Ask Me Anything (About Beekeeping)
If you missed our Ask Me Anything (About Beekeeping) workshop this week, the recording is available to VBA members (along with many others) online. Simply login to the site and look under the Calendar menu. (Co-hosted by VBA members, Fred Putnam, Tony Antonucci, and Jeff Battaglini.)
- Preventing the spread of diseases esp. AFB
- Re-queening calendar and recordkeeping (if a colony is queenless)
- Summer actions to prep for winter.
- Mite management and virus loads - options for this time of the year
- Weather impacts - Dealing with too little or too much rain
- Water supply
- Pollen sub
- Dearths or not
- Extracting tips
- Tips on handling defensive colonies
Extended Use of Oxalic Acid Workshop Recording
AFB Announcement
American Foul Brood (AFB) has been confirmed in hives located within 5 miles of Chester, Vermont. Traceback investigation is underway and appears to have been a result of using old frames contaminated with AFB scale.
Registered beekeepers within the 2-mile radius will be contacted by phone. All beekeepers should perform thorough inspections and report any suspect disease to the State Apiculturist Brooke Decker at 802-272-6688.
What Should I Be Doing For My Bees Now?
If you missed Thursday's online workshop it was recorded and is available under our Calendar menu in Past Workshops. (Login required.)
"Pesticides Threatening Pollinators, Lawmakers Punt on Limit to Bee-killing Poisons"
So begins an article from the May 19 issue of the Addison Independent featuring Chas Mraz of Champlain Valley Apiaries who expressed dissapointment that H.626 was passed in a watered-down version that "did not ban neonicotinoids — even temporarily."