A Beekeeping Site to Bookmark

A wealth of information for new and not-so-new beekeepers comes from the University of Georgia.

Check it out at http://www.caes.uga.edu/departments/ent/bees/beekeeping.html

Minutes of Cheatham County Beekeepers’ Meeting February 12, 2011

Twenty-six members of the Cheatham County Beekeepers met February 12 to elect new officers, to review February beekeeping chores and to be introduced to our new website, created and showcased by member Kevin Eggers, a professional web designer.

Thanks to President Roger Senechal, Vice-President Linda Nutt, Secretary/Treasurer Diana Senechal and Name Tag Overseer Linda Nutt for their willingness to serve in 2011.

The group enjoyed coffee made by Paul Carter and delicious biscuits and sausage provided by Linda Nutt while Roger outlined the important February beekeeping tasks: FEEDING, ordering bees and equipment, checking and preparing older equipment prior to the honeyflow. Paul Carter shared an idea he recently came across – scratching the cappings of some honey frames as a means to encourage the Queen to step up her egglaying. He has not tried this yet, but says it’s long been used successfully by commercial beekeepers to stimulate brood rearing.

Packages of new bees are still available from Kelley Bee, starting at $81. Call (800) 233-2899 ASAP to order these. Paul Carter (746-3598) and Roger Senechal (942-7723) are willing to pick up your prepaid orders on April 16. Also, Paul Carter will be purchasing Italian bees from Alabama ($200 for a complete hive, including bees) and is willing to bring back any prepaid orders for us.

Roger announced two upcoming area bee schools: Nashville Area Beekeepers, Feb. 16-19, $20 (nashbee.org) and UT Institute of Agriculture, March 24-26, $100 ( https://web.dii.utk.edu/agStore/pc-2718-2408-registration-tennessee-beemaster-class.aspx). In an informal education event, our own Paul & Nancy Kidd were invited to participate in a Valentine’s program of Beekeeping Couples during the February 13 meeting of the Nashville Area Beekeepers. Ask Paul about his “magnetic” bee suit.

Roger then turned the meeting over to Kevin Eggers who unveiled our club’s new website. Kevin explained the main purpose for this website is to provide a place to organize and share the vast knowledge of so many experienced and successful beekeepers in our area. Kevin also said we can expect many additional benefits to this powerful, no-cost-to-us tool. He then walked us through the website, showing us where we will keep our calendar, share photos, ask questions, exchange good ideas and information, list “swarm catchers”, and connect with and learn from beekeepers worldwide. Perhaps the greatest benefit of this new tool is that any member can “post” on it, once (s)he is registered – email Kevin (kme@kevineggers.com) for help with that. No longer do we have to wait for a club meeting to ask questions or to seek advice on an apiary problem. A “post” to our new website will bring many good suggestions and sound advice from our trusted beekeeper friends.

As we take time to get familiar with our new website, we are most fortunate to have Kevin’s expertise and his willingness to tutor us. He invites us to email him with questions or suggestions.

Our next meeting is March 12, 9:30 AM, at the Ashland City Library. Members who have not yet paid their 2011 dues of $10 should plan to do so then.

Beekeeping In Tennessee

Here's a great publication titled, "Beekeeping in TN." It's available on our Google Docs account.

What Is Beekeeping All About?
The first step in becoming a beekeeper is deciding if you actually want to be one. It would be a shame to commit a lot of time, effort and money in setting up a few bee colonies only to discover that you really don’t enjoy beekeeping. There are several good ways to find out what’s in store for you as a beekeeper. These include reading some of the vast amount of literature on the subject; attending local, regional or state beekeeping association meetings; attending beekeeping educational classes; visiting beekeeping Web sites; and establishing a relationship with an experienced beekeeper.

Beekeeping in TN (PDF). University of TN

Thanks to Outgoing 2010 Officers

A sincere word of thanks to outgoing President, Mike McDonald and outgoing Treasurer-Secretary, Lisa Henze for their important leadership in the club over the past year. We are grateful for all you've given us!

New Officers Elected Today:

President: Roger Senechal 615-428-5422

Vice President: Linda Nutt 615-952-4307

Treasurer-Secretary: Diana Senechal 615-942-7723

We look forward to serving you in the current year.

Please feel free to call on us.

Introduction to the Website

Here's a copy of the power point presentation for today's introduction to the website. We're just reviewing the overall site, features and recommended next steps.

Brushy Mountain Bee Farm Webinar

This is a friendly reminder that Hive Tracks will be featured in a Brushy Mountain Bee Farm webinar at 6:00 PM EST February 9, 2011. You can attend by following this link on the evening of the event:

• https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/499916291

In the webinar we’ll quickly go over the basics of Hive Tracks and then dive into new features like Google maps, forage rings and printed reports. We hope to see you there.

Kind Regards,

Mark Henson

Cofounder Hive Tracks

Bee Culture Discount

If you belong to a bee club, you get a good discount from American Bee Journal (and probably Bee Culture as well). When you subscribe or renew just call them up and tell them you are a proud member of Cheatham County Beekeepers and that's all it takes.

I just called them this morning to renew my own subscription--and it was quite easy. And worth my time!

Bumper Stickers

Bumper stickers for sale. Click on the image to get a closer look!

Beemaster Classes

Richard Durham let me know today about an upcoming Beemaster program in our area:

Check out this web site at https://web.dii.utk.edu/agStore/pc-2718-2408-registration-tennessee-beemaster-class.aspx

This is really a basic intro course--in spite of the title they use.

