Beekeeping Field Day in South Deerfield, MA

reinbeau · June 25, 2009, 10:28:23 AM

We went to a beekeeping field day last Saturday in Western MA, where it was cloudy but didn't rain much, it was very interesting. This field day was held by the Massachusetts Beekeeper's Association, and I highly recommend if you're in MA joining this organization, we've been to four meetings now, they hold a spring and a fall lecture type meeting, and this field day. All programs have been very interesting and informative! Go to http://massbee.org for more info and to join up.

There were lots of things going on at the field day, all kinds of demonstrations, making splits, working with nucs, small cell stuff, sugaring for mite control, cooking with honey, etc. We had to choose, and it was tough, but we chose the nuc workshop and the hive inspection workshop, then the summer management workshop given by Rich Reault of NEBees.com. Pictures from his workshop are at the bottom, didn't get one of him, but the queen photo and the eggs are from that program.

Having professional bee inspectors go through a live hive right in front of you, showing the different things you will find in a weakening hive vs. a strong, booming hive was very interesting. I posted a bit on my Facebook page about it, here are some photos:

First here is the farm the field day was held at. It's a Univ. of Mass. experimental farm called Agrimony Farm:

Here is the start of the meeting, more people showed up throughout the day:

This is the bee inspector, Ken Warchol, who did the hive inspection demonstration:

He's showing some brand new beeks a full frame:

a nice, booming hive full of bees (this is the hive on the left in the picture:

Here's what you don't want to find when you're doing your inspection, this hive is weakening and most likely won't make it (this is the hive on the right), it has two brood diseases present, chalk brood and sac brood. The chalk is white, the sac is brown and goopy. The cells you see with little holes in them are cells the bees have identified as being bad, they will remove the larvae, but there are too many of them (there were way more punctured cappings on other frames), so this hive is most likely doomed:

Here's what you want to find when you're searching through your hive, a nice full frame with eggs, larvae, capped brood, pollen and honey:

Teeny-tiny little two day old eggs:

And can you find Her Majesty?:

We also had our own private talk with the guy who was giving a Snelgrove Board talk, that was very interesting, Greg is all excited now to try this system out next year.

As I said, I highly recommend getting to a field day, especially if you're a newer beek, the information you'll gather is invaluable, and getting together with lots of nice people is always a good time :)

ETA We met Jim134 there, and Natalie and her husband and son Aiden were there, too. It would be neat to see more Massachusetts Beemaster beeks next year!

contactme_11 · June 25, 2009, 02:04:39 PM

I was there for a while around lunch time.

Natalie · June 25, 2009, 02:29:13 PM

Why didn't you tell us!? Seriously, next time we should try to plan ahead to look for eachother.
I had talked to Jim134 in advance and I gave him my cell phone number to track us down, when I didn't hear from him I started the hunt, sometimes walking up to the wrong people and asking if they were Jim :)
Reinbeau ended up snagging him just as I was asking another guy if he was Jim, here I am talking to this guy explaining who I was looking for and Ann is like uh Natalie over here, I found Jim.
It turns out I put in one digit wrong on my phone number when I e-mailed him so he was calling me and of course couldn't get ahold of me.
He is such a sweet guy and I was glad to have met him.
We should try to get more member get togethers going.
Next time there is a local event we will have to post something about it.
The next one for Mass Bee Assoc. is October 17.

reinbeau · June 25, 2009, 04:43:58 PM

Natalie, I wasn't thinking too well the week or two before that field day, the shingles fog was thick - it didn't occur to me to tell anyone, actually! We will have to be in better communication from now on. We will be going to October 17, but that organic thing in August is too rich for our blood right now. Too bad, it sounds great, but $300 a couple is a little steep.

Natalie · June 25, 2009, 05:16:30 PM

I know, I signed up and paid right after I got my tax returns back or I wouldn't be able to afford it right now either.
I am looking forward to it though, it should be a real learning experience.
I was going to try and go to the EAS conference but it is right after this one so I decided to go to the chemical free conference instead.
I heard from someone in the club that the EAS conference is going to be held here in Mass in the next 2 years.
The last time it was here it was down the Cape (at mass maritime) which would have been perfect for us.
Thats where Bill is from too.
There are some local field days coming up with the norfolk club that you are more than welcome to attend, the best part is they are free. :)

reinbeau · June 25, 2009, 07:50:01 PM

Well, keep me informed, the more open hives I see, the better! :)

woodchopper · June 25, 2009, 09:57:38 PM

Quote from: Natalie on June 25, 2009, 05:16:30 PM
There are some local field days coming up with the norfolk club that you are more than welcome to attend, the best part is they are free. :)

Sounds like fun. :-D

Natalie · June 25, 2009, 10:44:09 PM

I will definitely keep you guys posted. :)

Jim134 · June 26, 2009, 07:16:30 AM

Good to meet some beekeep form www.Beemaster.com/ it South Deerfield, MA

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

Jim134 · June 27, 2009, 07:31:34 AM

Quote from: Natalie on June 25, 2009, 05:16:30 PM
There are some local field days coming up with the norfolk club that you are more than welcome to attend, the best part is they are free. :)

Did not see it on http://www.norfolkbees.org/ the web pg.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

Natalie · June 27, 2009, 10:29:03 AM

Hi Jim,
Ed is arranging the field days right now. He would like to have four this summer.
One is already set up for I think in July at a member's farm.
He may already have the others set up but I am not entirely sure. I talked to him about it the other day and he said they are in the works and he is selecting dates.