Winners Announced
VBA members attending our first virtual annual meeting last Saturday were eligible to be entered into two contests.
in the random drawings, Jim Jarvis won a one-year extension to his VBA membership for his honey label. (We requested members submit labels to share their designs. They will be posted in a gallery on the website shortly. Jim's label is at the right.)
Judith Graves is the winner of our other contest. She receives a pair of VBA beer mead glasses which will be shipped to her.
Congratulations to both winners!
VBA Updated By-Laws Approved
Members attending the Vermont Beekeepers Association's virtual "summer" meeting this past Saturday, October 17th, approved changes to the organizations by-laws to include, among other things, a new Member-at-Large director seat. That seat is being filled by new-to-the-board Laura Johnson.
The updated by-laws are available online for review.
The VBA's new leadership roles are being fulfilled by these volunteers:
President: Andrew Munkres
Vice President: Jeff Battaglini
Treasurer: Richard Roy
Recording Secretary: Fred Putnam
Membership Secretary: Darci Benoit
Director At Large: Laura Johnson
Immediate Past President: Jack Rath
State Apiculturist: Brooke Decker
Advisory Board Members: Bill Mares, Mike Palmer, Chas Mraz, Samantha Alger, Greg Smela, Kim Greenwood
Meet Darci Benoit
Darci Benoit is VBA's new Membership Secretary seat. She was nominated to replace outgoing secretary Scott Wilson.
Meet Jeff Battaglini
Jeff Battaglini is VBA's new Vice-President. He replaces Andrew Munkres who is VBA's new President effective October 17.
Jeff started his beekeeping journey years before he brought his first hive home. He noticed there were very few pollinators around the native Vermont landscape. So he started researching bees and talking to local beekeepers. He joined the Vermont Beekeepers Association (VBA) and all the local beekeeping clubs he could find. Jeff also started taking beekeeping classes and broke ground on his apiary site in October 2014.
If You Missed our Winter Hive Prep Workshop...
Last night, VBA Recording Secretary and Certified Beekeeper Fred Putnam, with assistance from VBA Vice President Andrew Munkres and Past President Bill Mares, presented VBA's last online workshop of the season. The topic was "Preparing Your Hives for Winter."
The recorded session is available on the VBA website (login required). Look for Winter Hive Prep.
The session runs about 100 minutes and covers these topics and more:
- Target hive weights and weighing hives
- Fast feeding
- Pest mitigation
- Wrapping and insulating
- Actions during winter
Looking at Mites
Peter Hadeka tells us "I placed Formic Pro, 2 pad dose, on 9/7. Cleaned IPM boards. Slid out today and saw many, many mites dead. 
"These hives tested only 2% to 3%, but when multiplied by thousands of bees they add up. I was always under the impression that Formic didn't really kill many phoretic mites.
"I guess it does !!!!"
Fred Putnam responds by saying "Besides killing mites in capped brood, Formic kills phoretic mites (the few that are running around unattached to a bee) and ectoparasitic mites (the bulk of the emerged mites that are attached to the bees.)"
Still time to test and treat. Please watch Fred's Mite Management, Counting & Treatment video for details.
If You Missed our Mite Management Workshop...
VBA Recording Secretary and Certified Beekeeper Fred Putnam presented a Zoom workshop on mite management techniques yesterday. Despite some technical difficulties we recorded it and have made it available on the VBA website. The workshop included a pre-recorded video at one of Fred's apiaries demonstrating an alcohol wash. We've edited the recorded workshop to include the original video so the replay is of a higher quality - we encourage you to view it if for no other reason than to learn how to do an alcohol wash.
The documentation mentioned in the workshop is also available at www.vermontbeekeepers.org/mites.
VBA Statement on American Foulbrood
VBA Recording Secretary Fred Putnam wrote the following document that describes how the Vermont Beekeepers Association is addressing American Foulbrood in Vermont.
We want to address concerns about American Foulbrood (AFB) in two ways:
-
The broader perspective about AFB in Vermont along with what is being done specifically.
-
Provide information to help you identify AFB in your own colonies.
