used neuorotoxic pesticide. The bill (H.706) would eliminate most uses of neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics) in Vermont, which have been associated with alarming losses of managed and wild bee populations.
Neonic insecticides are used on almost all corn grown and much of the soybean grown in Vermont. They’re also sprayed on apple trees, other fruits and vegetables, and ornamental plants.
A comprehensive 2020 study from Cornell University found that neonic-treated seeds were more costly and yielded no substantial benefit to farmers in terms of crop yields for corn and soybeans. In Quebec, where neonics have been banned on field crops since 2019, farmers have adjusted well to using other alternative seed treatments, and many are using no pesticide treatment on seeds at all and finding no loss in yield.
While neonics provide little benefit to most farmers, they can cause substantial harm. Since their introduction in the mid-1990s, neonics have made U.S. agriculture48-times more harmfulto insects and been linked with massive losses of bees. Over the most recent five-year period for which data are available, Vermont beekeepers lost an average 53% of their hives every year. These losses of managed bees provide insight into the losses occurring each year in Vermont’s 300+ species of wild bees, which undergird ecosystems and are also important crop pollinators.
UBeeO Workshop with Vermont Bee Lab
Join the Vermont Bee Lab to learn about UBeeO, a novel way to measure hygienic behavior in bees! In this workshop, we will demonstrate how to perform UBeeO assays and witness high-scoring colonies in the field. We will discuss guidelines for reliable testing in the Northeast and hear from Vermont queen producers about their experience using UBeeO in their selection programs.
Two workshop dates are available, June 8 at Hundred Acre Wood Apiaries with Jack Rath and June 15 at French Hill Apiaries with Mike Palmer. Registration for either workshop is free and is required.
Just Got Your Nucs Or Bee Packages?—Now What??
Mid-spring is the time of year when many new beekeepers in Vermont pick up their first nucleus colonies or packages of bees. If you are one of those just starting out, hopefully you did your homework over the winter and have a pretty good idea of what to do next. You may have read some reference materials, attended a class, and participated in VBA webinars. Maybe you purchased a book that you can refer to from time to time. (By the way, the VBA has an excellent list of references designed specifically for new beekeepers under the “Resources” tab on this website.) But uncertainty or just a lack of confidence may arise about the next task in your bee yard. It’s not uncommon. Beekeeping may not be rocket science, but it isn’t simple either. There’s much to learn in the first few years and the VBA is here to help!
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