If you like getting a 50% discount, read this from their website:

"Five classes will be offered in 2011. Registration fee is $100 per class and is NON-REFUNDABLE. The first 20 people registering at each location are eligible for a 50% scholarship. To qualify for the $50 fee, payment must be received by UT, so we encourage you to register and pay with a credit card, if possible, instead of mailing a check."

Remember that there is also a course offered by the Nashville Area Beekeepers on February 16-19;
see http://www.nashbee.org/beeschool.shtml.

Remember too that our February meeting will be on Feb 12 at 9:30 AM at the Library in Ashland City.

Hope to see you there.

Permacomb Orders

Fellow members,

John Seets is offering Permacomb again in a combined order. I will be placing an order again this year. Many of you know that I have had excellent success in using his food grade plastic frames. His e-mail message is attached below:

Hello;

You are receiving this email because you previously indicated an interest in purchasing PermaComb or have purchased it in the past. We completed a successful order last summer . Recently, I have been getting emails and calls from those who want to reorder or order new. I hope we now have enough people interested to ensure that a 1000+ comb order will occur which is the manufacturer’s minimum order requirement. It’s time to put it together. Remember that PermaComb is fully drawn plastic comb designed to fit medium (6 5/8”) supers. The comb is food grade plastic, white and not “waxed”. Please read the following carefully. If you want the PermaComb specs and details info sheet again, let me know.

Here is the criteria for ordering:

Price is 3.75 per comb for less than 1000 combs. (Note: The manufacturer just informed me (1/6/11) that since the cost of fuel is slated to increase by leaps and bounds this year and since plastic is made from petroleum, the cost of the plastic to make the comb may increase by the time we do a July order). Any one person ordering 1000 or more combs, price is 3.60/ea. Payment is by check (cashier’s, business, bank or personal) made out to me, John Seets. Do NOT make it out to “PermaComb”. This means NO credit cards, NO PayPal, and no bank fund transfers.

Minimum purchase quantity is 20 combs. There are 4 frame spacers included in each box of 20 combs

For quantities over 20, the order must be in multiples of 20. (i.e. 40, 60, 80 100, 120, etc)

Orders will be shipped by FedEx from the manufacturer in California. (~ 4 weeks max after the order is submitted to them). I must receive payment from everyone totaling 1000+ before the order is submitted to the manufacturer. You have until the January 20th, 2011 for me to receive your check and ordering info. This is this order’s cut-off date.

If you want to determine your shipping cost yourself, go to FedEx.com website and do the following (if not, go to next step):

Click ship -> Get Rates and Transit Times.

Enter from zip 91710 to your zip.

Click “Ship to a residence”. Shipping to a business is cheaper. See item 7 below. Do NOT check this box if shipping to a business address.

Number of packages and Weight fields: One 20 comb box weighs 28lbs and measures 20 x 20 x 7”. For example, if you are ordering 40 combs, two 20 comb boxes would be taped together to make 1 package weighing 56lbs, measuring 20 x 20 x 14”. If you ordered 60 combs, there would be 2 packages: one 28lbs and the other 56lbs. This is the pattern. We tape 2 boxes together because it is cheaper than sending 2 twenty comb boxes separately.

Click “Use an already scheduled pickup”.

Click “Get a detailed quote”.

Package and Shipment Details: Fill in “Quantity” and “Weight” fields. Use “Your Packaging” for Package Type; Fill in Dimensions field; Enter the value of the comb for each package (20 comb box would be 75; 40 comb package would be 150).

Click “Continue”

Your rate will be shown on the “FedEx Home Delivery” line

6

If you do not want to determine the shipping cost for your order, I can do it for you. Let me know.

It is up to 20% cheaper to ship to a business address rather than to a residence.

The rules for a valid shipping address in order to be recognized as a business by FedEx include the following:

• No home businesses
• Must be a business zoned in a business district
• Must have either a store front and/or free public egress in and out during regular business hours

If you order and can provide a valid business address meeting the above criteria, please do so when you contact me with your order.

8

The total cost of your order will be the cost of the comb plus shipping.

If you order more than 160 or 200, we will check trucking to see if it would be cheaper than FedEx

I realize a number of you reside in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East. In each of your cases, I recommend you finding the cheapest shipping for you. In the past, I have found that the USPS (www.usps.com) is cheaper than shipping international either by FedEx or UPS. Customs regulations and associated costs are your responsibility.

To order, here is what you need to do:

• Decide how many combs you want (multiples of 20)
• Determine your shipping cost (or I can do it)
• Email me telling me you are sending a check for so many combs in the amount of whatever. Include your shipping address in the email. On the subject line put your last name, the word “PermaComb” and the quantity of combs you want and then the word “order” (example: “Smith PermaComb 120 order”. I will verify your shipping cost at that time. I will verify comb + shipping total and email you back confirming.

Do NOT send check until I send you a confirmation email. Send Check to (make sure there is a return address and a copy of the email order ALONG WITH MY CONFIRMATION email in the envelope):

John Seets

2203 Belleview Rd.

Catonsville, MD. 21228

I will notify you when your check arrives. If for some reason we do NOT meet the 1000 comb minimum, everyone’s check will be returned to the return address on the envelope in which the check arrived.

I will keep you appraised as to the progress of the comb run, comb disbursement and associated dates as this information becomes available to me. The intent is to have all comb sent out by March. It is my understanding from the manufacturer that they plan to box and ship orders as soon as the comb comes out of the mold.

Any questions – let me know. I hope I have covered all the essentials above.

Thanx. John