Beekeeping in Vermont

Beekeeping in Vermont

Meet Darci Benoit

Darcism

Darci Benoit is VBA's new Membership Secretary seat. She was nominated to replace outgoing secretary Scott Wilson.

I started beekeeping in 2013 and made many many mistakes. Thankfully I learned from those mistakes by listening to the successful and helpful beekeepers around me in the bee clubs. I currently operate a small apiary at my home which partially supplies my bee themed gift shop - Bees on Broadway which I run part time when I am not working my "real job" as a paralegal. I live in Swanton with my husband of 15 years, our daughter, dog, 3 cats, 8 chickens and many bees.

Meet Jeff Battaglini

battig19sm

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. 

Read more ...

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.

092120webinar

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. mite small09 20

"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:

  1. The broader perspective about AFB in Vermont along with what is being done specifically.

  2. Provide information to help you identify AFB in your own colonies.

    Read more ...